Lisa Brenner

Seven people were shot at a single family home on Holmes Avenue in South Los Angeles on Saturday when gunmen allegedly opened fire at a benefit party sometime around 1:00 a.m., reports KTLA. The party was reportedly a fundraiser arranged to "offset funeral costs for a 22-year-old man that was recently murdered," according a partygoer who said she and others were dancing when the incident occurred...

Photo by TheDailyOrdinary via LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr (Pollution chart via OC Register) The 2011 State of the Air report has been released by the American Lung Association and it's enough to make you sick. Literally. The report, ranking U.S. metropolitan areas on ozone, short term particle pollution data, and historic particle pollution data from 2007-2009, places Los Angeles #1 for high ozone days and #4 and #2 in the particle categories....

For months, residents of Beachwood Canyon have been at odds over signs "pointing tourists to a place where the iconic Tinseltown symbol can be viewed and photographed," notes the L.A. Times. The directional aides served some relief to the homeowners near the locked fire road that leads to the historic Hollywood sign by re-routing the headache of sightseers and noisy tour buses to neighboring streets...

Photo by Atwater Village Newbie via LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr In a continuing effort to reduce waste and save money, City Controller Wendy Greuel released the details of a review that examined the Los Angeles Department of Transportation’s parking citation scofflaw enforcement activities showing that the department "failed to adhere to its own action plan, resulting in a decline in enforcement and loss of $5.4million in potential revenue," notes Greuel's press release....

Photo by jimpg2_peace2011 via Flickr Denim Day sounds like fun and games but those wearing jeans today are making more than a fashion statement. Denim Day in LA, and around the country, is part of an awareness campaign about rape and sexual violence stemming from an incident in "1999 when an Italian court overturned a rape conviction partially because the victim was wearing tight jeans - something the justices reasoned the suspect couldn't have...

Move over animated comic series, Arnold Schwarzenegger is baaaack "attached to star in a rights package that CAA is shopping today that will revive The Terminator, one of Hollywood's most iconic scifi franchises," reports Deadline. Arnie's package will be humping to studios today with Universal, Sony, Lionsgate, and CBS Films reportedly "looking hard" at what's on the table. Fast Five's Justin Lin is likely to direct and producer Robert Cort is attached. No screenwriter...

Photo by sirimiri via LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Without the money to pay its day-to-day operating expenses, Mountain View's SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute has been forced to hit the hold button on its 42 extraterrestrial-seeking radio telescopes that scan the deep space skies for signs of alien civilization, reports the Daily News. SETI Institute officials said: "Effective this week, the ATA has been placed into hibernation due to funding shortfalls...

Photo by LA Observer via LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr The pilot of the Los Angeles Police Department helicopter hit with gunfire Sunday in Van Nuys knew jet fuel was pouring out from the bullet hole because he could smell it and see it on the windshield of the craft, reports the L.A. Times. According to the police Air Support Division, the pilot "heard a loud thump outside the aircraft and took evasive...

Photo by Chriss_Lott via LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr A Covina man on parole who barricaded himself inside a motel room early Monday morning "burrowed through the walls of neighboring rooms" in an attempt to evade capture but eventually gave up and surrendered to authorities, reports the Pasadena Star News. Officers received a report from a woman around 3:00 a.m. of a domestic violence incident claiming that 34-year-old Fernando Sanchez "made threats against...

Photo by RobeRt Vega via LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr A car plunged four stories off the Sports Club/LA parking structure in West L.A. on Tuesday killing the driver, a woman in her 70s, when the vehicle she was driving landed on its roof on the sidewalk below, reports LA Now. According to authorities the accident in the 11000 block of West Nebraska Avenue occurred at 9:30 a.m. and city building and safety...

Photo by highervision via LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr After a year of "intense negotiations," the Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee passed a motion on Monday that brings the city and merchants of historic Olvera Street closer to a lease agreement that's been missing for 13 years, reports the Los Angeles Independent. The terms of the agreement include a 20-year lease with a 20-year renewal option; a rent scheme that brings all...

Customers of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power are more than a little lit up about some recent billing issues. It seems the DWP has been "issuing late bills to customers and charging exorbitant fees," reports ABC Local. Those affected include L.A. City Councilman Dennis Zine and many of his constituents who have allegedly received bills many months late with fees "totaling in the thousands of dollars."