Mike Roe

Will Rogers acted in vaudeville, commented on the radio, and wrote more than 4,000 newspaper columns. He was a cowboy philosopher who knew how to poke fun at the prominent people and issues of his day. Rogers died 75 years ago Sunday. This weekend, the Will Rogers Ranch Foundation commemorates his life. Jennifer Rogers-Etcheverry never knew her great-grandfather (he died in a plane crash in 1935), but told KPCC’s Steve Julian that she remembers stories her late grandpa would tell her.

When television news was first getting its footing in Los Angeles, Stan Chambers went to work for Channel 5, KTLA. That was 63 years ago, and today, Stan announced his retirement - on his 87th birthday.

The economy hasn't fully recovered, so expensive leisure trips aren’t within everyone’s reach this summer. But Marie Montgomery with the Automobile Club of Southern California says some people still choose to travel.

There's a growing debate over whether the Internet is a public tool, or the domain of private enterprise for generating profit. Monday, President Obama signed a memo committing the government to expanding broadband access.

A civil trial brought by three journalists against the city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Police Department is nearing completion, with closing arguments today. The lawsuit stems from injuries suffered by journalists covering a 2007 May Day immigration rally. The jury has to decide whether the use of force against these journalists was reasonable.

California Senate Democrats responded to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's May Revise on Monday, proposing $4.9 billion in new taxes to close the state's $19.1 billion budget shortfall. Over $2 billion in added revenue would come from delaying corporate tax breaks, while $1.4 billion would come from changes to personal income taxes.

Joey Ryan stood on the outside, taking a breather in the middle of his match. Suddenly he looked up and saw a man in a giant chicken costume ready to come crashing down on him from high above.

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck answered questions Wednesday night in a special edition of KPCC's Patt Morrison's "Ask the Chief" feature. Beck spoke and answered questions about undocumented immigration and Special Order 40, gang intervention, the end of the consent decree, and other topics.

Former Orange County Sheriff's Department Deputy Phillip Romero, 39, pleaded guilty today to a misdemeanor account of obstructing an officer after he lied to protect a friend from being cited by the California Department of Fish and Game for illegal lobster poaching. Romero had falsely claimed that co-defendant Deputy William Robb, an off-duty officer, was a confidential informant.

A longtime "true-blue" officer raised in a family of cops and who was a Rampart reformer was named the new chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. Charlie Beck will be Los Angeles' next police chief, the mayor announced at an 11 a.m. news conference.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that Pasadena Police Chief Bernard Melekian will be leaving the Pasadena Police to head up the Community Oriented Police Services Office (the COPS program) at the Justice Department.

The U.S. Postal Service unveiled a new commemorative stamp for actor Gary Cooper, star of films like High Noon and Sergeant York, in a ceremony at the Autry National Center.