Sharon Knolle

A local film director is organizing the "first-ever nationwide gay blood drive" in hopes that federal regulators will lift a decades-old ban against blood donors who have had male-to-male sex.

In today's Extra, Extra: Man rats out self for meth by calling 911, Victorian house fire and Elisabeth Hasselbeck's new TV gig. Plus: Keep up with us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter: @LAist @LAistFood @LAistSports. You can also find us on Pinterest, Storify, Foursquare, and Instagram (laistpics).

The city of Hawthorne has canceled its regularly scheduled City Council meeting for tonight, citing online difficulties.

The author of 'Ender's Game,' the sci-fi book that's hitting the big screen in November, issued a statement today addressing a planned boycott over his views on gay marriage.

'Juno' star Ellen Page says she's constantly encountering sexism in Hollywood, the women are "expected to shut up and not have an opinion."

A 21-year-old student who was severely burned in a fire at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo has died.

The fireworks company who put on the disastrous Simi Valley July 4 show that injured dozens is now saying that a shell malfunction was the likely cause, and that it's not an isolated incident.

Who could possibly abuse an adorable French bulldog puppy? A Highland Park man is under arrest on suspicion of felony animal cruelty after allegedly swinging his puppy in the air "like a yo-yo."

Today's Google Doodle pays homage to the 66th anniversary of Roswell, when a UFO supposedly crashed in the New Mexico desert.

The two 16-year-old girls who were killed in the Asiana Airlines crash in San Francisco were headed for a summer church camp in Los Angeles.