Zach Behrens

Firefighters dousing a small one-acre grass fire in the northern part of the Angeles National Forest this morning found a body among the ashes. The unidentified corpse was discovered around 7:30 a.m. about one mile east of the 5 freeway near Templin Highway. Sheriff's Deputies had very little information, but the Daily News points out that the body was burned beyond recognition: officials cannot tell if it was even a male or female....

What the Station Fire looked like on its second day from La Canada (more photos here) | Photo by Tom Andrews/LAist Sometimes cutting the budget to public safety departments can cost you more in the long run. Case in point, the Station Fire, which lasted months and charred some 250 square miles. On day two of the blaze, when it was still relatively small, the Forest Service may have not ordered more state and...

When gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown incorrectly hung up the phone and left an inadvertent conversation on the voicemail of the LAPD's union director last month, it a smoking message of sorts.

Just like Los Angeles' budget-saving move in closing libraries twice weekly earlier this year, Long Beach today followed suit. Its system of 12 libraries will all now be closed two days a week (Sundays and Mondays). Previously, four libraries were open six days a week, with Monday on the schedule. "This action is a result of the Long Beach Public Library's implementation of the City's adopted budget to offset a structural deficit of $18.5...

As cities age, so do their laws. Sometimes they get outdated and sometimes hardly enforced. Such is the case with this old 1920s or 30s Los Angeles law: "No person shall play ball or any game of sport with a ball or football or throw, cast, shoot or discharge any stone, pellet, bullet, arrow or any other missile, in, over, across, along or upon any street or sidewalk or in any public park, except on those portions of said park set apart for such purposes."

By all accounts, Los Angeles experienced something amazing for five hours on Sunday. An estimated 100,000 people took to a stretch of 7.5 miles of streets closed off to cars and open to people. And those people responded with positive zeal. Based on Ciclovia in Bogota, Colombia (and later in U.S. cities like San Francisco and New York City), CicLAvia was an open streets festival that let Angelenos claim public space, usually reserved for vehicles,...

Not all of Google's cars were for mapping | Photo by sanchom via Flickr Last month Google CEO Eric Schmidt hinted towards a big announcement they made Saturday: “Your car should drive itself. It just makes sense,” he said at a conference. “It’s a bug that cars were invented before computers." And this weekend that statement became even more clear. Posted to the Official Google Blog on Saturday, Google announced that they've been testing...

After a successful marathon overnight session by the state's legislators to propose a state budget, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger finally gave his approval with his signature this evening, ending the longest California has every been without one (100 days!). In it, he approved of $87.5 billion and vetoed $962 million in 23 line items. "The vetoes included $366 million from CalWorks, the state's welfare-to-work program, and $256 million from subsidized child care," explained the Sacramento...

An early morning in Venice | Photo by dogma623 via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Sunday is a big day for Los Angeles. CicLAvia will bring over seven miles of public space to city streets for the five hours. Here's your activity planner. See you on the streets! What's the difference between gantlet and gauntlet? LA Times readers get caught up in the non-error. Drivers who cut you off, tailgate and flip you the...

Two auto industry-related companies have made donations to fight Prop 21, the November ballots measure that would add an $18 annual fee for vehicle registrations to fund state parks. On Thursday Enterprise Holdings, parent...