Zach Behrens

End of the Day Links: powering California with renewable sources, going HD at the Staples Center, more in the city of Bell, reward in Venice post-prom fatal shooting, local blog get a national sister blog, geo-location on the rise and a skateboarding city councilmember.

AP Photo/Paul Sakuma The news isn't so surprising for a state that saw a housing boom like no other, only to see it crumble with the recession. And with the national foreclosure rate up 25% since August 2009, some are saying the worst has yet to come, according to ABC News, which today released a list of the top 10 foreclosure cities. Six of those are in California, including the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario area where...

Word on the street is that Rita Robinson, who heads up the L.A. Department of Transportation -- traffic, parking enforcement, etc -- will soon step down. That's according to Streetsblog LA's Damien Newton, who has confirmed the news with anonymous sources. If true, Newton already has transit community abuzz with possible replacements. Ideas include the former Mayor of Bogota, Columbia, who brought Ciclovia, an event coming to L.A. next month, and Janette Sadik-Khan of...

Gubernatorial candidates Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman are in a dead heat, finds the latest Field Poll (.pdf) released today. Statewide it's a 41-to-41 race with 18% still undecided. 599 of the 857 surveyed registered voters were considered likely to vote in the upcoming November election. Compared to past Field Polls, today's is not much different, save for one fact: ""the only statistically significant change in the governor’s race since July relates to a slight increase in the..."

Photo by Lucyrk in LA via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr This is what happens when you lack transparency. Spurred from a bicycle lane that suddenly appeared on a Northridge street that exasperated the neighbors and commuters, Councilmember Greig Smith earlier this month called for all bicycle projects to be reviewed by Neighborhood Councils. But that wasn't enough for the community. "Since then, stakeholders from all sides have expressed an overwhelming desire to be...

There's a little talked-about aspect of Proposition 19, the November ballot measure that would legalize and tax marijuana in California. You can find it near the bottom of the initiative language (.pdf) talking about allowing the state legislature to amend the prop -- that is, if approved by voters -- to regulate it statewide, but only if the intent is to "further the purposes of the Act." That's something that opponents who claim the...

Yesterday the National Weather Service warned that the hot Santa Ana winds were making a comeback, bringing warmer weather and fire danger to Southern California this weekend. But now we're hearing it's going to be more like a heat wave, which the Daily Breeze correctly calls "a significant and abrupt change" to our current weather. A high pressure system will hit the southland starting Friday and lasting throughout the weekend. While the beaches will...

Photo by Jeremy Burgin via Flickr So much for community policing and broken windows theory in a neighborhood that really needs it. The Daily News today reported that, despite apparent attempts to notify the city of abandoned vehicles -- 72 hours on a city street without moving is considered abandoned -- vehicles are sitting on Pacoima neighborhood streets for months, sometimes even years. "The streets behind [Morris] Pichon's home are littered with dilapidated vehicles,...

Today's end-of-day links: solar panels on the eastside, a motel in Silver Lake, Obama on healthcare (again), microchips for pet dogs, pipeline safety, supergraphics in Hollywood and more.

It became somewhat of a "he said, she said" situation yesterday at a legislative hearing about Prop 19, the November ballot measure that would legalize marijuana in California. A group of medical marijuana advocates said it would do more harm for patients than help. A member of the California Cannabis Association, which has launched a webpage called Keep Cannabis Medical, said Prop 19, which allows local governments to regulate, even ban legalization, would inadvertently...