Zach Behrens

Seen on the June 8th Primary in Pasadena | Photo by @sevenphoto via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Compared to the the mid-term election four years ago, the number of people registered to vote has increased by 1.5 million to 17.3 million. But what's a record high here is the 3.5 million voters who have declined to state a party preference, Secretary of State Debra Bowen said today. That beats the previous record raw-number...

41 years ago today at UCLA, the first ever e-mail was sent. The message landed at Stanford University in Silicon Valley where decades later Google made home with the slogan "Don't Be Evil." The man behind phrase, and behind Adsense and Gmail, is Paul Buchheit. And today, in celebration of the anniversary of e-mail, Buchheit, a current Facebook employee, donated $100,000 to Prop 19, the campaign to legalize marijuana in California. "Silicon Valley is...

Map via Metro It's often talked about by residents hoping to avoid commuting "over the hill" via the 405 Freeway, but the project is long off. Very long off. That is unless 30/10, the vision to accelerate several projects with federal loans, becomes reality as the Sepulveda Pass Transit Corridor is one of the 12 projects included in its framework. Metro blogger Steve Hymon said it's "the one Measure R project in which no...

Yesterday's vote approving a route for the 9 1/2 mile Westside Subway Extension was historic, but there's still a lot of work to do and a few questions to be answered. Following the news, Metro put together this map (above) detailing the route and portions where decisions still have to be made. The approval put the project into its final environmental review period where the route is fully vetted before engineering, and then breaking ground,...

Sunset over Long Beach | Photo by J.Rossier Photography via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr It appears the dumping of waste by RV dwellers onto public rights of way in Venice is a continuing issue. The latest documentation is on Yo! Venice! Abdel Ghani Meskini, the terrorist convicted for his plan to blow up LAX, has a hearing scheduled for Friday because he violated probation.. Anna Nicole Smith's psychiatrist and boyfriend today were convicted...

Photo by McBLG97 via Flickr When it's a holiday, there's drinking, and that has the LAPD on alert for drunk drivers this Halloween weekend. The department announced today that they are holding at least two DUI checkpoints and one DUI saturation patrol. Police announce checkpoints to change behavior citywide -- they also don't have to announce all locations. Tonight, a checkpoint will be conducted in Sherman Oaks at Ventura Boulevard and Columbus Avenue from...

Talk about a busy week! Zealous 36-year-old runner Marie-Louise Stenild of England is trying to break the Guinness World Record to to become the first woman ever to complete seven marathons in seven days on seven continents. On Monday, her third day of running, she and a support team will run L.A.'s Stadium to Sea marathon route that debuted earlier this year (nerdy fact: the Guinness World Records Museum on Hollywood Blvd. is around...

Photo via LACO The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra is at it again with another of their interactive concerts. The group, along with conductor and "musical tour guide" Carl St.Clair, will explore the inspirations and influences behind Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony (you know, like the whole dactylic hexameter effect: long - short - short - long - long). The show, which is on November 6th, includes a discussion, a full performance of the symphony, a Q&A...

Nearly two weeks ago when researching a piece about L.A. Fashion Week, I came across a contest on the website for emerging artist organization Project Ethos. The winner of the contest, called the "Project Ethos Carlton Salon VIP Experience Giveaway", was to receive a haircut, color and style courtesy of Carlton Salon, a walk down the red carpet, 4 VIP tickets, and bottle service at Project Ethos’ LA Fashion week event.

LADWP HQ | Photo by Mike Chen aka Metalman via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr On the heels of major proposed reform at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power comes news that two employees have been charged with fraud for stealing around $3 million, according to the LA Times. For six years Anthony Carone and Akbar Fonooni were buying furniture for the department, but allegedly through a dummy company set up by...