Zach Behrens

A Chinese bank is has agreed to loan $7 billion to help build a high speed train between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, according to the Las Vegas Sun, via Curbed LA. That's great, but there are hurdles, including the fact that the line was not funded in the latest round of stimulus money, in which California received $2.25 billion. However, if it does become a reality, Las Vegas will truly become L.A.'s far...

The West Hollywood City Council unanimously approved an ordinance to ban the sale of cats and dogs Monday evening. However, although some are saying it's final, the city, per law, must vote and approve the ordinance a second time at its February 16th meeting, when it is expected to pass. The period between the first and second votes allows time for people who have a legal reason to contest the ordinance to file an...

While not originally under consideration this late in the game, a completely subterranean alternative is being added to the downtown regional connector project, which fills in a gap in light rail track, connecting the Blue, Gold and Expo lines. "Two plans currently under consideration both involve at-grade links to the existing Gold Line tracks, an option that the community has been consistently against since the project outreach first started in late 2007," explains Eric...

It was December 1999 when Ahmed Ressam was caught trying to smuggle explosives over the Canadian border with plans to detonate them at LAX on New Year's Eve. He was eventually sentenced to 22 years in prison by a Seattle judge, but that today was overturned by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The panel of judges said it was so lenient that it constituted as a procedural error and failure by the...

It's envisioned as a map "outlining a system of bikeways that will get you anywhere in the city" and it's not the one being currently done by city officials. Angered over the sloppy process that has become the now-controversial Los Angeles Bicycle Draft Plan, a group of bicycle community organizers called the Bike Working Group has come up with their own plan. "The Backbone Bikeway Network will get you from Downtown to West LA,...

A full house at Monday's Budget & Finance Committee meeting at City Hall | Photo by Alex Thompson/Westside Bikeside Close to ten hours into a Los Angeles City Council budget committee meeting late Monday night, the money-saving move to layoff 1,000 employees was not approved, despite a $208 million budget deficit. At first, the layoffs were approved by Councilmembers Bernard Parks, Greig Smith and Bill Rosendahl with Paul Koretz and Jose Huizar against it,...

Photo by bcmacsac1 via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Perhaps the most sobering news that came out of yesterday's 11-hour L.A. City Council budget committee session was a request to see a layoff plan that included police and firefighters. The current proposal to layoff 1,000 employees, which was not recommended by the committee late Monday evening, left public safety jobs off the table, but Councilman Bernard Parks, the former LAPD Chief, wanted to see...

Photo by GarySe7en via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr As the city explores ways to sell the operation of public parking garages to private companies for 50 years--the city council today unanimously approved a move to further develop these plans--a recent report listing the top debtors reveals that parking operators owe the city close to $100 million in uncollected taxes. "You want to solve the budget problem, let's get their money!" screamed Councilmember Richard...

After our post last week about fake signs enforcing illegal billboards, the LA Weekly speaks to the anonymous caper. Why isn't this being enforced, the Weekly asks. "The city claims it doesn't have the money to enforce [against illegal billboards]," the bandit explained. "Why don't they simply collect all the signs and make Fuel buy them back? That could help solve the budget problem and provide city jobs that are now under the axe."...

Despite a U.S. judge's ruling that director Roman Polanski cannot be sentenced in absentia, his extradition from Switzerland could take up to a year, reports the LA Times: "After an extradition decision by the Swiss justice ministry, Mr. Polanski has the possibility of appealing to the Federal Criminal Court and then the Federal Supreme Court," a Swiss justice ministry official said. "It's hard to say how long [an appeal] would take, but it could...

Paul Koretz Speaking on the Budget at Today's Meeting It's 3:30 p.m. and the Los Angeles City Council's Budget and Finance Committee is in session. It sounds boring, but Los Angeles is facing a current $208 million budget shortfall and an expected $400 million shortfall come July, when the new fiscal year begins (and not to mention a $1 billion shortfall in future years). That could translate thousands of employee layoffs and basic city...

Back in November 2008, jazz pianist John Osnes, also a pedestrian rights advocate, was walking across Hollywood Boulevard when Swedish rapper David Jassy's car edged into the crosswalk. Osnes struck his hand on the front of Jassy's car, which prompted Jassy to physically attack him before getting back in the car and fatally running him over. Jassy was found guilty today of second-degree murder and could face 15 years to life, according to the...