Zach Behrens

Mega conference Comic-Con will stay put in San Diego through at least 2015, organizers announced last night. Officials in both Anaheim and Los Angeles were hoping they could woo the conference, which would be a major boost to tourism. The four-day summer event draws 125,000 people annually. Although the bids were confidential, rumors surfaced that L.A. offered the convention space at no cost. Even if the Comic-Con moved to L.A., some believe downtown doesn't...

Photo by mondolind via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr In Los Angeles County, there are 689,307 people who choose to vote by mail permanently. Then add those of the 4.3 million total registered voters who choose to do it, but haven't signed up for the permanent program. If you're not already automatically getting ballots, you can, starting next Monday and through October 28th, can request a vote-by-mail ballot for the November 2nd election. To...

A nice spot at UCLA | Photo by Joséphine Runneboom via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr The accused ringleader of the "Hillside Burglars," who are believed to have broken into some 150 homes in wealthy neighborhoods, was sentenced to 17 years today. Here's KPCC's recap of yesterday's debate between U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. A great take on the news and a safety tip for hikers: "Canyons Are Best...

At a previous City Council meeting in Van Nuys | Photo by alexbcthompson via LAist Featured Photos Does this mean the budget is fixed? For a few years, the Los Angeles City Council met in the San Fernando Valley monthly to add great accessibility -- after all, the Valley is nearly half the physical size of the city -- but then the idea was shelved due to budget cuts earlier this year. Well, it's...

Photo: Gamma Infinity/LAist Featured Photos 45 firefighters were sent to Pierce College this afternoon where 12 people were injured at a high school track meet. A majority of the patients were sent to the hospital, said LAFD spokesperson Erik Scott over the phone. Authorities were alerted shortly before 4 p.m. Temperatures in the area were in the low 90s at the time. KTLA reported that the event was believed to be a high school...

The Meg Whitman campaign today gathered a handful of leaders from around California to speak out against Democratic candidate Jerry Brown and Gloria Allred regarding the drama about an alleged hiring of an illegal immigrant. "These manufactured scandals are what's wrong with politics today..."

Patch, the AOL-owned hyper-local neighborhood news website, is springing up in communities all over the Los Angeles region, but not all communities are handing out a warm welcome. Over at Yo! Venice! writer Bret bemoans that the new Venice news site is run by someone who does not live in the community, but rather Hollywood. He compares the portal to Walmart, which, interestingly enough, is the same comparison Timothy Rutt of Altadenablog makes in...

What's going on here, West Valley? Where is crime trending right now in Los Angeles? Mostly in the Valley. To be specific, the West Valley. Violent crime is up significantly in Northridge, Chatsworth, Canoga Park and West Hills and property crime is up significantly in Winnetka and Porter Ranch. All this is according to the LA Times' new data-based project called Crime L.A. Using their neighborhood mapping project as a launching point, the paper...

Photo: Darwyn DJ Metzger via Twitter Sheriff's Deputies locked down the Equinox gym on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood this evening after a female was found inside not breathing. It was unknown if her condition was caused medically or by another person, but deputies treated the area as a crime scene, according to Sgt. Z. Conner of the West Hollywood station. The unidentified woman was transferred to Cedars-Sinai in unknown condition. One person Twittered...

End of the day links: hot weather, clean air standards, county workers who are paid more than $350,000, college students and the November election, the L.A. housing market, LAPD officers shoot and kill a suspect in HiFi and studying children in downtown.

Utility crews are continuing to restore power around Southern California this evening. The most recent updates from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Edison indicate that some 30,000 customers are still without power this evening. As of 5:30 p.m., fewer than 5,000 LADWP customers were affected. Neighborhoods suffering the most impact include Los Feliz (938 affected customers), North Hills (800), Bel Air (372), Mount Olympus (356) and Cheviot Hills (349).

Beyond the 11,000 or so affected LADWP customers in the city of Los Angeles, Southern California Edison is reporting that close to 23,000 of their customers are without power. The hardest hit area was Whittier with 2,366 outages, followed by Carson and Long Beach with 1,709 and 1,292 outages, respectively. The utility said demand for energy hit its record peak usage for the year.