Zach Behrens

On December 15, 1892, John Paul Getty was born. The oil tycoon died in 1976, leaving behind a legacy and a lot of money and art that gave birth to the two Getty museum locations in Los Angeles. Currently on exhibition at the Villa is a collector's choice exhibit featuring Getty and his antiquities....

On Venice Beach | Photo by jennifer_kelton via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr That's what journalist Charles Feldman is saying the Huffington Post. After going undercover for a documentary on how easy it is to obtain approval from a doctor, he feels that city and county officials have misplaced focus. "The dispensaries could not exist, let alone function, without the enabling benefit of the estimated 1,500 or so California doctors, not surprisingly most in...

The suspicious package that shut down an area a few blocks from USC campus yesterday afternoon ended up actually being pipe bomb, reports Fox News 11. It was found attached to a woman's Jaguar vehicle at 35th Place and Normandie. Authorities were called, hundreds were evacuated from the neighborhood--reportedly, a four block radius--and the bomb squad detonated the device....

USC Officials are reporting, via Trojans Alert, that a suspicious package found two blocks from campus has prompted the immediate evacuation of the area around 35th Place and Budlong. "Stay away," officials urge. UPDATE: "The suspicious device call near USC turned out to be a pipe bomb," tweeted KTLA. USC officials say LAPD is still on scene investigating and that most of the neighborhood has been reopened.

A streetcar in Portland | Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist The good news is that the city and non profit charged with bringing downtown a street car scored $250,000 in federal money, reports blogdowntown. That's a... step, but they need up to $100 million to make the line a reality. Next up is possibly applying for $25 million in a $280 million grant fund for "urban circulator" projects. Councilmember Jose Huizar would like to see...

Curbed LA says it best in their headline: "Wha? Oakland Airport Will Have Rail Access Before LAX?" Yes, it appears ground will break on a 3.2-mile tram between the airport and BART's Coliseum Station with completion possibly within three years. A train to LAX? Maybe, just maybe, in 2018....

Famous chef + food "truck" + free = corporate America's latest attempt at street-side billboard advertising? If you couldn't get enough of the food truck trend, here's another one to add to your list; however, it will be gone before you know it. Ketel One is launching a canteen--really, it's a food cart towed by an Escalade--that will serve free late-night food by Top Chef's season two winner Ilan Hall (the guy who recently...

LAPD's Parker Center | Photo by LindsayWilliamRoss/LAist Featured Photos on Flickr At today's L.A. City Council Public Safety Committee meeting (.pdf), the issue of what to do with the nearly emptied Parker Center is up for discussion. Since the new Police Administration Building opened in October, only the Scientific Investigation Division (SID) remains until the city finds a new 35,000 to 40,000 square foot facility in downtown. In the meantime, the city is considering...

An audit (.pdf) that examined just a portion of purchases made by the LAPD in the 2007-2008 fiscal year found problem after problem in how business is done, finds the LA Times. Policies on spending, hiring and tracking how money is spent is supposed to protect taxpayer money, but the report found that the best deals were not sought, millions in receipts could not be located, among various other problems. “Policies were inconsistently followed,...

You know those poster-sized signs around the city, dotting corners of mini malls and gas stations? The U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear a case between the city of Los Angeles and Metrolights, a company now owned by Fuel Outdoor, reports Dennis Hathway at Ban Billboard Blight blog. The loser in the battle is Fuel, who appealed a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in favor of Los Angeles, which originally cited the...

For those in Venice or for those who are simply floored by the triple murder in Venice last week--a pregnant mother with twins was raped and killed, allegedly by a man already in custody--tonight is the community candlelight vigil, says Tara Tiger Brown at LA Metblogs. It's set for tonight at 6 p.m., at 1660 Electric Avenue, one block from Abbott Kinney....

A group of municipal associations combined forces last week to advocate for more high speed rail in Western states, announcing the formation of a new high speed rail group called the Western High Speed Rail Alliance. At issue for them is less than enthusiastic vision of high speed rail in the West. In an editorial, the Arizona Republic agrees: "Major Western cities, including Phoenix, were left off the map in federal plans for high-speed rail. Now, five of them are refusing to be overlooked. How preposterous."