Zach Behrens

The Metro Board of Directors today approved using light rail on the 8.5-mile Crenshaw route between LAX and Crenshaw and Exposition boulevards. Other options included doing nothing, beefing up current bus service in the area and developing a bus rapid transit system that would begin at Wilshire Boulevard. The $1.3 billion project could be completed as early as 2018 with construction expected to begin in either 2012 or 2013. Its terminus at LAX will...

Two teenaged USC students who were given a ride home last Saturday morning on what they thought was an official campus bus ended up in a nightmare. The two unidentified victims were walking on the 3100 block of Figueroa Boulevard around 3:30 a.m. when 21-year-old Daniel Charles Elliot allegedly offered them a ride home. The students accepted the ride and upon arriving at their destination, Elliot apparently refused to let the women out and...

Photo by CarbonNYC via Flickr A suspect has been arrested in connection to a Tuesday night murder that left a woman and her unborn twins dead. Around 10 p.m., officers were called to a home on the 1600 block of Electric Avenue--just one block from Abbott Kinney--when they saw a possible suspect running from the location. Boneetio Kentro Washington, 22, of Culver City was then arrested and is now thought to be connected to...

Members of the Los Angeles City Council Transportation Committee today approved the proposed Bicyclist Anti-Harassment Ordinance, passing consideration of the motion to the city's Public Safety Committee. The motion will not become law unless passed by the full City Council. The issue will likely be taken up in January next year. The next council transit committee meeting will take place on January 13th, when sharrows and bike sharing will be discussed....

A judge has decided that LAPD Detective Stephanie Lazarus will stand trial for the 1986 slaying of Sherri Rasmussen. At the time of her death, Rasmussen was recently married to Lazarus' ex boyfriend. With crime down and DNA technology more readily available, detectives this year looked into the cold case where the suspects were thought to be two men suspected of a similar crime at the time. A criminalist collected saliva from Rasmussen's body...

LA Observed picks up on a HuffPo list of seven reasons why dating is tough in Los Angeles. Of the reasons include a poor sex ratio (too many men), geographically undesirableness (you live in the Valley?), bad traffic (late for dates!), transience ("I just moved here on a whim"), the entertainment industry's egos and busy schedules, 2 a.m. closing of bars and, most interestingly enough,this urban planning stinger: "lack of pedestrian culture reduces opportunities...

Mayor Villaraigosa took a bite out of dineLA's Restaurant Week earlier this year (Elise Thompson/LAist) Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa decided not to run for Governor this summer and media consultant Charles Feldman believes he knows why: "Many have been puzzled by his decision recently not to run for governor; I am not. That's because I think he has already begun seriously entertaining the notion of running for the US Senate," he writes on The Huffington...

Clouds Over Glassell Park | Photo by lavocado@sbcglobal.net via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Say that again? "There is a pandemic of vitamin D insufficiency around the world, and those of us living in sunny Los Angeles are not immune from the problem." Ahhhh! Too many chihuahuas in California! If you need a dog, maybe consider taking them off animal shelters' hands. An "ugly" Leonardo di Vinci drawing is going on display in Westwood...

Geeez, we just counted 44 food trucks yesterday and now there's two more to add. Eater LA informs us of the soon-to-open truck, Vesuvio, which will focus on Southern Italian fare. The should launch within a couple weeks and will be serving such items as "arancini stuffed with smoked mozzarella plus a slew of subs," according to Eater. And not to be out done is Komodo, self described on its slick website as "dangerously...

As noted last month, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck mentioned that we may have the first year in modern history where the city of LA dips below 300 homicides." As the end of the year approaches, the latest crime statistics, which go through December 5th, show 285 homicides, 20 more since November 7th. What it doesn't show is any murders between the 5th and today, including the murder of a woman and her unborn twins...

As suspected last month, Nielsen has sold eight brands, including the Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Adweek, Brandweek, Mediaweek and Backstage magazines, to a new company formed by James Finkelstein, owner of the “Who’s Who” publications and Washington, D.C.-based trade, The Hill, according to The Wrap. Not included in the deal are Editor & Publisher and Kirkus Reviews, which Nielsen will fold....

Concerned with a proposal to restrict medical marijuana dispensaries within 1,000 feet of residential areas, the Los Angeles City Council today postponed voting the ordinance into law until next week Wednesday when they can examine maps of current legal facilities in relation to neighborhoods. That means issues revolving around collectives will likely be fully resolved in 2010. Yesterday, the group did finalize one aspect of the matter: the number that could legally operate within...