Zach Behrens

A Los Angeles Police patrol car is shown at the entrance of the Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic Orthodox synagogue where a gunman shot and wounded two men Thursday Oct. 29, 2009 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Al Seib, Pool) A story from the Jerusalem Post on Iraseli organized crime in Los Angeles was picked up all over yesterday. Michael P. Downing, deputy chief of the LAPD's Counter-Terrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau, told the Post that...

A 1.6 microquake struck near Newhall in the Santa Clarita Valley this morning. The 7:33 a.m. shaker was located in the San Gabriel Mountains, equidistant from Newhall in the Santa Clarita Valley and the city of San Fernando. Four minutes later, a 1.8 magnitude microquake struck near Devore in San Bernadino County. Then at 7:59 a.m., another 1.8 hit the Claremont Colleges/Rancho Cucamonga area....

A police car chase has shut down La Brea in West Adams this afternoon, according to KABC-TV. The pursuit only lasted a few minutes before the suspect vehicle collided with a police cruiser, resulting in an arrest, the TV station reported. La Brea was shut down near Jefferson Blvd. as of 4:50 p.m....

Photo by Lord Jim via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Billboard, no doubht, are a controversial issue in Los Angeles. Lawsuits against the city are piled up in the courts, ordinances are being passed and new digital billboards and supergraphics envelope the city. So it's only appropriate that the MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House are taking 23 billboards and 23 artists for a large-scale art project up and down...

The answer is to do the work first, then ask for permission later. Or at least that's the example Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's appointed heads of Public Works are showing us. In a Curbed LA investigation, an East Hollywood resident hired a crew to make a second driveway for her home on the 1100 block N. Westmoreland Avenue. There's two problems here: 1) She had no permit; 2) The street is apparently crowded with few parking spaces available to others in the neighborhood.

Hidden within the Santa Susana Mountains is a large natural gas storage facility | Photo by bcgrote via Flickr An odor emanating in the northern San Fernando Valley prompted numerous calls to 9-1-1 this morning, beginning at 6:30 a.m. But not to fear (yet), reports the Los Angeles Fire Department in an e-mailed alert and Twitter update: "Firefighters have determined the non-dangerous odor to be related to a Gas Company operation near Tampa/Sesnon. There...

We've seen it roll out in New York and Chicago; now Los Angeles has one too. Yesterday, the Huffington Post launched its local Los Angeles website, featuring the day's hot stories plus commentary about the city. "In many ways, it's a homecoming," explained Arianna Huffington in her intro post. "The initial idea for HuffPost was hatched in LA, five years ago this month. And LA has been my home base since 1997 (our founding...

The thieves in this Grinchey Garden Grove heist are still at large, according to the Orange County Register: "In a highly orchestrated burglary, someone broke into the United Labor Agency of Orange County's underground storage facility over the holiday weekend and carted out loads of donated toys and an estimated 20,000 pounds of food, said Sgt. James Colgrove of the Garden Grove Police Department." The agency has 24 days before Christmas to recover its...

Photo by balmes via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Every six months, Metro makes changes--what they call "service enhancements"--to their schedule and routes. Sometimes, schedule changes are hardly noticeable, sometimes whole lines are cut or added. Beginning Sunday, December 13th, the latest "enhancements" will hit the streets. Of note is the new 902 Line in the Valley, which will run between Pacoima and the North Hollywood Station via Burbank and Van Nuys boulevards with...

Photo by fredcamino via Flickr In a move to possibly freak everyone out and accept proposed fare increases, Metrolink next week will consider cuts to over 50 trains. That includes all Orange County weekend service, 10 weekday trains on the Ventura County Line and various other trains. As Metro's Steve Hymon notes, "most of the cuts are aimed at trains that run on weekends, outside rush hour on weekdays or trains that travel in...

Today's end-of-day links: Sarah Palin and her book's UCLA error, a denser West Hollywood, LeAnn Rimes to appear at L.A. Live's tree lighting ceremony, LADWP employee bonuses, the possible reopening of the Hall of Justice, a new bike path in Bellflower and a new website for location scouts.

Beginning January, installation of a new water line will occur on West Silver Lake Drive between Rowena Ave. and Angus St. Although only affecting a short stretch of road, the temporary closure will go on for an "extended period of time," according to The Eastsider LA. "Silver Lake Drive will remain open to local traffic but it not clear yet how local residents will be identified."...