Zach Behrens

It's been a week of mourning in Long Beach after the death of 16-year-old Melody Ross between last week's Homecoming football game and dance at Wilson High School. She was an innocent bystander when two alleged 16-year-old gangmembers shot bullets into a crowd meant for two men who were wounded. Those teens were identified today--Tom Love Vinson and Daivion Davis--because they were charged as adults, according to the LA Times....

Echo Park blogger Jenny Burman points out a great event tomorrow, via her local librarian: "We'll be having a frugality forum at the Edendale Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library this weekend. It will be an open discussion on doing more with less. Bring your money-stretching tips, your challenges, and your questions to ask." It goes from 1 to 3 p.m....

Photo by CarbonNYC via Flickr The LAPD is on the lookout for a man who impersonates a police officer and robs them. He's struck at least four times--twice in the Rampart area and once in Olympic and Pacific--over the last couple of months in various neighborhoods around the city. Usually operating in the late morning or early afternoon, he approaches victims dressed as a plain clothes police officer, complete with badge and gun. He'll...

If you get the sense a war between L.A. and SF is brewing over the weekend, here what's actually happening: "On November 8 and 9, 2009, military flight training exercises will occur in and around the greater Los Angeles area," the LAPD said a statement today. "The military operation will be routine proficiency flight training exercises. Training sites have been carefully selected so that activities will not interfere with the daily routines of the...

The holiday season always means more and more DUI checkpoints. With thousands of hit-and-runs and drinking-related crashes so far this year, the LAPD has two Sobriety & Drivers License Checkpoints set up for the weekend. The first is tonight 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. at West Florence Avenue and South Main Street in South L.A. Then tomorrow from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m., a checkpoint will be set up on Figueroa between 7th and...

The New York Times nailed it this morning when they said "For Americans who wake up each morning thinking about their job hunt, Friday’s unemployment report offered little reassurance that their search would soon pay off, even as the broader economy showed signs of strengthening." That's because nationwide, unemployment in October shot up to 10.2 percent, a 26-year record high. 190,000 jobs were lost with the largest amount found in the construction industry....

Those artist-inspired USB flash drives known as The Mimobots (see the image to the right) have taken over the Munky King Shop on Melrose for all of November. Tonight is the opening party (7 to 10 p.m.) and Thomas Han himself will be live painting with artists Brian McCarty and Lili Chin on hand. Also: Keeping to a design trend here, Heath Ceramics on Beverly is showing off 75 limited edition canisters tonight....

Our sister blog Chicagoist is reporting that Oprah might be moving her show to Los Angeles. That's via Deadline Hollywood blogger Nikki Finke, who doesn't name a source. If true, then Oprah could be here by 2011 and the show would air on her own channel, ending syndication. But Oprah's people say no decisions have been made yet. This would also mean she'll be closer to her Montecito home near Santa Barbara....

The Gold Line's Eastside Extension is opening on November 15th, but how does one get to the light rail line? Other than the big connections at Union Station (Red Line, etc), what other bus lines connect to it? According to a new map by Metro, some 35 bus lines will connect to the extension's eight stations. Two of them are DASH buses, seven are from Montebello's bus system and the rest are Metro-run buses....

ABC7 and Citysearch got together and made a top 7 cupcake shop list. Auntie Em's Kitchen in Eagle Rock took the top spot with Yummy Cupcakes in Burbank and Famous Cupcakes in Valley Village in spots 2 and 3. The list is rounded out by Susie Cakes, The Cobbler Lady, Violet's Cakes, French's Cupcake Bakery, Cupcakery and Dolcissimo. Who didn't make the list? Sprinkles and Crumbs. Oh, snap!...

lad in Caltrans uniforms a few nights ago, a group of people installed a 12-foot wooden carved fork where Pasadena Avenueu splits at, well, a fork in the road, with St. John Avenue (see a map here). Who did this awesome piece of art and why? "It turns out the fork is an elaborate - and expensive - birthday prank in honor of the 75th birthday of Bob Stane, founder of the Ice House comedy club, who now owns the Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena," reports the Pasadena Star News. And the group would like to see it stay there permanently, but that will be up to the Caltrans, which owns the small parcel of land and the city.

DNA representation by nate steiner via Flickr DNA evidence from a double murder 12 years ago has been linked to a suspect who is currently in a California prison. Back in September of 1997, the stabbing murders of 57-year-old Nancy Boehm and her mentally impaired 23-year-old son Shawn occurred in their North Hollywood home on the 5700 block of Riverton Avenue. Without any leads, the case remained unsolved. Then in 2005 the case was...