Zach Behrens

Photo by TheGiantVermin via Flickr A large amount of a explosive component (TATP, or acetone peroxide) used in the 2007 London bombings and suspected in the current Zazi alleged terrorism case was found in the Riverside County home after a man reportedly blew off his hand making a bomb last night. The investigation is in its infancy, but one police source tells the LA Times that links to skinhead groups are being investigated. Furthermore,...

Photo by Mike Rosati Photography via Flickr Causing excessive noise, speeding, splitting lanes dangerously, motorcyclists can sometimes be exasperating. Not only that, statewide statistics show that motorcycle fatalities are on the rise, increasing 51 percent in the past eight years. In L.A. County, deaths have increased 62 percent in the last four years, most drastically in the 21- to 24-year-old and 55 plus age groups. Add to that this interesting fact, according to the...

Los Angeles just got a new fire chief and Long Beach is about to lose theirs. Fire Chief David Ellis announced yesterday, after five years at the top post, his intent to retire by the end of the year. Ellis began his career in Glendale in 1980, but two years later found himself working for Long Beach, where he was raised and schooled as a kid and college student. The Department has about 550...

Photo: ClatieK SFist does this column daily, so when we saw this facebook update from a friend, we giggled. He "has decided that Runyon Canyon park is way gayer on a weekday morning than The Abbey is on a Friday night." We believe many LAist readers would agree on this one. Of the hundreds of Yelp reviews of Runyon, many talk about how the park is quite the scene. "Runyon is one of two...

El Tepeyac's Burrito, via @Villaraigosa We always forget so quickly, but yeah, it's that time again when Mayors bet beloved city treasures when their sports teams hit the playoffs or finals. In this day and age, the bets happen on Twitter. For tonight's first Dodgers playoff game against the Cardinals, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has offered the following to St. Louis' Mayor Francis Slay: Dodger Stadium garlic fries El Tepeyac's Manuel burrito The LA Times...

Last year, then-City Controller Laura Chick wanted to do a performance audit on then-City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's office. Delgadillo successfully blocked it with a court order, but the fall out over private attorney fees for Chick, totalling $200,000, has lingered. The most recent tentative court ruling was pushed yesterday another month so Greuel and Trutanich can work things out.

We love horseback riding in Griffith Park (read our story here)!! | Photo by delara-photos via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr There's a new debate happening over police recruiting. Some city councilmembers want to freeze hiring amid budget cuts and furloughs. Crime is on the decrease, but will that goal of 10,000 officers be reached? A new GPS unit installed on downtown DASH buses should help drivers pace service evenly on their routes. Last...

Debris flows from the 2003 Old and Grand Prix fires left 16 people dead, according to a post-Station Fire report released yesterday by the USGS. Perhaps, that's one reason to take note of the debris flow areas marked on multiple maps within the report. "Fast-moving debris flows generated from recently burned areas are particularly dangerous because they can occur in places where flooding or debris flows have not been observed in the past and...

Temperatures warmed up overnight in the Wrightwood area where Mountain High Ski Resort hoped to open doors today. Snow making last night was "fairly marginal" as temperatures stayed above 34 degrees. Freezing or below temperatures are generally need to make snow. "It looks like it's going to warm up the next couple of days. So it won't be this weekend," a spokesperson told the Press-Enterprise. "If we'd had temps in the teens, we could...

Photo by Rennett Stowe via Flickr Considering yesterday's amazing progress on the Sheep Fire (a 32 to 75 percent containment jump), it's no surprise that firefighters made no progress over night on the blaze, which still stands at 7,128 acres in size. As noted yesterday afternoon, it's been cold enough in the area of the fire that local ski resorts have been able to produce snow. The LA Times takes a look a the...

Photographer and Manhattan Beach resident Jake Rome this morning let us know that officials decided to keep the popular park closed as city staff figure out how to solve neighborhood problems. In a comment, he writes: Just an FYI, the council decided to keep the park closed until they've developed and implemented a mitigation that discourages sufficient number of people from using the dune.

A woman's charred body was found shortly after midnight after firefighters doused a dumpster fire in Santa Fe Springs near the 5 freeway. Her hands and feet appeared to be bound by some kind of electrical cord, reports the LA Times. The fire was located behind a furniture store business on the 13100 block of Firestone Boulevard. The coroner's office will work to identify her, but her approximate age could not be determined by...