Zach Behrens

A sidewalk on UCLA's campus | Photo by neonspecs via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Two of the three UCLA students arrested after an off-campus fraternity party that ended with a fight and multiple injuries were released from jail yesterday. Although police are continuing to investigate them, LA County County District Attorneys decided not to file charges against Justin Kim, 19, of La Crescenta, and Chris Yi, 19, of Huntington Beach. The other arrested...

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...

The angles of the three cameras | Image via Metrolink Text messaging appears to be one major caper in the Chatsworth Metrolink train crash last year, which left 25 dead and 135 injured. Investigators found that Metrolink Engineer Robert Sanchez sent a text message 22 seconds before his train slammed head-on into a freight train. In response, Metrolink announced that one outward and two inward cameras with audio devices will be installed in all...

Reality TV contestant Ryan Jenkins allegedly left a suicide note on his computer, the Buena Park Police Department announced today. He never mentions the death of his wife, Jasmine Fiore, but he blamed her for the situation he was in--"professing both his love and disdain for her," according to TMZ. "About half of the letter described how much he loved her, and in the same breath, he would talk about how frustrated she made him and that he felt very jealous about some of her relationships and that frustrated him immensely,"

It was about a year ago when the public was outraged over some 7,500 rape kits sitting on the shelves of LAPD criminalist labs untested. Fueled by the anger and a city audit, the LAPD announced they would begin going through all the kits. Today, 3,157 kits are left to go with the full backlog completed in the summer of 2011, according to the LA Times However, LAPD officials warn that budget cuts, civilian...

Former Department of Water & Power CEO David Nahai may have resigned last Friday, but that doesn't mean he still won't get a comfy paycheck while he starts his new job at the Clinton Climate Initiative. Through the end of 2009, Nahai will earn about $6,300 a week as a consultant. “There’s nothing nefarious about it, nothing complex about it. This is a reasonable business decision, nothing more than that,” DWP commission President Lee Kanon Alpert told the LA Times. “David’s resigned, and we need his institutional knowledge for the next few months.”

Photo by cravethemind via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr City Controller Wendy Greuel is expected to release her second audit since entering office last July later today. According to her office, a wastewater disposal contractor took advantage of the city's lack of oversight and a poorly written contract to overbill and overcharge. Apparently, Express Environmental Corporation, contracted to collect and dispose of wastewater, overbilled the city by 75 percent, costing more than $1 million....

The fences will be torn down today | Photo by planetc1 via Flickr It was only last February when construction began on the 16,000-square-foot Venice Beach Skate Plaza. Today, eight months later, the $3.5 million in-ground concrete park full of bowls, ramps, rails, platforms, and steps opens. When Venice Beach was renovated between 1999 and 2001, skateboarders demanded a park in honor of Dogtown, the birthplace of modern skateboarding. "Design input from local skaters...

Another in a series of quake swarm events struck near Keeler, CA tonight during the 6 p.m. hour. 30 minor to moderate earthquakes struck between 6:09 and 7:10 p.m., according to the United States Geological Survey. The largest shaker was measured at magnitude 5.2 at 6:15 p.m. It was preceded by increasingly larger earthquakes at 3.1, 4.7 and 4.9.

Today is the big day, the one that is expected to be the first in the return of classical music, not only in Los Angeles, but the world (no pressure, there, buddy). 28-year-old Gustavo Dudamel will conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the first time as the symphony's new conductor and music director. The young Leonard Bernstein, as some like to refer to him as, is presenting this first concert free at the Hollywood...

They better clear some jail cells for a bunch of drunk hipsters tonight. On the heels of 80 DUI incidents and 792 hit and runs in LAPD's Northeast Division this year, officers will hold a sobriety checkpoint at Sunset Boulevard and Echo Park Avenue tonight from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. Expect some traffic in the area, especially in light of Thom Yorke's show around the corner at the Echoplex. Other Traffic this weekend...

See some smoke in the hills? A fire 40-foot by 40-foot grass fire was knocked down by Los Angeles Fire Fighters in 18 minutes this afternoon. The fire, first reported at 1:59 p.m., was located at 9785 Trudy Drive, south of Mulholland Drive between Beverly Glen and Coldwater Canyon....