Zach Behrens

A man who stood up and refused to return to his seat as an United Airlines plane was taxiing for departure prompted the jet to return to the gate this morning. The man, "who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent," was acting suspiciously and ran into the bathroom, according to the LA Times. All passengers were re-screened while the LAPD bomb squad searched the aircraft. The passenger in question, described as cooperative, was...

The Station Fire rages on Friday, August 28 near La Canada Flintridge. | Photo by Tom Andrews/LAist An LA Times investigation this weekend revealed that the response to the Station Fire was scaled back when officials underestimated the power of the blaze. Such an error in judgement is expected to change policy when a fire is ablaze in the lower Angeles National Forest near residential neighborhoods. The still-burning Station Fire began on Wednesday, August...

A supergraphic on Sunset Blvd. | Photo by Lord Jim via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Nearly two months into a ban on new digital billboards and supergraphics, a judge sided with the city of Los Angeles after one advertising company challenged the law. Liberty Media said exceptions had been granted in the past and that City Council had violated state law dictating open meetings. U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins said "none of...

Susan Atkins in 1969 (AP Photo, File) Susan Atkins, the longest incarcerated woman in California history, died last night of natural causes. The 61-year-old native from San Gabriel was diagnosed with brain cancer, which prompted her to and relatives to ask for a compassionate release. That, along with thirteen attempts to be paroled, was denied last summer. Her last parole hearing was just a few weeks ago on September 3rd (she's been trying to...

The National Weather Service last night extended the Red Flag warning, due to expire last night, to Saturday evening for mountain areas of Los Angeles and Ventura counties. However, fire-weather related warnings for Valleys in both counties did expire last night. "While the offshore winds have weakened, the triple digit heat and single digit humidities continues across the valleys and mountains of Los Angeles and Ventura counties," a National Weather Service advisory said. Temperatures...

The Daily News reports that a local nonprofit is seeking help from Southern Californians who have a taste for adventure: "Iemanya Oceanica is organizing a shark-tagging research expedition to Baja California next month and is seeking up to 20 scuba divers/snorkelers from Southern California to help." If you go, you'll be looking for Whale Sharks, which are described as "the largest living fish species on the planet, which can "grow up to 40 feet...

Walking the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in Northern California | Photo by paulhami via Flickr Among the many bills approved by the legislature and sent to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk for approval are two state parks bills. They have nothing to do with the possible closures and in fact, they were introduced long before any one would have thought that hundreds would be threatened during the budget process. "In the midst of the...

The Guiberson Fire, center, as seen from space Just one hour and one half into the Guiberson Fire on Tuesday, NASA's Terra satellite captured smoke billowing over the Santa Susana Mountains and into the Oxnard Plain toward the Pacific Ocean. Further west is Santa Cruz Island, the biggest Channel Island at the size of 96 square miles. The smoke cloud appears to be the same size. The fire has so-far consumed 16,400 acres and...

A lawsuit that was delaying the prospect of a National Football League stadium in the city of Industry--some 26 miles east of downtown Los Angeles--was dropped last night by the neighboring city of Walnut in exchange for a number of concessions. Last April, Industry and the city of Diamond Bar settled their lawsuit. Walnut will receive $9 million for traffic improvements, assurances that traffic and noise will be controlled and an annual allotment of...

That fire that began yesterday afternoon in Yucaipa apparently was arson and the arsonist has already been caught. A group of witnesses told police they saw a teenager flee on a bicycle near the fire's origin. The teen was soon found by Sheriff's deputies. The blaze began yesterday afternoon at 4:39 p.m. in the Crafton Hills area of Yucaipa and burned towards Mentone. It's currently 475 acres in size and 60 percent contained.

Tom Cruise in Minority Report William Bratton, the soon-to-be retired Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, was in Washington D.C. today, urging members of congress to make a wireless public safety broadband network a reality nationwide. In his testimony to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, he talks how such a network could help the development of predictive policing: In my 40+ year law enforcement career, I have been both a witness...

Camp crew firefighters climb a ridge during the Station Fire (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) The Station Fire began four weeks ago today on August 26th. Back then, the already-burning Morris Fire was dominating concern from authorities, but then the Station Fire took a turn for the worst, eventually burning through 250 square miles of the Angeles National Forest and becoming the biggest fire in Los Angeles County history (and in the top ten for...