Zach Behrens

A fire is burning in the Porter Ranch area this afternoon, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. At 1:50 p.m. a half-acre brush fire north of the 19100 block of Sesnon Boulevard prompted officials to call for additional firefighters. By 2 p.m., the northwest-moving blaze had consumed to two to three acres of "light brush," said LAFD Spokesperson Erik Scott. The area burned two years ago in the a large 14,000 acre fire...

Photo by Christa . Bike by the Sea via Flickr Los Angeles may be gearing up to finalize its master bicycle plan, which would bring some 1,600 miles of bikeways to the city, but that may not be enough for those whose primary location is USC. That's where some 10,000 to 15,000 cyclists roam the campus each day, according to 2009 report. According to Daily Trojan columnist Lucy Mueller, the problem for the past...

Photo by Alex de Cordoba via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr New rules to take effect in October mean some changes at farmers markets in Santa Monica, most notably the Sunday one on Main Street. Thanks to a City Council decision, prepared food vendors at markets must meet new criteria, namely being local -- as in local to Santa Monica -- and having sustainable practices. Six of the 13 prepared food stalls at the...

A closeup from the rescue effort (more photos here) | Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist Nearly two years to the date, a judge today is expected to sign off on a $200 million settlement that would go to family members and survivors of fatal Metrolink train crash in Chatsworth. On the afternoon of Friday, September 12th, 2008 a Metrolink train headed to Ventura County crashed head-on with a Union Pacific freight train, killing 25 people...

Photo by AlishaV via Flickr Last month, DMV employees conducted a "sting" of sorts that nabbed 18 people in the Van Nuys civic center area abusing handicap placards in order to get free or closer parking. Now comes news, via AOL's Patch West Hollywood, that the city's parking division will be cracking down on scofflaws. Parking enforcement officers will begin to randomly approach drivers who display disabled placards to show proof o ownership. If...

via Beverly Hills Courier There are a plethora of events, including LAist's five picks, taking place across the city tonight for Fashion's Night Out. In Los Angeles, there five areas that will have a good amount of couture concentration. Those neighborhoods are Venice's Abbot Kinney Boulevard, downtown, Los Feliz Village, Melrose Avenue, Robertson Boulevard and West Third Street. Maps, schedule of events and trolley information can be found on the city's webpage. But what's...

View a larger version of this map here (.pdf) | Map via Metro Just like the Gold Line's expansion beyond Pasadena in the foothill neighborhoods, it's also likely to get an extension east of the Eastside. At the moment there are two alternatives being discussed: one along the 60 Freeway from East Los Angeles to South El Monte and another that takes the 60 Freeway to Garfield to Washington, ending in Whittier. That's about...

Photo by melissssaf via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Watch out: "Robbers armed with baseball bats assault victims in Echo Park & Franklin Hills." Employes and customers were detained, some reportedly arrested, by the LAPD in a raid of a Venice marijuana dispensary Thursday night. Another train crash: "A surgical team amputated the arm of a conductor Friday to free him from the wreckage of a locomotive that struck a slow-moving freight train on...

Mark Lacter at LA Business Observed today picks up on a piece at blogdowntown about a restaurant closing with that gem of a headline. The problem is, a planned Tony's Steakhouse for downtown Los Angeles had its lease terminated after two years and never seeing the day of light. Plans for the restaurant and others from the same owners were announced "just before and during the height of the recession."...

Photo by Friends 4 Expo Transit Rail tracks were installed at Farmdale Avenue yesterday, which means all street crossing the first phase of the Expo Line are completed. Darrell Clarke at Friends 4 Expo Transit called it a milestone. The Farmdale crossing, which is next to a high school, had become the project's controversial chokehold until July when a state commission gave it the go-ahead. "I believe there are continuous rails now all the...

It's Ricky from Ricky's Fish Tacos! More about him here. | Photo by R. E. ~ via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Would you pay $25 a day to legally drive on state roads at speeds up to 90 mph? L.A.'s income from police tows has nearly doubled over the last year. After one year, Chief Deputy Mayor Jay Carson, who once was an aide to both Clintons, has resigned, but that was his...

Attention is currently is drawn to protests in Westlake over the officer involved shooting that left a man dead on Sunday, but the fatal Thursday morning shooting of a 19-year-old man just a mile away has failed to see much attention. Celeste Fremon at Witness LA describes Irvin Panameno, nicknamed Smiley, as a reformed gang member.