Zach Behrens

It's good to be the son of a restaurant owner. Miriam Toam's son loved the Jucy Lucy burger trend in Minneapolis so much, he convinced her to experiment and make her own for Mira'le Cafe and Grill on West 3rd Street. Customers gave a thumbs up and now five cheese stuffed burgers are on the menu, whether it be a brie with cranberries, blue cheese with carmelized onions or pepper jack with bacon and...

A state legislator is suing the Governor over budget cuts and so is everyone else, it seems. Today, you can add AIDS Project Los Angeles to the list. They contend that Schwarzenegger went beyond his authority by cutting $85 million from HIV/AIDS programs. Citing the state's Legislative Counsel Bureau, the APLA says Schwarzenegger was only allowed to make budget cuts to original budget appropriations, not to a bill passed last February. “In exceeding his...

Image via KCET's SoCal Connected short documentary on the issue Earlier this year when Venice residents were fed up with the vehicular homeless taking up the streets with RVs and allegedly dumping water illegally onto lawns and into the streets, the local neighborhood council held an election, ultimately approving overnight parking districts that would limit such activity. But the true legal authority in the manner was the California Coastal Commission who balked, voting against...

Co-Found Floyd Butterfield Shaq is now one of the newest investors in a San Diego based company that provides car owners with their own portable ethanol filling station at home. The Microfueler from GreenHouse is an in-home organic fuel microrefinery that allows you fill up any car that can take regular gas. The $10,000 contraption takes in a feedstock mixture to produce the ethanol that is pumped into cars. "I tried it, I liked...

Photo by Dawn Endico via Flickr In order to keep some--not all--state parks open, California State Parks will be increasing fees beginning next Monday. The move comes after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger slashed nearly $39 million from parks last month in the state budget. Officials say that it is likely some parks will close, but are seeking to partner with communities and corporations to keep some open. “In these dire economic times, we can no...

Caroline on Crack/LAist It's been almost a year since the popular alternative cupcakery opened its doors on West 3rd Street, TastingTableLA reminds us in an e-mail. Back then, LAist Contributor Caroline on Crack was happy with the bakery for three reasons: "1) they are available in teeny tiny cupcake-size bundts rather than not-so-cute bundt cake slices, 2) they aren't uber sweet, making them a perfect coffee complement and 3) the small bundts are pleasantly...

If you saw that car chase going up the 405 this morning, here's what happened, according to the California Highway Patrol. Officers attempted to pull over a man driving northbound on the 405 freeway in the Carson area around 8:45 a.m. But the man fled, going up to speeds of 90 miles per hour (he was going opposite of rush hour traffic at times). He made his way to the San Fernando Valley, hooked...

Shepard Fairey, famous for his street art and the famous Obama poster, spoke to the LA Times about the other Obama poster that was first seen around Los Angeles last week. "I don't agree with the political content of the poster," Fairey said of the poster that has Obama's face painted like The Dark Knight's Joker with the word "socialism" below. "They don't realize that Medicaid is a socialist program." Fairey and his circle...

The four-acre urban Alemany Farm in San Francisco (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) No, urban farming is not the name of some cool sounding store that will become the next fad like froyo and cupcakes. It's just what it is--farming and gardening for yourself at home at in local gardens for the community. Up in San Francisco, Mayor Gavin Newsom wants community gardens on vacant and underutilized city-owned lots. At the White House, First Lady Michelle...

What cats learn on TV | Photo by Malingering via Flickr Those who own horses are likely to get less strict water usage laws under a motion going through Los Angeles city council right now, but on a more national level congress looking into tax relief for pet owners. The Humanity and Pets Partnered Through the Years (HAPPY) Act (more specifically, H.R. 3501) would allow individuals to deduct up to $3500 a year for...

The Los Angeles County Coroner announced today that their "thorough and comprehensive" investigation into the death of Michael Jackson has been completed. However, the LAPD has requested the information remain confidential as their investigation continues. "The extension of security measures will help maintain the integrity of the investigation and allow investigators from LAPD’s Robbery Homicide Division, as well as our partner law enforcement agencies to continue their investigation," they explained in a statement. Further...

An aggressive brush fire in the Los Padres National Forest has burned 10,000 acres and is showing little sign of letting up, according to the LA Times. The La Brea fire began Saturday afternoon and is over five miles away from homes on the edge of the Santa Maria and New Cuyama areas. The national forest abuts the Angeles National Forest in the Santa Clarita Valley and extend along the South Coast Ranges to...