Zach Behrens

A sewage spill last night prompted the closure of three beaches in Long Beach today. Failed circuit breakers in a private pump station caused approximately 1,000 gallons to discharge last night around 10:30 p.m. into the storm drain system near the Bixby Terrace Area leading to the Los Cerritos Channel where Mother's Beach, Marine Stadium and Colorado Lagoon are located. The beaches will remain closed until the city's Health Department and Officer deem the...

Red Rock Canyon State Park | Photo by Rennett Stowe via Flickr California's budget has passed both houses and now awaits Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature. Until then, nothing is set in stone and parks and open space advocates await the final verdict on state parks. As it stands now, $8 million will be sliced off for this year, which could translates to the closure of 30 to 50 parks. Schwarzenegger's original proposal included a...

Lily Burk left her Los Feliz home Friday on some errands for her mother. While out, twice called her parents asking how to get money out of an ATM using a credit card and never came home. The next morning she was found dead sitting her car near Alameda and 5th streets in downtown's skid row. Police quickly arrested Charlie Samuel, 50, for murder and will announce details at a press conference later today....

A source close to the investigation of Michael Jackson's death has told the Associated Press that the pop star's doctor administered a drug that authorities believe killed him. Dr. Conrad Murray, who is the subject of a manslaughter investigation, apparently gave Jackson anesthetic propofol to help with sleep. "Murray's lawyer has said the doctor didn't prescribe or administer anything that should have killed Jackson," said the AP (bold emphasis by LAist)....

Elected Los Angeles city councilmembers are paid $178,789, the highest in the nation, although many are taking a volunteered 10% pay cut, according to Rick Orlov in his City Hall column. Now a San Pedro man wants to see a local ballot measure in 2010 asking voters if the electeds' salaries should be halved. He'll need petitions from around 240,000 registered voters to even see the question asked to the public. If that would...

By 10 a.m., it was already 80 in Van Nuys, 88 in the Santa Clarita Valley and 95 in Lancaster. In general, today should see highs in the 70s at the beaches and into the 80s and 90s more inland, according to the National Weather Service. Some areas in the Valley could break triple digits. The rest of the week should be slightly less brutal, but only slightly. The ultraviolet index today is 11,...

Orange poppy fields bloom in the distance | Photo by el__vaquero via Flickr Talk about opposites. An Orange County man who owns 320 acres abut the internationally famous poppy reserve in the Antelope Valley wants to build a 3.6-mile course race track. The owner says there won't be much of an impact as it will be built for car clubs and racing organizations with no grandstand for spectators. Still, there are other concerns, explains...

The French-Canadian troupe may not have a permanent show in Los Angeles yet (we're just a few years away from them taking over the Kodak theatre for a 10 year contract), but this Sunday Cirque Du Soleil performers from all six Las Vegas shows will be on stage at the Grove throughout Sunday afternoon. Expect to see portions from Mystere, O, Zumanity, Ka and Love. The free show goes on from noon to 5...

Police say 46-year-old Akop Aduryan was shot and killed after a verbal dispute on a North Hollywood sidewalk last night. It happened around 11 p.m. on the 7500 block of Goodland Avenue. "An unidentified person heard arguing in a foreign language, then gunshots and called 911," says the LAPD. "Aduryan was struck in the chest and died at the scene. Investigators have few leads and there is no suspect description. The motive for the...

Photo by thebittenword.com via Flickr There's Erik and Kelley Knuzten with their homegrown revolution in Silver Lake. There's also Silver Lake Farms. Over in Torrance, a woman named Judi Gerber writes the LA Farm Girl blog about urban, local and sustainable farming and gardening, local food, victory and community gardens . Out in South Pasadena, there's the Urban Homestead. And today we learn of another large urban farming operation in Altadena. Kazi Pitelka, a...

Robert Korda Earlier this month, Robert Korda's family used the internet to round up help to find a missing loved one. Van Nuys resident and Los Angeles Philharmonic veteran Robert Korda never showed up to work after suffering a heart attack the night before. But when his body was brought to the coroner's office, sans identification, fingerprint databases were used and he was erroneously identified as Robert Norda, not Korda. That prompted a manhunt...

Photo by VeryBadLady via Flickr When the LA Weekly broke the news about the still-out-there "Grim Sleeper" serial killer, who would rape and murder victims in South LA, one detective had an idea. What if the matching DNA from the crime scenes was of a registered sex offender who had not yet been swabbed? Of the 1,500 local sex offenders that matched the Grim Sleeper's description, 92 of them did not have DNA on...