Zach Behrens

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...

Metro is continuing to study the conditions below the ground surface as they prepare an environmental impact report for the possibility of placing a subway line or two in the Westside. Next week, exploratory drilliing with minimal sound, vibration and traffic effects, will take place at San Vicente/Gracie Allen, Wilshire/West of Irving and at UCLA Parking Lot 36 near Wilshire/Veteran. Next month, there will be five public meetings where the public can hear updates...

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...

The company contracted by Los Angeles to install, maintain and monitor cameras that record drivers running red lights, eventually prompting a costly traffic ticket by mail, has filed for a court receivership, an alternative to bankruptcy. Now city officials are looking at what options they have when the contract expires with Nestor Traffic Systems, which could go out of business or be purchased by a another company. Since April 2006 when the first red...

Photo: current events In a telephone press conference this morning with various mayors from across the state, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa fervently said that he and other cities "will not accept a flawed budget." It's been a consistent theme since Tuesday, the morning after a state budget solution was agreed upon by state leaders. The full legislature is expected to vote on the proposal as early as tonight. "Some may believe the spin," Villaraigosa warned,...

Good times at The Roxy | Photo by The Roxy Theatre via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Now in its second year, the Sunset Strip Music Festival in West Hollywood announced yesterday that the event has evolved from a series of concerts in nearby venues to a full on street festival with two stages in addition to the strip's indoor venues. "The street fest is part music festival, part club experience and part celebration...

The LAPD, its union and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today will discuss the impact to the city if 27,000 people are released from state prisons. While saving the state budget, the cost to taxpayers will be more than $4 billion over three years according to their calculations based on " the number of inmates to be released and standard recidivism rates." That could mean an additional 245,000 new crimes and new crime victims in the...

While it's all high fives in Sacramento, it's stress in the city and county halls of across the state. A big part of the state's budget solution is on the backs of local governments, raiding their funds and only sometimes with a plan of paying them back years later. In the LA Times, the budget proposal from Monday night was likened to a “ponzi scheme that passes off responsibility to future governors, legislators and to our taxpayers" by Judy Mitchell, mayor of Rolling Hills Estates and president of the League of California Cities.

Photo by kristi.nicole via Flickr Last weekend, it was over 100 hidden staircases between downtown and the Hollywood sign. This Sunday the Location Managers Guild of America will bring the second of a series of six walks along Route 66, says the blog Franklin Avenue. This weekend's walk will cover 9.4 miles from West Hollywood to Union Station in downtown. It will begin at Barney's Beanery and follow Santa Monica Boulevard through Hollywood where...

State Assemblyman Paul Krekorian will be soon be voting on the proposed budget solution, which severely impacts local governments including Los Angeles. If it passes, Los Angeles could lose millions and has leaders like Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Council President Eric Garcetti worried. Krekorian also happens to be one of the frontrunners in the race for Los Angeles Council District 2. That's quite a pickle of a situation and when pressed about it, his...

Surprisingly, this didn't happen earlier. A new iPhone App simply called Cannabis, which will "let users search by city for their nearest medical cannabis suppliers, doctors, clinics, lawyers and other relevant organisations," explains The Sun. "Makers the campaign group Ajnag.com hope to add cannabis related news, menus, reviews and videos soon." Also: A few months ago, the iPhone compatible Weedmaps launched. It uses Google Maps and is also like the Cannabis app, being all...