Zach Behrens

Sad news, y'all. Gidget, who we all know as the Taco Bell chihuahua ("Yo Quiero Taco Bell") suffered a stroke and died at age 15. After she retired from her commercial fame, she lived her days in the sun before dying Tuesday night. "She made so many people happy," said Gidget's trainer, Sue Chipperton. Speaking of Taco Bell, they've also joined the Twittering trend of mobile food trucks, but fear not, they are not...

Photo: Tom Andrews/LAist Times are a-changin'... Three galleries--Pharmaka, the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art (LACDA) and El Nopal Press--at the corner of 5th and Main were recently given eviction notices by the building's owner, reports blogdowntown: "While the notices were surprises, the move fits with the growth patterns that have characterized gallery districts around the country. Galleries enter a depressed but interesting neighborhood, help make it a safer and more vibrant place, and...

Police in Houston Police and federal agents served a search warrant in Houston today to Michael Jackson's personal doctor, Dr. Conrad Murray. "The search was conducted by members of the DEA, two Robbery-Homicide detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department and Houston Police officers. The search warrant authorized law enforcement to search for and seize items, including documents, they believed constituted evidence of the offense of manslaughter," Murray's lawyer said in a statement. The...

K-Town is getting its own food festival early next month and it looks like it could become a staple of LA's summer festival scene. How could grilled and smoked meats with magical flavors not be a hit? Details are slowly coming out for the event, set for August 8th, but here's what we know: Jonathan Gold and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa are confirmed to be cook-off judges. Confirmed restaurants include Beverly Soon Tofu, Byul Dae Po (Star BBQ), Ham Ji Park, Mu Dae Po, Park's BBQ, Seoul Jung, So Hyang, Soowon Galbi. There will be a food eating contest

Judy Ramos was crossing the street shortly past midnight on Sunday when a car struck her. She was brought to the hospital where she died the next day from her injuries. Now police are looking for the suspect vehicle but have few leads. It could be a 4-door white vehicle, but that's about it. She was hit on Vaughn, a side street, near Glenoaks Boulevard. Anyone with information is asked to call Valley Traffic...

Photo: RebelSciences Shortly before noon, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved moving the LA Marathon back to a Sunday date in the month of March beginning next year. During public comment, most speakers supported the date change, but a few stood up to save Sundays. "For those who have made this into a religious issue, this is not a religious issue... This has not and has never been a religious issue," said a...

In addition to the $70 million Los Angeles could lose via raided redevelopment funds, another $166 million could be lost if $120 million in property tax revenue and $66 million in gas tax revenue are taken to fix the state budget, which will be voted on later this week by state legislators. The County of Los Angeles also stands to lose major funding, which could have long term effects in the billions. The county...

The deal to solve our state budget deficit has basically come to a conclusion, but it's not final yet and we still don't know what parks will close with at least $8 still million proposed to be cut. The California Parks Foundation, in an e-mail this afternoon, explains the latest: "The details are not yet in print, but several sources are confirming that $70 million of the park system's General Fund allocation will be...

Photo by Djenan via Flickr By LA Weekly's count of every murder within Los Angeles city limits, we are at 168 as of yesterday when a taxi driver stabbed earlier this month died of his wounds. Compare that to last year July 18th, when there were 208 murders and juxtapose that to the 162 this year as of that date. That's a 22.1% decline in murders so far. Add to that, the murder rate...

City Attorney Carmen Trutanich announced this afternoon in a session of City Council that his investigation into tax payer money being used for the Michael Jackson Memorial has revealed "civil and criminal aspects." He would not speak publicly about details, including a lawsuit's target, but offered to go into closed session about the civil aspects. City Council agreed and went to the back chambers to discuss at 12:30 p.m. As this publishing, they are...

Going more in depth into the State Budget deal, local redevelopment projects around town could get hit pretty hard, according to the LA Times. $1.7 billion in redevelopment funds will be taken away from local municipalities, which could mean $72 million less for Los Angeles with a total loss of $360 million in private investment and 2,300 less jobs. Of those projects that could threatened include a shopping center in Reseda and a mixed-used...

If they can send men to the moon, then they can surely help bitch-thirsy Los Angeles save some water in drought times and beyond. A three-year agreement between the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena and the Los Angeles Department of Power & Water will bring automatic sensors to various projects. One example, explains the Pasadena Star News: "DWP maintains a network of sprinklers to keep the dust under control when winds pick up. To...