Zach Behrens

By the end of this week, we should see gates in the Metro Purple Line Wilshire/Normandie station, reports LA Streetsblog: "Once the Wilshire/Normandie installation is completed, Metro will continue along the Red and Purple Lines, a process that Rick Jager estimates could take up to six months before moving on to the Green Line, then the Blue Line and finally, the Gold Line." But that doesn't mean they'll be in working condition. "A start...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bike/ / CC BY-SA 2.0 A city proposal could do just that. Smart Sprinklers, as explained by the Catalina Island Conservancy's Isla Earth podcast, works like this: "a weather-based controller starts talking to your local weather station. It gets data about things like rainfall, air temperature, and wind speed. It then uses those data to figure out how much water your plants will need and how much will be lost to evaporation. It turns...

atomicshakespeares Well, some of us vote, at least. After the May 19th Special Election where no candidate garnered 50 percent of the vote needed to claim the 32nd seat in the U.S House--left open by Hilda Solis after she joined the Obama administration as the Labor Secretary--a run-off was set for today. Democrat and vice chair of the California Board of Equalization Judy Chu is the frontrunner and is expected to win. She faces...

Riding in downtown LA | Photo by GarySe7en via LAist Featured Photos Newport Beach held a demonstration this weekend for their future bicycle sharing program, something that many desire here in Los Angeles after seeing similar programs in Europe and Canada. The Brandenburger Foundation is bringing the program to the city and has chosen the Bixi Bike System, which can be seen on the streets of Montreal. Here's how it will works, as explained...

Image Source: Richard Masoner | http://www.flickr.com/photos/bike/ / CC BY-SA 2.0 20-year-old Marco Antonio Valencia will be arraigned today in court for a weekend incident that killed a Santa Clarita Valley man and injured two others on Bouquet Canyon Road. It's a pretty gruesome story, as the local paper, The Signal, tells it: The truck crossed the double-yellow lines near the Big Oaks Lodge and slammed into the single-file line of bicyclists on the opposite...

A fire that sparked up yesterday in Castaic is still burning, but fire officials are starting to gain an upper hand. As of 6 a.m., the Osito Fire near Pyramid Lake is 65% contained and was downgraded from 400 acres to 288, according to official reports. Two lanes were closed on the northbound 5 Freeway and remain closed this morning. No structures have been reported to be damaged and there has been one minor...

When will we learn? Just because they spray paint cans may seem harmless doesn't mean the people using are not. A man who approached taggers in Santa Ana this morning was attacked, says the LA Times: "The 38-year-old was walking near the intersection of McFadden and Orange avenues just after 2 a.m. when he saw a group of three young men painting graffiti on a wall, said Santa Ana Police Cmdr. Tammy Franks. The...

A Baja Fresh with margaritas, korean tacos, new salsas and step by step ordering like you do a Chipotle? That's what the Cypress-based company is testing in Irvine, according to Nancy Luna, the Fast Food Maven of Orange County. She also notes that one of the franchises in Huntington Beach recently received an alcohol permit, which might be one of the 13 locations that gets the liquor upgrade, according to the chain. The Kogi...

A minor 3.2 quake struck near Los Angeles International Airport at 9:14 p.m., but caused no reported damage as of a half hour later, according to the LA Times. The earthquake was also located in the same general area of a few quakes that struck in May. A 4.7 rattler struck on May 17 followed by a 4.1 on May 19. These little quakes are always a good reminder to get prepared: store water,...

Steven Rosenberg has been a long time Van Nuys resident and neighborhood blogger for the Daily News. As of today's City Council vote, he now lives in Sherman Oaks and tells it likes it is from his perspective: "For one thing, every single person who bought into this neighborhood received a discount of sorts on their home by virtue of it NOT being in Sherman Oaks, even though it is close (and this is,...

Chicagoist finds that a bakery is selling cookies with the face of Michael Jackson on it and ponders... "While we found something tragic about eating Michael Jackson's face, these cookies got us thinking, are there any celebrities we would actually like to see be displayed on food items upon their death? Would you want to stretch out and chew on pink Spencer Pratt face taffy or slice and devour a Kim Jong Il face...

Part of Metro's Power Point presentation (.pdf) for this week's meeting On July 1st, our taxes in LA County increased a half penny on the dollar to fund a mix of transportation projects, whether they be rail, highway or something else, thanks to Measure R, which was voted in by the public last November. This Thursday morning, Metro will hold a Measure R committee meeting (.pdf) to discuss aspects of that and part of...