Zach Behrens

Photo by jontintinjordan via Flickr Martin J. Gomez was confirmed today as the new City Librarian, charging him with the duty to oversee a $129 million budget, 6 million books and 1,100 employees throughout the 71 branches. The UCLA grad started his 30-year career as branch librarian in San Diego, moving on to head up Oakland's system, then to work in Brooklyn and most recently San Mateo. Taking advantage of the moment, Councilmember Richard...

LA Weekly is tracking every murder within Los Angeles city limits and yesterday in Pacoima, the 137th for 2009 occurred. Yesterday, "30-year-old Gerardo Cruz was standing out in front of his girlfriend's house with her brother drinking beer when three alleged gang members jumped out of their blue compact car and 'shot up the place.'" Although gang related, police said Cruz was not affiliated with any gangs. This was the fourth homicide in the...

Who knew our little freeway that could was the largest and most stimulated project in all of the state. Ripped from a White House press release about California meeting Recovery Act goals ahead of schedule: "As of today, California’s largest ARRA-funded project is the I-405 in Los Angeles County that will be widened and include several interchange upgrades along a 10-mile stretch of HOV lanes. This project is located in an economically distressed area...

Charlie's Angels darling, Farrah Fawcett, died this morning at 9:28 a.m. at St. John’s Heath Center in Santa Monica where she had returned "for treatment of complications from anal cancer, first diagnosed three years ago," according to People Magazine. She was 62 years old. Her spokesperson is saying the cause of death is the cancer. Ryan O'Neal and Alana Stewart were at her bedside as she passed away, reported TMZ. A multiple Golden Globe...

Michael Jackson, reportedly suffering from a heart attack, was rushed to a local hospital from his Holmby Hills rental estate during the twelve noon hour today. When paramedics arrived around 12:26 p.m., the 50-year-old pop star was not breathing, reported the LA Times. "The call came in because a person was not breathing," said an LAFD official. "When the team arrived, they saw that CPR was already in progress by someone at the home. The person not breathing was transported to UCLA Medical Center and remains there." He was taken to UCLA Medical Center just a few minutes away from the home.

The location of the first See's Candy shop located at Western and 1st Street (see it in Street View), was designated as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument by City Council today. The 1921-built structure has character-defining features of Italian Renaissance Revival architecture, according to city documents, which continue to say "the See family developed their distinctive store design and aesthetic: white colored storefronts and interiors, black-on-white lettering and font, black and white tiled foor,...

Out with the old meters, in with hand-me-down bicycle racks called meter hitches. When the city last year began replacing parking meters with the new pay station ones, that either left headless meters or no meters at all along stress, which meant less options for bicycle parking. Then last night, as part of a pilot project between the Department of Transportation and Council President Eric Garcetti's office, came 52 new bicycle meter hitches on...

Photo by Willem van Bergen via Flickr Today, the Legislature is expected to vote to close the State's $24 billion budget deficit with measures that include taking $57 million in gas tax money from the City of Los Angeles. If that were to happen, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says the city could lose 800 street maintenance positions through those revenues. Yes, street maintenance, one of the most complained about aspects of Los Angeles. Although the...

Both legislative houses met today to vote on the a budget revision aiming to fix a $24 billion deficit with no success. Out of 20 bills, only one was voted on and it failed. While Assembly Budget Chair Noreen Evans mentioned the State Parks fee idea, none of the two questions regarding them were addressed. Traci Verardo-Torres of the California State Parks Foundation's told LAist she wasn't sure "if state parks have lived another...

It looks like the recession has hit Dolce Enoteca so now their offering a recession obsession deal: 50% off everything on their menu through Monday. "No coupons, no flyers... no bullshit... just great food at half price," they said in an e-mail blast. The Dolce Group also owns the Geisha House, Bella Cucina Italiana, Les Deux and Ketchup. The latter spot is now offering half off all alcohol and appetizers during Dodger games....

The elevator at the Griffith Observatory | Photo by *Mike via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr The LAUSD school board approved their budget today with $1.6 billion in possible cuts over the next three years. Begrudgingly say hi to layoffs and larger class sizes! The Daily News looks into the man who died in yesterday's early hit and run. His family speaks out. The headline says it all: "Phil Spector will be allowed jam...

Slumdog won Best Picture for 2008 (AP) Big announcement from the academy today. No longer are days of five competing movies for Best Picture, but ten. “After more than six decades, the Academy is returning to some of its earlier roots, when a wider field competed for the top award of the year,” said Academy Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis. “The final outcome, of course, will be the same - one...