Zach Behrens

Raymond Lee Oyler, who set the deadly Esperanza Fire in 2006, was sentenced to death today after a jury recommended the penalty with the judge concurring in his final sentence. Five firefighters died when flames overtook them while protecting a house in the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains. 41,000 acres burned and 34 homes were lost, too. The 38-year-old arsonist was convicted in March of five counts of first-degree murder, 20 counts of...

Hello highest rate of unemployment in 25 years, up from 8.9% last month. The one thing economists are saying about today's statistics--employers cutting 345,000 jobs in May--is that it's the lowest rate since last September, which could be a sign the recession is making a turn around. A study in April said the Los Angeles-Long Beach region ranks 56 out of 66 for job growth in large U.S. cities. So, who's doing some funemployment...

Photo by Manjith Kainickara via Flickr North Hollywood: What do you do when the city owns a vacant lot that's being used by people as an unofficial trash landfill? Clear it out and make it into a park. On Monday, Councilwoman and Controller-Elect Wendy Greuel and others will make the first ceremonial dig on the Bellaire Pocket Park Project, located at the corner of Bellaire Ave and Strathern St. Plans include featuring native plants,...

Welcome a new baby saki monkey to the Santa Ana Zoo! Born on May 18th, the child's sex is still unknown, but zoo officials say it's healthy and full of energy. It is the fourth born to its parents Dakota and Aaliyah. The full family can be seen at the zoo's Tropical Rainforest multi-species exhibit....

Pulitzer Prize winning food critic Jonathan Gold did not discover an unknown but extremely tasty mom and pop restaurant in a strip mall in one of his reviews this week, but instead headed to LA Live's Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill. "To be honest, Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill feels more like Puck’s restaurants in the Midwest or Las Vegas than it does like Spago: This is the export model, food in the crunchy,...

Eric Garcetti proposed to have the city do bicycle sharrows--basically painted graphics on street lanes indicating bicycles and cars should share the lane, per state law--as a pilot project. That was last year June. One year later, here's the latest via the LA County Bicycle Coalition's e-mail blast today: "At a meeting, held last week, the pilot project timeline was reevaluated and due in part to LADOT and Alta Planning's priority to finish the...

Remember back in February when local artist Shepard Fairey was arrested in Boston for allegedly sticker slapping and postering in Boston? Well, this week, 13 charges were dropped, but he still faces more from a September 16th, 2000 incident in which he did not appear for his arraignment the next day. "We're happy that those cases have been dismissed and we're looking forward to others being dismissed as well that rely on the same...

Photo by °Florian via Flickr You've probably seen this happen: it's raining, yet the sprinklers are working hard in a city park. Not such a smart idea in a drought, or anytime actually. This past week, new sprinkler regulations went into affect (.pdf info sheet), only allowing sprinkling use on Mondays and Thursdays and not between the times of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. For a few years now, there's been a more advanced...

The reality is setting in. "I screwed myself. I screwed up my life, I screwed up my kids' lives," Nadya Suleman told a RadarOnline videographer about mistakes she's made. "I have to put on this strong facade and I have to pretend like I don't regret it." The conversation was mainly about how she never informed the biological father she was using his sperm after the first six children. "I went behind his back...

Thanks, lightning and dry brush. After yesterday's storm, lightning caused at least 19 fires in remote regions of the forest, Angeles National Forest officials report after a early morning reconnaissance flight. Twelve of those fires are full contained, but one fire called the Twin Fire remains fairly active in the the central San Gabriel Mountains. The 680,000-acre forest was struck by lightning approximately 400 times between 2:30am and 8:00pm Wednesday. Inciweb will be keeping...

Photo: A.C.Thamer In the past LAPD Chief William Bratton was rumored to be a top candidate to take over Scotland Yard. He denied that and he's still here serving Los Angeles today. However, today Her Majesty awarded him with the honorary title Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his work to promote cooperation between the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) police, both before and during his service...

Freelancers, actors, waiters, web designers and all sorts of people who receive 1099s often find themselves puzzled at why they get letters from the city telling them that they owe money. That's because if you're doing business within the city of Los Angeles, you officially need to declare your earnings. In many cases, people don't earn enough for you to owe, but if you don't register in a timely fashion, you will owe plus...