Zach Behrens

Talk about a difference in temperature. That's nearly 30 degrees for areas about 30 miles apart. But as predicted earlier this week, the National Weather Service says today would get hotter... well, at least for the inland areas. Other temperatures in the area include 95 in Woodland Hills, 78 in downtown LA, 71 in Long Beach, 72 in Santa Monica and 90 in Granada Hills. So basically, the Valley got screwed today....

Rep. Terry Morrison Just a quick update from this morning. After the Maine legislature approved gay marriage, Governor John Baldacci, who was thought to be undecided on the issue, signed the bill into law. "I have read many of the notes and letters sent to my office, and I have weighed my decision carefully," he said in a statement. "I did not come to this decision lightly or in haste." Meanwhile, the California Supreme...

There are about 30- to 35,000 bears in California, according to Department of Fish & Game officials. With that many, there's no doubt that stories like this morning's--a 300-pound bear wanders into a Camarillo apartment complex--are surprising. Yesterday around noon, two campers' dog and mountain lion dueled in the Cleveland National Forest outside of Santa Ana. Mountains lions usually want to keep to themselves and Fish & Game officials told the OC Register that...

A bear spotted in Tahoe | Photo by RickC via Flickr For the second time today, a North American Black Bear entered an area residential neighborhood. This time one was found in a La Verne, probably in search of water and food, before officials tranquilized and transported it to an undisclosed location in the San Gabriel Mountains. Earlier today, a 300-pound bear was found and captured in a Camarillo apartment complex. With this year's...

A shooting on the 900 block of North Doheny Drive this morning at 9:05 a.m. left one man dead and a 50-year-old woman in critical condition. The circumstances surrounding the incident are not yet known, according to a Los Angeles County Sheriff's representative over the phone. UPDATE: This incident apparently was an attempted murder-suicide....

via Customs and Border Protection Last month, Customs and Border Protection were waiting when Song Dong of Garden Grove returned to Los Angeles from Vietnam. During inspection, they initially noticed bird feathers and droppings on his socks and upon a further look, "14 live birds attached to two flat pieces of clothe that were wrapped around his calves," according to the United States Attorneys Office. Agents were first tipped off to Dong last December...

As we head towards Summer, these brush fires here and there are becoming more and more frequent. Today's conflagration, named the Jesusita Fire after a nearby trail in the San Roque Canyon, broke out early this afternoon. Gunshots is on the list of possible causes, according to the Santa Barbara Independent, who is following the fire closely....

It's only a minor loss in the ever-growing billboard problem in Los Angeles. A judge placed an injunction on the city prohibiting them from taking action against SkyTag's 18 unpermitted supergraphics saying they had proof they were up before the December moratorium. While Los Angeles has its problems, New Yorkers are taking illegal billboards into their own hands. Check out the photo to the right, it's just one of many from the recent "Public...

Another comic great has left us. Dom Deluise, 75, reportedly died last night at a Los Angeles area hospital. "One of the truly funniest comics, EVER!!! "His brand of humor will be greatly missed," an LAist reader wrote in an e-mail this morning. "I'm actually a thin, serious person, but I play fat and funny, but only for the movies," DeLuise once joked about himself. His death follows last week's loss of Vegas performer...

Photo: Fred Camino Not owning your own property can be a bitch. And such is life when leasing from the government, one who will now be using some of the land for a transportation corridor. The Orange Line busway extension from the Warner Center up Canoga Avenue to the Chatsworth Train Station is slated to break ground this June. That means the businesses that have been leasing right-of-way property from Metro--some have for 50...

It looks like Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken the debate over marijuana to whole a new level, the Sacramento Bee reports: The governor was asked about a recent Field Poll [.pdf] showing that 56 percent of registered voters support legalizing and taxing marijuana to raise revenues for cash-strapped California. Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, has proposed legislation that would legalize the drug for recreational use, rather than just medical purposes.

Photo by revoche via Flickr The famous track is in bankruptcy and going on the auction block next September. So just in case you're interested in buying it, you should know developer Rick Caruso of The Grove and Americana fame, is rumored to wanting it for himself. Considering he already has stake in the track's north parking lot--a $500 million, 820,000-square foot "The Shops at Santa Anita" currently in the Environmental Review process--it would...