Zach Behrens

Johnathan Rice plays at the 2008 Sunset Junction Street Festival (see more photos here) | Photo by Koga/LAist An e-mail sent out from an online ticketing vendor today advertised this year's Sunset Junction, but city officials say no street closure and event permits have been granted to the festival. TicketWeb lists admission for the popular and longstanding event at $15 each day for August 22nd and 23rd confusing attendees who thought the festival was...

Photos via Twitpic via Nate Ballard How much of a meta dork is Gavin Newsom? His communications director Nate Ballard twittered two photos of Gavin twittering his gubernatorial announcement this morning. Newsom raised a quick $15,000 by early afternoon (he announced that via Twitter, too) and as noted by commenter Torrmoz (here's his Twitter), he's gained nearly 4,000 more followers since this morning....

One boy died this morning after being struck by a Metrolink Train outside Riverside. Train 702 was traveling toward Riverside from Los Angeles when it caught up with two boys trespassing and cutting across the tracks around 7:30 a.m. The other boy survived. As of 9:20 a.m. the train was still out of service, but buses were being used to bridge riders....

The Los Angeles Fire Department had two larger events during the 11 a.m. hour this morning. The first was near Silver Lake on Fletcher near Riverside Dr. where about one half acre of grass and brush burned near structures, but firefighters were able to knock it down in just less than 20 minutes at 11:43 a.m. No one was injured and no buildings were damaged. On Westwood Blvd. near the 10 Freeway, a car...

LA City Council today approved the third phase of a water conservation ordinance aimed a reducing the consumption of this bitch-thirsty city. Soon, residents and businesses may only water their lawns and other landscaping on Mondays and Thursdays. An earlier phase, which prohibited watering between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. remains in effect. The new restriction begins on June 1st....

Scratch William Parker's name from the idea list, or so said the LAPD Commission today, who voted to oppose to name the new LAPD headquarters with his name, which stirs up a controversial racist past. Instead, Councilmember Richard Alarcon wants to name the building after Mayor Tom Bradley. Here is the councilman's take on his bio: Tom Bradley arrived in Los Angeles in 1924, the son of sharecroppers and the grandson of slaves. In...

Found in Boyle Heights | Photo by Jimson Weed Gazette via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Years old records were broken for the second day in the row yesterday. Here's how it broke down, according to preliminary results from the National Weather Service: Downtown's thermometer hit 100, breaking an April 20th, 1956 record when it hit 96. LAX hit 95, breaking the 1986 record of... 86. In the same year, Long Beach was scorching...

Official Sample Ballot booklets for the May 19th election began their journey yesterday to homes of voters. “Every registered voter in the County will receive an Official Sample Ballot booklet prior to Election Day,” said LA County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan. “Sample Ballots contain important information to help ensure that voters are able to successfully cast their ballot, either by mail, or at their neighborhood polling place.” This also means you can start the...

Jane Harman Although it is all hearsay at this point, the New York Times (and, well, the whole Internet) is abuzz about Southbay Congresswoman Jane Harman's alleged involvement in aiding two lobbyists in exchange for becoming the the all powerful chair of the House Intelligence Committee. Pro-Israel lobbyists Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weissman from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee were under investigation and eventually indicted for violating the World War I-era Espionage...

It reached 99 degrees in downtown Los Angeles, Long Beach and Woodland Hills this afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. Going further than that, Fullerton and Palm Springs each broke into triple digits. For the most part, valleys, inland and even some beachside areas remained in the low to high 90s. Today's ultraviolet index level is 10, which means "a fair skinned person could suffer a sunburn in about four minutes if not...

Design by Forester Rudolph Earlier this year, Council President Eric Garcetti's office hosted a bicycle rack competition for artists to design bicycle racks for East Hollywood. Today, after city and community input, Melrose Hills artist Forester Rudolph and his SpokesQuotes design were announced as the winner. “We asked the community to assist us with designing new bicycle racks that would serve their purpose as a safe place to lock bikes while also beautifying the...

They begin moving next month and by the end of the year, the new LAPD headquarters next to the LA Times building should be open for business. But one thing that's not settled yet is what to name it, or if it even needs one at all. One name being considered is transferring the same one from the current one: Parker Center, named after the controversial and racist Chief William Parker from the 1950s....