Zach Behrens

A sign in Hakone, Japan vs. a sign in Los Angeles | Photos by Julie Wolfson/LAist Hello to all you smoked Angelenos out there!...

Carolyn Flowers' job is to run the country's largest bus operation and today, in addition to taking your questions, she'll talk about the federal stimulus, solar power, the Silver Line, the Orange Line and Measure R. It all starts at noon here and Streetsblogger Damien Newton advises that "the best way to have a substantive discussion is to submit tough questions."...

13.2 million people are now unemployed after some 663,000 jobs were cut last month. That leaves the national unemployment levels at 8.5%, or at 15.6% if you included underemployment after 423,000 jobs were rolled back from full-time to part-time. In total, that's 9 million jobs that were cut back with employees who desire full-time work. And despite everyone's desire to live the 4-Hour Work Week Tim Ferriss style, the nation's average a 33.2 hours...

Police this morning have announced that they have arrested a suspect in Sunday morning's hit and run that left one student dead and another injured. This comes one day after an anonymous donor added $100,000 to the award, already at $135,000. The accident happened early Sunday morning, as Adrianna Bachan, 19, and Marcus Garfinkle, 18, were walking across Jefferson at Hoover on their way home from a frat party and were struck by a...

Photo by Ryan Jesena/LAist On the heels of a state climate report that said California will have "less water and more frequent and intense wildfires, heat waves and bad-air days throughout this century," a congressional field hearing next week near Joshua Tree National Park will take on similar issues. "Of great concern to Joshua Tree National Park is the threat posed to its namesake species, the Joshua tree, by a warming climate," the meeting...

After yesterdays deadly crash that left two dead and twelve injured, the LA Times finds that a girl scout made a powerpoint presentation (part 1, part 2) for the city of La Canada Flintridge and Caltrans prompted by a similar crash last September that destroyed seven cars and injured one. The city also had been pressing for changes after the incident, but they said Caltrans kept on delaying a study. The girl scout, Malia...

Julie Wolfson/LAist Highland and Melrose is becoming a small, but nice mecca for good spots to eat. With Susan Feniger's street food themed restaurant just opening up, you've got three solid places to eat. The other two include the Red Pearl Kitchen and Mozza, which brings us back to the above photo. It's a goat cheese, leeks, scallions and bacon pizza, to which LAist Lifestyle Editor Julie Wolfson says, "um...yum!" Submit your Eye Nosh...

For the past few months, there's been a constant drone of Time Warner complaints that come our way. "Time-Warner has hit an all-time low. Despite the fact that both LAist and The Los Angeles Times has reported Bot attacks on the provider they absolutely refuse to 'fess-up' to the issue and credit me with a refund," a reader left in our anonymous tip box. Another tipster followed up with a complaint we experience daily...

The Coast Guard near Morro Bay | Photo by Mike Baird via Flickr Yesterday evening, the local United States Coast Guard Sector entered a new era of public information by launching a blog. This is "a revolution on how we deal with information management and the new social media, or some people call it, Web 2.0.," Admiral Thad W. Allen sternly said in a video. "We are not living in the same information environment...

"The more I think about the LADOT's new plan for the Olympic-West Pico-East project the more I think they may have gotten things backward," began Streetsblogger Damien Newton about the first public meeting for the project last night. "While the public is discussing what alternatives they would like to see studied, the LADOT is promoting a plan they've already written which would take away peak hour parking and re-time the traffic signals to increase...

In some places, such as Australia, rain barrels are an ubiquitous sight | Photo by madmack66 via Flickr Even with Los Angeles' aggressive zero waste plan not in full effect yet, we still rank number five nationally in a study on America's Least Wasteful Cities. "Following the path to a least wasteful lifestyle is done most often when it's easy and convenient," the study concluded. "Overall results showed that the easier and more convenient...

Late-night revelers in downtown may have more options for affordable parking soon. A city council committee has approved yesterday cheaper later-night parking at Pershing Square. "The facility currently offers a flat rate of $6.60 for those entering after 5pm, but after 1am a new $15 charge is tacked on," explains Eric Richardson at blogdowntown. "The current proposal would extend the reduced rate until at least 2am." The original motion asks for the reduced rate...