Zach Behrens

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...

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...

"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...

Leroy Jones Pasadena police have released the "blue book" report on the controversial officer involved shooting of parolee Leroy Jones earlier this year. Jones was killed in the back of his car with 11 bullets, seven of them in his back after two officers pulled him over and a struggle with a gun ensued, according to the Pasadena Star News. The report clears the officers saying the shooting was warranted. But Jones' family and...

Around 9:15 p.m. last night, a 19-year-old man was killed when he was shot once in the head in what police believe to be a gang related shooting. Joey Romo was reportedly in an argument on the 2900 block of Glenmanor Place when the incident happened, according to the LAPD. The suspect is described as a 5 foot 7 inch male wearing a black sweatshirt. Anyone with more information about the killing was asked...

Burbank Airport's Arrivals and Departures | Photo by {Guerrilla Futures | Jason Tester} via Flickr The difference between LAX and Burbank airports are obviously vast. At one you should arrive an hour or two early just to make sure you'll make it through all the lines. At the other, arriving 20 minutes before your flight is typical. The latter, Burbank Airport, is now offering a new ultra type of valet service. "Our standard Gold...

Photo: cliff1066 An internal LAPD audit has found that 115 of the 178 officers in desk jobs that should be filled by lower paid civilians are fit and healthy enough to be out on the streets. That's "roughly equivalent to removing one or two patrol cars from each of the department's 21 stations -- a significant handicap for a police force that is far smaller per capita than those in other major American cities,"...

Eric Richardson at blogdowntown notes that everyone from coffeeshops to LA Live to condo buildings are on Twitter. What's missing from the list? The government entities in the region. No Councilmembers Jan Perry or Jose Huizar, no Community Redevelopment Agency, no neighborhood council, no LAPD Central Division. Considering the City Council mandated that all agencies explore Twitter, this could change soon. You can follow LAist on Twitter here....

Ed Boks Richard Alarcon and others on the Los Angeles City Council are fed up with Ed Boks, the General Manager of the Animal Services Department. This month's drop of coupons for city mandated spaying and neutering apparently was the last straw. "[The city] faces a continuing crisis in the management of the Department of Animal Services," began Alarcon in a motion he introduced today. "These problems range across a gamut of issues: facilities,...

Found at Normandie & Olympic | Photo: asdfkim There's nothing more that will get a community off their asses and to public meetings than the fight over a neighborhood's name. A group of people want a part of Koreatown to be called Little Bangladesh, so they filed a petition with the city. Koreatown is not one bit thrilled, but they say their area was never recognized by the city as an official neighborhood either,...

There were lots of 'I Voted' Stickers left over last week | Photo by joebeone via Flickr Last week's election hardly brought a soul out. 6%, or around 24,000 people, of nearly 400,000 registered voters came out for last week's special election for the 26th district State Senate seat vacated by Mark Ridley-Thomas when he joined the LA County Board of Supervisors. At a cost of around $2.2 million, many are frustrated at how...

Considering the recent city audit report on high water bottle usage within departments, the LA Times took at look at the LA County Board of Supervisor's own practice of "affixing their own labels -- to avoid having the brand visible on TV broadcasts of their meetings." Here's how it works: "Every week, a college student who earns $9.92 an hour for a range of tasks peels the labels off water bottles, uses a computer...