Zach Behrens

Someone's caught the social media bug and that's a good thing. LA County's 2nd District Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas is marking his first 100 days in office by promoting his website that now features a blog, an expansive video and photo archives (even a TV news archive) and links to his other social media tools like his new Twitter account. This is all good news, but the question remains, will he use the blog to...

Five of the 11 people that Inglewood Police have shot and killed since 2003 were unarmed. "They include a man who fled when officers tried to stop him for riding his bicycle on a sidewalk," the LA Times reported. "An officer said he fired when the man reached for a bulge near his waist, which turned out to be a rolled-up T-shirt." The Justice Department's investigation, which will look into "procedures and tactics used...

A report released yesterday by the state's interagency Climate Action Team that shows the impacts of rising sea levels and what cities and residents must do in regards to flooding, erosion and other effects. If the ocean rises 55 inches, things change drastically, enough to affect hundreds of thousands of people, the LA Times reports. "Detailed maps of the coastline, published on the institute's website, show that residential neighborhoods in Venice and Marina del...

It's been a long process, but Griffith Park, the nation's largest city park, tomorrow will be ceremonially dedicated as Los Angeles' newest and largest historic cultural monument. Councilmember Tom LaBonge will stand beside the bronze statue of Col. Griffith J. Griffith tomorrow, with the colonel’s grandson at his side, and dedicate at the dedication. On January 27th, the park officially became a monument when it got its procedural blessing from City Council and the...

A difference of 1,322 votes has the solar power initiative losing in preliminary results after last week's election--46,000 ballots are still being counted. Measure B would give the DWP the guaranteed job of producing 400 megawatts of solar power for the city by 2014. Even if the measure loses, the agency will still work on solar power, but this time with a more public and transparent process. "The election results show it's clear the...

From left, "Skyskrape," Charles "Mask" Lewis & "Punkass" from TapouT This morning's crash in Newport Beach where a ferrari was cut in half after it rammed into a light pole may have left martial arts and ultimate wrestling star Charles "Mask" Lewis dead, according to a source who wishes to remain anonymous. Rumors began to leak throughout the TapouT community, but a source close to Lewis confirmed that rare Ferrari seen in news footage...

Exploring Crystal Cove State Park in Orange County | Photo by lachshand via Flickr Come April, a new 50-acre park adjacent to Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area will open offering 360 degree views of the LA Basin and Pacific Ocean. The Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook will host a visitor center with exhibits and small trails featuring a rehabilitated coastal sage scrub plant community. But as we await that, California State Parks have much more...

Photo by Lord Jim via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr 3,000 gathered yesterday in South L.A. to remember the highly respected Deputy Police Chief Kenneth O. Garner who died unexpectedly last week at the age of 53. LA Snark is trying to get Dodgers right fielder Andre Ethier to go to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffle to do a review with them. If you didn't know, Ethier is also an avid food blogger....

Photo by ~db~ via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr With the $215 million in federal stimulus funds Metro received (it could go up to $315) for transportation projects, they are giving cities a minimum of $500,000. But the Pasadena Star News found that smaller cities were taking that money and trading it for as low as 62-cents to the dollar for money they could use on anything they wanted (Example, one city...

Curbed LA finds that a collection of seven homes, dubbed the Auburn 7 at 2748 Auburn Street behind Ivanhoe Elementary School, are finished and sold. "This development is notable because it takes advantage of the city's small lot development ordinance, a rule that allows the development of single-family homes or town houses on a single lot (the theory is that smaller, more affordable homes will result)," notes Curbed. The three-bedroom, 2.5 bathroom homes went...

In an exclusive report, KNX1070 AM is saying that the unemployment rate within the city of Los Angeles is at 20%, according to the LA County Economic Development Corporation. "That includes those unemployed, those who have given up seeking work and those stuck in part time jobs when they want full time ones--and the figure actually tops 20 percent of the available workforce for the city. That means 1 in 5 of the available...

Found in Venice | Photo by ZigZagLens via Flickr The Venice Neighborhood Council, a group of elected volunteers under the auspices of the city, is becoming one of the more well known groups within the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment. Recently, they've taken on overnight parking drawing the attention of mainstream media and blogs. Via their e-mail newsletter, here's what the progressive group is doing next week: The Venice Neighborhood Council Board will hear a...