Zach Behrens

A motion to limit some outdoor smoking that was submitted last fall has took a big step yesterday when a city council committee approved it, passing it on to the full City Council for consideration. If passed a new law this summer would prohibit smoking on restaurant patios or within 10 feet of any outdoor establishment that serves food or beverages with the exception of bars with outdoor areas and other over-18 venues, according...

Longing for a complete transit system | Photo by nanooksvinyl via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Metro's board was supposed to vote later this month on the long-range plan that would have set timetables for projects such as the "Subway to the Sea," and other projects. Community members and politicians such as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa were not to pleased to see opening dates for projects more than 20 years from now (a subway to...

Are the new parking meter rates and time limits affecting you? Let us know in the comments. Reader "db" shares his frustration: "I went down to Hollywood Blvd for lunch last Sunday and had to park blocks away, not because of the ridiculous $2/hour (on a Sunday!) rates, but because of the absurd one hour limit. Please tell me how one is supposed to park, walk to the restaurant, wait to be seated, orders...

Happy 74th Birthday, Elvis! If you were alive today (oh wait, conspiracy theory #1445 says you are alive), you would have loved this cupcake with one of your favorite foods that we just tasted at Crumbs Bake Shop. Peanut butter based cupcakes usually don't taste very peanut butter-like. That was until Crumbs used a rich swirl of--oh my God--pan fried peanut butter in today's special treat. Mixed in with peanut butter and banana frosting...

Macy's today announced that they will be closing 11 underperforming stores, including one in the Los Angeles area. This means clearance sales next week! "These closings are part of our normal-course process to prune underperforming locations each year in order to maintain a healthy portfolio of stores," said Macy's Chief Executive Terry J. Lundgren in a statement. Ahem, there's nothing normal about this. The locally affected Macy's is downtown in the Ernst & Young...

"We all jumped him. He was struggling hardcore. I was holding down his arm. Somebody had a foot on his head. Everyone was holding down a different body part. He was going nuts. I was telling him to chill because he's not going anyplace." That's Chris Llewellyn of Asher Roth's band talking to the LA Times about the mid-morning incident where a man on board claimed he had a bomb as a a Delta...

Up in San Francisco at MacWorld today (SFist coverage here), Apple Computers announced a slew of new fun Mac toys, but one of the big news hitting pertinent to the music industry is the pricing change. Executive Phil Schiller said iTunes songs would come in three pricing tiers: 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29. Record companies will choose the prices, which marks a significant change, since Apple previously made all songs sell for 99 cents.

According to a KCAL9 TV news report, the street is closed to cars from Fairfax Ave. on the east to San Vicente on the West as protesters take over the Miracle Mile area in front of the Israeli Consulate. Police have separated the two groups by 25 feet with rope and in case the demonstration is declared unlawful, the LAPD has set up a special viewing area for the press, they said in a...

He would be a government health official with a huge following. If sources to the Washington Post are correct, President-Elect Barack Obama has offered Dr. Sanjay Gupta (of CNN fame) the job of surgeon general after a two-hour meeting this morning Chicago. "Gupta did not deny the account but declined to comment," the Post said. "Gupta could be the highest-profile surgeon general in history and would have an expanded role in providing health policy...

The young, hip and cute superstar City Council President Eric Garcetti of LA's popular 13th district (Hollywood, Silver Lake, Echo Park, Atwater Village, etc), is now a married man. "It should mellow me out," Garcetti joked at today's City Council meeting. The small wedding was on Sunday with parents and close friends. Amy Elaine Wakeland and Garcetti have been dating for a while now; they currently reside in Echo Park. He's up for reelection...

"The Academy Awards is this wonderful, huge phenomenon, and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn't know what that is," Executive Administrator Ric Robertson of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said. "In a way, that makes it difficult for us to let the world know all the other stuff the academy does." And that's why the Academy overhauled their website, which was released today. The websites about their upcoming Hollywood...

Lawyers for victims of the deadly Chatsworth Metrolink train crash in September say that engineer Robert Sanchez regularly used his cell phone while on the job. An "employee complained to the company about the use of a cell phone by engineer Robert Sanchez, but the company ignored the complaint," the lawyers said. Veolia, the company contracted by Metrolink to supply engineers, apparently had "busted" Sanchez a few months before the accident during a routine...