Zach Behrens

Photo: eflon via Flickr In suburban Covina, the city has entered into a contract with a private security company to enforce parking restrictions. The city hopes that Inter-Con Security, that begins enforcement on January 5, will provide more frequent and consistent response "to parking complaints in a consistent and timely manner," the Pasadena Star News reported. Is this a good or bad thing? On a positive note, this helps free up police from their...

Las Vegas, soem 85 miles away, as seen from Dantes View in Death Valley National Park | AP Photo/John Locher It's mostly Vegas, but the Los Angeles region "forms a long, narrow band" of light seen from Death Valley, finds the Associated Press in a report about light pollution in the famous national park. "You don't see this in L.A.," a visitor told the AP. "You forget how many stars there are." "One of...

Police across the region are telling people not to shoot guns into the air on New Year's Eve. "What goes up inevitably is going to come down, and it comes down at a velocity that can quite easily penetrate buildings, car roofs and human beings," LAPD Chief William Bratton said at a news conference yesterday.

After rocket attacks and military action between Israel and Palestine that began on Saturday, protests have been lining streets around the world. Two of them are set for this afternoon, the LA Weekly finds. Protesting Israel's counterattacks, Jews for Peace will assemble outside the Westwood Federal Building at 3 p.m. At 4:30 p.m., LA's most widely known grassroots organizing force, ANSWER LA, is sponsoring an "emergency protest" outside the Israeli Consulate....

A 22-year-old female student sustained 2nd and 3rd degree burns to 40% of her body after an explosion in the Molecular Sciences Building shortly before 3 p.m. this afternoon. UCLA's police department originally reported it as a structure fire, but upon arrival, Los Angeles Fire Department authorities did not find a fire. Instead, the student, who was on the fourth floor, was burned after a chemical mixture caused a large flash, said fire officials....

We've all heard time and time again: LAX tends to have too many close calls of planes knocking into each other. At the crux of the problem, many believe, are the staff shortages at the airport and in the main radar facility that guides planes between the six regional airports.

Officers were attacked 527 times up to December 23 of this year, according to the Los Angeles Police Protective League today. The total is the sum of 168 assaults with deadly weapons (14 with guns), 358 physical assaults and one death. SWAT member Randall Simmons was shot and killed last February in Winnetka when his team entered a home where a barricaded suspect was holding fort.

Photo by Jerry Beck/Cartoon Brew Over the holiday week, it appears that Warner Brothers has painted over their huge Looney Tunes/Hanna-Barbera/Warner Animation mural that's been there for more than 15 years, finds animation authority, historian and author Jerry Beck on his blog, Cartoon Brew. "To give them benefit of the doubt, perhaps they are going to replace it with an even better graphic of Bugs Bunny and crew. I hope so... but who wants...

Possibly taking cue from Korea's DMZ and TMZ's branding (it stands for the historical Thirty Mile Zone), check this sticker out that was spotted over the weekend at one of Malibu's famous celebrity hunting grounds--the Cross Creek Shopping Center in Malibu. Blogger Veronique Tuerenne, internet-rolls her eyes and calls this sticker "wishful thinking." Malibu is one of the cities particpating in a regional paparazzi taskforce that most recently published a citizen's guide to help...

Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard died today at Sherman Oaks Hospital after suffering a heart attack late last month. It was just a few months ago that he was on stage, still playing despite health problems in recent years. His last concert was in June in New York at an album release party for his final album--"On The Real Side."

Girl Scout volunteers add onion seed to a zebra for the Rain Bird float that will be seen at the Tournament of Roses Parade. (AP Photo/Rain Bird) The USC Marshall School of Business has released a study saying that Pasadena's economy will get a $58.6 million boost because of the Rose Bowl game this year. Where some of that money goes and comes from: $5.6 million will go directly to the city in tax...

George Francis was born on June 6, 1896. That made him 112 and 204 days before he died of heart failure at a Sacramento nursing home on Saturday. Francis lived through various wars, the birth of the mass produced automobile, the moon landing and the election of the first Black President, who he voted for. He leaves behind his son, Anthony Francis, who is 81. Who is the oldest person in the world? UCLA...