Zach Behrens

Photo by KingoftheHill. via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr It was a hectic morning for public transit users traveling around downtown as incidents along three lines temporarily halted or slowed service. A white powdery substance found at the 7th/Metro station, which serves the Red, Purple and Blue Lines shut down the station and surrounding area during the 6 a.m. hour, according to KNX1070. The station was later reopened. During that, however, at 6:58 a.m.,...

San Pedro | Photo by okarol via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Do you have an iPad? "People Who Own iPads Are Tiresome Hipsters With Awful Personalities," according to some sort of "study." On CNN this afternoon about Arizona's immigration law, L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa today said, “We’re here because the federal government has failed to act... The fact of the matter is that they just failed in that responsibility.” This week's LA Weekly cover...

The LADWP is urging residents to reduce energy if possible because the 8,000-acre Crown Fire is burning in an area of one of the utility's power transmission lines. Although the line has not been damaged, it does pass through the Leona Valley where the blaze is located. The LADWP this morning minimized power imports on the line and began generating power at in-basin power plants to deliver energy to the City as a precaution....

Photo by atomicjeep via Flickr That "weird neon green slime in the water" that has puzzled beachgoers throughout Orange County and up as far as Long Beach is nothing to worry about. That's what a USC professor is saying today. David Caron of the USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies has identified the source of the greenish-yellow foamy patches as "blooms of tiny algae belonging to the Tetraselmis genus," according to a statement from...

At least two brush fires are burning in northern Los Angeles County this afternoon. In Agua Dulce, near Acton, a blaze that broke out around 2 p.m. has burned through some 25 to 30 acres, according to KCAL-TV. At first it burned through grassy fields, but recently went into thicker brush, prompting 15- to 20-foot flame lengths. Two abandoned structures have burned, but no homes are currently threatened, reported the news broadcast. 200 firefighters...

An offshore drilling rig in the Santa Barbara Channel | Photo by Ken Lund via Flickr Three months after the Gulf oil spill, a survey finds a large increase in opposition against offshore drilling, finds the latest poll (.pdf) from the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), which features a variety of environmental issues. Last year, a poll found that 43% opposed, 51% were in favor of it. Now 59% oppose and 36% are...

via LAPD Police are looking for the man accused of killing a 34-year-old woman and setting fire to the house last Saturday. Cheree Osmanhodzic's fiance that evening went to the store and returned home to find a man inside. He gave chase, but lost sight of the suspect a few blocks away. When he returned home, the house was on fire. Police believe the suspect killed Osmanhodzic and may have it the place on...

Photo: McBLG97 via Flickr The idea is nothing new, but something not applied to the internet so aggressively by a local government agency (or as far as we know). Some newspapers with crime blotter information list DUI arrests, so why not go further and start publishing that online yourself? That's what Huntington Beach Police wants to do, according to The Independent. Since the city's local newspaper stopped publishing names last December -- for editorial...

Downtown | Photo by thedavidbase via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr You never know what you'll find at a garage sale. One man says his $45 purchase of photos ended up being $200 million worth of lost Ansel Adams shots. Nathaniel Ayers, the Skid Row classical musician who was focus of a book and movie, played at The White House with columnist/writer Steve Lopez in tow. The stalking case of ESPN's Erin Andrews has...

The valley's beloved commuter airport will likely get a new $120-million transit center. The Burbank City Council on Tuesday approved a number of issues surrounding the center planned for Burbank Airport, pushing the project forward, according to the Burbank Leader. The center would be directly connected to the airport, include a lounge, a parking structure and room for 14 buses. Funding for the project would come via airport facility fees charged to passengers and...

Just one day before it is set to go into effect, a federal just this morning blocked a part of Arizona's SB 1070, the controversial immigration law. Parts blocks include, per the Arizona Daily Star: "Requiring a police officer to make a reasonable attempt to check the immigration status of those they have stopped, making it a violation of Arizona law for anyone not a citizen to fail to carry documenation, creating a new...

Over $200,000 was granted to nine historic preservation projects throughout the state today, with four being earned by local governments. Los Angeles was one of them, winning two $25,000 grants for the SurveyLA, which is the city's "comprehensive program to identify significant historic resources throughout" L.A. One of the grants will go towards a public participation and outreach plan for a handful of neighborhoods, including Silver Lake, Echo Park, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Brentwood...