Zach Behrens

Just when you thought you knew of every form of transporting or hiding illegal drugs, you're wrong. The LAPD today discovered around 3,000 pounds of marijuana stashed in a train tanker holding petroleum today The incident began Sunday evening when officers noticed someone apparently driving erratically. An attempted traffic stop turned into a pursuit that ended near a rail yard in the city of Commerce where three suspects were arrested, one for driving under...

Following up on all the Field Polls released last week -- recreational marijuana and Jerry Brown not doing as well as some would expect -- here's the results of the third one (.pdf): "Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer is clinging to a narrow three-point lead (47% to 44%) over her Republican opponent, businesswoman Carly Fiorina, among likely voters in California’s upcoming November general election for U.S. Senate." LIke the Brown-Whitman match up for Governor, Boxer's...

Photo by rchiba via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr The White House this afternoon announced $22 million in awards that will go to 11 California projects, six which are in the Los Angeles region, that will supposedly advance clean energy technologies. USC was awarded nearly $1.5 million to team up with the Jet Propulsion Lab to "develop a high-performance rechargeable battery for large-scale energy storage on the electricity grid." UCLA got a half million...

“The more I explore my home ground, the more it comes alive, and I have to put to rest the illusion that I am limiting myself by doing so. Everything we need to be happy really is near at hand," Kurt Hoelting wrote in his book "The Circumference of Home." Taking cue from that, L.A.'s daily eco e-mail service Your Daily Thread recently published a nice guide to keeping it local and car free...

North is to the left | Image via city of Glendale It's Los Angeles' biggest park, yet accessing it is not always easy, especially on its eastern side. For over three miles, there is zero pedestrian access to it, much of it thanks to being lined by the 5 and 134 Freeways. Now as part of their L.A. River plan surrounding the Glendale Narrows Riverwalk, the city of Glendale is looking to connect the...

In Hollywood | Photo by Greg Lilly Photos via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr A new cap planned for the Gulf oil spill could contain the leak by Monday. "In the wake of the death last week of a 15-year-old girl, organizers on Friday for the second time called off an unrelated rave expected to draw 5,000 partiers. Get crunchy! Whole Foods is opening the Raw Bar at their Venice location. The 32nd annual...

Photo by RebelSciences [Kwasi B.] via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr A Los Angeles jury today convicted bay area transit cop Johannes Mehserle of involuntary manslaughter. SFist has all the coverage. "In a decision they said would define their careers, Azusa City Council members on Wednesday voted 4-1 to approve the Azusa Rock Quarry mining proposal." Eat bagged spinach? Check your bags, there's a recall in effect. Despite not recieving a grant today from...

Just a couple months after filing for bankruptcy, the famed theatre has emerged and plans to stage a production this fall. The Pasadena Playhouse, which opened in 1917, announced in early January that it would be closing its doors and laying off staff. A coalition of supporters made up of the city, board of directors and staff “have all combined to create a plan to resurrect the Playhouse from years of unbearable debts,” the...

Paulina Ibarra Police this afternoon officially announced an arrest in last year's brutal murder of Paulina Ibarra. Jesus Catalan stands accused of killing the 24-year-old transgender woman in her East Hollywood apartment on August 28th, 2009. Catalan became an immediate person of interest a few hours after police reported to Ibarra's home on the 900 block of Mariposa Street. Catalan apparently contacted mutual friends in the LGBT community after the murder, claiming he was...

If traffic couldn't get worse with tonight's Dodgers vs. Cubs game, just outside the popular Short Stop bar in Echo Park, the LAPD tonight will be holding one of their weekly checkpoints at Sunset Boulevard and Sutherland Street. Within the LAPD's Northeast Division, which covers this intersection, there have been 42 driving under the influence-related and 504 hit and run traffic collisions so far this year. The checkpoint will run from 8 p.m. to...

Oh, that 405 Freeway, it gets a lot of action. From a skateboarder to a large group of cyclists, from a family of ducks to mountain lions, there's been much craziness. The latest freeway encounter was during the Thursday afternoon rush hour when the California Highway Patrol was flooded with calls about a nude man on the center divider in the Long Beach area. Twitter user GMoney310 snapped a photo (see right) and wrote...

There's not many of them, but it's good to know where they are. The LA Times today launched added another dog-friendly feature to their website, this one showing where dog owners where to find off-leash beaches. From Santa Barbara to San Diego -- that's about 340 miles of coastline -- there's only 10 of them. And within that, there's only one in Los Angeles County: Long Beach (and the nearby Huntington Beach Dog Beach...