Zach Behrens

Photo by guamafro via Flickr A man who is suspected of kidnapping and shooting a woman in Long Beach this morning, leaving her body in a parking structure, was shot during a standoff in front of a San Fernando Valley Best Buy a few hours later. In what police believe was a family dispute, Donovan Morris apparently took a woman from her home at 7:35 a.m. before killing her. Long Beach Police notified the...

Police surround a group chaing together on Alameda Street (more photos here) | Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist The 14 protestors who chained themselves together outside the federal Metropolitan Detention Center last Thursday were released today, nearly four days after their arrest, the LA Times is reporting. Charges include interfering with police work and failure to disperse. The week prior, Illinois Congressman Luis Gutierrez made headlines for his arrest in Washington D.C. after he and...

Photo by Jacwee via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr 12 New York City-inspired streets projects that can be imported to Los Angeles. New York vs. L.A: Which Should Be America's Pot Capital? Tomorrow is National Train Day! Got $7.495 million? That's the new (and much lower) price of Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House. Bad news for California wine: "A moth with a devastating appetite for grapes is causing worries in California's San Joaquin Valley,...

Every weekend the LAPD gives you reasons not to drink and drive. No one should be driving inebriated but people do it anyway so they set up checkpoints (some say it's also a great revenue generator for the police). Tonight, at least two will be set up in South L.A. and within the North Hollywood Division, which covers its namesake neighborhood, Studio City and other surrounding communities. While police have not released the location...

Santa Monica | Photo by trustcandy23 via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr I love you, Mom! LA's Best Restaurants For Mother's Day. Not DWP, DMV: Four workers were busted for illegally issuing vehicle titles and drivers licenses. Lede of the day: "Two men are in a Riverside County jail for the Cinco de Mayo theft of 200 pounds of avocados." A bill that would add homeless people to a hate-crime protection list is making...

Yeesh. That's a lot of money, but then again, Jamie McCourt originally wanted $988,845 a month. The decision by L.A. County Superior Court commissioner Scott Gordon based mainly upon costs associated with seven properties the Dodger owner-couple bought, according to the LA Times. An eighth one in Mexico should be sold, the commissioner said. The drama isn't over yet, though, as to who owns the baseball club -- just Frank McCourt or the couple?...

Amy Beck was sentenced to two years in prison for having sex with a 14-year-old student, the LA Times is reporting. A judge ruled that she has to register as a state sex offender as well. The popular David Starr Jordan Middle School teacher was arrested in March after she turned herself in. A wife and mother of three apparently couldn't live with herself. She pleaded no contest in court....

Today the Los Angeles City Council could place a one-year moratorium on annual rent increases to the city's stock of 630,000 rent-controlled apartments [Update: the motion under consideration today would only do it for four-months]. Based on a study by the city's housing department last year, landlords have been raising rents even when the Consumer Price Index was considerably low. The motion before the city council later today would place a moratorium on rent...

A FCC decision today approved a request to allow first-run movies to be seen on home TVs, even while films are still in theatres, according to The Wrap. "Approving a request by the Motion Picture Association of America, the FCC rejected objections from the National Association of Theater Owners and the Independent Film and Television Alliance...

Bicycling Magazine has a nice feature on common collisions between cyclists and drivers and what to do to avoid those situations. According to the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center, nearly half of all bike-car crashes happen when "a motorist fails to see a cyclist and makes a left turn," the magazine says. (via bicycle advocate Stephen Box on Twitter)....

Studio City | Photo by SullyStyle via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Black eyes, broken ribs, head wounds and other injuries of inmates at Men's Central Jail in downtown L.A. has the ACLU up in arms. For Cinco de Mayo, Governor Scwharzenegger uses Twitpic. But does it top his happy breakfast twitpic from last year? Headturning Headline: "Learn how to survive a Friday night in Koreatown with ‘Ktown Cowboys’" In Malibu, living beachfront or...

In Studio City along the LA River | Photo by Dan Wuh via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr In 2008, a study of citywide temperatures classified Los Angeles into two categories. Zip codes with an average daily Summer temperature less than 80 degrees (Zone 1) and ones that were more than 80 degrees (Zone 2). The point was to give hotter areas of the city a little break on electricity bills when a new...