Zach Behrens

A sketch of the suspect (CSULB) At a rally at Cal State University Long Beach yesterday, the transgender man who was attacked on campus earlier this month said the suspect carved the words "it" into his chest. "For those of you who don't know why 'it' is such a derogatory term, it takes away a person's humanity. It takes away their personhood. It makes them less than human," Colle Carpenter he said at a...

That threat of a 39% rate hike won't happen after all, or at least for now. Anthem Blue Cross withdrew their application to raise rates today after their reasoning to raise them was found to be flawed (its parent company yesterday also posted a 51 percent increase in profits in the first quarter of 2010). "An independent investigation found that WellPoint based these excessive rate increases on faulty assumptions and inaccurate data," explained California...

"The Dukes of Hazzard" star Catherine Bach--she played Daisy Duke--apparently called police this morning saying her husband had shot and killed himself at their Encino home. When paramedics arrived to the home around 11:30 a.m. on the 15900 block of Woodvale Road, Lopez was already dead. Police are investigating it as a possible suicide. Peter Lopez, one of Michael Jackson's music attorneys, married Bach in 1990 and had two children with her. In 1998,...

Photo by LA Wad via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Following in the steps of Los Angeles, West Hollywood councilmembers on Monday will consider an ordinance "denouncing Arizona's anti-immigration law." “For 25 years, the City of West Hollywood has stood at the forefront of supporting human rights,” said Councilmember Lindsey Horvath, the resolution's author. “As a beacon for all those who have sought refuge, West Hollywood cannot be silent. We must send a loud...

In Eagle Rock | Photo by dreamyshade via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Will California's High Speed Rail project put the route underneath Dodger Stadium? It's getting easier to get a film permit--and for police to arrest you for interrupting a shoot. All about Long Beach Airports big construction plans. Could be good news for cities: a ballot measure to be decided upon in November could stop the state from taking money from local...

People are chatting, drinking coffee, working on their computers--just business as usual at M Street Coffee in Sherman Oaks. And then there's music celebrities Brandy and R Jay, surrounded by three cameraman, talking about respect, music...

Silver Lake is not in the Eastside | Photo by Atwater Village Newbie via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Fed up with those who erroneously label Silver Lake, Echo Park and other so-called hipster neighborhoods as in within the Eastside, and left with no general sobriquet for the area, Curbed LA is calling for submissions for its regional renaming (basically, the real Eastside is east of the L.A. River, but it always seems to...

Even before the recent gourmet food truck craze, there was an estimated 4,000 taco trucks operating in Los Angeles county. That number dwarfs the 90 or so trucks (complete list here!) that dominate water cooler talk these days, but imagine, if you will, living in a city without taco or gourmet trucks? Welcome to Chicago, where LAist's sister site is examining the movement to legalize preparing food on a truck. Currently, there's one truck...

Photo by guamafro via Flickr An apparent phoned-in bomb threat prompted USC officials and LAPD to close a portion of the campus and surrounding streets down this afternoon. Although sources tell the LA Times it was believed to be a false report, officials had to act with precaution and shut down areas while searching for the apparent bomb. A suspicious package was located in the Leavey Library building. "The bomb threat at USC came...

Closing arguments in the federal case challenging Prop 8, which banned gay marriage in California, will be heard sometime in June. Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker threw out June 16th as a possible date, but an exact date and time will be determined once attorneys and the court hash out their schedules. As for when a decision will be announced, it's up to Walker discretion. He could announce his decision five minutes or five...

When Conan O'Brien took over for Jay Leno, he and his team all moved from New York City to here. Now without a network job and a new show coming to TBS, where is he going? At his stage show last Saturday--coincidentally at the Gibson Amphitheater, just a few hundred yards away from his old studio--he said he's staying in Los Angeles. That news was announced earlier this month, but by gaging the audience's...

Forbes is at it again with their top 10 lists. This time Los Angeles ranks at #7 in their "10 Worst Big Cities For Jobs." And our neighbors aren't doing so well, either: Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine came in at #6 and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario at #4. The magazine got sourced a New America Foundation report for the list. "While California's economy has come roaring back many times before, a resurgence this time will be slowed by...