Zach Behrens

Photo via the event's Facebook page There 3,100 new HIV infections annually in Los Angeles County. Even worse, 70% of those new cases are spread by those who have HIV and do not even know it (that's about out of every five person who is HIV + ). And with Latinos making up the largest number of residents living with the STD, a number of health agencies are hosting Test Fest tomorrow in East...

The dream of developing a MagLev train between Las Vegas and Anaheim took a hit this week when Nevada transportation officials designated $45 million to an airport road connector instead. "[It] will have the biggest immediate impact for job creation and relief from traffic congestion,” said Senator Harry Reid in a statement printed in the Las Vegas Sun, via Curbed LA. The California-Nevada Super Speed Train commission is nonplussed, but will seek funding elsewhere....

Photo by nickolouse13 via Flickr We've told you about street closures and freeway on- and off-ramp closures, now here are your public transportation impacts. Over 45 Metro buses will be detoured on Sunday, beginning at 4 a.m. with most service on most lines returning to regular routes in the early evening. Bus lines affected are: 2, 4, 10, 14, 16, 20, 26, 33, 45, 48, 55, 60, 68, 70, 71, 76, 78, 79, 81,...

It looks like Nadya Suleman--aka "Octomom"--is very behind on her mortgage payments, according to TMZ and various other sources. If so, that means it's another adventure in moving for her and her 14 children because of a $450,000 lapse in a balloon payment due on the house bought just a year ago in La Habra for $565,000. But then there's the guessing game of what Suleman and her family have said publicly that contradicts...

It was a Beat Generation hangout, with the likes of Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg hanging out there. Today, the old Venice West Cafe--it closed in 1966--is home to Piccolo, an upscale restaurant and now is the site of a city landmark, says the LA Times. The building itself isn't anything to write home about, but city planners said the location had "social and cultural significance." So next time you're walking by 5 Dudley...

This is why we're fat, Los Angeles (more photos here) | Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist at the 2008 L.A. County Fair Among the 44 communities to receive health program funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is Los Angeles County. A pair of $16 million grants will go towards programs addressing obesity, physical activity, nutrition, tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke, public health officials announced today. "The respective projects will each have...

A planned nature walking trail in the Ballona Wetlands that is halfway completed may be stopped due to the discovery of a nearly extinct wildflower. Rains have brought out a patch, possibly the largest population in existence, of bright yellow Orcutt's yellow pincushions in the middle of the four-acre project a few miles north of LAX. Now two environment groups want the L.A. Department of Public Works to stop the project so state wildlife...

That's according to this map posted to Chicagoist via The Real Deal. California may have "recorded its fourth consecutive month of year-to-year increases after more two years of declines," according to the Associated Press, but full recovery in L.A. County might not be seen until sometime between 2020 and 2029, says data collected for the above map from Moody's, Firstserve and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Foreclosures increased a tiny bit last month--some are...

A man and a woman were arrested Wednesday after the Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach police departments conducted a probation search at a residence in the L.A. neighborhood of Westchester, finding several stolen items. Bicycle theft was on the rise last fall in the South Bay and this was one reason why. Anthony Michael Taraszka, 33, and Michelle Renee Thomspon, 31, who were both arrested in 2004 for stealing 50 bicycles, were apparently stealing...

UCLA | Photo by brainchildvn via Flickr An accused domestic terrorist today pleaded no contest to three counts of stalking and three of conspiracy to commit stalking in connection to acts against UCLA researchers and employees of POM Wonderful Juice Company, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced. Kevin Rich Olliff, 22, an associate of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) faces a three-year state prison sentence under terms of a negotiated settlement. Olliff...

Fearing that women posing in a stash of hundreds of photos taken by convicted serial killer Rodney Alcala, Police last week released the photos, hoping to identify the women and find out if their contact with Alcala ended fatally as it did with five Southern Californian women. Of the hundreds of calls and photos, six are potentially linked to missing women. Alcala was a one-time photographer and "Dating Game" contestant....

Photo by Non Paratus via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Canter's, the food truck. It's back. Dead birds in Silver Lake and Stevenson Ranch have tested positive for West Nile Virus. Have you filled out your Census form yet? Photos from last night's outdoor boxing matches in the plaza of L.A. Live. "Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) have laid out the framework for a comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform...