Zach Behrens

$10,000 rewards for tips leading to the arrest of suspects involved in two separate shootings that left a 10-year-old girl and an 18-month-old toddler earlier this month were approved by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors today. Erika Miranda, 10, was shot three times on March 2 when an unknown male suspect opened fired on a crowd playing basketball on the 1800 block of East San Luis Street. The toddler, Linsey Baquedano, was struck...

Those who are already members of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) should know this--"the big one" will likely be preceded by a biggish one--but it's a fact worth repeating over and over and over again. "I would expect some aftershocks with a 4.4 quake," USGS seismologist Bob Dollar tells Sciencedude Gary Robbins at the OC Register about this morning's "light" 4.4 quake at 4:04 a.m. "There’s still a 5 percent probability that we’ll...

Cedd Moses may have just opened a Tequila- and Mezcal-themed bar on 6th--and his extremely popular Whiskey-themed Seven Grand on 7th has been rocking along for a couple years now--but that's not stopping him from continuing down that rabbit hole. His exclusive Doheny on Olympic is now all about Rum and has soft-opened as the Caña Rum Bar at the Doheny, according to Eric Richardson at blogdowntown. And no longer are the days of...

Image via the Trust for Public Lane Digital billboards, usually reported in controversial stories about the signage industry, gets a small pat on the back today. Over 80 of their digitized billboards in Los Angeles are bringing attention to the Save the Peak campaign, which is raising money to purchase the land next to the Hollywood Sign. The deadline to give the property owners $12.5 million dollars is April 14th and the Trust needs...

A Redondo Beach police officer who pleaded guilty to one count of grand theft by embezzlement last month was sentenced today to three months in county jail, following be three years of probation and one year of gamblers anonymous. 40-year-old Gene Tomatani embezzled $72,388.56 from the Redondo Beach Police Officer’s Association when in capacity as the organization's president and treasurer over a four year period beginning in May of 2004. He also embezzled $3,000...

There's a reason people refer to Los Angeles County Supervisors as kings and queens. Until recent years, the position had no term limits and the powerful job, which reigns over millions of residents each, usually went unchallenged. Filing to run in the primaries on the June 8th ballot were due last Friday and various incumbents are getting an easy ride, reports KPCC. Supervisors Gloria Molina and Zev Yaroslavsky (image to the right) and Sheriff Lee Baca will face zero challengers, save for any aggressive write-in campaigns.

At a L.A. City Council committee meeting last Friday, city budget officials announced that Los Angeles has received around $591 million from 84 grants in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. That's out of 150 applications put forth so far, asking for a total of $1.5 billion in the three-year federal program. And applications aren't over yet. A low-income weatherization grant was submitted by LADWP last week and two more are expected to be...

Photo via Discovery Talk about a sugar high (or coma). Yesterday, a fundraiser for children’s art’s programs at the Community Center of La Cañada Flintridge broke the Guinness World Record for world’s largest Rice Krispies Treat. Weighing in at more than 10,000 pounds, the process to build the treat was documented by the The Learning Channel for a new special to air this summer called "Mega Bites." Hundreds of volunteers came together to make...

Finally, the two Republican governor hopefuls will duke it out tonight in a debate in Costa Mesa. The hour-long event, hosted by the GOP-based New Majority California and moderated by KNBC's Conan Nolan, will be streamed live on www.sacbee.com/live starting at 5:30 p.m. Billionaire and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman has put millions into the her campaign and is pulling ahead in polls. She faces current California Insurance Commission Steve Poizner....

Blocking a bike lane and standing in a red zone | Photo by Peggy Archer via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Bicycle activist and blogger Ted Rogers is among a handful of cyclists who received an advance look at training materials to be handed down to rank and file officers for better enforcement and protection surrounding cycling on Los Angeles streets. One thing absent from a list of laws to enforce was blocking bike...

Gamma Infinity "Transportation Freedom Day is the day of the year on which a median-income household has earned enough money to pay for transportation for the year," explains The California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) about Tuesday, when L.A. celebrates it. "Americans who live in areas with good access to public transportation tend to spend less on transportation than those who are fully dependent on cars. As a result, residents of transit-friendly neighborhoods achieve...

Efforts to build the $1.7 billion Crenshaw Line will take another step Monday when exploratory drilling begins. The process to test below-ground surface conditions will be hailed by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at a press conference to mark the important project. Expected to be completed in 2018, the 8.5-mile light rail line will move passengers between the current Green Line Aviation station (meaning getting to the actual airport is still a...