Zach Behrens

Photo by mares8 via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr As warned to the L.A. City Council by advocates during public meetings over the last year, lawsuits would be filed if an ordinance limiting dispensaries was approved. Now that an ordinance has been approved--it is expected to take effect on March 14th--advocates today filed a lawsuit on behalf of two dispensaries, reports the LA Times. The lawsuit was filed by Americans for Safe Access on...

Photo via Metrolink Metrolink today received the first two cars in a pilot program that seeks to make commuter rail safer for the Los Angeles region. The new passenger Crash Energy Management (CEM)-enabled cars, which will supposedly reduce the impact with "unique collision-absorption technology," are a first for the country. Metrolink now begins testing the cars before completing the order of 117 cars. "Any elements in need of modification will be identified and corrected...

Photo by Ross Reyes via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr The National Weather Service is reporting rain in California today, but not much is expected to hit Los Angeles. "We'll probably see less than two-tenths of rain," explained Bonnie Bartling, a weather specialist with the Service, about today's storm. "It's a week system and most of the action will be north of Point Conception." Tomorrow's storm is expected to be similar, with most rain...

With L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Senator Dianne Feinstein all out of the way, Attorney General and former Governor Jerry Brown is expected to announce his official gubernatorial candidacy tomorrow, according to the LA Times. Brown had filed to form an exploratory committee in September of last year, but he "resisted making it official while two would-be Republican contenders have openly battled for their party's nod," noted the paper....

Dakota Smith at Curbed LA stuck it out into the wee hours of this morning as the large illegal supergraphic that landed one businessman in jail over the weekend was taken down. As she witnessed the slow operation alongside David Berger, special assistant to the City Attorney, the businessman's lawyer, Andrew Stein, asked why other supergraphics and billboards got to stay up. "Why is that one legal, because it's part of the building?" he...

Photo by = manny = via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Looks like it. The board of the L.A. Unified School District is poised to vote on the large layoff package to fight off their $640 million budget shortfall (to compare, the city of L.A. is currently facing a $212 million shortfall and an expected $484 million deficit next fiscal year, starting in July. They are planning on sacking some 4,000 employees). "Recommended by...

Photo: mondolind via LAist Featured Photos/Flickr Most people don't know, but today is election day in the San Fernando Valley for 11 neighborhoods. If you live, work or are otherwise a stakeholder in Canoga Park, Chatsworth, Granada Hills North, Granada Hills South, North Hills West, Northridge East, Northridge West, Porter Ranch, West Hills, Winnetka, and Woodland Hills, you may be eligible to vote. Unfortunately, June Lagmay and her City Clerk's Office have done a...

A jury today spared two convicted murderers of the death penalty, settling for life in prison without parole, according to the L.A. County District Attorney's Office. Matthew Ian Koontz, 36, and Jonathan Blackwell, 29, were convicted in January in the 2006 slaying of a father and his 17-year-old stepdaughter on New Year's Eve. The two had broken into Raul Cruz' apartment on December 31st, 2006, and fatally shot Cruz, 31 and Jessica Cipriano. Micaela...

The popular new stadium to sea route is sure doing the marathon a service as it's almost sold out. “In the past, thousands of entries have come in at essentially the last minute,” said the race's president Russ Pillar today. “That will not be possible this year as we have a cap of 25,000 entrants on the new Stadium to the Sea course and we’re more than 90% full already." So if you're planning...

Thirty-three states, including California, announced an agreement today with American Spirit Cigarettes that ends the company's "misleading marketing" of their organic cigarettes. "Stamping an organic label on tobacco products is ultimately a distinction without a difference--organic or not, cigarettes are bad for your health," Attorney General Jerry Brown said in a statement. "Today's settlement with [parent company] Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company ensures that all future advertisements make it clear that organic tobacco is...

Mulholland Drive closed near Coldwater Canyon | Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist As Los Angeles faces a $212-million budget shortfall and depleting reserves, the rain went ahead monkeyed around with Mulholland drive, causing erosion and forcing officials to close a one-mile portion of the scenic artery on February 7th. The price tag to fix the 10 by 35-foot washed out section was over a half million, but who's going to pony up the money?The road...

The Sign Bandit struck the length of Ventura Boulevard this weekend The owner of a building who installed an illegal supergraphic at Hollywood and Highland went to jail over the weekend (and with $1 million set as bail!), but owners of the numerous properties across the city with Fuel poster-sized billboards on site are still in limbo, it appears. Back in December, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a case between the city...