Zach Behrens

Why does the LADWP send two bills to customers--one for electric and one for water? Why do bills include unexplained code numbers? Why is internet banking and billing not encouraged to save paper? That's what Councilmember Jan Perry is asking in a motion that will be discussed in a hearing tomorrow during a committee meeting (.pdf). "The DWP should fully examine its billing procedures and seek improvements," she wrote. "The DWP may encourage greater...

Floyd Landis, the cyclist who was stripped of his Tour de France victory in 2006 is being sought after an international warrant was issued for his arrest, according to Reuters. He stands accused of hacking a laboratory computer in France where his doping tests were housed in an attempt to prove the anti-doping agency wrong. "It seems that (Landis) made all he could to enter into our computer system to try to prove the...

A new state law allowing parents to reform schools themselves that went into effect last week is already being used in L.A.'s Sunlund-Tujunga neighborhood, finds the Daily News. Mount Gleason Middle School could see all its teachers and administration fired and have it turned over to a charter operator, if a majority of parents sign a petition. "Parents are the ones who pay taxes, they are the consumers and they cannot wait for manana,"...

The Getty Center at Sunset | Photo by morgan.arnold via LAist Featured Photos Now we're going to have to eat out seven days a week: "From street food to upscale dining, LA is the best place in the world to eat now," says Jonathan Gold (via LA Observed) The less-talked about, yet threatened Santa Clara River between Santa Clarita and Ventura just got a boost in protection from development. It's not just the Chinese,...

If you decide to drive drunk this weekend, make you're only drunk on love. As usual, the LAPD is out looking for the overly inebriated and they often set up checkpoints to spread that message. Tonight, a sobriety and drivers license checkpoint will be found on Vermont Blvd. between Hollywood and Sunset from 8 p.m and 3 a.m. (yes, right near the Red Line subway). The LAPD Northeast Area endured 116 driving under the...

With SAVE THE PEAK replacing the Hollywood Sign temporarily over the next few days, it's a good time to bring up a list of where to best view it from. We're big fans of staring at it from Hollyridge Drive, but...

Photo by R. E. ~ via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Talk about bad timing. The day the city-at-large learned that the owner of Phillipe's died was the same day health inspectors responded to complaints of a cockroach investigation and closed it for 48 hours. William "Bill" Binder, 94, died of natural causes on January 28th, but word didn't surface until this past Wednesday when his obituary popped up in the news. Inspectors told...

There's nothing wrong with encouraging and supporting your local farmers markets and community supported agriculture programs, but urban foraging can be harmful, sometimes deadly, if you don't know what you're doing (if you do, you can make a wonderful salad). Apparently, students at Marshall High believe a local, yet poisonous, flower called Angels Trumpet has hallucinogenic properties and are eating the flower while walking to and from school, reports The Eastsider LA via the...

As The Hollywood Sign transforms to read "SAVE THE PEAK," an awareness campaign to bring attention to the pending sale of 138 acres next door (will it stay open space or become a development?), the sign is temporarily reading funny things like "SALLYWOOD." In the meantime, the LA Times has a nice photo gallery of unofficial transformations like "CALTECH" and "HOLLYWeeD."...

Word quickly spread on Twitter this afternoon after a person committed suicide in front of the Kodak Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center. At 3:10 p.m., police were notified of someone attempting to commit suicide by jumping from the...

Along the PCH | Photo by Anthony Bevilacqua via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr LAUSD Superindentent Ramone Cortines made $150,000 last year from a company that has profited $16 million from the school district. The inventor of the Frisbee, originally called the "Whirlo-Way" and "Pluto Platter," died on Tuesday. A "first of its kind in the world," the L.A. County Sheriff's Department have bought a ship for screening cargo vessels at the L.A and...

When Fire Chief Tracy Pansini went on a temporary medical leave last summer, Ray Krakowski was placed in his spot as Acting Chief. Soon after, however, the leave was was extended until it was decided that Pansini would retire, just four years after entering the job. “Now the time has come to embark on a new life direction that certainly involves spending more time with family and friends," Pansini said in a statement. Now...