Email Author Dennis Romero

Awards

• 2011 - Southern California Journalism Awards/LA Press Club, published December 30, 2010

  "Death, Money and Megaraves"

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2011 Stories by Dennis Romero

• Academy Awards in Troubler Oscar Statuette Makers Issue Ominous Statement About Labor Woes at Their Factory

  published Dec 06, 2011

  The 84th Academy Awards, set for February, has had a dark cloud hanging over it, and the weather doesn't seem to be clearing. After Brett Ratner pulled out of his production gig following his utteranc... More >>

• Occupy L.A. Targets Foreclosed Homes, Tries to Keep Families in Them

  published Dec 06, 2011

  The Occupy movement in Los Angeles has found a new target following its eviction from L.A. City Hall: Squatting in foreclosed homes and trying to keep families in them. The movement is targeting at l... More >>

• Bullet Train Fantasy or Fiscal Nightmarer Californians Turn Against $100 Billion High-Speed Rail Plan

  published Dec 06, 2011

  We had our doubts about this multi-billion, high-speed-rail utopia that would plow through homes, farmland and towns. Now you do too. Don't get us wrong. Prove we need it and we're there. But with th... More >>

• Teen Sex Grab Ends With Young Woman Kicking Suspect Shota Mgeladze in Face, Cops Say

  published Dec 06, 2011

  Updated at the bottom with the case dismissed. An alleged perv who took a teenage girl for a ride in his Mercedes and then, cops say, grabbed her leg before being met with the business end of her foo... More >>

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  Marijuana-Using Drivers Are Better Drivers, Research Suggests: Anti-Drug Activists Harsh That Mellow With Retort

  published Dec 06, 2011

  Seeing as L.A. is the marijuana dispensary capital of the world, it also must be the stoned-driving (DWS) epicenter of America as well. Rightr Well, it's that kind of thinking that got a widely publi... More >>

• Illegal Immigrant Sentenced to 1.5 Years For Claiming 20 Nonexistent Children on Tax Returns

  published Dec 05, 2011

  Now, if you read this particularly author you know we have defended the undocumented as a necessary and sometimes-abused cog in our unjust economic system. You can't diss 'em and still get your car wa... More >>

• New Planet Found by NASA Could be Suitable For Humans (or Aliensr): SoCal Scientists Involved in Kepler 22b's Discovery

  published Dec 05, 2011

  With reporting from Simone Wilson. They're getting closer and closer to finding aliens in space, and not the kind who'll help you remodel your home for only $50 a day. And while we here in journo la... More >>

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  Occupy L.A. Arrestees Say Bathrooms Off Limits For Hours so They Went on Buses: Sheriff's Department Looking Into it

  published Dec 05, 2011

  Allegations that Occupy L.A. detainees were not allowed to use the restroom for hours as they waited on buses headed to jails are being checked out this week by the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, s... More >>

• Teflon Sheriff Lee Baca's Jail Officials Didn't Report Allegedly Serious Inmate Assaults by Deputies to D.A.

  published Dec 05, 2011

  If you thought that cops have a different justice system than the rest of us, that they can be, indeed, above the law when faced with serious allegations of their own, this story might prove you right... More >>

• Penis Trimming Attempt by Wife Puts Her Behind Bars, Palm Springs Cops Say

  published Dec 05, 2011

  Snip-snip. A little off the top, apparently. Cops say a Palm Springs woman tried to cut her husband's penis off with a pair of scissors. Good choice of implement for this age-old, woman-scorned situa... More >>

• Women Beat Their Menr L.A. Guys' Group Mad at Verizon Ads Says That's The Flip-Side of The Story

  published Dec 05, 2011

  Quick question: In a hetersexual relationship, who's more likely to use violence -- the man or the womanr Research seems to show that both are equally as likely to be the victims of domestic violenc... More >>

• World-Record Dreidel-Spinning Rager in L.A. This Weekend

  published Dec 04, 2011

  Updated at the bottom: The attempt's a FAIL. First posted at 12:57 p.m. on Dec. 2. Sunday, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!!! Jews, JEWS, JEWS!!! If you're not burned out after raging on Saturday night, the Sinai T... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Occupy L.A. Infiltrated by Undercover LAPD Detectives Before Raid

  published Dec 03, 2011

  As occupiers took to downtown's Pershing Square today and at least one arrest was possibly made, news that cops infiltrated the Occupy movement in L.A. weeks before Wednesday's raid was reverberating ... More >>

• Occupy L.A. Protesters Released From Jail: Was The LAPD Punishing Themr

  published Dec 02, 2011

  Updated at the bottom: The City Attorney's office says that while about 245 have been released or were bailed out without charges, it ain't over yet. First posted at 4:42 p.m. Most of the 291 or so O... More >>

• Texting, Talking While Driving Your Biggest Peeves on The Road, Says California Survey

  published Dec 02, 2011

  That idiot with the cellphone to his ear slowly cutting across three lanes of traffic to make the turn he missedr Turns out you hate him as much as we do. California drivers named talking on cellphon... More >>

• Marijuana Dispensaries in L.A. Targeted For Closure: Here's The List

  published Dec 02, 2011

  L.A. still has a near-record high number of marijuana dispensaries despite efforts by the City Council to control them. (And we do mean high). But one-by-one the office of City Attorney Carmen Trutan... More >>

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  Marijuana Dispensary Numbers Remain Near 2009 High: Starbucks or Weed, You'll Find Plenty of Choices in Los Angeles

  published Dec 02, 2011

  Even after the city of L.A. tried to whittle down the number of pot shops to 100, even after a city councilman is proposing to outlaw them altogether, even after the federal government has announced a... More >>

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  Echo Park Lake Debris From Draining Includes Guns, Parking 'Boot,' Boomboxes

  published Dec 02, 2011

  If you've ever wondered what's been lurking beneath the surface of an urban watershed like Echo Park Lake, now you know. Because of a draining and dredging project by the L.A.Bureau of Engineering, t... More >>

• Occupy L.A: 19 Charged With Failure to Disperse, One Sees Heavier Allegations

  published Dec 01, 2011

  For whom the bell tollsr These people: L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich today announced that 19 occupiers have been charged with alleged failure to disperse following Wednesday morning's raid of th... More >>

• Martin Weiss, Hollywood Talent Agent Who Reps Kids, Charged With Alleged Molestation

  published Dec 01, 2011

  A Hollywood talent manager who represents children who have appeared on the likes of the tween show iCarly and on other kids' programs was charged today with child molestation. A teenager came to pol... More >>

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  Occupy L.A. Arrestees Said to Include Possibly Drunk, Belligerent Reporter For City News Service

  published Dec 01, 2011

  See an update here: The reporter is identified (it's a him -- our bad), and video seems to contradict what the police say. A reporter for City News Service, a Southern California news wire that sells... More >>

• Yasha Levine, Soviet 'Exile' And Practicing Journalist, Said to be Among Those Jailed Following LAPD Occupy Raid

  published Dec 01, 2011

  Updated at the bottom: We're told he got out this afternoon. A colleague gives us an account of what happened. The L.A. County Sheriff's jail information page has a record of him being in custody. Fir... More >>

• Porn Sex Made Safer: Mandatory Condom Act Coming to a Polling Place Near You (Really)

  published Dec 01, 2011

  Among the important things you vote for -- governor, mayor and sometimes taxes -- will be this gem: Condoms. All for them, personally. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, however, wants to force the gear... More >>

• Marijuana Legalization: East Coast, West Coast Governors Call For Legit Medical Cannabis on a Federal Level

  published Dec 01, 2011

  Medical marijuana supporters this week were high on statements from the governors of Washington and Rhode Island, who have joined a chorus of support for making medical marijuana possible across the l... More >>

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  L.A. Wind Fans Occidental College Fire as Students Evactuated: Power Outages Reported Across Region

  published Dec 01, 2011

  Updated at the bottom with the fire out. First posted at 1:24 a.m. Among the wind-related calamitous happenings overnight, including trees into homes and power outages far-and-wide, was a grass fire ... More >>