Accidents and Disasters

Los Angeles Times' Oscar Coverage Sees All-Time Record Web Traffic

There was a time, it seems, when there was a wall between pajama-bottom bloggers and real journalists. Real journalists didn't bait Google. Real journalists focused on facts and not on fancy photos. Real journalists trumpeted reporting awards over readership. Now? Not so much. The Los Angeles Time ... More >>

Earthquake Warning System Proposed For California By State Sen. Alex Padilla

Little-known fact: The U.S. Geological Survey has an earthquake-warning system called "Shake Alert." It's in prototype form and would only warn a select few (including the Los Angeles' Emergency Operations Center) a maximum of 90 seconds before a big one sets off sensors. The general public would n ... More >>

Assemblyman Mike Feuer, Candidate For L.A. City Attorney, Injured In Car Crash

Update: More detail below. Feuer is in ICU, suffered lacerated spleen and broken ribs.Assemblyman Mike Feuer, who is running for L.A. city attorney, has been hospitalized after a car crash this afternoon.According to his campaign, Feuer was on his way to the swearing-in ceremony for D.A. Jackie Lace ... More >>

Japan Tsunami Debris Headed Our Way, L.A. Sailing Expedition Reports

Yes, the debris from Japan's March, 2011 tsunami is coming to L.A. And a locally based ocean explorer says he knows exactly want's headed our way: An 8 feet by 5 feet fishing boat, an inflated truck tire, about 200 pounds of tangled fishing net, 6 large fishing buoys and several buckets and crates. ... More >>

Oscar Nominated Shorts Reviewed

Scientists Developing Salt-Resistant Rice

Flickr/tamaki​Prompted in part by the scores of rice crops that were destroyed by last year's devastating Japan tsunami, scientists are developing a salt-resistant variety of rice, Voice of America reports. (Rice cannot survive in salt-contaminated soil, and 20,000 hectares of paddies were flo ... More >>

Manhattan Beach Cops' Hit-and-Run Career Fiasco

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

​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. Right? Well, it's that kind of thinking that got a widely publicized paper on smoking weed and getting behind the wheel in trouble. The research sort of sug ... More >>

USC Student Knocked off Motorcycle by Hit-and-Run Driver 'in Critical Condition'

Google MapsThe driver was last seen speeding west on Lexington.​A 21-year-old motorcycle rider who attended USC was run over by a burgundy GMC Safari van from 1993 yesterday, just after the sun went down. After crashing into the bike at Vermont and Lexington near Los Feliz, the van took off do ... More >>

Santa Ana Winds Usher in L.A. Fire Season

The winds are upon us.​It may feel cooler and more wintery outside (OK, still in the upper 60s and 70s; sorry Denver), but don't be fooled: What has the potential to be SoCal's worst fire season ever is only just now settling in. We had a few scares back in the beginning of September -- inclu ... More >>

VIDEO: Canyon Fire Lights Up Wind Farm Over Tehachapi Pass

YouTubeEarth, wind & wildfire​The massive fire ignited by a double-fatality plane crash in Blackburn Canyon, Tehachapi, on Sunday has since raged through nearly 15,000 acres of Kern County. A dozen homes have been destroyed, and 650 more are under evacuation orders. Bakersfield Now has some in ... More >>

Domino's To Open Pizza Shop on The Moon

Source images from dominos.jpThe Japanese out-innovate America? Yes, they do!​ MEMORANDUM From: Shuji Sakai, LA Weekly To: Scott Oelkers, C.E.O. of Dominos Pizza Japan In re: Your wacky video to build a Domino's on the moon. Dear Mr. Oelkers: We realize you planned and spent the money on y ... More >>

Earthquakes Are Scary and Expensive: The 'Big One' Along San Andreas Fault Would Cost L.A. County $125 Billion

The redder, the more potential damage inflicted by Big One. Good luck, L.A.​The 'Big One" -- you know, the One you can't seem to push from your mind during rooftop parties atop decrepid downtown buildings, especially each time a semi rolls by -- is coming. Dramatic, yes, and over-exploited by ... More >>

X Japan Releases first U.S. Single 'Jade' on June 28

​X Japan's U.S. fans are a patient bunch. You've waited almost two decades since the band initially formed for this moment. You may have heard about the influential Japanese rock group's L.A. video shoots back in January of 2010, caught the acoustic benefit show in July of that year, the Lolla ... More >>

L.A. Beaches, Venice, Marina Del Rey, Could Get Tsunami Warning Sirens

Tsunami warning sirens for L.A?​Update: The county Board of Supervisors today approved the motion to have the Office of Emergency Management look into the feasibility of installing sirens on the coast. We noted recently that some of Southern California's most densely populated beach communiti ... More >>

We Heart Japan Brings Together Anime Industry and Fans for Earthquake Relief at Meltdown Comics

See more photos in Dianne Garcia's gallery "Voice Actors, Artists and Anime Fans Say 'We Heart Japan' at Meltdown Comics." "I always wanted to be an actor and anime was the first job, career thing, that let me be an actor," said Stephanie Sheh at Thursday night's We Heart Japan fundraiser at Meltdo ... More >>

Michael Collins, L.A. 'Enviroreporter,' Gets Local, Global Attention For His Geiger Counter Cam

Michael Collins and wife Denise Ann Duffield, who also works on enviroreporter.com.​Michael Collins has been covering the environment for 13 years. He's won several awards, including the Los Angeles Press Club's Journalist of the Year. But it wasn't his long-form exposes of gooey landfills th ... More >>

Sea Ted Speak

Japan: If You Fly From LAX to Tokyo, Will You be Exposed to Radiation in the Jet Stream?

Japan Airlines​If you fly to Japan, will you be exposed to radiation, possibly in the not-so-friendly skies? It's a possibility. But you won't hear that from U.S. officials. At least not yet. The U.S. State Department issued an alert last weekend telling Americans to avoid travel to the earth ... More >>

Mark Bixby, Long Beach Scion, Four Others Killed in Fiery LBC Plane Crash

aircraftsnl via TwitpicThe aftermath of today's Long Beach plane crash.​Update: Another of the deceased was identified, after the jump. Mark Bixby, a scion of the family for which Long Beach's upper-middle-class Bixby Knolls neighborhood is named, was one of four people who died when a privat ... More >>

(UPDATED With L.A. Road Closures, Rain Aftermath) L.A. Readies Itself For West Coast Rainpocalypse To Rival SnowLoko

PHOTO BY TED SOQUILast Wednesday in Los Angeles​Updated after the jump: Here we go again. Pacific Coast Highway closes, the I-5 floods and more. Originally posted Dec. 28 at 8:30 a.m. We were gloating yesterday as the East Coast took a beating from the weather gods, but karma's a bitch: It's ... More >>

Up In Smoke: Blazing Teen Sets Brush Ablaze In Northern Los Angeles

​A young stoner's worst nightmare came true over the weekend when a 14-year-old allegedly sparking up some weed accidentally set a 43-acre brush fire near Saugus, sheriff's officials said. The teenager was arrested in the 21100 block of Altena Drive, an area where sheriff's officials believe ... More >>

5.4 Earthquake Shakes Los Angeles

​[Updated at 5:09 p.m. with quake downgraded from 5.9]: A 5.4 earthquake shook Southern California Wednesday afternoon. Several small aftershocks in the 3 range followed. The 4:53 p.m. shaker was centered 13 miles north northwest of Borrego Springs, a desert town in northeastern San Diego Cou ... More >>

Hurricane Surf In SoCal This Weekend?

​Stranger things have happened, but the website Surfline has a rarity for June: possible hurricane surf hitting the Southern California coast. Hurricane Celia is rotating 750 miles southwest of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and, although she's getting weaker as water to the north gets cooler, Celia c ... More >>

Small Earthquake Jolts Los Angeles' Westside

Caltech​A small earthquake jolted L.A.'s Westside Monday afternoon. The 3.7 magnitude shaker struck about four miles west-southwest of Manhattan Beach at 4:59 p.m., according to the Southern California Seismic Network. Early Monday a 3.6 struck the Santa Monica Bay off Manhattan Beach. Twitte ... More >>

ONCE IN LOVE WITH HAITI . . .

Santa Monica Whale Sushi Restaurant Closes

The Hump and Typhoon restaurants.​The Hump, the Santa Monica restaurant that faces a federal charge for serving endangered whale meat, announced it's closing its doors effective Saturday. "The Hump hopes that by closing its doors, it will help bring awareness to the detrimental effect that il ... More >>

4.4 Earthquake Strikes L.A. Area; No Injuries Reported

USGS​(UPDATED) A 4.4 shaker woke up the Los Angeles region about 4:04 a.m. Tuesday. The epicenter was about one mile east-northeast of Pico Rivera (map), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. A sheriff's official from the county's Pico Rivera station told ABC7 news there were no reports o ... More >>

Mega-Telethon Broadcasting From L.A., Elsewhere

CNNAnderson Cooper.​A Friday telethon to raise money for the victims of last week's earthquake in Haiti will be broadcast from Los Angeles, New York, London and Haiti, organizers announced Thursday. It will be everywhere: ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1, CMT, PBS, TNT, Show ... More >>

Today In WTF: L.A. Tornado Warning Issued (UPDATED

​A tornado warning for south central Los Angeles County has been canceled Tuesday afternoon, but another was issued for southeastern Orange County, southwester Riverside County and northwestern San Diego County. This as the second of three successive winter storms hit the Southland Tuesday. T ... More >>

Lack Of Arrest In Alleged Hit-And-Run Questioned

​The Los Angeles Police Department's response to a hit-and-run collision that injured a cyclist last week downtown has come under scrutiny as the driver was never arrested. The collision on East Second Street was reported shortly before 8:30 a.m. Wednesday and it injured, of all people, a man ... More >>

KCET scoop: FEMA shakes down South Central for "flood insurance" ten miles from ocean

KCET is about to unleash, tonight, a stunning expose of FEMA and Los Angeles City Hall that involves an unintentional but outrageous shakedown of South Central Los Angeles residents for "flood" insurance costing an eye-popping $900 to $1,700 a year. Mostly black and Latino homeowners in virtually no ... More >>

Trial For Accused Hit-Run Couple

Claudia Cabrera and Josue Luna, the thirtysomething married couple accused of a horrific hit-and-run accident outside USC last spring, have been ordered to stand trial September 29, according to City News Service. Cabrera was allegedly behind the wheel in the early morning hours of Sunday, March 29, ... More >>

Crushed Longshoreman Identified

Port of LA​The longshoreman crushed to death by an empty shipping trailer at a large Terminal Island container yard has been identified as John Robert Kiser, according to the Daily Breeze. The accident occurred Saturday evening when a tractor was moving the freight trailer at the Evergreen termina ... More >>

You're Burning Me Larry! Sit 'n Sleep's Wildfire Discounts

Talk about The Burning Bed -- mattress giant Sit 'n Sleep, in effort to let Angelenos victimized by the recent wildfires sleep a little better these nights, is offering them 25-percent discounts off the stores' inventory list prices. All buyers have to do is bring proof of a fire-related insurance c ... More >>

War of Words Over Station Fire

A too-modest air attack failed to stop it when firefighters still had a chance

All Fire, All the Time

As firefighters slowly but stubbornly turn the tide against the Station Fire, FM radio station KPCC offers a full Web page devoted to Southern California's wildfires. The page, which fills a void left by television stations that have pretty much abandoned round-the-clock coverage of the Station Fire ... More >>

Lightning-Fast Earthquake Could Hit Southern California

Just when Southern Californians have begun to pat themselves on the backs for having the Ted Soqui​world's stiffest earthquake building codes, there now comes news of "supershears." These are not competitors to Supercuts, but a newly discussed type of earthquake known for the incredibly high veloc ... More >>

POEM SWEET POEM

USC Hit & Run Arrest

See updated report here.The L.A. Times reports that Los Angeles police have arrested a woman in connection with the hit and run accident outside USC that killed 18-year-old Adrianna Bachan and seriously injured a 19-year-old companion, Marcus Garfinkle. The two students were crossing Jefferson Boule ... More >>

Hillary's Emoluments Problem

One of the many learning perks of the recent election cycle was watching how political arguments would form in the blogosphere, whirl around a bit and then burst into the mainstream media. Like tropical depressions forming off the coast of Africa before they rolled into the Caribbean as hurricanes, ... More >>

Misery's Witness: A Photographer's View of the Chatsworth Metrolink Crash

When to shoot and when to pause and reflect

Like Wildfire

Fanning the flames of hate and stupidity

Because They Have No Words

This week's theater pick. Also reviews of Fences and This is Our Youth

Ninth Lives

All Eyes On New Orleans

A look at what the rest of the world is saying

Saved... by Rock & Roll

Katrina Blues

The displaced musicians of New Orleans

Cause Célèbre: Green Carpets and Ancient Elves

Personal View

Hitting the Fan in 2002