Insurance

How To Grease The Wheels For Your Album's Success

Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls' Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you ... More >>

Lyft's Ridesharing Program Takes Off in Los Angeles. What Does It Mean for the Taxi Industry?

For anyone who has ever fretted about what driving long distances without passengers during rush hour is doing to the environment and to your wallet, there's Lyft. Launched in San Francisco in 2012, the mobile-app based ride-sharing program allows members to find drivers in their areas who will sh ... More >>

Proposition 33 Auto Insurance Changes: George Joseph's Record Under Fire

The guy behind Proposition 33, insurance magnate George Joseph, has spent nearly $17 million to fight for the right to extend discounts to drivers who've had five years of uninterrupted coverage, even if that coverage has come from more than one company. Joseph has said that he's pushing the measur ... More >>

Proposition 33 Auto Insurance Changes: George Joseph Tries Again

What could you buy with $16.9 million? George Joseph, the billionaire auto-insurance magnate, hopes it will be enough to score votes from a plurality of Californians -- that's how much of his personal fortune he'd spent, as of Nov. 3, to push Proposition 33. (For the latest, check out the nonpartis ... More >>

L.A. Effect Of Healthcare Ruling: 1.7 Million County Residents Will Have Access to Insurance

The Supreme Court's ruling today upholding the healthcare reform law will have a major effect close to home. In Los Angeles County, some 2.2 million people do not have health insurance. Thanks to the ruling, 1.7 million of them will have access to coverage, according to a statement from Mitchell Kat ... More >>

Occupy L.A. Is Mad About Supreme Court's Obamacare Ruling

Who knew? Occupy Wall Street (and its Los Angeles faction) hates Obamacare. That's because, though your run-of-the-mill Westside liberal is likely to applaud the "health care for all!" initiative, the more skeptical end of the 99 percent sees it as just another victory for corporate America:

Minimum Auto Insurance For $2278? Only in L.A.

If you ever thought that your car insurance company pretty much charges you whatever it can get away with, you might be right. A new survey by Consumer Federation of America (CFA) reveals that good drivers in moderate-income areas are sometimes charged more than $1,500 a year for minimum liability ... More >>

A Stoned Driver is a Better Driver

Another "study" this week claims that stoned drivers are better drivers, at least when compared to those who are drunk behind the wheel. That might be true, but the report's basis is pretty weak. What we're given, really, is a shallow look at other studies, and a list of the "Top 10 Reasons Marijua ... More >>

African American Men Have 7 Fewer Years to Live Than Whites

Sure, history has turned a corner for African Americans. There's that one president. (And he might just get reelected if gas stays below $8 a gallon). There's multimillionaire Hollywood mogul Tyler Perry. And basketball sensation Jeremy Lin. Wait. He's what now? Oh, you get the picture. But UCLA ... More >>

[Updated:] Deal Reached in Grocery Store Labor Feud

L.A. County Federation of Labor​ Update:9/26, 10 a.m. On Sunday night, workers voted and approved a new contract, ending an eight-month dispute with Ralphs, Vons, Pavilions and Albertsons. According to insiders, workers will pay $7 a week for health insurance, or $15 per week for a family. The ... More >>

Laugh & Cover

Los Angeles: Broke and Broken

City Council clueless about vast, hidden costs in Villaraigosa's $6.9 billion budget

L.A.'s Library Measure L

There's lots of hidden City Hall fat to fuel the 73 shuttered libraries

City Budget: Mayor Villaraigosa Touts Concessions By Engineers And Architects Union

​The Engineers and Architects Association, a union representing 5,000 city workers, ratified a contract that would have the employees pay about five percent of their monthly health-care premiums, up from zero. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraiogosa's office hailed it as an unprecedented and m ... More >>

UCLA: More Angelenos Without Health Insurance

​Nearly 29 percent of residents of L.A. County younger than 65 didn't have health insurance at some point last year, according to a new UCLA study. That's a staggering 2.7 million people and was significantly higher than the statewide average of 24.3 percent. Researchers blame the recession, ... More >>

Southern California Awards Honor Mischievous Pets

​Southern California-based Veterinary Pet Insurance Co. is holding its second annual competition for the most unusual pet insurance claim of the year. The twelve finalists of the "VPI Hambone Award" were named on Monday. The award is named after a VPI-insured dog that got stuck in a refrig ... More >>

Health Care Legislation Could Be A Mixed Blessing For L.A.

​Passage of President Obama's health care package over the weekend could mean health insurance coverage for 32 million uninsured Americans, but it might not mean much for L.A.'s big, public hospitals. An official at the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, which runs County-USC M ... More >>

Group Files Suit Against Blue Cross' Massive Premium Hikes

​A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Anthem Blue Cross in California over the health insurer's planned rate increases, some as high as 39 percent, in the Golden State. Consumer Watchdog, a Santa Monica-based nonprofit, announced the suit Monday, stating that the insurer "used enormo ... More >>

FEMA Backs Off South L.A. Flood Zone

File photo.​Suddenly the fictitious flood waters of South Los Angeles are receding: The Federal Emergency Management Agency has backed off its expanded flood zone map that added 876 homes to an area it said was prone to a "hundred-year flood." (Info and revised map). The flood-zone expansion m ... More >>

Parts Of South L.A. Are Flood-Prone?

File photo.​Quick, when's the last time you remember flooding in South Los Angeles? Stumped? So are we. Which is why it's so strange that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has forged ahead with new flood-zone maps that show parts of South L.A. in low-lying, flood-prone areas. The result ... More >>

Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

Slain Pardo Victim Now a Deadbeat Renter Death may take a holiday, but not the landlord, as relatives of Alice Ortiz have discovered, according to an L.A. Daily News story. Ortiz was among nine Covina family members murdered by Bruce Pardo on Christmas Eve and now that the mourning's over, Ortiz's l ... More >>

You Can't Spell Obama With B-a-m-f-o-r-d