Los Angeles County

Porn Film Measure X Flouts L.A.'s Adult Video Condom Law

There have been short video clips spoofing Los Angeles County's relatively new condom mandate (Measure B) for porn production. But one brave adult-video house, Zero Tolerance, went ahead an made a full-length XXX film about the most-hated law in Porn Valley. Measure X, the studio says, ...

Donald Vincent: Ice Skating Coach Suspected Of Molestation Worked Throughout SoCal

An ice-skating coach who has worked at rinks in Culver City, Anaheim, Riverside and more, was charged this week with lewd acts on a minor. The L.A. County Sheriff's Department announced that 29-year-old Donald Vincent was jailed in lieu of $1 million bail after a 17-year-old boy came forward and cl ... More >>

Measure J Transit Tax Election Results: Mayor Villaraigosa's $45 Billion For Rail Falling Just Short of 2/3 Vote

By Hillel AronSee also: Measure J Transit Tax -- Too Soon? Update: Los Angeles County voters rejected Measure J, which needed 66.7% to pass, by two percentage points, 64.72 to 35.28. See next page for more. Things are not looking good for Measure J. With 33% of precincts reporting, the proposal is ... More >>

Teflon Sheriff Lee Baca, Undersheriff Paul Tanaka Slammed For Jail Violence

We call him the Teflon Sheriff because, despite more than a decade's worth of serious problems inside the L.A. jail system, woes that include gang-like cliques of tatted-up deputies, you keep electing Lee Baca as the county's top cop. Nothing seems to stick. Well, that might have changed today:

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 >>

L.A. County Plastic Bag Ban: Where Does Your 10-Cent Fee for Paper End Up?

Despite the efforts of plastic-bag manufacturer Hilex-Poly, a state Superior Court judge ruled last week that L.A. County's new plastic-bag ban is indeed constitutional. But the plaintiff isn't giving up so easily. "We always knew this wasn't going to get resolved at the lower court level," says le ... More >>

Hey, Where'd You Get That Heroin Burrito?

If you keep up with the LAPD police blotter, or perhaps are just are a civic-minded Mexican food enthusiast, you may have heard about the Los Angeles County deputy who was recently charged with trying to smuggle a bean and cheese burrito filled with heroin into the Airport Courthouse. Yes, you read ... More >>

Shop Local: More Freedom For Farmers Markets

A. Scattergood​ Farmers market organizers may have an easier time setting up shop in residential and commercial areas if a new ordinance is passed by L.A.'s City Council. If the plan is approved, markets could be set up in any area of a residential neighborhood, and approval for commercial-a ... More >>

Google Picks Up Private Data, Including Tax ID Numbers, Mistakenly Put Online by L.A. County Employee

creditrepairshield.com​For the second time this year a breach of people's most intimate data has happened at the hands of Los Angeles County government. The first time involved a missing laptop that contained the names, dates of birth and treatment information of 667 patients at Rancho Los Am ... More >>

Raves: L.A. County Leader Mike Antonovich Wants to Pull Plug on How-to-Take-Ecstasy Education Fliers

Raver down at Electric Daisy Carnival.​After LA Weekly brought them to light, an L.A. County leader has asked its Department of Public Heath to stop distributing fliers that essentially teach young people how to trip on ecstasy more safely. The fliers tell ravers to "aim low (dose AND frequen ... More >>

How to Take Ecstasy: L.A. County Health Officials Teach You How

Raver down at Electric Daisy Carnival in 2008.​One of the more bizarre aspects of officials sanctioning raves at the publicly owned L.A. Coliseum and Sports Arena is that Los Angeles County health authorities have actually embarked on a campaign to teach young people how to take ecstasy safely ... More >>

Bottega Louie Building on the Auction Block

R. E. ~​If you've got several million dollars to spare, you could be Bottega Louie's next landlord. Located at the corner of 7th St. and Grand Ave., the 80-unit Brockman Building houses the loudest restaurant in downtown L.A. but not much else. After nearly 20 months in bankruptcy court, th ... More >>

California Citizens Redistricting Commission: The Eight Lucky Winners, Feat. Two From L.A.!

Congressional District 23, otherwise known as the Ribbon of Shame, can finally stop sucking in​Here they are -- the eight delightfully commonplace members of the new California Citizens Redistricting Commission, tasked with what used to be the dirty-incumbent job of drawing up election boundar ... More >>

L.A. County Vote 2010: Results for Propositions 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 And California Governor, Attorney General, Etc.

Here's how Los Angeles County voters weighed in on November 2010 Election Day as of about 1:15 a.m. Wednesday morning, with 67% of precincts counted: Proposition 19 Legalize Marijuana: YES 582,228 45.39% NO 700,389 54.61% Proposition 20 End Gerrymandering: YES 693,803 57.25% NO 518,10 ... More >>

Do Booze And Breast Cancer Awareness Mix? Not Really, Says L.A. Expert Deborah Anthony

​It's Breast Cancer Awareness Month in Los Angeles, and the alcohol companies are out in force making sure you "think pink" when it comes to supporting this particular cause. There's Chambord and its "Pink Your Drink" campaign. Sutter Home has a white zinfandel wrapped in a pink ribbon. And, ... More >>

7,000 Los Angeles Jobs Will Vanish Unless Congress and Washington Step In Very Soon

​We can't emphasize this enough: The economy sucks, especially in L.A., where the number of folks without jobs overshadows the unemployment stats in most other cities aside from Detroit. Even though the recession is officially over (experts say it ended June, 2009), it sure feels worse than w ... More >>

L.A. Suburbs Get What's Coming To Them: West Nile Virus Has Been Detected in Mosquitos

​West Nile virus has been found in mosquitoes who can transmit to humans in Cerritos, Whittier, Rowland Heights, Encino and Reseda, making 47 cases in Los Angeles County in 2010. Of people who get West Nile, one in five get symptoms. Of those, one in 150 end up in the hospital. Hopefully the su ... More >>

Feeling Less Cash In Your Pocket? Statistics Prove That California, Golden State Income Down

​Feeling a little light in the wallet these days? You're not alone. California residents last year saw a 2 1/2 percent drop in income over the previous year, according to KPCC (89.3 FM). It was described as the first income dip for Californians overall since World War II. In Los Angeles County ... More >>

Prop. 8: Don't Line Up For Marriage Licenses Just Yet, Says L.A. County Clerk

​The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's office has sent out a few statements this week warning residents inspired by the ruling against California's same-sex-marriage ban that they shouldn't line-up for wedding certificates just yet. One of the details of U.S. District Cour ... More >>

Couple Investigated In Abduction Of Los Angeles Child, Amber Nicklas, Discovered Living With The Pair Seven Years After The Crime

​Los Angeles County authorities on Friday were investigating a Phoenix couple that was raising a 7-year-old girl who had been abducted in L.A. when she was 13-months-old. The pair reportedly stated that Amber Nicklas was adopted but could not provide documentation. The girl was allegedly take ... More >>

Mummified Body Found In East Los Angeles Could Be Remains Of A Man Who Went Missing 5 Years Ago

​Construction workers remodeling a back house this week found mummified remains of a body under the East Los Angeles residence, according to the Associated Press. Los Angeles County officials say that the remains could be of the owner of the house who was reportedly missing in 2005. The hous ... More >>

L.A. County Supervisors Slam Los Angeles Times For Front Page Ad

​Calling it a "distasteful practice to the people of Los Angeles County," the county Board of Supervisors signed a letter to Los Angeles Times corporate head Sam Zell decrying its Thursday front-page ad for the King Kong ride at Universal Studios. It was designed to look like a late-breaking " ... More >>

Medical Marijuana Food Items Go Unregulated In Los Angeles

​In Los Angeles County, why can one store sell prepared food without a county health inspection and another can't? Because if that first store is a medical marijuana dispensary, and that food happens to contain marijuana, then it's medicine, which isn't subject to county health rules governing ... More >>

Car Breathlyzers Now Required For Los Angeles DUI Offenders

mrjorgen via flickr​Beginning on Thursday, DUI offenders in Los Angeles County will have to install ignition-locking breathlyzers in their cars. If the breathlyzer detects alcohol in their breath, the car will not start. The law starts on an experimental basis for five years in Los Angeles, A ... More >>

$1 Billion 405 Widening Project Only Attracted A Single Bidder

Metro​A Los Angeles County audit this month of non-competitive and single-bid contracts granted by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority found "that in most respects procurement complies with regulatory and policy requirements," but noted a few eyebrow-raising exceptions, including a singl ... More >>

Spider Bite Didn't Kill Teen, But Festering Pimple Might Have

​The hyperbole surrounding the news that a Los Angeles County teenager was killed by a spider bite wasn't supported by the facts, according to the county coroner's office. The 13-year-old, it turns out, was felled by a less-sexy but no-less scary monster: a possible pimple that ended up gett ... More >>

Heath Inspector Charged In Donut-Shop Groping

ABC7​A Los Angeles County health inspector was charged with sexual battery Tuesday after he allegedly groped the owner of a Pomona donut shop during an inspection of the eatery, the District Attorney's office announced. Magdy Naiem Tawadros, 50, was charged in the March 24 incident at Pixie ... More >>

Does Santa Clarita Have A Massage Parlor Problem?

​A statement from a group claiming to be "very concerned Santa Clarita parents and business people" says that message parlors in the northern Los Angeles County city of 177,000 residents are out of control and number at least 65. A statement given to the Weekly along with a printout of the na ... More >>

L.A.'s Gap Between Rich And Poor Widening

​Los Angeles County. Home of The Hills, Rodeo Drive, and arguably the most exotic and high-end cars in the world. California has more billionaires than any other place on earth besides the rest of the United States. And we'd gamble that most of them live in SoCal. L.A. is also a place with a h ... More >>

Did Feds Cause the Station-fire Disaster

Ugly allegations that fire officials reduced air support, tankers and backup crews

L.A.'s Homeleand Security Spending Spree

In 2004 the L.A. Weekly examined the free-spending ways of the Department of Homeland Security, calling DHS largesse to academia and local law enforcement agencies "a 21st-century New Deal for the military-industrial complex." Now, on the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a report is ... More >>

Return of the Fruit Fly

 They'rrre ba-a-ack! Remember the midnight helicopter squads descending on peaceful L.A. neighborhoods, breaking the quiet and scaring us with their dowsings of malathion? (No? Too young? Still living in New York?) Well, if news from the hinterlands is any indication, our old friend the fruit f ... More >>

Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

Don't Call Him "Padre" Sheik Qazi Asad has become the LAPD's first Muslim chaplain. The Pakistani-born cleric had previously worked as a Sheriff's Department liaison to the county's Islamic community. L.A. Times Time to Pay Los Angeles County's sales tax jumps half a percent to 9.75 percent on July ... More >>

Murder Was the Case: L.A. Homicide Nos. 131 & 132 Identified

The two men, who were gunned down June 15 near the Los Angeles County Cemetery in Boyle Heights, have been identified.  View Larger Map According to police reports, Felipe Villarreal, 42 and 57-year-old Rafael Padilla were shot to death early Monday morning at 3:15 a.m., at the corner of Loren ... More >>

Murder Was the Case: L.A. Homicide Nos. 131 & 132: Two Men Gunned Down Near Graveyard

Two men were gunned down today near the Los Angeles County Cemetery in Boyle Heights.  View Larger Map The June 15 shooting happened early Monday morning at 3:15 a.m. at the corner of Lorena and East First streets. The Los Angeles Police Department is looking for the suspected gunman responsibl ... More >>

Heal the Bay's "Top Ten Beach Bummers"

Heal the Bay's 19th annual report card on 10 terrible shorelines is out -- and so, apparently, are the waters around Catalina Harbor, Cabrillo Beach and the Santa Monica Pier. All but two of the guilty beaches are located in Southern California, with Pismo Beach Pier and Campbell Cove State Park tak ... More >>

L.A. County Sales Tax by a Sliver! Antonio's Gang Tax Tanks!

In a real squeaker, a few thousand voters put the half-cent sales tax over the 66.67 percent line, as Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters' employees toiled in the predawn hours trying to gather up and count a few wayward voting precincts. Los Angeles County will now have the highest sales tax in ... More >>

Flammable Film Sets Blamed for Universal Studios Blaze

Coroner Chronicles: Homicides Down

It sure seems like there has been an awful lot of murders in Los Angeles County since January. Every time I look at the newspaper or check out the nightly TV news, someone has been gunned down in a drive by shooting, stabbed to death in an alley, or set on fire. In April, there were at least four ... More >>

Was the Universal Studios Fire an accident?

Early reports are calling the fire that gutted three acres of Universal Hollywood's back lot an accident. However, it is unclear what caused the June 1 fire and whether the studios antiquated sprinkler system hampered the firefighters' efforts to save its famous tour relics, including its gargantuan ... More >>

Bubblegate Ballot: Votes They Didn't Count On

Nonpartisan voters get screwed when presidential choices are tossed

Above It All

Universal City Overlook

Bonded in L.A.

The lone “yes” vote on a night of no, no, no

Demands of Independence

Let Gov. Arnold see what people like Mary Martz really need

Votes of No-Confidence

Cost of election ending up in court

Letters

The Ailing Patient

Supervisorial Misconduct

Let voters decide health-care workers pay issue

Letters

The Grapes of L.A.

Winemaking can once again be local