Mojave Desert

5 SoCal Cities That Are Hell on Earth

From the beaches of La Jolla to the majestic mountains of the Angeles National Forest, from the Joshua trees of the Mojave desert to the gilded canyons off Mulholland Drive, Southern California is a beautiful place. But, frankly, it can also be hell on earth. If you've ever been stuck in traffic on ... More >>

First 'Parent Trigger' School in United States Opens Doors in California

For the first time in the United States, a school has been fully transformed by a Parent Trigger law. That historic moment happened yesterday in California when parents opened Desert Trails Preparatory Academy in the Mojave Desert town of Adelanto. "For the parents and children of Desert Trails," s ... More >>

Los Angeles Unified School District Braces For First Parent Trigger Take Over

Los Angeles Unified School District will finally become a target of a Parent Trigger, a California law that allows parents to take over a failing school in which their children attend, according to L.A. School Report. Parents at 24th Street Elementary School, with the help of Los Angeles-based educ ... More >>

Historic Parent Trigger Approved in California by Adelanto School Board

It's official. For the first time ever in the United States, a California school district has approved a Parent Trigger, which allows parents to make changes to a failing school. The landmark decision by the Adelanto School District to allow Desert Trails Elementary School in the Mojave Desert to ... More >>

Top 10 Marijuana News Stories For 2012, LA Weekly-Style

If you like drama and marijuana together, then 2012 was the year for you: It was jam-packed with topsy-turvy cannabis news. As the Obama administration cracked down on medical marijuana dispensaries in California, the president himself said pot users in marijuana-legal states shouldn't be prosecut ... More >>

San Onofre's Demise Means Blackout For Weeks if 'Big-One' Quake Hits SoCal

If the Big One hits, we're f---'d. You're saying, Yeah-yeah, tell me something I don't know. But here's the thing: Experts say our only hope of getting power back 72 hours after a huge earthquake in Southern California is the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. As you might have heard, the San O ... More >>

Connor Penhall, 21-Year-Old Caltrans Worker and Son of Racer/Actor Bruce Penhall, Killed by Alleged Drunk Driver

Updated after the jump: Caltrans responds, and the ghost of Penhall expresses unhappiness with his job. Originally posted at 8:30 a.m. The victim of a late-night crash on the 10 West has been identified as 21-year-old Connor Penhall, a Caltrans subcontractor and the son of racer-turned-actor Bruc ... More >>

Long Beach Cops Find House Filled With Pot, Shrooms, Peyote, Boa Constrictors, Tarantulas and a Scorpion

Livin' the dream in the LBC! This place makes Animal House look like a sober-living facility: Long Beach police raided a home on Caspian Avenue last night that was fully stocked with more psychedelics and exotic reptiles than a Mojave Desert trailer park. Here's all the loot that cops pulled from ... More >>

Mark Berndt, Miramonte Elementary School Teacher, Reportedly Took Photos of Kids Bound, Gagged, Crawling With Cockroaches in Sick 'Sex Game'

Update: "'Sex Game' Teacher Mark Berndt Went Free for Over a Year: How Did LAUSD, L.A. Sheriff Let This Happen?" Updated at the bottom: DNA tests show that Berndt spoon-fed the students his own semen. A longtime South L.A. elementary school teacher was fired about one year ago, in January 2011, wh ... More >>

10 Best Cheap Bastard Things to Do in L.A.

(Note: An earlier version of this post said that parking at the Getty was free after 5 p.m. It used to be free, but is actually now $10, a new policy implemented in Nov. 2011) Are you the person who secretly doesn't put down enough cash for the check, leaving all your friends to scramble to cover i ... More >>

Best hike ever

Parent Trigger's Second Try

Minority parents target failing Adelanto school

Inquiry Towards the Practice of Secular Magic

A live documentary and more at multimedia event

They All Die At 27: Jason Ritter and Taryn Manning Discuss The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll

Eric Genson (Jason Ritter) serenades his road manager Rose Atropos (Taryn Manning) in a scene from the film. ​By Roselle Chen The title of the new rock saga film The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll refers to 27 and the many famous musicians who have died at that age, including Robert Johnson, K ... More >>

L.A. County's Private Property War

Captain Beefheart: The Legendary 1980 Profile by Lester Bangs

Captain Beefheart artwork for Doc at the Radar Station album ad (1980)​[As we reported this afternoon, Captain Beefheart, Don Van Vliet, died today at 69. We already posted a list of the "Top 14 Reasons Why Captain Beefheart Was a True American Genius" by Beefheartologist Rob Chalfen. You can ... More >>

Crowds Got Way Too Close To Racers In Lucern Valley Off-Road Tragedy

Dave Conklin / Associated Press​Authorities said there were few limits on how close crowds could be as off-road racers zoomed by at Saturday's deadly California 200 race that saw eight spectators perish when a prerunner-type Ford Ranger truck flipped into the audience. " ... There are no deli ... More >>

Out at the Movies

From bisexual bromance to lesbian Marines to Le Tigre: 15 picks for Outfest

Tonight: The Gaslamp Killer and Mainframe at Gonjasufi record release

Tonight: The Gaslamp Killer and Mainframe at Gonjasufi record release

Notes From the Music Blog: Louis Armstrong’s Pot Habit

Plus, Richard Branson’s foray into Above & Beyond

Above & Beyond's Eyewitness Account of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Unveiling

The members of British trance group Above & Beyond had just returned home after a U.S. tour when they were essentially summoned back to Los Angeles. Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson's foray into "suborbital space travel," was about to unveil SpaceShipTwo and the company wanted to use the group's clu ... More >>

SoCal Edison Googles "Profits" Gets "Tortoise"

The L.A. Business Journal reports that Southern California Edison has inked a 20-year deal with Google-backed BrightSource Energy that could see Edison provide 1,300 megawatts of solar power to seven projects supervised by the Oakland-based startup company. The LABJ quotes both companies as claiming ... More >>

The Tortoise and the Tank: August 21, 2008

Relocated tortoises are dying in large numbers, next phase of Fort Irwin expansion put on hold

Proposition 7: The Most Confusing

Why environmentalists are against the solar-power measure

L.A. Weekly Follow-Up: A Tortoise Reprieve — High Casualties Put Halt to Fort Irwin's Expansion Plans

"Sadly, we've been proven right," says spokesperson from Center for Biological Diversity, which is suing to stop tortoise moves

The Tortoise and the Tank Face Off at Fort Irwin

A battle in the desert over territory and resources, starring hard-shelled refugees, burger-loving insurgents and a couple of dazed road warriors

Artifact and Fiction

Ron Griffin, Ernest Silva at Bergamot galleries

Rock Picks: John Fogerty, Band of Horses, Eek-a-Mouse, Gram Rabbit

For the week of November 23 - 29

Must See Art

Don Van Vliet and LAXART’s benefit auction

Best Escape Vittles

Snake, gator and other edible critters at Charlie Brown Farms

Prospecting for Beauty

Treasure map to the best park bench in Southern California

Fuel to the Fire

A smoldering argument over the causes of the Sawtooth fire. Did the wildflowers do it?

Good Vibrations

Farting in Church

How to make irreverence matter

What a Fool Believes

Theater Reviews

For the week of March 24 - 30

I Drive, Therefore I Am

They Also Served

So long, Mojave burros

The Air That We Breathe

Just when it looked like we might win the war on smog, a new and more deadly form of air pollution stalks Los Angeles

Time Machines

Doug Aitken looks for a story in all the wrong places

Ruffled Feathers

Audubon sues the DWP for the sake of songbirds

Don’t Mince Birds

Wind power for Los Angeles faces down a new foe

James Doolin, 1932 - 2002

Torturing Coyotes

The best of Sitegeist

Torturing Coyotes

Cruising for Zombies

A review of local arcade diversions

Downloadable Dreams

Specialty shops in cyberspace

Glowing Future Dims for Dump

Revelations undermine state claim to nuke site

Strata Blaster

El Niño proves a paleontological bonanza