Hillel Aron

If you've been to the supermarket lately, maybe you've noticed a guy out front with four clipboards in his hand, trying to get your attention. He's probably looks a bit like a carny. That man is trying to get your signature for a ballot measure. Welcome to California, where the......

For Charles Lester, it must have felt like a strange way to get fired. The gym was packed on Feb. 10 with hundreds of people: environmentalists in Patagonia fleeces, surfers wearing flip-flops, aging hippies in flannel shirts — so many people that fire marshal Steve Knuckles had to make an......

November of 2016 could prove to be a dramatic turning point in the history of Los Angeles. A number of ballot measures are in the works that, if passed, would radically change the future of the city. Perhaps the most controversial of all will be the "Neighborhood Integrity Initiative," which......

Should eating disorders be treated as occupational health hazards for fashion models? One California lawmaker thinks so. State Assemblyman Marc Levine, who represents Marin County and parts of Sonoma County, has introduced a bill, AB 2539, that would create health standards for models. "Society has these outrageous expectations for what......

Another lawsuit was filed last week against rehab operator Chris Bathum, alleging that he used his rehab facilities, Community Recovery Los Angeles (CRLA), "to financially enrich Bathum and his associates and to feed Bathum's depraved appetite for drugs and young women to sexually victimize." It’s the second sexual battery lawsuit......

Some are calling in a coastal coup: the California Coastal Commission voted 7-5 to fire its executive director, Charles Lester, Wednesday night, after a marathon meeting in Morro Bay. Hundreds of environmentalists, surfers and hippies had flooded into the sleepy seaside town full of antique shops and saltwater taffy to......

You know a newspaper editorial means business when they call for a Czar. Like a few months ago, when the Downtown News called for a Homelessness Czar.  Of course, L.A. already has a handful of czars. There's the Earthquake Czar, Dr. Lucy Jones; the Film Czar, Tom Sherak; L.A. County's......

L.A.'s most anticipated criminal trial in years actually looks like it might start soon. The 63-year-old Lonnie Franklin, Jr., a one-time city garbageman, stands accused of killing nine woman and a teenage girl, in a spate of murders that L.A. Weekly first reported upon and dubbed, "The Grim Sleeper" killings. The......

Last week, a little paper called the Los Angeles Times ran a front page story: "Billions spent, but fewer people are using public transportation in Southern California."  Never mind that Gene Maddaus of the far littler L.A. Weekly broke the story of L.A. Metro's declining ridership four months ago. No......