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Gustavo Dudamel is back in town, and Thursday night he conducted a magnificently theatrical performance of Verdi’s Requiem that felt like his first real concert as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. All Los Angeles, of course, knows that last month Dudamel began his tenure with a free event at the Hollywood Bowl, and that was followed by nervous-making high-profile programs in Walt Disney Concert Hall the next week.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – A 32-year veteran who helped clean up a corruption-plagued division of the Los Angeles Police Department was unveiled Wednesday as the city's new top cop. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced the appointment of deputy chief Charlie Beck as head of the LAPD following the decision of chief William Bratton to resign earlier this year. Villaraigosa said Beck was "the right man to lead the Los Angeles Police Department at the right time." "He's a man of character and integrity. He's a police officer who is tough on crime, and he's a leader with deep respect...

LOS ANGELES—More than a quarter of English learners don't make it into mainstream classes by the eighth grade in Los Angeles and most of those who don't were born in the United States, according to a study released Wednesday. The study by Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California showed 29 percent of English learners in the Los Angeles Unified School District were still in these classes in the eighth grade. More than half of these students were born in the United States and were in classes for English learners for more than eight years. "They're staying...

LOS ANGELES — DEVELOPING: Los Angeles police have detained a man near the North Hollywood synagogue where two Jewish people were shot in the legs. Officer Rosario Herrera says she was unsure if the arrest was connected with the shooting Thursday at the Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic synagogue.

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) today condemned a shooting incident in the parking garage of a North Hollywood synagogue in which two worshipers were injured. The worshipers are reported to be hospitalized in good condition. A motive for the shooting has yet to be established, but a bias motive is being investigated. SEE: Police Search for Gunman in North Hollywood Synagogue Shooting http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/synagogue-shooting-1.html In a statement, CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush said: "We condemn this attack near the Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic Orthodox synagogue in the...

<p>Two people were shot at a synagogue parking lot in North Hollywood today, police said. A man is reported in custody.</p> <p>The shooting at the Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic Temple was reported about 6:20 a.m., said Los Angeles police Officer Cleon Joseph of media relations. A member of the synagogue tells KNX 1070 the shooting happened in the parking lot just as people were gathering at the temple for morning services.</p>

Los Angeles police say two Jewish men in their 30s were shot in the legs as they were about to enter a synagogue in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles Thursday morning. A man described as an African-American with a handgun entered the Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic synagogue at about 6:20 a.m. Thursday and opened fire. The victims were taken to a hospital in stable condition. Police are investigating the shooting as a hate crime. The Los Angeles Times says police arrested a man near the synagogue, but the sources say they don't believe he was the gunman. The...

Kickoff Rally a Huge Success!Hi everyone!  We've now launched the Tea Party Express II: Countdown to Judgment Day with a giant rally in San Diego.  It was incredible!!  The crowd was huge - numbering in the thousands!  The sun was shining on this naval town with our rally on the water and the U.S.S. Midway serving as the backdrop.  Sorry Keith Olbermann and any critics of the Tea Party Express - but "We The People" came together in San Diego today and our voice was heard!I can't begin to tell you how exciting the event was and how meaningful...

The Tea Party Express II launches at 11:00 am today from San Diego's Tuna Harbor Park, just across from the USS Midway!! Woo hoo!! We'll be there!! The coast to coast Tea Party Express schedule includes San Diego and Los Angeles today, Bakersfield and Fresno tomorrow, and then it's on to Nevada and beyond to Florida!! Conservative groups have joined forces to make this massive national effort possible. Besides the lead sponsor, the Our Country Deserves Better Committee, the Tea Party Express II enjoys support from Grassfire.org, ResistNet, Free Republic, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, National Tax Limitation Committee, Americans for...

LOS ANGELES, Oct 20 - Foreman Danny Miranda remembers the days when the Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, ports were so jammed that ships waited in line to unload. Now the lingering recession has longshoremen waiting in line for work. After a year of grappling with fewer shifts and falling wages, Miranda and other union port workers hope a surprise jump in September retail sales will fuel a late-season bump in holiday cargo. "Out of seven days, only two we see work. The last quarter it would be four days out of the seven," said Miranda, a veteran port...

 GIANT KICKOFF FOR TEA PARTY EXPRESSIN SAN DIEGO & LOS ANGELES THIS SUNDAY - OCTOBER 25TH (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) - The Tea Party Express II (www.TeaPartyExpress.org) launches this Sunday with a giant kickoff rally in San Diego and a subsequent rally later in the day in Los Angeles.   The Tea Party Express II: Countdown to Judgment Day national tour will span 19 days, rallies in 38 cities, and cover more than 7,000 miles.  The tour marks the one-year point from the 2010 elections when numerous members of Congress will be targeted for defeat, as a result of their support of higher deficits,...

The Los Angeles Galaxy star came in the top ten of what one U.S. magazine called the biggest 'busts, choke artists'. U.S. based Maxim magazine said Beckham's move to the Los Angeles team was nothing short of a 'catastrophe'. After all the publicity about his £125m move, it said the former Manchester United star has failed miserably to make football - or soccer as it is called in the US - more attractive to fans.

A changing climate, population growth and a decade-long housing boom has proved to be a combustible mix for the city of Los Angeles. Not only are the fires in LA becoming more frequent, but these days they are also less predictable and a lot bigger. More and more of them are now referred to as mega-fire and the response, in California at least, is to fight them with equal force. In the last few lazy days of summer an act of arson tore through 10,000 hectares within a day and doubled in size every day for the first four days....

The 25-year-old Nigerian national was reportedly seen tending a small blaze about six days before the Station fire started in the same area. Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives hope to question a man who was spotted tending a small fire in the vicinity of the Station fire almost one week before that deadly blaze erupted in the Angeles National Forest. At a news conference Monday, homicide detectives requested the public's help in locating a 25-year-old homeless man who was caught "feeding" a small, uncontrolled fire in the early afternoon of Aug. 20 -- six days before the start of the...

LOS ANGELES -- L.A. County Sheriff's detectives investigating the massive "Station Fire" want to talk with a transient they say started a smaller fire in the same general area days earlier. Officials are looking for Babatunsin Olukunle, 25, a Nigerian man who dropped out of the Unviersity of California, Davis in 2007, according to L.A. County Sheriff's Lt. Liam Gallagher. Gallagher says Olukunle is wanted for questioning in the Lady Bug fire, which broke out on August 20, six miles away from the Station Fire ignition point along Highway 2 near a ranger station north of La Canada Flintridge. "During...

More than 200 patients undergoing CT brain scans at Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center got doses of radiation eight times higher than normal, prompting the Food and Drug Administration to issue an alert to prevent similar problems, it was reported Saturday. About 40 percent of the patients lost patches of hair as a result of the overdoses, a hospital spokesman told the Los Angeles Times. The overdoses went undetected for 18 months, raising questions about why it took Cedars-Sinai so long to notice that something was wrong. "The magnitude of these overdoses and their impact on the affected patients were...

Top 9th: LA Angels - B. Abreu doubled to left, E. Aybar scored, C. Figgins to third - V. Guerrero singled to shallow center, C. Figgins and B. Abreu scored, T. Hunter to second

How the West Was Won: My Boys from the 'Hood....:-)

The reality television show "Project Runway" this season is putting the spotlight on Los Angeles, where designers toil in a loft downtown, competing to win $100,000 to start their own clothing line. The local industry could use the boost. L.A.'s once-flourishing garment design and manufacturing industry is shedding jobs as quickly as a mohair sweater loses its fur. Weak U.S. consumer spending is generating less demand for the services of the people who stitch, cut and sew clothing in Los Angeles County. Garment manufacturers are finding it tough to get credit. Some, like American Apparel Inc., are dismissing employees whose...

The FBI on Wednesday announced that it had charged 53 defendants, the largest number ever charged in a cybercrime case, following a multinational investigation into a phishing scheme that operated in the United States and Egypt. Thirty-three of the 53 defendants named in the indictment have been arrested, the FBI said, and several others are being sought. The investigation, dubbed "Operation Phish Phry," began in 2007. Authorities in Egypt have charged 47 defendants linked to the phishing operation. Phishing is a form of social engineering that attempts to convince Internet users, via e-mail or other means, to provide online credentials...

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's top executive, H. David Nahai, has resigned from the agency effective immediately, the mayor's office announced this morning. In a letter to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Nahai said he was leaving to take a position as an advisor to former President Clinton's climate initiative. Nahai had served two years as a DWP commissioner before Villaraigosa elevated him to the post of chief executive and general manager in 2007. Ever since, he had been under fire from an array of forces. He drew strong criticism from the head of the powerful International Brotherhood of...

The TERRY ANDERSON SHOW.. Articulating the Popular Rage! Sundays - 12-1 AM EDT, 11-12 PM CDT, 10-11 PM MDT, 9-10 PM PDT KRLA - 870 AM - Los Angeles -- KDWN - 720 - Las Vegas -- KFNX - 1100 - Phoenix "Stupid People of America !!! If You Ain't Mad, You Ain't Payin' Attention!" Call-In Number - (866) 870-5752 Don't miss Terry's September 27th show... When Terry will once again rant patriotically patriotically about the invasion... and demand that our borders be closed... and those 30,000,000 illegal aliens sent back home... Can you guess WHO the most Horriblest Clown...

He may be a social pariah everywhere else -- but when Kanye West made a surprise appearance at Common's benefit concert last night in Hollywood, he got a hero's welcome. The crowd at the show -- which featured Common, Nas, Ludacris, De La Soul, The Roots, Mos Def, Talib Kweli and more -- just exploded when Kanye rushed out on stage. He stayed for a few songs -- including "Good Life" and "Run This Town" -- and had the crowd going nuts the whole time. Kanye was able to perform without interruption.

FIRE AT TESORO REFINERY IN L.A. NO INJURIES, EVACUATIONS UNDERWAY.

By far my favorite You Tube video. Felt like sharing. Sorry. The panic in the commentary is entertaining.

LOS ANGELES — The chickens have come home to roost for Los Angeles city dwellers who keep roosters. The City Council on Tuesday passed an ordinance that — with few exceptions — allows only one rooster per property. It was spurred by complaints over noise and hygiene and concerns over illegal cockfighting. Janice Hahn, who authored the bill, says it will give residents of her district some peace and quiet.

A Los Angeles graffiti artist has been leaving a series of stamp marks on buildings and structures in Echo Park and other areas, accusing the community organizing group known as ACORN of funding prostitution activities. As first noticed by the blogs Curbed LA and The Eastsider LA, the graffiti began appearing last week in a number of neighborhoods around downtown including Echo Park and Silver Lake. The graffiti bears the ACORN logo and the words "Funded Prostitution Zone." Last week, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) found itself in the middle of a media storm after a...

The Los Angeles Basin is expected to experience a heat wave starting today and moving into full swing Tuesday with triple-digit temperatures, low humidity and gusty winds, putting firefighters on high alert, weather officials said. "The low humidity means our air is going to be pretty parched," said Jamie Stern of the National Weather Service in Oxnard. Fire danger is expected to be highest Tuesday, when temperatures will peak and humidity will be lowest. Red-flag warnings indicating heightened fire danger were expected to go into effect at 4 a.m. Tuesday and last until about 6 p.m. Wednesday. The warnings cover...

Adrienne Ferguson had retribution on her mind as she made her way along West Jefferson Boulevard clutching a stack of papers. She wasn't reacting to a perceived injustice done to her. She was taking action for a stranger who claims to have a beef with the C&H Auto Center, a small automobile body shop down the street. Ferguson and a partner operate Alibis & Paybacks, a Los Angeles firm that describes itself as "the ultimate revenge" service, offering paybacks both large and small. For a fee, for instance, the pair will publicly denounce and embarrass someone or some business, peppering...

Los Angeles Area Patriots. Get Off Your Butt TODAY!!! Come To The: West Coast Tea Party 3:00pm TODAY Federal Building, West Los Angeles, 11000 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024

Authorities have traced the ignition point just off a public road and say they found the substance used to start the historic blaze, but they would not identify it. The so-called Station Fire has now consumed growth and structures on more than 150,000 acres, or more than 234 square miles. That's an area more than ten times the size of New York's Manhattan island. It's still not contained and has cost millions of dollars to fight with resources coming in from all over the country and Canada.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Every Thursday night, Lonnie Bishop and Lisa Case have a dinner date. For $5 each, the couple dines on fancy hot dogs served from a food truck parked outside their favorite wine shop in Los Angeles. The fire engine-red truck labeled "Let's be Frank" is part of a growing fleet of mobile food vendors that serve tasty and inventive fare, often organic. The trend has drawn entrepreneurs looking for opportunities in the recession and diners seeking cheap eats. The new vehicles raise the bar from the traditional "taco trucks" that sell mainly Mexican fare at construction...

As the fire and homicide investigation continues, officials say several firefighters were exposed to cyanide gas in two separate incidents as they were mopping up hot spots near the small city of Acton on the northern edge of the massive blaze. The poisonous cyanide fumes are suspected in acute breathing problems suffered by Los Angeles firefighters battling the Station Fire in the Aliso Canyon. One firefighters suffered life-threatening respiratory arrest and remains in hospital after she was knocked out by noxious fumes on Sept. 1 near Acton. Two days later, six firefighters suffered severe breathing difficulties in another part of...

And in a big way. A lot of you have seen the great ads produced by a group called Catholics Come Home. The ads, evidently, are working. And spreading. From the Los Angeles Times: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento is home to nearly 1 million Catholics. On a typical Sunday, less than 137,000 can be found in church. Now, using a strategy straight from the secular playbook, its leaders hope to lure back those who have drifted. The diocese and nearly a dozen others across the country are preparing to air several thousand prime-time TV commercials in English and...

"On the scoreboard in right field, it is 9:46 p.m. in the City of the Angels, Los Angeles, California. And a crowd of 29,139 [has seen] the only pitcher in baseball history to hurl four no-hit, no-run games. ... And now he caps it. On his fourth no-hitter, he made it a perfect game." The date was Sept. 9, 1965, and it seemed appropriate that Vin Scully, the best baseball broadcaster since World War II, was telling the world that Sandy Koufax, the most dominant pitcher of that period, had achieved the ultimate...

A wildfire in the foothills north of Los Angeles that has claimed the lives of two firefighters, ravaged more than 250 square miles and destroyed more than 60 homes was caused by arson, the federal Forest Service said. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has begun a homicide inquiry looking for the person or people responsible for the wildfire, which continues to burn. The blaze, known as the Station Fire, has burned for over a week in the Angeles National Forest outside Los Angeles. After a forensic investigation, officials with the U.S. Forest Service determined on Thursday that the fire...

Ten days ago, the Los Angeles Times published an Op-Ed by an Israeli Professor from Ben Gurion University of the Negev (BGU). The article called for a boycott of Israel. It was neither on the front page nor written by a known anti-Semite, but the community is up in arms. Suddenly, the local Jewish community in Greater Los Angeles finds the message delivered daily by the Los Angeles Times unpleasant. I say suddenly, but over the past three decades, there have been repeated calls to cancel subscriptions and withdraw advertisement dollars, to very little or no avail. The Los Angeles...

The monster Station Fire burning north of Los Angeles was human-caused, a U.S. Forest Service official said Wednesday. Meanwhile, fire crews prepared for potential setbacks because of returning drier conditions, MSNBC.com reported. Investigators don't know specifically how the Station Fire was started but have enough information to determine it was caused by a person, the Forest Service's deputy incident commander Carlton Joseph said during a news conference. Investigators were determining whether the fire was accidental or arson and identified the point of origin as mile marker 29 on Angeles Crest Highway. Firefighters caught a weather break Tuesday when moister, cooler...

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A massive fire in the Angeles National Forest nearly doubled in size overnight, threatening 12,000 homes Monday in a 20-mile-long swath of flame and smoke and surging toward a mountaintop broadcasting complex and historic observatory. The fire was the largest of at least eight burning up and down California after days of triple-digit temperatures and low humidity. The Los Angeles-area blaze had burned at least 21 homes and was moving north, south and east through the rugged foothills northeast of the city. Despite a lack of wind, the fire surged without letup by running through steep...

Intense wildfires in Southern California are dangerously close to facilities atop Mount Wilson, threatening damage to cell phone and TV broadcast towers, as well as a famed observatory. The blaze, which started August 26, has burned approximately 20,102 acres and as of Sunday was only 5 percent contained, according to the Web site of the California governor's office. Known as the "Station Fire," as it began about one mile above the Angeles Crest Fire Station, the inferno has spread throughout the San Gabriel Mountains in Northern Los Angeles County. At an altitude of 5,715 feet, Mount Wilson houses a number...

Firefighters' goal: Keep the fire within the blue line. The northern flank is nearing the Acton area, prompting evacuations along Highway 14. The fire is two miles from Mt. Wilson, site of communications towers and an observatory. To the southwest, flames are still spreading above the foothills above the 210. La Crescenta and La Cañada Flintridge expands evacuation areas.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today urged residents in fire evacuation zones to flee as firefighters predicted another difficult day battling a wildfire that has burned 35,000 acres and threatened more than 12,000 homes from Acton to Altadena. Schwarzenegger noted at a morning press conference that three residents in Big Tujunga Canyon suffered serious burns trying in vain to save their homes Saturday. "There will be people who don't listen," the governor said at the fire command post in Lake View Terrace. ". . . Move as soon as [firefighters] say to move." Although thousands of homes are covered in the evacuation...

The unstoppable Angeles National Forest fire threatened 10,000 homes Saturday night as it more than tripled in size and chewed through a rapidly widening swath of the Crescenta Valley, where flames closed in on backyards and at least 1,000 homes were ordered evacuated. Sending an ominous plume of smoke above the Los Angeles Basin, the fire was fueled by unrelenting hot weather and dense brush that has not burned in 60 years.

In the coming disaster movie "2012," tragedy strikes Randy's Donuts in Inglewood when its giant rooftop donut becomes unhinged and is last seen bouncing down the street in the direction of star John Cusack's limo. The incident is just digital magic, of course. In real life, Randy's -- once a member of the now-defunct Big Donut chain -- is very much intact, as 405 Freeway drivers know well.

at least 3 injuries..one badly burned fire fighter just air lifted out some recent chatter "we are loosing structures" "need air rescue" "send ambulances backed by engines" "I guess we can go back in there after the fire passes, pull out for now"(I assume resdiental areas) local online news media seems to be in "weekend mode" not updating

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Thousands of residents were evacuated from million-dollar homes in exclusive Los Angeles communities as four wildfires burned on Friday in the mountains and coastal areas around the city. Nearly 900 homes were threatened in La Canada Flintridge from a fire that started on Wednesday in a national forest and spread toward the affluent foothill town, home to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Some 1,500 acres have burned. Another fire broke out late on Thursday in the coastal enclave of Rancho Palos Verdes, forcing authorities to quickly evacuate 650 homes

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa -- apparently a heavy sleeper -- was on the defensive Wednesday about why he's been violating the city's watering law. At a news conference celebrating the city's reduction in water use, the mayor said his home's sprinklers were in use during illegal times because of a glitch in the system. "Thank you for alerting me to this issue," Villaraigosa said Wednesday. The mayor told NBC4's Joel Grover that he was unable to hear the sprinklers because he's a heavy sleeper.

Dear John Ziegler Mailing List Members: Two reasons for this quick note. First, I will be part of a truly unique event this Sunday evening (Aug 30)at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center. It is a first class concert combined with conservative/libertarian speakers. Thankfully I will be speaking and not singing. If you wish to attend, go to the website for your tickets: Tickets Here Make sure you use the discount code "John50" for 50% off of the ticket price. As for the real story of what happened to my show at KGIL, I have written an extensive article for...

Thomas Aquinas College is not your typical modern university. Students read the classics, not textbooks. Girls must wear skirts or dresses to class. There’s a curfew of 11 on school nights. Yet the conservative Catholic college, nestled in the hills of Santa Paula, is attracting national attention for its small classes, generous financial aid and strong academics. U.S. News & World Report this month ranked it among the nation’s top 100 liberal arts colleges.... Above all, Thomas Aquinas is known for its Great Books program. Instead of using textbooks, students learn every subject — from literature to science — by...

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Smoke filled the skies over the Los Angeles Basin Wednesday as a quick-moving wildfire expanded to 750 acres in the mountains north of the city, officials said. With high temperatures and dry winds fueling the flames, firefighters said just 10 percent of the fire was contained by morning. The National Weather Service said temperatures were expected to reach triple digits in the valley, the Los Angeles Times reported Campgrounds in the Angeles National Forest were evacuated Tuesday after a brush fire broke out near the Morris Dam north of Azusa in late afternoon. About...