Free Republic

Washington Post closing all US bureaus outside DC The Washington Post is closing its last US bureaus outside the nation's capital as the money-losing newspaper retrenches to focus on politics and local news. Published: 12:48AM GMT 25 Nov 2009 "At a time of limited resources and increased competitive pressure, it's necessary to concentrate our journalistic firepower on our central mission of covering Washington and the news, trends and ideas that shape both the region and the country's politics, policies and government," the newspaper's editor, Marcus Brauchli, wrote in a memo to employees that was obtained by Reuters. The Post will...

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today announced his selection of Douglas Guthrie to become the new general manager of the city’s Housing Department. Guthrie, a former top official at the Chicago Housing Authority, most recently worked with private ventures focused on affordable urban development and the redevelopment of old public housing into mixed-use city centers. Guthrie served for six years as president of Kimball Hill Urban Centers in Chicago, which built mixed-income affordable housing in many depressed city centers that most traditional developers would avoid, including a project with former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros, one of...

Brad Humphreys spends a lot of time studying the economics of professional sports. It's his specialty, and the University of Alberta economics professor says there's a good reason why there is no NFL team in Los Angeles. "Leverage," he said. Since the Raiders and Rams left in 1995, Los Angeles has been the NFL's boogeyman, an illusory threat to markets that don't sell enough tickets, or won't subsidize a new stadium — illusory because Los Angeles has traditionally had the same problems that plague other troubled markets. Suddenly, however, the boogeyman is real, and the Minnesota Vikings are in his...

Just when we thought it was all over, the ACORN Pimp/Hooker Scandal rises again. Our heroes, Hannah Giles and James O' Keefe the fake pimp and hooker were in Philadelphia meeting with the folks at ACORN. Next Stop, Sunny Los Angeles. The first tape released from the ACORN of sunny LA was of Felix Harris Mr. Harris didn’t care about that the two were involved with prostitution in regards to a housing loan, but when the O'Keefe/Giles team started talking about underage girls, he said that ACORN did not get involved with things like that. Felix was the only person...

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday postponed a vote on a medical marijuana ordinance, with members saying they needed time to study numerous proposed amendments. But council members, who will return to the measure Tuesday, pressed for a quick end to a drawn-out deliberation that has unfolded as hundreds of dispensaries opened. "I think that we need to act relatively quickly," said council President Eric Garcetti. "We need some protection in there now to improve what's out there. We also need to be able to deter bad operators." The council appeared likely to allow dispensaries to sell marijuana, dismissing...

LOS ANGELES – Starting Wednesday, seven-digit dialing will be a thing of the past for a broad swath of coastal Los Angeles County. Residents of such posh enclaves as Santa Monica, Malibu and Brentwood will be among the first Californians to be required to dial 11 digits each time they pick up the phone, even if they are calling a next-door neighbor. The change comes as part of the state's first-ever area code overlay, in which future phone numbers within a region receive a new area code while existing numbers keep the old one. It contrasts with the more common...

The TERRY ANDERSON SHOW.. Articulating the Popular Rage! A warrior in the fight against illegal immigration and those who promote it for over a decade! From the streets of Los Angeles to the halls of congress, Terry has been there. No one has the passion and common sense of Terry Anderson...He is A MUST listen! The BEST one hour of radio you'll find anywhere. Sunday Nights- Listen on the radio! 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...

instead of fewer accidents, the number of traffic accidents has gone up at most of the Los Angeles intersections where red-light cameras have been installed.

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...