Los Angeles News (BETA)

The board takes a major step toward a series of projects over the next three decades, including the long-awaited subway to the sea. The state Legislature must approve the ballot measure first, though. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to seek a half-cent-on-the-dollar sales tax increase that could raise $30 billion to $40 billion for transit and ...

The women -- some just out of prison, others recently homeless -- have been given a chance to succeed, learning the techniques of fine cuisine at a Los Angeles cafe operated by a homeless center. Not long after Felicia Cuellar started working at The Village Kitchen, she began to suspect that the purple potatoes she'd been roasting had been dyed. The red carrots, too. Aren't carrots supposed ...

By hedging its fuel purchases, the bargain carrier shows a profit increase as competitors dump flights. Southwest Airlines Co. this fall is on track to become the busiest carrier at Los Angeles International Airport and at three of the four regional airports in Southern California as high fuel prices force its main competitors to cut flights.

Mayor pleads not guilty Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt Dorn pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of conflict of interest and misappropriation of $500,000 in public funds. The accusations stem from a city low-interest loan program originally intended to help Inglewood administrators live in town.

Steve Cooley says a growing number of fake identities are being used to bilk a state-funded, Los Angeles County-run program that helps the disabled and elderly. Charges have been filed against 21 people accused of fraudulently obtaining more than $2 million in benefits from a state-funded program designed to help the disabled or elderly receive in-home care, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. ...

Mickipedia! Why the Mickipedia? It started as a way for readers to get to know the people and places that semi-regularly find their way into my column. But it's also now becoming a kind of a glossary for the whole OC cultural/political/legal/social scene.

Gym parking lots being targeted by thieves, authorities say.

Forecasters say storm might send moisture to Southern California.

Fire danger still high, despite moist weather.

Superintendent of a Colorado school district is likely to be selected for same post here.

SAN BERNARDINO - A Highland man pleaded guilty this morning for his role the 2003 killing of Redlands teen Kelly Bullwinkle, whose disappearance sparked local outrage and national media coverage.

The inmate who escaped a state corrections work camp near Yucaipa late Thursday and broke into the home of a law enforcement couple has been booked into jail today on suspicion of residential burglary, possession of stolen property and a parole hold, officials said this morning.

One of two state inmates who escaped from a minimum-security fire camp near Yucaipa broke into the home of two law enforcement officers and stole a rifle, handgun and uniform before fleeing in a Jeep on Thursday, authorities said.

Almost two-thirds of California voters say they are in worse financial shape than they were a year ago and doubt their prospects will improve in the next 12 months, according to a nonpartisan poll.

A bill to resolve a decades-old San Jacinto Valley Indian water rights dispute is headed for President Bush's signature with passage of the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians Settlement Act late Thursday in the U.S. Senate.

Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. will offer California's first "green" homeowners insurance policy, which will cover the costs of using environmentally friendly products for repairs, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced today in Los Angeles. The policy, which will be available beginning Aug. 1, will cover the costs of rebuilding homes to the latest environmental standards after a loss, ...

A former cast member of the 1980s television show "Family Ties" is in what Boulder police call an "unknown location," and a warrant is out for his arrest. Twenty-six-year-old Brian Bonsall is wanted for skipping a July 16 court date on a charge of violating the terms of his probation after assaulting his girlfriend last year. Bonsall had allegedly missed daily breathalyzer tests, submitted a ...

Los Angeles City firefighters discovered a marijuana-growing operation while battling a warehouse fire in the Vermont Knolls area, authorities said Friday.  The fire at a two-story commercial building at 7612 S. Vermont Ave. was reported around 10:30 p.m. Thursday, and 25 firefighters doused the blaze in less than 20 minutes, a Los Angeles City Fire Department captain said.

One suspect is dead, and another reportedly on the loose Friday in an apparent home invasion in Riverside that also left four people in the house wounded, according to authorities. Two of the wounded in the house suffered gunshot wounds, but police said the wounds were not life-threatening.

Transcripts from a 911 call released today support the claim that Inglewood police officers were responding to a domestic dispute call before an officer fatally shot a postal employee who allegedly answered the door of his apartment with a gun in his hand and raised it toward officers.

Burlesque queen Dita Von Teese and Los Angeles-based dominatrix Cynthia Butler have settled a lawsuit that gives Von Teese the rights to a 2001 fetish film she starred in called "Slick City.

HARLINGEN, Texas - South Texas was getting back on its feet Friday as residents filter through the soggy mess left by Hurricane Dolly despite thousands still being without power.

LAS VEGAS - Several streets near Interstate 15 are being closed this weekend for bridge demolition as part of an ongoing freeway widening project.

A fire damaged an apartment building in Boyle Heights today, but no one was hurt, authorities said. Firefighters sent to the two-story building in the 600 block of North Cummings Street at 8:09 a.m.

WASHINGTON - Sales of new homes fell in June for the seventh time in the past eight months, more proof that the worst housing slump in decades is getting deeper.

All 364 people on board a Qantas airlines jumbo jet are safe after a harrowing flight.

The second full week of August will be the Los Angeles County Public Library's Fine Free week, an opportunity to return overdue library materials free of charge.

Actress, producer and Stanford business school graduate Jennifer Siebel will take a break from her Los Angeles television and movie career to marry San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom this weekend.

A college professor, whose lecture about facing a terminal illness became a YouTube phenomenon, did much to raise awareness of pancreatic cancer and needed research dollars before his death Friday at age 47.

An attorney for the family of a slain West Hollywood man says the man's death was an execution by police and may have been motivated by bias against gays. The family is seeking $20 million in damages.

NEWPORT BEACH -- Police say the so-called "Dinnertime Burglar" won't be calling anytime soon.

LOS ANGELES -- Three naked men got an unwelcomed surprise after they were lured to a Calimesa motel by some women, then robbed. The men told Riverside County sheriff's deputies they met three women in a Yucaipa park and then rented a room for a night of partying at the women's request.

LOS ANGELES -- California regulators adopted the world's toughest pollution rules for oceangoing vessels Thursday, vowing to improve the health of coastal residents and opening a new front in a long battle with the international shipping industry.

LOS ANGELES -- Firefighters responding to an electrical fire at a commercial building found a marijuana growing operation behind locked doors.

SAN BERNARDINO -- An inmate escaped a minimum-security fire camp and broke into the home of a San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy and stole his vehicle, a uniform and weapons.

The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline tumbled 9.8 cents in Los Angeles County this week, the largest weekly drop in five consecutive weeks of declining prices, the Automobile Club of Southern California reported today. RELATED LINKS: » Find cheapest gas in Torrance » Calculate gas/cost ratio

An alleged drug dealer shot to death by a sheriff's deputy in Lennox had a previous confrontation with officers and had pleaded guilty to narcotics possession last year, records showed Friday. RELATED LINKS: » BLOG: Keep up to date with South Bay crime and court news » South Bay crime stats

The Copley Press Inc., parent company of the San Diego Union-Tribune, said Thursday it has retained an investment-banking firm to explore a potential sale of the newspaper.

Authorities think child was the unintended target of gang-related crime.

Crime reports around the Peninsula.

Laura Comer spent three weeks in the hospital. Suspect plasma was flushed out of her body and replaced with fresh quantities. Seven doctors treated her, some of them quoting mortality rates.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gained the authority Thursday to conduct a long-awaited survey of radiation contamination at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in the hills south of Simi Valley.

After hearing news that Satori Day Spa & Salon abruptly closed its doors this week, another Simi Valley salon has offered to honor all outstanding gift cards from Satori.

A 16-year-old Oxnard boy was reported in serious condition after being stabbed in the chest and beaten Thursday afternoon, authorities said.

Several Oxnard neighborhoods in recent weeks have been hit with a rash of residential burglaries targeting unlocked homes, police said.

DENVER - Republican presidential candidate John McCain, ridiculing Barack Obama for "the audacity of hopelessness" in his policies on Iraq, said Friday that the entire Middle East could have plunged into war had U.S. troops been withdrawn as his rival advocated.

When there's an urgent need to trace fruits and vegetables in a crisis like the salmonella outbreak, a lot of the pieces for a rapid-response system are in place. But nobody has quite figured out how to put them together to operate seamlessly in the vast American marketplace. Video: Tracing tainted produce

The government has endangered the public's health and safety by failing to clean up abandoned mines on federal land in the West, according to a scathing audit released Friday.

MANILA, Philippines - A hole the size of a small car in the underside of a Qantas jumbo jet carrying 346 passengers forced the pilot to make an emergency landing Friday after a rapid descent over the South China Sea. Video: Qantas Jet lands in Manila Video: Qantas Jet lands in Manila

A Qantas jumbo jet carrying 345 passengers made an emergency landing in Manila this morning with a gaping hole in its fuselage after a mysterious "explosive decompression," officials said. Videos: Huge hole forces jet to land