Reverend Donald Ashman, who "leads a small congregation at the Anglican Church of Our Saviour on the Westside of Los Angeles, where he has been for a quarter of a century [and] teaches Latin and world history at Hoover High School in Glendale," was on board Metrolink Train 111 on Friday, September 12th at 4:23 p.m. when it crashed head-on into a Union Pacific Freight Train. Despite his own back injuries sustained in the......

Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist UPDATE 7:48 p.m. Conflicting reports cite different numbers for current confirmed fatalities; KABC referenced an Associated Press report giving the estimated number of deaths as 20, whereas the Daily News reports 15. Currently the worst Metrolink accident on record involved 11 fatalities; as rescue operations continue, and possibly convert to recovery operations, into the night today's collision may become the worst Metrolink accident in the commuter rail's history. UPDATE 7:13......

Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist Metrolink Train #111, traveling from Union Station to Moorpark on the Ventura Line, collided with a freight train near Heather Lee Lane and the 118 Freeway in Chatsworth just before 4:30 this afternoon. The collision is being described as "head on" and both trains appeared to be on the same track. Rescue personnel are on the scene extracting trapped passengers; over 20 people are reported as injured, with 3-5 individuals......

A Metrolink train collided head on with a freight train in Chatsworth just before 4:30 this afternoon, causing one of the cars on the Metrolink train to turn over on its side. The train was heading west at the time. According to a live report on KCBS there are 20-25 people who are injured, and of them 10 are critically injured and 3 require extrication. Emergency personnel are on the scene right now.......

20 miles northeast of Los Angeles, four cars of a freight train jumped ship track at about 3:30 a.m. this morning. No one was hurt or was affected by this delay. An unknown substance was leaking from the train so the fire department's hazardous materials squad was dispatched to the scene as well as police who are investigating the cause.......

What a sad legacy for a hospital named after Martin Luther King, Jr. and Charles R. Drew. The Los Angeles Times reports that King/Drew Medical Center is losing accreditation from a National Health Agency. While it won't force the hospital to close, it will prevent several insurance companies from paying for services there and will likely end several of the doctor training programs the beleaguered facility is famous for. This is as good as......

The hits just keep on comin' in the Metrolink disaster. But this time, such insensitivity could have been avoided. A brand-new commercial that was whipped-up quickly in the wake of the Metrolink train derailment by the law offices of Jacoby & Meyers informs viewers that, "If you have been injured in the Glendale train accident, you may be entitled to compensation and there may be insurance that covers your injuries... Our investigators are already......

Our own personal top story this morning is that it is raining and it's Friday and we don't want to go to work. But we digress. Instead of starting with continued coverage of the Rail Tragedy, let's look at what the alt-weeklies have for us. The LA Weekly has articles on two of our current faves: Senator Barbara Boxer and HBO's "Unscripted". Los Angeles CityBeat (featuring a newly redesigned website) launches a new column......

We don't mean to be all Metrolink derailment all the time but LA Blogs has been doing a great job of pulling together the blog posts about the incident. They've been slow to trickle in so far but we were struck by Be Frank, who was on the scene to take pictures. He writes: Even though I know life isn't meant to be "fair", I just believe that the people on that train deserved better.......

There are now 9 reported dead. According to Sherrif Lee Baca, the derailment happened because of a car deliberately put on the tracks. One train hit the car and jumped off the tracks hitting a parked Pacific Freight Train and an oncoming metrolink train heading in the opposite direction. Update:The death toll has now reached ten. The person who left the SUV on the tracks was suicidal. The SUV driver changed his mind about......