City Councilmember Eric Garcetti presides over a gay marriage in June (more photos here) | Photo by Ed Fuentes/blogdowntown The largest school district in the state (and second largest in the country) took a stance Tuesday by voting to oppose Proposition 8, the November ballot initiative that if passed would ban gay marriage in California. When a San Diego area school board voted to support the ban last month, many said it was not......

In what may be a first for a school board in California, the Grossmont Union High School District in La Mesa (outside San Diego) voted to support Proposition 8, which proposes to eliminate gay marriage, on Friday. One gay rights blogger said this move "has zero to do with education and sends a message intolerance and bigotry to students, faculty, and the community."......

In what may be a first for a school board in California, the Grossmont Union High School District in La Mesa (outside San Diego) voted to support Proposition 8, which proposes to eliminate gay marriage, on Friday. One gay rights blogger said this move "has zero to do with education and sends a message intolerance and bigotry to students, faculty, and the community"......

43 people suspected of being members of the Eastside Pain Bloods gang were arrested by more than 400 police officers in predawn raids yesterday. More staff cuts coming at the Daily News: zone coverage of Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valley to be eliminated. Yikes! How much did Tony spend to help get his three candidates onto the school board? The L.A. City Council has just approved a ban on smoking in city parks.......

No Chicago Dunkin' Donuts for LA So where are the best donut in Los Angeles? LA City Nerd asks and readers respond. Is it the Donut Man in Glendora or Bob's at the Farmer's Market? How about California Donuts? Mike Trujillo for LA City Gang Czar Mayor Sam puts up a quick poll for who should be LA's Gang Czar. Ahead of Bill Clinton and Connie Rice is Mike Trujillo. Who the hell is he?......

As we discussed last week, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is in Washington D.C. today telling the rest of America why LA and its surrounding area is getting ripped off from federal investment. If we get jammed in traffic, we can't deliver for the rest of the U.S. Here are some facts: This delegation is part of the kick off of Access Washington, D.C. 2007, a trip sponsored by the L.A. Chamber and Mobility 21. Southern......

Allow top-rated Howard Stern to leave, lose Brooke Burke to the hit show "Rockstar", replace red-carpet icon Joan Rivers with no-names, and give Ryan Seacrest $21 million to host a news show that loses ratings and what do you get? You now get to ruin G4. Heck of a job Ted - AP After Mel Gibson got popped for that DUI, he had beers for breakfast while explaining to his kids what he had......

show on the road - Mayor Villaraigosa heads to Sacramento today to make his case for a takeover of LAUSD. As his big push begins, the pushback is also getting started, with legislators making noises about opposing the Mayor. But they're making wussy noises: Jackie Goldberg tells the LA Times "A lot of people up here are former school board members who don't want to see a mayor take over the district," which sounds......

Today at 5:30 pm, Mayor Villaraigosa made a "State of the City" address -- sort of like the State of the Union address, but just for LA. In fact, the speech in many ways served as the inverse of this year's State of the Union address. "Angelenos, it's time for all of us to make the tough choices," said Mayor Villaraigosa. According to the Mayor, we're trying to stop violence and inequity, and we're......

Capitol Records doesn't want to move back into its iconic building: instead, it hopes to go condo. Not so fast! LA has been throwing money at the company to get it to stay in Hollywood and the LA Times reports that critics are displeased. Curbed LA doubts city leaders will let the lucrative sale go through. We'll never know if there are enough condo buyers who recognize that the building is meant to evoke......

Could Thomas Kinkade, the painter of light, actually be a sleazeball? Although Kinkade is a loudly-proclaimed Christian — "When I got saved, God became my art agent," he said in 2004 — misbehavior alleged in a new lawsuit against him includes driving gallery owners into bankruptcy, copping a feel, getting drunk and peeing on a Winnie the Pooh statue at the Disneyland Hotel. The Pasadena Star-News profiles resident Dr. Stephen Kwon, who founded a......

Long Beach Airport has been semi-shut down after a man ducked security to run onto the tarmac. News outlets are working on getting further details. UPDATE: Everything is up and running again and a man has been arrested, Channel 4 reports.. Martini Republic has endorsed Chris Arellano for school board. We're not endorsing anyone, because we just haven't been paying enough attention to the candidates. But we're impressed by those who passed the LA......

That there black goo bluging streets and seeping through manhole covers in downtown seems to be oil, indeed. Workers at a nearby oil well were flushing old lines with high-pressure water to get any last drops of oil out — and started wrecking havoc on Olive Street. And havoc continued online. It's craziness in LA blog world this week! Blogging.la redesigns, embracing gray! LA Voice re-appends, from .org to .com! What could be next?......

Nick Pacheco has announced his candidacy for LA City Council Member from District 14 in Northeast Los Angeles. Pacheco held this position two years ago, then lost it to Antonio Villaraigosa, who will now be vacating it to become mayor. The LA Times suggests that school board president Jose Huizar and state senator Gil Cedillo are also likely candidates for the seat. What do these guys stand for? Judging by a recent interview with......

While we are madly in love with LA, we do have a little crush on New York. So when this week’s copy of the New Yorker arrived, we were thrilled to find a piece by Dana Goodyear on LA’s own Ambassador Hotel and one of its pioneering architects, Paul R.Williams. The hotel, which closed in 1989, has been the subject of a massive financial, cultural and ethical tug-of-war between the LAUSD, who own the......

After last night's fiery mayoral debate, we wonder if other LA elections will be as tempestuous. The Los Angeles Times doesn't seem to think the upcoming school board elections will be as contentious. For the first time in three elections, it appears there will be no contentious and expensive face-off next year for control of the Los Angeles Board of Education: Two of the three board members up for reelection did not have opponents......

In a vote that could have future ramifications in Los Angeles, San Franciscans decide today whether or not non-citizens will be allowed to vote in school board elections. The measure is intended to enfranchise immigrant parents by allowing them to be more involved in school-related decisions that affect their children. Opponents say that this is the first step toward allowing non-citizens the right to vote, a privilege that is historically only open to US......

The LAUSD school board voted last week to finish construction on the Belmont Learning Center, a high school in the Temple-Beaudry neighborhood downtown. Construction at the site began in 1997 but has been dogged by repeated problems, beginning with the razing of homes to clear the site. After the land was emptied, pockets of methane and two fault lines were discovered underneath proposed school buildings. Progress has been stalled ever since. When completed, the school......