Alesia Thomas Mother of 2, Dies in LAPD Custody

A mother of two is dead after resisting arrest by Los Angeles Police officers who were investigating a child abandonment case on the 9000 block of South Broadway in the early morning hours of July 22nd.  Alesia Thomas, 35, was found unresponsive in the back seat of the squad car after officers restrained her with handcuffs and ankle ties and placed her in a seated position in the police vehicle. Her two children, aged 3 and 12, found abandoned at the Southeast Patrol Division, were not involved in the altercation.

 “I take all in-custody death investigations very seriously,"said LAPD Chief Beck. "I’m confident we will get to the truth, no matter where that leads us.” The officers involved have been removed from field duties until further details are known. The investigation will seek a cause death.

and directed that the officers involved be removed from field duties until further details are known, including what part intoxicants and physical conditions contributed. 

Lindsey Lohan Tweets Amanda Bynes: Unfair?

Amanda Bynes' booking photo

Los Angeles - She'll have fun fun fun now that BIG DADDY has taken her car away? Not likely. As Nickelodeon star, Amanda Bynes, sits car-less in Los Angeles, Lindsey Lohan tweets her indignation over what she considers to be the kid-glove treatment of the star.

Be patient LiLo. Bynes downfall is still in its infancy by standards of your rap sheet. Lohan's well documented brushes with the law include DUIs, misdemeanor theft, and probation violations.

TMZ reports that Bynes faces up to a year in the pokey for two counts of hit and run earlier this year. 

Adding to the Nickelodeon star's woes are two counts of driving on a suspended license. So much for trouble coming in threes. The first time she got off with a warning. The repeat got her car impounded.  Bynes is due in court September 27.

 Is Lohan justified in griping about how slowly the wheels of justice turn for Bynes?

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Milk, Cows, and Free in the 21st Century

Can’t Buy Me Love

Teased  hair, short skirts, leather jackets and some military-style lace-up boots, it may have been Reagan’s morning in America but my girlfriends and I reigned the Los Angeles night dance scene of 1980’s; or at least we thought we did.  As I gave my elderly aunt a peck goodbye on my way out to meet my friends, she peered over her reading glasses and said sweetly, “Have fun tonight but remember, a boy won’t buy the cow if he’s gets the milk for free.”  Her advice was a tactful metaphor cautioning that promiscuity does not beget marriage.  Her logic did make sense. But, I knew several women who had managed to find a willing buyer and not earned the wholesome white of the wedding dresses they wore down the aisle. It seemed that free milk was more complicated in human relationships. Certainly there must be some advantage to just giving a taste.

Cowboy Values in Rolling Hills Estates, CA

Hunger for the old west? Do you get nostalgic watching re-runs of Bonanza and the The Wild Wild West? If you think everything from those days are gone for good, think again.  The horsey community of Rolling Hills Estates offers a respite from the pressured urban working life here Los Angeles County.

An aromatic mixture of grilling hamburgers, native sage grass, horses, and the spicy zest of pepper trees wafts through the droughty and dusty air at the Dapplegray Community Horse Arena. The loudspeaker announces raffle winners in a low-fi crackle. It’s downtime before the last event of the rodeo horse show. Girls sit on horses under Pepper trees to escape the heat, their mounts aimlessly shuffling their hooves and sniffing the disturbed ground in hopes of finding an alfalfa cube or two in the chalky dust. Others lean up against tree trunks or hang on the white split rail fence of the riding ring. One girl primps her horse’s mane, colored bright pink to match her own tank top. An eye-catching and fashionable pair they are.

[VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP]

Bus Stop Murder Coincidence - Who killed Michael Rodriguez?

A 23-year-old lay dead and a 52-year-old woman was critically injured in a mid-morning rush hour drive by shooting in the 500 block of N. Mission Road in Boyle Heights on Friday, July 20th. The woman, whose identity has not been released, was listed in stable condition. More information on her condition and whether she has been released from the hospital was not for this report. According to the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Police are looking for two people in a dark Dodge Charger with temporary plates.

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Curiosity Mars Landing: Los Angeles Celebrates [Video]

[Photo: www.nasa.gov]

It would have been easier to find a parking space on Mars than it was at Griffith Observatory on Sunday night. That was because well over 1000 people made the pilgrimage up the winding, tree-lined road to the star gazing center to share this historic event in a hot, cramped space, crushed against hundreds of people they did not know.

Those who had the foresight to arrive early got to watch the Mars rover, Curiosity, land from theater style seats in the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Amphitheater, Griffith Observatory’s  modern, climate controlled lecture hall. Scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory narrated and provided background about the Mars program seated comfortably on the amphitheater’s stage.  

[Video after the jump]

Jack Abramoff is Back

Jack Abramoff, disgraced former Washington lobbyist, discussed his new book and his new life outside of the federal prison in front of an intimate gathering of family, friends and interested public at the American Jewish University (AJU), in Bel Air, California, Sunday April 1. The self-described poster child for “don’t write in an email what you don’t want to read as a newspaper headline”, pleaded guilty in 2006 to conspiracy, fraud, and tax evasion. Dr. Robert Wexler, AJU President, interviewed Abramoff in a recorded session inside the University’s synagogue.

Affable and in good humor, Abramoff shared what it was like to receive one of the most public floggings of modern Washington history. “Anybody who says there’s no such thing as bad press has never seen my press,” he said with a chuckle. He resents his demonization at the hands of duplicitous politicians. It was at least 300 members of Congress that Abramoff’s firm “had a lot of influence with, meaning we raised money for them and we were involved in their offices.” For a man who once had so many inroads to congressional circles, the number of representatives who don’t remember meeting him is remarkable.

Jack’s back - and he’s written a book.