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For the last two years, Los Angeles’ Echo Park Lake has been off-limits to the public, surrounded by chain-link fences and “Do Not Enter” signs. In a $45 million restoration project, the lake was closed, drained, scrubbed clean and refilled. That was a response to growing levels of pollution in the lake that violated State of California health standards. The pollution also lead to …

Wallace Neff was a “starchitect.” He designed houses for the wealthiest tycoons and biggest Hollywood stars of the 30′s 40′s and 50′s, including Charlie Chaplin, Judy Garland and Groucho Marx.
But Wallace Neff didn’t live in a mansion himself. He lived in a 1,000 square-foot bubble made of concrete. And he believed that this simple dome was one of his greatest architectural achievements. He called …

There is nothing cookie-cutter or corporate about Caravan Book Store on Grand Avenue downtown. ”Avant Garde, First Edition, Poetry,” the window declares in big gold letters.
As a kid, bookseller Leonard Bernstein swept the floors of his parents’ shop when it was located a block away on what was then called “bookseller’s row”. He’s been continuing the tradition ever since. Caravan is marking the start of …

Somber graduation. Hundreds of students walked across the stage to accept their diplomas at Santa Monica College yesterday evening, but it was anything but a typical graduation ceremony.
Present behind the joy and sense of accomplishment was a strong undercurrent of sorrow for those who lost their lives Friday when a gunman killed three people on campus during a wild shooting spree. The graduation took …

Investigators are still piecing together the details of Friday’s deadly shootings in Santa Monica that killed 5 people. Police shot and killed the gunman in the library of Santa Monica College; he died on campus.
The first incident happened at a house north of the college, but culminated at the school. And that fact has led law enforcement to not label what happened on Friday …

While our focus in covering last week’s shooting has been on keeping up with the news, KCRW also happens to be located on Santa Monica College campus, where the rampage ended. This is an account of what happened behind the scenes at the station and how it stayed on-air after being evacuated.
KCRW General Manager Jennifer Ferro was leading a small station tour when a …

Santa Monica College officials announced Sunday that Marcela Franco, 26, died at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. She is the fifth victim to die from the shooting rampage that ended on the school’s campus Friday. Counting the shooter, who has been identified in news reports as 24-year-old John Zawahri, the death toll now stands at 6 dead with several injured.
Franco was shot alongside her …

The overall death toll from yesterday’s violence in Santa Monica stands at five, including the suspected gunman. But a sixth person, a woman, is in grave condition at a hospital.
The Los Angeles Times has identified the gunman as John Zawahri, citing five law enforcement sources in Washington and Los Angeles.
The Times reports the gunman was apparently angry over his parents’ divorce and had some …

While many details have surfaced about the shooting rampage that terrorized several blocks of Santa Monica on Friday, detectives continue to struggle with the big unanswered question: Why?
Police officials have repeatedly stressed that they do not consider the violence that ended inside the Santa Monica College Library a “school shooting.” The Santa Monica Police Department had scheduled a press conference for noon today.
UPDATE: A …

 
UPDATE — The Santa Monica Police Department revised an earlier death toll from six victims to four during a Friday night press conference. The sole suspect was fatally shot by the police and a second man detained is no longer believed to be involved.
Two of the victims were found in a burning Santa Monica house — the first of three crime scenes. They are …

Southern California Edison announced today that it will abandon its push to restart the San Onofre nuclear power station in San Diego County near the Orange County line.
Ted Craver, the chairman and CEO of Edison International, SCE’s parent company, says the 44-year-old plant will permanently shut down because of uncertainty about when federal regulators would allow it to start producing electricity again.
“We have concluded that the …

If you attended Coachella in April and you mindlessly pogoed so ecstatically to New Order playing the Mojave stage that you lost your 2-pound set of car keys on a ratty Zelda carabiner, well, then you were bound to lose something that night, weren’t you? Luckily for the hundreds of carefree careless concertgoers, the party doesn’t stop after the last band packs up.
Every year, …

Today marks the 45th anniversary of Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. He gave his final speech, about unity and change, that night.
It was the day following Kennedy’s victory in the California Democratic primary, on June 4, 1968. But just after midnight, he was shot by assassin Sirhan Sirhan. Kennedy died early on June 6 at the hospital.
The assassination …

A UCLA economic forecast out today predicts California will see some income growth over the next two years, despite a national recovery the authors of the report call “bad.”
The new UCLA Anderson Forecast says the strength of California’s economy lies in technology and knowledge-based industries, although construction has also rebounded in coastal markets.
But the report casts doubt on whether the economy – statewide or nationally …

It’s not just political big shots and corporate CEO’s who get to meet with the president.
For $30,000-plus, you too can bend Barack Obama’s ear. Well, maybe. It depends on what you want to say – and who you’re telling about it.
When electric car salesman and Obama supporter Paul Scott got an invite to a fundraiser with the president in Santa Monica this Friday, he …

Capitol raid. State Senator Ron Calderon is letting his lawyer do the talking following a search of his Capitol office by FBI agents.
The agents removed several boxes of documents from the Montebello Democrat’s office last night as well as what appeared to be a computer hard drive. The raid also targeted the office of the Latino Legislative Caucus in Sacramento.
An FBI spokeswoman says the …

The California Film Commission says it’s received a record number of applications for state tax credits this year. 380 applications were filed by movie and TV productions, an 18 percent increase over last year.
The state awards $100 million in tax credits for the fiscal year running from July 1, 2013, through June 30, 2014.
Thirty-one projects have been approved for 2013. Among those are 14 …

Mr. Jones. Deacon Jones – considered by many to be the greatest player ever to suit up for the Los Angeles Rams football team – had died of natural causes at home in Anaheim Hills. He was 74.
 The Hall-of-Famer played for the Rams from 1961 to 1971 and later for the San Diego Chargers and Washington Redskins. He was twice named the NFL’s top …

Compton voters will elect a new mayor this Tuesday. They have a stark choice between a veteran politician who says he has the savvy to solve the city’s problems, and a fresh face who promises to bring new energy and solutions to what ails the community. But first, a little recent Compton history.
In the 1980s and 90s, Compton had a reputation for having some …

Powerhouse Fire. Cooler weather and higher humidity are helping firefighters get a better handle on the Powerhouse Fire. Containment went from 20 percent to 40 percent overnight – but the blaze has now chewed through more than 46 square miles and nearly 3,000 residents are under mandatory evacuation orders.
Officials say at least six houses burned to the ground and 15 others were damaged this …