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LOS ANGELES >> The music manager who helped introduce N.W.A to the masses has died. Jerry Heller was 75 years old. Heller’s cousin, Gary Ballen, says Heller died Friday night at a hospital in Thousand Oaks after suffering a heart attack while driving earlier in the day. Heller co-founded Ruthless Records with Eazy-E, which released N.W.A’s seminal album “Straight Outta Compton” in 1988, launching the West Coast gangsta rap movement. Ruthless was also behind such artists as J.J. Fad, Michel’le and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. Actor Paul Giamatti played the veteran music manager in last year’s hit film “Straight Outta Compton.” Heller sued the film’s producers for defamation after its release,...

FlyAway airport shuttle service between LAX and Santa Monica will be discontinued immediately after Labor Day weekend. The Santa Monica service will stop ruing at midnight on Tuesday. Airport commissioners voted earlier this summer to end service for the Santa Monica route due to low ridership, according to Los Angeles World Airports spokesman Charles Paunzio. FlyAway service will still operate out of Westwood, Long Beach, Hollywood, Union Station, Van Nuys and the Orange Line’s Woodley Station. FlyAway shuttle schedules are available at http://www.lawa.org/FlyAway/. Advertisement Let's block ads! بخوانید...

Seven southe Los Angeles County cities are suing Metro over its proposed half-cent sales tax increase on the Nov. 8 ballot, arguing the language is misleading and the agency didn’t specify most of the transportation projects it would fund. The ballot description takes a kitchen-sink approach, saying Measure M is needed “to improve freeway traffic flow/safety; repair potholes/sidewalks; repave local streets; earthquake retrofit bridges; synchronize signals; keep senior/disabled/student fares affordable; expand rail/subway/bus systems/ improve jobs/school/airport coections; and create jobs ...” But it doesn’t mention that the vast majority of transportation improvements won’t touch the southe...

EXPOSITION PARK >> The 13th aual FYF Fest got started this year under cool temperatures as thousands of music fans came to Exposition Park to see more than 30 bands perform on several stages during day one of the festival. Saturday’s headliner was Long Beach native Kendrick Lamar who was joined on the eclectic bill by fellow hip hop artist Vince Staples and the psychedelic Australian band Tame Impala. • Photos: Inside day one of FYF Fest 2016 The festival, which started in 2004 as a cluster of punk-rock-oriented shows at various venues in Echo Park, has grown into one of the most popular area music events and the Saturday crowd seemed to be into the mix of well-known acts and up-and-co...

GORMAN — A search continued outside Califoia today for a couple wanted in coection with the shooting death of a Fresno mother as Los Angeles Sheriff’s detectives work to determine the motive for her slaying and the subsequent kidnapping of her children. The three children of 26-year-old Kimberly Harvill, whose body was found two weeks ago in unincorporated Lebec in Ke County, were found safe Wednesday in a motel outside Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the care of a good Samaritan who notified local law enforcement, said Deputy Kimberly Alexander of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s Information Bureau. Their alleged kidnappers, Harvill’s 22-year-old sister, Brittany Humphrey, and her friend, 27-y...

The first bus fare decrease in the Orange County Transportation Authority’s history will go into effect along with its largest-ever service overhaul in October, board members voted this week. Fare reduction, approved 12-0 by the transportation authority board, applies only to the day pass, which will drop from $5 to $4 for six months starting Oct. 9, the same date as the bus service changes. The day pass decrease, recommended by OCTA’s consultant CH2M, is part of a fare study that is one of several initiatives aimed at boosting ridership. OCTA logged its peak ridership in 2007 with 69 million boardings, but dropped to 43 million boardings last fiscal year, a 37 percent fall-off, the authori...

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors went on record Tuesday against a state bill that would reduce the number of county seats on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors from five to two. Senate Bill 1379, sponsored by Sen. Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia, would maintain 14 board seats, but replace three of the county seats with a post for Long Beach and for appointees of the president pro tempore of the Senate and the speaker of the Assembly. Supervisor Hilda Solis recommended sending a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders opposing the bill and directing county lobbyists to actively advocate against it. In her motion, Solis said each of the supervisors acts...

Michael Cacciotti walked the dimensions of the concrete Wilson Reservoir in the blazing sun, pleased to find almost no shade and triple digit temperatures. For about $375,000, the city is considering affixing rows of photovoltaic panels on top of the 20-foot deep reservoir and using the sun’s power to defray the cost of pumping water three miles uphill from the site in San Gabriel to residents in South Pasadena. When combined with carports catching rays from solar panels in two city-owned parking lots — sending clean power to light City Hall, the fire and police departments — the city can shave about $70,000 off its $1 million electric bill paid yearly to Southe Califoia Edison. The change w...

Kathy Creighton was 16 when she landed what was her first summer job: squeezing oranges and working the cash register at the Orange Julius in San Pedro’s bustling Ports O’ Call Village. “We had these very ugly brown and yellow, itchy polyester uniforms we had to wear,” Creighton said. “We went home sticky and stinky.” But there were perks. The popular juice-and-burger spot was situated in a building constructed over the water, with wall-size windows on three sides. And the tourist helicopter pad was right next door. “We used to trade hamburgers for (free) helicopter rides,” she said. And, no, the boss never knew. The year was 1980. And Creighton, who moved out of state when her husband got ...

A 21-year-old Reno woman spending her first day in Los Angeles plunged to her death Friday from a cliff at Point Fermin in San Pedro, police said. The accident occurred about 2:15 p.m. in the 500 block of West Paseo del Mar. The woman, who had just moved to Califoia from Nevada, asked her new roommate to take her to the beach. At Point Fermin, she climbed a 4-foot wall at the park’s edge to get a better view of the ocean, Los Angeles police Sgt. Bradley Hea said. Somehow, she slipped and fell to her death about 2:15 p.m. She landed on rocks below. “It was completely accidental,” Hea said. Coroner’s investigators and Los Angeles police responded. The woman’s name was not immediately released...

LOS ANGELES — A Metro county sales tax measure aimed at raising revenue to build, operate and maintain public transportation projects was officially certified by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder today for the Nov. 8 ballot. If approved by at least two-thirds of voters, Measure M would enact a half-cent sales tax hike to fund a package of transportation improvements that include new rail and bus lines, highway improvements and street repairs. The tax revenue would also help fund the operation and maintenance of the regional transportation system. The measure would build on an existing half-cent tax put in place by voters through Measure R, by boosting that tax to a full cent, and le...

LOS ANGELES >> A multi-agency operation against human trafficking in Los Angeles County resulted in 286 arrests, including 153 for prostitution, and the rescues of eight minors and two adults, the Los Angeles Police Department reported today. Operation Summer Rescue focused on the rescue and recovery of commercially sexually exploited children. It involved the LAPD’s Inteet Crimes Against Children and geographic vice units, the Los Angeles Regional Human Trafficking Task Force, FBI Iocence Lost Task Force, Los Angeles County District Attoey’s Office and Los Angeles County Probation Department. The recovered minors were placed in protective custody and have received assistance from the...

Don’t let French toast bacon bombs or deep-fried Oreos or adorable pig races fool you: Califoia’s county fairs are very big businesses, run with a startling variety of managerial prowess. Southe Califoia News Group examined data for 70 fairs, including those across Southe Califoia, and found that they hauled in a total of $363.2 million in 2014, the latest year statewide information is available. But fully half of the fairs examined – 35 – operated in the red, spending more money than they took in. “Fairs that are losing money should reconfigure the mix of attractions to offer the young generation, since their interests can be very different from their parents’ interests,” said Raymond Sfei...

Staff reports A 19-year-old San Pedro man charged with stabbing a woman and nearly gouging a man’s eye out remained missing Friday, two days after he escaped from the Long Beach courthouse. Abel Munguia was out on bail when he appeared Wednesday in the Goveor George Deukmejian Courthouse on Magnolia Avenue. He was scheduled for arraignment on two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon and mayhem. Munguia, who was out on bail, stepped out to use the bathroom and never retued. He cut off his electronic monitoring ankle device, which last registered at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson. Munguia was arrested Dec. 8 after he allegedly stabbed a woman in the back. He was arrested again o...

The SuperScoopers have landed! Just in time for sizzling temperatures this weekend, the county officially unveiled a huge part of its aerial firefighting fleet Friday. •RELATED STORY: SuperScoopers arrive 3 weeks early to help combat LA County brush fires Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich and Fire Chief Daryl L. Osby showcased the recent arrival of two Canadian SuperScoopers and an Erickson Air-Crane. •RELATED STORY: Massive Sand fire nearly contained after more than a week The water bombers landed at Van Nuys Airport Aug. 6 after their flight from their home base in Quebec, Canada. They are usually leased during the fall for work on L.A. County’s fires, but this year they ha...

Police on Tuesday said they arrested a Long Beach man suspected of stabbing another man to death outside a Santa Ana convenience store. Logan James Cuingham, 27, was arrested by Long Beach police in the stabbing of 40-year-old Jason Paul Torres of Costa Mesa, said Santa Ana police. Torres was stabbed about 9:10 p.m. Sunday near a Circle K at 710 E Dyer Rd. in Santa Ana and was pronounced dead at a local hospital. During the course of their investigation Santa Ana police determined Cuingham was suspected of killing Torres, police said. Police have not disclosed a possible motive, but said the victim and suspect were acquainted. On Monday, Long Beach police responded to a domestic disturbance...

The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to transform a portion of a hospital campus in Downey into a community sports complex. Supervisor Don Knabe has pushed for the redevelopment of Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center’s long-abandoned 70-acre South Campus, which is just south of the working hospital at 7601 Imperial Highway. The plan is now set to include headquarters for the Probation and Inteal Services departments, as well as a sheriff’s crime lab. Knabe focused Tuesday on the sports center. “Playing fields are a sorely needed amenity in the southeast communities,” Knabe said. “I know these facilities will be used by kids and adults of all ages for years to come.” Soccer pl...

A man and woman found dead at the bottom of a San Pedro cliff were identified Monday as residents of Wilmington. Los Angeles County coroner’s officials identified the pair as Jacqueline Beatriz Murcia, 23, and Silvestre Garcia, 24. They were found dead Sunday moing on the rocky beach near South Parker Street and West Paseo del Mar in the White Point area. The Los Angeles Police Department said the deaths are believed to be accidental but the circumstances remain unclear and an investigation is ongoing. Coroner’s officials have not determined the cause or time of death. “Right now, we don’t have much more as it only happened (Sunday),” said LAPD Sgt. Bradley Hea, ...

West Nile virus is continuing to spread across the Southland, with vector-control officials aouncing Monday that the virus was detected for the first time this year in six areas. According to the Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District, West Nile virus activity was recently detected in Carson, La Habra Heights, Lincoln Heights, Newhall, Tarzana and Willowbrook. District officials said 40 recent mosquito samples tested positive for the virus, which was also confirmed in five sentinel chickens. So far this year, West Nile virus has been detected in 138 mosquito samples in the area, and 33 dead birds were confirmed to have the virus. “West Nile virus is a quiet, buzzing threat in ou...

SAN BERNARDINO MOUNTAINS >> Some 4,700 people have been told to evacuate as the Pilot fire flared Monday afteoon in the San Beardino Mountains. The fire, which started Sunday between Silverwood Lake and Lake Arrowhead, is buing in two directions, said Capt. Liz Brown, a Cal Fire spokeswoman: north toward Hesperia, and northeast toward a mountain area known as the Piacles. • Live Coverage: What we know about the Pilot fire so far It had bued 4,500 acres by Monday moing and was 5 percent contained; no new numbers have been released since then, but the fire has cle...