The Daily Blog

Nov 12

L.A. Health Department Taps Will.i.am for Anti-Drug PSAs

Last June, Los Angeles county funded an event known as the Electric Daisy Carnival — essentially a big rave that turned disastrous when Sasha Rodriguez, a 15-year old girl, died of an ecstasy overdose in the party’s aftermath. Now, the city’s Department of Health, which is already very low on funds, has tapped pop star will.i.am and dance artist Kaskade for a series of PSAs against ecstasy and drug use in general.

“The PSA will include harm reduction messages by major electronic music talents, including Kaskade, and will.i.am,” director Jonathan Fielding wrote to LA Weekly. “DPH will encourage promoters to broadcast the PSA at the event and online through their websites and other relevant social networking sites, and will work to get online ticket outlets to show the PSA at the point of purchase.”

According to reports, the Daisy Carnival brought on over 200 medical emergencies and yielded nearly 60 drug arrests. The Department of Health hopes to target users at raves while they occur and is banking that the star power of the ads will create a cheap, widespread form of viral marketing that reaches partygoers throughout the state.

While ecstasy and rave culture were certainly more widespread in the late 1980s and ’90s, the drug is even more dangerously impure than it once was. T.I.’s recent arrest that culminated with his return to prison partially stemmed from ecstasy usage and possession during a bust that occurred in Los Angeles.

Nov 10

(Nov. 9) — An unexplained missile shot across the sky off the coast of Los Angeles and was caught on video by a CBS News traffic helicopter during Monday night’s rush hour. Today, the missile is still a mystery. A Navy spokesman told CBS affiliate KFMB that it was not theirs, and so far the Pentagon has not been able to explain it either. The missile was reportedly about 35 miles west of L.A. and just north of Catalina Island.

NBC’s Pentagon correspondent, Jim Miklaszewski, reports that a missile launch would not have been planned so close to a major city, and at the very least, residents would have been warned a test was imminent. A senior Pentagon official told him, “This is bizarre”.

Nov 7

Ex-Cop Gets Minimum Sentence: 2 Years Behind Bars.

(Nov. 5) — A Los Angeles judge sentenced Johannes Mehserle, a former Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer, to two years in prison for his role in the shooting death of passenger Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day 2009.

Judge Robert Perry handed down what was the shortest sentence possible after a jury convicted Mehserle of involuntary manslaughter in July. Perry also tossed out a gun enhancement charge, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, after finding that evidence put forth during Mehserle’s trial did not support it.
Following the jury’s verdict in July, sporadic rioting erupted in Oakland, Calif., where the shooting took place. Today, police in Oakland braced for possible violence, The Oakland Tribune reported, but immediately following the verdict there were no reports of trouble.
“Don’t riot,” Grant’s grandfather, Oscar Grant Sr., said following the verdict, according to the San Jose Mercury News. “Life didn’t stop when my grandson was killed. We have to live here. They could give him 100 years [in prison] and it won’t bring my grandson back.”

Grant, of Hayward, Calif., and a group of New Year’s revelers were taken off a BART train at 2 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2009, and made to sit on the Fruitvale station platform. A chaotic scene ensued, and, while lying face down and unarmed, Grant was fatally shot in the back by Mehserle, who contended in court that he had accidentally fired his weapon. Several train passengers captured the incident on cell phone video.

During his trial, Mehserle expressed remorse for his actions in a letter released to the public.

BART reached a $1.5 million settlement in a lawsuit brought by lawyers representing Grant’s daughter, Tatiana, in January of this year.

Sep 23

(Sept. 22) — A well-preserved trove of animal fossils dating back 1.4 million years has been unearthed southeast of Los Angeles by a utility crew building a new substation.

More than 1,450 specimens have been identified, including some 250 large vertebrate fossils, The Los Angeles Times reported.

“And we’re still counting,” paleontologist Robert Reynolds of LSA Associates of Riverside, Calif., the consulting paleontologists who are handling the dig for Southern California Edison, told the paper.Among the fossils found in San Timoteo Canyon are an ancestor of the saber-toothed tiger, large ground sloths and two kinds of camels, according to The Associated Press. There were also specimens from many smaller creatures and signs that trees once grew in the area, which is now dry, the AP reported.The fossils are 1 million years older than those discovered in the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, the AP said.

“Everyone talks about the La Brea Tar Pits, but I think this is going to be much larger in terms of its scientific value to the research community,” Rick Greenwood, a microbiologist and Southern California Edison official, told the AP.

Sep 13

The loud and glittery free-for-all known as the MTV Video Music Awards, held in Los Angeles, promised plenty of Lady Gaga, crazy performances, Lady Gaga, various drop-ins by the ‘Jersey Shore’ cast, Lady Gaga and … Lady Gaga. Mission accomplished.

Gaga, who showed up with a military escort, won the first award of the night for best female video, for ‘Bad Romance.’ She was up for a total of 13 moonmans, which is a VMA record. She ended with eight — another record, including the biggie: video of the year. Eminem wasn’t far behind with an impressive eight nominations. His ‘Not Afraid’ won best male video and best hip-hop vid.Everyone’s favorite 16-year-old, Justin Bieber, grabbed the coveted best new artist award.

But of course most people were talking all night about Kanye West and Taylor Swift, who were both slated to perform — separately. Swift went up first, and sang a melodramatic ditty about a man who was “32 and still growing up … who you are is not what you did, you’re still an innocent.” West was 32 during last year’s infamous interruption of Swift’s acceptance speech. Viewers had to wait until the end to see Kanye’s answer to Taylor’s tweaking. He didn’t disappoint, with a sing-rap track that turned into an apt confessional. He offered: “Let’s have a toast for douchebags, let’s have a toast for the assholes.” Was he talking about himself? Um.Performances included Eminem (who opened the show), Justin Bieber, Usher, Florence and the Machine, Linkin Park, Drake, Nicki Minaj, B.o.B., Mary J. Blige and more.

Sep 4

Details are beginning to emerge about the Los Angeles traffic stop that resulted in rapper T.I.’s and wife Tameka “Tiny” Cottle’s arrests on charges of felony possession of a controlled substance Wednesday night.

According to a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Tip (born Clifford Harris Jr.), 29, was pulled over by police when he made an illegal U-turn in his Maybach on Sunset Boulevard around 10:30 p.m. Once officers approached the car on the traffic violation, they reported smelling the odor of marijuana from inside the vehicle, which prompted a search of the car and its passengers. Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Nicole Nishida confirmed that police found a controlled substance in the vehicle described as an unspecified amount of pills that “resembled ecstasy.” Police are currently testing the pills and Nishida said she could not confirm where the pills were found. She also confirmed that there were other passengers in the car who were not charged with any crimes.T.I. and Tiny were released on $10,000 bail early Thursday morning and are due back in court on Friday (September 3).

Aug 25

Chances are, you’ve had a better morning than Paris Hilton, who awoke Tuesday to find a knife-wielding man attempting to enter her home in Los Angeles. She called police and the unidentified intruder was arrested. The socialite alerted her followers on Twitter about the near break-in and posted a photo of the arrest in her courtyard.

“So Scary, just got woken up to a guy trying to break into my house holding 2 big knifes,” she said. “Cops are here arresting [him].”
The incident occurred at 6 a.m. when police say the man approached Hilton’s house with a pair of knives and began pounding on the windows. Sources tell TMZ that Hilton spotted the man on her security cameras and called 911 immediately. The Los Angeles Times is reporting that a male friend of Hilton’s then confronted the intruder before police arrived and made the arrest around 6:30 a.m.

Police have not released the name of the man in custody and are investigating whether he was there to rob Hilton.

Hilton’s rep released a statement saying, “Paris is naturally shaken by the events but is unharmed and well. She is very thankful to her security team and the police for their swift and diligent response.”