• Doctor pleads not guilty to sexual assault - A physician whose father is the leader of the Bermudan government has pleaded not guilty to sexually abusing patients. Dr. Kevin Brown entered pleas to 23 felony counts at a hearing Thursday in Los Angeles. He remains in custody after being arrested last month and charged with molesting patients, including an undercover police officer and a 15-year-old. If convicted, Brown could face more than 25 years in prison
• Security guard kills man after alleged gang fight - Carson officials shut down the annual Samoan Flag Day celebration, because a security guard shot and killed a gunman Wednesday night. However, about 40 Samoans continued their festivities at the park this afternoon, but sheriff’s officials said no more people would be allowed in. Faletogo’s 46-year-old wife, Pulou, was one of three bystanders shot and wounded. Two boys, 12 and 13, were also hurt. They were taken to a local hospital, Carrillo said, with non-life-threatening injuries. Officials said the trouble started about 10 p.m. when two young women began fighting. What began as a verbal confrontation escalated into a fistfight that included a Tongan man and a Samoan man. The Tongan eventually pulled out a firearm and fired into the crowd. The guard returned fire, striking the man, who then collapsed just outside the park gate. He was later pronounced dead at the scene. The man’s name had not been release.

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It’s about damn time LA caught up to NY on this one. All around NY calories are posted in chain restaurants that let customers know that a Venti Mocha with Whole Milk actually has 508 calories and 27 grams of fat in it without whip cream and that even the ranch dipping sauce at Burger King has 170 calories and 17 grams of fat per ounce! Not to mention their Double Whopper with Cheese which has 1010 calories and 67 grams of fat.

In recent days, the state ordered restaurants to cook without artery-clogging trans fats. The Los Angeles City Council approved a ban on new fast-food restaurants in some parts of town. And on Thursday, Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky announced a proposal that would — hold on to your deep-fried Snickers — put calorie counts on some of your menus.

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• 9-year-old killed by water born amoeba - Riverside County health officials are urging swimmers to use caution after a 9-year-old boy contracted the deadly Naegleria fowleri amoeba. He had gone swimming in Lake Elsinore several times this summer. The parasite lives in warm freshwater lakes, rivers and poorly maintained swimming pools, experts say. It enters the brain through the nose, where it can cause a severe and nearly always fatal infection. There were 33 reported cases of infection in the U.S. from 1998 to 2007. The amoeba can kill in three days, and symptoms include headache, fever, nausea, vomiting and a stiff neck.
• Man gets life in prison for murdering wife and step son - A man who fled California for nearly a decade after killing his estranged wife and stepson has been sentenced to life in prison. Fu Lin Wang, 61, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder. He could have faced the death penalty if the case had gone to trial. He has no chance for parole. Prosecutors say Wang shot his wife, Carole Lee, and her 18-year-old son Michael Chu in December of 1998 at her Alhambra home.

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• Two people critically burned in car accident - Two people are hospitalized with critical burn injuries after their rental truck overturned and caught fire. The accident shut down the 5 South and 10 East connector as rescue crews pulled them from the burning truck. Both have been taken to USC Medical Center and their condition is unknown.
• Husband/Wife murder suicide reported - Police say a 67-year-old man and his wife were both found dead in their Perris home Monday victims of an apparent murder-suicide. Beverly Lorraine Jakubowicz, also 67, and her husband, Stanley R. Jakubowicz, were found dead at their home at 21856 Lake Matthews Drive about 4:45 a.m., according to the Riverside County Coroner’s office. Franchville said Stanley Jakubowicz called a dispatcher and said “that his wife needed medical attention and when we got there, they were both dead.”

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I’m fresh from Comic Con and ready to tackle news that’s geeky in a different but related way:

• An article in the LA Times explores the burgeoning economy of web-based entertainment in the form of little girls with dirty mouths and French Maids with light sabers. The actors don’t have contracts, the writers don’t have agents, I don’t have the attention span to read this feature. But check out the pictures
• The Dark Knight cast a looming shadow over the box office again this weekend - although The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor won the battle overseas. As if we needed further proof that Americans had better taste than the rest of the world
• With Dark Knight, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk all making bank this summer, Sony has decided to continue forward with a Spider Man spinoff centered around the villain Venom, who was played by Topher Grace in the Spider Man 3. After the wholly disappointing third installment of that franchise, I’m not really sure it’s a great idea. But they didn’t ask me.

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The time has come! LA is banishing fast-food! Well trying to. Recently we posted a video about the overwhelming obesity rate of this country and our city. Los Angeles is supposed to be the home of anorexics and yet over 30% of our population is obese. All the diets in the world won’t help when the fastest, easiest, and more addictive way to eat is at almost every single corner. Fast-food chains pack their food full of trans fat, sugars, starch, and sodium. After eating them it sends your body into shock making you feel like you need more just to balance itself out. The truth is you can get all the yummy tasting food from other places without all the harmful ingredients. Children are being raised to think that they can have Burger King for breakfast, Taco Bell for lunch, and MacDonald’s for dinner and not pay the price.

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• As I’m sure you already know, Los Angeles had a doozy of an earthquake yesterday, that registered on the Richter scale at 5.4, but caused minor damage. That’s because L.A was prepared this time. Strict building codes, in response to the 1994 Northridge quake ensured that most of the region’s infrastructure rolled with the magnitude punch, reports the L.A Times. Though little physical damage was done, phone and internet service were disrupted. Verizon and AT&T lost some service and even the L.A Times’ own website was briefly unavailable when traffic sucked the life out of its servers immediately after the earthquake hit.
• The Board of Airport Commissioners have voted to increase the landing fee for commercial passenger planes at LAX from $3.35 per 1,000 pounds of landed weight to $3.85. The fees were raised to offset potential revenue losses due to the shaky economy, reports the Los Angeles Times. Flights are expected to decline by almost 17 percent in November.
• David Crawford, a Los Angeles adult film director who was accused earlier this month of staging a marriage to a Hungarian woman, has pleaded not guilty in the case. The woman, Agnes Jeges was a prostitute who worked at a brothel in Sherman Oaks that recruited Hungarian women. She has also pleaded not guilty. Court case aside, the most important question we should be asking here is: there is a brothel in Sherman Oaks?! Como what?! I bet you didn’t see that one coming.

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One of the most popular panel’s at this year’s Comic Con was Saturday’s discussion with the guy living every fanboy’s fantasy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon and two of the stars of his highly anticipated upcoming series Dollhouse: Buffy Alumnus Eliza Dushku and from Battlestar Galactica (the show that everyone loves to tell you to watch) Tahmoh Penniket. After a thrilling screening of the latest extended trailer, the trio (only Whedon and Dushku were scheduled to appear so fans were delighted to see “Helo” there, too) mostly made with the insider banter and took questions from drooling fans about how the series got started (he came up with it in the bathroom while at lunch with Dushku!) and what fans can expect (a new Whedon world that has elements of fantasy and sci-fi, but is really about “people” instead of “creatures”) Dushku and Penniket were blatantly flirtatious, though she seemed to take the whole thing a little more seriously than either of the men. She was red-carpet ready with bouncy curls and a dark top, Whedon showed up shlubby in a hoody and baggy pants and Penniket sipped on Muscle Milk for most of the panel. I’m sure it’s tough to maintain those bulging biceps - but your protein fix can’t wait an hour? Who knows, maybe it’s part of his plan to solidify some kind of meathead persona for the show. But I doubt it.

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The Department of Veterans Affairs has just forbidden voter registration drives in its hospitals, rehab centers and other facilities. What this means is that this ban will make it more difficult for thousands of young veterans who have been injured fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. No matter what your views on the war, everyone needs to support the troops that are risking their lives every single day for a job they don’t even want. Help our veterans register and vote.

Last week, the Senate introduced a bill to overturn the ban and allow states to require V.A. hospitals to offer voter registration to their clients. You can help pass this bill by simply going to the following website and sending in a petition:

http://action.rockthevote.com/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=107

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So I thought now would be a good time to go over some safety procedures.

During an earthquake:

• First and foremost: DROP, COVER, AND HOLD ON!
• If you are indoors, stay inside don’t try to get outside. Don’t move more than a few steps. Find a safe location such as under a strong desk, a strong table, or along an interior wall. Avoid windows, large mirrors, hanging objects, heavy furniture, heavy appliances or fireplaces. Then cover yourself from flying objects.
  
• If you are cooking, turn off the stove and take cover.
• If you are outdoors, move to an open area where falling objects are unlikely to strike you. Move away from buildings, powerlines and trees.
• If you are driving, slow down smoothly and stop on the side of the road. Avoid stopping on or under bridges and overpasses, or under power lines, trees and large signs. Stay in your car
• If you are in bed, hold on and stay there, protecting your head with a pillow.

Here are some tips from the Red Cross on how to prepare for an earthquake:

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No damages reported yet. But that was a decent one! At 11:44:15 AM today we had ourselves a little earthquake. 5.8 to be exact.

It was located at 33.959°N, 117.752°W

• 3 km (2 miles) SW (235°) from Chino Hills, CA
• 8 km (5 miles) SE (127°) from Diamond Bar, CA
• 9 km (5 miles) NNE (23°) from Yorba Linda, CA
• 11 km (7 miles) S (178°) from Pomona, CA
• 47 km (29 miles) ESE (103°) from Los Angeles Civic Center, CA

More details coming soon…

The media, TV journalists in particular, continue to leave some important questions lying dormant beneath the dusty cover of “conspiracy theory.” Why did W decide to invade Iraq while 15 of the 19 terrorists of 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia? Why is Saudi Arabia a cradle for such terrorists?

Years ago, when W still had some credibility, he and his Roving gang could ridicule anyone who spoke against his actions. Whenever brave souls dared to question the Divine Decider, he and his cronies dismissed the dissenters as nutcase conspiracy theorists. And they continue to do so even after the Iraq War has officially run its miserable course to disastrous guerrilla warfare and our economy whimpers.

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