Chris Schwartz via MySpace

A young Agoura Hills daredevil who listed himself online as a "professional street luger" and "inline speed skater" died just after midnight this morning in a tragic skateboarding accident.

City News Service reports that Christopher Schwartz, 29, was not wearing a helmet when he took his Dirtsurfer skateboard for a run down "a steep residential street" near the Lake Lindero Country Club. Schwartz died at the scene from head and neck injuries...

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It's award season again for America's journalists, and LA Weekly is racking up the noms like a fat chick on Pinterest.

On a national scale, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia just released its list of finalists for the annual AltWeeklies Awards, the most coveted alt-plaques around. At that June 8 ceremony, along with many of our sister papers under Village Voice Media (SF Weekly, Miami New-Times, etc.), LA Weekly is up for four big ones.

And on a regional scale...

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lasexsymbol.com

Never thought we'd see the day.

The Los Angeles County Department of Health is funding a contest called "L.A.'s Next Sex Symbol," in which any old struggling artist is invited to submit a condom-package design to appear on "1 million and one" free, county-issued condoms this year.

Too good to be true?

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Chester Paul Sgroi

That shooting of a Metro bus driver that scared the crap out of otherwise genteel West Hollywood Sunday morning might not have been as random as it appeared, though it was nonetheless shocking.

Charges filed by the district attorney against 41-year-old suspect Anthony Craig Chambers allege that he was lying in wait and pulled a shotgun from a suitcase and pulled the trigger twice after walking up to driver Alan Thomas on an otherwise empty bus.

Today Chambers was charged with ...

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Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation

A vial of freedom-loving blood said to have belonged to late President Ronald Reagan was put up for auction this week, and the Simi Valley-based Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation (host of his library) was none too happy.

While the anti-communist blood was said to have been legally obtained by a woman who worked at a Maryland lab contracted to take the sample following the 1981 assassination attempt on him, the foundation says it will fight the sale.

In a statement sent to the Weekly and other outlets, foundation executive director John Heubusch says:

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Terry

We know that you've done your own research and that you're adamant Los Angeles has the worst traffic than pretty much anyplace other than hell.

But you're wrong.

According to the new annual "Traffic Scorecard" released today by traffic data company Inrix ...

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NOAH PATRICK PFARR

As if city leaders aren't doing the same.

So the LAPD just nabbed one (allegedly) conniving city employee on suspicion of "stealing more than 800 gallons of gasoline over a three month period of time" and selling it on the black market.

Michael Anthony Lee, a 12-year veteran of the Department of Recreation and Parks who worked at the Algin Sutton Recreation Center, was jailed along with L.A. resident Shane Anthony Gansterer yesterday.

But what about the $6.9 million in taxpayer-funded city gas that remains unaccounted for?

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Ying Wu and Ming Qu.

Bryan Barnes, 20, and Javier Bolden, 19, were charged today with capital murder in connection with the shooting deaths of USC students Ming Qu and Ying Wu on the early rainy morning of April 11. The slayings, about a mile from campus, shocked the school and inspired the students' parents to sue USC for allegedly portraying the university as being safer than it is.

A special circumstance of "multiple murders and murder during commission of a robbery" means the duo would be eligible for the death penalty if they're convicted, according to a statement from the L.A. County District Attorney's office.

The pair was scheduled ...

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NBC4

The chaotic chase shut down 2nd between Wilshire and Arizona.

Updated at the bottom with a photo of the poor thing before it died. But it was no "baby," says the Santa Monica Police Department.

News helicopters swarmed above a glass business courtyard on Santa Monica's swanky 2nd Street all morning -- visible from rush hour on the PCH -- as Santa Monica police worked with Department of Fish and Game officials to round up an 80-pound baby mountain lion.

But after a tranquilizer dart, a round of "pepper balls" and multiple blasts from a Fire Department hose, the wild animal was still in danger of escaping the courtyard...

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Kevin Scanlon

From to a 70-year-old woman teaching others how to use medical marijuana to a man dedicated to saving the sea lions, these Angelenos prove that do-goodery can be vastly more interesting, creative and fulfilling than writing a monthly charity check or two.

Check out our entire People 2012 issue here.

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o5com

The L.A. City Council this week could make ours the biggest city in America to not only ban plastic bags at markets, but also prohibit paper bags.

The body finally takes up the historic proposal on Wednesday.

And environmentalists and supporters of Heal the Bay will be there:

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CBS2

Beer & Wine Market is tucked into a Hawaiian Gardens strip mall.

The owner of Beer & Wine Market in Hawaiian Gardens was found bound and gagged in his own liquor-store freezer yesterday, reports CBS2. And according to the Los Angeles Times, this isn't the first time an owner has turned up dead.

A customer reportedly called the L.A. County Sheriff after wandering into the store Monday afternoon and finding no one there. The market was open, but all its lights were turned off.

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mandalinarossa

Ouch.

Guys who cycle regularly are skinny, in shape and oh-so attractive to the ladies.

Except that the time spent bounding on that bicycle seat turns out to be not so good for a dude's reproductive health. Just another danger for those who prefer peddle power in L.A.

And the problem isn't just with all that equipment bouncing around. UCLA researchers found that men who ride a lot end up producing more of a form of estrogen, and the results can include ...

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Carmen Trutanich

In 2008, Carmen Trutanich was a private lawyer making his first run for public office. He needed to be ready for an onslaught of attacks in the city attorney's race, so he hired a research firm to dig through public records and exhume all the skeletons in his background.

VR Research came back with a report that ran to 100 pages. It includes a litany of lawsuits that together paint Trutanich as a trigger-happy litigator.

Now that Trutanich is running for D.A., the report is coming back to bite him. The L.A. Weekly recently obtained a copy.

Here are five of the weirdest secrets that Trutanich dug up on himself:
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ethelkilledfred

Big Willie and ex-Mayor Richard Riordan.

William "Big Willie" Andrew, who tried to get kids off the streets and keep them out of gangs by organizing drag races on Terminal Island, died over the weekend.

The 70-year-old had been in poor health, reports bangshift.com.

Instead of claiming turf, he told young people they should "run what you brung" on the track. And some credit him for creating the import-racing environment that sparked the Fast and the Furious tuner-car explosion of the 1990s:

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Harvey Milk

Today, May 22, California celebrates Harvey Milk Day in honor of the slain San Francisco supervisor who was one of the first gay elected officials in the United States.

Milk was assassinated by former San Francisco supervisor Dan White in 1978. A few months before his death, he gave a stirring speech at the Gay Freedom Day Parade in San Francisco. In it, Milk implores gay Americans to come out of the closet as a way to end homophobia and anti-gay politics.

His remarks, which can be found in Randy Shilts' important biography about Milk titled The Mayor of Castro Street, are still relevant today as they were nearly 34 years ago...

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Kevin Scanlon

Los Angeles loves its sports as much as any city does; there's no shortage of folks who will begin seething at a misspoken word about a favorite team or player. Say hi to the jocks of Los Angeles, who inspire that fervent brand of rage and rapture that can only come from a glance at the scoreboard.

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Kevin Scanlon

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2012 issue. Check out our entire People 2012 issue here.

Mayita Dinos' soft hands belie the fact that she's dug through acres of stubborn subsoil on a one-woman crusade to mulch, harrow and hoe as much of Los Angeles as possible. She's a key influencer in the band of pioneers who introduced sustainable gardening to this arid land, helping turn low-water landscaping into a major trend.

Dinos' 12 years as a bilingual education teacher in New York gave rise to her appealing blend of dreamy optimism and political urgency. But then she left the job she loved to move with her actor husband to L.A. in 1998.

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Kevin Scanlon

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2012 issue. Check out our entire People 2012 issue here.

Shortly after it was revealed that Mitt Romney's father was born in Mexico, a mysterious alter ego cropped up on Twitter: Mexican Mitt Romney (@MexicanMitt), who wears a huge sombrero and tweets things like, "MY GOAL IS TO KNOCK MY TAX RATE DOWN BELOW JUAN PERCENT."

Strangely, the L.A. Mexican-American humorist Lalo Alcaraz claims no official credit for the Twitter account. "I think he's hilarious," is all he'll say. "Whoever's tweeting Mexican Mitt is very funny and a very good-looking man."

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Kevin Scanlon

Two of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2012 issue. Check out our entire People 2012 issue here.

Kickboxer Mark "Fightshark" Miller is not one of those chest-pounding types. Well, he doesn't pound his own chest, that's for sure. Finely tuned athletes in the world of dudes-fighting-dudes may give off an air of braggadocio -- they brawl for a living, after all, and a double helping of bro-style swagger can win fights.

But Miller has nothing left to prove.

"We're sitting in Moscow, 10 minutes before the fight, and this guy's out in the hallway, screaming war chants," says Miller's cornerwoman (and friend) Shelby Jones. "Mark was asleep. We literally had to wake him up to fight the biggest fight of his life."

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