Metro Library

A train at the nearby Rosa Parks Station.

​Updated at the bottom with 7 people hit. Headline changed to reflect that number.

A vehicle has hit pedestrians at a Metro rail or bus stop near the 110 and 105 freeways this afternoon, authorities said.

The Los Angeles Fire Department said that 50 first-responders were headed to the scene.

The California Highway Patrol stated a carpool lane was closed and major injuries were reported. More to come.

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YouTube

As if Mayor V needed more flack.

​We just lost two soldiers to L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's bulging press office.

Whoever predicted that L.A.'s best journalists might all soon be working for the enemy, tempted by a secure job and cush benefits amid this Great Recession and death o' journalism: You were right.

"Two new communications staffers joined Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's press office this week" ...

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Tesla

En route to Coachella? Hope it's charged ...

​So you paid nearly $130,000 for your new, environmentally friendly, Ed Begley Jr.-orgasm-machine known as the Tesla Roadster: Al Gore will be stopping by any minute to give you an autographed driving glove.

But while you're waiting for the ex-vice president to congratulate you for saving the planet while still somehow remaining a BMW-level douche, be sure to keep that ride plugged in.

Because if you don't it could become a huge, six-figure ...

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Simone Wilson

Civil war at Desert Trails Elementary.

​A group of parents at Desert Trails Elementary, located two hours east of L.A. in the dusty desert town of Adelanto, saw months of hard work thrown back in their faces last night.

The "parent union," as they call themselves, guided by controversial ed-reform org Parent Revolution, have been going door to door, asking moms and dads to sign a petition called the "Parent Trigger"...

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SNL

​A multimillion-dollar super-yacht is making waves in Venice today.

The Serena (or perhaps Serene) is sitting off the coast south of Venice Pier, close enough to gawkers on this summer-like day that authorities have been fielding calls inquiring whether the awesome vessel is too close to shore.

The answer to that question ...

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Wi Bing Tan

​See our clarification at the bottom.

A naked driver has been following girls home near a Van Nuys middle school, police tell the Weekly today.

Two underage girls reported that a nude man behind the wheel of a vehicle followed them home in the area earlier this month, but LAPD Van Nuys detectives released the information this week, apparently in hopes that someone will come forward with info about the creep.

The incidents apparently happened ...

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"Pirates of the Caribbean," one of the most pirated movies ever, still raked in billions.

​It's no secret -- rich white guys in Hollywood were the No. 1 reason why scary copyright bills SOPA and PIPA almost made it through Washington this year.

Yet the film industry is sort of the original pirate, leeching off the public domain of creativity and making a killing off the genius of a few.

All this, laid out in a sweet new infographic from Paralegal.net:

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Center for American Progress

Howard Berman

​Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman kept up their bitter fight for the hearts and minds of the San Fernando Valley on Tuesday night, debating at Temple Judea in Tarzana.

The forum centered on foreign policy, playing to Berman's advantage as the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee. If the first debate last month was marked by Sherman's aggressive attacks, the second was characterized by Berman's withering disregard for Sherman as a substantive person.

"Brad's looking for things to do," Berman said at one point, brushing aside a Sherman attack.
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Warner Bros.

​Prized items once owned by Whitney Houston will be offered for sale at auction in Beverly Hills next month.

But even if you can't afford the clothing expected to sell for between $400 and $2,000, you can take a look. Julien's Auctions will put the fashion on public display in the 90210.

Should be interesting. The death of Whitney Houston has inspired a fan response not seen since Michael Jackson passed in 2009:

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Frederic Poirot

​It's scary enough when you see the flashing blue light in your rearview: Spray your air freshener, open the windows, and cross yourself.

Are we right?

But now authorities believe a police impersonator might have pulled a motorist over in the South Bay this week.

And last night they sent out a warning:

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A scene from L.A. Unified.

​In the wake of the Miramonte Elementary School sex abuse scandal the Los Angeles Times has unearthed yet another case of an L.A. school district staffer accused of lewd acts who continued to work around children nonetheless.

The crux of the story: George Hernandez, a career substitute teacher, was accused of inappropriate sexual behavior in front of or with grade-school students three times but continued teaching and, when he came to the end of his ropes at the district, simply left for Inglewood Unified.

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Chispas M. via Foursquare

"A car just thought they had drive through (@ Pizza Buona)"

​A maroon Acura just plowed through the two front doors of Pizza Buona in Echo Park, a well-loved pizzeria located on Sunset Boulevard at a busy intersection with Alvarado.

The car barreled into the restaurant around 5 p.m., right before the most amazing hot-pink sunset since last month's most amazing hot-pink sunset. And it got pretty far in there ...

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ABC7

Minifie's deadly weapon.

​An insane car crash in Westlake last Thursday was overshadowed by two other big L.A. crime stories that day: the guy who shot up a Hollywood apartment before setting it on fire, and the ICE-officer shooting in Long Beach.

But the crimes of alleged kidnapper Jeffrey Minifie, 39, whose passenger died in the heat of an LAPD pursuit ...

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Gimme that mutha-f---ing ball, Washington!

​If you're a lame-duck mayor who has pretty much accomplished only disappointment in Los Angeles, we wouldn't blame you for wanting out.

And it's clear to just about anyone within earshot of Antonio Villaraigosa that he's been angling for a job in President Obama's cabinet. As the newly appointed chair of the Democratic National Convention next summer, he's one step closer.

Now all he needs is Operation Public Relations to get him some good press. Enter The New York Times today:

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Ninth Circuit Court

​Updated at the bottom with a copy of the petition for review. First posted at 1:41 p.m.

Backers of California's overturned same-sex-marriage ban said today that they'll ask the full Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for a review.

The move avoids for now taking the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court, but it could ultimately end up prompting the high court to step in and make a decision.

The Protect Marriage Coalition told news outlets including Associated Press Tuesday that it planned to ask for the review. A 2-1 vote by a Ninth Circuit panel earlier this month ...

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Google Maps

​Updated at the bottom: How the mom's relationship allegedly inspired her to hide the baby. First posted at 12:27 p.m.

A woman's story of finding a newborn girl at a Long Beach gas station turned out to be a cover for her daughter's alleged child endangerment, police told the Weekly today.

The child actually belongs to the daughter, cops told us, and was not abandoned last night at a USA Gas station at 7th Street and Alamitos Ave., as Sonia Hernandez said it had been.

Nope. It was a cover for the unidentified daughter, who Sgt. Rico Fernandez says ...

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​With reporting from Beth Barrett

We already know that the L.A. Unified School District paid alleged student molester Mark Berndt $40,000 to go away.

It's an astonishing fact, even though the district contends that the payoff was the only way to get him to leave as he appealed the disciplinary case against him (last spring, long before his arrest last month on similar allegations).

But here, thanks to intrepid Weekly reporter Beth Barrett, we have the actual document that put this suspect in the money:

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Laurie Levenson

​Law professor Laurie Levenson will give an hourlong lecture next week to about 30 arrestees from Occupy L.A., as part of their diversion program.

The class is the result of a compromise worked out between the office of City Attorney Carmen Trutanich and the National Lawyers Guild, which has been representing Occupy defendants in court. Levenson's lecture will cover the First Amendment.

Trutanich originally wanted to charge $375 for the class, which would have been administered by American Justice Associates. But Occupiers objected to being forced to pay money to a private company to avoid criminal charges.
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KPCC

Not a child molester?

​L.A. County Sheriff's deputies have been accused of more inmate abuse at their notorious Twin Towers lockup downtown.

Yet for once, nobody really cares.

That's because the accusations are coming from alleged Miramonte Elementary sex monster Mark Berndt, in whose possession Sheriff's investigators found hundreds of photos of third-graders ...

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Paris-approved.

​California drivers should be able to store proof of insurance and vehicle registration on their smartphones, says Mike Gatto, a state assemblyman for Los Angeles, in his proposed Assembly Bill 1708.

Which really makes us think: How does this not exist already?

Gatto feels the same way. "It only makes sense for the state where the iPad was designed to remain on the technological forefront" ...

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