Los Angeles Times

Julie Cart writes about the solar power compromises being forged in the deserts of the American Southwest, where the landscape is being sacrificed on the altar of alternative energy.

A new study shows that a friendly reminder of the health benefits of taking the stairs can cause a sustainable increase in their use, writes Jeannine Stein.

Yesterday, Michelle Obama visited the site of a new grocery store in an impoverished section of Los Angeles to highlight her work in spearheading efforts to improve access to fresh foods and reduce obesity across the country.

A lawsuit based on the Americans With Disabilities Act may leave Los Angeles responsible for over a billion dollars' worth of crumbling sidewalks.

Shan Li reports on the increasing prevalence of electric vehicle charging stations at retail centers across the country, even though demand for such services is small.

Frugality, a lack of debt, and a government focused on high production, low inflation and extensive social services are the secrets to providing many Germans with a standard of living higher than Americans making twice as much.

A neighborhood in Tarzana, one of the few residential areas in Los Angeles County that allows raising livestock, battles developmental pressures. The latest proposal: razing five homes for an elderly care center.

As cyclists toured Watts and other parts of South Los Angeles, they were invited to share photographs and record places of interest along the way.

Christopher Hawthorne reviews an exhibition at the Center for Land Use Interpretation in Los Angeles on the subject of nine places in the United States that claim to occupy the center of the country.

After the destruction of some of its most significant architectural and cultural treasures, the City of Beverly Hills has finally adopted a historic preservation ordinance.

In an opinion piece for the Los Angeles Times, William Fulton, former mayor of Ventura and the only mayor in California who supported the Governor's proposal to end redevelopment, offers concrete steps for reviving redevelopment in the state.

The City's top budget official has warned that dismantling the Redevelopment Agency could cost the city more than $109 million in new expenses.

Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Bob Pool profiles a project by Urban Planner James Rojas, who's constructed an 80-square-foot scale model of Long Beach that residents and business owners can tinker with to illustrate their own vision of the city.

Dozens of renewable energy projects completed in California's national parks and forests have yet to be utilized due to a years-long squabble with Southern California Edison, wasting tens of thousands of dollars in potential savings.

San Francisco's Coit Tower is one of the city's historic and iconic buildings, and it's also home to a collection of historic fresco paintings of Depression-era California. But the building and its paintings are falling apart.

A 'peer review' committee advises that the legislature should refuse to authorize funding for the first phase of California's high speed rail project, citing a "immense financial risk" for the state.

The California State Supreme Court recently upheld the eradication of the state's roughly 400 redevelopment agencies, and now officials from those groups are trying to convince legislators to give back some of their spending powers.

There's no budget for anything over-the-top, but it is an opportunity to bring in drought-resistant landscaping. The Department of Recreation and Parks is evaluating ideas.

The court's decision is likely to have far-reaching effects on how cities in California finance and facilitate urban redevelopment.

If high-speed rail fails, 130 miles of track will have to go to Amtrak. But critics say that the backup plan comes with no guarantee that Amtrak would even have to use the tracks and is, therefore, a useless backup plan.