The News Blog with Eric Spillman

What Ever Happened To: The Fire Truck That Got Swallowed Up


8:13 AM  November 19, 2009


Firetruck

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DWP: Water Rationing Did Not Cause Pipe Blowouts


12:54 PM  November 17, 2009

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The agency's internal report says the destructive blowout on Coldwater at Ventura Blvd. may have triggered other water main breaks. It also shoots down the theory that water rationing caused a spike in pipe blowouts.

DWP experts concluded there's "no evidence that pressures increased as a result of watering restrictions" and "no clear correlation between watering days and the occurrence of main breaks."

The report says most of the main breaks occurred on corroded and rusty cast iron pipes:

A lot of this pipe was installed 70-90 years ago and in “very severe” or “severe” corrosive soil environment.

How long will it take the DWP to replace water mains throughout its 7200-mile system?  At the current rate, the report says 180 years.

But that's an improvement over the amount of pipeline the DWP was installing in 2006.  At that time, it would have taken 400 years to finish the job.

Read the report:

Download Summer '09 Water Main Leaks Prelim Investigation Rpt.

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Can L.A.'s DWP Learn Something from Long Beach?


8:01 AM  November 17, 2009

In Long Beach, water main breaks are rare.  City officials say it's because they've been replacing the pipes for years.


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Gold Line Extends to the Eastside


6:00 AM  November 17, 2009



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Woman Murdered While Cops Are Parked Outside


11:52 AM  November 12, 2009

(Mid City L.A.) -- A man who was intent on killing his girlfriend snuck into her apartment to stab her to death, even while officers were parked in a patrol car outside.



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Photo of the Day


8:17 PM  November 11, 2009

By Mel Melcon, of the LA Times:

50441235

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Violent Video Games: Harmless Fun or Serious Danger?


6:42 AM  November 10, 2009

Modern Warfare 2 comes out today, and is expected to generate $500 billion in sales worldwide.  Violent video games are now becoming a much bigger business than movies.

A few stores put some copies up for sale at midnight, and there were lines to buy them.







Is all this okay?   Are these kind of games just "entertainment" or do they desensitize young people to killing?

Your comments below, please.

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Perils of Live TV: Example #345


7:02 PM  November 9, 2009

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My Journey Into a DWP Pipeline


9:01 AM  November 9, 2009



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What It Takes to Get Swine Flu Vaccine


11:11 AM  November 4, 2009

Swine
Consider Valerie and Chris Bunker of San Gabriel. 

They have two kids, a four-old-boy and an 18-month-old girl.  Their pediatrician doesn't have any H1N1 vaccine.  So they went to the L.A. County clinic in San Gabriel a few days ago..  No luck there.  The lines were too long.

Same story in Glendale yesterday.  Thousands of people were waiting in line ahead of them.  They didn't get the vaccine there either.

They made their third attempt this morning at a clinic on the USC campus, where they were forced to wait several hours.

I hope they were successful this time.




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