The Los Angeles Police Department says it’ll send dozens of elite officers into South LA in response to an increase in crime and reported gang violence. The department is highlighting the fact that about half of the 39 killings that happened, in the city as a whole, in the month of August, took place in that area. Will the strategy work? And what’s going on with the crime rate in cities all across the country, and right here in Los Angeles?

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office says Compton’s mayor and council members have been illegally boosting their salaries for years by paying themselves for commission meetings that sometimes last only about a minute. In some cases, officials have been paid whether or not they attended the meetings.

Los Angeles has a lot going for it as the potential host of the 2024 Summer Games. The city hosted the Games back in 1984 and there are stadiums already built for another summer games event. US Olympic officials say there is plenty of local support in the city’s bid to host the Games. But is the fact that taxpayers will be stuck with unexpected costs causing the Olympic flame to dim?

This week marks 70 years since the United States dropped two atomic bombs – within three days of each other – on two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrendered, and World War II ended.

Scattered thunderstorms are again battering the mountain and high desert areas with potential for flooding rain, fierce lightning and even hail. An El Niño, as it's known, could mean beneficial rain to combat a four-year drought in the region. But it could also mean some potentially dangerous and damaging weather as well.

Gun sales in California continue to rise and according to the Attorney General’s office, there were close to a million guns sold last year. And of all the people who applied for a background check in 2014, fewer than 9,000 were denied. Less than one percent.

In recent weeks and months, we’ve seen a flurry of coverage from national outlets like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal citing the great weather and the burgeoning gallery scene as reasons why it’s great to be a creative professional in LA. But rents continue to rise – at upwards of twice the national average, according to some statistics – and housing prices are through the roof.

The Los Angeles City Council this week gave the city more power to dismantle homeless encampments. That’s despite the loud objections of homeless advocates. About a dozen protesters disrupted Tuesday’s City Council meeting, calling the rules “criminal” until security officers escorted them out.

Tom Bradley was elected mayor of Los Angeles in 1973 with a broad coalition of Jews, Latinos, Asian-Americans and other liberal white voters. A new documentary about Bradley chronicles his life, as the son of Texas sharecroppers and grandson to slaves, to LA Police Lieutenant and, later, City Councilmember and Mayor.

UCLA graduate student Michael LaCour published a study in Science magazine last December, suggesting that people who opposed or were on the fence about same-sex marriage can be convinced to change their minds after having a conversation with a gay or lesbian canvasser. But another doctoral student at UC-Berkeley pointed out irregularities in the research.