U.S. Halloween revelers wearing the guise of Steve Irwin have triggered a furor Down Under. The Age and The Australian, two of the country's largest dailies, cited the San Francisco Bay Guardian among the arbiters of bad taste for ranking "Croc Hunter" garb No. 1 on its list of "Great Bad Ideas for Halloween Costumes." The Bay Guardian kept company with culprits such as comedian Bill Maher, who sported a khaki shirt replete with bloody barb at a Los Angeles Halloween party.

Continue ReadingBay Guardian Swept up in Backlash Over ‘Croc Hunter’ Costume

An Oct. 26 L.A. Weekly article revisiting the circumstances of Los Angeles labor leader Miguel Contreras' May 2005 death continues to rumble through the megalopolis. First, the Los Angeles Times wasted no time in picking up the story. Now, an editorial in the Los Angeles Daily News implies the real misdeed was an on-the-scene cover-up by city heavyweights such as then-mayor James Hahn and now-mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. "It once again appears the well-connected are subject to VIP justice," the unsigned editorial observes, "and that's no justice at all."

Continue ReadingAccount of L.A. Labor Leader’s Death Stirs Controversy, Charges of Cover-Up