As Westwood’s economy stumbles toward recovery, many merchants blame Westwood’s Business Improvement District for its slow growth. Many merchants are disenchanted with the BID, whose charter will expire in the fall, because they believe it does not actively solicit business and is not involved enough with newly arrived merchants. Read more...

If UCLA football player Asi Faoa makes it to the NFL anytime soon, he will have to pay for it, and the cost will be $100,000. Read more...

During California’s second month without a budget, the assemblyman who will likely represent UCLA after November’s election turned to a new strategy to raise revenue ““ upping the tax on smokes to $3 a pack. Read more...

The budget deadlock in the state Legislature may hit some California students close to home if an agreement is not reached before the beginning of fall classes. Read more...

RJD2 “Dead Ringer” Definitive Jux DJ Shadow’s “Endtroducing”¦” gave the hip-hop world a much needed jolt when it was released in 1996, but the genre it pioneered, “instrumental hip-hop,” will keep losing its luster if artists like RJD2 can’t go beyond using that seminal album’s technique to advance their own musical visions. Read more...