Deep-fried Pepsi, congestion pricing and suing the MTA: Ramping up, August 27
Road Sage thinks it, it comes true! I joked in yesterday's morning roundup that the L.A. County Fair needs to figure out a way to deep-fry Diet Coke. Turns out that the Indiana State Fair this year featured deep fried Pepsi: fried funnel cake dough injected with Pepsi. Shaun Newton, a reader and L.A. native, alerted me to this development. He said customers get eight Pepsi balls to an order, although only one is required to induce diabetic shock. He ultimately ate six and lived to tell about it. A reporter with the Indianapolis Star also has a video on YouTube. "Tastes kind of like donuts," says one boy in the report.
Suing the MTA: I had a short post last week about the Metropolitan Transportation Authority refusing to release its internal accident reports to the general public because they could result in more lawsuits. Well, my colleague who tried to get a report after losing his side-view mirror in a crash with a bus has now filed suit in small claims court, hoping to recover $345 for the mirror and $90 in court costs. He hopes to get the report by subpoenaing it. "If this is how they want to play the game, I'm happy to oblige," says my colleague. Until the case is resolved, he asked me not to mention his name to avoid the appearance he's using his connection with The Times to get a new mirror.
Congestion pricing: The state bill, SB 1422, that would allow the carpool lanes on parts of the 10 and 110 freeways (and potentially the 210), cleared the Assembly's transportation committee late Monday and will need to be passed by the full Assembly this week. It has already been approved by the full Senate and an unofficial tally in the Assembly last week showed it had the votes there. My colleague Patrick McGreevy has a story in today's editions of The Times looking at the bill's chances of escaping Sacramento by week's end -- a deadline it needs to meet.
photo: Shaun Newton
