Good morning -- here's what's happening 6.16.08

The Lakers won. Not pretty, not easy, but it's a 3-2 series and on the road to Beantown for Game 6. (And Game 7, but I've always been an optimist.) We've got the game story, Bill Plaschke, T.J. Simers, former Laker Rick Fox, and, of course, lots of pix.

Meanwhile, back in the real world:

More than 130 firefighters are fighting a suspected arson fire in Banning that has burned 75 acres.

Accusations of bias resurface at the DWP.

A woman was killed and three people injured at St. Mark Church in Venice when a car plowed into a crowd.

Time was, illegal dumpers drove to isolated canyons, far beyond the watchful eyes of the law, to get rid of their unwanted trash. Now, because there aren't enough law enforcement officers to go around, illegal dumping is taking place right in the heart of the city. Gallons of used motor oil, filthy beds, a dead rooster -- it's all just lying in the streets. Disturbing pix, too.

TV's pot drama "Weeds" moves to the beach and all is well, maybe even better than ever.

Park Place in Irvine may be for sale as cash-strapped Maguire Properties struggles.

Officials have high hopes for a new retail center in Inglewood.

Bauer, California's beloved pottery company, gets a second life as  the new Bauer Pottery Co. of Los Angeles churns out copies of the retro dinnerware.

--Veronique de Turenne

Photos: Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Edward Padgett]

Veronique,

My colleagues and I witnessed a stake bed truck driving slowly down the street, adjacent to our printing plant at 8th and Alameda, with one man in the rear of the truck pushing furniture and trash bags off the end of the truck, right in the middle of the street in broad daylight.

Behind our building, under the Santa Monica Freeway, the problem is even more severe. As quickly as the city removes the trash, the piles begin growing again the following day. Seems to be an endless cycle.