You can't serve patience, optimism, irony or principles for dinner, but they'll help get you through these hard times.
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Very few things captivate Southern Californians like the topic of real estate.
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There are several dilemmas you encounter when doing a story about California real estate.
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Is it time to buy? Have prices hit bottom yet? When do you think the market will start to recover? Share your thoughts on the real estate market, and your stories of buying and selling, foreclosing and starting over.
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The Maxwells consider themselves a typical middle class family, even though mom, Nikki, and dad, Bill, haven’t had steady work for months.
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California, I may want a divorce.
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For years, the Los Angeles beachside community of Venice has been a magnet for the so-called "vehicular homeless."
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Home sales are up ... prices are down ... mortgage rates rock-bottom. By most historical measures, this looks like the ideal time to take the plunge and buy a house in southern California.
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Watch Val's complete chat with teen sailor Zac Sunderland.
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An update with teen sailor Zac Sunderland following his travels through the Panama Canal.
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Would you be willing to pay more for private fire protection? Is that fair to the people who can't afford it?
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This week on SoCal Connected: Is it time to buy?
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Last fall, Vicki Curry and I - along with correspondent Judy Muller - reported on the new phenomenon of ‘firefighters for hire ’ - for a segment we called “Fire, Inc.”
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Homeowners are turning to a new breed of private firefighting services.
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Do you think there should be a crackdown on clinics, or do you think marijuana should be legalized?
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You might think a conservative judge from a conservative county would advocate for the prohibition of marijuana, but - based on his experiences - he is adamantly pro legalization.
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It's been 13 years since the passage of Prop 215 and the city of Los Angeles still does not have a permanent ordinance regulating medical marijuana clinics.
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Is graffiti vandalism or art? At the same time as law enforcement imposes harsher penalties on graffiti writers, the fine art world and corporate America are embracing them.
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The 15 Los Angeles council members earn about $80,000 more than their counterparts in more expensive San Francisco and New York. And way more than the Miami City Council whose part-time pay is just $6,000 a year. At nearly $180,000 a year our council members - public servants as they are called - earn 400% more than the average Angeleno. In no other city could we find as big a disparity.
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Bryan, Joanna and Damon write us notes on their experiences with SoCal Connected and Green Dot schools.
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Judy Muller investigates charges that L.A. has become “the Mecca for medical marijuana dispensaries” with local residents blaming city officials for “pot clinics gone wild.”
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Here's a guy who savors a tough challenge. We talk to Steve Barr, the founder and chairman of Green Dot Public Schools.
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No one expected much from Locke High at the L.A. Unified School District’s band competition. After all, they’re just a so-so school in Watts. But they have a couple of tricks up their band uniforms.
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Locke High School sits in the center of rival gang territory in Watts. Fights. Graffiti. Truancy. Apathy. All daily occurrences at the notorious, sprawling campus where students were more likely to drop out than graduate. But now there's a new sheriff in town and the school has been transformed. Can the charter company Green Dot also transform the lives of the kids?
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Val Zavala talks via web cam with Zac Sunderland in the Carribean.
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I did a webcam interview with Zac Sunderland who is sailing around the world solo, hoping to set a record as the youngest person to do that. Here are some bites that didn't make it on air.
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Here in Hollywood/ Los Feliz we have the nation's biggest hospital. This $600 million Kaiser Medical Center opened in March. It is completely computerized, with electronic records, state-of-the-art equipment and spacious design.
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