Los Angeles International Airport

Doc al-Qaeda

Judge to punish Cypress resident and former CVS pharmacist tied to terrorism plot against U.S. soldiers

[VIDEO:] Footage of TSA Test Flight Allowing Bats, Clubs and Small Knives Aboard Jetliner

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has announced that as of April 25 airline passengers will be able to carry on board previously forbidden items such as small knives, golf clubs, hockey sticks, souvenir baseball bats and other sports equipment that currently must be checked in. The ... More >>

[UPDATED with Defense Move to Dismiss Criminal Case:] Christopher Ryan Smith's Family Sues Alleged Killer, His Accomplice, Employees and Family

See the update at the end of this post about the accused killer's defense filing a writ in the Court of Appeals to dismiss the criminal case.ORIGINAL POST, OCT. 17, 3:29 P.M.: The family of the late Christopher Ryan Smith, whose body has never been found, is suing his accused murderer and business p ... More >>

The Jacuzzi Boys - The Queen Mary - 8/1/12

By: Joseph LapinSee Also:*Best Coast - Huntington Beach Pier - 8/1/12*Top Five Hits: Burger Records in Fullerton*Ink-N-Ion - The Queen Mary - 6/8-6/10/12The Jacuzzi Boys were supposed to land in Southern California on Tuesday to play a show at Burger Records, but due to a booking fiasco--they schedu ... More >>

Communist China Spy in Anaheim Loses Conviction Appeal

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected the complaints of Chi Mak, the Anaheim defense company engineer who claims he was wrongly convicted of trying to deliver to communist China a CD containing data about sensitive methods U.S. Navy submarines and warships employ to avoid sound detection.M ... More >>

Vanna Hong Allegedly Raped 12 y.o. Girl From 1995-1996 and Then Facebooked Her in 2011

As any Facebook member knows, friend requests from long-lost acquaintances roll in all the time, but the one an Orange County woman in her 30s received in January 2011 really stood out.It was from a man who is alleged to have regularly flown across the country to rape her beginning when she was 12 y ... More >>

James S. Eberhart, Internet Huckster, Faces 11 Counts of Mail Fraud and Nine Counts of Money Laundering

A former Newport Beach resident who fled the country in 1999 after federal authorities executed a search warrant at his allegedly fraudulent Internet company landed back in the United States on Thursday after being deported earlier this week from Malaysia. James S. Eberhart, 71, arrived at Los ... More >>

Jimmy Kha, Importer-Exporter, Found with Rhino Horns, Millions in Cash, Gold, Diamonds

​Targeted raids around the country last weekend produced 20 sawed-off rhinoceros horns seized mostly from the Garden Grove home and Westminster business of an importer-exporter accused of running an international smuggling ring, authorities say.And 49-year-old Jimmy Kha kept it all in the family, ... More >>

President Barack Obama Set to Land in Bitter Enemy Terrority--Orange County

​Under intense security, Air Force One and Barack Obama landed late this afternoon at Los Angeles International Airport for the president's ninth trip to Southern California and, during a series of fund-raising events, touted his administration's accomplishments, including a repeal of "Don't Ask; ... More >>

Korean Tourist Nabbed at LAX with 63 Pounds of Erection Medicine

​Was a 40-year-old Korean national visiting Southern California hoping to obtain the biggest, longest-lasting erection in world history?Or did he just want everybody he knew to be, well, excited for weeks?Authorities briefly detained the unidentified tourist earlier this month at Los Angeles Inter ... More >>

Jeremy Kealoha Belisario Gets 12 Years in Prison and $2.6 Million in Fines and Restitution for Embezzling from Travel Firms He Managed

​What do you get if you buy stuff for your boyfriend and yourself from high-end retailers like Sony, Gucci, Neiman Marcus, Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton, and Van Cleef & Arpels, as well as 42 Super Bowl tickets for yourself, family and friends for a weekend of partying that includes limos, hotel ... More >>

[UPDATED with Sentence:] Izad Chavoshan Tried to Burn Down Irvine Church Four Times Over Masturbation Teachings

​UPDATE, AUG. 19, 11:24 A.M.: Huntington Beach's Izad Chavoshan, who tried four times to burn down Orange County Church of Christ in Irvine because of its teachings against masturbation, was sentenced today to six years and four months in state prison.Not only did Chavoshan earn the ridicule of r ... More >>

5 Examples That Prove When the Going Gets Bizarre, the Bizarre Go to John Wayne Airport

​Recent reports of near-misses in the skies near John Wayne Airport are bad enough.But Orange County's commercial airport seems to have shifted from the scary to the bizarre over the past week.Check out the rundown of five recent examples of weirdness involving planes arriving at or leaving from J ... More >>

The Real Rap Sheets of the Jackass Cast

​ Jackass star Steve-O was arrested in Calgary this week for allegedly assaulting a heckler there eight years ago. Call us jaded, but we think the Canadian authorities are overreacting to behavior that's more an extension of the Jackass brand than a threat to public safety. While Steve-O and his ... More >>

Justin Bieber Eats In-N-Out Before Leaving LAX

I am not a Canadian, so I do not know what chains they inordinately idolize, so who knows how teeny-bopper Justin Bieber got to In-N-Out before departing on a flight from LAX on Valentine's Day--but order some he did.

Samaa Kerba and Young Son Escaped Egypt, But the Mission Viejo Residents' Nightmare Had Only Begun

​A Mission Viejo woman and her 4-year-old son were hours away from being sent back to strife-torn Egypt this past weekend before the American Civil Liberties Union intervened on their behalf.Permanent U.S. resident Samaa Kerba, 26, and her son were returning home from Cairo because of the violence ... More >>

Khapra Beetle: The Destructive Breed of Beetles Discovered in Rice Shipment at LAX

Not what you want in your rice.​Things could have become pretty buggy for producers of grain and seeds if U.S. Customs and Border Protection would have been slacking on the job. On Dec. 29 at Los Angeles International Airport, CBP intercepted a shipment of Indian rice arriving from Saudi Arab ... More >>

Ali Achekzai, Serial Rape Suspect Captured in Austria, to be Back in Orange County Tonight

​R. Scott Moxley told you in January about the capture of Ali Achekzai, a onetime Ladera Ranch resident and alleged Southern California serial rapist who was found living in Salzburg, Austria, through a DNA match. Tonight, the 32-year-old on District Attorney Tony Rackauckas' Ten Most Wanted list ... More >>

John Wayne Airport Named Among 10 Scariest

​John Wayne Airport is one of the 10 scariest airports in the world.That's the opinion of "a couple of pilots, along with SmarterTravel readers," who provided "their insights and experiences with difficult takeoffs and landings" to the travel site.

Rainbow Harbor Terror Attack is Just a Drill

​If you swing by Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach today and notice an unusually large presence of law enforcement types running around like chickens with their heads cut off, you are witnessing neither an actual terror attack nor filming of pick-up scenes for Monday night's 24 finale.

[UPDATED AND CORRECTED:] Today's Sentencing for Smuggling Songbirds From Vietnam

UPDATE AND CORRECTION: Changes throughout (see below) . . . Courtesy of U.S. Attorney's OfficeI've heard of chicken legs, but this is ridiculous.​Duc Le of Garden Grove pleaded guilty today to conspiring to illegally bring live Asian songbirds into the United States by attaching them to the legs o ... More >>

One More "Airplane!" Scene Now Dated

​No-nonsense, double-sunglassed chief pilot Rex Kramer (Robert Stack) shoves, punches and tosses donation solicitors--including a Hare Krishna (David Leisure)--blocking his path at a busy airport in the 1980 comedy Airplane!Like much of the flick's now-dated humor (Airplane! was the best motion pi ... More >>

[UPDATED] Why Would This Man Try to Burn Down His Beloved Church?

Courtesy of Orange County District Attorney's Office Izad Chavoshan's booking photo. ​UPDATED WITH COMMENT FROM A CHURCH OFFICIAL . . . The bizarre case of the Huntington Beach man charged with trying to burn down Orange County Church of Christ not one, two, three but four times (!) just ... More >>

Laptop Loss Much Less Frequent at John Wayne Than Most U.S. Airports

Often when searching for the best air travel bargains, Orange Countians will choose to fly out of Ontario or Los Angeles International because fares are cheaper than at John Wayne Airport--even given the higher costs associated with ground travel and lost time to those airports, which are reachable ... More >>

Is That a Song Bird in Your Pocket or Are You Just Happy to See Me?

A bulbul sings the song of freedom.Sonny Dong was walking through security at Los Angeles International Airport last month when inspectors noticed something odd: bird feathers and droppings on his socks and bird tail feathers under his pants. Upon closer examination it was discovered the 46-year-old ... More >>

Sanchez Returns From Vietnam?

Amid gifts of flowers, hand-made placards and shouts of "We love you Loretta!" from a crowd of approximately 20 people, Rep. Loretta Sanchez--Orange County's lone Democratic voice in Congress--returned from a trip to Vietnam. A website, perhaps tied to Sanchez, has posted a video of her arrival ce ... More >>

Big Brother is Watching OC Weekly

In case you were wondering, air travel still sucks. Flights are more crowded and dirtier than ever (I could swear that stain on my courtesy pillow was blood), and even though transatlantic flights now have video on demand, the equipment for it takes up precious milimeters of legroom, already a scarc ... More >>

Sunday's Headlines & Surprises: iPhone Thumb Surgery?

Picking themselves up with your bootstraps: The lobbyists at the Orange County Tourism Council believe they are entitled yet again to a public handout. And, once again, they're going to get it without even a minute of public debate. The board of supervisors placed on its Tuesday consent calender a ... More >>

Protesters Don't Rattle Vietnam's President

In OC, an affable Nguyen Minh Triet seeks to heal ‘old wounds’

So I Married a Terrorist . . .

Saraah Olsons strange trip through the U.S. war on terror

Lords of Acid

How the Brotherhood of Eternal Love Became OCs Hippie Mafia

My Eight Marriages for the Mob

Patriots Travel Package

2002: Diary of a Mad Year

Diary of a Mad County

Mitterfired?

Controversial county CEO down to just one defender: The Times

50 Reasons to Hate the Proposed El Toro International Airport

Never Mind War, El Toro Is Hell

El Toro Airport Watch No. 109