Los Angeles

Argh, so close! One woman in Pasadena had all six winning Powerball numbers but couldn't claim any of the $360 million jackpot. [ more › ]

It has come to pass. The Clippers will not be renewing head coach Vinny Del Negro's contract when it expires on June 30. [ more › ]

Owner Donald Sterling says Vinny Del Negro is a wonderful man and he's sad about the coach's dismissal, but he has to keep his players happy.Why mess with success when you have known only defeat previously?

Stay up to date on the Los Angeles election throughout the evening with Times reporters who will provide updates on the races.

It's Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals in San Antonio. The Spurs beat the Grizzlies handily in Game 1, completely neutralizing Zach Randolph, but don't forget that Memphis lost big to the Clippers in Game 1 and then lost Game 1 to the Thunder as well. We're hosting the SBNation network-wide open thread here at Clips Nation tonight, so be nice. No sour grapes about Marc Gasol whining or Z-Bo pounding on people -- not that anyone here would do that anyway. The game starts at 9 Eastern, 6 Pacific on ESPN.

At sunrise on Jan. 15,  Laura Rudich shot this photo of a beach reflection of the Santa Monica Pier. She used a Canon 5dmkii and a Canon 50mm lens.

The Clippers coaching situation has been uncertain since the team picked up Vinny Del Negro's option last summer. They decided not to offer him a new contract, and now the search for a new coach begins. It's always out there at some level, but the last few days have brought a new crop of "Vinny Del Negro on the hot seat" stories. Marc Stein of ESPN.com had him on the warm throne in his Weekend Dime, then Sekou Smith put him on the toasty chair in his Hangtime blog at NBA.com. Zach Lowe writing in Grantland about unimaginative offense in the NBA didn't mention Del Negro by name, but took several swipes at the Clippers lack of invention in their offensive sets, a clear indictment of the coach. Let's look at what some of these fine NBA writers had to say. Things like this... Vinny Del Negro insisted before a recent loss in Dallas that he has "a great future no matter what." The signals are nonetheless getting stronger and stronger that said future won't be at Staples Center, with Del Negro working on the flimsy final year of his original Clippers contract and L.A. looking nothing like the team -- whether that's due to health woes, locker-room fissures or coaching issues -- that won 17 straight games in December. Could a deep playoff run save him? Even that might not be enough entering the most critical summer in the Clippers' history, with Chris Paul becoming a free agent July 1 and Clips management having always planned to let Paul have a big say (assuming he wants one) before any coach gets another long-term deal from them. Marc Stein and this... Del Negro has just as many detractors as he does supporters these days. Three different league executives have suggested that he's done a much better job than he gets credit for, when you consider how raw the Clippers' frontcourt remains with youngsters Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan still coming into their own. Del Negro's critics quickly point out that an All-Star and one of the top 10 centers in the league is a pretty good place to start your frontcourt rotation. Plus, they say, Griffin and Jordan's rawness has as much with Del Negro (and his staff's) inability to polish them up as it does anything else. The Clippers have dealt with health issues and rumored locker room drama all season, but they also kicked off the NBA's season of win streaks with a 17-gamer early in the season that cranked expectations (on the team and Del Negro) to unattainable proportions. The only thing that might solidify Del Negro's status is a run to the Western Conference finals ... and that might work. Sekou Smith and this... Predictable offenses with otherworldly talent can still get a team far; the Clippers can win a lot of games with 45 Chris Paul-Blake Griffin pick-and-rolls and 45 Griffin post-ups.... Coaches with stale offenses - think Utah, Brooklyn, the Clippers - are hurting their teams, even if those teams have enough talent to produce some solid overall scoring numbers. Zach Lowe So is any of this criticism fair? Probably not. I'm not going to try to justify that Vinny Del Negro is a great X's and O's guy. He's not, and he'd admit as much. But it seems to me that there's a basic disconnect occurring when people are complaining about the fourth most efficient offense in the NBA. The Clippers score 110.6 points per 100 possessions according to basketball-reference, the fourth best efficiency in the NBA. The teams ahead of them are the Thunder, the Heat and the Knicks. One wonders where Lowe might expect the Clippers offensive efficiency to be, were Del Negro not "hurting" the team so much. Offensive "geniuses" like Gregg Popovich of the Spurs and George Karl of the Nuggets, coaching talented teams that are offensive juggernauts, don't achieve the same offensive efficiency as Del Negro's Clippers. Now, I've said many times and it remains true, that having Chris Paul on your team hides a lot of coaching flaws. Critics of Del Negro can reasonably argue that he's done li

Dodgers Brewers LF Crawford RF Aoki 3B Punto SS Segura 1B Gonzalez LF Braun CF Kemp 3B Ramirez RF Ethier C Lucroy C A.Ellis CF Gomez 2B Schumaker 1B Betancourt SS Gordon 2B Bianchi P Greinke P Burgos Zack Greinke made 23 starts in Miller Park, all as a Brewer in 2011-12. (Okay, and one relief appearance with Kansas City back in 2007). Over that span he went 15-0 — and you all know how stupid I think pitcher wins & losses are, so the fact that I’m even bothering to point it out here says something — and struck out 183 in 149.2 innings. I don’t know what it is that Greinke likes about this park, but I’m pretty happy to have him doing there in Dodger blue tonight rather than Brewers… well, darker blue. That’s all I have to say today — thanks, work! — but that’s partially because after the insanity of the last few days… there’s no news. There’s no roster move, no lineup questions, just a regular baseball day. Given what we’ve seen lately, that’s a welcome change indeed.

Elizabeth Daniels 5/13 After about a week of preview dinners, Petty Cash Taqueria is ready to open for the public. Originally conceived by Walter Manzke (Republique), this taqueria sports a menu of street-inspired tacos, quesadillas, ceviches and aguachiles. Manzke's concept involves serving elevated tacos using quality ingredients, traditional flavors, and proper preparation. There's handmade tortillas, fresh seafood, and specially-sourced meats, all prepared from a chef's perspective. Produced in conjunction with Bill Chait and Bill Esparza, Petty Cash's menu — like the Kraken taco, filled with octopus and charred chile de arbor, as well as the charcoal-roasted portobello mushroom taco — is partly inspired by Tacos Kokopelli's chef Oso Campos. As for aesthetics, the restaurant's interior looks reminiscent of the late Playa, but more playful, casual, and open, with long bench seating and even a shuffleboard in the back for those tequila-fueled matches. The drink menu is by Julian Cox, and features on-tap cocktails like the Fly By Night, using scotch, gentiane, ginger, bitters and a grapefruit twist. The Nacho Libre calls for pisco, lime, caramelized pineapple syrup, egg white and Creole bitters. And finally, expect some rare Mexican spirits like sotol and bacanora, in addition to a strong lineup of tequilas and mezcals. Opening is at 6 p.m. tonight, walk-ins only. [Eaterwire] ·All Petty Cash Coverage [~ELA~]

Voters Tuesday trickled into St. Paul's Presbysterian church in South L.A. to cast their ballots after a torrent of campaign advertisements and  record-breaking spending in the race for mayor of Los Angeles.