Elysian Park

Los Angeles cop Juan Aguilar has been battling the Avenues hoodlums long enough to have seen the gang at its most vicious. During his five years working an anti-gang detail on streets the Avenues claim as their own in the city's northeastern reaches, gang members are accused of gunning down a man in broad daylight as he held his 2-year-old granddaughter's hand, opening fire on LAPD officers with an assault rifle and killing a Los Angeles County...

A 3-acre brush fire that burned in Elysian Park late Saturday evening was set, authorities said. The blaze broke out shortly before 11:30 p.m. and was put out in about an hour by 103 firefighters and a water-dropping helicopter, said Brian Humphrey, a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman. He said a fire investigator flying over the burn area on Sunday "determined it to be an intentionally set blaze." -- Robert J. Lopez

Firefighters quickly knocked down a small brush fire in Elysian Park near Dodger Stadium today, authorities said. The fire broke out about noon near the Los Angeles Police Academy and burned about five acres of medium to light brush, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said. -- Corina Knoll

State Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) announced Friday that he is opposed to building a football arena next to Dodger Stadium in Elysian Park and will take whatever legislative means necessary to make sure it doesn't happen. "One stadium is enough," said Polanco, flanked by about 50 residents who have been fighting Dodger owner Peter O'Malley's wishes to build a second athletic arena in Elysian Park.

State Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) announced Friday that he is opposed to building a football arena next to Dodger Stadium in Elysian Park and will take whatever legislative means necessary to make sure it doesn't happen. "One stadium is enough," said Polanco, flanked by about 50 residents who have been fighting Dodger owner Peter O'Malley's wishes to build a second athletic arena in Elysian Park.

Fifty-seven years after the first games were played in Williamsport, Pa., Little League Baseball has finally officially made it to South-Central Los Angeles. On Saturday at 10 a.m., the Conrad N. Hilton Little League Field at Martin Luther King Jr. Park will be dedicated, the first phase of a plan to build five Little League facilities in underprivileged areas, said Tom Boyle, former director of Little League's western region.

Hundreds of residents who live in the neighborhoods surrounding Dodger Stadium packed a public meeting Wednesday night to voice their opposition to the possibility of a football stadium on Dodgers property. The meeting, held by City Council members Jackie Goldberg and Mike Hernandez, was the third in a series discussing the potential impact of a second athletic arena in the Elysian Park area. All but a small number of those who attended appeared to be opposed to a stadium.

Neighbors of the Los Angeles Police Academy in Westchester turned out in surprising numbers last week for the new training center's formal inauguration. Several thousand visitors on Saturday took tours of the 18,000-square-foot academy, where police officials hope to train more than 1,000 recruits a year. "The more cops around, the better," said Westchester resident Jerry Kobs, shortly before touring the academy. Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and police Chief Willie L.