Rush Hour

Why is rush hour called rush hour when no one appears to be moving? BUDDY FISHMAN Age 8 Tarzana

Reclusive actor-comedian Chris Tucker, who is so selective about his movie roles that he's only appeared in four movies in the last 15 years, has been tapped to host this year's BET Awards. Tucker, who is best known as Jackie Chan's crime-fighting partner in the three successful "Rush Hour" movies, will host the festivities at L.A.'s Nokia Theatre on June 30. The awards show will be part of the first ever "BET Experience at L.A. LIVE!" -- a three-day festival of concerts, screenings and other events.

Reclusive actor-comedian Chris Tucker, who is so selective about his movie roles that he's only appeared in four movies in the last 15 years, has been tapped to host this year's BET Awards. Tucker, who is best known as Jackie Chan's crime-fighting partner in the three successful "Rush Hour" movies, will host the festivities at L.A.'s Nokia Theatre on June 30. The awards show will be part of the first ever "BET Experience at L.A. LIVE!" -- a three-day festival of concerts, screenings and other events.

The first Pacific storm of the season brought scattered showers and thunderstorms across the region Thursday, snarling traffic in urban areas and triggering flash floods and debris flows in several parts of Los Angeles County. National Weather Service officials said the heaviest rain hit much of the eastern Los Angeles area and the San Gabriel Valley, where it created the potential for flash flooding as well as mudslides. One to two inches of rain were recorded in those areas late Thursday afternoon, authorities said, and more showers were predicted through the evening, increasing the risk.

Almost 125 years after Chief Red Cloud refused to sign a treaty with the federal government to allow a road to pass through Oglala Sioux territory, the Pine Ridge Reservation will get its first traffic signal. "The Pine Ridge reservation will remain the land of Chief Red Cloud, but it will have a stoplight," Mayor G. Wayne Tapio said Wednesday. The light will be placed in the center of Pine Ridge at Highways 407 and 18.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is scheduled to issue an executive directive today that bans road construction by city departments during rush hour, according to the mayor's office. He will also announce that he is increasing funding for street repaving. The directive is based on legislation by Councilwoman Wendy Greuel that is working its way through the City Council. Rush hour is considered from 6 to 9 a.m. and 3:30 to 7 p.m.

A portion of Coast Highway was closed during the Thursday morning rush hour after a minor landslide of rocks and mud, officials said. The road was closed about 7:45 a.m. south of Palisades Drive as work crews cleared debris, rocks and mud. The southbound lanes were reopened about 1 p.m. and northbound lanes were reopened later. Recent rains probably contributed to the landslide, officials said.

Auto traffic now moves through central London at the not-so-breakneck speed of 11.5 m.p.h. in the morning rush hour, the Department of Transport said. And that's the good news. The bad news is that evening rush-hour traffic is even slower, averaging 11 m.p.h., the department said this week. Both figures are 1 m.p.h. slower than two years ago and 2 m.p.h. slower than a decade ago. And the department's report held out little hope for improvement.

A heavily traveled bridge across Lake Washington, connecting Seattle and its eastern suburbs, was closed during evening rush hour after three men in a pickup yelled to a city bus driver that there was a bomb aboard. The bus stopped near the east end of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge and let the passengers off. Then the bridge was closed while a bomb squad inspected the bus. No explosives were found. The bridge reopened about three hours later.

A tanker truck carrying 2,100 gallons of gasoline overturned on the El Segundo Boulevard overcrossing of the Harbor Freeway, closing the freeway at the start of the morning rush hour Wednesday. Hazardous-materials workers had to drill into the tanker to siphon the gasoline to another tanker, and the freeway was closed for 46 minutes as a precaution. No one was injured in the 6 a.m. accident, and a California Highway Patrol spokesman said it was uncertain what caused it.

As the sun set and rush hour began to fade on the 405 Freeway on Friday evening, crews gradually shut down ramps and closed lanes of traffic to make room for a small army of construction workers tasked with knocking down the remaining half of the Mulholland Drive bridge this weekend. The start of Carmageddon II - a 10-mile closure on the nation's busiest freeway - appeared to be going without a hitch, officials reported early in the evening. The freeway closure was given the ignominious designation because a similar freeway shutdown a year ago had officials fearing traffic chaos.

Los Angeles Times NEW YORK - Each morning, Jeffrey Johnson would put on a suit, leave his Manhattan apartment, and walk to a nearby McDonald's to pick up breakfast. Sometimes he would greet a neighbor and pet her dog along the way. Friday seemed no different to those familiar with Johnson's ritual, but this time, he did not return to his apartment with breakfast in a bag. Instead, he headed to Midtown Manhattan, to his former employer's shop near the foot of the Empire State Building, and shot an ex-colleague repeatedly in the head, police said.

On a steep slope, above a retaining wall with scrawled warnings ("Stay off, Stay out, Private Property"), Colin Rich begins to unpack black bags full of cameras and gear. The warnings confirm that this is where he wants to be. The secluded Echo Park hillside offers a sweeping view of downtown Los Angeles. Over the next three hours, he will take a sequence of nearly 1,000 images, studying the scene and adjusting his camera as the sun falls and the city lights emerge. PHOTOS: Los Angeles, one frame at a time Rich, a cinematographer and time-lapse filmmaker, has spent many nights in the last year photographing the city from out-of-the-way locations such as this.

At least 30 Iraqi police officers and civilians were killed and dozens injured Thursday morning in a series of rush-hour car bombings, explosions and attacks by gunmen that rocked Baghdad. The hour-plus string of violence, largely aimed at government security officers, began when gunmen took over a security checkpoint near the Sarafiya Bridge in Baghdad's center, killing six police officers and injuring three. Eight additional attacks occurred across the city, including a car bombing in the Shiite Muslim neighborhood of Karada, which killed nine civilians and injured 26. The explosion damaged cars and shops, and shook buildings blocks away.

Four bomb blasts rocked Karbala on Sunday, killing at least 10 people less than two weeks after 22 pilgrims from the Shiite holy city were shot to death in a bus hijacking in remote western Iraq. The explosions took place in an area of Karbala close to an Iraqi government building where ID cards are issued. The attacks, in which at least 95 people were injured, occurred during rush hour. Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, a Shiite Muslim, called the bombings "gruesome" and promised a thorough investigation.

Authorities say they have obtained surveillance video footage that might identify the man who fatally stabbed a fellow passenger on the Metro Red Line train on Friday evening, the first slaying to occur on the Los Angeles subway since it began operation in 1993. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which patrols the area's public transit system, also appealed to the public Saturday for information on the killer, who bolted from the train at the Hollywood and Vine station about 7:30 p.m. The attack, which played out before a handful of witnesses, including a Los Angeles Times journalist, sent passengers scurrying to the rear of the rolling subway car as the victim, Jesse Garay, 59, of North Hollywood, collapsed, his blood pooling on the floor.

A tractor-trailer rig overturned on the Santa Ana Freeway during rush hour Tuesday evening, spilling its load of 40 barrels of cooking grease into a ditch, the California Highway Patrol said. No injuries were reported in the accident, which occurred at 4:30 p.m. south of Magnolia Avenue. California Department of Transportation workers mopped up the mess from the leaking 55-gallon drums, which pooled into a ditch on the side of the freeway, CHP officials said.

Drivers who park illegally and block lanes during rush hour -- and you know who you are -- prepare to dig deeper in your pockets to pay the resulting fine. And to cover the service charge for the tow truck that will haul the offending vehicle away. To help ease traffic clogs during rush hour, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed an ordinance Thursday to create 23 "anti-gridlock zones" in the San Fernando Valley and metropolitan Los Angeles.

In a surprise move, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has chosen Brett Ratner, director of such popcorn films as "Rush Hour" and "X-Men: The Last Stand," to produce the 2012 Oscar telecast along with veteran producer Don Mischer, academy President Tom Sherak announced Thursday. The 42-year-old Ratner's youthful movies often do well at the box office but are panned by critics. He produced the R-rated summer comedy "Horrible Bosses" and will see his next directorial effort, the Ben Stiller film "Tower Heist," hit theaters in November.

Officials broke ground on what will be Los Angeles County's first freeway toll lanes, taking a gamble that drivers will be willing to pay significant sums to avoid rush-hour traffic. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other officials on Wednesday hailed the project as a major improvement to L.A.'s clogged freeway system. Officials plan to convert a total of 25 miles of existing carpool lanes on the 10 and 110 freeways into high-occupancy toll lanes. Carpools and buses will be able to use the lanes for free, while solo drivers will pay up to $1.40 a mile during peak rush-hour traffic.