Top 5 Westside Stories: Attempted Kidnapping, West Nile Virus, Transit Tax

Close out your weekend with a recap of the newsiest and most popular Patch articles from last week. Here are the five stories that topped the headlines on Westside Patch sites:

• A woman in Santa Monica returned to her car after a Sunday shopping trip and, as she tried to start the car, . She escaped from the car and a witness helped police arrest the suspect.

• : As a Los Angeles County voter, will you vote to extend the half-cent sales tax in order to fund transporation projects around the region? More than 150 Patch readers . All this measure needs is Gov. Jerry Brown's signature and it will be on the November ballot.

• After a weeklong search, the body of a in Palos Verdes was found. was a bookkeeper who loved spending time in the water, her sister-in-law said.

• The primary election for the Los Angeles mayor and city council is still six months away, but here are a few updates on the race. Despite speculation he would enter the race, L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky announced this week . Also, in the 11th Council District, a Westchester man announced he will . Odysseus Bostick is a former science teacher and he .

• have been reported this summer in Los Angeles, making it one of the largest outbreaks since the mosquito-borne illness first appeared in North America in 1999, according to the CDC. Dead birds infected with the virus have been found in , , and this summer.

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