Can you hear me now? High cost of city phones

Even as Los Angeles tries to trim its expenses amid a budget crisis, new data show that the city spends $3.6million a year on cell phones - up 26percent from five years ago. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

And costs have tripled and quadrupled in some departments as city workers have switched to more expensive PDAs and BlackBerrys to stay connected.

But with Los Angeles facing a $400million to $500million deficit next year, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has pushed city managers to cut cell-phone expenditures.