Category: Los Angeles

Two men are dead and two suspects are on the loose after gunfire erupted at a smoke shop in the Vermont Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles overnight. Officers responded to an assault with a deadly weapon call in the 8600 block of South Figueroa Street shortly before 10 p.m. Two victims, a 39-year-old man and a man in his 20s, were found inside the smoke shop with multiple gunshot wounds, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson confirmed. Police investigate a deadly shooting at a smoke shop in Los Angeles on Aug. 21, 2024. (RMG News) Both victims, whose identities have not been released, were pronounced dead at the scene. It was unclear if they were customers or employees of the store. Investigators learned that two male suspects, believed to be in their 20s, walked into the Figueroa Mini-Market smoke shop and fired multiple rounds at the victims. The gunmen fled in a vehicle and remain on the loose, police said. No description of the suspects or their vehicle has been released.

A Black female arson investigator is suing the city of Los Angeles for discrimination, retaliation and a “hostile work environment,” and she says the Los Angeles Fire Department did nothing to stop her harassment. Afara Lalaind, who filed her civil complaint Thursday at Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown L.A., also alleges her reputation “has been ruined” and her chance for advancement is gone. She’s seeking damages of more than $25,000, including for loss of earnings and employee benefits and the anxiety and anguish she says she has suffered. Calls and emails to Lalaind’s lawyer and to the Los Angeles city attorney’s office were not immediately returned. Lalaind, a 39-year-old Bay Area native, is a Los Angeles Fire Department arson investigator and one of the first two female board members for the Los Angeles County Stentorians , an association of African Americans in the fire service. Lalaind served as a firefighter-paramedic for six years with the LAFD before requesting to be transferred to Fire Station No. 57 in South Los Angeles in early 2022, according to the lawsuit. She was the only female firefighter at the

It’s no surprise that Southern Californians are seeing their monthly electricity bills surge this summer. As increasing rates have met with increasing temperatures, there have been anecdotal reports that, for some consumers, bills have skyrocketed, even by hundreds of dollars. And Californians are looking for answers. Why costs are rising There are several factors that influence electricity prices across the United States, including the cost to build, finance, maintain and operate power plants and the electric grid, as well as weather conditions and state regulations, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In California, the driving force behind rate hikes is utilities recovering the cost of wildfire mitigation, transmission and distribution upgrades and rooftop solar incentives, according to a recent quarterly report by the California Public Utilities Commission’s Public Advocates Office. Over the last 10 years, rates at California’s three big utility companies have risen as much as 110%, according to the report. Layered on top of those climbing rates is an increase in energy use by customers amid excessive heat. And that’s the primary reason behind larger bills, said Gabriela Ornelas, spokesperson for Southern

Communities across California, from Los Angeles to the San Joaquin Valley, have fought for more than a decade to stop oil companies from drilling in their neighborhoods and spewing health-damaging pollution into the air. The passage of a landmark state law in 2022 to ban new drilling within 3,200 feet of homes, schools, child care centers and hospitals and establish new health protections for existing wells seemed to be the victory they sought. They never imagined it might take nearly another decade for it to take full effect. Yet that’s exactly what Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office has proposed in the closing days of this year’s legislative session. The law was already delayed a year and a half when the oil industry filed a referendum against the law and then withdrew it from the November ballot . Now the administration wants to extend various oil industry compliance deadlines in the law. As written, the law gives operators of wells near homes and schools until the end of this year to submit leak detection and response plans to state regulators, and until the end of 2026 to

The high school football season begins this week. A look at top storylines and other issues to follow: Can Corona Centennial end the Mater Dei/St. John Bosco domination in Division 1 football? Every season since 2016, either Mater Dei or St. John Bosco has won the Southern Section Division 1 championship. Centennial won the title in 2015 and has the best chance to end the private-school domination. Centennial came within one play of beating St. John Bosco in the Division 1 semifinals last season. As usual, coach Matt Logan fears no one and the Huskies will play Mater Dei on the road to open the season Thursday night. With quarterback Husan Longstreet, a good offensive line and speed at receiver, Centennial will be scoring lots of points this season. Longstreet has been dealing with foot injury for the past month and might not be ready for the opener. Will Mission Viejo have enough depth on the offensive and defensive lines to threaten the elite teams? When it comes to skill-position players, Mission Viejo doesn’t have to take a back seat to anyone. Quarterbacks Luke Fahey

August 21, 2024 / 7:49 AM EDT / AFP Blinken wraps trip to Middle East Bodies of Israeli hostages found as Blinken ends trip to Middle East 04:39 A young Israeli woman who became emblematic of the hostages seized by Hamas on October 7 said Wednesday she thought every night in captivity could be her last. “Every night I was falling asleep and thinking, ‘This may be the last night of my life,'” Noa Argamani said in Japan on a visit with her father. “And until the moment I was (rescued) … I just did not believe that I’m still surviving,” the 26-year-old said as she met with senior diplomats from G7 countries in Tokyo. “And in this moment that I’m still sitting with you, it’s a miracle that I’m here.” Israeli Noa Argamani, who was abducted with others from the Nova music festival during Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered war, attends a meeting with G7 embassy representatives during a visit to Tokyo on August 21, 2024. Argamani was rescued along with three others in early June after special forces fought

UPDATE: Mayanin Vazquez has been found safe and reunited with her family KTLA learned early Wednesday. No further details about Vazquez’s return were provided.  The family has asked for privacy as they focus on reuniting and moving forward. ORIGINAL STORY: Loved ones are distraught after a 16-year-old girl never came home from school and has not been heard from since. On Aug. 12, Mayanin Vazquez and her siblings began their day by walking to South East High School in South Gate. However, along the way, Vazquez separated from the group and missed her first day of class. The last known image of Vazquez was captured outside a Smart & Final grocery store on the 9800 block of Laurel Street in Watts. The girl was seen walking with a mystery man and his arm was seen wrapped around her shoulders. Family members do not know the man and are struggling to find answers in their search for Vazquez. “I’m torn up,” said Samuel Maldonado, the girl’s father. “I don’t know how I’m standing.” Mayanin Vazquez, 16, is seen in a family photo. Mayanin Vazquez, 16, is

THURSDAY CITY SECTION Nonleague Bell at Angelou, 7 p.m.Belmont at Torres, 4:30 p.m.Chatsworth at Arleta, 3:30 p.m.Crenshaw at Gardena, 7 p.m.Granada Hills at Banning, 7 p.m.Hawkins at Rivera, 7 p.m.Huntington Park at Westchester, 7:30 p.m.Legacy at Lincoln, 7 p.m.Los Angeles at Grant, 7 p.m.Manual Arts at Hamilton, 7:30 p.m.Mendez at Maywood CES, 7 p.m.North Hollywood at Canoga Park, 7 p.m.Palisades at Roosevelt, 7 p.m.San Fernando at Chavez 7 p.m.San Pedro at Kennedy, 7:30 p.m.Santee at Roybal, 7:30 p.m.Sotomayor at Van Nuys, 7 p.m.Sylmar at Marshall, 7 p.m.Taft at Monroe, 7 p.m.University at Fremont, 7:30 p.m.Verdugo Hills at Reseda, 7 p.m.Washington at Panorama, 7:30 p.m.West Adams at Jefferson, 6 p.m. SOUTHERN SECTION Nonleague Azusa vs. Ganesha at Citrus College, 7 p.m.Canyon Springs at Twentynine Palms, 7 p.m.Capistrano Valley Christian at Irvine University, 7 p.m.Citrus Hill at Rubidoux, 7:30 p.m.Citrus Valley at Etiwanda, 7 p.m.Colony at El Modena, 7 p.m.Compton at Compton Centennial, 6 p.m.Corona del Mar vs. Cypress at Western, 7 p.m.Esperanza vs. Fountain Valley at Yorba Linda, 7 p.m.Golden Valley at Antelope Valley, 7 p.m.Granite Hills at Carter, 7:30 p.m.Hemet at Indio, 7 p.m.Heritage at

A look at this week’s top high school football games: THURSDAY Corona Centennial vs. Mater Dei at Santa Ana Stadium, 7 p.m. It’s No. 1 Mater Dei vs. No. 2 Corona Centennial to start the high school football season. Former Long Beach Poly coach Raul Lara takes over the Monarchs program. He’s kept many of last season’s assistant coaches. There’s a new quarterback in Chaparral transfer Dash Beierly. Mater Dei’s strength rests with linebackers Nasir Wyatt and Abduall Sanders Jr. Centennial has the best returning quarterback in Southern California in Husan Longstreet, but he has been slowed by a foot injury, so junior Dominick Catalano could get the call. The big question for the Huskies is the secondary and new running backs. The pick: Mater Dei. FRIDAY Orange Lutheran at Gardena Serra, 7 p.m. These two top-10 teams have veteran quarterbacks, veteran linemen and talented players up and down their lineups. Orange Lutheran quarterback TJ Lateef is finally healthy and will be protected by an elite offensive line. Serra quarterback Jimmy Butler has so many weapons available at receiver that defenses won’t know who to

There’s no such thing as a sure thing in awards season — but HBO’s “Angels in America,” which swept the 56th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sept. 19, 2004, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, sure came close. The miniseries came with every pedigree possible: Tony Kushner writing the script based on his Tony-winning play; director/executive producer Mike Nichols; and stars Meryl Streep, Al Pacino, Mary-Louise Parker and Jeffrey Wright — all of whom won that evening. “Angels” was the most-watched made-for-cable series in 2003, and it gave dramatic voice to the AIDS epidemic in a way no other TV project had before. An ‘Angelic’ evening And so, “Angels” had an angelic evening at the Emmys, beating the record “Roots” had held since 1977 for the most Emmys given to a miniseries in a single year (11 awards from 21 nominations). It became the first program to sweep every major category in which it was eligible, and became only the second series to that point to win all four main acting miniseries categories. Today, there is no longer simply a miniseries category; over the decades

They can’t afford to keep sending Walker Buehler to the mound. They can’t afford not to either. “Honestly,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “we don’t have another alternative right now.” The Dodgers are in a prison of their own making, their harebrained plan to turn their rotation into a nine-figure medical experiment backfiring to such a degree that it has forced them to depend on a pitcher attempting a comeback of historic proportions. Nathan Eovaldi of the Texas Rangers and Jameson Taillon of the Chicago Cubs are the only starting pitchers known to undergo second Tommy John surgeries and return to their previous performance levels. Buehler’s return from a similar procedure has taken a more conventional form, with the Dodgers’ former No. 1 starter posting a 6.09 earned-run average in 10 starts. His most recent start looked like more of the same, as he pitched four laborious innings in a 6-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners. Against the team with baseball’s lowest batting average and highest strikeout rate, Buehler was charged with three runs and seven hits. He struck out only one batter, rookie infielder

A local cave guide looks up at a giant doline in the roof of Hang Son Doong cave in Vietnam. (Hoang Trung / BBCA / BBC studios ) “Planet Earth III” captures the beauty of nature with visually poetic novellas that can take the behind-the-scenes artisans months to procure. In “Extremes,” narrated by David Attenborough, we are swept away to the rarest places in the world to watch snow leopards play in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, a pack of Arctic wolves hunt giant muskox and hibernating snow frogs mate in the French Alps. And blind cave fish living in what is considered the largest cave in the world, Hang Son Doong, in Vietnam. It took the crew two days of trekking through the jungle, carrying provisions and gear, to reach the enormous wonder. Once inside, headlamps were worn and multiple drones aided in lighting the cave to unearth the never-seen-before footage. “We were there for just under eight weeks, and a place like Hang Son Doong lets us know that there’s so much left in the world to discover,” says cinematographer Luke Nelson. More

Updated on: August 21, 2024 / 7:02 AM EDT / CBS/AP 2 Sinaloa cartel leaders arrested in Texas 2 Sinaloa cartel leaders, including son of “El Chapo,” arrested in Texas 02:02 The murders of at least 10 people in the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa appear to be linked to infighting in the dominant drug smuggling cartel there, confirming fears of repercussions from the July 25 detention of two top cartel leaders. Last month, Joaquín Guzmán López , a capo from one faction of the Sinaloa cartel – the Chapitos or “Little Chapos,” the sons of imprisoned cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán – turned himself in to U.S. authorities. However, he allegedly abducted the leader of the rival faction, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada , forcing him on to the same flight to El Paso and turning him in. Mexican authorities are caught in the middle of the coming storm: they weren’t involved in the July 25 capture, but they are unwilling to use the opportunity to crack down on the Sinaloa cartel. The cartel is splintering, and what’s at stake is who will take

The Democratic National Convention continues on Wednesday as Day 3 gets underway in Chicago, with a focus on how the party’s new ticket plans to fight for Americans’ freedoms. The second day of the convention featured an exuberant presentation of support for the Harris-Walz ticket by the assembled delegates. State by state, delegations rallied around Vice President Kamala Harris’ nomination for president Tuesday in a ceremonial roll call vote, with prominent Democrats — and celebrities like rapper Lil Jon and actor Eva Longoria — representing their states.  Former President Barack Obama  headlined the second night of the convention, delivering a spirited address about his hope for the future and an earnest tribute to his former vice president, Mr. Biden, while issuing stark warnings about Donald Trump returning to the White House. The night also included speeches from former first lady  Michelle Obama  and second gentleman Doug Emhoff , among others. And the most anticipated appearances — from Harris and her running mate — are still ahead.  Former President Barack Obama arrives to speak next to former first lady Michelle Obama during the Democratic National Convention

August 21, 2024 / 6:59 AM EDT / CBS/AFP 8/20: CBS Evening News 8/20: CBS Evening News 19:19 Nairobi — Five Kenyan police officers appeared in court Wednesday, suspected of helping a man accused of murdering and dismembering dozens of women escape from a Nairobi jail cell. Police launched a manhunt Tuesday after alleged serial killer Collins Jumaisi and 12 Eritreans broke out of a police station in an upmarket area of the Kenyan capital. Jumaisi, 33, was described by police as a “psychopathic serial killer with no respect for human life” when he arrested last month after the horrific discovery of a number of mutilated bodies in a rubbish dump in a slum area of the Kenyan capital. He and the other detainees appeared to have escaped by cutting through a wire mesh roof at the station. “Our preliminary investigations indicate that the escape was aided by insiders,” acting national police chief Gilbert Masengeli said Tuesday. A photo released on July 15, 2024 by the Kenyan National Police shows 33-year-old Collins Jumaisi Khalusha, identified as the prime suspect in the killings of 42 women

Bill Harris, a postal worker and Marxist whose face would soon be on FBI Wanted posters from coast to coast, opened his local newspaper in late 1973 and became intrigued by an item from high society. Patricia Hearst, the 19-year-old heiress of a storied journalism empire, was engaged to be married. The article identified her as an art history student at UC Berkeley. Harris sensed an opportunity. He walked onto campus and found a ledger book in which Hearst had written her address. In this series, Christopher Goffard revisits old crimes in Los Angeles and beyond, from the famous to the forgotten, the consequential to the obscure, diving into archives and the memories of those who were there. “Who would have thunk it would be so simple? It was a fluke,” Harris, now 79, told The Times in a recent interview. “I looked in the book and thought, ‘I wonder.’” The Symbionese Liberation Army — the tiny cadre of Bay Area radicals that Harris belonged to — learned that Hearst lived without security at that address near campus. Harris and two confederates armed themselves and

South Hope Street is quiet on a Sunday morning. Five blocks over in Skid Row, police are investigating a shooting, but in the Financial District, calm prevails. Parking lots are nearly empty. Guests at the Sheraton are checking out early. The unhoused have mostly left their sidewalk beds, and Jeffrey Taylor and Deborah Johnson are preparing for church. With just a half hour before service, the husband-and-wife team fall into familiar routines: scanning the sidewalk and garden for wrappers, food scraps, clothing and needles, spraying deodorizer near the front door and hauling out the welcome sign, whose bottom line reads: … in this place will I give peace. The Third Church of Christ, Scientist of Los Angeles. Hope is a rare commodity on the struggling and hardened streets of downtown Los Angeles, and since 1910, Third Church of Christ, Scientist has extended this promise to passersby without interruption. Taylor and Johnson are not about to jeopardize that run. In a religion with no priests, they are the first and second readers, who conduct the weekly worship. A few minutes before noon — with two congregants

Yes, Mustard saw the viral video of the Amazon delivery driver dancing in the street to Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.” And yes, he saw the kid in the blue dress shirt wilding out to the song in a clip from a recent Kamala Harris campaign rally. But the moment that really hit home for the hip-hop producer, whose work on “Not Like Us” helped Lamar land the knockout blow in his historic rap battle with Drake, was watching his 9-year-old daughter perform a routine to the track in a group recital at dance camp the other day. “She was right in the front, and I’m like, ‘You guys are dancing to a diss song about Drake — at school,’” he recalls with a laugh. “That was the best s— ever.” A festive, if savage, takedown set to a deviously catchy horn lick, “Not Like Us” has been virtually impossible to avoid since it dropped late on a Saturday afternoon in May — if you heard it that evening, you know exactly where you were — and vaulted immediately to the top of Billboard’s Hot

Base camp. Thursday, 9:30 a.m. Humberto Leon slinks around set wearing a faded T-shirt that says “Daddy” in bubble letters. He got it at some gay bar a while ago, and it works on multiple levels, he jokes. He is an actual father of 10-year-old twin girls. And he is also the kind of surrogate father figure of this set, of Katseye as a whole. Leon, with his Martine Rose loafers and True Religion Jeans, seems to be constantly scanning the room, walking around with his arms crossing his chest and his head slightly cocked. He snakes around the row of chairs where the girls are getting their hair and makeup done and makes slight adjustments. He is in the middle of encouraging Daniela Avanzini, a Cuban American member of Katseye, to embrace her naturally curly hair, while ensuring that her makeup brings out the golden undertones of her skin. “We’ve just been playing around because they all get bored of [their hairstyles], but this is my go-to for you,” Leon tells her in a shepherding tone. Humberto Leon wears all vintage from James Veloria

For nearly a year after she seemingly vanished from a Sacramento-area hospital, Jessie Peterson’s family mounted a frantic search — distributing posters of her and calling any hospital and police department they could think of, but to no avail. But the 31-year-old wasn’t missing. She had never left the hospital alive. In a lawsuit filed this month, the Peterson family alleges that staff at Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael never notified them that Jessie had died. Instead, their attorney told The Times, they were led to believe she had checked out of the hospital — against medical advice — in April 2023. “You don’t just get to make these kinds of mistakes and think it’s OK,” attorney Marc R. Greenberg said. A spokesperson for Mercy San Juan, which is operated by Dignity Health and owned by CommonSpirit Health, declined to comment on the lawsuit. “We extend our deepest sympathies to the family during this difficult time,” a spokesperson wrote in an email. “We are unable to comment on pending litigation.” The lawsuit seeks $25 million in damages, including punitive damages for “outrageous and

August 21, 2024 / 6:05 AM EDT / CBS/AP Ukraine claims advance into Russia Ukraine claims capture of 92 settlements in Russia’s Kursk region 03:35 Moscow — Moscow came under one of the largest attacks yet by Ukrainian drones since the start of fighting in 2022, Russian authorities reported Wednesday, saying they destroyed all of those headed toward the capital. Russia downed 45 Ukrainian drones overnight, the Ministry of Defense said. It said 11 were destroyed over the Moscow region, 23 over the Bryansk region, six over Belgorod, three over Kaluga and two over Kursk, where Ukrainian forces have mounted an unprecedented incursion in recent weeks. “This was one of the biggest attempts of all time to attack Moscow using drones,” Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said on his Telegram channel. He said strong defenses around the capital made it possible to shoot down all the drones before they could hit their intended targets. Some Russian social media channels shared videos of drones apparently being destroyed by air defense systems, which then set off car alarms.  A Ukrainian soldier of the 33rd assault battalion watches the