Joe Mozingo

Robert Durst, real estate scion convicted of murder, dies

January 10, 2022 at 7:16 p.m.

Real estate scion Robert Durst had dodged justice for nearly four decades.Long considered the lone suspect in the disappearance of his first wife, Kathleen McCormack, in New York in 1982,...

Huntington Beach, CA - October 05: An aerial view of environmental oil spill cleanup crews picking up oil chucks off the beach from a major oil spill at Huntington Dog Beach in Huntington Beach Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. Environmental cleanup crews are spreading out across Huntington Beach and Newport Beach to cleanup the damage from a major oil spill off the Orange County coast that left crude spoiling beaches, killing fish and birds and threatening local wetlands. The oil slick is believed to have originated from a pipeline leak, pouring 126,000 gallons into the coastal waters and seeping into the Talbert Marsh as lifeguards deployed floating barriers known as booms to try to stop further incursion, said Jennifer Carey, Huntington Beach city spokesperson. At sunrise Sunday, oil was on the sand in some parts of Huntington Beach with slicks visible in the ocean as well. "We classify this as a major spill, and it is a high priority to us to mitigate any environmental concerns," Carey said. "It's all hands on deck." (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Oil sheen in waters near massive Huntington Beach spill sends authorities scrambling

November 22, 2021 at 6:58 a.m.

Reports of an oil sheen Saturday in the water off Huntington Beach sent authorities scrambling to determine if another spill was threatening the Orange County coast, but by nightfall they...

Corona del Mar, CA - October 06: As the oil spill spreads across Orange County, a team of biologists from the University of California Santa Cruz and Tenera Consulting firm assess the overall biological habitat by counting and categorizing biodiversity of the Little Corona del Mar tide pools, part of the Crystal Cove State Marine Conservation Area Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021 in Newport Beach, CA. Environmental cleanup crews are spreading out across Orange County to cleanup the damage from a major oil spill off the Orange County coast that left crude spoiling beaches, killing fish and birds and threatening local wetlands. The oil slick is believed to have originated from a pipeline leak, pouring 126,000 gallons into the coastal waters. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Oil spill puts spotlight on the magic and fragility of California’s coast

October 7, 2021 at 10:50 p.m.

The hills glowed as the sun fell. The light glinted off the kelp beds, roused the shorebirds and turned the waves translucent green before they crashed and chased the sandpipers...

A major oil spill off the Orange County coast that left crude spoiling beaches, killing fish and birds and threatening local wetlands.

Oil from massive Orange County spill expected to wash onshore for several days

October 4, 2021 at 4:10 p.m.

Crews raced to contain a major oil spill off the Orange County coast as the leading edge of a miles-wide slick rolled onshore at Huntington Beach, leaving striations of crude...

A firefighter battles the Caldor Fire along Highway 89, Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021, near South Lake Tahoe, Calif. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

An epic battle to save South Lake Tahoe as Caldor fire rages toward Nevada

September 1, 2021 at 1:00 p.m.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Fueled by heavy overnight winds, the massive Caldor fire has skirted a tall granite ridge that many Lake Tahoe residents hoped would shield them from harm and,...

Photographer Carlos Gauna captured this image of a shark off the California coast on March 28, 2021.

Drones show California’s great white sharks are closer – and more common – than you think

May 4, 2021 at 5:05 p.m.

Carlos Gauna surveys the wind-blown waves off a popular Santa Barbara County beach. It is a cold, gray afternoon and only a few people are in the water: a father...

Drones show California’s great white sharks are closer – and more common – than you think

May 4, 2021 at 3:54 p.m.

Carlos Gauna surveys the wind-blown waves off a popular Santa Barbara County beach. It is a cold, gray afternoon and only a few people are in the water: a father...

Boats are shrouded in smoke and ash at Loafer Point on Lake Oroville in the aftermath of the Bear fire on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020 in Oroville.

California’s staggering fire toll: A record 3 million acres, and it’s still early

September 11, 2020 at 1:26 p.m.

OROVILLE, Calif. — Even before the peak of fire season, a record 3 million acres have burned across California this year, with so many blazes simultaneously whipping through dry wilderness that...

Monster firestorm brings death and devastation back to Butte County as California burns

September 10, 2020 at 6:56 p.m.

SACRAMENTO — Less than two years after the most destructive fire in California history tore through Paradise, the same region was under siege from a second monster firestorm that quickly grew to...

BEN LOMOND, CA - AUGUST 21: Firefighters work to contain a blaze during the CZU August Lightning Complex Fires on Friday, Aug. 21, 2020 in Ben Lomond, CA. The University of California at Santa Cruz campus and nearby towns have been under evacuation orders due to fires in the region. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Northern California braces as huge wildfires rage, more lightning is forecast

August 24, 2020 at 2:35 p.m.

SAN FRANCISCO — Two of the three largest fires in California history, burning simultaneously in the Santa Cruz Mountains and the wine country north of the San Francisco Bay, are expected to...

A home burns as the CZU August Lightning Complex Fire es through on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020, in Bonny Doon, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

It’s deja vu in the Bay Area as fires again force evacuations and cloud the skies

August 21, 2020 at 1:26 p.m.

HEALDSBURG, Calif. — Fires across California continued to expand Thursday, most critically in the North Bay and Santa Cruz mountains, propelled by erratic winds near the coast and hampered by resources stretched...

A woman gestures as medical personnel help load engers from the Grand Princess cruise ship onto airplanes at Oakland International Airport in Oakland, California on March 10, 2020. - The first engers were taken ashore from a coronavirus-hit cruise ship that docked at California's port of Oakland on March 9, 2020, with the infected "being dealt with in proper isolation," said US Vice President Mike Pence. The Grand Princess arrived in the San Francisco Bay after days stranded at sea with 21 confirmed coronavirus infections among more than 3,500 engers and crew. (Photo by Josh Edelson / AFP) (Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)

L.A. County reports new community-spread coronavirus cases as state total hits 198

March 12, 2020 at 8:43 p.m.

California officials are calling for the cancellation of all gatherings with 250 or more people to slow the spread of the coronavirus, a decision that came hours after a new...

A California National Guard helicopter hovers over the Grand Princess cruise ship off the coast of California on Thursday.

Grand Princess arrives in Oakland as coronavirus death toll grows, cases spread

March 9, 2020 at 1:30 p.m.

As the Grand Princess cruise ship arrived at the Port of Oakland on Monday, transporting thousands of engers who were potentially exposed to the coronavirus to quarantine zones, the virus...

BEATTY, NV-FEBRUARY 19, 2020: A motorist travels along a desolate stretch of State Route 374 near Beatty, Nevada. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

Nevada is a land of diversity and reinvention. Will it reshape the presidential race?

February 22, 2020 at 9:00 p.m.

LAS VEGAS — The road between Las Vegas and Reno traverses some of the emptiest land in the continental United States. Wild burros idle across the asphalt, gutted miner shacks cast scant...

Why were Carpinteria school officials pictured smiling in a marijuana field? Money

November 10, 2019 at 4:28 p.m.

CARPINTERIA, Calif. — In this seaside town, readers of the local paper recently came upon a curious photo: the school district superintendent and four s standing and smiling in a field...

CHATSWORTH, CA - JULY 27, 2019 — Dianne Lake, 66, the youngest Manson "girl”, visits the site of the former Spahn Movie Ranch, where she lived as a member of the Manson Family for over a year. She did not partake in the Tate-La Bianca killings and went on to raise a family and work with autistic children in the suburbs, keeping her two teenage years with Charles Manson a secret until recently. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

How Charles Manson cast his spell on homecoming queens, honor students and dropouts

August 11, 2019 at 5:26 p.m.

She was a suburban mother of three, married for 30 years, with a ski boat and a lake house. She sang in the church choir, volunteered at summer Bible camp...

<p>El asfalto agrietado en un estacionamiento en Argus, California. Un terremoto de magnitud 6.4 se desató cerca de Ridgecrest el jueves, y un temblor mucho más grande, de 7.1 de magnitud, le siguió el viernes por la noche. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)</p>

La fuerte alerta sismica en todo el sur de California aumenta la ansiedad y la planificacion

July 8, 2019 at 6:30 p.m.

El combo sísmico que azotó el sur de California días atrás dejó a los residentes particularmente desconcertados al robarles el poco consuelo que normalmente trae un gran terremoto: la sensación...

Southern California on high earthquake alert, bringing anxiety and preparation

July 7, 2019 at 12:00 p.m.

The seismic one-two combo that hit Southern California last week left residents particularly unnerved because it robbed them of the single bit of solace that normally comes with a big...

<p>Las colinas de la famosa región vinícola del condado de Santa Bárbara se han convertido en la improbable capital del mercado legal de marihuana de California. Ahora, los viñedos y las haciendas rurales conviven con las extensas hileras blancas de invernaderos. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)</p>

The world’s largest pot farms, and how Santa Barbara opened the door

June 12, 2019 at 1:05 p.m.

In a sandy draw of the Santa Rita Hills, a cannabis company is planning to erect hoop greenhouses over 147 acres — the size of 130 football fields — to...

Log ride overturns at Riverside amusement park, injuring three

May 26, 2019 at 3:18 a.m.

Three people were injured, one critically, when they were ejected from the log ride Saturday afternoon at Castle Park amusement park in Riverside, fire officials said.Riverside Fire spokesman Bruce Vanderhorst...

Can George Clooney persuade Hollywood to boycott hotels over Brunei’s antigay laws?

April 2, 2019 at 11:00 a.m.

The Beverly Hills Hotel has long been a refuge where Hollywood could both hide and show its true self. Where actors could retreat from scandal, divorce, a botched plastic surgery.Where...

ASPENDELL, CALIF. -- TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2019: Snow blows on the crest of the Sierra Nevada in a view from Hwy. 168 near Aspendell, Calif., on March 12, 2019. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

In Mammoth, the snow is so deep residents must tunnel out. There’s a history to that

March 24, 2019 at 4:11 a.m.

Reporting from Mammoth Lakes, Calif. — By February, the snow made many neighborhoods here feel subterranean.Twenty-foot walls of white, corniced by the wind, leaned over the plowed roads. Residents worked feverishly to...

Southern California Muslims host candlelight vigil for New Zealand shooting victims

March 17, 2019 at 3:19 a.m.

Muslim, Jewish and Christian faith leaders gathered for a candlelight vigil Saturday night in Pasadena to the victims of the mass shootings in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.The...

LOS ANGELES CA OCTOBER 19, 2018 -- Dr. Wanda Austin, USC?s interim president, talks about an ?agreement in principle? to pay $215 million to patients treated by Dr. George Tyndall, the longtime campus gynecologist accused of abusing and sexually harassing scores of young women, Friday October 19, 2018. The proposal would provide at a minimum $2,500 to every student who ever saw Tyndall at the campus health clinic and up to $250,000 to students who alleged they were abused by him. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

How Wanda Austin blazed a trail from public housing to a perch as USC’s acting president

March 4, 2019 at 5:27 p.m.

In the Bronx, Wanda Pompey occupied two worlds: the tenements and public housing projects where she lived and the white schools her mother pushed her to attend.Teachers paid scant attention...

How a popular YouTube activist got shot outside an L.A. synagogue

February 16, 2019 at 4:40 p.m.

In December, Zhoie Perez, a YouTube personality known for testing the limits of the 1st Amendment, stood on a sidewalk outside a church in Northridge filming with her iPhone.When two...

FRESNO, CALIF. -- MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 2017: Construction workers at a 3,700-foot viaduct that is being built to extend over State Route 99 and North and Cedar Avenues in Fresno County. This structure is located near the terminus of the high-speed rail line through Fresno, Calif., on Jan. 30, 2017. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Bullet train went from peak California innovation to the project from hell

February 14, 2019 at 9:56 p.m.

It was billed as the most ambitious public works project since the transcontinental railroad opened up the West.The high-speed rail network would transform California — cleaner air, less congested freeways...

<p>A small plane crashed into a Yorba Linda home on Sunday, killing 5 people, including the pilot.</p>

Burning metal rained from the sky, bringing death and questions in Yorba Linda

February 7, 2019 at 12:00 p.m.

On a blustery Sunday afternoon, a strange wailing caught Susan Bacha’s ear, followed by a thunderous crack. She took the sound to be one of the street’s regular speeding motorcyclists...

MONTECITO, CA â?? JANUARY 10, 2018: The 101 Freeway remains closed as mud and debris clog the roadway at the Olive Mill Road over in Montecito in an aerial view from a California National Guard Blackhawk Helicopter used for hoist rescues of victims of the mud and debris flows in Montecito Wednesday January 10, 2018 after a rainstorm sent mud and debris through Montecito neighborhoods. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Edison sues Santa Barbara County over last year’s deadly mudslides

January 19, 2019 at 9:28 a.m.

Southern California Edison — fighting dozens of legal claims related to the Montecito mudslides that followed the Thomas fire — is putting the blame on Santa Barbara County and Caltrans...

JOSHUA TREE, CA --DECEMBER 29, 2018 --A line of cars streams into Joshua Tree National Park, during the U.S. government shutdown, where cars entered without having to pay the usual $30 fee, in Joshua Tree,CA, Dec 29, 2018. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Visitors stream into Joshua Tree National Park despite federal shutdown

December 31, 2018 at 12:03 a.m.

Reporting from Joshua Tree, Calif. — Visitors from all over the world flowed into Joshua Tree National Park over the holiday weekend despite its facilities being closed by the federal government’s partial...

CAMARILLO, CA - DECEMBER 15, 2015 -
Jon Simpson, works on installation of one of five debris flow barriers engineered in Switzerland under construction on Conejo Mountain where debris threatens the Camarillo Springs development ahead of possible El Nino storms. A major landslide last year red-tagged several homes. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Santa Barbara County takes emergency action to better protect Montecito from mudslides

December 22, 2018 at 11:43 p.m.

Santa Barbara County granted an emergency permit Friday to a private group’s request to install 11 steel ring nets to hold back boulders in canyons above Montecito that led to...

Santa Barbara County knew mudslides were a risk. It did little to stop them

December 20, 2018 at 1:00 p.m.

During severe winter storms, Cold Springs Creek above Montecito turns into a torrent of mud, uprooted trees and shed-size boulders as it drains three square miles of sheer mountain front.The...

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif, addresses of the media and ers waiting for elections results at the Skosh Monahan's Irish Pub in Costa Mesa, Calif., Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Rohrabacher’s exit closes the door on O.C.’s particular brand of hard-right politics

December 10, 2018 at 4:44 p.m.

There was the congressman from Fullerton who read the particulars of “male homosexual sex” into the Congressional Record in an effort to put the brakes on gay rights.There was the...

Gil Cisneros speaks to his ers as results come in for California?s 39th Congressional district race during his watch party at the Casa Bonita Event Center in Fullerton on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. The winner of the race will replace retiring Republican Ed Royce. (Nick Agro / For The Times)

Orange County goes blue, as Democrats complete historic sweep of its seven congressional seats

November 19, 2018 at 1:51 a.m.

Gil Cisneros defeated Republican Young Kim on Saturday in the last of Orange County’s undecided House races, giving Democrats a clean sweep of the state’s six most fiercely fought congressional...

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa, addresses of the media and ers waiting for elections results at the Skosh Monahan's Irish Pub in Costa Mesa, Calif., Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. Rohrabacher's opponent is Democrat Harley Rouda in Orange County's 48th District. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher loses, and the Republicans’ ‘bad year’ may get worse yet

November 11, 2018 at 2:25 a.m.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher has lost the congressional seat he held for 30 years in one of the most conservative stretches of Orange County, a stunning defeat for the GOP as...

TUSTIN, CA - NOVEMBER 6, 2018: Rep. Adam Schiff and Katie Porter wave to the crowd during a rally at her campaign headquarters on November 6, 2018 inTustin, California.(Gina Ferazzi/Los AngelesTimes)

Two GOP-held House seats in California fall to Democrats, Dana Rohrabacher in peril

November 7, 2018 at 10:22 p.m.

Republican Rep. Steve Knight of Palmdale conceded defeat Wednesday in his bid for reelection and preliminary returns showed another GOP congressman, Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa, losing his seat too.Rep....

In Orange County, land of reinvention, even its conservative politics is changing

November 5, 2018 at 1:39 p.m.

In La Palma Park Stadium in Anaheim, a month before the Bay of Pigs invasion, 7,500 students and parents skipped school or work and gathered to learn about communist plans...

Blue wave in Orange County relies on two ex-Republicans turned Democrats

October 24, 2018 at 10:01 a.m.

If you had to conjure a stock Republican congressman in coastal Orange County, he might be Harley Rouda — tall and tanned, a wealthy real estate investor with a square...

Two California Republicans, poles apart on Trump’s immigration stance, have their jobs on the line in midterm vote

October 2, 2018 at 8:13 p.m.

At a recent backyard meet-and-greet, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher pivoted from a campaign pledge that was eliciting silence — “new-generation nuclear energy” — to one sure to rile the Huntington Beach...

COSTA MESA, CALIF. - JUNE 05: Dana Rohrabacher addresses ers at Rohrabacher Campaign Headquarters, on Tuesday, June 5, 2018 in Costa Mesa, Calif. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, facing a tough reelection fight, ridicules sex assault accusation against Kavanaugh

September 22, 2018 at 11:17 p.m.

Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, in a tight race to retain his Orange County seat, ridiculed the decades-old allegation of sexual assault that has thrown the Supreme Court nomination of Brett...

Flames tower above firefighters during the Carr fire near Whiskeytown, California on July 27, 2018. Two firefighters have died and more than 100 homes have burned as wind-whipped flames tore through the region. / AFP PHOTO / JOSH EDELSONJOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images ** OUTS - ELSENT, FPG, CM - OUTS * NM, PH, VA if sourced by CT, LA or MoD **

500 structures lost in Northern California brush fire that kills 2

July 28, 2018 at 5:51 a.m.

Reporting from Redding — The fire came out of the dry pines of the Trinity Mountains with such intense heat that it created its own wind pattern.Evacuating his neighbors in the River...

A wild chase, a gun battle, then tragedy as officer’s bullet kills Trader Joe’s employee

July 26, 2018 at 4:29 p.m.

Two Los Angeles police officers tore through traffic on Rowena Avenue on Saturday afternoon in a high-speed pursuit of an attempted murder suspect driving a Toyota Camry.Suddenly, the back window...

1912: Linotype machines in the Los Angeles Times Composing Room located on fourth floor of new building dedicated on Dec. 4, 1912.

A brief history of the Los Angeles Times

June 17, 2018 at 8:11 p.m.

Here are some key moments in the history of the Los Angeles Times.Feb. 4, 1881The Mirror Printing Office and Book Bindery begins publishing the six-day-a-week Los Angeles Daily Times. The...

LOS ANGELES,CA --THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2018--The Los Angeles Times building in downtown Los Angeles, CA, Feb. 15, 2018. The paper was recently sold to L.A. billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, by Chicago-based Tronc. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Visionaries and scoundrels made the Los Angeles Times, which returns to local ownership after 18 years

June 17, 2018 at 10:00 a.m.

The Los Angeles Times rose to prominence under the leadership of a bellicose, union-busting Civil War colonel who kept an arsenal of shotguns in the newsroom in case of labor...

One of L.A.’s oldest community gardens thrived for decades. Then the water wars began.

June 4, 2018 at 10:00 a.m.

The old Italian men their mornings near the top of the hill, tending thick grapevines and rows of fava beans, smoking crumbling Toscano cigars, staying out of the house....

VISALIA, CA---Pat Monno, had a pistol stolen allegedly by the Golden State Killer Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. and was used by a the masked gunman in an attempt to kidnap the teenage daughter of Claude Snelling, a local journalism professor. Snelling interrupted the abduction and was fatally shot by the assailant, who escaped without the girl. DeAngelo broke into Snelling's house through a back window.

In the Golden State Killer’s path, terror still runs deep

May 11, 2018 at 9:29 p.m.

In the 1970s, families moved to Sacramento’s expanding suburbs with fresh streets and open space so their children could play and wander at will.Kids whiled away summer days riding dirt...

FBI agents and other law enforcement officials search the home of 72-year-old Joseph James DeAngelo in Citrus Heights, Calif., in a bid to solve a decades-old case, on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. (Hector Amezcua/Sacramento Bee/TNS) ** OUTS - ELSENT, FPG, TCN - OUTS **

Golden State Killer suspect lived a quiet suburban life, with flashes of rage and anger

April 27, 2018 at 3:54 p.m.

Reporting from SACRAMENTO — When the law came for him after 40 years of hunting, he was doing a woodworking project in his garage.As the team of heavily armed local and federal...

Golden State Killer suspect lived a quiet suburban life, with flashes of rage and anger

April 27, 2018 at 8:55 p.m.

Reporting from SACRAMENTO — When the law came for him after 40 years of hunting, he was doing a woodworking project in his garage.As the team of heavily armed local and federal...

Long, tortured hunt for Golden State Killer leads to arrest of ex-cop

April 26, 2018 at 8:38 p.m.

Reporting from CITRUS HEIGHTS, Calif. — He slipped in through backdoors and windows in the dark. First he struck in the foothills east of Sacramento, raping at least 46 women, before he...

LAPD makes arrest in recording studio fire deaths

April 16, 2018 at 4:05 p.m.

A 28-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder after a fire ripped through a Studio City recording studio, leaving two people dead and two with grave injuries.Police were tight-lipped...

COMPTON, CALIF. -- WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2018: City of Compton City Hall in Compton, Calif., on March 28, 2018. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Heist of 31 guns from Compton city vault is the latest problem in a scandal-plagued city

March 29, 2018 at 12:00 p.m.

The guns were kept in a 1920s-era vault in a municipal building on North Alameda.Compton officials struggled for months to say where they came from, and now where a load...

A Dream Displaced: In L.A.’s first suburb, a feeling of unease in the age of Trump

March 29, 2018 at 9:47 a.m.

The boy looked tentative as he took his seat at the sixth-grade graduation. Bone-thin with thick glasses, Jose turned to look for his parents in the auditorium.Moments like this filled...

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF. - MAR 13, 2018. Pro- and anti-Trump denonstrators get into a verbal confrontation at Beverly Gardens Park in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, Mar. 13, 2018. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)

Trump’s visit draws fans cheering him to ‘Make America Great Again’ – and foes venting their anger directly at him for first time

March 14, 2018 at 7:06 p.m.

President Trump spent his day in California perusing border wall samples, needling state officials, raising money and upholding a White House tradition: inciting traffic so bad it gets a name.Obamajams...

Top surfers to compete in May just south of … Fresno?

March 1, 2018 at 2:21 a.m.

In May, the greatest professional surfers from Australia to Brazil will come to battle it out in some of the most pristine waves in California — in the dusty croplands...

Car belonging to missing Uber and Lyft driver found in Koreatown

February 20, 2018 at 2:20 a.m.

Police discovered the car of a missing Uber and Lyft driver in Koreatown on Monday, but did not say whether it contained evidence of foul play or anything pointing to...

<p>A worker takes a breather from directing a bulldozer driver who clears mud from the 101 freeway in Montecito.</p>

Mud, darkness and destruction turned Montecito into death trap

January 15, 2018 at 2:28 a.m.

Reporting from Montecito, Calif. — The realization that houses might simply vanish didn’t start to set in until a 30-foot tree trunk barreled by.Trina Grokenberger stared out the upstairs window of her...

Rescuers search Montecito as time runs out for those missing in huge mudslides

January 12, 2018 at 2:35 p.m.

Reporting from Montecito, Calif. — In hard hats and gloves, the rescuers inched along the west side of Montecito Creek on Thursday, looking for signs of people buried in the rubble.A red...

MONTECITO, CA â?? JANUARY 10, 2018: Crews work to clear debris from the closed 101 freeway at Olive Mill Road in Montecito Wednesday January 10, 2018 after a rainstorm sent mud and debris through Montecito neighborhoods. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Scene of devastation in Montecito as mud buries whole neighborhoods

June 1, 2019 at 1:31 a.m.

Reporting from Montecito, Calif. — At East Valley Road, a deafening growl in the dark announced to all who stayed that they made the wrong call. A three-story wall of mud, rock...

VENTURA, CALIF. -- TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017: Remnants of a burned down a home as a brush fire continues to threaten other homes in Ventura, Calif., on Dec. 5, 2017. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

California’s largest ever fire was a force that could not be stopped

June 1, 2019 at 1:31 a.m.

Reporting from Ventura — The fire left the mountains ghostly gray, vast slopes frozen still but for dust devils wandering the ash.Fire crews were conducting a last big operation in the high...

<p>First-stage separation is seen at left, with the moon below, as SpaceX launches its Falcon 9 rocket, its final mission of the year, from Vandenburg Air Force Base in California.</p>

What was that light in the sky? SpaceX Falcon 9 launch offers dramatic show over L.A.

December 23, 2017 at 1:45 a.m.

What was that in the skies above L.A. on Friday night that stopped traffic and sparked both alarm and curiosity?It was a rocket.SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, launched from Vandenberg Air...

<p>Fire crews help the Behrman family retrieve their family's personal belongings out of their burned home, in Montecito, Calif., on Sunday.</p>

Inmates are part of an army of firefighters battling a ‘monster’ that just keeps growing

December 15, 2017 at 4:08 p.m.

Reporting from SANTA BARBARA — For well over a week, hundreds of inmates have chain-sawed through relentless thickets of chaparral, cutting lines through the backcountry to thwart the fire’s sudden rushes at...

<p>A scorched pot is among the few remnants of a homeless site where investigators believe the Skirball blaze, which destroyed more than 400 acres, started.</p>

During a week of flames, upscale Bel-Air homes burn as fire roars through canyon

December 7, 2017 at 5:54 p.m.

The fires rampaging across Southern California on Wednesday ripped through a Bel-Air canyon in the hills above UCLA, an elite enclave where backyard tennis courts are the norm and Rupert...

Craig Warner of Palo Alto, Calif., leaves a bell at a memorial site for Kate Steinle on Pier 14 Friday, Dec. 1, 2017, in San Francisco. In this fiercely liberal city, city leaders remained attached to San Francisco's sanctuary city status despite a not guilty verdict in a killing that sparked feverish immigration debates because the man who fired the gun was in the country illegally after being deported five times. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

The Kathryn Steinle murder trial: Why the jury and Trump saw two different cases

December 2, 2017 at 1:29 p.m.

On a breezy summer day two years ago, Kathryn Steinle was strolling with her father along Pier 14 by the Ferry Building in San Francisco, when she was hit by...

Four of the Charles Manson "family" kneel outside the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles on March 29, 1971. The women kept a vigil at the building throughout the trial in which Manson and three others were convicted of murdering actress Sharon Tate and six others.<br>

Charles Manson crawled from the Summer of Love to descend into Helter Skelter murders

June 1, 2019 at 1:32 a.m.

He could have been just another grifter.When Charles Manson rolled into California from Appalachia in 1955 in a stolen Mercury, his big ambition was to be a pimp.In prison at...

As gunman sprayed school with bullets, quick action prevented mass bloodshed

November 15, 2017 at 10:00 a.m.

Reporting from Rancho Tehama, Calif. — Students were playing in the schoolyard at Rancho Tehama Elementary, waiting for the morning bell to ring, when gunshots erupted a quarter mile away.Teachers and staff...

REDWOOD VALLEY, CA -- OCTOBER 17, 2017 -- Firefighters with CalFire Mendocino unit put out a hotspot next to a marijuana grow on the Frost Flower Farms in Redwood Valley on October 17, 2017. Ashley Oldham, owner of Frost Flower Farms, said that her marijuana grows will loose retail value due to ash, smoke and wind damage caused by the Redwood Valley fire. She also lost her home to the fire. Frost Flower Farms is one of only a few dozen legal pot growers in Northern California's Mendocino County. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Wildfires devastate California pot farmers, who must rebuild without banks or insurance

October 29, 2017 at 1:28 a.m.

Reporting from Redwood Valley — She knew just where she had buried the gold and silver coins — down a ravine from her home by a big Douglas fir.After Cheryl Dumont lost...

<p>Dee Pallesen, left, and daughter Emily Learn console each other as they look over the remains of Pallesen's home on Fisher Lake Drive, which was destroyed by the Redwood Valley fire.</p>

The race to escape Redwood Valley: ‘Everyone out of the car! We need to run’

October 22, 2017 at 8:31 p.m.

Reporting from Redwood Valley, Calif. — In his living room after midnight, as he waited for “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” Frank Belford sniffed smoke.He stepped into his yard with his dog Sassy. Above...

LAS VEGAS, NV - OCTOBER 5, 2017: Wooden crosses bearing the names of those killed during Sunday's mass shooting line the median near the Welcome to Las Vegas sign off Las Vegas Boulevard on October 5, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Greg Zanis of Illinois drove all night to deliver the homemade crosses.(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

The geography of death in Las Vegas: ing the 58 who died

October 7, 2017 at 5:03 p.m.

A pipefitter from Riverside, a limo driver from Reno, a teacher from Lancaster, a hockey mom from Alaska, a nurse from Tennessee.Fifty-eight people who came to dance and groove, bound...

<p>Brian MacKinnon drives the car rented by his friend Adrian Murfitt through Las Vegas after the Strip reopened.</p>

After a journey to Las Vegas ends in sorrow, a brotherly bond endures

October 6, 2017 at 4:28 p.m.

He strolled into a western-wear store with money to spend, fresh off a record season fishing sockeye salmon on his friend’s purse seiner.The Alaskan gray and drizzle was setting in...

After a journey to Vegas ends in sorrow, a brotherly bond endures

November 19, 2017 at 6:42 a.m.

He strolled into a western-wear store with money to spend, fresh off a record season fishing sockeye salmon on his friend’s purse seiner.The Alaskan gray and drizzle was setting in...

<p>People attend a memorial for Las Vegas Police Officer Charleston Hartfield at Police Memorial Park. Hartfield, who was off duty at the music festival, was killed when Stephen Paddock opened fire.</p>
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When the shooting stopped, 59 distant lives ended together at a Vegas country music concert

October 3, 2017 at 2:42 p.m.

They came from Alaska and Tennessee, Riverside and Simi Valley, commercial fishermen, police officers, teachers, retirees — drawn together only by a love of country music.When the shooting stopped, 59...

In Harvey’s aftermath, mold and waiting. Lots of waiting.

September 7, 2017 at 1:41 p.m.

Reporting from Houston — They idled the afternoon away, stationed behind a barricade of half-inch plywood that kept the boat wake from rolling through their front door.The water on the street had...

HOUSTON, TEXAS -- TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2017: A view of Hurricane Harvey's storm clouds move east revealing clearer skies, in Houston, Texas, on Aug. 29, 2017. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

The shattering choices three families faced as Hurricane Harvey slammed through their lives

September 4, 2017 at 10:47 p.m.

Reporting from Houston — The road was chest-high in water, forcing the two men to slog across lawns that sloped up to brick homes.When Andrew Pasek’s sister evacuated her house in West...

Off-duty sheriff’s deputy is struck and killed on 605 Freeway after his vehicle broke down

August 7, 2017 at 12:46 a.m.

An off-duty 29-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was killed when he was struck Saturday by a vehicle while he was stopped on the shoulder of the...

Three people stabbed in melee at soccer game in Whittier, authorities say

August 6, 2017 at 9:55 p.m.

A soccer player stabbed three men during a fight at a game in Whittier on Saturday over a disputed call by a referee, authorities said.A brawl broke about between the...

Hiroshi Miyamura and his hometown had a lot in common. They believed in America.

November 20, 2017 at 7:49 p.m.

Hiroshi Miyamura and his hometown had a lot in common. They believed in America. By Photography by July 3, 2017 | Reporting from Gallup, New Mexico Hiroshi "Hershey" Miyamura, 91,...

<p>The Gay Men's Chorus Los Angeles sings during the memorial Under one of the many images that was flashed on a screen in the background.</p>

Carrie Fisher opened up about her demons – and knew she wouldn’t have a Hollywood ending

June 20, 2017 at 12:00 p.m.

Carrie Fisher never said she had conquered her problems. The quintessential child of Tinseltown never expected a Hollywood ending. She talked openly and often about her 45-year-long fight with bipolar...

LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 9, 2017 -- Samantha Geimer, the woman who was the 13-year-old victim in Roman Polanski's 1977 sex case is surrounded by cameras as she arrives at Los Angeles Superior Court Friday morning June 9, 2017 where she is scheduled to appear in a Los Angeles courtroom at a hearing about the fugitive filmmaker, who wants to return to the U.S. without risking arrest. "She wants this case over. It's been 40 years. ... She just wants to get it over with," said Polanski's attorney, Harland Braun. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

She was 13 when Roman Polanski sexually assaulted her. Forty years later, she wants a judge to drop the case against him

June 22, 2017 at 2:58 p.m.

Forty years ago, a 13-year-old girl clutched a heart charm her friend gave her as a prosecutor made her describe in explicit detail to a grand jury her alleged rape...

<p>WEITCHPEC, CA, MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016 - Loren Twofeathers Offield pauses while coaching the Yurok tribe's stick team. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)</p>

How a remote California tribe set out to save its river and stop a suicide epidemic

January 30, 2018 at 3:44 p.m.

The Yurok people live in a stark land of salmon runs and steep, misty mountains, where giant salamanders hide under rotting logs and Bigfoot is said to prey after dusk.Deep...

LOS ANGELES CA SEPTEMBER 8, 2016 -- Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer held a press conference to announce a settlement with Wells Fargo bank and the city and county of Los Angeles Thursday September 8, 2016. Under the agreement, Wells Fargo will pay $50 million in penalties and restitution to customers, as part of a settlement resolving litigation alleging the company opened up bank s without customers' permission. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

L.A. city attorney is denied security clearance to LAX customs areas

April 2, 2017 at 9:59 p.m.

Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer is appealing a decision by federal immigration officials denying him access to parts of LAX controlled by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, his office...

epa05881943 (FILE) - US artist and civil rights activist Gilbert Baker heads the Stockholm Pride Parade carrying a 250-meter long flag in Stockholm, Sweden, 02 August 2003 (reissued 01 April 2017). Gilbert Baker, known for creating the rainbow flag, a well-known lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community symbol, has died at the age of 65, according to media reports on 31 March 2017. EPA/FREDRIK PERSSON SWEDEN OUT ** Usable by LA, CT and MoD ONLY **

Gilbert Baker, creator of the gay pride rainbow flag, dies at 65

April 7, 2017 at 10:15 p.m.

Gilbert Baker was a soldier from Kansas, stationed in San Francisco at the start of the gay liberation movement.When he was honorably discharged from the military, he decided to teach...

Funda Durdu poses for her friend Ikram Boulganat, both visiting from , below the Hollywood sign on Canyon Lake Drive.

On April 18, Beachwood Drive gate to Hollywood sign trail will close

April 3, 2017 at 10:31 p.m.

A popular access point that thousands of tourists and hikers use every month to get near the Hollywood sign will close April 18, Los Angeles city officials said Friday.Pedestrians will...

Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca arrives with his wife at federal court in Los Angeles on March 15.

Two sheriffs elected as reformers end up destroyed by corruption scandals

March 19, 2017 at 11:04 p.m.

They swept away an old guard to lead the two of the largest sheriff’s departments in the nation, promising reforms — treating drug offenders in jail, reaching out to long-neglected...

An aerial view of the water flowing out of the Oroville Dam's main spillway on Feb. 21.

‘Flood fighting is in our DNA’: To live by the Feather River is to know its power and danger

February 20, 2017 at 11:00 a.m.

Reporting from Marysville, Calif. — The early settlers snatched up the rich, loamy land along the Feather River to grow grapes and orchards.Edward Mathews, an Irishman who fled the potato famine, was...

Angel Nunez, a naturalized citizen from Cuba, loves the diversity of his Glendale neighborhood.

‘I can see the fear’: multicultural Los Angeles senses a different world under Trump

February 3, 2017 at 12:09 a.m.

Over the years his fellow Cubans left his Glendale neighborhood, along with many Anglos, part of an ethnic shift that transformed many suburban cities starting in the 1970s. Armenians, Iranians,...

Two men were stabbed to death at the Hop Sing Tong.

Suspect arrested in double killing at Chinatown social club

January 28, 2017 at 3:43 a.m.

Tiles clacked at the mah-jongg tables in the main hall of the Hop Sing Tong, the slow cadence of a typical afternoon at one of Los Angeles’ oldest institutions.The quiet...

Hoona Jo, second from left, brother of Ara Jo, and their mother Yoo Sook Jo are consoled by mourners at Ara Jo's funeral in Koreatown.

Oakland Ghost Ship fire’s victims memorialized

December 11, 2016 at 12:44 a.m.

In a small mortuary in Los Angeles’ Koreatown, they ed a young artist with a laugh that roared up from deep in her belly and dragged everyone else in the...

Driver of minivan that fatally struck pedestrian had been stabbed in the chest, Burbank police say

December 11, 2016 at 4:25 a.m.

The driver of a minivan that fatally struck a pedestrian in Burbank on Friday had suffered a stab wound to the chest before the collision, according to police.Burbank police and...

<p>Derick Ion Almena, 47, right, the concert promoter who converted the warehouse into an artists residence and underground concert venue, was arrested Monday morning, according to Alameda County Asst. Dist. Atty. Teresa Drenick. </p>

Amid Ghost Ship’s enchanting disorder lurked danger and the seeds of disaster

December 27, 2016 at 11:12 p.m.

Reporting from Oakland — They were drinking at Aunt Charlie’s Lounge, an old gay bar in the Tenderloin known for its drag shows and cheap steaks.It was Friday evening in San Francisco,...

<p>People pay their respects Dec. 11 near the scene of the warehouse fire.</p>

A night of music and dancing turns into a deadly inferno at Oakland warehouse

December 5, 2016 at 1:33 a.m.

Reporting from OAKLAND — The night was young, and Seung Lee liked the vibe of the dance party just starting in an old warehouse in the Fruitvale District, so he and two...

Law enforcement officers approach the caskets of four Lakewood, Wash., police officers who were gunned down in a coffee shop before the start of their shift in 2009.

The cases might be rare, but these are the killers cops fear most

October 10, 2016 at 11:16 p.m.

The patrol car pulled to the curb on a damp Halloween night in Seattle.Following behind in an old Datsun 210, Christopher Monfort ed slowly and turned right.Monfort, 41, had come...

Brock Turner, shown in a January 2015 booking photo released by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office.

Stanford rape case: Brock Turner’s claims to judge contradicted in new documents

June 11, 2016 at 11:02 p.m.

Judge Aaron Persky said he took Brock Turner “at his word” last week when he sentenced the onetime Stanford University swimming star on charges that he sexually assaulted a woman on...

<p>A hired mover carries out personal items from the home of San Bernardino shooters Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik.</p>
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San Bernardino: A Christmas party with a trivia game — and then the shooting started

December 6, 2015 at 2:15 a.m.

Away from their downtown cubicles for the day, they gathered in a conference room on the south end of town for their annual training and Christmas potluck party. Chris Nwadike...

As Paris reels, investigators piece together the attackers’ stories

November 14, 2015 at 2:20 p.m.

Reporting from Paris — At 9:20 p.m. Friday, an explosion cracked through the raucous din of a soccer game at the Stade de .Outside, a terrorist with a suicide belt filled with...

<p>"Freeway" Ricky Ross during a jailhouse interview at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in San Diego in October 1996.</p>

Former cocaine kingpin ‘Freeway’ Ricky Ross arrested in California

October 24, 2015 at 6:39 p.m.

Former Los Angeles crack cocaine kingpin “Freeway” Ricky Ross was arrested this week in California on suspicion of possessing money related to the sale of a controlled substance, authorities said.A law...

<p>Prestis Vinson plays the saxophone in front of Simmons Memorial Baptist Church in Baltimore, where a sign shows for Freddie Gray's family.</p>

Black power in Baltimore: When African American leaders confront racial unrest

April 30, 2015 at 12:07 a.m.

Reporting from Baltimore — The mayor is black. The council is almost two-thirds black. The school superintendent is black. The police chief is black, and a majority of his officers are black.Race...

In North Charleston, Jim Crow lives on in routine traffic stops, residents say

April 9, 2015 at 7:14 p.m.

Reporting from North Charleston, S.C. — To many black residents, the overt hatred and segregation that ruled this place during the Jim Crow era has morphed into something more insidious: the routine...

Alan Shifman, an attorney representing Elliot Rodger's family, speaks to reporters outside the family's Woodland Hills home on May 24.

Frantic parents of shooting suspect raced to Isla Vista during rampage

May 25, 2014 at 9:04 p.m.

Chin Rodger got the call from her son Elliot Rodger’s therapist at 9:17 p.m. Friday – 13 minutes before authorities say he opened fire outside a sorority house."Have you gotten...

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