latimes--2020-09-19--In D.A.'s race framed by reform, George Gascón's police career is under a microscope

Less than two years into his career as a Los Angeles police officer , George Gascón said , he saw a suspect reach for his partner ’ s gun as they struggled to arrest him .
At the time , most LAPD officers carried their weapons in what is known as a pancake holster .
Gascón said he knew the suspect wouldn ’ t be able to pry the gun loose if he squeezed the holster tight , so he grabbed for the soft leather casing instead of drawing his own weapon .
Deadly force would have been justified , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ want to take a life if he could avoid it .
The LAPD disagreed , according to Gascón , who said he received a disciplinary letter questioning his tactics .
The incident would come to shape his thinking on the culture of policing , as an officer and later as district attorney in San Francisco .
“ That really had an impact on me over the years , ” Gascón said .
“ A police officer should use force when they should , not just because they can.
” At a time when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are calling for an overhaul of the criminal justice system , Gascón ’ s image as a reform-minded law enforcement veteran has given life to his bid to unseat Jackie Lacey as Los Angeles County ’ s district attorney this November .
But the attention also has led some to spotlight decisions Gascón made as a police officer that critics contend belie his progressive rhetoric .
Gascón ’ s policing career spans three decades .
After joining the Los Angeles Police Department in 1978 , he rose through the ranks and became an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ serve as chief of police in Mesa , Ariz. , in 2006 .
He was hired as San Francisco ’ s top cop in 2009 before being appointed as district attorney .
Public records and interviews with those who worked closest with Gascón in each city suggest that while he was able to achieve his progressive agenda and make public safety gains as a police chief in Arizona and the Bay Area , instances from his LAPD days have lent ammunition to those who question his vow to hold police accountable .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rightly shifted the debate to a debate about police accountability and misconduct , ” said Walter Koch , who came on as Lacey ’ s campaign coordinator after the March primary .
“ I think the voters have the right to know the record of a candidate in this race who is presenting himself as a reformer.
” Recent attacks by the Lacey campaign have focused on disciplinary decisions Gascón made as an LAPD commander , including in the 1999 shooting death of Gus Woods .
An LAPD officer was responding to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 56 , who he believed was advancing toward him with a knife .
Woods was standing about 22 feet away when the officer fatally shot him .
Investigators later determined Woods was armed with a metal rod , not a knife .
Both the city ’ s civilian Police Commission and then-Chief Bernard Parks found the shooting “ out of policy , ” but a disciplinary board led by Gascón ruled the officer had not violated LAPD use-of-force rules .
Prosecutors declined to charge the officer .
At the time , Gascón said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the fact that the officer had been shown an unauthorized training video focused on the “ 21-foot rule , ” which instructs that deadly force is reasonable against a suspect armed with an edge weapon less than 21 feet away .
In a recent interview , Gascón said that he did not believe the shooting was justified but felt it was unfair to punish an officer influenced by a video “ widely spread through ” the LAPD .
More broadly , Gascón said it was unreasonable to judge his stances in 2020 based @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s like saying that a human being is incapable of growing and learning , which I find a very narrow way of thinking , ” he said .
Picking apart Gascón ’ s record on police discipline is difficult because California law limits access to such records except in cases of serious uses of force , lying and sexual assault .
Gascón had not been disciplined for any such conduct , according to the LAPD and San Francisco police .
A document the LAPD turned over in response to a public records request @ @ @ @ @ @ @ boards between 1996 and 2006 .
Officers were punished for misconduct in four of those cases , but the document does not reveal how Gascón voted .
Parks , who supports Lacey , told The Times that Gascón did not have a significant “ disciplinary history ” from his time in the LAPD .
A review of Gascón ’ s personnel file in Mesa , where police disciplinary records are public , found no allegations of misconduct .
Parks said he believes Gascón was lenient when he sat on disciplinary boards and dismissed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and mostly designed to benefit his political aspirations .
“ It would not be past him to go to a community meeting and ingratiate himself .
But the community doesn ’ t necessarily follow his day-to-day steps , ” Parks said .
“ So when he was confronted with the very situations he said he would do something about , he didn ’ t. ” Connie Rice , a civil rights attorney who co-founded the LAPD ’ s Community Safety Partnership program , said Gascón was an ally to community leaders and did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ blue LAPD straitjacket.
” “ I was representing minority officers who were suffering race discrimination inside of LAPD , and we would talk about what it would take to change how LAPD operates , ” she said , adding that Gascón was one of a few “ inside mavericks ” who used his position “ to challenge the culture rather than perpetuate it.
” Gascón said his refusal to accept the status quo in policing was borne out of his upbringing in Cuba , where he says he saw firsthand what “ oppressive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ country , to a people.
” He said he learned to speak out from his father , who was a vocal critic of Fulgencio Batista and Fidel Castro before the family fled to the U.S. in 1967 .
Former LAPD Chief Charlie Beck , who has endorsed Gascón , praised him for pushing community-oriented approaches to stopping gang violence .
He dismissed suggestions that Gascón was lenient on discipline on the Board of Rights review panels .
“ The Board of Rights for George was always about the truth , ” Beck said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he is the worst person for an officer … but if evidence favored you , he ’ d listen.
” Gascón ’ s leadership was criticized in a report detailing the LAPD ’ s disastrous response to the 2007 May Day protests that left hundreds of people injured as police indiscriminately swung batons and fired projectiles into crowds .
Though Gascón had left the LAPD in 2006 , the report noted he had cut back on crowd-control training in the years leading up to the fiasco .
Gascón disagreed with the report , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ responding to protests in riot gear after the LAPD was criticized for its handling of antiwar demonstrations in the early 2000s .
Gascón also said he had personally been on the front lines in response to past May Day protests that ended peacefully .
After leaving Los Angeles , Gascón was given his first chance to institute a reform agenda as chief in Mesa .
Throughout his four-year tenure , Gascón repeatedly locked horns with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio , the anti-immigrant lawman who was later convicted of contempt of court for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ political loggerheads , activists and former colleagues spoke highly of Gascón ’ s tenure .
Records show homicides fell by half from 2006 to 2009 , while aggravated assaults dropped by 21 % .
In a 2008 performance review , Mesa City Manager Chris Brady said the police force had been “ demoralized ” and “ poorly structured ” before Gascón “ created systems to enhance employee accountability and internal communication.
” Gascón revised the department ’ s use-of-force policy , while instituting the LAPD ’ s high-tech CompStat model to improve the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ data .
Andre Miller , a longtime criminal justice activist and pastor at New Beginnings Christian Church in Mesa , said Gascón helped heal a rift between the department and the community .
“ The community engagement piece , that was something that was very lacking .
Mesa has a history of being heavy-handed in terms of force , but he came in and he really brought the community to the table and had hard conversations that were necessary , ” Miller said .
“ I also think he set a different standard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ set before.
” Though Gascón ’ s time in San Francisco is more often associated with his role as district attorney , his 18-month stint as the city ’ s police chief also radically changed the historically insular agency , current and retired officers in the Bay Area said .
Capt .
Yulanda Williams , president of San Francisco ’ s Officers for Justice , an association of Black police officers , said Gascón came in with a reform mandate and immediately targeted longtime structural problems with the agency ’ s disciplinary system @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and he made some changes in the Internal Affairs Division and tried to make it be far more professional , ” she said .
“ Those who were in command staff , he started to hold them far more accountable because he wasn ’ t part of the legacy eras of SFPD.
” Gascón ’ s term from mid-2009 to January 2011 was also marked by a sharp drop in homicides .
San Francisco reported nearly 100 murders in 2008 but 48 in 2010 .
Gascón says he inherited a department that solved @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with a homicide bureau that lacked structure and supervision .
As chief , Gascón said , he broke up the city ’ s centralized homicide bureau and placed investigators in districts , which allowed detectives to focus on repeat offenders .
“ There were people committing multiple murders who were not being held accountable , and solving those cases had a tremendous impact overnight , ” Gascón said .
Though he has championed diversion and leniency for low-level drug offenders and homeless defendants as a prosecutor , Gascón also oversaw large-scale sweeps in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police chief .
The move drew fierce criticism from progressives , including former Public Defender Jeff Adachi , who claimed Gascón was unnecessarily clogging San Francisco ’ s courts and jails with people accused of minor drug crimes .
Chris Breen , who served as sergeant-at-arms for the union representing San Francisco police officers in 2010 , said that although Gascón oversaw a marked decline in crime as chief , he also employed a “ dictatorial ” style and rarely took advice from Police Department veterans before making major changes .
Though Breen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — including providing treatment for officers arrested on suspicion of DUI rather than just suspending them — he said the chief at times took his reform mandate too far .
Gascón furthered the use of what Breen believed was an overzealous system that placed officers under scrutiny if they received multiple citizen complaints , even if the complaints were not sustained .
Breen , who retired in 2015 , said the policy counted involvement in police pursuits and instances in which suspects resisted arrest as negatives against officers .
“ He was the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from LAPD .
I know better .
My department ’ s bigger than yours ; we are very successful .
We are very militaristic , and that ’ s what I want SFPD to be like , ’ ” Breen said .
In 2010 , Gascón ’ s only full year in charge of the department , San Francisco police upheld about 8 % of all citizen complaints , in line with the average for police agencies across California , records show .
The department had upheld 5 % of those complaints the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the allies and enemies he made during the decades he spent wearing a badge make clear his progressive tendencies manifested long before he decided to run in L.A. “ There is no question that I am a different person today than I was 20 years ago , and that evolution will continue … but this evolution just didn ’ t happen yesterday , ” he said .
“ The reality is I ’ ve put a lot of blood on the altar .
”

Former San Francisco Dist. Atty. George Gascón’s history as a police officer has come under increased scrutiny as he seeks to unseat Jackie Lacey as Los Angeles County’s top prosecutor.
Less than two years into his career as a Los Angeles police officer, George Gascón said, he saw a suspect reach for his partner’s gun as they struggled to arrest him.
At the time, most LAPD officers carried their weapons in what is known as a pancake holster. Gascón said he knew the suspect wouldn’t be able to pry the gun loose if he squeezed the holster tight, so he grabbed for the soft leather casing instead of drawing his own weapon. Deadly force would have been justified, but Gascón said he didn’t want to take a life if he could avoid it.
The LAPD disagreed, according to Gascón, who said he received a disciplinary letter questioning his tactics.
The incident would come to shape his thinking on the culture of policing, as an officer and later as district attorney in San Francisco.
Advertisement
“That really had an impact on me over the years,” Gascón said. “A police officer should use force when they should, not just because they can.”
At a time when police violence is under scrutiny and many are calling for an overhaul of the criminal justice system, Gascón’s image as a reform-minded law enforcement veteran has given life to his bid to unseat Jackie Lacey as Los Angeles County’s district attorney this November.
But the attention also has led some to spotlight decisions Gascón made as a police officer that critics contend belie his progressive rhetoric.
Gascón’s policing career spans three decades. After joining the Los Angeles Police Department in 1978, he rose through the ranks and became an assistant chief in 2003 before leaving to serve as chief of police in Mesa, Ariz., in 2006. He was hired as San Francisco’s top cop in 2009 before being appointed as district attorney.
Public records and interviews with those who worked closest with Gascón in each city suggest that while he was able to achieve his progressive agenda and make public safety gains as a police chief in Arizona and the Bay Area, instances from his LAPD days have lent ammunition to those who question his vow to hold police accountable.
“The tragic death of George Floyd has rightly shifted the debate to a debate about police accountability and misconduct,” said Walter Koch, who came on as Lacey’s campaign coordinator after the March primary. “I think the voters have the right to know the record of a candidate in this race who is presenting himself as a reformer.”
Advertisement
Recent attacks by the Lacey campaign have focused on disciplinary decisions Gascón made as an LAPD commander, including in the 1999 shooting death of Gus Woods.
An LAPD officer was responding to a disturbance call when he encountered Woods, 56, who he believed was advancing toward him with a knife. Woods was standing about 22 feet away when the officer fatally shot him. Investigators later determined Woods was armed with a metal rod, not a knife.
Both the city’s civilian Police Commission and then-Chief Bernard Parks found the shooting “out of policy,” but a disciplinary board led by Gascón ruled the officer had not violated LAPD use-of-force rules. Prosecutors declined to charge the officer.
At the time, Gascón said he based part of his decision on the fact that the officer had been shown an unauthorized training video focused on the “21-foot rule,” which instructs that deadly force is reasonable against a suspect armed with an edge weapon less than 21 feet away.
California From the archives: LAPD Prevails Over Civilian Overseers Police boards overruled commission’s findings that four shootings were improper. Panels have a history of meting out uneven penalties.
In a recent interview, Gascón said that he did not believe the shooting was justified but felt it was unfair to punish an officer influenced by a video “widely spread through” the LAPD. More broadly, Gascón said it was unreasonable to judge his stances in 2020 based on decades-old decisions.
“It’s like saying that a human being is incapable of growing and learning, which I find a very narrow way of thinking,” he said.
Picking apart Gascón’s record on police discipline is difficult because California law limits access to such records except in cases of serious uses of force, lying and sexual assault. Gascón had not been disciplined for any such conduct, according to the LAPD and San Francisco police.
A document the LAPD turned over in response to a public records request shows Gascón sat on 11 LAPD disciplinary boards between 1996 and 2006. Officers were punished for misconduct in four of those cases, but the document does not reveal how Gascón voted.
Parks, who supports Lacey, told The Times that Gascón did not have a significant “disciplinary history” from his time in the LAPD. A review of Gascón’s personnel file in Mesa, where police disciplinary records are public, found no allegations of misconduct.
Parks said he believes Gascón was lenient when he sat on disciplinary boards and dismissed his progressive stances as “inauthentic” and mostly designed to benefit his political aspirations.
“It would not be past him to go to a community meeting and ingratiate himself. But the community doesn’t necessarily follow his day-to-day steps,” Parks said. “So when he was confronted with the very situations he said he would do something about, he didn’t.”
Connie Rice, a civil rights attorney who co-founded the LAPD’s Community Safety Partnership program, said Gascón was an ally to community leaders and did not fit the “insular, true blue LAPD straitjacket.”
“I was representing minority officers who were suffering race discrimination inside of LAPD, and we would talk about what it would take to change how LAPD operates,” she said, adding that Gascón was one of a few “inside mavericks” who used his position “to challenge the culture rather than perpetuate it.”
Gascón said his refusal to accept the status quo in policing was borne out of his upbringing in Cuba, where he says he saw firsthand what “oppressive policing and government can do to a country, to a people.” He said he learned to speak out from his father, who was a vocal critic of Fulgencio Batista and Fidel Castro before the family fled to the U.S. in 1967.
Former LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, who has endorsed Gascón, praised him for pushing community-oriented approaches to stopping gang violence. He dismissed suggestions that Gascón was lenient on discipline on the Board of Rights review panels.
“The Board of Rights for George was always about the truth,” Beck said. “If you were guilty, he is the worst person for an officer … but if evidence favored you, he’d listen.”
Gascón’s leadership was criticized in a report detailing the LAPD’s disastrous response to the 2007 May Day protests that left hundreds of people injured as police indiscriminately swung batons and fired projectiles into crowds. Though Gascón had left the LAPD in 2006, the report noted he had cut back on crowd-control training in the years leading up to the fiasco.
California From the archives: LAPD takes blame for park melee The chief apologizes for flawed leadership during the May 1 rally. A new report says at least 26 are under investigation.
Gascón disagreed with the report, noting he had ordered officers to stop responding to protests in riot gear after the LAPD was criticized for its handling of antiwar demonstrations in the early 2000s. Gascón also said he had personally been on the front lines in response to past May Day protests that ended peacefully.
After leaving Los Angeles, Gascón was given his first chance to institute a reform agenda as chief in Mesa. Throughout his four-year tenure, Gascón repeatedly locked horns with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the anti-immigrant lawman who was later convicted of contempt of court for illegally detaining undocumented immigrants.
Despite the political loggerheads, activists and former colleagues spoke highly of Gascón’s tenure. Records show homicides fell by half from 2006 to 2009, while aggravated assaults dropped by 21%. In a 2008 performance review, Mesa City Manager Chris Brady said the police force had been “demoralized” and “poorly structured” before Gascón “created systems to enhance employee accountability and internal communication.”
Gascón revised the department’s use-of-force policy, while instituting the LAPD’s high-tech CompStat model to improve the agency’s ability to track crime data.
Andre Miller, a longtime criminal justice activist and pastor at New Beginnings Christian Church in Mesa, said Gascón helped heal a rift between the department and the community.
“The community engagement piece, that was something that was very lacking. Mesa has a history of being heavy-handed in terms of force, but he came in and he really brought the community to the table and had hard conversations that were necessary,” Miller said. “I also think he set a different standard for his police officers than had been set before.”
Though Gascón’s time in San Francisco is more often associated with his role as district attorney, his 18-month stint as the city’s police chief also radically changed the historically insular agency, current and retired officers in the Bay Area said.
Capt. Yulanda Williams, president of San Francisco’s Officers for Justice, an association of Black police officers, said Gascón came in with a reform mandate and immediately targeted longtime structural problems with the agency’s disciplinary system.
“He took police misconduct seriously and he made some changes in the Internal Affairs Division and tried to make it be far more professional,” she said. “Those who were in command staff, he started to hold them far more accountable because he wasn’t part of the legacy eras of SFPD.”
Gascón’s term from mid-2009 to January 2011 was also marked by a sharp drop in homicides. San Francisco reported nearly 100 murders in 2008 but 48 in 2010. Gascón says he inherited a department that solved only 25% of its slayings, with a homicide bureau that lacked structure and supervision.
As chief, Gascón said, he broke up the city’s centralized homicide bureau and placed investigators in districts, which allowed detectives to focus on repeat offenders.
“There were people committing multiple murders who were not being held accountable, and solving those cases had a tremendous impact overnight,” Gascón said.
Though he has championed diversion and leniency for low-level drug offenders and homeless defendants as a prosecutor, Gascón also oversaw large-scale sweeps in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood as police chief. The move drew fierce criticism from progressives, including former Public Defender Jeff Adachi, who claimed Gascón was unnecessarily clogging San Francisco’s courts and jails with people accused of minor drug crimes.
Chris Breen, who served as sergeant-at-arms for the union representing San Francisco police officers in 2010, said that although Gascón oversaw a marked decline in crime as chief, he also employed a “dictatorial” style and rarely took advice from Police Department veterans before making major changes.
Though Breen applauded some of Gascón’s reforms — including providing treatment for officers arrested on suspicion of DUI rather than just suspending them — he said the chief at times took his reform mandate too far.
Gascón furthered the use of what Breen believed was an overzealous system that placed officers under scrutiny if they received multiple citizen complaints, even if the complaints were not sustained. Breen, who retired in 2015, said the policy counted involvement in police pursuits and instances in which suspects resisted arrest as negatives against officers.
“He was the great reformer. ‘I’m from LAPD. I know better. My department’s bigger than yours; we are very successful. We are very militaristic, and that’s what I want SFPD to be like,’ ” Breen said.
In 2010, Gascón’s only full year in charge of the department, San Francisco police upheld about 8% of all citizen complaints, in line with the average for police agencies across California, records show. The department had upheld 5% of those complaints the year before.
Gascón believes accounts from the allies and enemies he made during the decades he spent wearing a badge make clear his progressive tendencies manifested long before he decided to run in L.A.
“There is no question that I am a different person today than I was 20 years ago, and that evolution will continue … but this evolution just didn’t happen yesterday,” he said. “The reality is I’ve put a lot of blood on the altar.”
Times staff writer Richard Winton contributed to this report.


latimes--2020-09-19--Criticism of sheriff's performance intensifies, but Villanueva insists he's not concerned

The turn of Thursday ’ s Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission meeting was unexpected : after various agenda items , Commissioner Robert Bonner called for the resignation of L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva .
There was stunned silence , and then several fellow commissioners echoed support .
One requested drafting a resolution of no confidence in Villanueva .
While Bonner acknowledged that he ’ d just “ severed ” his bond with the sheriff , he pressed his colleagues to deliberate carefully , reminding them that “ the commission needs to maintain a relationship with the sheriff.
” Bonner ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will now need to navigate as tensions between Villanueva and those charged with overseeing the department reach a new high .
While Villanueva , an elected official , has refused to step down , experts emphasized how a new level of public animosity among the sheriff , the oversight commission and the Board of Supervisors may prove difficult to diffuse .
In the background is rising friction between the Sheriff ’ s Department and some communities that accuse the department of police brutality and unwarranted shootings , which have spawned ongoing protests .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ s department lacks transparency and clashed over policing reform measures .
Since taking office in 2018 , Villanueva has fought repeatedly with the civilian oversight panel and board members , who have accused him of with tainted backgrounds and unraveling policing reforms instituted after a massive corruption scandal that brought criminal convictions against former Sheriff Lee Baca and other commanders .
“ Both sides are doubling down and the political rhetoric is taking over , ” said Frank Zerunyan , a professor on the practice of governance at USC .
“ The sheriff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what he ’ s doing , and the Board of Supervisors and those who have called for his resignation feel strongly about his lack of leadership .
In an interview , Villanueva told The Times that he is “ obviously not ” concerned about the expression of no confidence in his leadership , holding that the Board of Supervisors wants “ a sheriff on the leash.
” “ It ’ s a very coordinated cabal of supervisors who have been trying to get me out of office even before I took office , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s a proxy war , that ’ s all it is , and their surrogates are on the Oversight Commission.
” On Thursday , several commissioners and two supervisors supported calls for Villanueva ’ s resignation , with some expressing concerns about the sheriff ’ s lack of compliance with subpoenas and holding he has refused to share information with inspector general Max Huntsman , who has accused Villanueva of not cooperating with his investigations of possible violations of freedom of the press by the department .
Villanueva said that oversight “ does @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sheriff ’ s Department.
” “ That ’ s their agenda , to try to paint me as someone unwilling to accept being transparent or oversight , and nothing could be further from the truth , ” he said .
He said that oversight is provided by the state ’ s attorney general and that the inspector general ’ s role is limited .
“ We can give them all the information in the world , and at the end of the day , all they can do is tell me ‘ please @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Oversight Commission and Huntsman .
In a written statement , Ron Hernandez , president of the Assn .
for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs , said that “ the community is looking for positive leadership , not elected officials squabbling.
” “ Reform comes with communication and actual dialogue , not demands such as the call for the resignation of the sheriff , who was elected by a majority of the citizens of Los Angeles County , ” he said .
“ We do not give up based on personality conflicts , although it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been revived about the authority of counties to monitor elected sheriffs .
Some sheriffs argue that only voters can hold them accountable and that local government oversight is largely voluntary and restricted .
But the recent passage of Assembly Bill 1185 clarifies how counties can create oversight commissions for sheriffs and give those panels subpoena power .
Ed Obayashi , a Plumas County deputy sheriff and law enforcement policy advisor , emphasized how Villanueva is “ not a lone ranger ” in tensions between sheriffs and their overseers .
In Sacramento , for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ locked an inspector general out of department facilities after a report critical of a police shooting .
Obayashi said that sheriffs have discretion to act and speak more freely than police chiefs , who are appointed by and follow direction from city officials .
“ There is a much higher degree of accountability between a police chief and city officials , as opposed to a sheriff like Villanueva who is an elected official who ultimately answers only to the electorate , ” he said .
Andres Kwon , an ACLU attorney who specializes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s defiance underscores “ a crisis of checks and balances ” due to the inability of elected officials to remove the sheriff .
He said the ACLU proposed a charter amendment to the Board of Supervisors last year that would give it the power to remove the sheriff on specific grounds .
“ There ’ s been a community groundswell for Villanueva ’ s resignation — the Board of Supervisors is responding to that , ” he said .
“ We are not holding our breath that Villanueva will resign , but this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ take action.
” Zev Yaroslavsky , a former L.A. County supervisor , said he believed the calls for the sheriff ’ s resignation have power because they elevate the seriousness of the claims against him .
“ This is not a spat between contesting politicians , ” he said .
“ It ’ s about constitutional policing , it ’ s about his oath of office.
” The statements made by commissioners and supervisors , he said , may draw attention from the state attorney general , who could investigate the Sheriff ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inform voters and may hamper Villanueva if he seeks reelection , he said .
“ He ’ s not going to resign and he ’ s not going to be recalled between now and 2022 , ” he said .
`` [ But ] the narrative is becoming that we have a sheriff who does not believe he is accountable to the people he is legally accountable to .
”

Sheriff Alex Villanueva holds a news conference outside the emergency room of St. Francis Medical Center, where two L.A. County sheriff’s deputies were treated after being shot Sept. 12.
The turn of Thursday’s Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission meeting was unexpected: after various agenda items, Commissioner Robert Bonner called for the resignation of L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva.
There was stunned silence, and then several fellow commissioners echoed support. One requested drafting a resolution of no confidence in Villanueva.
While Bonner acknowledged that he’d just “severed” his bond with the sheriff, he pressed his colleagues to deliberate carefully, reminding them that “the commission needs to maintain a relationship with the sheriff.”
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Bonner’s words marked the uncharted waters that officials will now need to navigate as tensions between Villanueva and those charged with overseeing the department reach a new high.
While Villanueva, an elected official, has refused to step down, experts emphasized how a new level of public animosity among the sheriff, the oversight commission and the Board of Supervisors may prove difficult to diffuse.
In the background is rising friction between the Sheriff’s Department and some communities that accuse the department of police brutality and unwarranted shootings, which have spawned ongoing protests.
Supervisors have long complained that Villanueva’s department lacks transparency and clashed over policing reform measures. Since taking office in 2018, Villanueva has fought repeatedly with the civilian oversight panel and board members, who have accused him of rehiring officials with tainted backgrounds and unraveling policing reforms instituted after a massive corruption scandal that brought criminal convictions against former Sheriff Lee Baca and other commanders.
“Both sides are doubling down and the political rhetoric is taking over,” said Frank Zerunyan, a professor on the practice of governance at USC. “The sheriff feels very strongly about his mandate and what he’s doing, and the Board of Supervisors and those who have called for his resignation feel strongly about his lack of leadership.
In an interview, Villanueva told The Times that he is “obviously not” concerned about the expression of no confidence in his leadership, holding that the Board of Supervisors wants “a sheriff on the leash.”
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“It’s a very coordinated cabal of supervisors who have been trying to get me out of office even before I took office,” he said. “It’s a proxy war, that’s all it is, and their surrogates are on the Oversight Commission.”
On Thursday, several commissioners and two supervisors supported calls for Villanueva’s resignation, with some expressing concerns about the sheriff’s lack of compliance with subpoenas and holding he has refused to share information with inspector general Max Huntsman, who has accused Villanueva of not cooperating with his investigations of possible violations of freedom of the press by the department.
Villanueva said that oversight “does not mean that Max Huntsman runs the Sheriff’s Department.”
“That’s their agenda, to try to paint me as someone unwilling to accept being transparent or oversight, and nothing could be further from the truth,” he said.
He said that oversight is provided by the state’s attorney general and that the inspector general’s role is limited.
“We can give them all the information in the world, and at the end of the day, all they can do is tell me ‘please,’” he said of the Oversight Commission and Huntsman.
In a written statement, Ron Hernandez, president of the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, said that “the community is looking for positive leadership, not elected officials squabbling.”
“Reform comes with communication and actual dialogue, not demands such as the call for the resignation of the sheriff, who was elected by a majority of the citizens of Los Angeles County,” he said. “We do not give up based on personality conflicts, although it appears some may.”
Debate has recently been revived about the authority of counties to monitor elected sheriffs. Some sheriffs argue that only voters can hold them accountable and that local government oversight is largely voluntary and restricted.
But the recent passage of Assembly Bill 1185 clarifies how counties can create oversight commissions for sheriffs and give those panels subpoena power.
Ed Obayashi, a Plumas County deputy sheriff and law enforcement policy advisor, emphasized how Villanueva is “not a lone ranger” in tensions between sheriffs and their overseers.
In Sacramento, for example, Sheriff Scott Jones in 2018 locked an inspector general out of department facilities after a report critical of a police shooting.
Obayashi said that sheriffs have discretion to act and speak more freely than police chiefs, who are appointed by and follow direction from city officials.
“There is a much higher degree of accountability between a police chief and city officials, as opposed to a sheriff like Villanueva who is an elected official who ultimately answers only to the electorate,” he said.
Andres Kwon, an ACLU attorney who specializes in police practices, said Villanueva’s defiance underscores “a crisis of checks and balances” due to the inability of elected officials to remove the sheriff.
He said the ACLU proposed a charter amendment to the Board of Supervisors last year that would give it the power to remove the sheriff on specific grounds.
“There’s been a community groundswell for Villanueva’s resignation — the Board of Supervisors is responding to that,” he said. “We are not holding our breath that Villanueva will resign, but this is further pressure on the board to take action.”
Zev Yaroslavsky, a former L.A. County supervisor, said he believed the calls for the sheriff’s resignation have power because they elevate the seriousness of the claims against him.
“This is not a spat between contesting politicians,” he said. “It’s about constitutional policing, it’s about his oath of office.”
The statements made by commissioners and supervisors, he said, may draw attention from the state attorney general, who could investigate the Sheriff’s Department. They also help to inform voters and may hamper Villanueva if he seeks reelection, he said.
“He’s not going to resign and he’s not going to be recalled between now and 2022,” he said. “[But] the narrative is becoming that we have a sheriff who does not believe he is accountable to the people he is legally accountable to.”
Times staff writer Alene Tchekmedyian contributed to this report.


latimes--2020-09-19--Magnitude 4.5 earthquake rattles Southern California, but no major damage reported

A magnitude 4.5 earthquake was reported late Friday night , rattling a wide swath of Southern California but causing no major damage .
There were no immediate reports of serious damage or injuries , but the 11:38 p.m. quake was felt across the region and as far as San Diego , according to the U.S. Geological Survey , which revised its magnitude downward after initial reports .
It was followed by a few smaller aftershocks .
In South Pasadena , about 10 miles from the epicenter , the quake began with a strong sharp shake followed by another jolt not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ off a shelf in one home .
But power remained on .
The shaking was less severe farther from the epicenter but still packed a punch .
The temblor was centered not far from the epicenter of the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake , seismologist Lucy Jones said on Twitter .
That quake was much larger — at 5.9 magnitude — and caused several deaths and more than $ 200 million in damage .
The Whittier Narrows area is seismically active .
In 2014 , a magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck along the Puente Hills @ @ @ @ @ @ @ San Gabriel Valley to downtown Los Angeles .
That quake , centered near La Habra , caused some damage and left about 100 residents temporarily displaced .
The Puente Hills thrust fault is considered particularly dangerous because it runs under the skyscrapers of downtown Los Angeles .
Experts say a major , magnitude 7.5 earthquake on the fault could do more damage to the heart of Los Angeles than the dreaded Big One on the San Andreas fault , which runs along the outskirts of metropolitan Southern California .
Molly Oswaks was sitting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with her 12-step sponsor when the couch started swaying .
“ We were talking about how I needed to be more present in my body and more present to my feelings and experience , ” she recalled .
“ And then it started to shake.
” As the framed art above her rattled on the wall , the 31-year-old freelance writer “ freaked out in real time ” while processing it on the phone with her sponsor , who was not in the city at the time .
Their conversation had already been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before the ground started shaking , she said .
“ And then the most L.A. event — more so even than a movie premiere — happened , ” Oswaks said , referring to the earthquake .
The temblor didn ’ t cause any damage in Oswaks ’ studio apartment , though a sample vial of Black Orchid by Tom Ford perfume fell off the dresser .
And as for the 12-step advice she was working on ?
Oswaks said that after the shaking stopped she felt present in her body “ to an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wish for.
” The earthquake occurred less than a mile from South San Gabriel , less than a mile from Montebello , less than a mile from South El Monte and 1 mile from San Gabriel .
In the last 10 days , there has been one earthquake of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby .
An average of five earthquakes with magnitudes between 4.0 and 5.0 occur per year in the Greater Los Angeles area , according to a recent three-year data sample .
The earthquake occurred at a depth of 10.9 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
Consider reporting what you felt to the USGS .
Find out what to do before , and during , an earthquake near you by reading our five-step earthquake preparedness guide .
The first version of this story was automatically generated by Quakebot , a computer application that monitors the latest earthquakes detected by the USGS .
A Times editor reviewed the post before it was published , and it was later updated .
If you ’ re interested in learning more about the system , visit our list of frequently asked questions @

Stephanie Chavez, Dakota Smith, Julia Wick

A magnitude 4.5 earthquake was reported Friday at 11:38 p.m. in Rosemead, Calif., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
A magnitude 4.5 earthquake was reported late Friday night, rattling a wide swath of Southern California but causing no major damage.
There were no immediate reports of serious damage or injuries, but the 11:38 p.m. quake was felt across the region and as far as San Diego, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which revised its magnitude downward after initial reports. It was followed by a few smaller aftershocks.
In South Pasadena, about 10 miles from the epicenter, the quake began with a strong sharp shake followed by another jolt not quite as strong. Several items fell off a shelf in one home. But power remained on. The shaking was less severe farther from the epicenter but still packed a punch.
The temblor was centered not far from the epicenter of the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake, seismologist Lucy Jones said on Twitter. That quake was much larger — at 5.9 magnitude — and caused several deaths and more than $200 million in damage.
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Yes. A M4.6 2 mi WSW of El Monte at 11:38. Almost the same location as the M5.9 Whittier Narrows earthquake in 1987 — Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) September 19, 2020
The Whittier Narrows area is seismically active. In 2014, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck along the Puente Hills thrust fault, which stretches from the San Gabriel Valley to downtown Los Angeles. That quake, centered near La Habra, caused some damage and left about 100 residents temporarily displaced.
The Puente Hills thrust fault is considered particularly dangerous because it runs under the skyscrapers of downtown Los Angeles. Experts say a major, magnitude 7.5 earthquake on the fault could do more damage to the heart of Los Angeles than the dreaded Big One on the San Andreas fault, which runs along the outskirts of metropolitan Southern California.
Molly Oswaks was sitting in her Koreatown apartment on the phone with her 12-step sponsor when the couch started swaying.
“We were talking about how I needed to be more present in my body and more present to my feelings and experience,” she recalled. “And then it started to shake.”
As the framed art above her rattled on the wall, the 31-year-old freelance writer “freaked out in real time” while processing it on the phone with her sponsor, who was not in the city at the time.
Their conversation had already been “as L.A. as it gets” before the ground started shaking, she said. “And then the most L.A. event — more so even than a movie premiere — happened,” Oswaks said, referring to the earthquake.
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The temblor didn’t cause any damage in Oswaks’ studio apartment, though a sample vial of Black Orchid by Tom Ford perfume fell off the dresser.
And as for the 12-step advice she was working on? Oswaks said that after the shaking stopped she felt present in her body “to an uncomfortable degree.”
“Careful what you wish for.”
The earthquake occurred less than a mile from South San Gabriel, less than a mile from Montebello, less than a mile from South El Monte and 1 mile from San Gabriel.
In the last 10 days, there has been one earthquake of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby.
An average of five earthquakes with magnitudes between 4.0 and 5.0 occur per year in the Greater Los Angeles area, according to a recent three-year data sample.
The earthquake occurred at a depth of 10.9 miles. Did you feel this earthquake? Consider reporting what you felt to the USGS.
Find out what to do before, and during, an earthquake near you by reading our five-step earthquake preparedness guide.
The first version of this story was automatically generated by Quakebot, a computer application that monitors the latest earthquakes detected by the USGS. A Times editor reviewed the post before it was published, and it was later updated. If you’re interested in learning more about the system, visit our list of frequently asked questions.


latimes--2020-09-20--California's troubled unemployment agency needs immediate overhaul, report says

California ’ s antiquated unemployment benefits system requires a complete overhaul to overcome significant problems that have delayed getting money to many left jobless during the COVID-19 pandemic , a strike team appointed by Gov .
Gavin Newsom said Saturday .
The 45-day review by technology and government experts found that the backlog of unresolved claims at the state Employment Development Department is rapidly growing by 10,000 a day and , though Newsom wanted it eliminated by the end of this month , will take several more months to be cleared .
The report was requested by Newsom in July @ @ @ @ @ @ @ frustrated with the state agency for failing to process claims , leaving them without the benefits needed to pay their bills .
The EDD has also come under fire from state legislators , who last week approved an emergency audit of its performance in response to the criticisms and following reports of widespread fraud in the unemployment system .
“ No matter how common this situation may be , it is unacceptable , ” the strike team said in its report , noting that other states are also being overwhelmed with unprecedented numbers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The State must deliver this benefit to those who qualify within a time frame that ’ s relevant to the well-being of the claimant , and it was failing to do that for too many Californians.
” The report , which was supposed to be released last Monday and was instead issued late Saturday evening , recommends long-term and immediate fixes at the EDD that would help those who are out of work get faster help online or by phone to resolve problems that have bogged down more than 1.5 million claims .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ already on their way to meeting claimants ’ needs faster , and I ’ m confident that over time the department will continue to improve the experience people have filing for unemployment insurances , ” said Jennifer Pahlka , co-leader of the the strike team and the founder of the Code for America , a group that seeks to improve the public ’ s access to government services through digital technology .
That group was not involved in the effort .
The other team leader is Yolanda Richardson , secretary of the state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( D-San Francisco ) , a leading critic of the EDD , said the report is helpful but the facts about the agency ’ s performance are discouraging .
“ The report documents how EDD has failed the people it serves in almost every imaginable way , ” Chiu said .
“ The size and scope of the backlog are shockingly large.
” The 109-page report lists more than 100 recommendations , including one the state says is already in the works : the creation of a streamlined identity verification process that is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and would allow 90 % of applications to be approved online in as quickly as a few weeks .
Currently , 40 % of all applications must be manually processed to verify the identity of claimants and guard against fraud , which can take months to complete .
Under the current system , if the EDD can not verify a person ’ s identity when the first claim is filed , the agency mails a notice giving the applicant 10 days to submit two forms of identification , including a copy of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Those documents can be uploaded online but are later manually processed in the system by EDD workers .
If information in the documents is different than what is on the claim — such as a different birth date or spelling of a name — that can trigger a more lengthy process , and those who don ’ t reply within 10 days can have their claim denied , further delaying the process .
A report released by EDD in July found that 87.8 % of claims saw initial payments within 14 calendar days @ @ @ @ @ @ @ number had dropped to 51.9 % .
EDD director Sharon Hilliard voiced support on Saturday for the recommendations of the strike team in a letter to the governor and said she is working to “ ensure our customers are provided their benefits they deserve in a timely manner.
” She estimated there are more than 1.5 million unresolved claims in the backlog .
On the recommendation of the strike team , the EDD has approved a contract with online identity verification company ID.me for a system that would more quickly authenticate identification documents @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The company also works with the U.S. Social Security Administration and other states , including Florida , where applicants complete the verification process through a video chat with an ID.me agent .
The new online verification process will be available to new applicants in California starting Oct. 5 , but would not retroactively apply to those who have previously filed claims that are bogged down in the approval process because they can not be transferred over to the new system , officials said .
The EDD said later Saturday that it will delay @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the faster system is in place , but that unemployed Californians can provide the agency with contact information so they can be notified when new claims can be filed .
To address claims already in the system , the EDD was largely relying on a plan to hire and train 5,300 new staff to process problem claims and eliminate the backlog .
However , the strike team found that those with experience processing claims were being distracted by other duties , including training new hires , so it recommended that those experts be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of pending claims .
Moving toward automatic digital processing of claims would also eliminate the need to assign large numbers of people to open and process mail , the strike team said .
Members of the team also observed workers in EDD offices to identify ways in which the process could be improved , and observed too much unopened mail , and confusion over call center staff working from home .
California ’ s unemployment insurance system has been overwhelmed with an unprecedented number of claims for benefits since the state ordered residents @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reduce the spread of the coronavirus , causing many businesses to close or scale back hours and services , and putting millions out of work .
Since March , the state has paid out more than $ 86 billion in unemployment benefits after processing some 12.6 million claims .
About 5.1 million Californians were paid benefits during the week that ended Sept. 12 .
However , thousands of jobless residents have complained that computer glitches , overloaded phone lines and confusing rules have for months prevented them getting unemployment benefits so they can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unacceptable and so was the condition of the system when we inherited it , ” Newsom said during a recent news conference .
“ We are trying to work aggressively through that backlog.
” Lawmakers have criticized the governor for not doing enough to address the agency ’ s issues .
Newsom asked the EDD in July to process all of the claims in the backlog by the end of September and created the strike team to complete a report in 45 days , which ended Sept. 14 .
But with the end @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strike team said major change is needed to stop the growth of the backlog and estimated that it will take the agency four months to clear the hundreds of thousands of claims remaining in its backlog .
“ Based on data of new claim filings , California ’ s current backlog of undetermined claims is growing by at least ten thousand claims per day , ” the report said , adding that , given the state of the economy and other factors , “ it ’ s reasonable to assume inbound claim rates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” The strike team said the EDD must also change an internal culture that is delaying approval of legitimate claims based on fears of fraud , adding that agency officials said they believe that tens of thousands of claims from people who have not responded to identity verification requests are fraudulent .
“ While it is certainly EDD ’ s job to fight fraud , it is also EDD ’ s job not to allow the fight against fraud to interfere with the delivery of benefits to legitimate claimants , ” the report @ @ @ @ @ @ @ continuing to express concerns over an EDD call center that operates from 8 a.m. to noon to resolve problems for claim filers and has long been understaffed .
EDD added a second phone line that operates 12 hours a day , but callers have complained that many of those answering calls are not trained to address stalled claims .
Hilliard recently told legislators that the agency plans to merge the two call centers by mid-October to provide more agents trained in claim resolution .
The strike team recommended a system in which experienced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by calling unemployed claimants , rather than waiting for them to reach out to the call center , and working the issues out in one call .
Hilliard also said recently that a contract to replace the “ obsolete ” technology at the agency is scheduled to be awarded in October .
The strike team noted in its report that modernization of the EDD information technology system — the agency has experienced computer problems for more than a decade — is a years-long process and recommended that it be done in phases so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the anxiety for those out of work and waiting on delayed benefits , a supplemental $ 300-per-week payment funded by the federal government recently expired after five weeks , and a request for a sixth week has stalled .
Newsom ’ s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strike team ’ s report , but he said in July that “ there should be no barriers between Californians and the benefits they have earned.
” Weaknesses in the EDD claims system have resulted in widespread fraud @ @ @ @ @ @ @ numbers stolen in data breaches at major corporations .
The Beverly Hills police arrested 44 people this month for fraudulently obtaining 129 EDD debit cards potentially worth more than $ 2.5 million in benefits .
The EDD has said it is counting on its identity verification process to block fraudulent applications , and tightened up the rules in recent weeks .

A man looks for jobs at the One-Stop center in East Los Angeles before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. A “strike team” is recommending an overhaul of the state Employment Development operations to end delays to approving jobless benefits.
California’s antiquated unemployment benefits system requires a complete overhaul to overcome significant problems that have delayed getting money to many left jobless during the COVID-19 pandemic, a strike team appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom said Saturday.
The 45-day review by technology and government experts found that the backlog of unresolved claims at the state Employment Development Department is growing rapidly, by 10,000 a day, and — although Newsom wanted it eliminated by the end of this month — will take several more months to be cleared.
The report was requested by Newsom in July after months of complaints from unemployed Californians frustrated with the state agency for failing to process claims, leaving them without the benefits needed to pay their bills. The EDD has also come under fire from state legislators, who last week approved an emergency audit of its performance in response to the criticisms and following reports of widespread fraud in the unemployment system.
“No matter how common this situation may be, it is unacceptable,” the strike team said in its report, noting that other states are also being overwhelmed with unprecedented numbers of claims for unemployment benefits. “The state must deliver this benefit to those who qualify within a time frame that’s relevant to the well-being of the claimant, and it was failing to do that for too many Californians.”
The report, which was supposed to be released last Monday and was instead issued late Saturday evening, recommends long-term and immediate fixes at the EDD that would help those who are out of work get faster help online or by phone to resolve problems that have bogged down more than 1.5 million claims.
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“With this road map, EDD is already on their way to meeting claimants’ needs faster, and I’m confident that over time the department will continue to improve the experience people have filing for unemployment insurances,” said Jennifer Pahlka, co-leader of the strike team and the founder of the Code for America, a group that seeks to improve the public’s access to government services through digital technology. That group was not involved in the effort. The other team leader is Yolanda Richardson, secretary of the state Government Operations Agency.
Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco), a leading critic of the EDD, said the report is helpful but the facts about the agency’s performance are discouraging.
“The report documents how EDD has failed the people it serves in almost every imaginable way,” Chiu said. “The size and scope of the backlog are shockingly large.”
The 109-page report lists more than 100 recommendations, including one the state says is already in the works: the creation of a streamlined identity verification process that is expected to be ready by Oct. 5 and would enable 90% of applications to be approved online in as little as a few weeks. Currently, 40% of all applications must be manually processed to verify the identity of claimants and guard against fraud, which can take months to complete.
Under the current system, if the EDD cannot verify a person’s identity when the first claim is filed, the agency mails a notice giving the applicant 10 days to submit two forms of identification, including a copy of a driver’s license or passport. Those documents can be uploaded online but are later manually processed in the system by EDD workers.
If information in the documents is different from what is on the claim — such as a different birth date or spelling of a name — that can trigger a more lengthy process, and those who don’t reply within 10 days can have their claim denied, further delaying the process.
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A report released by EDD in July found that 87.8% of claimants saw initial payments within 14 calendar days in March, but by June the number had dropped to 51.9%.
EDD director Sharon Hilliard voiced support on Saturday for the recommendations of the strike team in a letter to the governor and said she was working to “ensure our customers are provided their benefits they deserve in a timely manner.” She estimated there are more than 1.5 million unresolved claims in the backlog.
On the recommendation of the strike team, the EDD has approved a contract with online identity verification company ID.me for a system that would more quickly authenticate identification documents submitted online, automatically approving claims.
The company also works with the U.S. Social Security Administration and other states, including Florida, where applicants complete the verification process through a video chat with an ID.me agent.
The new online verification process will be available to new applicants in California starting Oct. 5, but would not retroactively apply to those who have previously filed claims that are bogged down in the approval process because they cannot be transferred over to the new system, officials said.
The EDD said later Saturday that it will delay accepting new claims for two weeks until the faster system is in place, but that unemployed Californians can provide the agency with contact information so they can be notified when new claims can be filed.
To address claims already in the system, the EDD was largely relying on a plan to hire and train 5,300 new staff members to process problem claims and eliminate the backlog.
However, the strike team found that those with experience processing claims were being distracted by other duties, including training new hires, so it recommended that those experts be reassigned to focus on eliminating the backlog of pending claims.
Moving toward automatic digital processing of claims would also eliminate the need to assign large numbers of people to open and process mail, the strike team said.
Members of the team also observed workers in EDD offices to identify ways in which the process could be improved, and observed too much unopened mail, and confusion over call center staff working from home.
California’s unemployment insurance system has been overwhelmed with an unprecedented number of claims for benefits since the state ordered residents to stay at home in March to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, causing many businesses to close or scale back hours and services, and putting millions out of work.
Since March, the state has paid out more than $86 billion in unemployment benefits after processing some 12.6 million claims. About 5.1 million Californians were paid benefits during the week that ended Sept. 12.
However, thousands of jobless residents have complained that computer glitches, overloaded phone lines and confusing rules have for months prevented them from getting unemployment benefits so they can pay their bills.
“This is unacceptable and so was the condition of the system when we inherited it,” Newsom said during a recent news conference. “We are trying to work aggressively through that backlog.”
Lawmakers have criticized the governor for not doing enough to address the agency’s issues.
Newsom asked the EDD in July to process all of the claims in the backlog by the end of September and created the strike team to complete a report in 45 days, which ended Sept. 14.
But with the end of the month fast approaching, the strike team said major change is needed to stop the growth of the backlog and estimated that it will take the agency four months to clear the hundreds of thousands of claims remaining in its backlog.
“Based on data of new claim filings, California’s current backlog of undetermined claims is growing by at least ten thousand claims per day,” the report said, adding that, given the state of the economy and other factors, “it’s reasonable to assume inbound claim rates will not abate in the foreseeable future.”
The strike team said the EDD must also change an internal culture that is delaying approval of legitimate claims based on fears of fraud, adding that agency officials said they believe that tens of thousands of claims from people who have not responded to identity verification requests are fraudulent.
“While it is certainly EDD’s job to fight fraud, it is also EDD’s job not to allow the fight against fraud to interfere with the delivery of benefits to legitimate claimants,” the report said.
Meanwhile, state lawmakers are continuing to express concerns over an EDD call center that operates from 8 a.m. to noon to resolve problems for claim filers and has long been understaffed. EDD added a second phone line that operates 12 hours a day, but callers have complained that many of those answering calls are not trained to address stalled claims.
Hilliard recently told legislators that the agency plans to merge the two call centers by mid-October to provide more agents trained in claim resolution.
The strike team recommended a system in which experienced claims processors resolve problems with stalled applications by calling unemployed claimants, rather than waiting for them to reach out to the call center, and working the issues out in one call.
Hilliard also said recently that a contract to replace the “obsolete” technology at the agency is scheduled to be awarded in October. The strike team noted in its report that modernization of the EDD information technology system — the agency has experienced computer problems for more than a decade — is a years-long process and recommended that it be done in phases so improvements will not be delayed.
Adding to the anxiety for those out of work and waiting on delayed benefits, a supplemental $300-per-week payment funded by the federal government recently expired after five weeks, and a request for a sixth week has stalled.
Newsom’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strike team’s report, but he said in July that “there should be no barriers between Californians and the benefits they have earned.”
Weaknesses in the EDD claims system have resulted in widespread fraud that involves the use of Social Security numbers stolen in data breaches at major corporations. Beverly Hills police arrested 44 people this month for fraudulently obtaining 129 EDD debit cards potentially worth more than $2.5 million in benefits.
The EDD has said it is counting on its identity verification process to block fraudulent applications, and has tightened up the rules in recent weeks.


latimes--2020-09-19--Bobcat fire explodes to 93,842 acres, claims homes amid heavy winds; more evacuations ordered

Roland Pagan on Saturday stood knee-deep in swirls of smoke on a mesa where the two-story home it took him nine years to build once offered commanding views of the desert flatlands below .
Almost exactly 24 hours earlier , Pagan , 80 , stood on a nearby hill and peered through binoculars , watching his house in Juniper Hills collapse in flames .
“ The ferocity of this fire was shocking , ” he said , shaking his head in sadness .
“ It burned my house alive in just 20 minutes.
” The Bobcat fire exploded Friday amid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Antelope Valley and spreading in multiple directions .
As of Saturday , the fire had burned more than 93,842 acres and was threatening some desert communities along Highway 138 .
The fire lines stretched across 30 miles of rough terrain on the northern flanks of the San Gabriel Mountains .
Pagan was struggling to take stock of his losses and figure out what to do next .
“ Holy mackerel , ” he mumbled , to no one in particular as he strode through the smoldering ruins .
“ It ’ s gon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grips with what just happened here , ” he said .
“ I ’ m in shock.
” As he spoke , columns of smoke arose in the distance on all sides of his house , signaling property elsewhere that was catching fire .
“ Yesterday and through the night , the fire made a dramatic push due to the windy conditions , ” Capt .
David Dantic , public information officer for the fire response effort , said Saturday morning .
Several homes in the remote foothills community were lost , Dantic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wasn ’ t immediately clear .
“ We ’ ll get a better assessment once our teams go out , but we were in an active firefight yesterday , ” he said .
He said firefighters were continuing to work to protect homes on Saturday .
Though the fire approached the high desert community of Valyermo , a Benedictine monastery there appeared to have escaped major damage .
The fire spread rapidly onto the desert floor Friday as winds arrived .
Some residents had to flee as the fire jumped around , hitting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tore through stands of yucca and juniper , leaving behind piles of ash resembling leopard spots and transforming the landscape into a smoky wasteland .
The fire was 15 % contained as of Saturday , but fire officials said they have a tough weekend ahead with hot conditions and more winds forecast .
“ We are expecting another round of some pretty gusty south to southwest winds over the Bobcat fire this afternoon and into the evening hours , ” said David Gomberg , meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ elevated fire weather threat both Saturday and Sunday due to the combination of wind and low relative humidity .
A high priority throughout the day for firefighters was monitoring the behavior of the wind , which was sporadic and ranged from stock still to rambunctious .
Whenever gusts arose , there suddenly appeared more smoke in the air and more spires of dark smoke , indicating new blazes .
The fire has more than doubled in size in just a few days , growing nearly 20,000 acres from Friday to Saturday alone .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ challenging because it is burning in areas that have not burned in decades , and because the firestorms across the state have limited resources .
There are now more than 1,600 firefighters on the lines .
They have relied upon helicopters and water dropping airplanes to deal with heat , erratic winds , low humidity and flames sweeping across vast swaths of inaccessible mountain terrain .
Compounding problems for firefighters trying to defend lives and property in sparsely populated areas has been what L.A. County Fire Department Capt .
Sam Bashaw described as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to prepare for fires .
“ The price of living in a rural area comes with responsibility — be prepared for the worst , ” he said .
“ Do they take that to heart ?
Absolutely not.
” The blaze is destroying forests and laying the groundwork for mudslides in some of the last refuges for federally endangered animals , including the southern mountain yellow-legged frog .
The fire burned through the Devil ’ s Punchbowl Natural Area , destroying the nature center , the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or staff were hurt , and the wildlife sanctuary staff office was still standing , the department said .
Crews are trying to stop the blaze from marching east of Highway 39 and , to the west , working to protect Mt .
Wilson , topped by its namesake observatory as well as numerous communication towers .
Firefighters have put a containment line around part of Mt .
Wilson but are “ still not out of the woods ” because hotspots could flare up , Dantic said .
There was also concern that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Wrightwood area , which remained under an evacuation warning Saturday .
At 2:30 p.m. , the eastern edges of the fire were chewing through pine and oak forests about eight miles south of the San Gabriel Mountain resort town .
The town of about 4,000 residents sits at the bottom of heavily wooded Swarthout Valley and has been threatened many times over the decades by encroaching wildfire .
As of Saturday afternoon , however , it was business as usual with tourists ringing up purchases in gift shops and restaurants .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s century-old wood-framed visitors center , four miles south of town , were not taking any chances .
There , a crew spent much of the day encasing the historic structure ’ s eaves , wood shingles and exterior walls in aluminum foil to deflect windblown embers .
“ Our goal is to make sure we contain the fire but fire is unpredictable and it can do anything at any point and time , ” Dantic said .
“ We do have units strategically in place so we can stop this fire.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and to be ready to leave if placed under an evacuation warning .
New evacuation orders were issued Saturday for the foothill areas south of 138th Street East , north of Big Pines Highway and Highway 2 , west of 263rd Street East and east of Largo Vista Road .
Residents in northern foothill communities , including portions of Juniper Hills , Devil ’ s Punchbowl and Paradise Springs , were placed under earlier in the week as flames closed in on the area .
Orders were also issued for residents south of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Highway , west of Largo Vista Road and east of 165th Street East .
Fire crews have made significant progress on the southern edge of the fire , which jeopardized several foothill communities , including Arcadia and Sierra Madre .
Evacuation warnings for Arcadia , Sierra Madre , Monrovia , Duarte and Bradbury were lifted Saturday afternoon , but the warnings remained in place for Pasadena and Altadena .
The blaze comes in the midst of an unprecedented fire season in California , with more than 7,900 wildfires burning more than 3.5 million @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the year , according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection .
The fires have killed 26 people and destroyed more than 5,800 structures since mid-August , when a siege of dry lightning strikes sparked hundreds of blazes , some of which quickly spread through dry vegetation that was primed by a record-setting heat wave .
Experts say that climate change has played a role in the extreme conditions , as the gradual warming of the planet has accelerated as greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise .
Crews have nearly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ converged into massive complexes in Northern and Central California .
Crews also reported progress against several large fires burning elsewhere in the state but said weather conditions could pose a challenge this weekend .
The North Complex fire , which has killed 15 people and damaged or destroyed more than 1,450 structures in Butte , Plumas and Yuba counties , was at 289,951 acres and 58 % contained .
Fire officials said they expected an increase in fire activity Saturday due to dropping humidity and warmer temperatures .
To the south , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ San Bernardino County along Highway 38 and in the Angelus Oaks area , officials said .
The fire broke out Sept. 7 near Yucaipa and was 59 % contained Saturday , down from 66 % earlier in the week .
Officials said it was caused by a smoke-emitting pyrotechnic device that was part of a gender-reveal party in a park .
Flames had destroyed at least four homes and damaged two others , and the fire was continuing to threaten more than 26,000 structures .
A firefighter died while fighting the blaze earlier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ firefighter to die while fighting California ’ s wildfires this year .

Roland Pagan on Saturday stood knee-deep in swirls of smoke on a mesa where the two-story home it took him nine years to build once offered commanding views of the desert flatlands below.
Almost exactly 24 hours earlier, Pagan, 80, had stood on a nearby hill and peered through binoculars, watching the house in Juniper Hills collapse in flames.
“The ferocity of this fire was shocking,” he said, shaking his head in sadness. “It burned my house alive in just 20 minutes.”
The Bobcat fire exploded Friday amid intense winds, burning homes in the Antelope Valley and spreading in multiple directions.
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As of Saturday, the fire had burned more than 93,842 acres and was threatening some desert communities along Highway 138. The fire lines stretched across 30 miles of rough terrain on the northern flanks of the San Gabriel Mountains.
Roland Pagan surveys the remains of his home that the Bobcat fire burned to the ground Friday. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Pagan was struggling to take stock of his losses and figure out what to do next.
“Holy mackerel,” he mumbled to no one in particular as he strode through the smoldering ruins.
“It’s gonna take several days to come to grips with what just happened here,” he said. “I’m in shock.”
As he spoke, columns of smoke arose in the distance on all sides of his house, signaling property elsewhere that was catching fire.
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“Yesterday and through the night, the fire made a dramatic push due to the windy conditions,” Capt. David Dantic, public information officer for the fire response effort, said Saturday morning.
Several homes in the remote foothills community were lost, Dantic said. The extent of the destruction wasn’t immediately clear.
“We’ll get a better assessment once our teams go out, but we were in an active firefight yesterday,” he said. He said firefighters were continuing to work to protect homes on Saturday.
Though the fire approached the high desert community of Valyermo, a Benedictine monastery there appeared to have escaped major damage.
A resident flees as the Bobcat fire approaches Cima Mesa Road in Juniper Hills. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
The fire spread rapidly onto the desert floor Friday as winds arrived. Some residents had to flee as the fire jumped around, hitting some homes but sparing others.
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Flames tore through stands of yucca and juniper, leaving behind piles of ash resembling leopard spots and transforming the landscape into a smoky wasteland.
The fire was 15% contained as of Saturday, but fire officials said they had a tough weekend ahead with hot conditions and more winds forecast.
“We are expecting another round of some pretty gusty south to southwest winds over the Bobcat fire this afternoon and into the evening hours,” said David Gomberg, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. The weather service was warning of an elevated fire weather threat both Saturday and Sunday due to the combination of wind and low relative humidity.
A high priority throughout the day for firefighters was monitoring the behavior of the wind, which was sporadic and ranged from stock still to rambunctious. Whenever gusts arose, there suddenly appeared more smoke in the air and more spires of dark smoke, indicating new blazes.
The fire more than doubled in size in just a few days, growing by nearly 20,000 acres from Friday to Saturday alone. Officials said the fire had been so challenging because it was burning in areas that had not burned in decades, and because the firestorms across the state had limited resources.
There are now more than 1,600 firefighters on the lines. They have relied on helicopters and water-dropping airplanes in dealing with heat, erratic winds, low humidity and flames sweeping across vast swaths of inaccessible mountain terrain.
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Compounding problems for firefighters trying to defend lives and property in sparsely populated areas has been what L.A. County Fire Department Capt. Sam Bashaw described as a lack of responsibility among some residents to prepare for fires.
A statue sits on top of a house in Juniper Hills that was leveled by the Bobcat fire Saturday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
“The price of living in a rural area comes with responsibility — be prepared for the worst,” he said. “Do they take that to heart? Absolutely not.”
The blaze is destroying forests and laying the groundwork for mudslides in some of the last refuges for federally endangered animals, including the southern mountain yellow-legged frog.
The fire burned through the Devil’s Punchbowl Natural Area, destroying the nature center, the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation said on Twitter. No animals or staff were hurt, and the wildlife sanctuary staff office was still standing, the department said.
Crews are trying to stop the blaze from marching east of Highway 39 and, to the west, are working to protect Mt. Wilson, topped by its namesake observatory as well as numerous communication towers. Firefighters have put a containment line around part of Mt. Wilson but are “still not out of the woods” because hotspots could flare up, Dantic said.
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There was also concern that wind could push the fire northeast toward the Wrightwood area, which remained under an evacuation warning Saturday.
At 2:30 p.m., the eastern edges of the fire were chewing through pine and oak forests about eight miles south of the San Gabriel Mountain resort town.
The Bear Divide Hotshots crew on Saturday wraps the U.S. Forest Service information center in aluminum foil to deflect windblown embers from the Bobcat fire. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
The town of about 4,000 residents sits at the bottom of heavily wooded Swarthout Valley and has been threatened many times over the decades by encroaching wildfire.
As of Saturday afternoon, however, it was business as usual with tourists ringing up purchases in gift shops and restaurants.
But firefighters at the U.S. Forest Service’s century-old wood-framed visitors center, four miles south of town, were not taking any chances.
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There, a crew spent much of the day encasing the historic structure’s eaves, wood shingles and exterior walls in aluminum foil to deflect windblown embers.
“Our goal is to make sure we contain the fire, but fire is unpredictable, and it can do anything at any point and time,” Dantic said. “We do have units strategically in place so we can stop this fire.”
He urged residents to heed evacuation orders and to be ready to leave if placed under an evacuation warning.
New evacuation orders were issued Saturday for the foothill areas south of 138th Street East, north of Big Pines Highway and Highway 2, west of 263rd Street East and east of Largo Vista Road.
Residents in northern foothill communities, including portions of Juniper Hills, Devil’s Punchbowl and Paradise Springs, were placed under evacuation orders earlier in the week as flames closed in on the area.
Orders were also issued for residents south of Pearblossom Highway, north of Big Pines Highway, west of Largo Vista Road and east of 165th Street East.
Fire crews have made significant progress on the southern edge of the fire, which jeopardized several foothill communities, including Arcadia and Sierra Madre. Evacuation warnings for Arcadia, Sierra Madre, Monrovia, Duarte and Bradbury were lifted Saturday afternoon, but the warnings remained in place for Pasadena and Altadena.
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The blaze comes in the midst of an unprecedented fire season in California, with more than 7,900 wildfires burning over 3.5 million acres in the state since the start of the year, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The fires have killed 26 people and destroyed more than 5,800 structures since mid-August, when a siege of dry lightning strikes sparked hundreds of blazes, some of which quickly spread through dry vegetation that was primed by a record-setting heat wave.
Experts say that climate change has played a role in the extreme conditions, as the gradual warming of the planet has accelerated as greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise.
A firefighter monitors the El Dorado fire as it approaches Yucaipa. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Crews have nearly contained several of the lightning-sparked fires that converged into massive complexes in Northern and Central California.
Crews also reported progress against several large fires burning elsewhere in the state but said weather conditions could pose a challenge this weekend.
The North Complex fire, which has killed 15 people and damaged or destroyed more than 1,450 structures in Butte, Plumas and Yuba counties, was at 289,951 acres and 58% contained.
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Fire officials said they expected an increase in fire activity Saturday due to dropping humidity and warmer temperatures.
To the south, the 22,071-acre El Dorado fire was burning in San Bernardino County along Highway 38 and in the Angelus Oaks area, officials said.
The fire broke out Sept. 7 near Yucaipa and was 59% contained Saturday, down from 66% earlier in the week. Officials said it was caused by a smoke-emitting pyrotechnic device that was part of a gender-reveal party in a park.
Flames had destroyed at least four homes and damaged two others, and the fire was continuing to threaten more than 26,000 structures. A firefighter died while fighting the blaze earlier in the week, becoming the third firefighter to die while fighting California’s wildfires this year.


latimes--2020-09-18--John Wasson, UCLA cosmochemist who chased after meteorites, dies at 86

While others looked to the skies for clues as they sought to unravel the mysteries of the solar system , John Wasson found his answers in the chunks and fragments of space debris that crashed to Earth , often tens of thousands of years ago .
A cosmochemist and passionate promoter of California science , Wasson chased after meteorites around the world and studied their crystalline interiors , hoping for fresh revelations on how the planets were formed .
When a meteorite streaked across the New Mexico skyline in 1996 before slamming to Earth near Kernville , Calif. , creating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wasson so wanted to study it that he persuaded UCLA to put up a $ 5,000 reward for its retrieval .
The reward was never claimed .
“ You learn neat things about how the solar system works , ” he explained simply enough in a 2013 oral history when asked about his fascination with the fiery objects torn from the surface of the moon , Mars and beyond .
A longtime UCLA professor who continued to bike to the Westwood campus until suffering a stroke in January , Wasson died at his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He was 86 .
Wasson collected meteorites at a furious pace , slowly amassing a trove that would eventually fill a large room on the third floor of UCLA ’ s Geology Building .
With the help of others it became the UCLA Meteorite Collection , the largest such display in the West .
The centerpiece of the display is the Canyon Diablo Meteorite , a mammoth 357-pound chunk of iron and nickel that slammed to Earth roughly 50,000 years ago , carving out a 560-foot-deep crater outside what ’ s now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1,500 pieces of space debris in the collection , ranging from meteorites the size of a boulder to others no bigger than a grain of rice .
Wasson ’ s favorite was the La ’ gad , a 185-gram meteorite that fell in the Western Sahara Desert .
He marveled at the angular fragments it contained from the light-colored lunar highlands .
He judged it “ the most spectacular ” meteorite in the world .
Studying and collecting meteorites was not only an academic pursuit for Wasson .
There was a cloak and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well .
When a group of amateur prospectors came across a 3-ton meteorite in the Old Woman Mountains in the Mojave Desert in 1975 , Wesson and other scientists were stunned when Smithsonian officials laid claim to the mammoth orb under the Antiquities Act .
Wesson had grown weary of seeing such finds being hauled away by East Coast institutions and protested that the museum ’ s claim to the Old Woman Meteorite was both arrogant and petty .
Though the Smithsonian displayed the impressive meteorite for several years , it eventually settled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ meteorite and the rest returned west .
UCLA took another 177-pound cut , and the remaining and largest portion is now displayed at the Desert Discovery Center in Barstow .
Wasson was born July 4 , 1934 , in Springtown , Ark , a town of only 100 residents .
His father was a farmer ; his mother a teacher .
He had to travel to a neighboring town to attend high school .
He fell in love with chemistry while studying at the University of Arkansas and later earned his doctorate at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Munich , Germany , where he met his future wife , Wasson headed to UCLA to pursue a career in nuclear chemistry .
“ He arrived at UCLA at the right time , during the NASA Apollo missions to the moon when scientists for the first time were able to study lunar samples brought back from the surface , ” said Alan Rubin , cocurator of the meteorite collection .
During his career , Wasson wrote two books and more than 300 papers on the chemical and petrologic properties of meteorites and lunar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ named in his honor — “ wassonite , ” a form of titanium sulfide .
Wasson is survived by his wife , Gudrun , and two daughters , Christina and Kerstin .

John Wasson amassed a trove of meteorites that would eventually fill a large room on the third floor of UCLA’s Geology Building.
While others looked to the skies for clues as they sought to unravel the mysteries of the solar system, John Wasson found his answers in the chunks and fragments of space debris that crashed to Earth, often tens of thousands of years ago.
A cosmochemist and passionate promoter of California science, Wasson chased after meteorites around the world and studied their crystalline interiors, hoping for fresh revelations on how the planets were formed. When a meteorite streaked across the New Mexico skyline in 1996 before slamming to Earth near Kernville, Calif., creating a quick and eerie green flash, Wasson so wanted to study it that he persuaded UCLA to put up a $5,000 reward for its retrieval. The reward was never claimed.
“You learn neat things about how the solar system works,” he explained simply enough in a 2013 oral history when asked about his fascination with the fiery objects torn from the surface of the moon, Mars and beyond.
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A longtime UCLA professor who continued to bike to the Westwood campus until suffering a stroke in January, Wasson died at his home in Los Angeles on Sept. 8. He was 86.
Wasson collected meteorites at a furious pace, slowly amassing a trove that would eventually fill a large room on the third floor of UCLA’s Geology Building. With the help of others it became the UCLA Meteorite Collection, the largest such display in the West.
The centerpiece of the display is the Canyon Diablo Meteorite, a mammoth 357-pound chunk of iron and nickel that slammed to Earth roughly 50,000 years ago, carving out a 560-foot-deep crater outside what’s now Flagstaff, Ariz. It is among 1,500 pieces of space debris in the collection, ranging from meteorites the size of a boulder to others no bigger than a grain of rice.
Wasson’s favorite was the La’gad, a 185-gram meteorite that fell in the Western Sahara Desert. He marveled at the angular fragments it contained from the light-colored lunar highlands. He judged it “the most spectacular” meteorite in the world.
The Canyon Diablo meteorite is the centerpiece of UCLA’s Meteorite Collection. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
Studying and collecting meteorites was not only an academic pursuit for Wasson. There was a cloak and dagger side to the meteorite trade as well.
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When a group of amateur prospectors came across a 3-ton meteorite in the Old Woman Mountains in the Mojave Desert in 1975, Wesson and other scientists were stunned when Smithsonian officials laid claim to the mammoth orb under the Antiquities Act. Wesson had grown weary of seeing such finds being hauled away by East Coast institutions and protested that the museum’s claim to the Old Woman Meteorite was both arrogant and petty.
Though the Smithsonian displayed the impressive meteorite for several years, it eventually settled for a healthy 942-pound slice of the meteorite and the rest returned west. UCLA took another 177-pound cut, and the remaining and largest portion is now displayed at the Desert Discovery Center in Barstow.
Wasson was born July 4, 1934, in Springtown, Ark, a town of only 100 residents. His father was a farmer; his mother a teacher. He had to travel to a neighboring town to attend high school. He fell in love with chemistry while studying at the University of Arkansas and later earned his doctorate at MIT. After a brief stay in Munich, Germany, where he met his future wife, Wasson headed to UCLA to pursue a career in nuclear chemistry.
“He arrived at UCLA at the right time, during the NASA Apollo missions to the moon when scientists for the first time were able to study lunar samples brought back from the surface,” said Alan Rubin, cocurator of the meteorite collection.
During his career, Wasson wrote two books and more than 300 papers on the chemical and petrologic properties of meteorites and lunar rocks. He even had a chemical named in his honor — “wassonite,” a form of titanium sulfide.
Wasson is survived by his wife, Gudrun, and two daughters, Christina and Kerstin.


latimes--2020-09-21--California's COVID-19 positivity rate drops below 3% for the first time

The share of Californians who tested positive for COVID-19 in the last week dipped below 3 % for the first time , a sign that the Golden State is finally starting to beat back the spread of the coronavirus , officials said Monday .
Just 3.1 % of Californians who were tested over the last two weeks received a positive result , and that ratio dropped to 2.8 % in the last seven days , state officials said .
Hospitals in California are treating the fewest patients with the virus since April , and admissions to the state ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , too .
It ’ s a rare piece of good news for 40 million Californians , who are contending with raging wildfires and toxic air quality on top of the economic , physical and emotional effects of the coronavirus pandemic .
But the good news is tempered with caution : Those fires , coupled with heat waves and toxic air quality , led to a decline in testing .
And health officials still aren ’ t certain if gatherings on Labor Day led to an increase in transmission because the virus can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Experts also fear that California ’ s timeline to reopen indoor businesses and schools will coincide with the start of the regular flu season .
Gov .
Gavin Newsom urged residents to get a flu shot , to wear face coverings and to observe physical distancing during the period he dubbed the “ twindemic.
” “ This disease has not gone away , ” Newsom said .
“ Quite the contrary.
” On Tuesday , Newsom said , officials will announce some changes to the state ’ s tiered ranking system : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The rankings measure the COVID-19 risk in each county — purple is the worst , yellow is the best — and are used to determine which businesses and schools can resume indoor operations .
A handful of counties , including San Diego and Orange , were promoted to the red tier earlier this month .
Those governments began the careful process of reopening schools as well as at 25 % capacity .
Orange County ’ s public schools will be allowed to reopen Tuesday , with mandatory social distancing for all students @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , said Dr. Clayton Chau , the county ’ s public health director .
Not all districts are resuming in-school classes immediately , he said : Some are waiting to see whether the county ’ s progress against COVID-19 holds , while others will phase in a few grades at a time .
A recent surge in COVID-19 infections among students at San Diego State University may push San Diego County back to purple , which would lead to tighter restrictions again .
And then there ’ s Los Angeles County , where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ high for any businesses to reopen for indoor operations .
The positive test rate rose last week , which health officials say could be the result of transmissions from the Labor Day weekend .
“ I want to be cautiously optimistic , but we did have four days of data last week that showed increases , ” said Barbara Ferrer , head of L.A. County ’ s public health department .
The uptick in positive tests is a “ troubling trend , ” she said , that recalls other increases earlier this summer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Memorial Day weekend , Ferrer said , the county began seeing a significant uptick in COVID-19 cases , and saw “ our biggest surge ” in the aftermath of the Fourth of July .
“ After you see the increase in cases , a week or two later , you start seeing an increase in hospitalizations , ” she said .
“ That often is followed , unfortunately , by an increase in deaths.
” So far , Orange County has not seen a similar uptick in cases , Chau said : “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
We haven ’ t seen it , and hopefully we ’ ll keep it that way .
”

The rate of positive results from COVID-19 tests in California over the last week fell below 3%, state officials said Monday.
The share of Californians who tested positive for COVID-19 in the last week dipped below 3% for the first time, a sign that the Golden State is finally starting to beat back the spread of the coronavirus, officials said Monday.
Just 3.1% of Californians who were tested over the last two weeks received a positive result, and that ratio dropped to 2.8% in the last seven days, state officials said. Hospitals in California are treating the fewest patients with the virus since April, and admissions to the state’s intensive care units have been dropping steadily, too.
It’s a rare piece of good news for 40 million Californians, who are contending with raging wildfires and toxic air quality on top of the economic, physical and emotional effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
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But the good news is tempered with caution: Those fires, coupled with heat waves and toxic air quality, led to a decline in testing. And health officials still aren’t certain if gatherings on Labor Day led to an increase in transmission because the virus can take up to two weeks to incubate.
Experts also fear that California’s timeline to reopen indoor businesses and schools will coincide with the start of the regular flu season. Gov. Gavin Newsom urged residents to get a flu shot, to wear face coverings and to observe physical distancing during the period he dubbed the “twindemic.”
“This disease has not gone away,” Newsom said. “Quite the contrary.”
On Tuesday, Newsom said, officials will announce some changes to the state’s tiered ranking system: purple, red, orange and yellow. The rankings measure the COVID-19 risk in each county — purple is the worst, yellow is the best — and are used to determine which businesses and schools can resume indoor operations.
A handful of counties, including San Diego and Orange, were promoted to the red tier earlier this month. Those governments began the careful process of reopening schools as well as restaurant dining rooms, museums, movie theaters and places of worship at 25% capacity.
Orange County’s public schools will be allowed to reopen Tuesday, with mandatory social distancing for all students and required face coverings for older students, said Dr. Clayton Chau, the county’s public health director.
Not all districts are resuming in-school classes immediately, he said: Some are waiting to see whether the county’s progress against COVID-19 holds, while others will phase in a few grades at a time.
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A recent surge in COVID-19 infections among students at San Diego State University may push San Diego County back to purple, which would lead to tighter restrictions again.
And then there’s Los Angeles County, where the COVID-19 positivity rate has stayed too high for any businesses to reopen for indoor operations. The positive test rate rose last week, which health officials say could be the result of transmissions from the Labor Day weekend.
“I want to be cautiously optimistic, but we did have four days of data last week that showed increases,” said Barbara Ferrer, head of L.A. County’s public health department. The uptick in positive tests is a “troubling trend,” she said, that recalls other increases earlier this summer.
Two to three weeks after the Memorial Day weekend, Ferrer said, the county began seeing a significant uptick in COVID-19 cases, and saw “our biggest surge” in the aftermath of the Fourth of July.
“After you see the increase in cases, a week or two later, you start seeing an increase in hospitalizations,” she said. “That often is followed, unfortunately, by an increase in deaths.”
So far, Orange County has not seen a similar uptick in cases, Chau said: “I’m keeping my fingers crossed. We haven’t seen it, and hopefully we’ll keep it that way.”