latimes--2020-10-22--He photographed L.A. protests 'almost as an afterthought.' Now his pictures are part of history

As protests against police brutality spread across Los Angeles this summer , Tommy Oliver had a gut feeling that he had to be there .
His wife was skeptical — COVID-19 was everywhere , they have three kids — but he just knew he had to go , he said .
As he headed out , the Los Angeles-based filmmaker — known in part for his “ Black Love ” docu-series on the Oprah Winfrey Network — grabbed his camera “ almost as an afterthought , ” he said , just in case he wanted to snap a few pictures @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are to be preserved as part of history .
After garnering widespread attention on social media and landing him on the “ Today ” show , Oliver ’ s images — in black and white and in color , of massive crowds but also individual characters — were noticed by curators at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture on the National Mall in Washington .
Aaron Bryant , the museum ’ s curator of photography , visual culture and contemporary history , had been thinking about how best to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nation following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in May .
“ How do these protests represent a historical moment , a historical shift ?
” he wondered .
Oliver ’ s images struck him as providing part of the answer .
“ Photographers , the really good ones , particularly in frenetic moments like this , are able to really capture the epic nature of the moment in a really emotional way , but also in a spatial way , ” Bryant said .
Oliver ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ epic — almost like Greek tragedy.
” The two men connected , and Bryant broached the topic of acquiring the images for the museum .
Oliver said he ’ d donate them all at no charge .
“ He ’ s agreed that we can select whatever we want , ” Bryant said .
There are images of individual protesters , and of individual police officers .
There are images of protesters seated in the middle of a street , and of thousands of them filling Hollywood Boulevard as far as the eye @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , celebrities like Kendrick Sampson and Michael B. Jordan marching and speaking , and people wearing masks to protect against the coronavirus — and not wearing them .
Smoke in one image hints at the unrest that broke out at some of the summer protests , but the images largely focus on the broader , underlying reality of the protests , which was community members standing up against police brutality .
Many of the images are from the massive Hollywood protest — for LGBTQ and other Black lives — that came off without @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are clear in some images , and blur into the crowd in others .
Always , there is humanity reflected back at the viewer .
“ It ’ s always about the people and the emotion and the connectivity , and not about the tableau , ” Oliver said .
“ These are people who are literally risking their health or risking their lives , because 200,000-plus people have died from COVID , and yet people are out protesting .
It ’ s individuals who are choosing that , to be out there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see friends , I see parents.
” The images still have to be presented to and approved by a Smithsonian collections committee , but Bryant said he was confident they ’ d make the cut .
Oliver , 36 , who co-created “ Black Love ” with his wife , Codie Elaine Oliver , has had his fair share of professional successes .
From humble roots in Philadelphia he got to Carnegie Mellon , and in his 20s , he formed a tech firm .
He has since produced several films ; is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the upcoming HBO documentary “ 40 Years a Prisoner ” ; and this year was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences .
Still , he ’ s never really considered himself a photographer , and the idea that photographs he ’ s taken of street protests over violent policing are now headed to one of the most venerated museums in the world to be preserved for future generations is “ mind-blowing , ” he said .
“ I grew up in the hood in Philly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many interactions with police — or friends , family have — and it ’ s such a weird thing .
It ’ s something that informed the photos in a weird way , ” Oliver said .
Asked what he hoped someone in a hundred years might take away from his images , Oliver let out his breath .
“ That ’ s one of the craziest questions I ’ ve ever been asked in my life , ” he said .
“ I would hope that the photos are a way to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up , who chose to fight back against police brutality and systemic racism , ” he said .
“ Who those people were , and how many there were , but specifically the who — who chose to be there — and the power of the individual .
”

As protests against police brutality spread across Los Angeles this summer, Tommy Oliver had a gut feeling that he had to be there. His wife was skeptical — COVID-19 was everywhere, they have three kids — but he just knew he had to go, he said.
As he headed out, the Los Angeles-based filmmaker — known in part for his “Black Love” docu-series on the Oprah Winfrey Network — grabbed his camera “almost as an afterthought,” he said, just in case he wanted to snap a few pictures.
Now, dozens of his images are to be preserved as part of history.
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After receiving widespread attention on social media and landing him on the “Today” show, Oliver’s images — in black and white and in color, of massive crowds but also individual characters — were noticed by curators at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture on the National Mall in Washington.
Aaron Bryant, the museum’s curator of photography, visual culture and contemporary history, had been thinking about how best to document the protest movement that swept the nation after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in May.
“How do these protests represent a historical moment, a historical shift?” he wondered.
Oliver’s images struck him as providing part of the answer.
An unidentified Black man sits with his fist raised at a protest against L.A. County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey in June. (Tommy Oliver)
“Photographers, the really good ones, particularly in frenetic moments like this, are able to really capture the epic nature of the moment in a really emotional way, but also in a spatial way,” Bryant said.
Oliver’s images, he said, “were epic — almost like Greek tragedy.”
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The two men connected, and Bryant broached the topic of acquiring the images for the museum. Oliver said he’d donate them all at no charge.
“He’s agreed that we can select whatever we want,” Bryant said.
There are images of individual protesters, and of individual police officers. There are images of protesters seated in the middle of a street, and of thousands of them filling Hollywood Boulevard as far as the eye can see. There are political signs, celebrities such as Kendrick Sampson and Michael B. Jordan marching and speaking, and people wearing masks to protect against the coronavirus — and not wearing them.
Smoke in one image hints at the unrest that broke out at some of the summer protests, but the images largely focus on the broader, underlying reality: community members standing up against police brutality. Many of the images are from the massive Hollywood demonstration — for LGBTQ and other Black lives — that came off without a hitch.
An unidentified child leans against his mother’s legs at a June protest in Los Angeles. (Tommy Oliver)
The faces of protesters are clear in some images, and blur into the crowd in others. Always, there is humanity reflected back at the viewer.
“It’s always about the people and the emotion and the connectivity, and not about the tableau,” Oliver said. “These are people who are literally risking their health or risking their lives, because 200,000-plus people have died from COVID, and yet people are out protesting. It’s individuals who are choosing that, to be out there.
“I see families, I see friends, I see parents.”
The images still have to be presented to and approved by a Smithsonian collections committee, but Bryant said he was confident they’d make the cut.
Oliver, 36, who co-created “Black Love” with his wife, Codie Elaine Oliver, has had his fair share of professional successes. From humble roots in Philadelphia he got to Carnegie Mellon, and in his 20s, he formed a tech firm. He has since produced several films, is the writer, director and producer of the upcoming HBO documentary “40 Years a Prisoner,” and this year was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
A Black woman, with fist raised, stands with fellow demonstrators on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica in a May protest. (Tommy Oliver)
Still, he’s never really considered himself a photographer, and the idea that photographs he’s taken of street protests over violent policing are now headed to one of the most venerated museums in the world to be preserved for future generations is “mind-blowing,” he said.
“I grew up in the hood in Philly, and I’ve had so many interactions with police — or friends, family have — and it’s such a weird thing. It’s something that informed the photos in a weird way,” Oliver said.
Asked what he hoped someone in a hundred years might take away from his images, Oliver let out his breath.
“That’s one of the craziest questions I’ve ever been asked in my life,” he said.
“I would hope that the photos are a way to see the people who chose to stand up, who chose to fight back against police brutality and systemic racism,” he said. “Who those people were, and how many there were, but specifically the who — who chose to be there — and the power of the individual.”


latimes--2020-10-22--Deadly O.C. 'street takeovers' in Costa Mesa and Anaheim kill one, injure two

Hundreds of cars descended on two Orange County cities overnight in a series of raucous “ street takeovers , ” leaving one man dead and a teenager injured in a melee , authorities said Thursday .
Scores of vehicles had “ completely taken over ” Sunflower and Hyland avenues , according to Costa Mesa police Sgt .
Zack Hoferitza , where several of the cars were reportedly doing “ doughnuts ” in the intersection .
A pickup flipped at the scene shortly before 2:30 a.m. , killing one of two passengers , police said .
The second passenger was injured @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did not identify the dead man , but speaking to a Times photographer at the scene , Sergio Marroquin said the victim was his 23-year-old son , Sergio Marroquin Jr. “ I don ’ t know what he was doing here , ” Marroquin said , adding that the family lives in Los Angeles .
The truck ’ s driver , whom police identified as Mynor Augusto Esquivelvalle , 22 , a cousin of the dead man , was arrested at the scene , spokeswoman Roxi Fyad said , as were several bystanders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tipped off to the raucous gathering by Anaheim authorities , who had dealt with a similar street takeover an hour earlier .
So-called street takeovers involve street racers or members of car clubs taking over a stretch of road or an intersection to perform burnouts and other driving stunts .
Police in Anaheim were called to the Anaheim Plaza in the 400 block of N. Euclid Street about 1:30 a.m. after reports of a takeover there .
Officers found about 200 vehicles had gathered in the parking lot to do doughnuts and other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
Cellphone video from the scene and obtained by ABC-TV Channel 7 shows a car spinning and then “ drifting ” in reverse before striking a woman and flipping her into the air .
Black marks left from burning rubber tires can be seen along the pavement where the 18-year-old woman landed .
She was taken to a hospital with moderate injuries and is expected to survive , Gallacher said .
The driver of the vehicle that police say struck the woman fled the scene but later was found , police said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was arrested on suspicion of felony hit-and-run and reckless driving causing great bodily injury .
He was being held in lieu of $ 50,000 bail .
When there are so many participants , and just a few officers , “ it ’ s challenging to address for officer-safety reasons , ” Gallacher said , describing the gatherings as “ car clubs.
” Those attending these types of car meet-ups are typically in their late teens or early 20s and find out about the events on social media , authorities said , adding that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ groups of these folks that are involved in these these clubs come together , and then they engage in dangerous behavior , ” Gallacher said .
And incidents are on the rise .
A street takeover in February in Fountain Valley included fireworks and led to an officer-involved shooting .
“ Throughout Southern California , we ’ re experiencing an increase in car club activity , ” Gallacher said .
Anaheim police are now responding to calls about car clubs and street takeovers on a weekly basis , he said .

Police in Costa Mesa investigate the site where a person was killed early Thursday when a pickup overturned while doing doughnuts in the street.
Hundreds of cars descended on two Orange County cities overnight in a series of raucous “street takeovers,” leaving one man dead and two people injured, authorities said Thursday.
Scores of vehicles had “completely taken over” Sunflower and Hyland avenues, according to Costa Mesa police Sgt. Zack Hoferitza, where several of the cars were reportedly doing “doughnuts” in the intersection. A pickup flipped at the scene shortly before 2:30 a.m., killing one of two passengers, police said. The second passenger was injured and sent to a hospital.
Authorities did not identify the dead man, but speaking to a Times photographer at the scene, Sergio Marroquin said the victim was his 23-year-old son, Sergio Marroquin Jr.
“I don’t know what he was doing here,” Marroquin said, adding that the family lives in Los Angeles.
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Sergio Marroquin and a family member grasp each other in grief as the body of a man Marronquin said was his son is removed from the crash site Thursday morning. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
The truck’s driver, whom police identified as Mynor Augusto Esquivelvalle, 22, a cousin of the dead man, was arrested at the scene, spokeswoman Roxi Fyad said, as were several bystanders.
Costa Mesa officials said they were tipped off to the raucous gathering by Anaheim authorities, who had dealt with a similar street takeover an hour earlier.
So-called street takeovers involve street racers or members of car clubs taking over a stretch of road or an intersection to perform burnouts and other driving stunts.
Police in Anaheim were called to the Anaheim Plaza in the 400 block of N. Euclid Street about 1:30 a.m. after reports of a takeover there. Officers found about 200 vehicles had gathered in the parking lot to do doughnuts and other behind-the-wheel tricks, Sgt. Jake Gallacher said.
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Cellphone video from the scene and obtained by ABC-TV Channel 7 shows a car spinning and then “drifting” in reverse before striking a woman and flipping her into the air. Black marks left from burning rubber tires can be seen along the pavement where the 18-year-old woman landed.
She was taken to a hospital with moderate injuries and is expected to survive, Gallacher said.
The driver of the vehicle that police say struck the woman fled the scene but later was found, police said. Preston James Shea, 19, was arrested on suspicion of felony hit-and-run and reckless driving causing great bodily injury. He was being held in lieu of $50,000 bail.
Police investigate the scene where a man was killed early Thursday morning in Costa Mesa. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
When there are so many participants, and just a few officers, “it’s challenging to address for officer-safety reasons,” Gallacher said, describing the gatherings as “car clubs.”
Those attending these types of car meet-ups are typically in their late teens or early 20s and find out about the events on social media, authorities said, adding that many have specialized cars.
“Large groups of these folks that are involved in these these clubs come together, and then they engage in dangerous behavior,” Gallacher said.
And incidents are on the rise. A street takeover in February in Fountain Valley included fireworks and led to an officer-involved shooting.
“Throughout Southern California, we’re experiencing an increase in car club activity,” Gallacher said.
Anaheim police are now responding to calls about car clubs and street takeovers on a weekly basis, he said.


latimes--2020-10-22--Rain tiptoes into L.A. as fire weather continues to grip Northern California

After months of blazing wildfires and record-setting heat , Angelenos awakened Thursday to something novel : a light drizzle .
The National Weather Service said an approaching low pressure system is behind the cool , cloudy conditions and that patchy drizzle will remain through the weekend .
There is a 20 % to 30 % chance of rain Saturday and Sunday , with cloudy skies and highs in the 60s , said David Sweet , a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard .
“ We haven ’ t really had a chance of rain in our forecast since @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dense fog and wet roadways are also in the forecast .
Drivers commuting through the foothills and mountain highway corridors Thursday should use extra caution and allow extra time .
The best shot for any real rain will be on Sunday , when the air will be at its moistest , the NWS said .
But some residents have already taken to social media to express their joy .
Meanwhile , it ’ s an altogether different story in Northern California , where weather conducive to fire has prompted red flag warnings in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In the Bay Area , a red flag warning is in effect through 8 a.m. Friday , indicating dry , windy conditions with gusts up to 25 miles per hour from the Napa hills down to the Diablo range .
Officials said the dryness is concerning .
“ History is not on our side as we are close to the anniversary date of last year ’ s Kincade fire and the Oakland Hills firestorm of 1991 , ” the National Weather Service warned .
In response to the dangerous conditions , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sierra foothills and Bay Area — one of a string of similar shutoffs by Pacific Gas & Electric in the last several weeks .
About 37,000 customers will be affected by the outage , which PG & E said is necessary because of high winds , low humidity and dry vegetation that “ together create high risk of catastrophic wildfires.
” Counties affected by the shutoff include parts of Alameda , Butte , Colusa , Contra Costa , Glenn , Humboldt , Lake , Napa , Plumas , Santa Clara , Shasta , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , as well as the tribal communities of Grindstone Rancheria and the Pit River Tribe .
Dangerous weather is also expected farther north , where red flag warnings remain in effect in parts of Humboldt , Trinity and Del Norte counties through Friday morning .
Dry weather will “ reign supreme through mid-next week ” in northwestern California , the NWS said , “ with warmer temperatures aloft and practically no chance for any significant rain.
” Southern Californians celebrating the rain shouldn ’ t get too comfortable , either .
Sweet said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with potentially dangerous fire conditions in the forecast .
“ Coming up on Monday to Tuesday , we ’ ve got pretty moderate-to-strong — I would say maybe even strong — Santa Ana wind conditions expected , with very gusty winds , ” he said .

Young surfers carry their boards on their heads as they leave Rat Beach in Palos Verdes Estates earlier this week.
After months of blazing wildfires and record-setting heat, Angelenos awakened Thursday to something novel: a light drizzle.
The National Weather Service said an approaching low pressure system is behind the cool, cloudy conditions and that patchy drizzle will remain through the weekend.
There is a 20% to 30% chance of rain Saturday and Sunday, with cloudy skies and highs in the 60s, said David Sweet, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
“We haven’t really had a chance of rain in our forecast since last season,” Sweet said.
Dense fog and wet roadways are also in the forecast. Drivers commuting through the foothills and mountain highway corridors Thursday should use extra caution and allow extra time.
The best shot for any real rain will be on Sunday, when the air will be at its moistest, the NWS said.
But some residents have already taken to social media to express their joy.
Rain in L.A. I’m bout to cry 🥺💦😭 pic.twitter.com/udxJ12liX7 — 🥺💜Ramstein💜🥺 (@Ramsteinrig) October 22, 2020
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Meanwhile, it’s an altogether different story in Northern California, where weather conducive to fire has prompted red flag warnings in multiple regions, despite overall cooling temperatures.
In the Bay Area, a red flag warning is in effect through 8 a.m. Friday, indicating dry, windy conditions with gusts up to 25 miles per hour from the Napa hills down to the Diablo range.
Officials said the dryness is concerning.
“History is not on our side as we are close to the anniversary date of last year’s Kincade fire and the Oakland Hills firestorm of 1991,” the National Weather Service warned.
💥Critical fire weather conditions continue across #NorCal through early tomorrow morning. It is vital that you practice fire safety and be prepared to evacuate if a fire starts near you! For more wildfire preparedness tips, visit https://t.co/4PbDmtOuXj. #CAwx #CAfire pic.twitter.com/ZwIrQYa5lD — NWS Sacramento (@NWSSacramento) October 15, 2020
In response to the dangerous conditions, a “ public safety power shutoff ” is already underway in the Sierra foothills and Bay Area — one of a string of similar shutoffs by Pacific Gas & Electric in the last several weeks.
About 37,000 customers will be affected by the outage, which PG&E said is necessary because of high winds, low humidity and dry vegetation that “together create high risk of catastrophic wildfires.”
Counties affected by the shutoff include parts of Alameda, Butte, Colusa, Contra Costa, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Napa, Plumas, Santa Clara, Shasta, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity and Yolo, as well as the tribal communities of Grindstone Rancheria and the Pit River Tribe.
Dangerous weather is also expected farther north, where red flag warnings remain in effect in parts of Humboldt, Trinity and Del Norte counties through Friday morning.
Dry weather will “reign supreme through mid-next week” in northwestern California, the NWS said, “with warmer temperatures aloft and practically no chance for any significant rain.”
Southern Californians celebrating the rain shouldn’t get too comfortable, either. Sweet said a change is due early next week, with potentially dangerous fire conditions in the forecast.
“Coming up on Monday to Tuesday, we’ve got pretty moderate-to-strong — I would say maybe even strong — Santa Ana wind conditions expected, with very gusty winds,” he said.


latimes--2020-10-22--After police social media scandal, Santa Clara County D.A. will drop charges in 14 cases

Four months after four San Jose police officers were caught posting offensive comments on a private Facebook page , the Santa Clara County district attorney has announced he will seek to dismiss more than a dozen cases in which the officers ’ testimony was pivotal to a conviction .
The move , announced Thursday , demonstrates a growing push among law enforcement leaders and community advocates to demonstrate consequences for officers who misuse social media , an increasing problem in California and other states .
In June , posts made in a law enforcement group on social media were leaked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the spouse of a Bay Area officer .
The whistleblower essay , published on the website Medium , included screenshots of posts in which multiple current and former officers at the San Jose Police Department used comments or images derogatory toward women , Muslims and people of color .
Santa Clara County Dist .
Atty .
Jeff Rosen on Thursday announced his office would ask the courts to dismiss charges in 14 old cases in which four officers involved in the June Facebook scandal or other officers , now retired , provided testimony @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could not otherwise be corroborated by other witnesses or body camera footage .
The cases are all misdemeanors , and none of the involved defendants are currently in jail on those charges , said David Angel , Santa Clara County assistant district attorney , who handled the investigations .
Angel said attorneys for the affected defendants would be notified by letter , and that the charges against the defendants included resisting arrest , driving under the influence , making criminal threats , drug sales and driving on a suspended license .
“ There @ @ @ @ @ @ @ criminal justice charge .
Even the most minor charge is the most important thing in a life to that person , ” Angel said .
“ That ’ s why I think it ’ s essential to have trust and integrity in all of them.
” Some of those charges , particularly resisting arrest , have been highlighted by criminal justice reform advocates as problematic in general because they can rely on the subjective opinion of the arresting officer .
Angel said his office began investigating cases involving the officers shortly after the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ looking at about 250 filings dating to 2005 and working on the assumption that the posts as reported by the media “ reflect a malignant bigotry on the part of these officers , ” Angel said .
In many of the questionable cases , he added , the district attorney could not confidently confirm that bias did not play a part in the officer ’ s initial decision to make contact with the person charged , regardless of whether the subsequent charge could be substantiated .
San Jose police did not immediately return @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is unclear whether the employed officers are currently on duty or what their assignments were at the time of the contested charges .
San Jose police spokesman Christian Camarillo said in an interview with The Times earlier this month that the investigation of the posts remained ongoing and that “ any time we have an officer accused of … .
conduct unbecoming an officer , we take that very seriously.
” Paul Kelly , president of the union that represents San Jose officers , said in a statement that the district attorney ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kelly said two of the four officers involved in the Facebook site have been “ exonerated and are back at work ” and criticized Rosen for taking action before an internal affairs investigation has been completed .
“ Making a decision to do this without even having all the facts of the administrative cases is reckless , ” he said .
“ Never mind that he is trampling all over innocent officers ’ rights and trying to harm them personally and professionally.
” Santa Clara County Public Defender Molly O ’ Neal said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ a good start , but I don ’ t think it goes far enough.
” O ’ Neal said her office was conducting its own investigation .
She has so far identified about 50 cases , including some with felony charges , that she thinks will require court review .
But like Angel ’ s office , she was not able to access the original Facebook page , which has since been taken down , leaving her office unable to determine if other officers made biased comments .
“ Any officer who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ should have their cases examined , ” she said .
Angel said attorneys in all the cases his office reviewed , including those in cases they are not seeking to dismiss , would be notified of the officers ’ involvement and that the district attorney would further review individual cases if new evidence of bias was presented .
Rosen ’ s decision to revisit the cases marks California ’ s first major attempted reversal of convictions based on officers ’ social media misconduct by a prosecutor , but it ’ s indicative of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ law enforcement .
Nationwide , law enforcement members have come under scrutiny — and landed in trouble — for their actions on social media .
That has prompted police leaders to push officers to pause and think about consequences and interpretations before they post — though , legally , departments can not ban officers from engaging on social media .
It has also raised questions about how far 1st Amendment rights for officers extend when their posts have the potential to undermine community trust or even incite action .
In San Jose , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ defund police .
Other departments in California are grappling with similar incidents .
Recently , a Trinity County and a deputy with the was disciplined after posting a meme of a Black male porn star with his knee on George Floyd ’ s neck .
A statewide union for prison guards received blowback for an online video in which a Black legislator ’ s face was .
In Los Angeles , a county Sheriff ’ s Department captain was reassigned after a Facebook post that said Andres Guardado , a Salvadoran American killed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Obayashi , a legal advisor to law enforcement who will teach a new class on social media for California officers , said the dismissal of cases should be a “ wake-up call ” for officers , and a caution that social media can end careers — it is likely the officers in question won ’ t be able to testify in court moving forward , making it nearly impossible for them to effectively arrest people .
“ Let this be another lesson , ” Obayashi said .
Officers “ keep saying , ‘ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re just venting , but when we are out there , we wear our badge and we ’ re professional.
’ And I keep having to tell them , that doesn ’ t mean a thing .
It ’ s the mere appearance of bias .
”

San Jose police officers speak with an unidentified man, left, near where five people were slain in the summer of 2019.
Four months after four San Jose police officers were caught posting offensive comments on a private Facebook page, the Santa Clara County district attorney has announced he will seek to dismiss more than a dozen cases in which the officers’ testimony was pivotal to a conviction.
The move, announced Thursday, demonstrates a growing push among law enforcement leaders and community advocates to demonstrate consequences for officers who misuse social media, an increasing problem in California and other states.
In June, posts made in a law enforcement group on social media were leaked by an anonymous source claiming to be the spouse of a Bay Area officer.
The whistleblower essay, published on the website Medium, included screenshots of posts in which multiple current and former officers at the San Jose Police Department used comments or images derogatory toward women, Muslims and people of color.
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Santa Clara County Dist. Atty. Jeff Rosen on Thursday announced his office would ask the courts to dismiss charges in 14 old cases in which four officers involved in the June Facebook scandal or other officers, now retired, provided testimony that was central to the case and could not otherwise be corroborated by other witnesses or body camera footage.
The cases are all misdemeanors, and none of the involved defendants are currently in jail on those charges, said David Angel, Santa Clara County assistant district attorney, who handled the investigations. Angel said attorneys for the affected defendants would be notified by letter, and that the charges against the defendants included resisting arrest, driving under the influence, making criminal threats, drug sales and driving on a suspended license.
“There is no such thing as a trivial criminal justice charge. Even the most minor charge is the most important thing in a life to that person,” Angel said. “That’s why I think it’s essential to have trust and integrity in all of them.”
Some of those charges, particularly resisting arrest, have been highlighted by criminal justice reform advocates as problematic in general because they can rely on the subjective opinion of the arresting officer.
Angel said his office began investigating cases involving the officers shortly after the Facebook posts came to light, ultimately looking at about 250 filings dating to 2005 and working on the assumption that the posts as reported by the media “reflect a malignant bigotry on the part of these officers,” Angel said.
In many of the questionable cases, he added, the district attorney could not confidently confirm that bias did not play a part in the officer’s initial decision to make contact with the person charged, regardless of whether the subsequent charge could be substantiated.
San Jose police did not immediately return a request for comment, and it is unclear whether the employed officers are currently on duty or what their assignments were at the time of the contested charges. San Jose police spokesman Christian Camarillo said in an interview with The Times earlier this month that the investigation of the posts remained ongoing and that “any time we have an officer accused of …. conduct unbecoming an officer, we take that very seriously.”
Paul Kelly, president of the union that represents San Jose officers, said in a statement that the district attorney’s actions were “political grandstanding.” Kelly said two of the four officers involved in the Facebook site have been “exonerated and are back at work” and criticized Rosen for taking action before an internal affairs investigation has been completed.
“Making a decision to do this without even having all the facts of the administrative cases is reckless,” he said. “Never mind that he is trampling all over innocent officers’ rights and trying to harm them personally and professionally.”
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Santa Clara County Public Defender Molly O’Neal said the district attorney’s actions were “a good start, but I don’t think it goes far enough.”
O’Neal said her office was conducting its own investigation. She has so far identified about 50 cases, including some with felony charges, that she thinks will require court review.
But like Angel’s office, she was not able to access the original Facebook page, which has since been taken down, leaving her office unable to determine if other officers made biased comments.
“Any officer who exhibited this kind of racism and bigotry should have their cases examined,” she said.
Angel said attorneys in all the cases his office reviewed, including those in cases they are not seeking to dismiss, would be notified of the officers’ involvement and that the district attorney would further review individual cases if new evidence of bias was presented.
Rosen’s decision to revisit the cases marks California’s first major attempted reversal of convictions based on officers’ social media misconduct by a prosecutor, but it’s indicative of a growing problem in the ranks of law enforcement.
Nationwide, law enforcement members have come under scrutiny — and landed in trouble — for their actions on social media. That has prompted police leaders to push officers to pause and think about consequences and interpretations before they post — though, legally, departments cannot ban officers from engaging on social media. It has also raised questions about how far 1st Amendment rights for officers extend when their posts have the potential to undermine community trust or even incite action.
In San Jose, the incident has emboldened those calling to defund police.
Other departments in California are grappling with similar incidents. Recently, a Trinity County sheriff’s deputy was fired and a deputy with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department was disciplined after posting a meme of a Black male porn star with his knee on George Floyd’s neck.
A statewide union for prison guards received blowback for an online video in which a Black legislator’s face was covered by a bull’s-eye . In Los Angeles, a county Sheriff’s Department captain was reassigned after a Facebook post that said Andres Guardado, a Salvadoran American killed by a deputy in Gardena, “chose his fate.”
Ed Obayashi, a legal advisor to law enforcement who will teach a new class on social media for California officers, said the dismissal of cases should be a “wake-up call” for officers, and a caution that social media can end careers — it is likely the officers in question won’t be able to testify in court moving forward, making it nearly impossible for them to effectively arrest people.
“Let this be another lesson,” Obayashi said. Officers “keep saying, ‘We’re not biased, we’re just venting, but when we are out there, we wear our badge and we’re professional.’ And I keep having to tell them, that doesn’t mean a thing. It’s the mere appearance of bias.”


latimes--2020-10-22--Angelenos applaud pope's endorsement of same-sex civil unions but worry it doesn't go far enough

Jesus Suatan first heard about Pope Francis ’ groundbreaking comment supporting same-sex civil unions from a friend ’ s excited phone call Wednesday .
“ It ’ s a party for all of us .
We ’ ve been validated by the pope !
” Suatan recalled his friend raving .
“ He ’ s given us the consent !
” As a lifelong practicing Catholic , Suatan said the news made him feel “ safer ” about going to church .
The census outreach organizer for the Boyle Heights-based Latino Equality Alliance said he sometimes wears skirts and other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eliciting gawks and stares from other parishioners .
Dressing “ pretty flamboyantly ” as a masculine-presenting person for Mass was a way of protesting the Church ’ s entrenched traditions that made him feel like “ a bad person ” as a child , Suatan said .
He greets people ’ s stares with a smile and a “ hello.
” “ I ’ m not going to entertain arguments or ... feel that I have to prove myself to anybody because at the end of the day , God is the only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Suatan said .
“ I hope [ the pope ’ s comment ] opens up the views and opinions of other Catholics , especially coming from the super top of the top , the crème de la crème !
” In a documentary released Wednesday , Pope Francis endorsed same-sex civil unions .
Previously , as archbishop in Argentina , he supported civil unions as an alternative to same-sex marriages .
“ Homosexual people have the right to be in a family .
They are children of God , ” Francis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can ’ t kick someone out of a family , nor make their life miserable for this .
What we have to have is a civil union law ; that way , they are legally covered.
” His comments sparked reactions across the globe as people grappled with the idea of an increasingly accepting head of the Catholic Church .
The pope previously made headlines in 2013 , when he said , “ If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has goodwill , who am I to judge ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Francis ’ comments don ’ t go far enough .
Phoenix , who uses the gender-neutral pronoun they and declined to give a last name , initially felt a spark of excitement after hearing the news .
As a Los Angeles-based sex educator with a focus on LGBTQ communities , Phoenix often has worked with clients dealing with “ religious shame.
” For those people , the pope ’ s comments offered validation and hope for progress .
But by focusing on such a narrow definition of a relationship , Francis missed an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the LGBTQ community or address broader prejudices within the Catholic Church , Phoenix said .
“ It ’ s great for the conversation , but he ’ s not talking about how religious people need to not kill us or shun us or send us to conversion camp , ” they said .
“ I worry that ... overly focusing on it alleviates people of the responsibility of — or the guilt for — not doing the work to make real changes.
” Chris Cappiello , president of the San Fernando Valley chapter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ LGBTQ Catholics , said he and his colleagues were “ cautiously optimistic ” at the news .
“ It ’ s certainly positive , and the pope ’ s words carry tremendous weight to people all over the world .
He can change hearts , he can change minds with his words , ” he said .
What hasn ’ t changed , Cappiello said , is Church doctrine , which still says LGBTQ people are “ disordered.
” Catholic teachings still hold many anti-LGBTQ policies , Cappiello said .
Many parishes won @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hold positions of leadership , such as choir director or minister .
He pointed to that shows a majority of Americans support same-sex marriage .
Until the church reflects the progressiveness of the people , he said , it still falls far behind .
“ I feel like what Francis has done with statements like this one is cracked open a window and let in some fresh air , ” Cappiello said .
“ It always feels good to breathe fresh air , but the question is : Will we get the window @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Joži McKiernan was a child attending a religious sexual education class at Los Angeles ’ St. Anastasia School , her teachers showed dramatic videos depicting teenagers coming out to their parents , only to be disowned .
McKiernan , a self-identified “ queer , lapsed Catholic , ” says her 13 years of Catholic schooling included an unusual twist : Instead of being told that being gay would send someone to hell , St. Anastasia School indicated it was OK to be gay — if a person remained celibate .
“ [ That @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that way , ” said McKiernan , who works at City of Hope National Medical Center .
“ It ’ s cool to exist ; you just can ’ t do the thing that would be natural for you to exist.
” McKiernan said she found the pope ’ s statement “ pretty frustrating , ” saying it doesn ’ t go far enough .
“ If you ’ re going to play the ‘ everyone ’ s a child of God card , ’ then they should be able to get married @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that Francis ’ words would prompt Catholics who are reluctant to accept gay people to act more compassionately .
John Erickson , a religion and queer studies scholar and vice president-elect at the , called the pope ’ s comments “ progression ” — but in a painstakingly slow-moving institution that considers progress “ in generations , not years.
” The Church must excavate its anti-LGBTQ teachings and reverse a culture of hostility toward LGBTQ people , he said .
“ Of course I want to have faith that a major religious figure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Erickson said .
“ I would hope that having a progressive pope like the current one only further shows that LGBTQ people deserve the same rights and privileges awarded to anyone else .
And anything else besides that is discrimination at its best .
”

Pope Francis waves at the end of his weekly general audience Wednesday at the Vatican. The pope endorsed same-sex civil unions for the first time as pope while being interviewed for a documentary.
Jesus Suatan first heard about Pope Francis’ groundbreaking comment supporting same-sex civil unions from a friend’s excited phone call Wednesday.
“It’s a party for all of us. We’ve been validated by the pope!” Suatan recalled his friend raving. “He’s given us the consent!”
As a lifelong practicing Catholic, Suatan said the news made him feel “safer” about going to church. The census outreach organizer for the Boyle Heights-based Latino Equality Alliance said he sometimes wears skirts and other women’s clothing to church, eliciting gawks and stares from other parishioners.
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Dressing “pretty flamboyantly” as a masculine-presenting person for Mass was a way of protesting the Church’s entrenched traditions that made him feel like “a bad person” as a child, Suatan said. He greets people’s stares with a smile and a “hello.”
“I’m not going to entertain arguments or ... feel that I have to prove myself to anybody because at the end of the day, God is the only person I have to prove myself to,” Suatan said. “I hope [the pope’s comment] opens up the views and opinions of other Catholics, especially coming from the super top of the top, the crème de la crème!”
In a documentary released Wednesday, Pope Francis endorsed same-sex civil unions. Previously, as archbishop in Argentina, he supported civil unions as an alternative to same-sex marriages.
“Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God,” Francis says in the film. “You can’t kick someone out of a family, nor make their life miserable for this. What we have to have is a civil union law; that way, they are legally covered.”
World & Nation Pope endorses same-sex civil unions in new documentary ‘Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God,’ Pope Francis says in departure from previous pontiffs but in keeping with his own more tolerant views.
His comments sparked reactions across the globe as people grappled with the idea of an increasingly accepting head of the Catholic Church. The pope previously made headlines in 2013, when he said, “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has goodwill, who am I to judge?”
Still, for some Angelenos, Francis’ comments don’t go far enough.
Advertisement
Phoenix, who uses the gender-neutral pronoun they and declined to give a last name, initially felt a spark of excitement after hearing the news. As a Los Angeles-based sex educator with a focus on LGBTQ communities, Phoenix often has worked with clients dealing with “religious shame.” For those people, the pope’s comments offered validation and hope for progress.
But by focusing on such a narrow definition of a relationship, Francis missed an opportunity to elevate other marginalized parts of the LGBTQ community or address broader prejudices within the Catholic Church, Phoenix said.
“It’s great for the conversation, but he’s not talking about how religious people need to not kill us or shun us or send us to conversion camp,” they said. “I worry that ... overly focusing on it alleviates people of the responsibility of — or the guilt for — not doing the work to make real changes.”
World & Nation Same-sex marriage ruling creates new constitutional liberty The Supreme Court’s historic ruling Friday granting gays and lesbians an equal right to marry nationwide puts an exclamation point on a profound shift in law and public attitudes, and creates the most significant and controversial new constitutional liberty in more than a generation.
Chris Cappiello, president of the San Fernando Valley chapter of DignityUSA, a lay group of LGBTQ Catholics, said he and his colleagues were “cautiously optimistic” at the news.
“It’s certainly positive, and the pope’s words carry tremendous weight to people all over the world. He can change hearts, he can change minds with his words,” he said.
What hasn’t changed, Cappiello said, is Church doctrine, which still says LGBTQ people are “disordered.”
Catholic teachings still hold many anti-LGBTQ policies, Cappiello said. Many parishes won’t allow married LGBTQ people to hold positions of leadership, such as choir director or minister.
He pointed to national polling that shows a majority of Americans support same-sex marriage. Until the church reflects the progressiveness of the people, he said, it still falls far behind.
“I feel like what Francis has done with statements like this one is cracked open a window and let in some fresh air,” Cappiello said. “It always feels good to breathe fresh air, but the question is: Will we get the window all the way open?”
When Joži McKiernan was a child attending a religious sexual education class at Los Angeles’ St. Anastasia School, her teachers showed dramatic videos depicting teenagers coming out to their parents, only to be disowned.
McKiernan, a self-identified “queer, lapsed Catholic,” says her 13 years of Catholic schooling included an unusual twist: Instead of being told that being gay would send someone to hell, St. Anastasia School indicated it was OK to be gay — if a person remained celibate.
“[That] was setting people up to failure that way,” said McKiernan, who works at City of Hope National Medical Center. “It’s cool to exist; you just can’t do the thing that would be natural for you to exist.”
McKiernan said she found the pope’s statement “pretty frustrating,” saying it doesn’t go far enough.
“If you’re going to play the ‘everyone’s a child of God card,’ then they should be able to get married too.”
Still, she expressed hope that Francis’ words would prompt Catholics who are reluctant to accept gay people to act more compassionately.
John Erickson, a religion and queer studies scholar and vice president-elect at the American Academy of Religion Western Region , called the pope’s comments “progression” — but in a painstakingly slow-moving institution that considers progress “in generations, not years.” The Church must excavate its anti-LGBTQ teachings and reverse a culture of hostility toward LGBTQ people, he said.
“Of course I want to have faith that a major religious figure can help change the minds of people,” Erickson said. “I would hope that having a progressive pope like the current one only further shows that LGBTQ people deserve the same rights and privileges awarded to anyone else. And anything else besides that is discrimination at its best.”


latimes--2020-10-22--City Beat: I wish we had a national mute button

I wish we had a national mute button to help us better listen to one another .
Not just for Thursday night ’ s televised presidential debate , but also for the other crucial debates we need to have as a country but can ’ t — until we stop shouting over and drowning out and dismissing one another .
I wish we could mute what we don ’ t have in common long enough to concentrate on what we do .
So many of us , after all , feel daunted by the breadth and depth of our country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has killed more than 222,000 of us .
Great need that grows rapidly greater .
An enormous and entrenched imbalance of wealth and power .
A too long , too often lethal record of racism and discrimination , of meting out justice as well as opportunity unequally .
Ever more frequent and dangerous fires , hurricanes and windstorms .
Grave problems that all require concerted , collective commitment to confront .
Problems that if we can figure out how to tackle together will make us a far stronger nation .
But instead of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ matters the most , we constantly face off as separate tribes across a vast no man ’ s land — fighting over the words we use and the symbols and slogans we choose , fighting even over our disparate processing of what should be objective reality .
We don ’ t hear each other ’ s views because we don ’ t watch or read the same news .
We absorb and amplify only that which confirms our own set of beliefs .
In more than 30 years of reporting , I ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ talking — including to people whose views of the world are very different from mine .
Usually , the deeper I get to go below the surface , the more I discover the familiar .
We share a common range of human emotions .
We share fears for our futures — for our jobs , for our health , for our families , for our cities and towns and our security .
It ’ s often our interpretation of what it is that threatens us that sends us along divergent paths .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to get in long discussions with people who do not think the way we do ?
We see glimpses of them on TV , we hear sound bites — but that is not the same thing .
It ’ s so easy to reduce the sum total of strangers we don ’ t know to what we read on their T-shirts and caps .
To assume , for instance , that the people we see chanting loudly at the president ’ s crowded rallies represent all those who support him and not just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do that , the further apart we grow , the less likely we are to try to find common ground at the rare moments when we have the opportunity .
I don ’ t support our current president for so many reasons .
I don ’ t support his policies , foreign or domestic .
I am so tired of his constant lies .
I cringe at his ugly , race-baiting rhetoric .
I don ’ t like the way he trashes anyone and everyone who dares to criticize him or stand up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like his assumption that our whole government should be in the service of his personal ambitions .
I especially don ’ t like the way he revels in driving wedges between us , in pushing us to hate rather than hear one another out .
I don ’ t like the way his own dismissiveness of so many of us has seemed to rub off on our nation .
So much so that it ’ s often hard for reporters to go deep with his most ardent supporters because he has made them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us by labeling all the work we do “ fake news.
” At the same time , I don ’ t believe that his supporters are a monolith , accepting of all the worst things he says .
I think a lot of people who because of him aren ’ t looking at the best available information remain under the impression that he ’ s a successful businessman who knows how to put more money in their pockets .
I think a lot of people who are following his lead and so aren @ @ @ @ @ @ @ say have bought into his false message that it is politics , not their safety , that stands in the way of their returning to their pre-pandemic lives .
We should have a national leader who puts our collective safety first , who reminds us that we ’ re an “ us , ” not an “ us versus them , ” as Americans we need to join forces to get through this terrible time .
That so much of what we ’ re struggling through crosses our divisions and our party lines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ does exactly the opposite .
But even without him , we have long been too quick to choose sides — based on how we look , how we dress , how we talk .
In the pandemic , choosing sides over masks has become life threatening .
But we can ’ t even agree on that .
We ’ re not accepting the same studies .
We ’ re not agreeing on a set of facts .
And we fritter away so much time not agreeing , not listening , not hearing , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ differences and find overlap .
Just fuming and sputtering at the mere sight of one another .
Have you ever been on a jury and found yourself surrounded by people from very different backgrounds , some with very different views of the world ?
Somehow you have to find a way to listen and hear each other out , to come together , to agree on the case put before you .
I wish we had more opportunities in life to sit down with and work side by side with people who are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ calmly to grapple over problems , to talk them through and examine them from multiple perspectives .
I wish we had a national mute button so that , at least once in a while , we could tune out the noise and the static , the screaming and the shouting , and better hear one another think .

I wish we had a national mute button to help us better listen to one another.
Not just for the final presidential debate, which the ability to mute improved, but also for the other crucial debates we need to have as a country but can’t — until we stop shouting over and drowning out and dismissing one another.
I wish we could mute what we don’t have in common long enough to concentrate on what we do. Surely so many of us, after all, feel daunted by the breadth and depth of our country’s challenges.
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An epidemic that has killed more than 223,000 of us. Great need that grows rapidly greater.
An enormous and entrenched imbalance of wealth and power. A too long, too often lethal record of racism and discrimination, of meting out justice as well as opportunity unequally. Ever more frequent and dangerous fires, hurricanes and windstorms.
Grave problems that all require concerted, collective commitment to confront. Problems that if we can agree on ways to tackle together will make us a far stronger nation.
But instead of finding opportunities to come together on what matters the most, we constantly face off as separate tribes across a vast no man’s land — fighting over the words we use and the symbols and slogans we choose, fighting even over our disparate processing of what should be objective reality.
We don’t hear one another’s views because we don’t watch or read the same news. We absorb and amplify only that which confirms our own set of beliefs.
The fact that, because he was muted when it wasn’t his turn to talk, President Trump couldn’t just talk over everything Joe Biden said helped clarify more substantive differences between them — if anyone still needs such clarification. But I think it also brought into the starkest relief their different capacities for compassion and empathy. Trump did not express either.
Not when asked about the enormous COVID death toll. Not when asked about children who had been separated from their parents at the border and now may never be reunited with them.
It’s my view that empathy often comes from really seeing and hearing and listening to people.
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In more than 30 years of reporting, I’ve spent much more time listening than talking — including to people whose life experiences are very different from mine. Usually, the deeper I get to go below the surface, the more I discover the familiar. We share a common range of human emotions. We share fears for our futures — for our jobs, for our health, for our families, for our cities and towns and security. It’s often our interpretation of what it is that threatens us that sends us along divergent paths.
But what chance do most of us have to get in long discussions with people who do not think the way we do? We see glimpses of them on TV, we hear sound bites — but that is not the same thing. It’s so easy to reduce the sum total of strangers we don’t know to what we read on their T-shirts and caps. To assume, for instance, that the people we see chanting loudly at the president’s crowded rallies represent all those who support him and not just the most extreme.
The more we do that, the further apart we grow, the less likely we are to try to find common ground at the rare moments when we have the opportunity.
I don’t support our current president for so many reasons. I don’t support his policies, foreign or domestic. I am so tired of his constant lies. I cringe at his ugly, race-baiting rhetoric and at his over-the-top denial of it. I don’t like the way he trashes anyone and everyone who dares to criticize him or stand up to him. I don’t like his assumption that our whole government should be in the service of his personal ambitions.
I especially don’t like the way he revels in driving wedges between us, in pushing us to belittle those who are different from us, to hate rather than hear one another out. I don’t like the way his own dismissiveness of so many of us has seemed to rub off on our nation. So much so that it’s often hard for reporters to go deep with his most ardent supporters because he has made them mistrust us too much to talk to us by labeling all the work we do “fake news.”
At the same time, I don’t believe that those who will vote for him are a monolith, accepting of all the worst things he says. I think a lot of people who because of him aren’t looking at the best available information remain under the impression that he’s a successful businessman who knows how to put more money in their pockets. I think a lot of people who are following his lead and so aren’t following what the real experts say have bought into his false message that it is politics alone, not their safety, that stands in the way of their returning to their pre-pandemic lives.
We should have a national leader who puts our collective safety first, who reminds us that we’re an “us,” not an “us versus them,” that as Americans we need to join forces to get through this terrible time. That we should all hold in our hearts the pain of the many thousands of our fellow Americans whose lives have been devastated in recent months and do everything in our power to help control the pandemic to limit how many thousands more have to suffer. That so much of what we’re struggling through crosses all divisions and party lines.
Our current president does exactly the opposite.
But even without him, we have long been too quick to choose sides — based on how we look, how we dress, how we talk.
Politics Your guide to the 2020 election in California It is all here. How to vote. Where to vote. Endorsements. What issues are on the ballot in California and Los Angeles County.
In the pandemic, choosing sides over masks has become life threatening. But we can’t even agree on that.
We’re not accepting the same studies. We’re not agreeing on a set of facts.
And we fritter away so much time not agreeing, not listening, not hearing, not even trying to get past our differences and find overlap. Just fuming and sputtering at the mere sight of one another.
Have you ever been on a jury and found yourself surrounded by people from very different backgrounds, some with very different views of the world? Somehow you have to find a way to listen and hear one another out, to come together, to agree on the case put before you.
I wish we had more opportunities in life to sit down with and work side by side with people who are not like us — to come together calmly to grapple over problems, to talk them through and examine them from multiple perspectives.
I wish we had a national mute button so that, at least once in a while, we could tune out the noise and the static, the screaming and the shouting, and better hear one another think.


latimes--2020-10-22--A great-grandmother. A mechanic. A mother and daughter. These are the victims of the Zogg fire

Karin King was home with her two dogs when news broke that an inferno was raging toward the family ’ s house in Igo , Calif. , in southwestern Shasta County .
Her son called the 79-year-old retiree to warn her just as King ’ s husband , Wayne , came through the door and said it was time to go .
Wayne loaded up his truck and Karin put the dogs and a fireproof safe with their marriage certificate into an SUV , her son , John King , recounted .
She followed Wayne down the road , traveling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sight of her car a couple of times .
When Wayne got to the bottom of the road , his wife wasn ’ t behind him .
It was only later the family learned the flames had overwhelmed her vehicle , melting the plastic off its rims .
Karin King was the first fire victim identified in the wake of the Zogg fire , but she wasn ’ t the last .
The blaze also claimed the lives of a devoted muscle-car mechanic , and a mother and her 8-year-old daughter .
After @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Sierra Nevada Mountains , the Zogg fire — named after an old mining road where the blaze originated — was officially contained last week , ending a 17-day burn that took the lives of four locals in Igo and also destroyed the nearby town of Ono .
State investigators are looking at Pacific Gas & Electric Co. equipment as a potential cause of the fire that began on Sept. 27 and scorched 56,338 acres in Shasta County .
As wildfires continue to rage in other parts of Northern California , the communities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their losses and building tributes to four lives lost : Karin King was born in Berlin but lived for most of her life in Northern California with her husband , Wayne King .
They met at a German pub in the 1950s , when Wayne was serving in the U.S. Army overseas , and they “ pretty much hit it off right off the bat , ” their son said .
The two moved to Fremont , where Karin served as a retail sales associate , and Wayne worked as an electronics engineer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ few trips back to visit family , Karin settled into her life in America and loved it , John said .
She raised John and his older sister , Angela Griffith .
Once she became a grandmother , she always drove down to the Bay Area for family birthdays and graduations , said her granddaughter Michelle Porter .
Wayne and Karin purchased the rural property in Igo more than 20 years ago ; it was a retirement dream for Karin , an animal fanatic who brought her fierce advocacy and rescue work to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Igo was in distress , locals would call Karin ’ s cellphone number directly for help .
She busted puppy mills , unafraid to confront errant pet owners in a part of California where rural poverty often harms both people and pets .
One rescue took Karin to a property where a woman was hoarding more than 20 Great Pyrenees dogs — most of them needing both neutering and nutrition , recalled Janie Hopper , founder and CEO of ResQ Animal Coalition , where Karin volunteered .
“ This is desolate , no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nothing except a bunch of people that were living off the grid — and I ’ m being polite , ” Hopper said of the area .
Hopper and Karin rescued 17 of the dogs and tested them for tick-borne diseases .
One pup , Buddy , had a chronic illness , so Karin adopted him .
“ There was nothing that woman wouldn ’ t do for an animal , ” Hopper said .
Karin was at home with Buddy and her other dog , Chloe , on Sept. 27 when her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ incoming fire , just as Wayne came in the door .
“ That was the last time I heard from her , ” recalls John .
“ She said , ‘ Got ta go , ’ and hung up.
” After Karin ’ s body was pulled from the incinerated vehicle and identified , her family and friends were devastated .
Tributes came later .
Colleagues in the ResQ Animal Coalition came up with a new name for a service that donates food and supplies to pet owners affected by the wildfire : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
As for the family house that Karin fled , it survived the fire , as it had two previous blazes .
Once power is restored , said John , his father plans to return to the house where he lived with Karin for more than two decades .
Kenneth Vossen loved cars — fixing them , restoring them and seeing how fast they could go .
“ Racing and cars and muscle cars is basically our life , ” said Kevin Vossen , 44 , Ken ’ s younger brother .
For @ @ @ @ @ @ @ young .
The brothers grew up on a nearly 200-acre ranch that their ancestors acquired in the mid-19th century as a founding family of Igo .
The boys helped their grandfather with his Redding-based Motor Supply Co. , learning to service cars as preteens .
Ken ’ s first car , a white 1969 Shelby Mustang , was a restoration project he undertook at 13 years old , Kevin said .
When Kevin was 16 , his “ father figure ” older brother bought him a red 1965 Mustang .
A steady stream @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wheels followed .
Ken ran his own shop for several years , drawing customers from across the region .
That ’ s where Eric Sanderson , Ken ’ s friend of 23 years and an auto body worker , made a habit of stopping by to talk cars .
Ken jokingly called them “ an addiction or a disease , ” Sanderson recalled .
After running a Harley-Davidson dealership in Redding for several years , Ken eventually moved back to Igo in 2010 after his mother died to help his father run the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 31 years , Rexanne Clark , lived there with their teenage son , who has cerebral palsy and requires round-the-clock care .
With no cellphones and hardly any internet , the family lived unplugged , fishing in the pond and hunting turkeys on their property .
Traces of Ken ’ s handiwork are etched on cars across the country — including an award-winning 1962 Chevy Impala , owned by his friend Jesse Lindberg , owner of Norcal Paint & Body Works .
Over about five years , Ken and his buddies spent hundreds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ underneath fluorescent garage lights , with Ken ’ s favorite talk radio shows humming in the background .
“ He put everybody before himself , ” Lindberg said .
“ He was a real selfless guy.
” In his spare time , Ken invited friends up to the ranch to tinker on some of his “ projects ” — the roughly 18 vehicles parked at his property .
Sept. 27 , a Sunday , was one of those typical afternoons .
Kevin and his friend drove up to the family ranch to share @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fix up an old Studebaker pickup truck and a vintage AC Cobra .
Then Kevin noticed a plume of smoke billowing over the trees .
Ken and his family flew into action .
Rexanne drove their son to a safe evacuation place .
Kevin tried to protect the house while Ken doused water on the building housing all the automobiles .
Separated from his brother , Kevin eventually left .
Embers blowing in the wind caught Ken , who jumped onto his ATV and raced it down to the pond .
“ He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said , “ but the damage had already been done.
” Neighbors found Ken conscious but with third-degree burns on 97 % of his body , Kevin said .
He was rushed to a local hospital and airlifted to the UC Davis hospital in Sacramento , where he died two days later .
Last weekend , Lindberg , Sanderson and others returned to the ranch to sift through the wreckage .
Dead trees littered the yard .
Ash blanketed the land .
The building that housed the cars had collapsed .
Beside a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what he was hunting for : an old sports car — a De Tomaso Pantera — that Ken ’ s dad had given his son .
It seemed to have just enough salvageable parts to rebuild into a car , a planned tribute to Ken .
“ It definitely hasn ’ t sunk in yet , ” Kevin said of losing his brother .
“ I don ’ t know if it ever will.
” Alaina McLeod ‘ s love of her daughter , Feyla , was captured on a video posted to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ She ’ s my happy bean , she ’ s my happy bean !
” McLeod sang between giggles , her daughter Feyla Rose bouncing in her car seat as McLeod ’ s husband , Zach , drove them to Starbucks for coffee and pastries .
Alaina and Feyla — inseparable mother-daughter duo , bird whisperers and playmates with vast imaginations — died together escaping the Zogg fire .
The two had been at home , waiting for Zach to return from town with groceries for dinner .
When Alaina saw @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ran over to the house of a neighbor , who offered her a truck to escape , according to Zach .
Authorities later found Alaina , Feyla and the truck in a gully off the road .
“ It felt like my heart and soul had been ripped out , ” Zach said .
“ I had the biggest hole inside of me.
” He and Alaina met at a Chico doctor ’ s office in 2011 .
On their first date a few days later , they spread a blanket on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for hours .
Within a week , they discussed marriage .
“ I never knew love at first sight was not just in the movies , ” said Zach , who married Alaina on Aug. 7 , 2016 .
“ But it happens .
I ’ m living proof of that.
” Feyla was born about a year later .
Two months premature , she needed intensive care and surgery to mend a cleft palate .
Her speech developed late , but she communicated expressively with her blue eyes and winsome smile .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ lived an idyllic life in a farming community outside Chico .
But upon returning home from the store one day , they found their house on fire , ignited by a faulty porch light fixture , according to from the time .
They eventually found a new home in Igo , where Zach took care of the property for the elderly landowners in lieu of rent .
With its winding streams and abundant animals , the property offered Alaina and Feyla a home for their boundless imaginations to roam .
Alaina and Feyla @ @ @ @ @ @ @ critters of all kinds , especially birds .
Carolyn Rill , Alaina ’ s mother , recalls going to wake up her daughter , as a toddler , only to discover her in the coop outside , cuddling her pet chicken .
On their rented property in Igo , the family raised dogs , cats , chickens , a squirrel , a bearded dragon and even a turkey that followed them around like a pet .
Lately , Feyla had been catching blue belly lizards , Zach said .
She dreamed of becoming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ She was just like a little fairy princess , and they lived out in the woods , ” Rill said of her daughter and granddaughter .
“ Both Alaina and her just loved all animals and insects.
” The two romped together during the day , jumping on the trampoline in the yard , making apple pie for the neighbors or creating art .
The McLeods were making plans in the months prior to the Zogg fire .
Zach was exploring education options , hoping to earn some more money to buy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ school .
Zach recalled a recent chat with his wife about their future : “ Alaina said , ‘ We ’ ve always had a beautiful life , and I just have this feeling that it ’ s going to get even more beautiful , ’ ” He paused .
“ I ’ m quite lost right now , to be honest , ” he said .
“ I ’ m not really sure what to do .
”

Karin King was home with her two dogs when news broke that an inferno was raging toward the family’s house in Igo, Calif., in southwestern Shasta County. Her son called the 79-year-old retiree to warn her just as King’s husband, Wayne, came through the door and said it was time to go.
Wayne loaded up his truck and Karin put the dogs and a fireproof safe with their marriage certificate into an SUV, her son, John King, recounted. She followed Wayne down the road, traveling through black smoke so thick he lost sight of her car a couple of times.
When Wayne got to the bottom of the road, his wife wasn’t behind him. It was only later the family learned the flames had overwhelmed her vehicle, melting the plastic off its rims.
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Karin King was the first fire victim identified in the wake of the Zogg fire, but she wasn’t the last. The blaze also claimed the lives of a devoted muscle-car mechanic, and a mother and her 8-year-old daughter.
After incinerating tens of thousands of acres in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the Zogg fire — named after an old mining road where the blaze originated — was officially contained last week, ending a 17-day burn that took the lives of four locals in Igo and also destroyed the nearby town of Ono.
State investigators are looking at Pacific Gas & Electric Co. equipment as a potential cause of the fire that began on Sept. 27 and scorched 56,338 acres in Shasta County. As wildfires continue to rage in other parts of Northern California, the communities devastated by the Zogg fire are counting their losses and building tributes to four lives lost:
Karin King celebrates her great-grandson Liam’s first birthday. (Michelle Porter)
Karin King, 79
Karin King was born in Berlin but lived for most of her life in Northern California with her husband, Wayne King. They met at a German pub in the 1950s, when Wayne was serving in the U.S. Army overseas, and they “pretty much hit it off right off the bat,” their son said. The two moved to Fremont, where Karin served as a retail sales associate, and Wayne worked as an electronics engineer in Silicon Valley.
Aside from a few trips back to visit family, Karin settled into her life in America and loved it, John said. She raised John and his older sister, Angela Griffith. Once she became a grandmother, she always drove down to the Bay Area for family birthdays and graduations, said her granddaughter Michelle Porter.
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Wayne and Karin purchased the rural property in Igo more than 20 years ago; it was a retirement dream for Karin, an animal fanatic who brought her fierce advocacy and rescue work to Shasta County. When an animal in Igo was in distress, locals would call Karin’s cellphone number directly for help. She busted puppy mills, unafraid to confront errant pet owners in a part of California where rural poverty often harms both people and pets.
One rescue took Karin to a property where a woman was hoarding more than 20 Great Pyrenees dogs — most of them needing both neutering and nutrition, recalled Janie Hopper, founder and CEO of ResQ Animal Coalition, where Karin volunteered.
“This is desolate, no stores, no gas stations, no nothing except a bunch of people that were living off the grid — and I’m being polite,” Hopper said of the area.
Hopper and Karin rescued 17 of the dogs and tested them for tick-borne diseases. One pup, Buddy, had a chronic illness, so Karin adopted him. “There was nothing that woman wouldn’t do for an animal,” Hopper said.
Karin was at home with Buddy and her other dog, Chloe, on Sept. 27 when her son called from Grass Valley about the incoming fire, just as Wayne came in the door.
“That was the last time I heard from her,” recalls John. “She said, ‘Gotta go,’ and hung up.”
After Karin’s body was pulled from the incinerated vehicle and identified, her family and friends were devastated. Tributes came later. Colleagues in the ResQ Animal Coalition came up with a new name for a service that donates food and supplies to pet owners affected by the wildfire: Karin’s Zogg Fire Pet Pantry.
As for the family house that Karin fled, it survived the fire, as it had two previous blazes. Once power is restored, said John, his father plans to return to the house where he lived with Karin for more than two decades.
Ken Vossen, left, helps friend Jesse Lindberg prepare a 1962 Chevy Impala for a car show tour. (Jesse Lindberg)
Kenneth Vossen, 52
Kenneth Vossen loved cars — fixing them, restoring them and seeing how fast they could go.
“Racing and cars and muscle cars is basically our life,” said Kevin Vossen, 44, Ken’s younger brother.
For Ken and Kevin, the obsession started young. The brothers grew up on a nearly 200-acre ranch that their ancestors acquired in the mid-19th century as a founding family of Igo. The boys helped their grandfather with his Redding-based Motor Supply Co., learning to service cars as preteens.
Ken’s first car, a white 1969 Shelby Mustang, was a restoration project he undertook at 13 years old, Kevin said. When Kevin was 16, his “father figure” older brother bought him a red 1965 Mustang.
A steady stream of hot rods, motorcycles and vintage wheels followed. Ken ran his own shop for several years, drawing customers from across the region. That’s where Eric Sanderson, Ken’s friend of 23 years and an auto body worker, made a habit of stopping by to talk cars. Ken jokingly called them “an addiction or a disease,” Sanderson recalled.
After running a Harley-Davidson dealership in Redding for several years, Ken eventually moved back to Igo in 2010 after his mother died to help his father run the homestead. Ken and his partner of 31 years, Rexanne Clark, lived there with their teenage son, who has cerebral palsy and requires round-the-clock care. With no cellphones and hardly any internet, the family lived unplugged, fishing in the pond and hunting turkeys on their property.
Traces of Ken’s handiwork are etched on cars across the country — including an award-winning 1962 Chevy Impala, owned by his friend Jesse Lindberg, owner of Norcal Paint & Body Works. Over about five years, Ken and his buddies spent hundreds of hours together on nights and weekends underneath fluorescent garage lights, with Ken’s favorite talk radio shows humming in the background.
“He put everybody before himself,” Lindberg said. “He was a real selfless guy.”
In his spare time, Ken invited friends up to the ranch to tinker on some of his “projects” — the roughly 18 vehicles parked at his property. Sept. 27, a Sunday, was one of those typical afternoons. Kevin and his friend drove up to the family ranch to share pizza and beers with Ken and help fix up an old Studebaker pickup truck and a vintage AC Cobra.
Then Kevin noticed a plume of smoke billowing over the trees.
Smoke billows over the Vossen family property, where roughly 18 of Ken’s cars were stored. (Kevin Vossen)
Ken and his family flew into action. Rexanne drove their son to a safe evacuation place. Kevin tried to protect the house while Ken doused water on the building housing all the automobiles. Separated from his brother, Kevin eventually left. Embers blowing in the wind caught Ken, who jumped onto his ATV and raced it down to the pond.
“He made it to water,” Kevin said, “but the damage had already been done.”
Neighbors found Ken conscious but with third-degree burns on 97% of his body, Kevin said. He was rushed to a local hospital and airlifted to the UC Davis hospital in Sacramento, where he died two days later.
An old De Tomaso Pantera, a gift from Ken’s father, was one of the few recognizable relics at the family’s burned ranch. (Jesse Lindberg)
Last weekend, Lindberg, Sanderson and others returned to the ranch to sift through the wreckage. Dead trees littered the yard. Ash blanketed the land. The building that housed the cars had collapsed.
Beside a mangled heap of metal, Lindberg found what he was hunting for: an old sports car — a De Tomaso Pantera — that Ken’s dad had given his son. It seemed to have just enough salvageable parts to rebuild into a car, a planned tribute to Ken.
“It definitely hasn’t sunk in yet,” Kevin said of losing his brother. “I don’t know if it ever will.”
Alaina McLeod and daughter Feyla loved finding animals on the property to play with and adopt. (Lisa Nave)
Alaina Rowe McLeod, 46, and Feyla McLeod, 8
Alaina McLeod‘s love of her daughter, Feyla, was captured on a video posted to Facebook one month before the Zogg fire.
“She’s my happy bean, she’s my happy bean!” McLeod sang between giggles, her daughter Feyla Rose bouncing in her car seat as McLeod’s husband, Zach, drove them to Starbucks for coffee and pastries.
Alaina and Feyla — inseparable mother-daughter duo, bird whisperers and playmates with vast imaginations — died together escaping the Zogg fire.
The two had been at home, waiting for Zach to return from town with groceries for dinner. When Alaina saw the fire approaching, she and Feyla ran over to the house of a neighbor, who offered her a truck to escape, according to Zach. Authorities later found Alaina, Feyla and the truck in a gully off the road.
“It felt like my heart and soul had been ripped out,” Zach said. “I had the biggest hole inside of me.”
He and Alaina met at a Chico doctor’s office in 2011. On their first date a few days later, they spread a blanket on the banks of the Sacramento River and talked for hours. Within a week, they discussed marriage.
“I never knew love at first sight was not just in the movies,” said Zach, who married Alaina on Aug. 7, 2016. “But it happens. I’m living proof of that.”
Feyla was born about a year later. Two months premature, she needed intensive care and surgery to mend a cleft palate. Her speech developed late, but she communicated expressively with her blue eyes and winsome smile.
For a while, the little family lived an idyllic life in a farming community outside Chico. But upon returning home from the store one day, they found their house on fire, ignited by a faulty porch light fixture, according to a GoFundMe from the time. They eventually found a new home in Igo, where Zach took care of the property for the elderly landowners in lieu of rent. With its winding streams and abundant animals, the property offered Alaina and Feyla a home for their boundless imaginations to roam.
Alaina and Feyla shared an uncanny connection to nature and critters of all kinds, especially birds. Carolyn Rill, Alaina’s mother, recalls going to wake up her daughter, as a toddler, only to discover her in the coop outside, cuddling her pet chicken.
On their rented property in Igo, the family raised dogs, cats, chickens, a squirrel, a bearded dragon and even a turkey that followed them around like a pet. Lately, Feyla had been catching blue belly lizards, Zach said. She dreamed of becoming a veterinarian when she grew up.
“She was just like a little fairy princess, and they lived out in the woods,” Rill said of her daughter and granddaughter. “Both Alaina and her just loved all animals and insects.”
Like her mother, Feyla McLeod was often known to nurse sick or injured birds back to health. (Lisa Nave)
The two romped together during the day, jumping on the trampoline in the yard, making apple pie for the neighbors or creating art.
The McLeods were making plans in the months prior to the Zogg fire. Zach was exploring education options, hoping to earn some more money to buy a house and eventually put Feyla through school.
Zach recalled a recent chat with his wife about their future: “Alaina said, ‘We’ve always had a beautiful life, and I just have this feeling that it’s going to get even more beautiful,’”
He paused. “I’m quite lost right now, to be honest,” he said. “I’m not really sure what to do.”


latimes--2020-10-22--Schools in L.A. County can reopen for up to 25% of their students who need special services

In a significant move to bring more students back to campus , Los Angeles County schools will be permitted to bring 25 % of their students back to campus at a time , provided that they need special services best offered in person .
Students receiving priority would include those learning English and those with disabilities The action announced Wednesday by Supervisor Kathryn Barger comes in response to pressure to allow more students on campus and reports that schools elsewhere have reopened with relative safety during the coronavirus pandemic .
“ We will now increase to 25 % capacity for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ youth can have access to their teachers and on-site support systems that are so critical for their growth and education , ” Barger said .
The protocol for that expansion will likely be released next week , she said .
The county ’ s announcement comes as evidence mounts that students are faring poorly in online learning — and as district officials and teachers are working to improve it .
Three in four parents of students with disabilities in the L.A. Unified School District say their children are making inadequate progress this fall @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emotional and academic skills because of a dearth of needed and legally required services , according to a survey of 300 parents released Wednesday .
Los Angeles schools officials and the teachers union , United Teachers Los Angeles , are bargaining over what classroom conditions will look like when students return , but neither has pressed publicly to do so in the short term .
Teacher unions up and down the state have urged caution in reopening .
UTLA and L.A. school officials have negotiated voluntary in-person tutoring , typically conducted outside with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have said it ’ s not yet safe to bring back significant numbers of staff and students because L.A. County falls in the state ’ s purple tier , signifying widespread virus transmission , the worst category .
Schools can not generally reopen until a county has been in the next or red tier for at least two weeks .
Such a designation is at least several weeks away , leaving many parents frustrated as they observe schools reopening in Ventura , Orange and San Diego counties .
The state does allow some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with special needs .
State rules permit schools to operate at 25 % capacity .
The county had stuck with a stricter 10 % standard until Wednesday .
Elementary schools also can open under a waiver up through Grade 2 , and L.A. County posted its first four approvals Wednesday , all for private schools .
L.A. schools Supt .
Austin Beutner has advocated a go-slow approach , often speaking in terms similar to the teachers union .
The in-person tutoring , which began Oct. 5 , requires all participants to submit a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re going to see how that goes , ” Beutner said last week .
“ If that goes well , we ’ re going to build it.
” The survey , conducted by the advocacy group Speak Up , suggests that in the meantime , most students with disabilities are regressing .
In the survey , 76 % of parents said their children with disabilities can not learn effectively via distance learning , and a similar number , 74 % reported regressive behaviors in their children .
“ These behaviors included signs of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who is forgetting the alphabet , as well as behavioral issues , including meltdowns , injury to themselves or their parents , and falling behind on behavioral goals that had previously been met , ” according to Speak Up .
The results are based on responses that were collected from Sept. 23 through Oct. 20 .
While not a scientific poll , the online survey reflects input from across the vast school system .
Other polls — statewide and national — have revealed broad dissatisfaction with distance learning but have not necessarily focused @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vast majority of kids with disabilities are not being well-served during campus closures and are unable to learn effectively through distance learning , ” said Katie Braude , the chief executive officer of Speak Up .
“ The regression and learning loss of our kids threatens to leave our most vulnerable students far behind.
” More than a third of parents said their children are not receiving the full set of services that L.A. Unified had previously agreed to deliver in legally binding compliance documents .
Parent Carla Suarez-Capdet said her kindergarten son @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the district would not authorize an outside provider to enter her home .
The district recently offered three 30-minute sessions of on-campus tutoring per week , but not necessarily with a tutor with the appropriate experience .
But faced with one Zoom session after another , her son started lashing out , kicking and hitting .
All the same , Suarez-Capdet praises her child ’ s speech pathologist and occupational therapist for making “ phenomenal ” efforts to provide services online .
Speak Up accuses the district of doing too little and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ student services .
But teacher Lynn Marie Mierzejewski said it remains important to prioritize safety for all and said she ’ s willing to work harder to make sure her students don ’ t lose out .
Mierzejewski said it takes two-and-a-half to three extra hours a night to prepare lessons that will be engaging for her autistic students , in grades three through five at Harmony Elementary in South Los Angeles .
“ It does not matter how many extra hours I have to put in , ” said Mierzejewski , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ve taken additional training to master online skills .
A senior district official , regional Supt .
Mike Romero of the South area , said Wednesday that more help is on the way .
The district is ramping up paid online tutoring that is expected to reach every school .
The in-person tutoring also is growing , he added .
So far about one-third of the schools in his region are offering it .
Across the school system , which has about 460,000 students , about 500 teachers ( with about 200 paraprofessionals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1,000 students .
Romero said everyone knows that more must be done and the district is trying every day to make progress .
“ We ’ re not where we need to be , ” Romero said .
But “ We have heroic efforts .
... We ’ re moving quickly .
”

L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, left, announced Wednesday that campuses would soon reopen to more students. With her in March are Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer and Mayor Eric Garcetti.
In a significant move to bring more students back to campus, Los Angeles County schools will be permitted to bring 25% of their students back to campus at a time, provided that they need special services best offered in person.
Students receiving priority would include those learning English and those with disabilities
The action announced Wednesday by Supervisor Kathryn Barger comes in response to pressure to allow more students on campus and reports that schools elsewhere have reopened with relative safety during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We will now increase to 25% capacity for high-needs students, so more children and youth can have access to their teachers and on-site support systems that are so critical for their growth and education,” Barger said. The protocol for that expansion will likely be released next week, she said.
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The county’s announcement comes as evidence mounts that students are faring poorly in online learning — and as district officials and teachers are working to improve it.
Three in four parents of students with disabilities in the L.A. Unified School District say their children are making inadequate progress this fall with campuses closed and are backsliding on emotional and academic skills because of a dearth of needed and legally required services, according to a survey of 300 parents released Wednesday.
Los Angeles schools officials and the teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles, are bargaining over what classroom conditions will look like when students return, but neither has pressed publicly to do so in the short term. Teacher unions up and down the state have urged caution in reopening. UTLA and L.A. school officials have negotiated voluntary in-person tutoring, typically conducted outside with masks and social distancing.
Union leaders have said it’s not yet safe to bring back significant numbers of staff and students because L.A. County falls in the state’s purple tier, signifying widespread virus transmission, the worst category. Schools cannot generally reopen until a county has been in the next or red tier for at least two weeks. Such a designation is at least several weeks away, leaving many parents frustrated as they observe schools reopening in Ventura, Orange and San Diego counties.
The state does allow some exceptions, including bringing back small groups with special needs. State rules permit schools to operate at 25% capacity. The county had stuck with a stricter 10% standard until Wednesday. Elementary schools also can open under a waiver up through Grade 2, and L.A. County posted its first four approvals Wednesday, all for private schools.
L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner has advocated a go-slow approach, often speaking in terms similar to the teachers union. The in-person tutoring, which began Oct. 5, requires all participants to submit a negative coronavirus test.
“We’re going to see how that goes,” Beutner said last week. “If that goes well, we’re going to build it.”
Advertisement
The survey, conducted by the advocacy group Speak Up, suggests that in the meantime, most students with disabilities are regressing.
In the survey, 76% of parents said their children with disabilities cannot learn effectively via distance learning, and a similar number, 74% reported regressive behaviors in their children.
“These behaviors included signs of learning loss, such as a first-grader who is forgetting the alphabet, as well as behavioral issues, including meltdowns, injury to themselves or their parents, and falling behind on behavioral goals that had previously been met,” according to Speak Up.
The results are based on responses that were collected from Sept. 23 through Oct. 20. While not a scientific poll, the online survey reflects input from across the vast school system. Other polls — statewide and national — have revealed broad dissatisfaction with distance learning but have not necessarily focused on students with disabilities.
“The vast majority of kids with disabilities are not being well-served during campus closures and are unable to learn effectively through distance learning,” said Katie Braude, the chief executive officer of Speak Up. “The regression and learning loss of our kids threatens to leave our most vulnerable students far behind.”
More than a third of parents said their children are not receiving the full set of services that L.A. Unified had previously agreed to deliver in legally binding compliance documents.
Parent Carla Suarez-Capdet said her kindergarten son needs in-person specialized attention, but that the district would not authorize an outside provider to enter her home. The district recently offered three 30-minute sessions of on-campus tutoring per week, but not necessarily with a tutor with the appropriate experience.
But faced with one Zoom session after another, her son started lashing out, kicking and hitting.
All the same, Suarez-Capdet praises her child’s speech pathologist and occupational therapist for making “phenomenal” efforts to provide services online.
Speak Up accuses the district of doing too little and the teachers union of setting up obstacles to student services.
But teacher Lynn Marie Mierzejewski said it remains important to prioritize safety for all and said she’s willing to work harder to make sure her students don’t lose out.
Mierzejewski said it takes two-and-a-half to three extra hours a night to prepare lessons that will be engaging for her autistic students, in grades three through five at Harmony Elementary in South Los Angeles.
“It does not matter how many extra hours I have to put in,” said Mierzejewski, who is among thousands of teachers who’ve taken additional training to master online skills.
A senior district official, regional Supt. Mike Romero of the South area, said Wednesday that more help is on the way. The district is ramping up paid online tutoring that is expected to reach every school.
The in-person tutoring also is growing, he added. So far about one-third of the schools in his region are offering it. Across the school system, which has about 460,000 students, about 500 teachers (with about 200 paraprofessionals in support) are working with about 1,000 students.
Romero said everyone knows that more must be done and the district is trying every day to make progress.
“We’re not where we need to be,” Romero said. But “We have heroic efforts. ... We’re moving quickly.”