latimes--2020-10-09--Private fire crews in wine country raise concerns over equity, safety

As California wildfires get worse , the role of private firefighting crews helping well-heeled clients protect their property has become a growing issue from Brentwood and Malibu to Santa Barbara and Napa .
Authorities are now investigating new allegations that private crews set illegal backfires last week during the destructive Glass fire , which has swept through wine country .
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection investigators confirmed they were examining the claims but provided few details about the location of the backfires or who hired the crews .
The Glass fire has destroyed numerous wineries in Napa and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Highway 12 , the main road through wine country .
The investigation is heightening scrutiny around the use of private crews , which has been a repeated source of concern among fire departments and was the subject of new laws after numerous private companies were seen across Malibu and Calabasas during the 2018 Woolsey fire .
Private firefighters were credited with helping save Kanye West and Kim Kardashian ’ s $ 60-million Calabasas mansion from the Woolsey fire .
“ We were able to get private firefighters , ” Kardashian told Ellen DeGeneres @ @ @ @ @ @ @ saved our home and saved our neighborhood.
” Brian Rice , president of California Professional Firefighters , a labor union representing more than 30,000 professional firefighters in the state , said he was not surprised private crews joined the fight in wine country .
“ The Glass fire ... is just part and parcel of the issues and the problems that we are running into with private , for-profit fire protection companies , ” Rice said .
“ If they ’ re behind fire lines , they are an absolute liability to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rice said for-profit firefighting groups have become something of a cottage industry in California in recent years , particularly as the state has experienced an uptick in wildfire activity .
And when private , for-profit groups come in and don ’ t follow protocol , they can confuse residents , get in the way of firefighting activities or even require assistance themselves .
“ Let ’ s not mince words , ” Rice said .
“ They ’ re here to make a profit , and they ’ re here to make a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are suffering in some of the worst fire tragedies in history.
” Backfires are typically used by professional firefighting agencies to consume fuel in the path of a wildfire or to change the direction of a blaze .
But private firefighters — civilians often hired by insurance companies to protect defensible spaces like homes and properties — are not authorized to use them as a defense mechanism .
Instead , they are supposed to do preemptive work such as clearing vegetation , setting up perimeter sprinkler systems , or spraying the area around @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The goal is to prevent flames from reaching a structure .
“ They are not to fight fire when they ’ re in there , ” Cal Fire spokesman Scott McLean said .
“ They are not to make a stand.
” During the 2018 Woolsey fire , private firefighters in the tony Bell Canyon neighborhood of Ventura generated complaints from fire officials who said they didn ’ t always coordinate with local crews .
“ It ’ s a liability and safety issue , ” Ventura County Fire Capt .
Brian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from California Professional Firefighters said interference from private firefighters became such a problem during the 2018 fires that the group sponsored legislation to try to regulate the service .
, passed by Gov .
Gavin Newsom in September of that year , required the development of standards and regulations to govern private firefighters .
Among the requirements : Private firefighters must heed all evacuation orders , check in with fire operators before entering an area and focus primarily on pre-fire and nonemergency activities outside restricted areas to minimize potential liability .
The backfires @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have occurred last weekend , when red flag warnings indicating hot , dry conditions were in effect .
The Glass fire has burned through more than 67,000 acres since igniting Sept. 27 .
Sometimes seen as a “ white-glove service ” for homeowners in well-to-do neighborhoods , private firefighting services have raised eyebrows for creating potential inequities in the land of wildfires — making it easier for wealthy people to protect their homes while leaving little recourse for those without flush resources .
But David Torgerson , CEO of Montana-based Wildfire Defense Systems @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contractors in the nation — said there are no inequities in the services they provide , which are becoming standard policy for insurance company packages .
“ In the programs that we serve , 90 % are average-value homes , ” Torgerson said .
“ And because there ’ s dozens of insurance companies that offer this , anybody can have it .
They just have to ask their agent or broker.
” Wildfire Defense Systems has deployed to more than 900 wildfires on behalf of the insurance industry since 2008 , including @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the express purpose of preventing structures from igniting .
According to the National Wildfire Suppression Assn.
, there are more than 11,300 private firefighters nationwide .
Torgerson said that federal and state governments are actually the biggest users of private wildfire contractors , and that the insurance industry is only second .
Roughly 3 % work directly for landowners — and it ’ s those who create a lot of the issues .
“ This very small fraction of wildfire contractors is getting all this attention , ” he said , “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re referring to in those media articles.
” Janet Ruiz , spokeswoman for industry group Insurance Information Institute , said there are a “ few dozen ” insurance agencies that contract groups year-round to do on-site wildfire hazard assessments and proactive defense , such as clearing pine needles from roofs , moving wood away from houses and spraying retardant .
Insurance firms like AIG , Chubb and USAA have provided the services in wildfire-prone states for more than a decade , but an increase in requests for the services has coincided with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The groups also offer post-fire services , including returning combustible materials that may have been relocated from homes , or removing firefighting gel from where it was applied .
Like Torgerson , Ruiz said state agencies such as Cal Fire usually “ welcome all the help they can get , ” and that it ’ s only the bad apples that spoil the bunch .
“ The only times they ’ re not happy is when it ’ s people doing things like coming on the scene to fight fire and not checking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ etc.
, ” she said .
“ That ’ s not what the insurance industry is supporting.
” But wildfires in California are unlike anywhere else on earth , Rice said , save for possibly Australia .
The terrain is brutal , and the blazes are complex , and anyone coming into the area will be facing one of the most unpredictable and unprecedented eras in wildfire history .
“ It is incredibly risky .
It is incredibly hazardous , ” Rice said .
“ And I can just see the profit motivation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Cal Fire has not yet named the agencies or firefighters being investigated for the backfires in Napa and Sonoma , but Rice said if the claims are proved , it could be considered arson .
Setting backfires requires highly skilled , highly trained and highly certified firefighting officials .
“ It is a planned process , and we are very meticulous about what we do , ” said McLean , the Cal Fire spokesman .
“ Putting fire on the ground is very serious business .
”

A firefighter uses a drip torch during a backfire operation Sept. 29 as the Glass fire approaches in Calistoga.
As California wildfires get worse, the role of private firefighting crews helping well-heeled clients protect their property has become a growing issue from Brentwood and Malibu to Napa and Sonoma.
Authorities are now investigating new allegations that private crews set illegal backfires last week during the destructive Glass fire, which has swept through wine country. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection investigators confirmed that they were examining the claims but provided few details about the location of the backfires or who hired the crews.
The Glass fire has destroyed numerous wineries in Napa and Sonoma counties and hit upscale communities along Highway 12, one of the main roads through wine country.
The investigation is heightening scrutiny around the use of private crews, which has been a repeated source of concern among fire departments and was the subject of new laws after numerous private companies were seen across Malibu and Calabasas during the 2018 Woolsey fire.
Private firefighters were credited with helping save Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s $60-million Calabasas mansion from the Woolsey fire.
“We were able to get private firefighters,” Kardashian told Ellen DeGeneres in a 2018 interview. “They saved our home and saved our neighborhood.”
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Brian Rice, president of California Professional Firefighters, a labor union representing more than 30,000 professional firefighters in the state, said he was not surprised private crews joined the fight in wine country.
“The Glass fire … is just part and parcel of the issues and the problems that we are running into with private, for-profit fire protection companies,” Rice said. “If they’re behind fire lines, they are an absolute liability to the community and to the fire department.”
Rice said for-profit firefighting groups have become something of a cottage industry in California in recent years, particularly as the state has experienced an uptick in wildfire activity. And when private, for-profit groups come in and don’t follow protocol, they can confuse residents, get in the way of firefighting activities or even require assistance themselves.
“Let’s not mince words,” Rice said. “They’re here to make a profit, and they’re here to make a profit on the backs of Californians that are suffering in some of the worst fire tragedies in history.”
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Backfires are typically used by professional firefighting agencies to consume fuel in the path of a wildfire or to change the direction of a blaze.
But private firefighters — civilians often hired by insurance companies to protect defensible spaces such as homes and properties — are not authorized to use them as a defense mechanism. Instead, they are supposed to do preemptive work such as clearing vegetation, setting up perimeter sprinkler systems or spraying the area around a property with fire-blocking gel or retardant. The goal is to prevent flames from reaching a structure.
“They are not to fight fire when they’re in there,” Cal Fire spokesman Scott McLean said. “They are not to make a stand.”
During the 2018 Woolsey fire, private firefighters in the tony Bell Canyon neighborhood of Ventura County generated complaints from fire officials who said they didn’t always coordinate with local crews.
“It’s a liability and safety issue,” Ventura County Fire Capt. Brian McGrath said at the time.
Officials from California Professional Firefighters said interference from private firefighters became such a problem during the 2018 fires that the group sponsored legislation to try to regulate the service.
Assembly Bill 2380 , signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September of that year, required the development of standards and regulations to govern private firefighters.
Among the requirements: Private firefighters must heed all evacuation orders, check in with fire operators before entering an area and focus primarily on pre-fire and nonemergency activities outside restricted areas to minimize potential liability.
The backfires in Napa and Sonoma counties are alleged to have occurred last weekend, when red flag warnings indicating hot, dry conditions were in effect. The Glass fire has burned through more than 67,000 acres since igniting Sept. 27.
Sometimes seen as a “white-glove service” for homeowners in well-to-do neighborhoods, private firefighting services have raised eyebrows for creating potential inequities in the land of wildfires — making it easier for wealthy people to protect their homes while leaving little recourse for those without flush resources.
But David Torgerson, chief executive of Montana-based Wildfire Defense Systems — one of the leading private firefighter contractors in the nation — said there are no inequities in the services his company provides, which are becoming standard policy for insurance company packages.
“In the programs that we serve, 90% are average-value homes,” Torgerson said. “And because there’s dozens of insurance companies that offer this, anybody can have it. They just have to ask their agent or broker.”
Wildfire Defense Systems has deployed to more than 900 wildfires on behalf of the insurance industry since 2008, including 70 in California this year alone, with the express purpose of preventing structures from igniting.
Torgerson said federal and state governments are the biggest users of private wildfire contractors. (More than 11,300 firefighters contract with state and government agencies nationwide, according to the National Wildfire Suppression Assn.). The insurance industry comes in second, and roughly 3% work directly for landowners.
It’s those who create a lot of the issues, Torgerson said.
“This very small fraction of wildfire contractors is getting all this attention,” he said, “and that’s what they’re referring to in those media articles.”
Janet Ruiz, spokeswoman for industry group Insurance Information Institute, said a “few dozen” insurance agencies contract groups year-round to do on-site wildfire hazard assessments and proactive defense, such as clearing pine needles from roofs, moving wood away from houses and spraying retardant.
Insurance firms such as AIG, Chubb and USAA have provided the services in wildfire-prone states for more than a decade, but an increase in requests for the services has coincided with the nation’s increasing wildfire risk , she said.
The groups also offer post-fire services, including returning combustible materials that may have been relocated from homes or removing firefighting gel from where it was applied.
Like Torgerson, Ruiz said state agencies such as Cal Fire usually “welcome all the help they can get,” adding that it’s only the bad apples that spoil the bunch.
“The only times they’re not happy is when it’s people doing things like coming on the scene to fight fire and not checking in, not showing their credentials, etc.,” she said. “That’s not what the insurance industry is supporting.”
But wildfires in California are unlike anywhere else on Earth, Rice said, save for possibly Australia. The terrain is brutal, the blazes are complex, and anyone coming into the area will be facing one of the most unpredictable and unprecedented eras in wildfire history.
“It is incredibly risky. It is incredibly hazardous,” Rice said. “And I can just see the profit motivation beginning to take hold across the West.”
Cal Fire has not yet named the agencies or firefighters being investigated for the backfires in Napa and Sonoma counties, but Rice said that if the claims are proved, it could be considered arson. Setting backfires requires highly skilled, highly trained and highly certified firefighting officials.
“It is a planned process, and we are very meticulous about what we do,” said McLean, the Cal Fire spokesman. “Putting fire on the ground is very serious business.”


latimes--2020-10-09--Coronavirus could worsen in winter, remain major threat through 2021, Fauci says

The COVID-19 pandemic could worsen in the winter and continue to be a looming threat through much of 2021 .
That is the forecast of Dr. Anthony Fauci , the federal government ’ s top infectious diseases expert , in a wide-ranging discussion about the pandemic that he delivered this week to the Berkeley Forum .
Fauci warned that a sense of normality post-coronavirus may not come to the U.S. until late 2021 , adding that the arrival of a vaccine will not suddenly bring the U.S. lurching back .
Rather , it ’ ll be a gradual transition over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ offered analysis at the Thursday forum about where we stand on the pandemic — from the importance of masks to the mistakes made by colleges , the dangers of internet disinformation and the grim toll COVID-19 is taking on nonwhite communities .
Masks may be part of a return to normal for some time The U.S. faces two problems — the vaccine won ’ t be 99 % effective and a substantial proportion of Americans have indicated they will not take the inoculation .
“ So let ’ s say you have a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ % to 80 % of the people want to get vaccinated : You still have a lot of people in society … that are vulnerable to be infected , ” Fauci said .
That means “ we ’ re going to softly go into a graded degree of normality.
” In this new normal , more types of businesses will be able to reopen .
But some pandemic protections may still be needed for a longer period than others .
“ Will people have to wear masks ?
Yes , likely , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that if we get a good vaccine now , that we could have some degree of normality in the third quarter to the fourth quarter of 2021 .
“ I think ultimately , we will get back to normality as we knew it before this .
But … it ’ s going to be a gradual process , in which the restrictions on things — restaurant numbers , theater attendance , spectators at sports [ events ] — all of that will come back gradually .
But it will come back.
” We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ At the moment , the U.S. is still diagnosing about 40,000 new infections of the coronavirus daily — “ which is unacceptably high , ” Fauci said , as the nation moves into the cooler seasons .
“ We ’ ve got to get that down or otherwise , we ’ re going to have a very tough winter in the next few months , ” Fauci said .
According to the Los Angeles Times ’ coronavirus tracker , California is averaging about 3,300 new coronavirus cases a day for the last week @ @ @ @ @ @ @ higher than during the initial springtime wave of cases that prompted the state ’ s first stay-at-home order .
Los Angeles County on Wednesday reported its highest daily count of coronavirus infections since Aug. 22 , highlighting the continued dangers of the virus even as more businesses are opening up .
The uptick in cases in Los Angeles and several other California counties is cause for concern , but experts state that it ’ s too early to say whether it represents the start of a larger surge in infections .
Immunity might @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which typically confers lifelong immunity after infection or a vaccination , scientists don ’ t expect that a coronavirus infection or inoculation will confer immunity that will last for decades .
There are now about eight or nine cases of re-infection that have been reported , Fauci said .
“ The protection doesn ’ t last decades and decades .
It lasts more [ like ] many months to a year or two.
” That means even after a vaccine becomes available , a booster shot may need to be required to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people need booster shots to protect against tetanus .
Fauci lamented the role of social media in disseminating false statements about the pandemic .
“ Social media … is an extraordinary way to disseminate information quickly and widely , ” Fauci said .
But , he added , “ when disinformation gets in there , it has a way of self-propagating itself to the point where you don ’ t know what ’ s true.
” Some of the dangerous falsehoods include the idea that the pandemic is trivial , even though it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than a century .
More than 212,000 people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19 , a number nearly equal to the number of deaths from the last six flu seasons .
“ How can it be a trivial outbreak if it ’ s already killed 210,000 people in the United States and a million people worldwide ?
” Fauci asked .
“ But there are people out there that think all of this is a big conspiracy.
” President Trump has publicly cast doubt on the importance of using masks .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Biden , Trump noted Fauci ’ s shifting comments on whether to wear masks , saying , “ He said very strongly , ‘ Masks are not good.
’ Then he changed his mind .
He said , ‘ Masks are good.
’ ” Fauci has said in an earlier interview with ABC News that Trump was taking his comments out of context .
At the Berkeley Forum , Fauci explained that federal officials ’ initial comments in February that the public need not wear masks was based on the circumstances at that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and a fear that recommending mask use for the public would worsen the supply of masks for the nation ’ s first responders , nurses , doctors and other essential workers .
“ They were also not recommended because there was not yet enough data to indicate that masks were actually quite effective in preventing the acquisition and transmission of infection , ” Fauci said .
Then it became clear that for the public , cloth masks “ were just as good as the surgical mask ” in interrupting transmission and acquisition of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also became clear that about 40 % to 50 % of all infected people have no symptoms at all .
That made it especially important to call for universal masking , as people were spreading the virus even though they had no idea they were infected and contagious .
“ That ’ s astounding , ” Fauci said .
“ So the situation completely changed .
And it was at that point that everyone , including myself , was saying , ‘ Absolutely .
You ’ ve got to wear a mask.
’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cavalier behavior Fauci said he ’ s never seen a disease like COVID-19 with such a wide range of clinical outcomes .
And the sense of relative safety for some people , such as young adults with no underlying medical conditions , is making it hard to control the pandemic in the U.S. What they may not realize is that they , in getting infected , may pass it along to vulnerable people who may die from COVID-19 .
“ The extraordinary range that this disease has , ” Fauci said , “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nationwide have made what Fauci called dramatic mistakes in inviting students to return to campus , and then when an outbreak happens , sending students all back home , which then seeds the virus in their hometowns .
“ That was not the right thing to do , ” Fauci said .
A tactic that some colleges are taking is to test all students before they come back to living on campus dorms and then conduct surveillance testing every few days , Fauci said .
Colleges should then be able to isolate the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on a reserved dorm floor or separate dorm building exclusively for infected students .
“ When they get infected , don ’ t send them home , ” Fauci said .
“ Keep them there , keep them comfortable .
When they recover , get them back to class.
” Lessons to take from pandemic ’ s burden on nonwhite people Public health experts have long talked about how structural racism has , since the nation ’ s founding , led to poorer health outcomes for nonwhite people in America .
They point @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” in noting that people ’ s health is in part affected by access to social and economic opportunities .
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services , factors like good schools ; safe workplaces ; and access to clean water , food and air , can have an impact on public health .
Those opportunities can be scarce in mostly nonwhite communities .
Other factors that can worsen health include discrimination , poverty , food insecurity , housing instability and neighborhood crime .
In the U.S. , residents who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Alaskan Native and Pacific Islander have been disproportionately hit hard by COVID-19 , Fauci said .
They are more likely to have jobs where they can ’ t work from home — and are at higher risk for infection — and also have a higher chance of having a chronic or long-term health problem that make them more likely to suffer a worse outcome from COVID-19 .
“ What the government could do now , and what the population of our country could do , is to realize that COVID-19 is shedding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ determinants of health ... that is , in essence , killing minorities in the context of COVID-19 , ” Fauci said .
“ So what I would hope that the terrible experience that we ’ re going through now galvanizes and energizes us to make a decades-long commitment to doing things about these social determinants of health , ” Fauci said .
“ That takes a societal commitment .
I hope that ’ s one of the good things that comes out of this outbreak , ” he added .
Taking care on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world ’ As with the COVID-19 pandemic , many of the world ’ s most troubling infectious diseases in recent decades have originated from other animals , whether it be the original SARS outbreak , avian flu , HIV or Zika .
Animals can carry viruses to which they ’ ve become evolutionarily adapted , and so sometimes aren ’ t sickened from them .
“ But when it jumps species , sometimes it develops the capability of adapting itself to a new human .
And then you have a new disease , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ need to be cautious about how we interact with other species , such as through markets where wild animals are sold .
“ We ’ ve got to readjust ... to be very careful and sensitive about how we encroach on the animal world , ” Fauci said .
Despite the Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Obama in 2010 , there remain 11 % of people in the U.S. under the age of 65 that go without health insurance , according to an estimate from 2018 .
That translates to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said the nation needs universal healthcare , which would have helped the country fight the pandemic .
“ We have a system in the United States in which a number of people fall between the cracks , ” Fauci said .
“ We ’ ve got to make sure that we have a healthcare system where no one can go without necessary healthcare and quality healthcare.
” Public health experts have long expressed alarm about so-called anti-vaxxers — people opposed to vaccinations who make false statements about vaccine safety .
Fauci said there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ who , no matter what you do , you ’ re not going to change their mind.
” But there ’ s also another group of people who are against vaccines because , Fauci said , “ they ’ ve absorbed misinformation.
” Fauci said people should not “ denigrate , accuse or disrespect people who don ’ t want to get vaccinated if you feel you want to convince them to change their minds.
” “ If you could , in a way that ’ s [ non-confrontational ] , give @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be able to win them over , ” Fauci said .
Times staff writers Colleen Shalby and Sonja Sharp contributed to this report .

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious diseases expert, speaks about the coronavirus on April 7.
The COVID-19 pandemic could worsen in the winter and continue to be a looming threat through much of 2021.
That is the forecast of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the federal government’s top infectious diseases expert, in a wide-ranging discussion about the pandemic that he delivered this week to the Berkeley Forum.
Fauci warned that a sense of normality post-coronavirus may not come to the U.S. until late 2021, adding that the arrival of a vaccine will not suddenly bring the U.S. lurching back. Rather, it’ll be a gradual transition over a long period of time.
Fauci offered analysis at the Thursday forum about where we stand on the pandemic — from the importance of masks to the mistakes made by colleges, the dangers of internet disinformation and the grim toll COVID-19 is taking on nonwhite communities.
Advertisement
Masks may be part of a return to normal for some time
The U.S. faces two problems: The vaccine won’t be 99% effective, and a substantial proportion of Americans have indicated they will not take the inoculation.
“So let’s say you have a 75% effective vaccine, and 65% to 80% of the people want to get vaccinated: You still have a lot of people in society … that are vulnerable to be infected,” Fauci said. That means “we’re going to softly go into a graded degree of normality.”
In this new normal, more types of businesses will be able to reopen. But some pandemic protections may still be needed for a longer period than others.
“Will people have to wear masks? Yes, likely,” Fauci said. “I would imagine that if we get a good vaccine now, that we could have some degree of normality in the third quarter to the fourth quarter of 2021.
“I think ultimately, we will get back to normality as we knew it before this. But … it’s going to be a gradual process, in which the restrictions on things — restaurant numbers, theater attendance, spectators at sports [events] — all of that will come back gradually. But it will come back.”
We could be in for a tough winter
At the moment, the U.S. is still diagnosing about 40,000 new infections of the coronavirus daily — “which is unacceptably high,” Fauci said, as the nation moves into the cooler seasons.
“We’ve got to get that down or otherwise, we’re going to have a very tough winter in the next few months,” Fauci said.
According to the Los Angeles Times’ coronavirus tracker, California has averaged about 3,300 new coronavirus cases a day for the last week — a number that’s still higher than during the initial springtime wave of cases that prompted the state’s first stay-at-home order.
Los Angeles County on Wednesday reported its highest daily count of coronavirus infections since Aug. 22, highlighting the continued dangers of the virus even as more businesses are opening up. The uptick in cases in Los Angeles and several other California counties is cause for concern, but experts state that it’s too early to say whether it represents the start of a larger surge in infections.
Advertisement
Immunity might last for only several months
Unlike with measles, which typically confers lifelong immunity after infection or a vaccination, scientists don’t expect that a coronavirus infection or inoculation will confer immunity that will last for decades.
There are now about eight or nine cases of re-infection that have been reported, Fauci said. “The protection doesn’t last decades and decades. It lasts more [like] many months to a year or two.”
That means even after a vaccine becomes available, a booster shot may be required to keep people protected, similar to how people need booster shots to protect against tetanus.
Conspiracy theories, fueled by social media, hurt public health
Fauci lamented the role of social media in disseminating false statements about the pandemic.
“Social media … is an extraordinary way to disseminate information quickly and widely,” Fauci said. But, he added, “when disinformation gets in there, it has a way of self-propagating itself to the point where you don’t know what’s true.”
Some of the dangerous falsehoods include the idea that the pandemic is trivial, even though it is in fact the worst pandemic in more than a century.
More than 212,000 people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19, a number nearly equal to the number of deaths from the last six flu seasons.
“How can it be a trivial outbreak if it’s already killed 210,000 people in the United States and a million people worldwide?” Fauci asked. “But there are people out there that think all of this is a big conspiracy.”
Mask recommendations changed because the science changed
President Trump has publicly cast doubt on the importance of using masks. And in a presidential debate with Joe Biden, Trump noted Fauci’s shifting comments on whether to wear masks, saying, “He said very strongly, ‘Masks are not good.’ Then he changed his mind. He said, ‘Masks are good.’”
Fauci has said in an earlier interview with ABC News that Trump was taking his comments out of context.
At the Berkeley Forum, Fauci explained that federal officials’ initial comments in February that the public need not wear masks was based on the circumstances at that time: a nationwide shortage of masks and a fear that recommending mask use for the public would worsen the supply of masks for the nation’s first responders, nurses, doctors and other essential workers.
“They were also not recommended because there was not yet enough data to indicate that masks were actually quite effective in preventing the acquisition and transmission of infection,” Fauci said.
Then it became clear that for the public, cloth masks “were just as good as the surgical mask” in interrupting transmission and acquisition of the coronavirus, Fauci said.
It also became clear that about 40% to 50% of all infected people have no symptoms at all. That made it especially important to call for universal masking, as people were spreading the virus even though they had no idea they were infected and contagious.
“That’s astounding,” Fauci said. “So the situation completely changed. And it was at that point that everyone, including myself, was saying, ‘Absolutely. You’ve got to wear a mask.’”
The nature of COVID-19 led to cavalier behavior
Fauci said he’s never seen a disease like COVID-19 with such a wide range of clinical outcomes. And the sense of relative safety for some people, such as young adults with no underlying medical conditions, is making it hard to control the pandemic in the U.S.
What they may not realize is that they, in getting infected, may pass it along to vulnerable people who may die from COVID-19. “The extraordinary range that this disease has,” Fauci said, “makes it very confusing.”
Some colleges have made dramatic mistakes
Some colleges nationwide have made what Fauci called dramatic mistakes in inviting students to return to campus, and then when an outbreak happens, sending students all back home, which then seeds the virus in their hometowns.
“That was not the right thing to do,” Fauci said.
A tactic that some colleges are taking is to test all students before they come back to living in campus dorms and then conduct surveillance testing every few days, Fauci said.
Colleges should then be able to isolate the sick until they recover, such as on a reserved dorm floor or in a separate dorm building exclusively for infected students.
“When they get infected, don’t send them home,” Fauci said. “Keep them there, keep them comfortable. When they recover, get them back to class.”
Lessons to take from pandemic’s burden on nonwhite people
Public health experts have long talked about how structural racism has, since the nation’s founding, led to poorer health outcomes for nonwhite people in America.
They point to the “social determinants of health” in noting that people’s health is in part affected by access to social and economic opportunities. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, factors like good schools; safe workplaces; and access to clean water, food and air, can have an effect on public health.
Those opportunities can be scarce in mostly nonwhite communities.
Other factors that can worsen health include discrimination, poverty, food insecurity, housing instability and neighborhood crime.
In the U.S., residents who are Black, Latino, Native American, Alaskan Native and Pacific Islander have been hit disproportionately hard by COVID-19, Fauci said.
They are more likely to have jobs that don’t allow them to work from home — and are at higher risk for infection — and also have a higher chance of having a chronic or long-term health problem that makes them more likely to suffer a worse outcome from COVID-19.
“What the government could do now, and what the population of our country could do, is to realize that COVID-19 is shedding a very bright light on the social determinants of health … that is, in essence, killing minorities in the context of COVID-19,” Fauci said.
“So … I would hope that the terrible experience that we’re going through now galvanizes and energizes us to make a decades-long commitment to doing things about these social determinants of health,” Fauci said.
“That takes a societal commitment. I hope that’s one of the good things that comes out of this outbreak,” he added.
Taking care on ‘how we encroach on the animal world’
As with the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the world’s most troubling infectious diseases in recent decades have originated from other animals, whether it be the original SARS outbreak, avian flu, HIV or Zika.
Animals can carry viruses to which they’ve become evolutionarily adapted, and so sometimes aren’t sickened from them.
“But when it jumps species, sometimes it develops the capability of adapting itself to a new human. And then you have a new disease,” Fauci said.
That means humans need to be cautious about how we interact with other species, such as through markets where wild animals are sold.
“We’ve got to readjust ... to be very careful and sensitive about how we encroach on the animal world,” Fauci said.
Lack of universal healthcare hobbled pandemic fight
Despite the Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Obama in 2010, there remain 11% of people in the U.S. under the age of 65 who have no health insurance, according to an estimate from 2018. That translates to more than 30 million people.
Fauci said the nation needs universal healthcare, which would have helped the country fight the pandemic.
“We have a system in the United States in which a number of people fall between the cracks,” Fauci said. “We’ve got to make sure that we have a healthcare system where no one can go without necessary healthcare and quality healthcare.”
Debunking false statements about vaccines with respect
Public health experts have long expressed alarm about so-called anti-vaxxers — people opposed to vaccinations who make false statements about vaccine safety.
Fauci said there’s a hardcore group of anti-vaxxers “who, no matter what you do, you’re not going to change their mind.”
But there’s also another group of people who are against vaccines because, Fauci said, “they’ve absorbed misinformation.” Fauci said people should not “denigrate, accuse or disrespect people who don’t want to get vaccinated if you feel you want to convince them to change their minds.”
“If you could, in a way that’s [non-confrontational], give them the correct information, you may be able to win them over,” Fauci said.
Times staff writers Colleen Shalby and Sonja Sharp contributed to this report.


latimes--2020-10-09--Photos: Closed for months, malls and casinos reopen in Los Angeles County

Over the last two weeks , a number of businesses in Los Angeles County have resumed operations for the first time in months .
Breweries , wineries , card rooms and playgrounds were allowed to reopen outdoor operations , nail salons got the go-ahead to reopen indoors with limitations , and on Wednesday , indoor shopping malls were given the green light to reopen at 25 % capacity .
The vast Beverly Center was busy but far from crowded Thursday afternoon , the second day of its third pandemic reopening since March .
Many of the designer brands that make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ velvet ropes at the door and beefed-up security , while retailers such as Zara and Forever 21 have emerged with slimmed-down collections and limited inventory .
Mask notices were taped to every storefront , with hand sanitizer stations nearby .
The mall itself has been significantly reordered since it last shut down July 14 .
Gone are seats and interactive displays , as well as many cafes and restaurants , per state guidelines .
A new personal protective equipment vending machine with face masks , hand wipes and flushable toilet seat covers was @ @ @ @ @ @ @

Over the last two weeks, a number of businesses in Los Angeles County have resumed operations for the first time in months. Breweries, wineries, card rooms and playgrounds were allowed to reopen outdoor operations, nail salons got the go-ahead to reopen indoors with limitations, and on Wednesday, indoor shopping malls were given the green light to reopen at 25% capacity.
The vast Beverly Center was busy but far from crowded Thursday afternoon, the second day of its third pandemic reopening since March. Many of the designer brands that make the mall a tourist destination now feature velvet ropes at the door and beefed-up security, while retailers such as Zara and Forever 21 have emerged with slimmed-down collections and limited inventory.
Mask notices were taped to every storefront, with hand sanitizer stations nearby.
The mall itself has been significantly reordered since it last shut down July 14. Gone are seats and interactive displays, as well as many cafes and restaurants, per state guidelines. A new personal protective equipment vending machine with face masks, hand wipes and flushable toilet seat covers was installed near the sixth-floor concierge desk.
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Beverly Center
“Trying to shop till I drop,” said Kevin Romero, 27, center, as he and other shoppers returned to the Beverly Center on Oct. 8 after Los Angeles County eased restrictions. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
An employee waits on customers at the Apple store at the Beverly Center. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
A shopper rides an escalator at the Beverly Center. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Shoppers socially distance themselves while waiting in line enter a store at the Beverly Center. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
A shopper walks past a vending machine that sells N95 masks and other protective equipment against COVID-19 at the Beverly Center. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Gardens Casino
Employee Craig Phillips sanitizes a protective partition between gamblers on Oct. 5 in front of Gardens Casino in Hawaiian Gardens, where 45 card tables were set up. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Maria Gloria Sanchez and her husband, Francisco Sanchez, of La Habra apply hand sanitizer before entering Gardens Casino. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
Banker Fernando Martinez, left, gets ready to apply hand sanitizer while working at a baccarat table set up in what used to be the valet area at the Gardens Casino. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
Westfield Santa Anita
Customers return to indoor shopping at the Westfield Santa Anita mall in Arcadia on Oct. 6. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Signs on the floor remind shoppers to practice social distancing at Westfield Santa Anita mall in Arcadia. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
A sign thanking essential workers and a hand sanitizer station greet shoppers at Westfield Santa Anita mall in Arcadia. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)


latimes--2020-10-09--Fire-dampening rain for California fizzles; more heat and possible Santa Ana winds are on the way

Chances of beneficial rain in Northern California have largely done a vanishing act , the National Weather Service said .
Disappointment hangs in the air like smoke and ash from the West ’ s most active wildfire season on record .
But a welcome cooling trend will continue across the state into the weekend , and drizzle is possible in Southern California on Friday night and Saturday .
After that , Santa Ana winds are likely to bring a return to warm , dry conditions through midweek in the Southland .
In Northern California , dry northerly winds return Sunday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
The hoped-for beneficial precipitation won ’ t happen for most of Northern California , said Scott Rowe , a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento .
Looking out the window of the Sacramento forecast office , Rowe described the sky as somewhat smoky with high clouds from the remnants of Hurricane Marie .
Last week , some forecast models suggested that moisture from Marie would tie into a Pacific trough moving in from the northwest .
“ The system from the Pacific Northwest slowed down , and the ingredients @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rowe .
“ The timing was off.
” Hope for a spritz of rain on the Central Coast and in Southern California has also dwindled to nothing .
There is a chance for more cooling Friday and drizzle Friday night and Saturday , especially near the coast , with the increasing onshore flow and deepening marine layer .
By Sunday , temperatures will rebound as a warm-up begins into next week .
Sunday is also expected to bring gusty northerly winds in southern Santa Barbara County and through the Interstate 5 corridor .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ through Wednesday in Southern California as cold air settles into the Great Basin .
An upper-level ridge over the eastern Pacific will strengthen beginning Monday .
Except for the far northwest corner of the state , the hopes for rain have mostly evaporated in Northern California , where fuels remain dry and the fire season continues .
Rowe expects a “ run-of-the-mill offshore wind event , ” but points out that a breezy day with dry vegetation during October in Northern California is more dangerous than an ordinary breezy day in December after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ potential fuels .
After a brief respite , Southern California returns to temperatures that are well above normal with elevated to locally critical fire weather conditions next week .
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , California and Oregon had their hottest Septembers on record in 2020 .
“ Looking forward a bit , the news does not get much better for the foreseeable future , ” climate scientist Daniel Swain writes .
The winter is looking dry with strong La Niña conditions , although that does not mean we won @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rain events , said Swain .
“ Weather forecasters were delighted by the possibility of some fire-dampening rainfall , but that was wishful thinking , ” said climatologist Bill Patzert .
“ It ’ s only early October and we ’ re still in Santa Ana season .
Last winter , both Northern and Southern California didn ’ t see significant rainfall until November .
Be patient .
”

The sun is filtered through smoky air from California’s record wildfires.
Chances of beneficial rain in Northern California have largely done a vanishing act, the National Weather Service said.
Disappointment hangs in the air like smoke and ash from the West’s most active wildfire season on record.
But a welcome cooling trend will continue across the state into the weekend, and drizzle is possible in Southern California on Friday night and Saturday.
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After that, Santa Ana winds are likely to bring a return to warm, dry conditions through midweek in the Southland.
The probability of rain in California. (Paul Duginski / Los Angeles Times)
In Northern California, dry northerly winds return Sunday into next week, the weather service said.
The hoped-for beneficial precipitation won’t happen for most of Northern California, said Scott Rowe, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento.
Looking out the window of the Sacramento forecast office, Rowe described the sky as somewhat smoky with high clouds from the remnants of Hurricane Marie. Last week, some forecast models suggested that moisture from Marie would tie into a Pacific trough moving in from the northwest.
“The system from the Pacific Northwest slowed down, and the ingredients did not come together,” said Rowe. “The timing was off.”
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Forecasters have backed off on predictions of rain in Northern California. (Paul Duginski / Los Angeles Times)
Hope for a spritz of rain on the Central Coast and in Southern California has also dwindled to nothing. There is a chance for more cooling Friday and drizzle Friday night and Saturday, especially near the coast, with the increasing onshore flow and deepening marine layer. By Sunday, temperatures will rebound as a warm-up begins into next week.
Sunday is also expected to bring gusty northerly winds in southern Santa Barbara County and through the Interstate 5 corridor. Santa Ana winds are possible late Monday through Wednesday in Southern California as cold air settles into the Great Basin.
An upper-level ridge over the eastern Pacific will strengthen beginning Monday. Except for the far northwest corner of the state, the hopes for rain have mostly evaporated in Northern California, where fuels remain dry and the fire season continues.
Rowe expects a “run-of-the-mill offshore wind event,” but points out that a breezy day with dry vegetation during October in Northern California is more dangerous than an ordinary breezy day in December after there has been some rain to moisten potential fuels.
September saw record heat in both California and Oregon this year. (Paul Duginski / Los Angeles Times)
After a brief respite, Southern California returns to temperatures that are well above normal with elevated to locally critical fire weather conditions next week.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, California and Oregon had their hottest Septembers on record in 2020.
“Looking forward a bit, the news does not get much better for the foreseeable future,” climate scientist Daniel Swain writes. The winter is looking dry with strong La Niña conditions, although that does not mean we won’t see any major storms or rain events, said Swain.
“Weather forecasters were delighted by the possibility of some fire-dampening rainfall, but that was wishful thinking,” said climatologist Bill Patzert. “It’s only early October and we’re still in Santa Ana season. Last winter, both Northern and Southern California didn’t see significant rainfall until November. Be patient.”


latimes--2020-10-08--Palm Springs aerial tram to resume mountain swoops

The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway , famed for carrying guests in a steel-and-glass bubble from a desert canyon to a mountaintop , will reopen Friday morning after a long COVID-19 closure .
It will be operating at less than 25 % capacity with many new restrictions .
As before , the journey will take about 10 minutes .
In the Valley Station and Mountain Station and in transit , masks are required ( not neck gaiters or masks with vents ) , distancing is mandatory and temperatures will be taken before boarding .
Management has promised touchless ticketing , increased @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tape on handrails and open windows .
The rotating tram cars , billed as the largest of their kind , date to 1963 .
Their prepandemic capacity was 80 passengers per car .
For now , they will carry no more than 12 passengers each , a spokesman said .
Visitors ( even those who are annual passholders ) will need to book their trips in advance , the tram ’ s management said in a release .
Adult fare is $ 26.95 , the same as before the pandemic .
The parking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is a $ 2 increase from pre-COVID prices .
At the top of the tram route , about 8,500 feet above sea level , you can take a short hike in Long Valley or head 6 miles each way to Mount San Jacinto peak .
Mt .
San Jacinto State Park and Wilderness is open for day use..
The nearby San Bernardino National Forest partially reopened Friday .
At the Valley Station , management said , the Tramway History Museum , Cascade Patio and the Tram View patio will be open but the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will remain closed for now .
At the top , the Mountain Station Gift Shop , Desert View Terrace , Santa Rosa Theater and the Natural History Museum will be open .
Peaks Restaurant , Lookout Lounge and San Jacinto Theater will remain closed until further notice .
( The Pines Cafe will be selling sandwiches , salads and drinks . )
The tram closed on March 13 .
It is set to resume at 8 a.m. Friday .
The last car of the day goes up at 4:20 p.m. and comes down @ @ @ @

The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, famed for carrying guests in a steel-and-glass bubble from a desert canyon to a mountaintop, will reopen Friday morning after a long COVID-19 closure. It will be operating at less than 25% capacity with many new restrictions.
As before, the journey will take about 10 minutes. In the Valley Station and Mountain Station and in transit, masks are required (not neck gaiters or masks with vents), distancing is mandatory and temperatures will be taken before boarding.
Management has promised touchless ticketing, increased cleaning and electrostatic sanitization, with antimicrobial tape on handrails and open windows.
The rotating tram cars, billed as the largest of their kind, date to 1963. Their prepandemic capacity was 80 passengers per car. For now, they will carry no more than 12 passengers each, a spokesman said.
Visitors (even those who are annual passholders) will need to book their trips in advance, the tram’s management said in a release. Adult fare is $26.95, the same as before the pandemic. The parking fee of $10 for most vehicles is a $2 increase from pre-COVID prices.
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At the top of the tram route, about 8,500 feet above sea level, you can take a short hike in Long Valley or head 6 miles each way to Mount San Jacinto peak. Mt. San Jacinto State Park and Wilderness is open for day use.. The nearby San Bernardino National Forest partially reopened Friday.
At the Valley Station, management said, the Tramway History Museum, Cascade Patio and the Tram View patio will be open but the Valley Station Gift Shop and Cascade Cafe will remain closed for now.
At the top, the Mountain Station Gift Shop, Desert View Terrace, Santa Rosa Theater and the Natural History Museum will be open. Peaks Restaurant, Lookout Lounge and San Jacinto Theater will remain closed until further notice. (The Pines Cafe will be selling sandwiches, salads and drinks.)
The tram closed on March 13. It is set to resume at 8 a.m. Friday. The last car of the day goes up at 4:20 p.m. and comes down at 6 p.m.


latimes--2020-10-09--Here's why Armenian Americans in Southern California are protesting

Since Sept. 27 , the escalating conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh has killed hundreds and displaced thousands , and Armenian Americans in Southern California have taken to the streets in protest .
In the days and weeks before a cease-fire was announced late Friday , thousands gathered outside the Azerbaijan Consulate in Los Angeles , blocked traffic on the 101 and 170 freeways , marched in Glendale and assembled in front of the buildings of CNN and the Los Angeles Times .
On Wednesday , a crowd shut down Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood , and on Thursday , many traveled to Washington @ @ @ @ @ @ @ House .
In addition to the protest , the Armenian American community has launched fundraisers and social media campaigns ( shared by the likes of the Kardashians ) , and some have left or are preparing to leave Southern California with plans to volunteer and fight .
All in the midst of a pandemic and a chaotic U.S. election .
Southern California is home of one of the largest Armenian diasporas .
The first significant wave of immigrants arrived after escaping the Armenian genocide of 1915 .
( The Turkish government disputes that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to 1.5 million people killed under the Ottoman Empire — constituted a genocide . )
In 2000 , an East Hollywood neighborhood was designated Little Armenia .
Glendale is home to the biggest Armenian American community in the region , in addition to significant populations in Burbank , Pasadena , Montebello and La Crescenta .
Here ’ s the background on how the conflict got to this point and its implications in Southern California .
What is the history of the conflict ?
The tiny mountainous South Caucasus enclave Nagorno-Karabakh , referred to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Artsakh , is recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan , but its population of 150,000 is mostly ethnic Armenian .
It is self-ruling and receives funding from Armenia and the Armenian diaspora , which is far larger than Armenia ’ s population of about 3 million .
“ Caucasus has always been in the middle of three empires , ” said Salpi Ghazarian , director of the USC Institute of Armenian Studies .
“ It used to be the Russian , Ottoman and Persian empires , now it ’ s Russia , Turkey @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , lots of ethnic groups have always lived together , on top of each other .
The borders were always shifting … because everyone was always gerrymandering.
” The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh can be traced to the beginnings of the Soviet Union .
In 1923 , Nagorno-Karabakh became part of Soviet Azerbaijan while maintaining its autonomous status .
Around the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union , there were attempts from Nagorno-Karabakh to break away from Azerbaijan , which were met with violence .
About 30,000 people were killed and 1 million displaced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cease-fire since 1994 .
Violence has flared periodically since that cease-fire , notably during 2016 ’ s Four-Day War , when clashes left hundreds dead .
What is the recent history ?
In July , border clashes resulted in deaths of both Armenian and Azebaijani servicemen .
Problems started much earlier , said Philip Gamaghelyan , an assistant professor at the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego .
He is also the co-founder of the Imagine Center for Conflict Transformation and the managing editor of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Negotiations were very active until about 2011 , when they essentially stopped working on a solution , ” he said .
In 1992 , the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe formed the Minsk Group , with Russia , France and the U.S. in charge of finding a diplomatic solution in Nagorno-Karabakh .
“ They were not successful for many reasons , ” Ghazarian said , “ but it also wasn ’ t on anybody ’ s top agenda.
” While the Clinton and Bush administrations were very involved , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ region during the Obama administration , and that continued during Trump ’ s presidency , Gamaghelyan said .
“ The absence of meaningful negotiations made eventual war more and more likely , ” he said .
“ And it made space for other local actors such as Turkey to start making moves.
” Before , other countries were supporting one side or another but not getting directly involved , Gamaghelyan said .
Armenia said last month that a Turkish warplane had shot down an Armenian jet .
But Turkey and Azerbaijan vigorously denied @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said recently that a call for peace from France , Russia and the U.S. was unacceptable and “ our Azerbaijani brothers are now waiting for the day they will return to their land.
” Turkish involvement is terrifying for the Armenian American community , many of whom have familial ties to the genocide .
Laurence Broers , a scholar on the conflict , told The Times that although Azerbaijan instigated this attack , that country sees the conflict as a defensive war to reclaim lost land .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ noon .
How does the conflict play out in Southern California ?
Talar Chahinian , a lecturer in the Armenian Studies Program at UC Irvine , said many Armenians in California got the news that Stepanakert , the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh , was being attacked around midnight Sept. 27 or woke up to it the next morning .
“ There was a sense that this was the big one , ” she said .
“ Just like in California , when you ’ re always anticipating the Big One , the big earthquake @ @ @ @ @ @ @ every thread , every space I was checking into , from academic to personal , it was this fear that they ’ re coming to get us .
They ’ re going to finish what they started , the genocide .
It was a very personal reaction that people were having .
“ It felt like this is the last line , ” she continued .
“ We knew civilians were being attacked , the capital was attacked , Turkey was open that they were in on it , and it felt very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ beginning , the earlier generations were tied to the Armenian genocide , and now you have more current migrants who might have participated in the 1994 war , ” Gamaghelyan said .
So these are direct ties to Armenia and Artsakh , not an abstract relationship , Chahinian said .
But there ’ s also a lot of internal diversity in the Armenian American population in Southern California , she said .
“ There are the Armenians who left Armenia in the Soviet area , bringing that experience , ” she said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the years following independence during economic hardship .
There are Armenians from Middle Eastern countries like Syria and Lebanon , most of whom left during the Lebanese civil war in the years 1975 to 1990.
” Chahinian is from Beirut , and both her grandparents were refugees and survivors of the genocide .
“ There are also Armenians from Iraq and from Iran , who left at the start of the Iranian revolution — and so much more , ” she said .
“ So you have a compilation of historical traumas and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ oppressive regimes and revolutions.
” Despite the diversity of experiences , she sees everyone coming together now for this common goal : “ Everyone is just all hands on deck.
” Chahinian explained that many Armenians see this not as a territorial dispute but as a threat to Armenian identity .
“ I ’ ve been hearing colleagues and friends saying , ‘ Where else are we supposed to go ?
’ ” she said .
“ And I think that gets to the heart of why Armenians are on the streets , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fighting for is 10 % of their historical land .
People are talking about genocide and ethnic cleansing , but it ’ s not being thrown around lightly .
It ’ s this idea that it ’ s this tiny sliver of place that Armenians can call home , and that ’ s what ’ s under existential threat.
” What are the protesters ’ demands ?
The main goal is to get more attention about the situation .
“ At the end of the day , countries , people , government , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ much as the world lets them do , ” Ghazarian said .
“ All of them can be impacted by understanding and information.
” Other calls to action , as outlined by the Armenian National Committee of America , include supporting aid efforts to Nagorno-Karabakh , calling for the U.S. to cut all military aid to Azerbaijan and urging countries around the world to condemn Azerbaijani and Turkish aggression .
International media often frame the dispute as one between a Christian country , Armenia , and a Muslim country , Azerbaijan — and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a majority Muslim country .
Although that ’ s true , all sides have agreed that this is not about religion , Ghazarian said .
“ It ’ s easy to frame like that , ” Gamaghelyan said .
He said religion is not an important factor in the local relationship between the two countries , but he acknowledged that religion is exploited by both sides when it comes to outreach to foreign nations — whether it ’ s appealing to majority-Christian societies or framing the conflict within the context of Islamophobia .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ some take issue with media coverage of the conflict .
On Tuesday , the protest outside The Times ’ headquarters in El Segundo was partly driven by anger over a story that quoted Nasimi Aghayev , the consul general of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles , who accused Armenia of promoting white supremacist propaganda .
But Gamaghelyan said another part of the problem is that both countries block certain information .
“ Azerbaijan has technically closed off their social media outside of the country , ” he said .
“ And they don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from their side .
Armenia also passed a war declaration restricting freedom of speech , banning information other than from their official channels to be spread.
” As a result , much of the information reported is coming from each country ’ s military .
“ Each side reads their own official information , that they ’ re being attacked by the other side , ” he said .
“ So there ’ s different information being passed to each community.
” People also get information directly from the region , Chahinian said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the front lines , families displaced , so the news they ’ re getting is from daily phone calls , real-time updates , family members who have died , ” she said .
Is there an Azerbaijani population in Los Angeles ?
Azerbaijan ’ s population is about triple that of Armenia .
Though there is an Azerbaijani community in the Los Angeles area , it ’ s small compared with the Armenian American community here , Gamaghelyan said .
Ulduz Azar , an officer of the Azerbaijan Cultural Society of Northern California @ @ @ @ @ @ @ community in San Francisco has also been raising money to send to Azerbaijanis who have lost family members or whose homes have been destroyed .
“ We ’ re all very , very worried and tense , ” Azar said .
“ We are trying to do our best to help those who are impacted.
” What has the response been from U.S. officials ?
In April , Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden vowed to support a resolution acknowledging the Armenian genocide if elected in November , something presidents Trump , Obama and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sept. 28 statement , Biden called on the Trump administration to step up diplomatic efforts .
“ The eruption of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh runs the risk of escalating into a larger regional conflict , which is why third parties in the region must stay out of this conflict and the Minsk Group mediators must immediately seek de-escalation and a return to negotiations , ” Biden said .
At the time , Trump told reporters he had just learned about the issue and was looking at the situation “ very strongly.
” This month @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prime minister , said Trump had promised to call him about the intensifying conflict before he became sick with COVID-19 .
On Monday , a group of officials , including Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian and state Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian , gathered at Los Angeles City Hall in solidarity with the Armenian community and called on the Trump administration to intervene diplomatically .
What could happen in the future ?
“ Sooner or later , most likely after the election , the U.S. may get involved , ” Gamaghelyan said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chance of it becoming another hot spot of international competitions.
” “ At the end of the day , there needs to be a peaceful negotiated solution , ” Ghazarian said .
“ Any other solution won ’ t work , otherwise it would ’ ve worked by now… .
If military conflict alone did it , we ’ d be done , but we ’ re not done .
”

Armenians across Southern California have been protesting to bring attention to the deadly and escalating conflict in the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Since Sept. 27, the escalating conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh has killed hundreds and displaced thousands, and Armenian Americans in Southern California have taken to the streets in protest.
In the days and weeks before a cease-fire was announced late Friday, thousands gathered outside the Azerbaijan Consulate in Los Angeles, blocked traffic on the 101 and 170 freeways, marched in Glendale and assembled in front of the buildings of CNN and the Los Angeles Times. On Wednesday, a crowd shut down Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood, and on Thursday, many traveled to Washington to protest in front of the White House.
On Sunday, tens of thousands protested outside the Turkish Consulate in Beverly Hills.
In addition to the protest, the Armenian American community has launched fundraisers and social media campaigns (shared by the likes of the Kardashians), and some have left or are preparing to leave Southern California with plans to volunteer and fight.
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All in the midst of a pandemic and a chaotic U.S. election.
Southern California is home of one of the largest Armenian diasporas. The first significant wave of immigrants arrived after escaping the Armenian genocide of 1915. (The Turkish government disputes that the deaths — estimates range from 600,000 to 1.5 million people killed under the Ottoman Empire — constituted a genocide.)
In 2000, an East Hollywood neighborhood was designated Little Armenia. Glendale is home to the biggest Armenian American community in the region, in addition to significant populations in Burbank, Pasadena, Montebello and La Crescenta.
Here’s the background on how the conflict got to this point and its implications in Southern California.
What is the history of the conflict?
The tiny mountainous South Caucasus enclave Nagorno-Karabakh, referred to by Armenians by its historical name, Artsakh, is recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan, but its population of 150,000 is mostly ethnic Armenian.
It is self-ruling and receives funding from Armenia and the Armenian diaspora, which is far larger than Armenia’s population of about 3 million.
(Los Angeles Times)
“Caucasus has always been in the middle of three empires,” said Salpi Ghazarian, director of the USC Institute of Armenian Studies. “It used to be the Russian, Ottoman and Persian empires, now it’s Russia, Turkey and Iran. In that Caucasus area, lots of ethnic groups have always lived together, on top of each other. The borders were always shifting … because everyone was always gerrymandering.”
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The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh can be traced to the beginnings of the Soviet Union. In 1923, Nagorno-Karabakh became part of Soviet Azerbaijan while maintaining its autonomous status.
Around the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, there were attempts from Nagorno-Karabakh to break away from Azerbaijan, which were met with violence. About 30,000 people were killed and 1 million displaced. Armenia and Azerbaijan have had a cease-fire since 1994.
Violence has flared periodically since that cease-fire, notably during 2016’s Four-Day War, when clashes left hundreds dead.
What is the recent history?
In July, border clashes resulted in deaths of both Armenian and Azebaijani servicemen.
Problems started much earlier, said Philip Gamaghelyan, an assistant professor at the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego. He is also the co-founder of the Imagine Center for Conflict Transformation and the managing editor of the Caucasus Edition: Journal of Conflict Transformation.
“Negotiations were very active until about 2011, when they essentially stopped working on a solution,” he said.
In 1992, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe formed the Minsk Group, with Russia, France and the U.S. in charge of finding a diplomatic solution in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“They were not successful for many reasons,” Ghazarian said, “but it also wasn’t on anybody’s top agenda.”
While the Clinton and Bush administrations were very involved, the U.S. started pulling out of the region during the Obama administration, and that continued during Trump’s presidency, Gamaghelyan said.
“The absence of meaningful negotiations made eventual war more and more likely,” he said. “And it made space for other local actors such as Turkey to start making moves.”
Before, other countries were supporting one side or another but not getting directly involved, Gamaghelyan said. Armenia said last month that a Turkish warplane had shot down an Armenian jet. But Turkey and Azerbaijan vigorously denied that.
Turkey is vocally supporting Azerbaijan. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said recently that a call for peace from France, Russia and the U.S. was unacceptable and “our Azerbaijani brothers are now waiting for the day they will return to their land.”
Turkish involvement is terrifying for the Armenian American community, many of whom have familial ties to the genocide.
Laurence Broers, a scholar on the conflict, told The Times that although Azerbaijan instigated this attack, that country sees the conflict as a defensive war to reclaim lost land.
The cease-fire is expected to begin Saturday at noon.
How does the conflict play out in Southern California?
Talar Chahinian, a lecturer in the Armenian Studies Program at UC Irvine, said many Armenians in California got the news that Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, was being attacked around midnight Sept. 27 or woke up to it the next morning.
“There was a sense that this was the big one,” she said. “Just like in California, when you’re always anticipating the Big One, the big earthquake. Everybody the next day, on every thread, every space I was checking into, from academic to personal, it was this fear that they’re coming to get us. They’re going to finish what they started, the genocide. It was a very personal reaction that people were having.
“It felt like this is the last line,” she continued. “We knew civilians were being attacked, the capital was attacked, Turkey was open that they were in on it, and it felt very different this time.”
A woman holds a sign during a protest outside the Los Angeles Times headquarters in El Segundo on Tuesday. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
Who makes up Southern California’s Armenian American community?
“In the beginning, the earlier generations were tied to the Armenian genocide, and now you have more current migrants who might have participated in the 1994 war,” Gamaghelyan said.
So these are direct ties to Armenia and Artsakh, not an abstract relationship, Chahinian said.
But there’s also a lot of internal diversity in the Armenian American population in Southern California, she said.
“There are the Armenians who left Armenia in the Soviet area, bringing that experience,” she said. “There are those who left in the years following independence during economic hardship. There are Armenians from Middle Eastern countries like Syria and Lebanon, most of whom left during the Lebanese civil war in the years 1975 to 1990.”
Chahinian is from Beirut, and both her grandparents were refugees and survivors of the genocide.
“There are also Armenians from Iraq and from Iran, who left at the start of the Iranian revolution — and so much more,” she said. “So you have a compilation of historical traumas and displacement. You have war, various oppressive regimes and revolutions.”
Despite the diversity of experiences, she sees everyone coming together now for this common goal: “Everyone is just all hands on deck.”
Chahinian explained that many Armenians see this not as a territorial dispute but as a threat to Armenian identity.
“I’ve been hearing colleagues and friends saying, ‘Where else are we supposed to go?’” she said. “And I think that gets to the heart of why Armenians are on the streets, blocking traffic…. What they’re fighting for is 10% of their historical land. People are talking about genocide and ethnic cleansing, but it’s not being thrown around lightly. It’s this idea that it’s this tiny sliver of place that Armenians can call home, and that’s what’s under existential threat.”
What are the protesters’ demands?
The main goal is to get more attention about the situation.
“At the end of the day, countries, people, government, dictators … only get to do as much as the world lets them do,” Ghazarian said. “All of them can be impacted by understanding and information.”
Other calls to action, as outlined by the Armenian National Committee of America, include supporting aid efforts to Nagorno-Karabakh, calling for the U.S. to cut all military aid to Azerbaijan and urging countries around the world to condemn Azerbaijani and Turkish aggression.
Is religion a factor?
International media often frame the dispute as one between a Christian country, Armenia, and a Muslim country, Azerbaijan — and Nagorno-Karabakh as a minority Christian enclave within a majority Muslim country.
Although that’s true, all sides have agreed that this is not about religion, Ghazarian said.
“It’s easy to frame like that,” Gamaghelyan said.
He said religion is not an important factor in the local relationship between the two countries, but he acknowledged that religion is exploited by both sides when it comes to outreach to foreign nations — whether it’s appealing to majority-Christian societies or framing the conflict within the context of Islamophobia.
In 2018, the Armenian Genocide Committee staged a march in Los Angeles in commemoration of the Armenian genocide. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
What about misinformation?
Another reason Armenians are protesting is that some take issue with media coverage of the conflict.
On Tuesday, the protest outside The Times’ headquarters in El Segundo was partly driven by anger over a story that quoted Nasimi Aghayev, the consul general of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles, who accused Armenia of promoting white supremacist propaganda.
But Gamaghelyan said another part of the problem is that both countries block certain information.
“Azerbaijan has technically closed off their social media outside of the country,” he said. “And they don’t let independent journalists enter the zone from their side. Armenia also passed a war declaration restricting freedom of speech, banning information other than from their official channels to be spread.”
As a result, much of the information reported is coming from each country’s military.
“Each side reads their own official information, that they’re being attacked by the other side,” he said. “So there’s different information being passed to each community.”
People also get information directly from the region, Chahinian said.
“They have siblings serving on the front lines, families displaced, so the news they’re getting is from daily phone calls, real-time updates, family members who have died,” she said.
Is there an Azerbaijani population in Los Angeles?
Azerbaijan’s population is about triple that of Armenia. Though there is an Azerbaijani community in the Los Angeles area, it’s small compared with the Armenian American community here, Gamaghelyan said.
Ulduz Azar, an officer of the Azerbaijan Cultural Society of Northern California, told The Times that her local community in San Francisco has also been raising money to send to Azerbaijanis who have lost family members or whose homes have been destroyed.
“We’re all very, very worried and tense,” Azar said. “We are trying to do our best to help those who are impacted.”
What has the response been from U.S. officials?
In April, Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden vowed to support a resolution acknowledging the Armenian genocide if elected in November, something presidents Trump, Obama and others did not do.
In a Sept. 28 statement, Biden called on the Trump administration to step up diplomatic efforts.
“The eruption of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh runs the risk of escalating into a larger regional conflict, which is why third parties in the region must stay out of this conflict and the Minsk Group mediators must immediately seek de-escalation and a return to negotiations,” Biden said.
With casualties rapidly mounting in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, the Trump Administration needs to call the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan immediately to de-escalate the situation. It must also demand others — like Turkey — stay out of this conflict. https://t.co/C41YKEGTyA — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 29, 2020
At the time, Trump told reporters he had just learned about the issue and was looking at the situation “very strongly.”
This month, Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia’s prime minister, said Trump had promised to call him about the intensifying conflict before he became sick with COVID-19.
On Monday, a group of officials, including Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian and state Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian, gathered at Los Angeles City Hall in solidarity with the Armenian community and called on the Trump administration to intervene diplomatically.
Wearing masks bearing the flag of the Republic of Artsakh, a number of elected officials posed for a photo after making statements about the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
What could happen in the future?
“Sooner or later, most likely after the election, the U.S. may get involved,” Gamaghelyan said. “So there’s a very good chance of it becoming another hot spot of international competitions.”
“At the end of the day, there needs to be a peaceful negotiated solution,” Ghazarian said. “Any other solution won’t work, otherwise it would’ve worked by now…. If military conflict alone did it, we’d be done, but we’re not done.”


latimes--2020-10-09--Top Feuer deputy who worked on DWP settlement quits city attorney's office

A key member of City Atty .
Mike Feuer ’ s executive team who helped oversee the controversial settlement of a class-action lawsuit brought by Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers has stepped down .
Chief Deputy Atty .
Jim Clark left August .
31 , said Rob Wilcox , spokesman for the city attorney ’ s office .
Since joining the city attorney ’ s office in 2013 , Clark helped supervise several high-profile cases , including a lawsuit brought against banking giant Wells Fargo and a sexual harassment lawsuit targeting Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said he quit to pursue mediation work .
He also said he ’ d been unable to work alongside others in the city attorney ’ s office during the pandemic and missed that element of his job .
“ I don ’ t know when or even if I could go back to work , ” said Clark , 72 .
Clark denied that his departure was related to fallout over the DWP litigation .
City Hall remains under a cloud of suspicion after questions about the city ’ s handling of two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the DWP .
FBI agents raided the city attorney ’ s office and utility ’ s headquarters last year .
The city sued PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2015 , blaming the consulting firm for a new DWP billing system that overcharged a wide swath of customers .
At the same time , DWP customers filed a class-action lawsuit against the city .
While PricewaterhouseCoopers was defending itself in the lawsuit brought by the city , its lawyers uncovered evidence in the DWP class-action case .
The firm alleged in court documents that the city took @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the outcome of the class-action lawsuit .
Both Clark and representatives of Feuer ’ s office have denied the city was involved in or aware of the alleged scheme and have blamed two outside attorneys hired by Feuer ’ s office .
Those attorneys have denied wrongdoing , with one saying his work was done at the direction of the city attorney ’ s office .
In a related move , PricewaterhouseCoopers won a victory this week when a judge found the city had committed “ serious abuse ” of the discovery process @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 2.5-million fine .
Attorneys for PricewaterhouseCoopers said in a court filing this summer that the city produced unprepared witnesses and false deposition testimony as part of an effort to conceal its wrongdoing in the related class-action case .
The court filing mentioned Clark several times , noting that he threw out notes ahead of his deposition and was unprepared for questioning .
After his deposition , Clark submitted more than 50 changes to his testimony .
Asked about why he made so many changes to his deposition testimony , Clark on Friday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outside attorneys hired by the city , who he said helped prepared him for the interview .
Feuer , who is running for mayor , defended his top deputies when he was deposed last year .
Feuer said he asked them what they knew about the alleged collusion and that their “ denials were swift , clear and unequivocal .
”

A key member of City Atty. Mike Feuer’s executive team who helped oversee the controversial settlement of a class-action lawsuit brought by Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers has stepped down.
Chief Deputy Atty. Jim Clark left August. 31, said Rob Wilcox, spokesman for the city attorney’s office.
Since joining the city attorney’s office in 2013, Clark helped supervise several high-profile cases, including a lawsuit brought against banking giant Wells Fargo and a sexual harassment lawsuit targeting Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar.
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In an interview Friday, Clark said he quit to pursue mediation work. He also said he’d been unable to work alongside others in the city attorney’s office during the pandemic and missed that element of his job.
“I don’t know when or even if I could go back to work,” said Clark, 72.
Clark denied that his departure was related to fallout over the DWP litigation.
City Hall remains under a cloud of suspicion after questions about the city’s handling of two lawsuits that emerged from billing problems at the DWP. FBI agents raided the city attorney’s office and utility’s headquarters last year.
The city sued PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2015, blaming the consulting firm for a new DWP billing system that overcharged a wide swath of customers. At the same time, DWP customers filed a class-action lawsuit against the city.
While PricewaterhouseCoopers was defending itself in the lawsuit brought by the city, its lawyers uncovered evidence in the DWP class-action case. The firm alleged in court documents that the city took part in a fraudulent scheme to control the outcome of the class-action lawsuit.
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Both Clark and representatives of Feuer’s office have denied the city was involved in or aware of the alleged scheme and have blamed two outside attorneys hired by Feuer’s office. Those attorneys have denied wrongdoing, with one saying his work was done at the direction of the city attorney’s office.
In a related move, PricewaterhouseCoopers won a victory this week when a judge found the city had committed “serious abuse” of the discovery process and ordered the city to pay a $2.5-million fine.
Attorneys for PricewaterhouseCoopers said in a court filing this summer that the city produced unprepared witnesses and false deposition testimony as part of an effort to conceal its wrongdoing in the related class-action case.
The court filing mentioned Clark several times, noting that he threw out notes ahead of his deposition and was unprepared for questioning. After his deposition, Clark submitted more than 50 changes to his testimony.
Asked about why he made so many changes to his deposition testimony, Clark on Friday blamed Paul Paradis, one of the outside attorneys hired by the city, who he said helped prepare him for the interview.
Paradis’ attorney didn’t respond to a request for a comment.
Feuer, who is running for mayor, defended his top deputies when he was deposed last year. Feuer said he asked them what they knew about the alleged collusion and that their “denials were swift, clear and unequivocal.”


latimes--2020-10-10--UCLA investigates 'Zoom-bombing' attacks during online classes

UCLA officials are investigating several “ Zoom-bombing ” incidents in which people disrupted online classes with racist and hateful language during the first week of the fall term , officials said .
“ ‘ Zoom bombing ’ attacks like these are antithetical to our campus values and an affront to the dignity of those at UCLA , ” the school said in a statement Friday .
“ We strongly condemn these disruptions , which have no place at our institution and are especially odious during a time of heightened stress.
” Disruptions took place at least twice Monday , according @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shouting homophobic slurs during a chemistry class and then attacking participants ’ appearances , and another person interrupting a calculus class with racist and homophobic slurs directed at the professor .
“ I have never , ever heard anything that bad come out from somebody ’ s mouth in real life , ” student Jenni Dabbert , who was verbally attacked during the chemistry class , told the Bruin .
“ I ’ m disgusted.
” UCLA said in a statement that it was offering support to affected students through UCLA Counseling and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was exploring additional security measures to minimize disruptions in the future .
A relatively new frontier of internet trolling , Zoom-bombing has become a growing problem as more classes , meetings and other gatherings are held online because of the COVID-19 pandemic .
In addition to shouting slurs , people sometimes take over the video portion of meetings with hateful images and pornography .
Aside from school classes , they ’ ve targeted 12-step meetings , church services , local government sessions and community gatherings .
Attackers sometimes record their Zoom-bombings and post @ @ @ @ @ @ @ watch and comment on .
Video of the chemistry class disruption at UCLA was posted to YouTube as part of a series of “ Zoom Trolling ” compilation videos , the Daily Bruin reported .
At USC , top administrators apologized to the school community in March after some virtual lectures fell prey to people crashing in with “ racist and vile language.
” Zoom said in a statement that it took “ the security of Zoom meetings seriously , and we are deeply upset to hear about the incidents involving this type @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been reported at multiple L.A.-area high schools , and some grade-school teachers have said they ’ ve shied away from teaching their youngest students on the platform because of the potential security problem .
In April , someone interrupted a remote advising session at Cal State Fresno by bombing students and faculty with child pornography , officials said .
A City Council meeting in Laguna Beach was also interrupted when a viewer drew pornographic sketches on Zoom ’ s “ whiteboard ” feature and then began streaming pornography .
Such attacks prompted the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an emerging threat nationwide , saying in March that the agency had “ received multiple reports of conferences being disrupted by pornographic and/or hate images and threatening language.
” Times staff writers Rosanna Xia , Howard Blume and Luke Money contributed to this report .

UCLA officials are investigating several “Zoom-bombing” incidents in which people disrupted online classes with racist and hateful language during the first week of the fall term, officials said.
“‘Zoom bombing’ attacks like these are antithetical to our campus values and an affront to the dignity of those at UCLA,” the school said in a statement Friday. “We strongly condemn these disruptions, which have no place at our institution and are especially odious during a time of heightened stress.”
Disruptions took place at least twice Monday, according to the Daily Bruin, with someone shouting homophobic slurs during a chemistry class and then attacking participants’ appearances, and another person interrupting a calculus class with racist and homophobic slurs directed at the professor.
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“I have never, ever heard anything that bad come out from somebody’s mouth in real life,” student Jenni Dabbert, who was verbally attacked during the chemistry class, told the Bruin. “I’m disgusted.”
UCLA said in a statement that it was offering support to affected students through UCLA Counseling and Psychological Services. It also said it was exploring additional security measures to minimize disruptions in the future.
A relatively new frontier of internet trolling, Zoom-bombing has become a growing problem as more classes, meetings and other gatherings are held online because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to shouting slurs, people sometimes take over the video portion of meetings with hateful images and pornography. Aside from school classes, they’ve targeted 12-step meetings, church services, local government sessions and community gatherings.
Attackers sometimes record their Zoom-bombings and post videos of them online for others to watch and comment on. Video of the chemistry class disruption at UCLA was posted to YouTube as part of a series of “Zoom Trolling” compilation videos, the Daily Bruin reported.
At USC, top administrators apologized to the school community in March after some virtual lectures fell prey to people crashing in with “racist and vile language.” Zoom said in a statement that it took “the security of Zoom meetings seriously, and we are deeply upset to hear about the incidents involving this type of attack.”
Similar incidents have also been reported at multiple L.A.-area high schools, and some grade-school teachers have said they’ve shied away from teaching their youngest students on the platform because of the potential security problem.
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In April, someone interrupted a remote advising session at Cal State Fresno by bombing students and faculty with child pornography, officials said.
A City Council meeting in Laguna Beach was also interrupted when a viewer drew pornographic sketches on Zoom’s “whiteboard” feature and then began streaming pornography.
Such attacks prompted the FBI to warn that Zoom-bombing had become an emerging threat nationwide, saying in March that the agency had “received multiple reports of conferences being disrupted by pornographic and/or hate images and threatening language.”
Times staff writers Rosanna Xia, Howard Blume and Luke Money contributed to this report.


latimes--2020-10-10--Cooler weekend weather in L.A. County expected to give way to heat wave starting Monday

Cooler temperatures are expected to give way to a heat wave in Los Angeles County that could bring periods of elevated fire risk early next week .
Cloudy skies blanketed most of the Los Angeles County region early Saturday , with temperatures ranging from the high 60s to the mid-70s , according to the National Weather Service .
But that is likely to change beginning Monday when downtown L.A. is expected to reach 90 degrees , then 93 Tuesday and Wednesday and 90 on Thursday , said John Dumas , a meteorologist with the weather service .
“ We ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to above-normal temperatures and probably stay around the 90-degree mark in the L.A. area for most of the week , ” he said .
That ’ s because a high-pressure ridge is forecast to build over the area , bringing northerly offshore winds that heat up and dry out the air as they travel downhill and squeeze through mountain passes , Dumas said .
The winds probably won ’ t be strong enough to prompt advisories , but they will cut off the afternoon sea breeze that usually mitigates the heat from earlier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ areas , he said .
“ This effectively shuts off our natural air conditioning system , ” Dumas said .
The National Weather Service is projecting that the combination of elevated temperatures , low humidities and moderate winds will result in elevated to briefly critical fire conditions .
“ It hasn ’ t rained since March or so , ” Dumas said .
“ So it is still very dry out there.
” Crews fighting the Bobcat fire in the Angeles National Forest above Azusa had used this week ’ s favorable weather @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the massive blaze to 90 % , up from 88 % Monday .
The fire ’ s footprint held at 115,796 acres Friday into Saturday , having destroyed 87 homes and 83 other structures .
Some popular trails in the Angeles National Forest reopened Friday after a monthlong closure because of the active fire and high fire danger .
Other roads and trails north of Sierra Madre and Azusa in the burned area remain closed .
The cause of the Bobcat fire , which started Sept. 6 , remains under investigation .

A thank-you sign was posted last month by Juniper Hills, Calif., residents for firefighters battling the Bobcat fire in the Angeles National Forest.
Cooler temperatures are expected to give way to a heat wave in Los Angeles County that could bring periods of elevated fire risk early next week.
Cloudy skies blanketed most of the Los Angeles County region early Saturday, with temperatures ranging from the high 60s to the mid-70s, according to the National Weather Service.
But that is likely to change beginning Monday when downtown L.A. is expected to reach 90 degrees, then 93 Tuesday and Wednesday, and 90 Thursday, said John Dumas, a meteorologist with the weather service.
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“We’re going to go from below-normal temperatures to above-normal temperatures and probably stay around the 90-degree mark in the L.A. area for most of the week,” he said.
That’s because a high-pressure ridge is forecast to build over the area, bringing northerly offshore winds that heat up and dry out the air as they travel downhill and squeeze through mountain passes, Dumas said. The winds probably won’t be strong enough to prompt advisories, but they will cut off the afternoon sea breeze that usually mitigates the heat from earlier in the day, particularly in coastal areas, he said.
“This effectively shuts off our natural air conditioning system,” Dumas said.
The National Weather Service is projecting that the combination of elevated temperatures, low humidities and moderate winds will result in elevated to briefly critical fire conditions.
“It hasn’t rained since March or so,” Dumas said. “So it is still very dry out there.”
Crews fighting the Bobcat fire in the Angeles National Forest above Azusa had used this week’s favorable weather conditions as an opportunity to boost containment of the massive blaze to 90%, up from 88% Monday.
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The fire’s footprint held at 115,796 acres Friday into Saturday, having destroyed 87 homes and 83 other structures.
Some popular trails in the Angeles National Forest reopened Friday after a monthlong closure because of the active fire and high fire danger. Other roads and trails north of Sierra Madre and Azusa in the burned area remain closed.
The cause of the Bobcat fire, which started Sept. 6, remains under investigation.