latimes--2020-09-13--How climate change is fueling record-breaking California wildfires, heat and smog

In 2001 , a team of international scientists projected that during the next 100 years , the planet ’ s inhabitants would witness higher maximum temperatures , more hot days and heat waves , an increase in the risk of forest fires and “ substantially degraded air quality ” in large metropolitan areas as a result of climate change .
In just the past month , nearly two decades after the third United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report was issued , heat records were busted across California , more than 3 million acres of land burned , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Los Angeles and San Francisco , air pollution has skyrocketed .
“ This shouldn ’ t come as a surprise to anyone , ” said Michael Gerrard , director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University .
“ Maybe we underestimated the magnitude and speed ” at which these events would occur , he said , but “ we ’ ve seen this long freight train barreling down on us for decades , and now the locomotive is on top of us , with no caboose in sight.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has experienced six of the 20 largest wildfires in modern history and toppled all-time temperature records from the desert to the coast .
Millions are suffering from some of the worst air quality in years due to heat-triggered smog and fire smoke .
A sooty plume has blanketed most of the West Coast , blotting out the sun and threatening people ’ s lungs during a deadly pandemic .
California is being pushed to extremes .
And the record heat , fires and pollution all have one thing in common : They were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ convergence is perhaps the strongest signal yet that the calamity climate scientists have warned of for years isn ’ t far off in the future ; it is here today and can no longer be ignored .
“ What we ’ ve been seeing in California are some of the clearest events where we can say this is climate change — that climate change has clearly made this worse , ” said Zeke Hausfather , a climate scientist at the Breakthrough Institute , an Oakland-based think tank .
“ People who have lived @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are saying this is unprecedented , it has never been this hot , it has never been this smoky in all the years I ’ ve lived here.
” Unprecedented , yes .
But not unexpected .
Since the 1980s , government and oil industry scientists have been anticipating the events that have transpired across the state this past month .
As one 1988 internal Shell Oil Co. document noted , “ by the time the global warming becomes detectable it could be too late to take effective countermeasures to reduce the effects @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ I ’ m only sorry that in 1989 , I could not get an audience for what I wanted to communicate , ” said Jim Hansen , a retired NASA researcher and early climate change scientist , of testimony he made to Congress about the issue .
Each of the extremes Californians are living through right now is fueled , at least in part , by the gradual warming of the planet , which is accelerating as greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise .
California summers are 2.5 degrees warmer than they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ track to heat up an additional 4.5 degrees by the end of the century if the world ’ s current emissions trajectory continues , said Hausfather .
While precise attribution studies on the extreme heat waves in California in recent weeks will take time to complete , he said , they are clear examples of how climate change compounds natural weather variability to increase the likelihood of what once would have been a rare event .
“ In a world without climate change , it still would have been a hot August ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But it ’ s clear that climate change has made things notably worse , ” he said .
“ An extreme heat event that would have been 100 degrees is now 102.5 or 103 degrees , and that is actually a pretty big difference in terms of the impacts on people.
” During the mid-August heat wave , Death Valley soared to 130 degrees , one of the hottest temperatures ever recorded on Earth .
Another ferocious heat wave over the Labor Day weekend brought Death Valley-like heat to other areas .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ on record when Woodland Hills hit 121 degrees Sept. 6 .
At Cal Poly San Luis Obispo , it reached 120 degrees , the highest reading since record-keeping began in 1869 , in an area that is less than 10 miles from the Pacific Ocean .
John Lindsey , a marine meteorologist with Pacific Gas and Electric , said the mercury rose to unprecedented levels in San Luis Obispo due to hot , downslope winds blowing from the northeast .
They are known locally as Santa Lucia winds and can increase temperatures by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ descend .
“ It was just rip-roaring hot , ” said Lindsey , who has forecast weather along the Central Coast since 1991 .
“ You just don ’ t expect Death Valley temperatures along coastal California.
” Lindsey , who acknowledges that he was a bit of a climate skeptic in the past , said seeing the increase in seawater temperatures , in particular , over many years “ was a real epiphany or wake-up call.
” “ By now , there ’ s no doubt in most people ’ s minds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ocean is warming , ” he said .
“ With the way greenhouse gases are increasing , in my mind , there ’ s no doubt that we ’ re causing this .
It ’ s human activity that ’ s causing this .
So I ’ m concerned about the future .
And that ’ s somebody who ’ s very skeptical.
” Global warming has increased the odds of unprecedented heat extremes across more than 80 % of the planet and “ has doubled or even , in some areas , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” in California and the Western U.S. , said Stanford University climate scientist Noah Diffenbaugh .
When it comes to wildfires , “ what we ’ ve had in California over the last three to four weeks is unprecedented in our historical experience , ” Diffenbaugh said .
“ This is more extreme than any other year in living memory , ” he said , and is consistent with the impact of global warming .
Research by Diffenbaugh and colleagues that was published last month found that the number of days with extreme @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doubled since the early 1980s , primarily due to warming temperatures drying out vegetation .
“ It means that even with no change in the frequency of strong wind events , even with no change in the frequency of lightning , the risk of wildfire and risk of large , rapidly growing wildfires goes up as a result of the effect of that warming , ” he said .
And it ’ s that atmospheric warming that has set the stage for the fires raging throughout the western U.S. , said Park Williams @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory .
“ If we think of the atmosphere as a giant sponge that ’ s always trying to extract water from the landscape , then temperature increases the sponginess , ” he said .
As soils become drier , heat waves become more intense .
That ’ s because the energy in the atmosphere is no longer being used in evaporation but is just building up heat .
And as heat increases and soils — and , therefore , fuel for fires — dry out , the risk grows @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of wild and destructive fires we are now observing .
“ That ’ s why , I think , you keep reading quotes from these firefighters who say they are seeing fire behavior unlike anything they ’ ve seen before , ” he said .
“ As we go out in the future , in a world with this exponentially growing risk … we ’ re going to see fires far different than we ’ ve seen before.
” He noted that fires are not unusual in California — they are an integral @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and landscape .
Bad forest management , combined with human behavior — intentional and unintentional starting of fires — have contributed to the problem .
But the effect of climate change is real and growing .
“ We have seen the rapid warming of California summers really turbocharge the type of conditions that are suitable for rapid growth of wildfires , ” Hausfather said .
“ We see fires growing from essentially nothing to a quarter of a million acres in one day .
And that ’ s because the conditions are ripe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” John Abatzoglou , associate professor in the Department of Management of Complex Systems at UC Merced , agreed .
“ What we are seeing play out does indeed have human fingerprints on it , including those from climate change , ” he said .
“ We can see how warm and dry years catalyze these fires , ” he said , adding , however , that for fires to start , “ they need to have ignitions .
But the heat and dryness have absolutely set the table for widespread fire activity.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ pollution levels in downtown Los Angeles spiked to their highest levels since the mid-1990s on a day in which temperatures reached an all-time high for the county , said Cesunica Ivey , an assistant professor of chemical and environmental engineering at UC Riverside who studies air quality .
The global rise in temperatures observed over decades is also occurring locally , she said , “ and these frequently occurring heat waves , this upward trend in basin-wide average temperature , is contributing to ozone exacerbation.
” Southern California regulators have seen decades of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by hotter weather and stronger , more persistent inversion layers that trap pollution near the ground .
Their efforts are being hindered by rising temperatures from climate change , according to air quality experts .
That ’ s because hotter weather speeds up the photochemical reactions that turn pollutants from vehicle tailpipes and other sources into ozone , the invisible , lung-damaging gas in summer smog .
Studies show that ozone levels are about two parts per billion higher than they would be without global warming .
What precisely is driving changes such @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to tease out in the middle of an extreme event because so much is happening at once , with multiple hazards piling on top of each other in a vicious feedback loop .
The recent heat spells , for instance , both fueled smog formation and led to power outages .
Gov .
Gavin Newsom suspended air quality rules on power plants and other polluters to ease strain on the grid , allowing more emissions to sully the air .
The COVID-19 pandemic has added an additional layer of complexity at a time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ homes , lungs and bodies from threats that seem to be coming from all sides .
“ When you add COVID , extreme heat , wildfires and air pollution all together , they ’ re all detrimental to public health , and it just makes things worse , ” said Yifang Zhu , a professor of environmental health sciences at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health who studies air pollution and its effects .
“ These stressors are happening at the same time .
So the impact is cumulative and maybe even synergistic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in which one extreme compounds another , is a feature of global warming that experts have long warned about .
Ivey , of UC Riverside , said she and other scientists aren ’ t surprised to see so many extremes hitting simultaneously , “ but to see it playing out is scary.
” “ It ’ s one of those moments where ozone converged with record acres burned and a heat wave , ” she said .
“ If the writing isn ’ t on the wall , then I don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Global warming is also fueling increases in wildfire pollution , a mix of soot particles and gases that can fuel ozone formation and dramatically worsen smog .
Those added emissions are only going to get worse as the severity and frequency of fires increases .
“ People may not directly connect local air pollution to global climate change , but they are intertwined , ” said Zhu .
“ They are two sides of the same coin.
” What this year ’ s extreme heat , fire and air quality degradation is showing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is that we are , in a sense , blindly stepping off a cliff from a world in which we could somewhat predict what was going to happen , based on decades and centuries of data .
“ We ’ re finding that we ’ ve lost complete control , ” he said .
“ The baselines we ’ ve used for decades no longer apply .
There really isn ’ t a normal anymore .
”

Smoke and haze from wildfires hovered Thursday over San Francisco, as much of California was blanketed in smoke from a siege of wildfires and poor air quality.
In 2001, a team of international scientists projected that during the next 100 years, the planet’s inhabitants would witness higher maximum temperatures, more hot days and heat waves, an increase in the risk of forest fires and “substantially degraded air quality” in large metropolitan areas as a result of climate change.
In just the past month, nearly two decades after the third United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report was issued, heat records were busted across California, more than 3 million acres of land burned, and in major metropolitan areas, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, air pollution has skyrocketed.
“This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone,” said Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. “Maybe we underestimated the magnitude and speed” at which these events would occur, he said, but “we’ve seen this long freight train barreling down on us for decades, and now the locomotive is on top of us, with no caboose in sight.”
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In a matter of weeks, California has experienced six of the 20 largest wildfires in modern history and toppled all-time temperature records from the desert to the coast. Millions are suffering from some of the worst air quality in years due to heat-triggered smog and fire smoke. A sooty plume has blanketed most of the West Coast, blotting out the sun and threatening people’s lungs during a deadly pandemic.
California is being pushed to extremes. And the record heat, fires and pollution all have one thing in common: They were made worse by climate change. Their convergence is perhaps the strongest signal yet that the calamity climate scientists have warned of for years isn’t far off in the future; it is here today and can no longer be ignored.
“What we’ve been seeing in California are some of the clearest events where we can say this is climate change — that climate change has clearly made this worse,” said Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist at the Breakthrough Institute, an Oakland-based think tank. “People who have lived in California for 30, 40 years are saying this is unprecedented, it has never been this hot, it has never been this smoky in all the years I’ve lived here.”
California Los Angeles suffers worst smog in almost 30 years Air quality officials said the high pollution readings were a result of intense heat combined with stagnant weather conditions.
Unprecedented, yes. But not unexpected.
Since the 1980s, government and oil industry scientists have been anticipating the events that have transpired across the state this past month.
As one 1988 internal Shell Oil Co. document noted, “by the time the global warming becomes detectable it could be too late to take effective countermeasures to reduce the effects or even to stabilize the situation.”
“I’m only sorry that in 1989, I could not get an audience for what I wanted to communicate,” said Jim Hansen, a retired NASA researcher and early climate change scientist, of testimony he made to Congress about the issue.
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Record temperatures
Each of the extremes Californians are living through right now is fueled, at least in part, by the gradual warming of the planet, which is accelerating as greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise.
California summers are 2.5 degrees warmer than they were in the 1970s and are on track to heat up an additional 4.5 degrees by the end of the century if the world’s current emissions trajectory continues, said Hausfather.
While precise attribution studies on the extreme heat waves in California in recent weeks will take time to complete, he said, they are clear examples of how climate change compounds natural weather variability to increase the likelihood of what once would have been a rare event.
“In a world without climate change, it still would have been a hot August; we still would have had some fires. But it’s clear that climate change has made things notably worse,” he said. “An extreme heat event that would have been 100 degrees is now 102.5 or 103 degrees, and that is actually a pretty big difference in terms of the impacts on people.”
During the mid-August heat wave, Death Valley soared to 130 degrees, one of the hottest temperatures ever recorded on Earth.
Another ferocious heat wave over the Labor Day weekend brought Death Valley-like heat to other areas. Los Angeles County had its hottest temperature on record when Woodland Hills hit 121 degrees Sept. 6. At Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, it reached 120 degrees, the highest reading since record-keeping began in 1869, in an area that is less than 10 miles from the Pacific Ocean.
John Lindsey, a marine meteorologist with Pacific Gas and Electric, said the mercury rose to unprecedented levels in San Luis Obispo due to hot, downslope winds blowing from the northeast. They are known locally as Santa Lucia winds and can increase temperatures by 5.5 degrees for every 1,000 feet they descend.
“It was just rip-roaring hot,” said Lindsey, who has forecast weather along the Central Coast since 1991. “You just don’t expect Death Valley temperatures along coastal California.”
Lindsey, who acknowledges that he was a bit of a climate skeptic in the past, said seeing the increase in seawater temperatures, in particular, over many years “was a real epiphany or wake-up call.”
“By now, there’s no doubt in most people’s minds that the atmosphere is warming and the ocean is warming,” he said. “With the way greenhouse gases are increasing, in my mind, there’s no doubt that we’re causing this. It’s human activity that’s causing this. So I’m concerned about the future. And that’s somebody who’s very skeptical.”
Global warming has increased the odds of unprecedented heat extremes across more than 80% of the planet and “has doubled or even, in some areas, tripled the odds of record-setting hot events” in California and the Western U.S., said Stanford University climate scientist Noah Diffenbaugh.
An unprecedented firestorm
When it comes to wildfires, “what we’ve had in California over the last three to four weeks is unprecedented in our historical experience,” Diffenbaugh said.
“This is more extreme than any other year in living memory,” he said, and is consistent with the impact of global warming.
Research by Diffenbaugh and colleagues that was published last month found that the number of days with extreme wildfire weather in California has more than doubled since the early 1980s, primarily due to warming temperatures drying out vegetation.
“It means that even with no change in the frequency of strong wind events, even with no change in the frequency of lightning, the risk of wildfire and risk of large, rapidly growing wildfires goes up as a result of the effect of that warming,” he said.
And it’s that atmospheric warming that has set the stage for the fires raging throughout the western U.S., said Park Williams, a hydroclimatologist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
“If we think of the atmosphere as a giant sponge that’s always trying to extract water from the landscape, then temperature increases the sponginess,” he said.
As soils become drier, heat waves become more intense. That’s because the energy in the atmosphere is no longer being used in evaporation but is just building up heat. And as heat increases and soils — and, therefore, fuel for fires — dry out, the risk grows, laying the foundation for the type of wild and destructive fires we are now observing.
“That’s why, I think, you keep reading quotes from these firefighters who say they are seeing fire behavior unlike anything they’ve seen before,” he said. “As we go out in the future, in a world with this exponentially growing risk … we’re going to see fires far different than we’ve seen before.”
He noted that fires are not unusual in California — they are an integral part of the state’s history and landscape. Bad forest management, combined with human behavior — intentional and unintentional starting of fires — have contributed to the problem. But the effect of climate change is real and growing.
“We have seen the rapid warming of California summers really turbocharge the type of conditions that are suitable for rapid growth of wildfires,” Hausfather said. “We see fires growing from essentially nothing to a quarter of a million acres in one day. And that’s because the conditions are ripe, and temperature plays a large role.”
John Abatzoglou, associate professor in the Department of Management of Complex Systems at UC Merced, agreed.
“What we are seeing play out does indeed have human fingerprints on it, including those from climate change,” he said.
“We can see how warm and dry years catalyze these fires,” he said, adding, however, that for fires to start, “they need to have ignitions. But the heat and dryness have absolutely set the table for widespread fire activity.”
Dreadful air quality
It was no coincidence that ozone pollution levels in downtown Los Angeles spiked to their highest levels since the mid-1990s on a day in which temperatures reached an all-time high for the county, said Cesunica Ivey, an assistant professor of chemical and environmental engineering at UC Riverside who studies air quality.
The global rise in temperatures observed over decades is also occurring locally, she said, “and these frequently occurring heat waves, this upward trend in basin-wide average temperature, is contributing to ozone exacerbation.”
Southern California regulators have seen decades of progress fighting smog stymied in recent years by hotter weather and stronger, more persistent inversion layers that trap pollution near the ground. Their efforts are being hindered by rising temperatures from climate change, according to air quality experts.
That’s because hotter weather speeds up the photochemical reactions that turn pollutants from vehicle tailpipes and other sources into ozone, the invisible, lung-damaging gas in summer smog. Studies show that ozone levels are about two parts per billion higher than they would be without global warming.
What precisely is driving changes such as elevated smog levels can be hard to tease out in the middle of an extreme event because so much is happening at once, with multiple hazards piling on top of each other in a vicious feedback loop.
The recent heat spells, for instance, both fueled smog formation and led to power outages. Gov. Gavin Newsom suspended air quality rules on power plants and other polluters to ease strain on the grid, allowing more emissions to sully the air. The COVID-19 pandemic has added an additional layer of complexity at a time when Californians are trying to protect their homes, lungs and bodies from threats that seem to be coming from all sides.
“When you add COVID, extreme heat, wildfires and air pollution all together, they’re all detrimental to public health, and it just makes things worse,” said Yifang Zhu, a professor of environmental health sciences at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health who studies air pollution and its effects. “These stressors are happening at the same time. So the impact is cumulative and maybe even synergistic to each other.”
That cascading effect, in which one extreme compounds another, is a feature of global warming that experts have long warned about.
Ivey, of UC Riverside, said she and other scientists aren’t surprised to see so many extremes hitting simultaneously, “but to see it playing out is scary.”
“It’s one of those moments where ozone converged with record acres burned and a heat wave,” she said. “If the writing isn’t on the wall, then I don’t know what to tell folks.”
Global warming is also fueling increases in wildfire pollution, a mix of soot particles and gases that can fuel ozone formation and dramatically worsen smog. Those added emissions are only going to get worse as the severity and frequency of fires increases.
“People may not directly connect local air pollution to global climate change, but they are intertwined,” said Zhu. “They are two sides of the same coin.”
What this year’s extreme heat, fire and air quality degradation is showing, said Columbia’s Williams, is that we are, in a sense, blindly stepping off a cliff from a world in which we could somewhat predict what was going to happen, based on decades and centuries of data.
“We’re finding that we’ve lost complete control,” he said. “The baselines we’ve used for decades no longer apply. There really isn’t a normal anymore.”


latimes--2020-09-12--2 L.A. deputies shot in 'ambush' attack recovering after surgery

Two Los Angeles County sheriff ’ s deputies were out of surgery and recovering after being shot Saturday evening in Compton in what authorities described as an “ ambush ” that was captured on surveillance video .
The video , released by the department , shows a man walking up to the deputies ’ parked patrol car , pulling out a gun and firing several times into the front seat area from the passenger side .
The assailant is then seen running from the scene .
On Sunday , officials asked for the public ’ s help to locate the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s Department reported that the shooting occurred about 7 p.m. near the Blue Line station at 275 Willowbrook Ave. “ One male deputy and one female deputy were ambushed as they sat in their patrol vehicle .
Both sustained multiple gunshot wounds and are in critical condition .
The deputies were listed in critical condition but were expected to survive .
Sheriff Alex Villanueva on Sunday called the condition of the deputies a “ double miracle.
” Law enforcement sources told the Los Angeles Times that at least one of the deputies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other in the head .
Speaking at a news conference at the hospital late Saturday , Villanueva described one of the injured deputies as a 31-year-old mother of a 6-year-old boy and the other as a 24-year-old man .
He said both deputies were sworn into office just 14 months ago .
“ The two deputies were ambushed by a gunman in a cowardly fashion , ” he said .
“ This is a dangerous job.
” He noted that sheriff ’ s detectives on Thursday shot and killed a man in Compton @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as they served a search warrant .
“ Every week across the nation someone is losing their life in the line of duty , ” he said .
“ This is just another grim reminder of that.
” Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer ( D-South Los Angeles ) also spoke at the news conference .
“ This was an unprovoked , cowardly act , ” he said .
“ The individual will be caught , and justice will prevail .
“ Tonight we must as a community condemn the act of the perpetrator , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we must come together and pray for the officers because they are heroes.
” “ Tonight we pray for these two guardians to survive , ” the chief tweeted .
“ I recognize and acknowledge we live in troubled times .
But we must as a community work thru our differences while loudly and resoundly condemn violence .
Blessed are the Peacemakers.
” No further details on the shooting were immediately available , and it was unclear whether detectives had identified a suspect .
The FBI is assisting in the investigation .
Some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ media to express their anger and disgust over the shooting .
“ I hope this monster is caught soon , ” LAPD Capt .
Gisselle Espinoza tweeted .
“ I ’ m sick to my stomach .
The deputies are in my prayers .
Blessed are the peacemakers , for they shall be called the children of God.
” The Sheriff ’ s Department has been under scrutiny for several deputy-involved shootings in recent months .
The killing of a man on a bicycle in Westmont has sparked days of tense protests .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Center , where the wounded deputies were being treated .
The department said on Twitter that some of those protesters blocked entrances and exits at the hospital , but that could not be independently verified .
Videos from the scene capture at least one person in the crowd yelling , “ I hope they ... die.
” A reporter for LAist was arrested there .
Video showed the reporter , Josie Huang , pinned by several deputies .
LAist said it had called for her immediate release and an apology from the department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ claims on Twitter by the Sheriff ’ s Department that she didn ’ t have proper press credentials .
“ Hi , all .
I ’ m out of county jail and am headed home .
Thank you for caring .
I have seen tweets and have thoughts and videos to share soon after a little rest , ” she wrote on Twitter .
Both of the deputies who were shot Saturday were members of the sheriff ’ s transportation detail .
Metro has split policing duties of its 1,433-mile service area — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bus stops — among three agencies : the Los Angeles Police Department , which patrols buses , trains and stations in the city of L.A. ; the Long Beach police , who work at eight Blue Line stations ; and the Sheriff ’ s Department , which patrols the rest of the system .
This summer , the Metro board approved a series of policing reform measures , including no longer sending armed officers to respond to nonviolent crimes , hiring unarmed ambassadors to work at stations , and expanding fare discounts .

Doug Smith, Matthew Ormseth, Richard Winton, Alex Wigglesworth

Deputies block off the scene near the bus station where two L.A. County sheriff’s deputies were shot.
Two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were out of surgery and recovering after being shot Saturday evening in Compton in what authorities described as an “ambush” that was captured on surveillance video.
The video, released by the department, shows a man walking up to the deputies’ parked patrol car, pulling out a gun and firing several times into the front seat area from the passenger side. The assailant is then seen running from the scene. On Sunday, officials asked for the public’s help to locate the person who opened fire.
Update: The gunman walked up on the deputies and opened fire without warning or provocation. pic.twitter.com/cBQjyKkoxJ — LA County Sheriffs (@LASDHQ) September 13, 2020
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The Sheriff’s Department reported that the shooting occurred about 7 p.m. near the Blue Line station at 275 Willowbrook Ave.
“One male deputy and one female deputy were ambushed as they sat in their patrol vehicle. Both sustained multiple gunshot wounds and are in critical condition.
The deputies were listed in critical condition but were expected to survive.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva on Sunday called the condition of the deputies a “double miracle.”
Law enforcement sources told the Los Angeles Times that at least one of the deputies was shot in the face and the other in the head.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva, second from left, exits a news conference outside St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, where two L.A. County sheriff’s deputies are being treated. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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Speaking at a news conference at the hospital late Saturday, Villanueva described one of the injured deputies as a 31-year-old mother of a 6-year-old boy and the other as a 24-year-old man. He said both deputies were sworn into office just 14 months ago.
“The two deputies were ambushed by a gunman in a cowardly fashion,” he said. “This is a dangerous job.”
He noted that sheriff’s detectives on Thursday shot and killed a man in Compton who they said opened fire on them as they served a search warrant.
“Every week across the nation someone is losing their life in the line of duty,” he said. “This is just another grim reminder of that.”
Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-South Los Angeles) also spoke at the news conference.
“This was an unprovoked, cowardly act,” he said. “The individual will be caught, and justice will prevail.
“Tonight we must as a community condemn the act of the perpetrator,” he added. “More importantly, we must come together and pray for the officers because they are heroes.”
LAPD Chief Michel Moore also offered his support.
“Tonight we pray for these two guardians to survive,” the chief tweeted. “I recognize and acknowledge we live in troubled times. But we must as a community work thru our differences while loudly and resoundly condemn violence. Blessed are the Peacemakers.”
No further details on the shooting were immediately available, and it was unclear whether detectives had identified a suspect. The FBI is assisting in the investigation.
Detectives comb the scene where two L.A. County Sheriff’s deputies were shot and gravely injured Saturday night in Compton. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
Some local law enforcement officers took to social media to express their anger and disgust over the shooting.
“I hope this monster is caught soon,” LAPD Capt. Gisselle Espinoza tweeted. “I’m sick to my stomach. The deputies are in my prayers. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”
The Sheriff’s Department has been under scrutiny for several deputy-involved shootings in recent months. The killing of a man on a bicycle in Westmont has sparked days of tense protests. Some demonstrators came to St. Francis Medical Center, where the wounded deputies were being treated. The department said on Twitter that some of those protesters blocked entrances and exits at the hospital, but that could not be independently verified.
Videos from the scene capture at least one person in the crowd yelling, “I hope they ... die.”
A reporter for LAist was arrested there. Video showed the reporter, Josie Huang, pinned by several deputies. LAist said it had called for her immediate release and an apology from the department.
Huang was released Sunday morning.
She said she would respond to claims on Twitter by the Sheriff’s Department that she didn’t have proper press credentials. “Hi, all. I’m out of county jail and am headed home. Thank you for caring. I have seen tweets and have thoughts and videos to share soon after a little rest,” she wrote on Twitter.
Both of the deputies who were shot Saturday were members of the sheriff’s transportation detail.
Metro has split policing duties of its 1,433-mile service area — including 93 rail stations and nearly 14,000 bus stops — among three agencies: the Los Angeles Police Department, which patrols buses, trains and stations in the city of L.A.; the Long Beach police, who work at eight Blue Line stations; and the Sheriff’s Department, which patrols the rest of the system.
This summer, the Metro board approved a series of policing reform measures, including no longer sending armed officers to respond to nonviolent crimes, hiring unarmed ambassadors to work at stations, and expanding fare discounts.


latimes--2020-09-14--Extreme heat, rare summer snow brought unprecedented West Coast firestorms

The West Coast had just experienced a record-shattering heat wave when news came last week of a rare late-summer snowstorm in Colorado .
To those still sweltering in California , Oregon and Washington , it sounded like a dream come true .
In fact , it was an omen of a greater disaster to come .
As the blast of cold air in the Rocky Mountains sank , it searched for an escape — the lands of hotter weather farther west , toward the Pacific Coast .
That triggered furious winds that poured over the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over the entire Pacific Coast , where fires were already burning in crackling-dry brush and timber .
The result : an epic firestorm hopscotching from the Mexican to Canadian borders that has killed dozens of people , wiped out entire towns and caused some of the worst air pollution ever seen in the region .
For California , it ’ s the second time in a month that a host of unfortunate weather conditions aligned in a way that fueled a spread of wildfires at record speed .
The rapid spread of fire @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which not only makes temperatures hotter , but is blamed by some scientists for causing dry periods to get drier while wet periods get wetter , making vegetation even more ripe for kindling .
In Oregon , too , where at least 10 have died and officials prepared for a “ mass fatality incident ” as they search for the missing , there was no precedent in the modern record for the sheer number and scale of the wildfires .
The fires in Washington have been the second worst in that state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ year , fires have burned more than 3.3 million acres in California , more than 1 million acres in Oregon , and more than 625,000 acres in Washington state .
California last broke its record for its largest wildfire season just two years ago , when more than 1.8 million acres burned .
The unprecedented nature of the current fires has its origins in the extreme cold that began hitting the Rockies on Labor Day .
It caused cold air to sink , increasing air pressure at the surface ; at the same @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Coast caused hot air to rise , lowering air pressure at the ground , according to Rebecca Muessle , meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Portland , Ore. And since winds flow from areas of high pressure to low pressure , that sent powerful winds screaming from the east to the west .
Many Californians know these downslope wind events as Santa Anas or Diablos ; Oregon and Washington forecasters call them offshore wind events or east winds .
Whatever the name is , the wind event last week “ was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ usual offshore wind event , ” said meteorologist Connie Clarstrom of the National Weather Service office in Medford , Ore. “ That ’ s a very rare occurrence to see winds as strong as we had in that case.
” East-west valleys and canyons that channeled winds from the east transformed into blowtorches for wildfires .
In southern Oregon , gusts of up to 45 mph whipped into Jackson County ’ s Rogue Valley from the Cascade Mountains , spreading the Almeda fire , flattening the towns of Phoenix and Talent southeast of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and one missing .
A 41-year-old man , Michael Jarrod Bakkela , has been arrested on suspicion of arson .
Southeast of the state capital of Salem , homes along the Santiam Canyon burned , resulting in at least four deaths in Marion County — including a 13-year-old boy and his 71-year-old grandmother in the town of Lyons — and 10 missing people .
The Beachie Creek fire had initially been small — fewer than 500 acres — and had been burning since Aug. 16 .
Only when the historic wind event began @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than 131,000 acres .
East of Eugene , Ore. , the Holiday Farm fire in Lane County that charred the McKenzie River Valley has claimed at least one life in the town of Vida and razed sections of the town of Blue River .
On the northern edge of California , gusts of 63 mph hit the Slater fire in Siskiyou County ; two people died in the community of Happy Camp along the Klamath River in the Klamath National Forest , and 150 homes were destroyed .
In California , the difference @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Sierra Nevada sent gusts of up to 60 mph screaming through gaps in the state ’ s greatest mountain range .
That whipped up what had been the dying Bear fire — part of the North Complex fire zone in Butte , Plumas and Yuba counties — to begin spreading at an astonishing rate of 2,000 acres an hour .
“ When we get that downslope wind , it ’ s a very dry wind .
As the air goes down in elevation , it actually warms and dries .
And fires @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mueller , a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Sacramento .
And besides drying out , as air rushes over peaks and down mountain slopes , it speeds up as it ’ s forced through narrow canyons and passes .
At least 14 deaths have been reported in Butte County , ravaged by the Bear fire .
That fire was one of many in California ignited by lightning in mid-August .
The Creek fire , which burned through the Sierra National Forest in Fresno and Madera counties , initially spread quickly for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ normal on Sept. 4 , when the fire started .
But the next day , “ that fire hit fuels that it liked , ” and grew rapidly , creating a towering cloud — called a pyrocumulonimbus cloud — of smoke and moisture pushing skyward so enormous it resembled the giant clouds seen when a thunderstorm develops , according to Cindy Bean , meteorologist with the National Weather Service ’ s Hanford office .
At some point , that column of rising air and smoke got so heavy with the water vapor contained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ creating a downdraft of air aimed at the ground and spreading winds rapidly out over the surface .
“ When that column collapses , the wind comes straight down and then spreads out in all directions .
So that enabled the fire to spread in many directions at the same time , ” Bean said .
That rapid spread of the fire forced the evacuation of hundreds of campers by helicopter from the mountains , whose only way out by road was cut off by flames .
Then , after Labor Day , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Northern California and Oregon also came speeding through the canyons of the central Sierra .
In this part of California , they ’ re called Mono winds — because the winds blow from the area of Mono Lake — and they sent gusts of 40 mph from the northeast through the San Joaquin River canyon , helping to push the Creek fire toward the communities of Auberry and North Fork , Bean said .
In Los Angeles County , firefighters worried that the same Santa Ana winds from the northeast would send flames @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gabriel Mountains into foothill suburbs like Altadena , Arcadia , Bradbury , Duarte , Monrovia , Pasadena and Sierra Madre .
Late last week , the fire began to burn toward the north , away from the cities , although on Sunday , new evacuation orders were issued as dangerous wildfire conditions returned .
The Santa Ana winds , thankfully , ended up not being that strong around the El Dorado fire in San Bernardino County , sparked by a pyrotechnic device used during a gender reveal party in Yucaipa , nor the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , said Brandt Maxwell , meteorologist for the National Weather Service ’ s San Diego office .
The location of the El Dorado fire happened to be sheltered from the Santa Ana winds by mountains , and the strongest winds in southern San Diego County just happened to miss where the Valley fire was burning , Maxwell said .
Strangely enough , the oppressive smoke fouling the skies is helping firefighters in some parts of California .
The smoke is so thick that a lot of sunlight can ’ t get down to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of smoke in the air .
That has resulted in surface temperatures that are cooler , helping out firefighters in the Creek and Bobcat fires .
In the San Francisco Bay Area , a marine layer of low clouds and fog helped in recent days to keep dry , hot Diablo winds away from the region , which is close to containing the LNU , SCU and CZU lightning complex fires , said Rick Canepa , meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Monterey .
And the heavy smoke — which led @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the skies of San Francisco last week — drove down temperatures roughly 20 degrees below what they had been forecast .
Lin reported from San Francisco ; Serna from Clovis .
Times staff writers Hailey Branson-Potts , Anita Chabria , Paul Duginski , Melissa Etehad , Molly Hennessy-Fiske , Richard Read and Ruben Vives contributed to this report .

The West Coast had just experienced a record-shattering heat wave when news came last week of a rare late-summer snowstorm in Colorado. To those still sweltering in California, Oregon and Washington, it sounded like a dream come true. In fact, it was an omen of a greater disaster to come.
As the blast of cold air in the Rocky Mountains sank, it searched for an escape — the lands of hotter weather farther west, toward the Pacific Coast. That triggered furious winds that poured over the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges, acting as a giant bellows over the entire Pacific Coast, where fires were already burning in crackling-dry brush and timber.
The result: an epic firestorm hopscotching from the Mexican to Canadian borders that has killed dozens of people, wiped out entire towns and caused some of the worst air pollution ever seen in the region.
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For California, it’s the second time in a month that a host of unfortunate weather conditions have aligned in a way that has fueled a spread of wildfires at record speed. The rapid spread of fire was worsened in part by climate change, which not only makes temperatures hotter, but also is blamed by some scientists for causing dry periods to get drier while wet periods get wetter, making vegetation even more ripe for kindling.
In Oregon, too, where at least 10 have died and officials prepare for a “mass fatality incident” as they search for the missing, there was no precedent in the modern record for the sheer number and scale of the wildfires. The fires in Washington have been the second worst in that state’s history.
So far this year, fires have burned more than 3.3 million acres in California, over 1 million acres in Oregon, and more than 625,000 acres in Washington state.
California last broke its record for its largest wildfire season just two years ago, when more than 1.8 million acres burned.
The unprecedented nature of the current fires has its origins in the extreme cold that began hitting the Rockies on Labor Day. It caused cold air to sink, increasing air pressure at the surface; at the same time, the heat on the West Coast caused hot air to rise, lowering air pressure at the ground, according to Rebecca Muessle, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Portland, Ore.
And since winds flow from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure, that sent powerful winds screaming from the east to the west.
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Many Californians know these downslope wind events as Santa Anas or Diablos; Oregon and Washington forecasters call them offshore wind events or east winds. Whatever its name, the wind event last week “was particularly strong — much stronger than the usual offshore wind event,” said meteorologist Connie Clarstrom of the National Weather Service office in Medford, Ore. “That’s a very rare occurrence to see winds as strong as we had in that case.”
East-west valleys and canyons that channeled winds from the east transformed into blowtorches for wildfires.
In southern Oregon, gusts of up to 45 mph whipped into Jackson County’s Rogue Valley from the Cascade Mountains, spreading the Almeda fire, flattening the towns of Phoenix and Talent southeast of Medford, leaving at least four dead and one missing. A 41-year-old man, Michael Jarrod Bakkela, has been arrested on suspicion of arson.
Southeast of the state capital of Salem, homes along the Santiam Canyon burned, resulting in at least four fatalities in Marion County — including the deaths of a 13-year-old boy and his 71-year-old grandmother in the town of Lyons — and 10 missing people. The Beachie Creek fire had initially been small — fewer than 500 acres — and had been burning since Aug. 16. Only when the historic wind event began did the fire grow overnight to more than 131,000 acres. East of Eugene, Ore., the Holiday Farm fire in Lane County that charred the McKenzie River Valley has claimed at least one life in the town of Vida and razed sections of the town of Blue River.
On the northern edge of California, gusts of 63 mph hit the Slater fire in Siskiyou County; two people died in the community of Happy Camp along the Klamath River in the Klamath National Forest, and 150 homes were destroyed.
In California, the difference in air pressure on either side of the Sierra Nevada sent gusts of up to 60 mph screaming through gaps in the state’s greatest mountain range. That whipped up what had been the dying Bear fire — part of the North Complex fire zone in Butte, Plumas and Yuba counties — to begin spreading at an astonishing rate of 2,000 acres an hour.
“When we get that downslope wind, it’s a very dry wind. As the air goes down in elevation, it actually warms and dries. And fires love dry conditions,” said Cory Mueller, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Sacramento. And besides drying out, air rushing over peaks and down mountain slopes speeds up as it’s forced through narrow canyons and passes.
At least 14 deaths have been reported in Butte County, ravaged by the Bear fire. That fire was one of many in California ignited by lightning in mid-August.
The Creek fire, which burned through the Sierra National Forest in Fresno and Madera counties, initially spread quickly for a different reason.
The winds were normal on Sept. 4, when the fire started. But the next day, “that fire hit fuels that it liked” and grew rapidly, creating a towering cloud — called a pyrocumulonimbus cloud — of smoke and moisture pushing skyward so enormous it resembled the giant clouds seen when a thunderstorm develops, according to Cindy Bean, meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Hanford office.
At some point, that column of rising air and smoke got so heavy with the water vapor contained in it that it collapsed downward, creating a downdraft of air aimed at the ground and spreading winds rapidly out over the surface. “When that column collapses,” Bean said, “the wind comes straight down and then spreads out in all directions. So that enabled the fire to spread in many directions at the same time.”
That rapid spread of the fire forced the evacuation of hundreds of campers by helicopter from the mountains, whose only way out by road was cut off by flames.
Then, after Labor Day, the same Santa Ana-style winds that affected Northern California and Oregon also came speeding through the canyons of the central Sierra. In this part of California, they’re called Mono winds — because the winds blow from the area of Mono Lake — and they sent gusts of 40 mph from the northeast through the San Joaquin River canyon, helping to push the Creek fire toward the communities of Auberry and North Fork, Bean said.
In Los Angeles County, firefighters worried that the same Santa Ana winds from the northeast would send flames from the Bobcat fire in the San Gabriel Mountains into foothill suburbs like Altadena, Arcadia, Bradbury, Duarte, Monrovia, Pasadena and Sierra Madre. Late last week, the fire began to burn toward the north, away from the cities, although on Sunday, new evacuation orders were issued as dangerous wildfire conditions returned.
The Santa Ana winds, thankfully, ended up not being that strong around the El Dorado fire in San Bernardino County, a blaze sparked by a pyrotechnic device used during a gender reveal party in Yucaipa, nor the Valley fire in southern San Diego County, said Brandt Maxwell, meteorologist for the National Weather Service’s San Diego office.
The location of the El Dorado fire happened to be sheltered from the Santa Ana winds by mountains, and the strongest winds in southern San Diego County just happened to miss where the Valley fire was burning, Maxwell said.
Strangely enough, the oppressive smoke fouling the skies is helping firefighters in some parts of California.
The smoke is so thick that a lot of sunlight can’t get down to the surface and is bouncing off the layer of smoke in the air. That has resulted in surface temperatures that are cooler, helping out firefighters in the Creek and Bobcat fires.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, a marine layer of low clouds and fog helped in recent days to keep dry, hot Diablo winds away from the region, which is close to containing the LNU, SCU and CZU lightning complex fires, said Rick Canepa, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Monterey. And the heavy smoke — which led to an apocalyptic-looking glow of dark orange in the skies of San Francisco last week — drove down temperatures roughly 20 degrees below what they had been forecast.
Lin reported from San Francisco; Serna from Clovis. Times staff writers Hailey Branson-Potts, Anita Chabria, Paul Duginski, Melissa Etehad, Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Richard Read and Ruben Vives contributed to this report.


latimes--2020-09-14--LAFD has no record of inspecting downtown building that exploded in May

The Los Angeles Fire Department has no record of ever inspecting a downtown building where an explosion severely burned 11 firefighters earlier this year , and the city ’ s top fire official acknowledged that an inspection might have led to the seizure of some of the chemicals that fueled the blast .
The business address for Smoke Tokes , a Boyd Street retailer that stored large quantities of butane for sale before it burst into flames May 16 , “ was not found in the LAFD fire prevention database , and records of inspection were never completed , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public earlier this year .
It is unclear if the fire department has ever inspected the building , which was constructed in 1999 , according to city records .
The fire prevention database is used to generate lists of addresses to which individual firehouses need to send personnel for inspections .
Fire Chief Ralph M. Terrazas said Smoke Tokes would have required an annual visit from a fire inspector , and given the large quantities of butane and nitrous oxide found in the building , it did not appear that it had been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Terrazas said an inspection would have likely led to the seizure of many of the flammable materials that fed the 30-foot fireball that shot into the sky over downtown .
“ From what I saw shortly after the incident … they were obviously overstocked , and we would have cleared inventory , directed them to reduce inventory , cleared aisles , cleared product away from the doors … basically make it safe for our firefighters in the event there was an emergency , ” Terrazas said .
Eleven firefighters suffered serious burns @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and several have said they were convinced they were going to die that day .
Six remain out of work due to their injuries .
A captain at the scene was burned so badly that he lost the use of his hands and had to be hospitalized for two months .
The Los Angeles city attorney ’ s office filed more than 300 criminal charges last month against the owner of the building that houses Smoke Tokes and three similar businesses in the area , which is sometimes referred to as “ bong @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of butane , rolling papers and other items related to vaping and smoking that are sold there .
Steve Sungho Lee , the developer who owns the building , has not responded to repeated calls for comment .
An attorney representing Smoke Tokes declined to comment on the criminal case or on the inspection history of the business .
John McDevitt , a fire safety expert and former assistant fire chief in Upper Darby , Pa. , said the LAFD ’ s failure to inspect the building was a gross oversight , especially @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a hub for the sale of explosive and flammable materials .
“ The images of the fire clearly show it was not normal combustibles , ” McDevitt said .
“ This should have been on someone ’ s radar and not just overlooked.
” Jeff Napier , chief inspector at the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety , said the agency would not have been required to perform an inspection at Smoke Tokes after its certificate of occupancy was issued .
Records show that the building was granted a certificate of occupancy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ building inspectors visited the Boyd Street address just once between 2002 and the date of the fire , when a proactive code enforcement case was opened in 2008 .
Napier said such inspections focus “ on neighborhood visual blight and quality-of-life issues ” but do not “ involve inspections of the interior of buildings or their contents.
” The Times requested Smoke Tokes ’ full inspection history last week but had not received a response as of Sunday .
News of the LAFD ’ s failure to inspect the blast site comes after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dig out of a massive backlog of overdue inspections .
A 2015 Times investigation found that the LAFD had fallen months or , in some cases , years behind on inspections of more than 6,800 schools , hotels , high-rise apartment buildings and other structures considered to be high-risk for loss of life in the event of a fire .
The department expanded its number of fire inspectors as a result .
The firehouse that would have been responsible for conducting such inspections at the Boyd Street building was the same one many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ No .
9 in skid row , one of the busiest firehouses in the U.S. Last year , the station logged more than 22,000 emergency calls .
“ It was an oversight .
It was a mistake .
It should have been captured .
But knowing [ that firehouse ] and that area , the call log is extremely busy , ” Terrazas said .
“ That ’ s not an excuse , but it ’ s understanding the context.
” Days after the blast , Terrazas announced a citywide audit of businesses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ As of Aug. 30 , the department had conducted 328 investigations of such businesses and identified 108 that had not previously been in the city ’ s fire prevention database , Terrazas said .
The department also issued 64 fire violation notices and ordered 12 businesses shuttered for various safety violations , records provided by the department show .
While the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol , Tobacco , Firearms and Explosives has yet to issue a report determining the exact cause of the fire , the LAFD ’ s report said the “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or N O , and butane inside the building was a key factor , causing N O “ chargers ” to rupture .
“ The release of the oxidizer ( N O ) into the fuel-rich atmosphere created a volatile chain of events that caused the spontaneous release of N O from their containers , supplying the necessary amount of oxygen to support the type of event witnessed at the Boyd Street incident , ” the LAFD report read .
“ The incredibly large , violent release of energy was the result of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and extreme heat.
” A spokeswoman for the Bureau of Alcohol , Tobacco , Firearms and Explosives did not respond to a request for comment on the status of the agency ’ s report .
For years , members of the city ’ s legal cannabis industry have railed against the businesses on bong row , insisting that the wholesalers help fuel unlicensed marijuana dispensaries by supplying them with materials needed to make their own vape pens and other products they can not purchase from state-approved distributors .
Wes Hein , head of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mammoth Distribution in Woodland Hills , said he was disappointed by the LAFD ’ s failure to investigate Smoke Tokes .
“ It ’ s such a dense area and widely known that they were selling products that could be dangerous , ” said Hein , noting that legal cannabis operators in the city face rigorous inspections .
After reviewing the LAFD report , McDevitt said that while the firefighters injured in the May blast were lucky to be alive , they would have never been at risk to begin with if the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ The nearly deadly circumstances here could have been prevented , ” he said .
Times Staff Writers Emily Alpert Reyes and Richard Winton contributed to this report .

Members of the Los Angeles Fire Department investigate the scene of a fiery explosion May 16, which injured 11 firefighters, on Boyd Street in downtown Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Fire Department has no record of ever inspecting a downtown building where an explosion severely burned 11 firefighters earlier this year, and the city’s top fire official acknowledged that an inspection might have led to the seizure of some of the chemicals that fueled the blast.
The business address for Smoke Tokes, a Boyd Street retailer that stored large quantities of butane for sale before it burst into flames May 16, “was not found in the LAFD fire prevention database, and records of inspection were never completed,” according to a Fire Department report made public earlier this year.
It is unclear if the Fire Department has ever inspected the building, which was constructed in 1999, according to city records. The fire prevention database is used to generate lists of addresses to which individual firehouses need to send personnel for inspections.
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Fire Chief Ralph M. Terrazas said Smoke Tokes would have required an annual visit from a fire inspector, and given the large quantities of butane and nitrous oxide found in the building, it did not appear that it had been inspected in the period before the fire. Terrazas said an inspection likely would have led to the seizure of many of the flammable materials that fed the 30-foot fireball that shot into the sky over downtown.
“From what I saw shortly after the incident … they were obviously overstocked, and we would have cleared inventory, directed them to reduce inventory, cleared aisles, cleared product away from the doors … basically make it safe for our firefighters in the event there was an emergency,” Terrazas said.
Eleven firefighters suffered serious burns as a result of the blast, and several have said they were convinced they were going to die that day. Six remain out of work due to their injuries. A captain at the scene was burned so badly that he lost the use of his hands and had to be hospitalized for two months.
The Los Angeles city attorney’s office filed more than 300 criminal charges last month against the owner of the building that houses Smoke Tokes and three similar businesses in the area, which is sometimes referred to as “bong row” because of the high concentration of butane, rolling papers and other items related to vaping and smoking that are sold there.
Steve Sungho Lee, the developer who owns the building, has not responded to repeated calls for comment. An attorney representing Smoke Tokes declined to comment on the criminal case or on the inspection history of the business.
John McDevitt, a fire safety expert and former assistant fire chief in Upper Darby, Pa., said the LAFD’s failure to inspect the building was a gross oversight, especially given bong row’s status as a hub for the sale of explosive and flammable materials.
“The images of the fire clearly show it was not normal combustibles,” McDevitt said. “This should have been on someone’s radar and not just overlooked.”
Jeff Napier, chief inspector at the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, said the agency would not have been required to perform an inspection at Smoke Tokes after its certificate of occupancy was issued. Records show that the building was granted a certificate of occupancy in 2002.
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Online records show that building inspectors visited the Boyd Street address just once between 2002 and the date of the fire, when a proactive code enforcement case was opened in 2008. Napier said such inspections focus “on neighborhood visual blight and quality-of-life issues” but do not “involve inspections of the interior of buildings or their contents.”
The Times requested Smoke Tokes’ full inspection history last week but had not received a response as of Sunday.
News of the LAFD’s failure to inspect the blast site comes after the agency has spent years trying to dig out of a massive backlog of overdue inspections.
A 2015 Times investigation found that the LAFD had fallen months or, in some cases, years behind on inspections of more than 6,800 schools, hotels, high-rise apartment buildings and other structures considered to be high-risk for loss of life in the event of a fire. The department expanded its number of fire inspectors as a result.
The firehouse that would have been responsible for conducting such inspections at the Boyd Street building was the same one many of those injured call home: Station No. 9 in skid row, one of the busiest firehouses in the U.S. Last year, the station logged more than 22,000 emergency calls.
“It was an oversight. It was a mistake. It should have been captured. But knowing [that firehouse] and that area, the call log is extremely busy,” Terrazas said. “That’s not an excuse, but it’s understanding the context.”
Days after the blast, Terrazas announced a citywide audit of businesses that store and sell volatile materials. As of Aug. 30, the department had conducted 328 investigations of such businesses and identified 108 that had not previously been in the city’s fire prevention database, Terrazas said. The department also issued 64 fire violation notices and ordered 12 businesses shuttered for various safety violations, records provided by the department show.
Although the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has yet to issue a report determining the exact cause of the fire, the LAFD’s report said the “excessive quantity” of nitrous oxide, or N 2 O, and butane inside the building was a key factor, causing N 2 O “chargers” to rupture.
“The release of the oxidizer (N 2 O) into the fuel-rich atmosphere created a volatile chain of events that caused the spontaneous release of N 2 O from their containers, supplying the necessary amount of oxygen to support the type of event witnessed at the Boyd Street incident,” the LAFD report read. “The incredibly large, violent release of energy was the result of rapidly expanding water vapor, carbon dioxide and extreme heat.”
A spokeswoman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives did not respond to a request for comment on the status of the agency’s report.
For years, members of the city’s legal cannabis industry have railed against the businesses on bong row, insisting that the wholesalers help fuel unlicensed marijuana dispensaries by supplying them with materials needed to make their own vape pens and other products they cannot purchase from state-approved distributors.
Wes Hein, head of compliance and government affairs for cannabis distributor Mammoth Distribution in Woodland Hills, said he was disappointed by the LAFD’s failure to investigate Smoke Tokes.
“It’s such a dense area and widely known that they were selling products that could be dangerous,” said Hein, noting that legal cannabis operators in the city face rigorous inspections.
After reviewing the LAFD report, McDevitt said that although the firefighters injured in the May blast were lucky to be alive, they never would have been at risk to begin with if the LAFD had handled its inspections properly.
“The nearly deadly circumstances here could have been prevented,” he said.
Times staff writers Emily Alpert Reyes and Richard Winton contributed to this report.


latimes--2020-09-14--Shooting of L.A. deputies is the latest flashpoint in a 'tinderbox moment'

The video showed a shooting that shocked the conscience : a cold-blooded attempt to kill two Los Angeles County sheriff ’ s deputies at close range in Compton .
Immediately , unequivocal condemnations flooded in from law enforcement officials , city leaders and the nation ’ s most prominent politicians .
President Trump called for the unknown shooter to receive the death penalty .
Trump ’ s opponent in the November presidential election , former Vice President Joe Biden , called for the gunman to face “ the full brunt of the law.
” Najee Ali , a longtime South @ @ @ @ @ @ @ joined in condemning the shooting .
But he also questioned why such swift calls for justice don ’ t come when it is the police who cause the injuries .
There were police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor , which helped spark weeks of demonstrations and unrest around the nation this summer .
And Ali also cited several controversial shootings by sheriff ’ s deputies that have given rise to recent protests .
“ I don ’ t agree with the shooting of anyone that ’ s unjustified , including deputies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sunday , adding that he plans to join other Black leaders this week to “ stand in full solidarity in condemning these actions.
” With the issues of racism , policing and public safety emerging as key issues in the upcoming presidential election , it was little surprise that the attack on the L.A. County deputies immediately became a flashpoint in the broiling debate .
Nothing in policing occurs in a vacuum in 2020 — even incidents that elicit tremendous sympathy for the police , and especially in a troubled agency like the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , where deputies have been accused of running their own gangs and the sheriff has been accused of harassment and mismanaging .
It didn ’ t help when deputies arrested a reporter outside the hospital where the deputies were being treated .
Within hours of the shooting , a small group of protesters had gathered there , enraging officials and law enforcement supporters .
Across Los Angeles and the nation , the shooting was swiftly transformed into a political talking point , with speculation swirling as to the possible motivation of the gunman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do with the anti-police messaging of recent protests .
“ Words have consequences , ” Sheriff Alex Villanueva said , apparently stoking that idea even though his department has not named a suspect or offered any motive for the attack .
Experts said the reactions were unsurprising but worthy of careful consideration , given their potential implications .
According to Dr. Sarah Vinson , a forensic psychiatrist and associate professor of psychiatry at Morehouse School of Medicine , “ all of us have confirmation bias , ” and people often contextualize a major @ @ @ @ @ @ @ preexisting ideas about a broader social issue .
That can exacerbate rifts between people in fraught situations .
It can also be dangerous , she said , because it can lead to incorrect conclusions — like that a single person deciding to shoot two deputies means people should stop protesting other shootings by law enforcement .
“ That ’ s a really , really important thing to point out , because you absolutely will get people who will spin this into meaning that these protests are causing problems , ” Vinson said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ protests are a response to the problem , not the cause : “ If there wasn ’ t injustice in the system , they wouldn ’ t be out in the streets.
” Erin Kerrison , an assistant professor at UC Berkeley ’ s School of Social Welfare who has studied police officers ’ feelings about the job and their perception in the communities they serve , said there is a correlation between officers ’ perceptions and how they operate in the street .
The less they feel like the community respects their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to use force and to buck department policies , according to her research .
And because of that , she worries the shooting of the deputies , in a “ tinderbox moment ” of growing distrust in institutions , will make officers feel as if they have a “ green light ” to use more deadly force to protect themselves .
“ It ’ s the precursor to the very behaviors that we as a collective want to put a stop to , which is police violence , ” she said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officers and on-the-ground folks who question them.
” Chuck Wexler , president of the Police Executive Research Forum , a Washington-based law enforcement think tank that works closely with police agencies nationwide , said that when he learned of what happened to the deputies , he immediately thought back to a similar incident in 2014 , when two New York Police Department officers were fatally shot in their vehicle .
At the time , New York had been experiencing intense protests over the police killing of Eric Garner .
In the aftermath , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were picked apart for clues as to his motivations , and some seized on posts in which he referenced Garner and foreshadowed the shooting as proof that he ’ d been motivated by the broader protest movement .
Many in law enforcement today want to know what motivated the L.A. shooter , too , Wexler said .
But they also have broader questions .
At recent protests , the “ level of vitriol ” toward police is much greater than in past years , and police are worried that will translate into more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t create that fear , but it will exacerbate it , Wexler said .
At the same time , there is growing recognition among police that the preservation of life , which they have always stressed when it comes to their fellow officers , also must be applied to the individuals they are arresting and confronting on the street .
In that way , they have some common ground with protesters , he said .
“ There ’ s legitimate concerns that everybody has , on both sides , for the sanctity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ It used to be that police would say , ‘ It ’ s important that the police officers go home at night.
’ In changing the culture , it ’ s more important that everybody go home safe at night.
” Laura E. Gómez , director of the Critical Race Studies Program at UCLA School of Law , said that when she heard Villanueva say “ words have consequences , ” it struck her that activists had used similar language after it came out that a white teenager charged with shooting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wis. , had a history of praising Trump — who has been accused of stoking tensions between police and protesters through his rhetoric .
“ Since words do matter , ” Gómez said , “ maybe all of us need to take a breath and consider the context a little bit more before we weigh in to inflame folks , to inflame our allies.
” Ali , the South L.A. activist , said he rejected those who had protested outside the hospital where the deputies were being treated .
( At least one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ I hope they … die , ” a phrase that was criticized through the day in conservative media and became a trending topic on Twitter . )
But he wonders why there was not more mainstream condemnation in the cases of Andres Guardado , an 18-year-old Latino security guard who was fatally shot by a sheriff ’ s deputy in June , and Dijon Kizzee , a Black bicyclist who was killed while fleeing deputies last month .
Like the deputies who were shot while sitting in their patrol car , Ali @ @ @ @ @ @ @ targets of an unprovoked shooting , ” he said .
Both of those shootings are under investigation .
Ali said he will continue to advocate for protesters and the families of those who have been killed by law enforcement officers in the region and condemn the shooting of the deputies .
There ’ s no reason why both can ’ t be done at once , he said — and anyone who suggests otherwise should not have their voices amplified .
“ Cooler heads need to prevail and be listened to in this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” he said .

Sheriff Alex Villanueva speaks at a news conference outside the emergency room of St. Francis Medical Center, where two L.A. County sheriff’s deputies were being treated after being shot Saturday.
The video showed a shooting that shocked the conscience: a cold-blooded attempt to kill two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies at close range in Compton. Immediately, unequivocal condemnations flooded in from law enforcement officials, city leaders and the nation’s most prominent politicians.
President Trump called for the unknown shooter to receive the death penalty. Trump’s opponent in the November presidential election, former Vice President Joe Biden, called for the gunman to face “the full brunt of the law.”
Najee Ali, a longtime South L.A. activist, understood the anger and joined in condemning the shooting. But he also questioned why such swift calls for justice don’t come when it is the police who cause the injuries.
There were police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, which helped spark weeks of demonstrations and unrest around the nation this summer. And Ali also cited several controversial shootings by sheriff’s deputies that have given rise to recent protests.
“I don’t agree with the shooting of anyone that’s unjustified, including deputies but also civilians,” he said Sunday, adding that he plans to join other Black leaders this week to “stand in full solidarity in condemning these actions.”
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With the issues of racism, policing and public safety emerging as key issues in the upcoming presidential election, it was little surprise that the attack on the L.A. County deputies immediately became a flashpoint in the roiling debate.
Nothing in policing occurs in a vacuum in 2020 — even incidents that elicit tremendous sympathy for the police, and especially in a troubled agency like the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, where deputies have been accused of running their own gangs and the sheriff has been accused of harassment and mismanagement. It didn’t help when deputies arrested a reporter outside the hospital where the deputies were being treated.
Within hours of the shooting, a small group of protesters had gathered there, enraging officials and law enforcement supporters. Across Los Angeles and the nation, the shooting was swiftly transformed into a political talking point, with speculation swirling as to the possible motivation of the gunman — and whether it had anything to do with the anti-police messaging of recent protests.
“Words have consequences,” Sheriff Alex Villanueva said, apparently stoking that idea even though his department has not named a suspect or offered any motive for the attack.
Experts said the reactions were unsurprising but worthy of careful consideration, given their potential implications.
According to Dr. Sarah Vinson, a forensic psychiatrist and associate professor of psychiatry at Morehouse School of Medicine, “all of us have confirmation bias,” and people often contextualize a major event by applying to it their own preexisting ideas about a broader social issue.
That can exacerbate rifts between people in fraught situations. It can also be dangerous, she said, because it can lead to incorrect conclusions — like that a single person deciding to shoot two deputies means people should stop protesting other shootings by law enforcement.
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“That’s a really, really important thing to point out, because you absolutely will get people who will spin this into meaning that these protests are causing problems,” Vinson said.
In reality, she said, the protests are a response to the problem, not the cause: “If there wasn’t injustice in the system, they wouldn’t be out in the streets.”
Erin Kerrison, an assistant professor at UC Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare who has studied police officers’ feelings about the job and their perception in the communities they serve, said there is a correlation between officers’ perceptions and how they operate in the street.
The less they feel like the community respects their authority, the more likely they are to use force and to buck department policies, according to her research. And because of that, she worries the shooting of the deputies, in a “tinderbox moment” of growing distrust in institutions, will make officers feel as if they have a “green light” to use more deadly force to protect themselves.
“It’s the precursor to the very behaviors that we as a collective want to put a stop to, which is police violence,” she said. “I foresee some real tensions between on-the-ground officers and on-the-ground folks who question them.”
Chuck Wexler, president of the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington-based law enforcement think tank that works closely with police agencies nationwide, said that when he learned of what happened to the deputies, he immediately thought back to a similar incident in 2014, when two New York Police Department officers were fatally shot in their vehicle.
At the time, New York had been experiencing intense protests over the police killing of Eric Garner. In the aftermath, the social media accounts of the shooter were picked apart for clues as to his motivations, and some seized on posts in which he referenced Garner and foreshadowed the shooting as proof that he’d been motivated by the broader protest movement.
Many in law enforcement today want to know what motivated the L.A. shooter, too, Wexler said. But they also have broader questions.
At recent protests, the “level of vitriol” toward police is much greater than in past years, and police are worried that will translate into more violence toward officers. This incident didn’t create that fear, but it will exacerbate it, Wexler said.
At the same time, there is growing recognition among police that the preservation of life, which they have always stressed when it comes to their fellow officers, also must be applied to the individuals they are arresting and confronting on the street. In that way, they have some common ground with protesters, he said.
“There’s legitimate concerns that everybody has, on both sides, for the sanctity of human life,” Wexler said. “It used to be that police would say, ‘It’s important that the police officers go home at night.’ In changing the culture, it’s more important that everybody go home safe at night.”
Laura E. Gómez, director of the Critical Race Studies Program at UCLA School of Law, said that when she heard Villanueva say “words have consequences,” it struck her that activists had used similar language after it came out that a white teenager charged with shooting and killing two protesters in Kenosha, Wis., had a history of praising Trump — who has been accused of stoking tensions between police and protesters through his rhetoric.
“Since words do matter,” Gómez said, “maybe all of us need to take a breath and consider the context a little bit more before we weigh in to inflame folks, to inflame our allies.”
Ali, the South L.A. activist, said he rejected those who had protested outside the hospital where the deputies were being treated. (At least one protester was heard on video saying, “I hope they … die,” a phrase that was criticized through the day in conservative media and became a trending topic on Twitter.)
But he wonders why there was not more mainstream condemnation in the cases of Andres Guardado, an 18-year-old Latino security guard who was fatally shot by a sheriff’s deputy in June, and Dijon Kizzee, a Black bicyclist who was killed while fleeing deputies last month.
Like the deputies who were shot while sitting in their patrol car, Ali saw Guardado and Kizzee as “innocent targets of an unprovoked shooting,” he said. Both of those shootings are under investigation.
Ali said he would continue to advocate for protesters and the families of those killed by law enforcement officers in the region and to condemn the shooting of the deputies.
There’s no reason why both can’t be done at once, he said — and anyone who suggests otherwise should not have their voices amplified.
“Cooler heads need to prevail and be listened to in this moment of crisis in L.A. County,” he said.


latimes--2020-09-14--How politics and police unions stopped bills to hold bad cops accountable

It wasn ’ t good government .
But it was probably good politics .
A major police reform bill was quietly killed by the Assembly speaker without a house vote on the last night of the legislative session .
He used an ages-old tactic aimed at sparing politically vulnerable lawmakers from casting a perilous vote .
The bill would have assured that when a bad cop ’ s badge is yanked by a police department , he can ’ t hook on with another law enforcement agency anywhere in California .
The measure also would have made it easier for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officers .
There was broad public support for the measure — but heavy opposition from officers ’ unions , police chiefs and sheriffs .
So , it wound up the way these things often do : The legislative leader punted .
Just how big a role should politics play in policymaking ?
There ’ s no pat answer .
But politics and public policy are intertwined .
Here ’ s what often happens : A bill generates hefty combat .
Perhaps the public overwhelmingly supports the measure .
But powerful interests are adamantly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dilemma for lawmakers running for reelection in competitive races .
Voters could turn against an incumbent who sides with the interests .
But if the lawmaker votes against the interests , he could suffer their wrath .
Campaign contributions could be cut off and given to an opponent .
If a bill probably isn ’ t going to survive a house vote anyway , maybe the wisest move is to pull it off the floor .
Avoid the agony of taking a public position in a likely losing cause .
The police reform @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bradford ( D-Gardena ) , was a textbook example on the legislative session ’ s final night , Aug. 31 .
Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon ( D-Lakewood ) concluded the bill didn ’ t have nearly enough votes to pass his house — it needed a simple majority , 41 — and removed it from consideration .
“ It didn ’ t have the votes — wasn ’ t even close , ” Rendon told me .
“ I was going to vote for it , but for many it was a tough @ @ @ @ @ @ @ paid to cast tough votes ?
If a bill reaches the floor , shouldn ’ t it be entitled to a vote ?
“ You wouldn ’ t know whether it had the votes if you ’ re not willing to take up the bill , ” Bradford says .
“ It ’ s not uncommon to take up a bill before you have 41 votes .
A lot of [ house ] members might want to hear the floor debate on a controversial bill.
” It ’ s a fact , however @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lengthy and passionate — rarely add significantly to vote totals .
Occasionally they do .
But Bradford would have needed to pick up a bunch of votes — up to 10 .
“ Did we have 41 identified votes ?
No , ” Bradford says .
“ But we had potential leanings .
We could have worked the floor and gotten 41 votes.
” Well , that was another problem .
Because of COVID-19 rules , the senator could not have worked the Assembly floor .
Legislators weren ’ t allowed in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ made legislating difficult .
But the biggest obstacle for Bradford ’ s bill : “ The police unions were very effective at putting a lot of fear into members , ” he says .
As for lawmakers taking tough votes , Bradford asserts : “ That ’ s why we run for this office .
We come here to do meaningful legislation , not nibble around the edges .
Meaningful legislation is always a tough vote.… .
“ A bill should live and die on its own merits… .
We would know who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are willing to stick their necks out.
” That ’ s what Rendon and legislative leaders usually fear : legislators sticking their vulnerable necks out in public view .
“ It ’ s an election year , ” the senator says .
“ It ’ s the job of leadership to protect members.
” Other police reform bills also perished without votes at the session ’ s end .
They were measures to provide more public access to police misconduct records , ban the use of rubber bullets and tear gas against protesters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a colleague is abusing a citizen — such as George Floyd .
But legislators did pass some modest bills .
One would require the state attorney general to investigate when police kill an unarmed citizen .
Another banned the use of chokeholds .
I called Darry Sragow , a veteran political consultant who once was the chief Democratic strategist for Assembly election campaigns .
Now he publishes the California Target Book , which handicaps legislative and congressional races .
What does he think of legislative leaders ducking risky votes on bills likely to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no right and there ’ s no wrong , ” Sragow says .
“ The fundamental justification for insulating incumbents in competitive reelection races from difficult votes is that — it ’ s a cliché , but it ’ s true — you may not win every battle , but you ’ ve got to win the war .
“ It ’ s a matter of not inflicting substantial damage on the party in favor of some short-term action that may cost the party seats.
” Of course , there ’ s absolutely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ control of either house — probably not even their two-thirds supermajorities .
Democrats hold 61 of 80 seats in the Assembly and 29 of 40 in the Senate .
“ The counter argument , ” Sragow continues , “ is that the policy is too important .
‘ We have to take the action.
’ “ The job of the leader is to balance those conflicting arguments — pressing for a policy change because it ’ s the right thing to do versus saving the fight for a different day.
” In America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of politicians .

Protesters run from police in the 3rd Street tunnel as they protest the killing of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis.
It wasn’t good government. But it was probably good politics.
A major police reform bill was quietly killed by the Assembly speaker without a house vote on the last night of the legislative session. He used an ages-old tactic aimed at sparing politically vulnerable lawmakers from casting a perilous vote.
Call it incumbent protection.
The bill would have assured that when a bad cop’s badge is yanked by a police department, he can’t hook on with another law enforcement agency anywhere in California. The measure also would have made it easier for citizens to file civil lawsuits against rogue officers.
Advertisement
There was broad public support for the measure — but heavy opposition from officers’ unions, police chiefs and sheriffs.
So, it wound up the way these things often do: The legislative leader punted.
Just how big a role should politics play in policymaking? There’s no pat answer. But politics and public policy are intertwined.
Here’s what often happens:
A bill generates hefty combat. Perhaps the public overwhelmingly supports the measure. But powerful interests are adamantly opposed.
It’s a no-win dilemma for lawmakers running for reelection in competitive races. Voters could turn against an incumbent who sides with the interests. But if the lawmaker votes against the interests, he could suffer their wrath. Campaign contributions could be cut off and given to an opponent.
If a bill probably isn’t going to survive a house vote anyway, maybe the wisest move is to pull it off the floor. Avoid the agony of taking a public position in a likely losing cause.
Advertisement
That’s a well-worn page from the legislators’ traditional political playbook.
The police reform bill, SB 731 by Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena), was a textbook example on the legislative session’s final night, Aug. 31.
Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) concluded the bill didn’t have nearly enough votes to pass his house — it needed a simple majority, 41 — and removed it from consideration.
“It didn’t have the votes — wasn’t even close,” Rendon told me. “I was going to vote for it, but for many it was a tough vote.”
But aren’t legislators paid to cast tough votes? If a bill reaches the floor, shouldn’t it be entitled to a vote?
Bradford certainly thinks so.
“You wouldn’t know whether it had the votes if you’re not willing to take up the bill,” Bradford says. “It’s not uncommon to take up a bill before you have 41 votes. A lot of [house] members might want to hear the floor debate on a controversial bill.”
It’s a fact, however, that debates — no matter how lengthy and passionate — rarely add significantly to vote totals. Occasionally they do. But Bradford would have needed to pick up a bunch of votes — up to 10.
“Did we have 41 identified votes? No,” Bradford says. “But we had potential leanings. We could have worked the floor and gotten 41 votes.”
Well, that was another problem. Because of COVID-19 rules, the senator could not have worked the Assembly floor. Legislators weren’t allowed in the other house’s chamber. That made legislating difficult.
But the biggest obstacle for Bradford’s bill: “The police unions were very effective at putting a lot of fear into members,” he says.
As for lawmakers taking tough votes, Bradford asserts: “That’s why we run for this office. We come here to do meaningful legislation, not nibble around the edges. Meaningful legislation is always a tough vote.….
“A bill should live and die on its own merits…. We would know who our friends are, the people who are willing to stick their necks out.”
That’s what Rendon and legislative leaders usually fear: legislators sticking their vulnerable necks out in public view.
But Bradford acknowledges Rendon’s role as speaker.
“It’s an election year,” the senator says. “It’s the job of leadership to protect members.”
Other police reform bills also perished without votes at the session’s end. They were measures to provide more public access to police misconduct records, ban the use of rubber bullets and tear gas against protesters, and require officers to intervene when a colleague is abusing a citizen — such as George Floyd.
But legislators did pass some modest bills. One would require the state attorney general to investigate when police kill an unarmed citizen. Another banned the use of chokeholds.
I called Darry Sragow, a veteran political consultant who once was the chief Democratic strategist for Assembly election campaigns. Now he publishes the California Target Book, which handicaps legislative and congressional races.
What does he think of legislative leaders ducking risky votes on bills likely to lose anyway?
“There’s no right and there’s no wrong,” Sragow says. “The fundamental justification for insulating incumbents in competitive reelection races from difficult votes is that — it’s a cliché, but it’s true — you may not win every battle, but you’ve got to win the war.
“It’s a matter of not inflicting substantial damage on the party in favor of some short-term action that may cost the party seats.”
Of course, there’s absolutely no way Democrats in November could lose control of either house — probably not even their two-thirds supermajorities. Democrats hold 61 of 80 seats in the Assembly and 29 of 40 in the Senate.
“The counter argument,” Sragow continues, “is that the policy is too important. ‘We have to take the action.’
“The job of the leader is to balance those conflicting arguments — pressing for a policy change because it’s the right thing to do versus saving the fight for a different day.”
Like during a non-election year.
In America, politics is inseparable from the policymaking of politicians.