latimes--2020-01-26--To change the church 50 years ago, first they had to break in

A crowd of Mexican American protesters pounded on the locked doors of St.
Basil ’ s , an opulent new Catholic church on Wilshire Boulevard .
To them , the multimillion-dollar house of worship was a symbol of extravagance by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles leaders — and a sharp contrast to the poverty too many Catholics endured in East L.A. “ Let the poor people in !
” they shouted , as midnight Mass began inside on a Christmas Eve half a century ago .
When they finally got into the lobby , off-duty sheriff ’ s deputies moonlighting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pushing , screaming and kicking broke out .
A couple of demonstrators were injured ; more than 20 would be arrested .
Inside , members of the city ’ s Catholic elite sang “ O Come , All Ye Faithful ” to drown out the noise .
As the service ended , Cardinal James Francis McIntyre likened the young Latinos to storied men on the wrong side of history , such as those who stood at the foot of the cross shouting “ Crucify him !
” “ Forgive them , ” McIntyre @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not what they do.
” Fifty years later , members of Católicos por La Raza ( Catholics for the People ) — the group that had so angered McIntyre — gathered in a different church .
They are in their 70s .
They get around on walkers .
Their hair has thinned and shines white .
This time , they were not there to protest but to celebrate the events of December 1969 and all that followed .
In January 1970 , Cardinal McIntyre retired .
His successor , Archbishop Timothy Manning , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ social change .
Members of Católicos por La Raza say their actions helped pave the way for the subsequent change in the relationship between the Catholic Church in the United States and Latino congregants .
Before the St.
Basil ’ s affair , bishops and cardinals treated them largely as peons , they said , downplaying their patron saints or any hint of social justice in favor of a conservative theology with European Catholicism in the forefront .
But in the decades since , Latinos and their causes moved to the forefront of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ faithful in L.A. Church leaders supported Cesar Chavez ’ s United Farm Workers union , and embraced Central American refugees during the 1980s ; today , the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is consistently pro-immigrant and led by Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez .
His archdiocese is the nation ’ s largest , with Latinos comprising more than 70 % of L.A. 's 5 million Catholic parishioners .
The incident at St.
Basil ’ s , though , is rarely taught .
It was overshadowed by other milestones in Chicano history .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ pivotal actors for Chicano activism in Southern California .
“ Católicos was a who ’ s who of L.A. activists , ” said Felipe Hinojosa , an associate professor of history at Texas A & M University who has interviewed the group ’ s members for a book on Latino radical politics and religious institutions .
“ They were willing to just be as brash and as bold as they were with L.A. school districts , with the walkouts , with every other major institution .
They were not going to be reverent.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ dozen people filled a room in the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany .
Decades ago , farm labor leader Chavez gave talks in the Lincoln Heights church .
La Raza , an underground pro-Chicano newspaper , was printed in the basement .
“ Welcome home , ” said Father Tom Carey , the church ’ s vicar .
“ We would not have a resistance — what is happening today — if it were not for you.
” The event centered on some of those arrested decades ago for protesting the Catholic Church @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with challenges in 2020 .
They greeted one another with tight embraces ; the men used “ carnal , ” brother .
The room , cold enough to keep on jackets and sweaters , was warmed by the reunions .
Attendees snacked on flautas and drank agua de jamaica as they waited for everything to start .
The event began an hour late because , as an organizer joked , people were on “ Chicano time.
” On each table were program handouts featuring photos of 20 men and women .
Underneath each @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ not guilty ” to signal their conviction .
Lydia Lopez , who had “ not guilty ” below her photo , directed her fellow activists to a table at the front of the room .
“ Oh , we ’ re doing a lineup , ” Luis Garza said with a smile .
“ Yeah , we ’ re going to have another lineup , ” Lopez joked .
Lopez was 28 when her ex-husband , a member of Católicos , told her on Christmas Eve that they were going to church @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hot pink dress she wore and the black patent heels .
These days , the heels are gone .
The 77-year-old used a red walker to navigate the reunion .
At times , she cupped a hand around her ear , prompting people to speak up .
Lopez had been self-conscious during her participation in the protest , she admitted , because she was Episcopalian — not Catholic .
She just wanted to stand up “ for the justice of this issue.
” Lopez was pregnant with her son at the time of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that he and his mother went to jail to make things better .
One of Lopez ’ s lawyers was Oscar “ Zeta ” Acosta , an activist lawyer used as the inspiration for Dr. Gonzo in Hunter S. Thompson ’ s “ Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
” He helped prove that she had been across the street during the St.
Basil ’ s melee .
Lopez was found not guilty and became active in the Episcopal Church .
She worked in the communications and public affairs office in the Episcopal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years ago .
She and Armando Vazquez-Ramos , the youngest of those prosecuted , helped organize the anniversary reunion .
A few of their fellow activists were dead ; others they were unable to track down .
As they read the names of the departed , everyone called out , “ presente.
” Vazquez-Ramos , who was born in Mexico City , was a 20-year-old student at Cal State Long Beach when he “ turned on to this Chicano movement spirit.
” He almost dropped out of school the first semester because he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ night at St.
Basil ’ s , he and a few others went into the church through the basement and opened the doors .
Vazquez-Ramos later pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace so that prosecutors would drop charges against two other defendants .
He was sentenced to a year of supervised probation and fined $ 50 .
“ Like is the case with any generation , we all grew up , ” said Vazquez-Ramos , whose hint of a mustache eventually grew in and turned gray .
“ We all graduated , we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which was the nemesis of all us activists.
” Vazquez-Ramos , who co-founded the Chicano and Latino Studies department at Cal State Long Beach , taught at the university for more than 30 years .
He began a program five years ago to teach ethnic studies in high schools .
“ I ’ m very much proud of that generation and what we accomplished and how we ’ ve been able to grow in 50 years , ” Vazquez-Ramos said .
Behind the table where the speakers sat was a framed poster for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ anti-Vietnam War protest on Aug. 29 , 1970 .
Attendees , most of them longtime activists , flipped through a photo book that Garza helped curate titled “ La Raza , ” which included pictures of antiwar rallies .
Latinos linked arms and held signs that read “ Fuera de Vietnam ” and “ Bring Our Carnales Home Now.
” Garza began his career as a photojournalist at La Raza magazine .
He became “ the premier photographer of the Chicano movement , ” a friend said .
He was arrested after the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not guilty .
In one photo by La Raza staff , Richard Cruz , a leader of Católicos , stood on the steps of St.
Basil ’ s in September 1970 .
He and others burned their baptismal certificates .
Cruz , then a Loyola Law School student , received the stiffest sentence after the St.
Basil ’ s incident , according to a 1970 Times article .
About a month before that protest , Cruz tried to meet with Cardinal McIntyre , a towering figure in the history of California Catholicism .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ rapid growth of the archdiocese .
But he clashed with civil rights organizations and was accused of racism .
After being told to wait , the group ’ s members burst into the cardinal ’ s private office .
They watched as his face turned beet red .
“ I thought the Holy Ghost was going to come down , ” Rosa Martinez recounted .
The group ’ s members demanded that the church pay attention to the needs of Latinos and give them a voice in church affairs .
If McIntyre had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Basil ’ s melee might never have happened .
Now in their 70s , Católicos members know that their efforts have largely been forgotten — eclipsed by Chavez , the East L.A. walkouts and the Chicano Moratorium .
It ’ s what some of those in attendance called a “ historical amnesia.
” “ The Católicos por la Raza issue is so buried in history , even in Chicano studies we don ’ t teach about it , ” Vazquez-Ramos said .
Even the L.A. Archdiocese struggled to find someone familiar with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ became lawyers and professors .
Cruz died in 1993 , but his son , Camilo , and ex-wife , Rosa Martinez , attended the event .
Camilo Cruz runs the Community Justice Initiative for the L.A. city attorney ’ s office , with the intent of diverting people out of the criminal justice system .
“ Without you I wouldn ’ t have had any opportunities the way we have them now , ” Cruz said to those seated at the table .
“ You guys opened the doors.
” Talk turned to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the movement no longer seemed to be moving .
Attendees worried about President Trump and asked what could be done in the next 50 years .
One man wore a blue button that read “ Impeach & Remove.
” The issues of decades ago felt “ earthshaking , ” said Richard Martínez , who was among those arrested back then .
But “ probably not as earthshaking as the issues we face today.
” “ I would hope that the energy and dynamism that the Chicano movement had could be reflected in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of today , ” Martínez said .
“ We need another Chicano movement .
”

Paul Sandoff, left, of Rancho Palos Verdes, whose now deceased wife, Connie Nieto, was part of the movement, meets with Lydia Lopez of Alhambra at the 50th anniversary celebration of Católicos por La Raza’s historic protest for church reform at St. Basil’s in Los Angeles.
A crowd of Mexican American protesters pounded on the locked doors of St. Basil’s, an opulent new Catholic church on Wilshire Boulevard.
To them, the multimillion-dollar house of worship was a symbol of extravagance by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles leaders — and a sharp contrast to the poverty too many Catholics endured in East L.A.
“Let the poor people in!” they shouted, as midnight Mass began inside on a Christmas Eve half a century ago.
When they finally got into the lobby, off-duty sheriff’s deputies moonlighting as ushers were waiting. Fist-swinging, pushing, screaming and kicking broke out. A couple of demonstrators were injured; more than 20 would be arrested.
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Inside, members of the city’s Catholic elite sang “O Come, All Ye Faithful” to drown out the noise.
As the service ended, Cardinal James Francis McIntyre likened the young Latinos to storied men on the wrong side of history, such as those who stood at the foot of the cross shouting “Crucify him!”
“Forgive them,” McIntyre told the parishioners, “they know not what they do.”
The Rev. Richard Estrada of the Church of the Epiphany, flanked by Luis Garza, and Armando Vazquez-Ramos, right, shares his experience at the 50th anniversary celebration of Católicos por La Raza’s protest for church reform. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
Fifty years later, members of Católicos por La Raza (Catholics for the People) — the group that had so angered McIntyre — gathered in a different church. They are in their 70s. They get around on walkers. Their hair has thinned and shines white.
This time, they were not there to protest but to celebrate the events of December 1969 and all that followed. In January 1970, Cardinal McIntyre retired. His successor, Archbishop Timothy Manning, said he would listen to militants seeking social change.
Members of Católicos por La Raza say their actions helped pave the way for the subsequent change in the relationship between the Catholic Church in the United States and Latino congregants. Before the St. Basil’s affair, bishops and cardinals treated them largely as peons, they said, downplaying their patron saints or any hint of social justice in favor of a conservative theology with European Catholicism in the forefront.
But in the decades since, Latinos and their causes moved to the forefront of American Catholicism, driven largely by the faithful in L.A.
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Church leaders supported Cesar Chavez’s United Farm Workers union, and embraced Central American refugees during the 1980s; today, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is consistently pro-immigrant and led by Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez. His archdiocese is the nation’s largest, with Latinos comprising more than 70% of L.A.’s 5 million Catholic parishioners.
The incident at St. Basil’s, though, is rarely taught. It was overshadowed by other milestones in Chicano history. Nevertheless, the people behind it were pivotal actors for Chicano activism in Southern California.
“Católicos was a who’s who of L.A. activists,” said Felipe Hinojosa, an associate professor of history at Texas A&M University who has interviewed the group’s members for a book on Latino radical politics and religious institutions.
“They were willing to just be as brash and as bold as they were with L.A. school districts, with the walkouts, with every other major institution. They were not going to be reverent.”
On Jan. 11, about two dozen people filled a room in the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany. Decades ago, farm labor leader Chavez gave talks in the Lincoln Heights church. La Raza, an underground pro-Chicano newspaper, was printed in the basement.
Lydia Lopez of Alhambra reminisces at the 50th anniversary celebration of Católicos por La Raza’s protest at St. Basil’s on Wilshire Boulevard. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
Lydia Lopez holds a cross at the anniversary celebration, held at the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
“Welcome home,” said Father Tom Carey, the church’s vicar. “We would not have a resistance — what is happening today — if it were not for you.”
“¡Viva la raza!,” he said.
“¡Que viva!” they shouted.
The event centered on some of those arrested decades ago for protesting the Catholic Church and what could be done to deal with challenges in 2020. They greeted one another with tight embraces; the men used “carnal,” brother. The room, cold enough to keep on jackets and sweaters, was warmed by the reunions.
Attendees snacked on flautas and drank agua de jamaica as they waited for everything to start. The event began an hour late because, as an organizer joked, people were on “Chicano time.”
On each table were program handouts featuring photos of 20 men and women. Underneath each name was either “guilty” or “not guilty” to signal their conviction.
Lydia Lopez, who had “not guilty” below her photo, directed her fellow activists to a table at the front of the room.
“Oh, we’re doing a lineup,” Luis Garza said with a smile.
“Yeah, we’re going to have another lineup,” Lopez joked.
Lopez was 28 when her ex-husband, a member of Católicos, told her on Christmas Eve that they were going to church. She recalled in vivid detail the hot pink dress she wore and the black patent heels.
These days, the heels are gone. The 77-year-old used a red walker to navigate the reunion. At times, she cupped a hand around her ear, prompting people to speak up.
Lopez had been self-conscious during her participation in the protest, she admitted, because she was Episcopalian — not Catholic. She just wanted to stand up “for the justice of this issue.”
Lopez was pregnant with her son at the time of her arrest. He would later joke that he and his mother went to jail to make things better.
Luis Garza and Anna Nieto Gomez at the celebration. Garza began his career as a photojournalist at La Raza magazine. He was arrested after the St. Basil’s incident but found not guilty. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
One of Lopez’s lawyers was Oscar “Zeta” Acosta, an activist lawyer used as the inspiration for Dr. Gonzo in Hunter S. Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” He helped prove that she had been across the street during the St. Basil’s melee.
Lopez was found not guilty and became active in the Episcopal Church. She worked in the communications and public affairs office in the Episcopal Diocese of L.A. until her retirement 10 years ago.
She and Armando Vazquez-Ramos, the youngest of those prosecuted, helped organize the anniversary reunion. A few of their fellow activists were dead; others they were unable to track down. As they read the names of the departed, everyone called out, “presente.”
Vazquez-Ramos, who was born in Mexico City, was a 20-year-old student at Cal State Long Beach when he “turned on to this Chicano movement spirit.” He almost dropped out of school the first semester because he became a “24/7 activist.”
That night at St. Basil’s, he and a few others went into the church through the basement and opened the doors. Vazquez-Ramos later pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace so that prosecutors would drop charges against two other defendants. He was sentenced to a year of supervised probation and fined $50.
“Like is the case with any generation, we all grew up,” said Vazquez-Ramos, whose hint of a mustache eventually grew in and turned gray. “We all graduated, we became parents and we became employed — which was the nemesis of all us activists.”
Vazquez-Ramos, who co-founded the Chicano and Latino Studies department at Cal State Long Beach, taught at the university for more than 30 years. He began a program five years ago to teach ethnic studies in high schools.
“I’m very much proud of that generation and what we accomplished and how we’ve been able to grow in 50 years,” Vazquez-Ramos said.
Behind the table where the speakers sat was a framed poster for the National Chicano Moratorium, a massive anti-Vietnam War protest on Aug. 29, 1970.
Attendees, most of them longtime activists, flipped through a photo book that Garza helped curate titled “La Raza,” which included pictures of antiwar rallies. Latinos linked arms and held signs that read “Fuera de Vietnam” and “Bring Our Carnales Home Now.”
Garza began his career as a photojournalist at La Raza magazine. He became “the premier photographer of the Chicano movement,” a friend said. He was arrested after the St. Basil’s incident but found not guilty.
In one photo by La Raza staff, Richard Cruz, a leader of Católicos, stood on the steps of St. Basil’s in September 1970. He and others burned their baptismal certificates.
Cruz, then a Loyola Law School student, received the stiffest sentence after the St. Basil’s incident, according to a 1970 Times article. About a month before that protest, Cruz tried to meet with Cardinal McIntyre, a towering figure in the history of California Catholicism.
McIntyre was widely credited for overseeing the rapid growth of the archdiocese. But he clashed with civil rights organizations and was accused of racism.
After being told to wait, the group’s members burst into the cardinal’s private office. They watched as his face turned beet red.
“I thought the Holy Ghost was going to come down,” Rosa Martinez recounted.
The group’s members demanded that the church pay attention to the needs of Latinos and give them a voice in church affairs. If McIntyre had listened, they said, the St. Basil’s melee might never have happened.
Now in their 70s, Católicos members know that their efforts have largely been forgotten — eclipsed by Chavez, the East L.A. walkouts and the Chicano Moratorium. It’s what some of those in attendance called a “historical amnesia.”
The 50th anniversary celebration of Católicos por La Raza’s protest for church reform was held at the Church of the Epiphany in Los Angeles. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
“The Católicos por la Raza issue is so buried in history, even in Chicano studies we don’t teach about it,” Vazquez-Ramos said. Even the L.A. Archdiocese struggled to find someone familiar with the events of 1969.
Those young activists became lawyers and professors. Cruz died in 1993, but his son, Camilo, and ex-wife, Rosa Martinez, attended the event.
Camilo Cruz runs the Community Justice Initiative for the L.A. city attorney’s office, with the intent of diverting people out of the criminal justice system.
“Without you I wouldn’t have had any opportunities the way we have them now,” Cruz said to those seated at the table. “You guys opened the doors.”
Talk turned to the current political climate and the fact that the movement no longer seemed to be moving. Attendees worried about President Trump and asked what could be done in the next 50 years. One man wore a blue button that read “Impeach & Remove.”
The issues of decades ago felt “earthshaking,” said Richard Martínez, who was among those arrested back then. But “probably not as earthshaking as the issues we face today.”
“I would hope that the energy and dynamism that the Chicano movement had could be reflected in the generations that are taking on issues of today,” Martínez said. “We need another Chicano movement.”


latimes--2020-01-26--California's first two cases of coronavirus are confirmed in L.A. and Orange counties

Health officials have confirmed the first two cases of the new strain of coronavirus in Los Angeles and Orange counties , brought by travelers who came from the epicenter of the outbreak in Wuhan , China .
In both counties , the virus infecting the two individuals was the same strain as the one that had spread to more than 2,000 people in 14 countries and territories and caused 56 deaths since it was discovered late last month in central China .
Three other cases have been diagnosed in the U.S. , one each in Arizona , Washington state and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ infected person was a returning traveler from Wuhan who is receiving medical treatment at a local hospital , officials said .
The Orange County patient is in good condition and is in isolation at a hospital , health officials said .
In both counties , health authorities are following up with anyone who has had close contact with the patients , but they noted that casual contact with an infected person — such as visiting the same grocery store or movie theater — only carries “ minimal risk of developing infection , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is a Wuhan resident who was flying through Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday on his way back to China , L.A. County public health officials said during a news conference Sunday .
“ The infected person presented themselves immediately for care at LAX airport once they noticed they weren ’ t feeling well , ” said L.A. County Department of Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer .
The patient was transported from LAX directly to a local hospital , and no L.A. County residents were infected or at risk as of Sunday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ case , which was also announced Sunday , was a Maricopa County resident who health officials described as “ a member of the Arizona State University community , ” but who did not live in university housing .
The patient had recently returned from a trip to Wuhan , health officials said .
The patient was not severely ill and was being kept in isolation , the Arizona Department of Health Services and Maricopa County Department of Public Health said .
Officials were working to identify and reach out to people who might @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the patient was contagious , officials said .
The new strain of coronavirus , known as 2019-nCoV , can cause respiratory illness and pneumonia .
It was originally thought to be spreading from only animals to people in central China , but there are now indications it is also spreading among people .
In people who are young and healthy , the virus does not seem to cause severe illness , with symptoms including fever , coughing and shortness of breath .
Most of the dozens of deaths tied to the coronavirus to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ province of Hubei , of which Wuhan is the capital .
Most of the dead were at least 50 years old with underlying medical problems or weakened immune systems , Chinese officials said .
But a 36-year-old man succumbed to the coronavirus last week , and a healthcare worker also was reported to be among the fatalities .
Health experts in the United States have said there ’ s no evidence to suggest the new coronavirus is any more virulent than the flu .
But because this strain of coronavirus is new , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and researchers will have to start from square one in creating a vaccine , which will probably take years to develop .
Coronaviruses include a large variety of viruses — the common cold as well as those that caused Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ( SARS ) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome ( MERS ) .
SARS and MERS sickened thousands of people around the world and caused hundreds of deaths .
It is too soon to tell how the new strain compares to coronaviruses that fueled the previous epidemics , experts said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ unanswered questions about this outbreak , ” said Dr. Anne W. Rimoin , an epidemiologist at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and director of the UCLA Center for Global and Immigrant Health .
“ We don ’ t know how easily people transmit the virus or how ill it can make otherwise healthy people .
We just don ’ t know the true risks posed by this new virus , and these are the questions that will need to be answered.
” As of Friday , 18 people between the ages @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the virus in California , according to the state Department of Public Health .
They included a traveler who arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on a flight from Mexico City and was taken to a hospital early Thursday for an evaluation .
L.A. County public health officials could not confirm whether the Mexico City traveler was the same one with the virus .
“ We ’ re working very closely with LAX , we have staff stationed at the quarantine station , ” said Dr. Sharon Balter , director of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Acute Communicable Disease Control Program .
“ All travelers who are arriving from China are being screened … [ LAX officials ] call us immediately if they think anybody needs to be tested and then they work with our staff … to get them to a hospital that ’ s appropriate to test them , and everything went as one would expect in this case.
” Dr. Sonia Angell , director of the California Department of Public Health , said in a statement Sunday that the immediate health risk to the general public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the California Department of Public Health has been preparing for this situation by working closely with local health departments and health care providers.
” Healthcare workers who treat anyone with this kind of infectious disease should make sure they wash their hands after contact and consider wearing protective eye gear , officials said .
At Orange County Global Medical Center and Regional Trauma Center , patients who come in with respiratory symptoms are given masks , and an infectious disease specialist regularly consults with the staff to provide education about what to look @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Vu Huynh , medical director of emergency services .
If a patient is suspected to be infected with coronavirus , staffers have been instructed to quarantine them in an isolated room and contact the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention so a special series of tests can be performed , Huynh said .
So far , the hospital has had one patient tested , and the results came back negative , he said .
Still , the staff is prepared to see more cases of the virus .
“ There could have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t caught at the beginning and maybe those patients traveled , ” Huynh said .
“ With Southern California being a multicultural area , I think there ’ s more risk.
” Though the U.S. has not seen a major outbreak , the virus has spread widely across Asia in the last month .
China ’ s health minister said the country was entering a “ crucial stage ” as “ it seems like the ability of the virus to spread is getting stronger.
” The pneumonia-like illnesses from the newly identified @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Other cases have been reported in Japan , South Korea and Thailand .
Singapore , Vietnam and Hong Kong reported their first cases Thursday .
The U.S. State Department announced Sunday morning that it will relocate personnel at the U.S. Consulate General in Wuhan to the U.S. via a single flight on Tuesday from Wuhan to San Francisco .
There is limited space for private American citizens on the flight , officials said .
“ Capacity is extremely limited ; priority will be given to individuals at greater risk from coronavirus , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ news statement .
Chinese travel agencies have been told to halt all group tours , the state-owned English-language China Daily newspaper reported , citing the China Assn .
of Travel Services .
Canada reported its first case Saturday in Toronto .
Officials said the man is in his 50s and recently flew from Wuhan to Guangzhou , China , and then on to Toronto on Thursday .
The first coronavirus cases in Europe have also been confirmed , with three patients being treated in French hospitals .
All three had recently traveled to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , according to officials .
The CDC is screening passengers on direct and connecting flights from Wuhan at five major airports in Atlanta , Chicago , New York , San Francisco and Los Angeles .
Experts say that the U.S. is well-equipped to deal with any possible outbreak , and that it ’ s important to remain calm .
“ Fear spreads a lot faster than the virus itself , ” Rimoin said .
“ We need to make sure that people do not have undue worry .
We have a good public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ ve been preparing for this.
” Times staff writers Emily Baumgaertner and Cindy Chang contributed to this report .
The Associated Press was used in compiling this report .

Alex Wigglesworth, Rong-Gong Lin II, Sonali Kohli

Health officials have confirmed the first two cases of the new strain of coronavirus in Los Angeles and Orange counties, brought by travelers who came from the epicenter of the outbreak in Wuhan, China.
In both counties, the virus infecting the two individuals was the same strain as the one that has spread to more than 2,700 people in 14 countries and territories and caused 80 deaths since it was discovered late last month in central China. Three other cases have been diagnosed in the U.S., one each in Arizona, Washington state and Chicago.
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In L.A. County, the infected person was a returning traveler from Wuhan who is receiving medical treatment at a hospital, officials said.
The Orange County patient is in good condition and is in isolation at a hospital, health officials said. In both counties, health authorities are following up with anyone who has had close contact with the patients, but they noted that casual contact with an infected person — such as visiting the same grocery store or movie theater — carries only “minimal risk of developing infection.”
“The risk of local transmission remains low,” officials said.
The L.A. County patient is a Wuhan resident who was flying through Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday on his way back to China, L.A. County public health officials said during a news conference Sunday.
“The infected person presented themselves immediately for care at LAX airport once they noticed they weren’t feeling well,” said L.A. County public health director Dr. Barbara Ferrer. The patient was taken from LAX directly to a hospital, and no L.A. County residents were infected or at risk as of Sunday morning, Ferrer said.
The Arizona case, which was also announced Sunday, was a Maricopa County resident who health officials described as “a member of the Arizona State University community” but who did not live in university housing. The patient had recently returned from a trip to Wuhan, health officials said.
The patient was not severely ill and was being kept in isolation, the Arizona Department of Health Services and Maricopa County Department of Public Health said. Officials were working to identify and reach out to people who might have been exposed to the virus while the patient was contagious, officials said.
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The new strain of coronavirus, known as 2019-nCoV, can cause respiratory illness and pneumonia. It was originally thought to be spreading only from animals to people in central China, but there are now indications it is also spreading among people.
The virus can cause pneumonia-like symptoms, including fever, coughing and shortness of breath and, in extreme cases, can be fatal.
Most of the dead were at least 50 years old with underlying medical problems or weakened immune systems, Chinese officials said. But a 36-year-old man succumbed to the coronavirus last week, and a healthcare worker also was reported to be among the fatalities.
Health experts in the United States have said there’s no evidence to suggest the new coronavirus is any more virulent than the flu.
But because this strain of coronavirus is new, health officials are on high alert, and researchers will have to start from square one in creating a vaccine, which will probably take years to develop.
Coronaviruses include a large variety of viruses — the common cold as well as those that caused Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). SARS and MERS sickened thousands of people around the world and caused hundreds of deaths.
It is too soon to tell how the new strain compares to coronaviruses that fueled the previous epidemics, experts said.
“I think that there are important unanswered questions about this outbreak,” said Anne W. Rimoin, an epidemiologist at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and director of the UCLA Center for Global and Immigrant Health. “We don’t know how easily people transmit the virus or how ill it can make otherwise healthy people. We just don’t know the true risks posed by this new virus, and these are the questions that will need to be answered.”
As of Friday, 18 people between the ages of 3 and 58 had been tested for the virus in California, according to the state Department of Public Health. They included a traveler who arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on a flight from Mexico City and was taken to a hospital early Thursday for an evaluation.
L.A. County public health officials could not confirm whether the Mexico City traveler was the same one with the virus.
“We’re working very closely with LAX, we have staff stationed at the quarantine station,” said Dr. Sharon Balter, director of the L.A. County Public Health Department’s Acute Communicable Disease Control program. “All travelers who are arriving from China are being screened…. [LAX officials] call us immediately if they think anybody needs to be tested and then they work with our staff … to get them to a hospital that’s appropriate to test them, and everything went as one would expect in this case.”
Dr. Sonia Angell, director of the California Department of Public Health, said in a statement Sunday that the immediate health risk to the general public in California is low, but “the California Department of Public Health has been preparing for this situation by working closely with local health departments and health care providers.”
Healthcare workers who treat anyone with this kind of infectious disease should make sure they wash their hands after contact and consider wearing protective eye gear, officials said.
At Orange County Global Medical Center and Regional Trauma Center, patients who come in with respiratory symptoms are given masks, and an infectious disease specialist regularly consults with the staff to provide education about what to look for when performing triage, said Dr. Vu Huynh, medical director of emergency services.
If a patient is suspected to be infected with coronavirus, staffers have been instructed to quarantine them in an isolated room and contact the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention so a special series of tests can be performed, Huynh said. So far, the hospital has had one patient tested, and the results came back negative, he said.
Still, the staff is prepared to see more cases of the virus.
“There could have been a lot of cases that weren’t caught at the beginning, and maybe those patients traveled,” Huynh said. “With Southern California being a multicultural area, I think there’s more risk.”
Though the U.S. has not seen a major outbreak, the virus has spread widely across Asia in the last month.
China’s health minister said the country was entering a “crucial stage” as “it seems like the ability of the virus to spread is getting stronger.”
As the spread of the virus continued to accelerate and fears intensified, two of Hong Kong’s biggest attractions, Hong Kong Disneyland and Ocean Park, announced they were closing for the time being.
The Asian Football Confederation said it was moving an Olympic qualifying event scheduled to start Feb. 3 from Nanjing to Sydney, Australia, and the International Tennis Federation moved a regional Fed Cup qualifying event from Dongguan to Kazakhstan next month.
Beijing said it would delay the start of classes for all schools, from kindergarten to universities, until after the Lunar New Year holiday ends this week.
In the Hong Kong suburb of Fanling, protesters set fire to the lobby of a building in an unoccupied public housing complex where officials had proposed quarantining suspected coronavirus cases. The fire was extinguished, and no major damage was reported.
Also on Sunday, Chinese authorities announced a temporary ban on the trade of wild animals and warned the public against eating wild animal meat. No wildlife can be transported or sold in any markets or online, according to text of the announcement in state media, and officials said they will “severely investigate and punish” violators.
The pneumonia-like illnesses from the newly identified coronavirus first appeared last month in Wuhan, where most of the early victims said they had visited a large seafood and live animal market. Other cases have been reported in Japan, South Korea and Thailand. Singapore, Vietnam and Hong Kong reported their first cases Thursday.
The U.S. State Department announced Sunday morning that it will relocate personnel at the U.S. Consulate General in Wuhan to the U.S. via a single flight Tuesday from Wuhan to San Francisco. There is limited space for private American citizens on the flight, officials said. “Capacity is extremely limited; priority will be given to individuals at greater risk from coronavirus,” the State Department said in a news statement.
Canada reported its first case Saturday in Toronto. Officials said the man is in his 50s and recently flew from Wuhan to Guangzhou, China, and then on to Toronto on Thursday.
The first coronavirus cases in Europe have also been confirmed, with three patients being treated in French hospitals. All three had recently traveled to China; they were reportedly doing well, according to officials.
The CDC is screening passengers on direct and connecting flights from Wuhan at five major airports in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Experts say that the U.S. is well equipped to deal with any possible outbreak and that it’s important to remain calm.
“Fear spreads a lot faster than the virus itself,” Rimoin said. “We need to make sure that people do not have undue worry. We have a good public health system in place, and we’ve been preparing for this.”
Times staff writers Emily Baumgaertner in Los Angeles and Cindy Chang in Beijing, contributed to this report. The Associated Press was used in compiling this report.


latimes--2020-01-25--Commentary: In L.A., everybody stays in their own bubble — until it's time to count homeless people

There ’ s a myth that most of us have bought into living in Los Angeles .
Everybody stays in their bubble .
Nobody on the Westside ever leaves the Westside .
Nobody in the Valley ever leaves the Valley .
People in Silver Lake just stay in Silver Lake and do hipster Silver Lake things .
OK , that last part is more reality than myth .
But the good thing about fighting all of that horrible traffic from time to time is that you realize not everyone actually does stay in his or her bubble .
Apparently — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drive across the city to count homeless people .
And at the end of the workday , no less .
And when I say count , I mean walk — yes , walk — in the dark and the cold — yes , cold — to scour unfamiliar street corners and alleyways , peer into battered RVs , and avoid sketchy piles of both liquid and solid human waste .
Of all the things I would have guessed Angelenos would willingly drive across the city to do — a Dodgers game , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ timed flight out of LAX — never would I have guessed it would be this .
It ’ s a small sacrifice , for sure , but it ’ s something .
It ’ s far easier for people of means to turn away from human suffering than to face it .
So on Thursday evening , as I left my bubble for Vernon and Western avenues in South L.A. and walked into the office of First to Serve to participate in this year ’ s countywide homeless count , I was surprised @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were dudes from Silver Lake — or Echo Park or Los Feliz or one of those neighborhoods I never visit because I never leave the Westside .
To their credit , they told me they had participated in Los Angeles County ’ s homeless count several times , once in Koreatown , once downtown and another time on the Westside .
Why ?
Curiosity , mostly .
Empathy , surely .
They seemed to want to see for themselves how homeless people were living in other parts of L.A .
I can ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nice as the two young men were , I ended up climbing into a car with three women to comb a couple of census tracts near the 110 Freeway .
Our driver was a retiree , born and raised and still living in Santa Monica .
She fosters homeless dogs , wants to do more volunteering , and laments the rising cost of housing and the lack of empathy among landlords and the public .
I ’ m pretty sure she had never driven — much less walked — in South L.A. before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and empathetic .
Our navigator was a UPS employee , born and raised in Inglewood .
She knows the streets of South L.A. backward and forward , probably with her eyes closed .
Our counter was a woman who works with homeless veterans who have substance abuse problems .
She regaled us with tales of calling landlords to suss out those willing to accept a government housing voucher and a tenant struggling to get on his or her feet .
She gets hung up on a lot , she said .
A veteran @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of homeless counts — our counter taught us how to walk dicey blocks and simultaneously peer into tents without garnering the wrong kind of attention .
She said she learned during a count in Mar Vista one year .
The four of us talked about how beautiful South L.A. really is .
The massive houses with the original wood flooring and huge lots , surrounded by iron fences , guard dogs and skinny palm trees .
We agreed that even the roughest neighborhoods seemed ripe for gentrification and homelessness to match , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about how I saw more cars with parking tickets than I ’ ve seen anywhere else in the city .
While counting tents and tarps and homeless people , I couldn ’ t help count the slips of paper on cars and trucks .
By my rough estimate , some 75 % of the vehicles had been tagged .
What does that do to people of little means who are already struggling to make ends meet ?
What kind of sense does that make , our counter asked ?
No one has an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as they shared stories of their churches and gospel music , and volunteering to help homeless people with their fellow congregants .
Santa Monica to Inglewood .
That was uplifting .
What was heartbreaking were the people we met .
So many were , more than anything , just happy and amazed that somebody — anybody — cared enough to notice their very existence .
They were shocked that we were walking , a flashlight and bright yellow vests signaling our presence , and not driving .
That ’ s how forgotten and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all out here like this ?
” one man shouted from his car window .
“ Count me .
And my wife , ” another man said .
“ She ’ s in the car , ” he added , nodding back toward the Burger King where we had just parked .
So invisible that a woman we saw squatting nearly naked didn ’ t move even as the headlights from the retiree ’ s car flashed over her .
So used to not receiving help that a man in a face mask @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to stop scooting and crawling along the sidewalk didn ’ t even look up as we walked by .
“ The homeless count ?
” another woman shouted .
“ Yay !
Good .
You should go over there.
” She pointed toward the freeway underpass , packed with old couches and bicycle parts and sprawling , makeshift tents .
A homeless man was absentmindedly swinging a piece of metal — back and forth , back and forth — and it glinted under the streetlights .
“ They ’ re good people , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us .
“ They ’ re just , you know ?
” I wondered later how the homeless people we encountered would feel if they knew it wasn ’ t just the people in their neighborhoods who cared , but people from all over Los Angeles County ?
What would they think that the woman next to me had come from Santa Monica ?
That somewhere nearby , some dudes from Silver Lake — or Echo Park or Los Feliz — were walking around with clipboards , both completely out of their element @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the driver , the navigator , the counter and I shared pizza , phone numbers and more conversation .
The woman who rescues homeless dogs now that she ’ s retired wanted to connect with the woman who works with homeless veterans to find new opportunities to volunteer .
The UPS employee wanted to connect with all of us .
If that ’ s not evidence that homelessness is one of the ties that binds across neighborhoods , I don ’ t know what is .
I also don ’ t know what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do know is that the counting is officially over for this year , and it will be months before we know how many more homeless people are on the streets of Los Angeles County .
And let ’ s be real ; we all know it ’ s likely to be more , not less .
Bubbles be damned .

There’s a myth that most of us have bought into living in Los Angeles.
Everybody stays in their bubble.
Nobody on the Westside ever leaves the Westside. Nobody in the Valley ever leaves the Valley. People in Silver Lake just stay in Silver Lake and do hipster Silver Lake things.
Advertisement
Traffic is horrible.
OK, that last part is more reality than myth. But the good thing about fighting all of that horrible traffic from time to time is that you realize not everyone actually does stay in his or her bubble.
Apparently — get this — Angelenos are willing to drive across the city to count homeless people. And at the end of the workday, no less.
And when I say count, I mean walk — yes, walk — in the dark and the cold — yes, cold — to scour unfamiliar street corners and alleyways, peer into battered RVs, and avoid sketchy piles of both liquid and solid human waste.
Of all the things I would have guessed Angelenos would willingly drive across the city to do — a Dodgers game, a concert at Hollywood Bowl, a badly timed flight out of LAX — never would I have guessed it would be this.
It’s a small sacrifice, for sure, but it’s something. It’s far easier for people of means to turn away from human suffering than to face it.
So on Thursday evening, as I left my bubble for Vernon and Western avenues in South L.A. and walked into the office of First to Serve to participate in this year’s countywide homeless count, I was surprised that the first two people I met were dudes from Silver Lake — or Echo Park or Los Feliz or one of those neighborhoods I never visit because I never leave the Westside.
To their credit, they told me they had participated in Los Angeles County’s homeless count several times, once in Koreatown, once downtown and another time on the Westside.
Advertisement
Why? Curiosity, mostly. Empathy, surely. They seemed to want to see for themselves how homeless people were living in other parts of L.A. I can’t say I blame them.
As nice as the two young men were, I ended up climbing into a car with three women to comb a couple of census tracts near the 110 Freeway.
Our driver was a retiree, born and raised and still living in Santa Monica. She fosters homeless dogs, wants to do more volunteering, and laments the rising cost of housing and the lack of empathy among landlords and the public. I’m pretty sure she had never driven — much less walked — in South L.A. before, but she was eager, optimistic and empathetic.
Our navigator was a UPS employee, born and raised in Inglewood. She knows the streets of South L.A. backward and forward, probably with her eyes closed.
Our counter was a woman who works with homeless veterans who have substance abuse problems. She regaled us with tales of calling landlords to suss out those willing to accept a government housing voucher and a tenant struggling to get on his or her feet. She gets hung up on a lot, she said.
Business L.A. City Council votes to ban low-income Section 8 rental discrimination The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved an ordinance that bars landlords from refusing to consider tenants who pay rent through Section 8, the federal subsidy program for low-income households.
A veteran herself — not of the military but of homeless counts — our counter taught us how to walk dicey blocks and simultaneously peer into tents without garnering the wrong kind of attention. She said she learned during a count in Mar Vista one year.
The four of us talked about how beautiful South L.A. really is. The massive houses with the original wood flooring and huge lots, surrounded by iron fences, guard dogs and skinny palm trees. We agreed that even the roughest neighborhoods seemed ripe for gentrification and homelessness to match, and it’s sad.
We talked about how I saw more cars with parking tickets than I’ve seen anywhere else in the city. While counting tents and tarps and homeless people, I couldn’t help count the slips of paper on cars and trucks. By my rough estimate, some 75% of the vehicles had been tagged. What does that do to people of little means who are already struggling to make ends meet? What kind of sense does that make, our counter asked? No one has an answer.
They talked and I listened as they shared stories of their churches and gospel music, and volunteering to help homeless people with their fellow congregants. Santa Monica to Inglewood.
That was uplifting. What was heartbreaking were the people we met. So many were, more than anything, just happy and amazed that somebody — anybody — cared enough to notice their very existence. They were shocked that we were walking, a flashlight and bright yellow vests signaling our presence, and not driving. That’s how forgotten and discarded people feel.
“Y’all out here like this?” one man shouted from his car window.
“Count me. And my wife,” another man said. “She’s in the car,” he added, nodding back toward the Burger King where we had just parked.
So invisible that a woman we saw squatting nearly naked didn’t move even as the headlights from the retiree’s car flashed over her. So used to not receiving help that a man in a face mask who was trying to get another man to stop scooting and crawling along the sidewalk didn’t even look up as we walked by.
“The homeless count?” another woman shouted. “Yay! Good. You should go over there.”
She pointed toward the freeway underpass, packed with old couches and bicycle parts and sprawling, makeshift tents. A homeless man was absentmindedly swinging a piece of metal — back and forth, back and forth — and it glinted under the streetlights.
“They’re good people,” she continued, looking back at us. “They’re just, you know?”
I wondered later how the homeless people we encountered would feel if they knew it wasn’t just the people in their neighborhoods who cared, but people from all over Los Angeles County? What would they think that the woman next to me had come from Santa Monica? That somewhere nearby, some dudes from Silver Lake — or Echo Park or Los Feliz — were walking around with clipboards, both completely out of their element?
Back at First to Serve, the driver, the navigator, the counter and I shared pizza, phone numbers and more conversation.
The woman who rescues homeless dogs now that she’s retired wanted to connect with the woman who works with homeless veterans to find new opportunities to volunteer. The UPS employee wanted to connect with all of us.
If that’s not evidence that homelessness is one of the ties that binds across neighborhoods, I don’t know what is. I also don’t know what that fact says about L.A.
What I do know is that the counting is officially over for this year, and it will be months before we know how many more homeless people are on the streets of Los Angeles County. And let’s be real; we all know it’s likely to be more, not less. Bubbles be damned.


latimes--2020-01-27--Probe of Kobe Bryant crash will probably focus on fog, possible mechanical problems, experts say

The investigation into the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant , his daughter Gianna and seven others aboard a Sikorsky S-76B will probably focus on foggy weather conditions and potential mechanical problems , aviation experts and pilots said Sunday .
Visibility in the region was so poor at the time of the crash , which occurred shortly before 10 a.m. in Calabasas , that the Los Angeles police and county sheriff ’ s departments had grounded their helicopters .
Bad weather would not necessarily have prevented Bryant ’ s helicopter from flying , because it should have been equipped with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inclement conditions , experts said .
But if not using the instruments , the pilot would have been operating the helicopter under visual flight rules , or VFR , which require good visibility .
An audio recording of an exchange between the pilot and air traffic controllers indicates that he was flying under visual flight rules , but that could not be confirmed Sunday night .
At one point , the pilot tells a controller that he is “ in VFR at 1,500 '' feet .
Bryant ’ s helicopter departed John Wayne @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , passed over Boyle Heights and near Dodger Stadium , then circled Glendale before crashing in heavy fog , according to publicly available flight records and witness accounts .
The Times is offering coverage of Kobe Bryant ’ s death for free today .
Please consider a subscription to support our journalism .
Kurt Deetz , a former pilot for Island Express Holding Corp. , the company to which the helicopter was registered , told The Times he thought the crash was likelier caused by bad weather than mechanical issues .
“ The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that aircraft — it just doesn ’ t happen , ” he said .
Deetz , who said he logged more than 1,000 hours in the helicopter that crashed Sunday , called its condition “ fantastic.
” Island Express follows a “ very good maintenance program , ” he added .
The helicopter that carried Bryant and the others was built in 1991 and was designed with twin turboshaft engines and seating capacity for two crew members and 12 passengers .
The model , in various iterations , has been flying since the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ corporate executives , celebrities and others .
The helicopter has been used by air ambulance services and oil companies to ferry workers to offshore rigs .
The S-76 model had among the lowest number and rate of fatal crashes of all popular civilian helicopters in the United States from 2006 to 2016 , according to a Los Angeles Times analysis of National Transportation Safety Board accident reports and Federal Aviation Administration data in 2018 .
Of 12 popular models , the S-76 had the second-lowest rate of fatal crashes with 0.2 per 100,000 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in just two fatal crashes during that time .
A Sikorsky S-76A went down in March 2013 in Louisiana , killing all three people on board .
The NTSB concluded the crash was caused by a rotor blade fracture .
Eight people died in another Louisiana crash in 2009 , when a Sikorsky S-76C struck a red-tailed hawk , fracturing the windshield and interfering with the craft ’ s fuel controls , an NTSB investigation found .
The agency called on the FAA to issue regulations requiring that helicopter windshields be resistant to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well designed .
It ’ s robust .
It ’ s a sturdy helicopter .
It ’ s why executives like to fly in helicopters like that — they have significantly fewer problems , ” said aviation consultant William Lawrence , a retired Marine Corps colonel and helicopter test pilot and instructor .
Lawrence , an experienced accident investigator , said the possible causes of the crash run the gamut from engine problems to rotor failures to electrical malfunctions .
He said investigators from the NTSB , which has dispatched a team to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trouble determining whether it was a mechanical failure or weather-related , or both .
Even if the pilot had been flying on instruments , the helicopter could have experienced a mechanical problem .
“ And if he is in the fog and on instruments and has an emergency , it makes recovery from that emergency far , far more difficult , ” he said .
“ Any emergency is amplified when you can ’ t see your surroundings.
” The pilot ’ s name had not been released .
Chuck Street , executive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Operators Assn.
, of which Island Express is a member , said the company ’ s primary business was transporting passengers from Long Beach to Avalon on Catalina Island .
It also carried celebrities such as Bryant for private flights , he said .
“ They had a very , very good safety culture , ” Street said of the company .
“ Whenever I was over there or talking with their pilots ... the No .
1 priority was safety.
” Street said the pilot in the crash was instrument-rated and described @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” “ He took what he did seriously , ” Street said , declining to identify him .
“ The words that come up in my mind when I think of him : professional and cheerful.
” Even with training , fog can be perilous for helicopter pilots .
Pilots with the Fresno County Sheriff ’ s Office won ’ t fly their helicopters if visibility is less than three miles , said Juan Reyes , a deputy sheriff pilot who has flown helicopters for the office for more than 12 years .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ you ’ d want to fly in.
” he said .
`` [ In ] fog you have no visibility.
” When the Fresno County Sheriff ’ s Office does encounter fog , pilots will slow down , he said .
“ The last thing you want to do is flying in at a high rate of speed , and then you fly into a fog bank or cloud , ” Reyes said .
Deetz , who had flown Bryant on the same helicopter from 2014 to 2016 , said that judging from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the wide debris field , it appeared to be traveling very fast just before impact , about 160 miles per hour .
After a 40-minute flight , Deetz added , the craft would have had about 800 pounds of fuel on board .
“ That ’ s enough to start a pretty big fire , ” he said .
Deetz said his “ heart sank ” when he learned of Sunday ’ s crash .
“ In this business , when you hear about a crash like this , it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said , recalling happier moments .
When Bryant retired from the NBA in 2016 , he flew out of downtown Los Angeles in the same helicopter , wrapped in a gray and black paint scheme with his Mamba emblem on the side , Deetz said .
Bryant favored the S-76B , Deetz said , which he compared to “ a Cadillac , a limousine — it ’ s limo-esque.
” The model is favored by celebrities and known as comfortable and safe , he said .
Its sister model , the S-76A , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” he said .
When he flew Bryant , Deetz said , the star was quiet : “ It was always , ‘ Hey , ’ thumbs up , or sometimes nothing at all .
He kept to himself .
He would get in , get out , and that was it .
There was no hugging , no backslapping — he was very professional.
” Deetz recalled one flight , on Father ’ s Day 2016 : He was spending the day with his son when he got a call — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Angeles ?
Deetz brought along his son , who sat with him up front .
Bryant was with his daughters in the back .
He spotted Deetz ’ s son : “ He ’ s a very private guy , ” Deetz recalled , “ but he noticed my son there and he said , ‘ Hey little man.
’ My son and I remembered that today.
” Times staff writers Ben Poston , Ben Welsh and Kiera Feldman contributed to this report .

Kim Christensen, Matthew Ormseth, Samantha Masunaga

Officials continue their investigation Monday into the helicopter crash in Calabasas that killed Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others.
The investigation into the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others aboard a Sikorsky S-76B will probably focus on foggy weather conditions and potential mechanical problems, aviation experts and pilots said Sunday.
Visibility in the region was so poor at the time of the crash, which occurred shortly before 10 a.m. in Calabasas, that the Los Angeles police and county sheriff’s departments had grounded their helicopters.
Bad weather would not necessarily have prevented Bryant’s helicopter from flying, because it should have been equipped with instruments that allow pilots to fly in inclement conditions, experts said. But if not using the instruments, the pilot would have been operating the helicopter under visual flight rules, or VFR, which require good visibility.
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An audio recording of an exchange between the pilot and air traffic controllers indicates that he was flying under visual flight rules, but that could not be confirmed Sunday night. At one point, the pilot tells a controller that he is “in VFR at 1,500” feet.
Bryant’s helicopter departed John Wayne Airport in Orange County at 9:06 a.m., passed over Boyle Heights and near Dodger Stadium, then circled Glendale before crashing in heavy fog, according to publicly available flight records and witness accounts.
Kurt Deetz, a former pilot for Island Express Holding Corp., the company to which the helicopter was registered, told The Times he thought the crash was likelier caused by bad weather than mechanical issues.
“The likelihood of a catastrophic twin-engine failure on that aircraft — it just doesn’t happen,” he said.
Deetz, who said he logged more than 1,000 hours in the helicopter that crashed Sunday, called its condition “fantastic.” Island Express follows a “very good maintenance program,” he added.
The helicopter that carried Bryant and the others was built in 1991 and was designed with twin turboshaft engines and seating capacity for two crew members and 12 passengers.
The model, in various iterations, has been flying since the 1970s and is a popular choice among corporate executives, celebrities and others. The helicopter has been used by air ambulance services and oil companies to ferry workers to offshore rigs.
The S-76 model had among the lowest number and rate of fatal crashes of all popular civilian helicopters in the United States from 2006 to 2016, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis of National Transportation Safety Board accident reports and Federal Aviation Administration data in 2018.
Advertisement
Of 12 popular models, the S-76 had the second-lowest rate of fatal crashes with 0.2 per 100,000 flight hours. The model was involved in just two fatal crashes during that time.
A Sikorsky S-76A went down in March 2013 in Louisiana, killing all three people on board. The NTSB concluded the crash was caused by a rotor blade fracture.
Eight people died in another Louisiana crash in 2009, when a Sikorsky S-76C struck a red-tailed hawk, fracturing the windshield and interfering with the craft’s fuel controls, an NTSB investigation found. The agency called on the FAA to issue regulations requiring that helicopter windshields be resistant to bird strikes.
Generally, however, the S-76 enjoys a good reputation.
“It’s well designed. It’s robust. It’s a sturdy helicopter. It’s why executives like to fly in helicopters like that — they have significantly fewer problems,” said aviation consultant William Lawrence, a retired Marine Corps colonel and helicopter test pilot and instructor.
Lawrence, an experienced accident investigator, said the possible causes of the crash run the gamut from engine problems to rotor failures to electrical malfunctions. He said investigators from the NTSB, which has dispatched a team to the crash site, should have little trouble determining whether it was a mechanical failure or weather-related, or both.
Even if the pilot had been flying on instruments, the helicopter could have experienced a mechanical problem.
“And if he is in the fog and on instruments and has an emergency, it makes recovery from that emergency far, far more difficult,” he said. “Any emergency is amplified when you can’t see your surroundings.”
The pilot’s name had not been released.
Chuck Street, executive director of the Los Angeles Area Helicopter Operators Assn., of which Island Express is a member, said the company’s primary business was transporting passengers from Long Beach to Avalon on Catalina Island. It also carried celebrities such as Bryant for private flights, he said.
“They had a very, very good safety culture,” Street said of the company. “Whenever I was over there or talking with their pilots ... the No. 1 priority was safety.”
Street said the pilot in the crash was instrument-rated and described him as “well trained and cautious.”
“He took what he did seriously,” Street said, declining to identify him. “The words that come up in my mind when I think of him: professional and cheerful.”
Even with training, fog can be perilous for helicopter pilots. Pilots with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office won’t fly their helicopters if visibility is less than three miles, said Juan Reyes, a deputy sheriff pilot who has flown helicopters for the office for more than 12 years.
“Fog is obviously the worst situation you’d want to fly in.” he said. “[In] fog you have no visibility.”
When the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office does encounter fog, pilots will slow down, he said.
“The last thing you want to do is flying in at a high rate of speed, and then you fly into a fog bank or cloud,” Reyes said.
Deetz, who had flown Bryant on the same helicopter from 2014 to 2016, said that judging from a public record of the flight path and the wide debris field, it appeared to be traveling very fast just before impact, about 160 miles per hour.
After a 40-minute flight, Deetz added, the craft would have had about 800 pounds of fuel on board.
“That’s enough to start a pretty big fire,” he said.
Deetz said his “heart sank” when he learned of Sunday’s crash.
“In this business, when you hear about a crash like this, it’s a very surreal experience,” he said, recalling happier moments.
When Bryant retired from the NBA in 2016, he flew out of downtown Los Angeles in the same helicopter, wrapped in a gray and black paint scheme with his Mamba emblem on the side, Deetz said.
Bryant favored the S-76B, Deetz said, which he compared to “a Cadillac, a limousine — it’s limo-esque.” The model is favored by celebrities and known as comfortable and safe, he said. Its sister model, the S-76A, “is more like a work truck,” he said.
When he flew Bryant, Deetz said, the star was quiet: “It was always, ‘Hey,’ thumbs up, or sometimes nothing at all. He kept to himself. He would get in, get out, and that was it. There was no hugging, no backslapping — he was very professional.”
Deetz recalled one flight, on Father’s Day 2016: He was spending the day with his son when he got a call — could he fly Bryant to downtown Los Angeles?
Deetz brought along his son, who sat with him up front. Bryant was with his daughters in the back. He spotted Deetz’s son: “He’s a very private guy,” Deetz recalled, “but he noticed my son there and he said, ‘Hey little man.’ My son and I remembered that today.”
Times staff writers Ben Poston, Ben Welsh and Kiera Feldman contributed to this report.


latimes--2020-01-27--Harvey Weinstein trial: Mimi Haleyi expected to testify about alleged 2006 rape at N.Y. apartment

The second of six alleged sexual assault survivors is expected to testify at Harvey Weinstein ’ s New York trial Monday .
Mimi Haleyi , a former production assistant at the Weinstein Co. who worked on shows such as “ Project Runway , ” is expected to tell jurors about an attack she says Weinstein carried out inside his Manhattan apartment in 2006 .
Weinstein is charged with first-degree rape , two counts of predatory sexual assault , one count of first-degree sexual assault and one count of third-degree rape .
The charges stem from Haleyi ’ s allegations and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mogul raped her in a New York City hotel in 2013 .
Haleyi first came forward in 2017 at a news conference alongside attorney Gloria Allred , who represents several accusers against Weinstein and has sat in the front row of the courtroom since proceedings began last week .
Haleyi said she first met Weinstein at the 2004 premiere of the film “ The Aviator.
” Two years later , while she was working on “ Project Runway , ” she said Weinstein invited her up to his New York apartment for what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Haleyi alleges the Miramax co-founder instead made unwanted advances and forcibly performed oral sex on her .
“ He then orally forced himself on me while I was on my period .
… I was in disbelief and disgusted , ” she said in October 2017 .
“ I would not have wanted anyone to do that to me even if that person had been a romantic partner.
” Weinstein has denied all wrongdoing , and his defense team has spent much of the past few days trying to reframe each encounter as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Cheronis have repeatedly referenced emails and other communications between Weinstein and his accusers that took place long after the dates of the alleged assaults , questioning why the women would have such positive interactions with him if he was a violent predator .
After the date of the alleged 2006 assault , Cheronis said , Haleyi flew to London with Weinstein and later reached out to pitch him a television show .
In 2008 , Cheronis claimed Haleyi even sent him a message that seemed almost romantic .
“ That ’ s not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ The state is going to try and pull a magic trick and say it was because she was fearful … that ’ s not true.
” Haleyi ’ s expected testimony follows that of Annabella Sciorra , the Brooklyn actress of “ Sopranos ” fame who has claimed Weinstein assaulted her in her Gramercy Park home in the early 1990s .
For more than two hours , Sciorra told jurors how she came to know Weinstein as she broke into the acting world in the early 1990s .
She alleged Weinstein @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he offered her a ride home from an industry dinner event in Manhattan in either late 1993 or 1994 and attacked her .
“ I was trying to get him off of me .
I was punching him .
I was kicking him .
I was just trying to get him away from me and he took my hands and he put them over my head , ” Sciorra , 59 , testified last week , breaking into tears on the stand .
“ He got on top of me and he raped @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her while she was filming a movie in London in late 1994 , making so many unwanted advances that she secretly changed hotels to avoid him .
Actress Rosie Perez also testified last week that Sciorra told her about the assault in 1994 , undercutting defense scrutiny over why Sciorra waited so long to come forward .

Fearing she had no realistic chance of escape as Harvey Weinstein allegedly backed her into a bedroom in a New York City apartment in 2006, Mimi Haley told jurors Monday that she eventually decided surrender was her best chance at survival.
“I couldn’t even get away from him at all,” Haley said of the moment Weinstein allegedly orally forced himself on her. “Ultimately, after a while, I decided to check out and endure it. That was the safest thing to do at that point.”
Haley, a former production assistant at Weinstein Co. who worked on shows such as “Project Runway,” testified for nearly six hours in a Manhattan courtroom Monday, becoming the second of six women expected to testify against the fallen Hollywood titan at his sexual assault trial.
For two and a half hours, Haley repeatedly burst into tears as she detailed a number of escalating closed-door experiences with Weinstein. She said her fear of Weinstein became so all-encompassing that she had sex with him two weeks after the date she alleges he assaulted her, even though she didn’t want to, not even understanding that could be considered rape.
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“Mr. Weinstein has a lot more power and resources and connections ... I didn’t really think I would stand a chance,” she said when asked why she didn’t challenge him or contact the police after two separate incidents in July 2006.
Weinstein is charged with first-degree rape, two counts of predatory sexual assault, one count of first-degree sexual assault and one count of third-degree rape. The charges stem from Haley’s allegations and another woman’s accusation that the mogul raped her in a New York City hotel in 2013.
Haley first came forward in 2017 at a news conference alongside attorney Gloria Allred, who represents several accusers against Weinstein and has sat in the front row of the courtroom since proceedings began last week. She said Monday that she changed her last name from Haleyi to Haley, in part, because of the intense interest in the Weinstein allegations.
During several hours of cross-examination, defense attorney Damon Cheronis aimed to pick apart Haley’s allegation, highlighting a number of emails and other communications between Weinstein and her that suggested they remained cordial for years after the alleged assault.
Cheronis, who asked questions in rapid-fire sequences and raised his voice to a shout on numerous occasions, also grilled Haley for going public with her accusations against Weinstein in 2017 without disclosing that they had stayed in touch or that she had contacted him for help finding work several times after the alleged assaults.
“The truth is, the reason that you didn’t tell the world the rest of it … is you knew that [the world] would look at you skeptically,” he said.
Haley said she first met Weinstein at the 2004 premiere of the film “The Aviator.” The connection eventually helped her break into the production world, as Weinstein scored her a job on the set of the Miramax show “Project Runway” in 2006.
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But Haley said it also made her a target of the mogul’s allegedly relentless lust. Before he helped her land the New York job, Haley alleges Weinstein called her into a meeting at his hotel during the Cannes film festival and asked her for a massage. When she declined, he asked to give her a massage, which she refused as well.
Not wanting anything more than a professional relationship with Weinstein, Haley said, she left.
Weinstein, however, would not relent. Back in New York, he repeatedly asked her to travel to Paris with him for a fashion show, at one point showing up at her apartment uninvited, trying to convince her to take the trip, she said. He refused to leave until Haley made a joke about how Weinstein had “a terrible reputation with women,” which seemed to offend him, she testified.
Concerned she had fractured her most important relationship in the film and television industry, Haley said she agreed to meet with Weinstein again at his SoHo apartment in July 2006.
She remembered the conversation being casual and friendly, until Weinstein lunged forward and attempted to kiss her.
Panicked, Haley said she kept retreating from Weinstein, even mentioning she was menstruating, until she stumbled backward into a bedroom. As Haley recalled the alleged assault, tears began streaming down her face.
“He pushed me down. He held me down by my arms … no, stay, like that … and I said, ‘no, no’ and at that time I started realizing what was actually happening and I thought … this is being raped,” she said Monday.
She said Weinstein had forcible oral sex with her.
Haley recalled a second incident two weeks later at a Tribeca hotel, where she said Weinstein threw her onto a bed and forced himself on her. In shock, Haley said, she laid still the entire time while the mogul called her a “whore” and a “bitch.”
“I didn’t resist. I just laid there,” she said, dabbing at her eyes.
Later on, Haley said she initially told prosecutors she didn’t believe the second incident would be considered rape because she “didn’t physically resist.”
Weinstein has denied all wrongdoing, and his defense team has spent much of the trial, now in its fourth day, reframing each encounter as consensual. His defense team has repeatedly referenced communications between Weinstein and his accusers that took place long after the dates of the alleged assaults.
Cheronis on Monday called attention to Haley’s decision to stay in contact with Weinstein for several years after the July 2006 incidents. The day after one of the attacks Haley described in court, she boarded a plane to Los Angeles with a ticket purchased by Weinstein. Haley said she wanted to visit a friend who was giving birth, and did not go to the movie premiere Weinstein had planned to bring her to as a guest.
In 2008, Cheronis claimed Haley sent him a message to the mogul that seemed almost loving.
In the email, Cheronis said Monday, Haley wrote that it was “great to see” Weinstein and had signed the missive “lots of love.”
Haley’s testimony followed that of Annabella Sciorra, the Brooklyn actress of “Sopranos” fame who has accused Weinstein of assaulting her in her Gramercy Park home in the early 1990s.
Much like Sciorra, Haley said she figured reporting Weinstein would be futile and instead chose to move forward with her life while trying not to let the alleged assault define her existence.
I decided to just almost pretend it didn’t happen and just put it aside and just carry on as usual,” she said. “Put on the brave face.”


latimes--2020-01-27--As California's homeless people camp out on railroad tracks, train-related deaths are rising

Just after 8 on a warm evening in September , Janae Bell was shooting the breeze with two friends at the Hearst Avenue railroad crossing , sharing some pastries and talking bikes .
Over the clanging bells of a Union Pacific freight train rumbling past on the opposite track , they didn ’ t hear the Amtrak barreling toward them .
With seconds to spare , Bell , 41 , looked up , screamed “ Train !
” and dove off the tracks .
But when he turned to look for his friends , he said , “ They were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , 37 , a local figure in the growing urban sport of fixed-gear bicycle racing , and Jupiter Marley , 31 , a free-spirited creative known by his friends as “ Jupiter of the Universe , ” were pronounced dead at the scene .
Like Bell , they had lived a few blocks away in a sprawling homeless encampment off Interstate 80 .
California ’ s railroad tracks are now lined with men and women sleeping in tents or under cardboard boxes , from the underpasses of Oakland and L.A. to the farmlands @ @ @ @ @ @ @ result , train deaths have become the latest side effect of the state ’ s vast unmet need for affordable shelter , according to experts who have linked the homeless crisis to the steady uptick in train deaths in California .
The state annually leads the nation in pedestrian railroad fatalities , even when accounting for its larger population .
The number of people hurt or killed on state rail lines has surged from 170 in 2013 to 254 in 2018 , according to the Federal Railroad Administration .
That doesn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ transit systems , which also have increased in many places .
Six of the top 10 counties for so-called trespasser rail fatalities , not including suicides , from 2013 to 2017 were in California , with Los Angeles County ranking No .
1 in the nation .
San Bernardino , Fresno , Riverside , Contra Costa , and San Diego counties also made the top 10 .
The widespread use of smartphones and headphones has upped the risk of accidental rail casualties , and suicides by train are also on the rise .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ tragedies are homeless people who — less and less tolerated in parks or on city sidewalks — seek refuge in no-man ’ s land that ’ s dangerously close to speeding locomotives .
In 2018 , a transient was killed on the tracks that run along the West Berkeley waterfront , only a few blocks from where Clary and Marley would die in September .
Brianna Combash , 31 and 6-foot-3 , was known around the settlement as “ Big Bird.
” Police said she ’ d been riding her bike when she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Jason couldn ’ t understand it when Brianna got hit .
He said , ‘ How do you get hit by a train ?
’ ” said Jessa Macola , Clary ’ s girlfriend .
The two shared a tent with their dog , Chance , in a rat-infested stretch under the University Avenue interchange .
As Bell later told railroad officials : “ Those tracks were kind of like our sidewalk .
If you live out here every day , all day , you get used to living on them.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , said Karen Philbrick , executive director of the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University .
“ People become desensitized , ” she said .
“ They know the sound of the trains and the rhythm of the schedules , and they don ’ t anticipate departures from that.
” California is home to one-fourth of the nation ’ s homeless population , nearly 130,000 people in 2018 .
Union Pacific says it works with Operation Lifesaver , a rail safety organization , to educate transients on the dangers of trespassing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people to report encampments on its right-of-way .
A 2019 grand jury investigation into a surge in rail deaths in Santa Barbara County found that of 20 people killed by trains during the last four years , 12 were transients living in settlements along the tracks .
More than half of the total fatalities were suicides .
It recommended installing cameras to help patrol “ hot spots ” where encampments had formed near broken fences and overgrown shrubs .
But officials acknowledge that such measures won ’ t solve the underlying social problems @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ This is a public health crisis , ” said Farhad Mansourian , general manager of Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit , or SMART , which has registered 10 deaths in the two years since it opened , half of them within a three-week stretch last summer .
The boutique transit service is generally known for its Friday afternoon happy hour , when consultants and tech employees in Hawaiian shirts ride home from work sipping microbrews in the bar car .
But early one morning in late June , a 30-year-old homeless woman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to cross in front of an oncoming SMART train in the wine country suburb of Rohnert Park .
She died about 50 feet from a park-and-ride that was packed with people living out of their cars and RVs .
A cyclist wearing headphones was hit the next day , followed by what Mansourian would soon learn was a grim pattern of copycat suicides .
SMART began running in 2017 on old tracks that had lain unused and overgrown since Northwestern Pacific stopped running passenger trains in the late 1950s .
For years , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for transients who made their homes camping along creeks , under bridges , even in treehouses along the old railroad right-of-way .
But , as in other places , homelessness has spiked in Sonoma County , which has suffered deep cuts to mental health services in the last few years just as thousands suffered losses of homes and businesses to wildfires .
Part of the problem is engineering .
California ’ s thousands of miles of train tracks tend to run right through cities and towns without fencing or even shrubbery separating them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so-called grade separation costs billions , Philbrick said .
Caltrain , which ferries millions of commuters a year between San Francisco and Silicon Valley , plans to spend some $ 10 billion over the next two decades to raise the tracks at especially dangerous crossings .
A string of students at elite high schools took their own lives on the Caltrain tracks that run through Palo Alto starting in 2009 .
At the height of the crisis , parent volunteers took shifts sitting in lawn chairs guarding the tracks through the night .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ oversee the tracks .
Recently , the guards were replaced with surveillance cameras .
Experts acknowledge that it ’ s difficult to assess how well these tactics work .
Fatalities were up in 2019 for Caltrain , which as of early December had registered 16 deaths , including a 17-year-old from Mountain View who took his own life in October .
The often overlooked victims of these tragedies are the engineers and conductors , who are usually powerless to stop them in time : A fully loaded freight train takes more than a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the emergency brake has been thrown .
“ It ’ s the faces , for whatever reason ; they kind of stick with you , ” said Darrel Azarcon , a retired engineer who spent 40 years driving trains for Union Pacific .
He still has a mental picture of a young girl who looked up at him over her left shoulder as the train bore down on her .
In August , officials in Rohnert Park voted to outlaw overnight camping at the parking lot near the Golf Course Drive SMART crossing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just over two years .
A few days after the ban , Sean Barry , an unemployed construction worker who ’ d been living at the park-and-ride , sat in his pickup drinking Kessler whiskey out of a half-gallon bottle .
“ No one wants to be around the homeless , ” he said , adding that if he had somewhere else to go , he wouldn ’ t be living in a parking lot .
Berkeley has passed a raft of new rules effectively banning the homeless from occupying city sidewalks and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ RVs and , most recently , upholding a rule that people ’ s property must fit into a 3-by-3-foot box .
The California Department of Transportation has stepped up its periodic sweeps of large Bay Area homeless settlements , which often have ironic names like Googleville and Upstairs , Downstairs .
While some residents applaud the evictions , others have criticized them as inhumane and wasteful , since the homeless invariably come back as soon as the bulldozers have gone .
The September deaths of the two young encampment residents ignited the homeless @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they see as the government ’ s failure to ensure a basic right .
The day Clary and Marley died , as a heat wave gripped the Bay , they ’ d spent the day sitting in the sun with the other transients guarding their belongings while authorities dismantled the camp .
Sleeping bags and suitcases left during sweeps end up in the dumpster , encampment residents say .
In the following days , as word of the tragedy spread from tent to tent , grief turned to anger .
“ After Jupiter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like : ‘ You know what ?
This is enough , ’ ” said Andrea Henson , a homeless advocate who interns at the East Bay Community Law Center .
She and some 80 homeless people marched some two miles to City Hall carrying bullhorns and signs with photos of Clary and Marley .
When the authorities arrived for the next sweep , they held a sit-in , refusing to move .
“ This is what happens when you push people to the margins of society , ” said Henson .
“ The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aren ’ t allowed on city sidewalks — we want an answer.
” Their “ Where Do We Go ?
” movement has since continued to grow , raising enough money on GoFundMe to buy all-weather tents and tarps and three new portable toilets for the encampment .
Bell explained that he and his friends had walked over to the tracks that night to use the temporary bathrooms put there for the day laborers .
At the crossing , friends built a memorial for Clary and Marley around a bouquet of dried flowers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
They festooned it with photos , candles , old birthday cards , a pirate ’ s hat and the mangled pieces of Clary ’ s bike .

Just after 8 on a warm evening in September, Janae Bell was shooting the breeze with two friends at the Hearst Avenue railroad crossing, sharing some pastries and talking bikes. Over the clanging bells of a Union Pacific freight train rumbling past on the opposite track, they didn’t hear the Amtrak barreling toward them.
With seconds to spare, Bell, 41, looked up, screamed “Train!” and dove off the tracks. But when he turned to look for his friends, he said, “They were gone.”
Jason “Fixie” Clary, 37, a local figure in the growing urban sport of fixed-gear bicycle racing, and Jupiter Marley, 31, a free-spirited creative known by his friends as “Jupiter of the Universe,” were pronounced dead at the scene. Like Bell, they had lived a few blocks away in a sprawling homeless encampment off Interstate 80.
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California’s railroad tracks are now lined with men and women sleeping in tents or under cardboard boxes, from the underpasses of Oakland and Los Angeles to the farmlands of the Central Valley.
As a result, train deaths have become the latest side effect of the state’s vast unmet need for affordable shelter, according to experts who have linked the homeless crisis to the steady uptick in train deaths in California. The state annually leads the nation in pedestrian railroad fatalities, even when accounting for its larger population.
The number of people hurt or killed on state rail lines has surged from 170 in 2013 to 254 in 2018, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. That doesn’t include collisions at crossings or on local transit systems, which also have increased in many places.
Six of the top 10 counties for so-called trespasser rail fatalities, not including suicides, from 2013 to 2017 were in California, with Los Angeles County ranking No. 1 in the nation. San Bernardino, Fresno, Riverside, Contra Costa, and San Diego counties also made the top 10.
The widespread use of smartphones and headphones has upped the risk of accidental rail casualties, and suicides by train are also on the rise.
But increasingly, the victims of such tragedies are homeless people who — less and less tolerated in parks or on city sidewalks — seek refuge in no-man’s land that’s dangerously close to speeding locomotives.
In 2018, a transient was killed on the tracks that run along the West Berkeley waterfront, only a few blocks from where Clary and Marley would die in September. Brianna Combash, 31 and 6-foot-3, was known around the settlement as “Big Bird.” Police said she’d been riding her bike when she was hit by an Oakland-bound Amtrak train.
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“Jason couldn’t understand it when Brianna got hit. He said, ‘How do you get hit by a train?’ ” said Jessa Macola, Clary’s girlfriend. The two shared a tent with their dog, Chance, in a rat-infested stretch under the University Avenue interchange.
As Bell later told railroad officials: “Those tracks were kind of like our sidewalk. If you live out here every day, all day, you get used to living on them.”
That makes the situation especially dangerous, said Karen Philbrick, executive director of the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University.
“People become desensitized,” she said. “They know the sound of the trains and the rhythm of the schedules, and they don’t anticipate departures from that.”
California is home to one-fourth of the nation’s homeless population, nearly 130,000 people in 2018. Union Pacific says it works with Operation Lifesaver, a rail safety organization, to educate transients on the dangers of trespassing on the tracks, and it encourages people to report encampments on its right-of-way.
A 2019 grand jury investigation into a surge in rail deaths in Santa Barbara County found that of 20 people killed by trains during the last four years, 12 were transients living in settlements along the tracks. More than half of the total fatalities were suicides. It recommended installing cameras to help patrol “hot spots” where encampments had formed near broken fences and overgrown shrubs.
But officials acknowledge that such measures won’t solve the underlying social problems such as poverty and untreated mental illness.
“This is a public health crisis,” said Farhad Mansourian, general manager of Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit, or SMART, which has registered 10 deaths in the two years since it opened, half of them within a three-week stretch last summer.
The boutique transit service is generally known for its Friday afternoon happy hour, when consultants and tech employees in Hawaiian shirts ride home from work sipping microbrews in the bar car. But early one morning in late June, a 30-year-old homeless woman named Jimmie Joy Qualls was killed trying to cross in front of an oncoming SMART train in the wine country suburb of Rohnert Park.
She died about 50 feet from a park-and-ride that was packed with people living out of their cars and RVs. A cyclist wearing headphones was hit the next day, followed by what Mansourian would soon learn was a grim pattern of copycat suicides.
SMART began running in 2017 on old tracks that had lain unused and overgrown since Northwestern Pacific stopped running passenger trains in the late 1950s. For years, the dormant tracks served as a footpath for transients who made their homes camping along creeks, under bridges, even in treehouses along the old railroad right-of-way.
But, as in other places, homelessness has spiked in Sonoma County, which has suffered deep cuts to mental health services in the last few years just as thousands suffered losses of homes and businesses to wildfires.
Part of the problem is engineering. California’s thousands of miles of train tracks tend to run right through cities and towns without fencing or even shrubbery separating them from pedestrians and cars. But installing so-called grade separation costs billions, Philbrick said.
Caltrain, which ferries millions of commuters a year between San Francisco and Silicon Valley, plans to spend some $10 billion over the next two decades to raise the tracks at especially dangerous crossings.
A string of students at elite high schools took their own lives on the Caltrain tracks that run through Palo Alto starting in 2009. At the height of the crisis, parent volunteers took shifts sitting in lawn chairs guarding the tracks through the night. The city eventually hired 24-hour guards to oversee the tracks. Recently, the guards were replaced with surveillance cameras.
Experts acknowledge that it’s difficult to assess how well these tactics work. Fatalities were up in 2019 for Caltrain, which as of early December had registered 16 deaths, including a 17-year-old from Mountain View who took his own life in October.
The often overlooked victims of these tragedies are the engineers and conductors, who are usually powerless to stop them in time: A fully loaded freight train takes more than a mile to come to a stop once the emergency brake has been thrown.
“It’s the faces, for whatever reason; they kind of stick with you,” said Darrel Azarcon, a retired engineer who spent 40 years driving trains for Union Pacific. He still has a mental picture of a young girl who looked up at him over her left shoulder as the train bore down on her.
In August, officials in Rohnert Park voted to outlaw overnight camping at the parking lot near the Golf Course Drive SMART crossing, where four people have died in just over two years.
A few days after the ban, Sean Barry, an unemployed construction worker who’d been living at the park-and-ride, sat in his pickup drinking Kessler whiskey out of a half-gallon bottle.
“No one wants to be around the homeless,” he said, adding that if he had somewhere else to go, he wouldn’t be living in a parking lot.
Berkeley has passed a raft of new rules effectively banning the homeless from occupying city sidewalks and plazas, forbidding people from living in RVs and, most recently, upholding a rule that people’s property must fit into a 3-by-3-foot box.
The California Department of Transportation has stepped up its periodic sweeps of large Bay Area homeless settlements, which often have ironic names like Googleville and Upstairs, Downstairs. While some residents applaud the evictions, others have criticized them as inhumane and wasteful, since the homeless people invariably come back as soon as the bulldozers have gone.
The September deaths of the two young encampment residents ignited the homeless community’s long-simmering anger at what they see as the government’s failure to ensure a basic right.
The day Clary and Marley died, as a heat wave gripped the Bay, they’d spent the day sitting in the sun with the other transients guarding their belongings while authorities dismantled the camp. Sleeping bags and suitcases left during sweeps end up in the dumpster, encampment residents say.
In the following days, as word of the tragedy spread from tent to tent, grief turned to anger.
“After Jupiter and Fixie were killed, everyone was like: ‘You know what? This is enough,’” said Andrea Henson, a homeless advocate who interns at the East Bay Community Law Center.
She and some 80 homeless people marched some two miles to City Hall carrying bullhorns and signs with photos of Clary and Marley. When the authorities arrived for the next sweep, they held a sit-in, refusing to move.
“This is what happens when you push people to the margins of society,” said Henson. “The shelters are at capacity, and we aren’t allowed on city sidewalks — we want an answer.”
Their “Where Do We Go?” movement has since continued to grow, raising enough money on GoFundMe to buy all-weather tents and tarps and three new portable toilets for the encampment. Bell explained that he and his friends had walked over to the tracks that night to use the temporary bathrooms put there for the day laborers.
At the crossing, friends built a memorial for Clary and Marley around a bouquet of dried flowers in an empty Bombay Sapphire gin bottle. They festooned it with photos, candles, old birthday cards, a pirate’s hat and the mangled pieces of Clary’s bike.
Scheier is a special correspondent.