Topline:
As of Monday more than 23,000 acres have burned since the Line Fire ignited Thursday evening, threatening multiple mountain communities above San Bernardino.
Extreme weather: The fire has burned so hot and consumed so much fuel that it has generated its own weather, including erratic winds and lightning strikes which can make the fire extremely dangerous and difficult to fight.
Keep reading... for more on evacuations and weather conditions.
This story is no longer being updated. You can read the latest at: Strong winds may prove challenge for firefighters on Line Fire in San Bernardino mountains
As of Monday evening, the Line Fire in San Bernardino County has grown to 25,813 acres and is threatening mountain communities near Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear.
Multiple evacuation orders are in place for nearby residents. Authorities warn that more than 38,000 structures, including homes and businesses, are still threatened. Some, 8,800 structures are in places under mandatory evacuation orders and another 29,200 structures are under warnings, according to a Monday evening update.
The fire broke out last Thursday and has been a challenge for firefighters because off a mixture of high temperatures, steep terrain and dense brush. It has also created its own weather, generating erratic winds that cast embers far and wide.
The concern going into Tuesday: stronger winds, which could increase spotting, which happens when embers ignite more spot fires.
Fire officials say "the fire could remain active overnight as vegetation remains critically dry."
Cooler weather is on the way, and temperatures should drop back down to around normal later in the week.
On Saturday, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in San Bernardino County to secure federal assistance for firefighting efforts.
Terrifyingly awesome pyrocumulonimbus clouds formed on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, generating erratic winds and lightning strikes which threaten new fire starts. There's a good chance they'll show up again on Monday, according to the National Weather Service in San Diego.
Omg pic.twitter.com/nFl2wp7LlS
— FirePhotoGirl (@FirePhotoGirl) September 8, 2024
To form, the clouds need both a source of lift and a source of moisture. When the fire burns extremely hot, that hot air rises high into the atmosphere, carrying with it a whole lot of water released by live plants, primed to burn after months of extreme temperatures throughout Southern California.
The towering pyrocumulonimbus clouds can climb to 40,000 feet in the air.
Notable PyroCu plumes already on three significant SoCal fires this afternoon, as labeled, including #LineFire, #BridgeFire, and new #AirportFire. PyroCb possible later this PM, with lightning/outflow & downdraft winds as hazards. #CAwx #CAfire pic.twitter.com/f22jMqrE4c
— Dr. Daniel Swain (@Weather_West) September 9, 2024
A wildfire smoke advisory has been extended until Monday night as the smoky air will continue to impact San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange and Los Angeles counties. We have a guide on how to keep yourself safe from wildfire smoke.
Evacuation orders have been issued by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department for the following areas:
Authorities say those who require additional time to evacuate and those with pets and livestock should leave immediately.
For people:
For animals: Devore Animal Shelter, 19777 Shelter Way, San Bernardino
The Line Fire broke out Thursday evening in the city of Highland at Baseline Road on the edge of open space and a residential neighborhood. The cause is under investigation.
Editors Fiona Ng and Megan Garvey, and reporter Erin Stone contributed to this report.
Topline:
A proposed charter change aims to ensure that a portion of the Los Angeles County budget be set aside for programs that fund alternatives to jail. The measure, approved Tuesday by the county Board of Supervisors, would restore funds accidentally removed under a previous charter measure. The measure is headed to the ballot in November.
The backstory: In 2020, voters approved Measure J, which required dedicating at least 10% of locally generated, unrestricted general funds to alternatives to incarceration, including job training, mental health treatment and youth development. It explicitly banned the use of those specific funds for prisons, jails or law enforcement agencies.
What happened: A clerical error in 2024 at the county led to the inadvertent repeal of Measure J. It happened when voters approved Measure G. That measure included language that had the unintended effect of making Measure J null and void starting in December 2028.
The details: The Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 Tuesday to put on the November ballot a measure that would “continue uninterrupted the County's commitment to community investment and alternatives to incarceration.” Supervisor Holly Mitchell was absent from the meeting.
Topline:
Tropical storms in the Pacific Ocean and rising ocean temperatures are driving up and sustaining the humidity.
The details: The dew point in Southern California is normally around 60 degrees at this time of year, forecasters say. But in downtown Los Angeles yesterday, the dew point hit almost 70 degrees. Scientists say humidity generally becomes uncomfortable when the dew point is higher than 65.
Pacific storms: Tropical Storm Fausto formed earlier this month off Central America and is now moving past Hawaii. Hurricane Genevieve is traveling parallel to Mexico about 500 miles offshore. Weather patterns closer to home are siphoning the tropical moisture from the storms into Southern California.
Warming oceans: Higher than normal ocean temperatures mean seawater evaporates faster, releasing more moisture into the air above it. That moisture is then carried inland by the wind.
Read on … to learn more about the atmospheric forces behind the humidity.
Southern California summers aren’t exactly known for mugginess.
But uncharacteristic humidity has been clinging to the region for almost a month, and it looks like there’s little relief coming our way.
It’s not enough moisture to create much, if any, rain, but it is abnormal for this time of year
The dew point in Southern California is normally around 60 degrees at this time of year, forecasters say. But in downtown Los Angeles yesterday, the dew point hit almost 70 degrees.
Scientists say humidity generally becomes uncomfortable in the summer when the dew point is higher than 65.
“We do get these prolonged periods of heat, but what is unusual is the humidity,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Lewis.
So, what’s causing this mugginess?
A confluence of atmospheric forces, some hundreds or even thousands of miles away, is collecting and trapping moisture in Southern California.
“It's basically the combination of the warm ocean temperatures, as well as we've just been in the right pattern for some tropical moisture" to be sent our way, Lewis said.
Storms are to blame, at least in part, for the uncharacteristic humidity in the region this summer.
Two in particular have contributed to moisture levels in Southern California as they traveled across the Pacific Ocean in recent weeks.
Tropical Storm Fausto formed off of Central America earlier this month before moving off into the open ocean and moving toward Hawaii. It briefly was elevated to a Category 2 hurricane over the weekend before weakening again into a tropical storm.
Fausto is expected to continue weakening as it passes to the north of the Hawaiian Islands over the next few days.
The other, stronger storm, Hurricane Genevieve, also formed off the coast of Central America and has been moving relatively parallel to the Mexican coast, several hundred miles offshore.
Genevieve was elevated to a Category 5 hurricane on Monday.
The storms aren’t solely responsible for sending moisture hundreds of miles across the ocean.
Other weather patterns closer to home, including the system of high pressure air currently settled over the Western U.S. and the North American monsoon, siphon the tropical moisture from the storms into our region.
Thankfully, forecasters say, Hurricane Genevieve is not expected to create as much moisture as Fausto and other recent tropical storms.
Forecasters also say warming ocean temperatures are adding to the humidity.
When the ocean is warmer than usual, the wind blowing inland off the water is also warmer. The warm seawater also evaporates faster, releasing more moisture into the air above it. That moisture is then carried inland by the wind.
Ocean warming is not new in Southern California, but it’s getting worse.
The region has been hit with a series of marine heatwaves over the last decade. They generally recede during the winter, but the current one has lasted for over a year. Scientists say these ocean heatwaves are likely being worsened by human-caused climate change.
But there is some short-term hope on the horizon for humidity-haters.
One, Hurricane Genevieve is not expected to pull as much moisture into our region as other recent weather patterns. And two, forecasters expect drier air to flow in from the northwest, cutting down the humidity a bit, especially inland.
That may not reach people who live along the coast, however, where the higher ocean temperatures will help keep the coastal humidity elevated, especially at night.
Topline:
Los Angeles-area eviction lawyer Dennis Block has agreed to one year of probation after the California State Bar Court found he violated a court order and engaged in other misconduct.
The Backstory: LAist first reported in January on the disciplinary charges against Block, who admitted to some of those charges in a stipulation filed by the State Bar Court last week, including claims that he charged clients improper fees, represented a landlord and their tenant at the same time, signed off on an error-filled court document a junior attorney in his firm generated using ChatGPT and failed to pay court-ordered sanctions for nearly three years.
Disciplinary action: Block is expected to be placed on probation for one year. The State Bar Court’s recommendation still needs to be approved by the California Supreme Court. The bar court also recommended that Block be suspended from practicing law for one year, but allowed the suspension to be stayed as long as he complies with the bar’s ethics rules and his probation conditions.
Read on . . . for more about Block’s case and what former clients say.
Los Angeles-area eviction lawyer Dennis Block has agreed to one year of probation after the California State Bar Court found he violated a court order and engaged in other misconduct.
The decision came through a stipulation — similar to a settlement agreement with the court — in which Block admitted to charging clients improper fees, representing a landlord and their tenant at the same time, signing off on an error-filled court document a junior attorney in his firm generated using ChatGPT and failing to pay court-ordered sanctions for nearly three years.
LAist first reported on these disciplinary charges in January.
Block, who runs a firm that claims to have evicted hundreds of thousands of tenants, is expected to be placed on probation for one year. He will also be required to take classes on ethics and proper handling of client funds if the State Bar Court’s recommendation is approved by the California Supreme Court.
The State Bar Court recommended Block be suspended from practicing law for one year, but allowed the suspension be stayed as long as he complies with ethics rules and his probation conditions.
David Bramante is one of the clients who reported Block to the bar. He said he paid Block $17,000 up front to work on a court motion that needed to be taken care of quickly.
“The Ellis Act work I paid for never got done,” Bramante told LAist. “And when I terminated him, his office wouldn't give me a real accounting of where the money went.”
Bramante said it was only after many months and the State Bar’s investigation that Block’s firm refunded him the money.
Three legal ethics experts told LAist the disciplinary actions the bar recommended against Block are in line with similar cases they have seen in the past.
“This is a pretty serious sanction,” Scott Cummings, a UCLA law professor who teaches legal ethics, told LAist.
Cummings said suspension and disbarment are the two highest forms of discipline given by the bar.
Even though the suspension is being stayed in this case — because Block cooperated with State Bar investigators and has had a long career without disciplinary issues — Cummings said it seems like the bar is sending a message to Block and other attorneys that they need to treat their clients’ interests and money with the highest level of care.
Still, others think the court didn’t go far enough.
Richard Zitrin, an emeritus lecturer with UC Law San Francisco, called it a “slap on the wrist" considering the level of wrongdoing in the case.
“The failure to suspend Mr. Block is letting him get away with clearly unethical conduct that harms his clients,” Zitrin told LAist.
Other clients who were not involved with the bar’s investigation also claimed they had negative experiences with Block’s firm.
Xavier Jones said he hired Block’s firm for a few months in 2025. He told LAist there were no issues at first. Then, he said he saw Block’s attorneys start coming to court unprepared for his case. He said he also felt Block was overbilling him for the firm’s services.
Block would hang up on him when he asked legal questions or about how much he was being billed, Jones said. He said there were two times the firm’s lawyers came to court without having a copy of the tenants’ lease, which he says he sent them.
“I'm paying for this, for them to show up, for them to do their back-end work,” Jones said. “It's just unprofessional, it's embarrassing, and it's costing me a lot of money.”
Jones said he stopped working with Block in November. He said he had lost about $70,000 in unpaid rent, legal fees and other costs he believes could have been avoided with proper legal assistance.
LAist reached out to Block and his attorneys this week for comment, but did not receive a response. Last month, Erin Joyce — Block’s defense attorney — told LAist that the State Bar Court’s investigation into her client was “thorough” and found “no conduct by the firm involved moral turpitude,” which had been alleged in the original charges.
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Topline:
Los Angeles Police Department officials say June had the highest tally of potential unlawful conduct by federal immigration officers. The 12 incidents investigated mark the most since the department began reporting the data in March.
The backstory: L.A. Mayor Karen Bass issued two executive orders with instructions for how city departments interact with federal immigration officers. One requires these reports of suspected unlawful conduct by immigration officers. The other instructs officers to activate their body-worn cameras whenever they respond to potential immigration-related incidents.
Criticism of the reporting: Shiu-Ming Cheer, deputy director of immigrant and racial justice at the California Immigrant Policy Center, said the directive calls for greater transparency than what LAPD’s monthly reports currently provide. Cheer said the LAPD’s monthly reports fail to explain what happened during the incidents the department counts.
Keep reading… for details on what the incident reporting does include.
A year ago at this time, the streets of Los Angeles and other American cities were the sites of highly visible, large-scale immigration raids. While those scenes have died down, immigration enforcement remains more quietly active.
Federal data show Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained more people in June, at 43,000, than in any month since January 2025. Locally, Los Angeles Police Department officials say June had the highest tally of potential unlawful conduct by federal immigration officers. The 12 incidents investigated mark the most since the department began reporting the data in March.
German Hurtado, LAPD immigration affairs liaison, said in an interview that he noticed the uptick of reported immigration enforcement incidents, but could not say what caused the increase.
In February, Mayor Karen Bass issued a directive requiring the reporting. Police commissioners approved the most recent report at their meeting Tuesday.
Hurtado said the increase seen in June might be reflective of the department’s efforts to capture more of the potential issues.
“We’re finding better ways to improve how to capture these incidents,” Hurtado said. “It could be a combination of everything, but I did see that it was a large increase.”
He said those efforts include changes in how they label calls related to federal immigration enforcement actions and adjustments to the way department computers store the information.
Here’s how that process worked, according to the department’s report:
The LAPD first identified 45 potential federal immigration enforcement actions by searching internal reporting systems for immigration related search terms. The immigration affairs liaison determined 33 of those incidents were unrelated to immigration enforcement.
At the commission's meeting on Tuesday, Lisa Ridoutt, assistant inspector general, explained these incidents included:
The department then looked deeper into 12 enforcement incidents that qualify for reporting under Bass’ executive directive, which asks the LAPD to report when officers document or receive reports of suspected unlawful conduct by immigration officers. Two of those incidents involved an LAPD response in the field, according to the report. The department also says neither resulted in officers being on the scene for an active enforcement action.
The report states the LAPD does not know the overall number of immigration enforcement actions that happened in June.
The 12 reported incidents are a significant increase from previous months. The department reported just four incidents in May, four in April and none in March.
Hurtado said the number of incidents has increased every month since March, potentially because the department is getting better at documenting them.
“It takes a while to teach 8,700 people exactly what to do, so as we are rolling out different training, the officers are now being more observant of it, documenting it more," Hurtado said.
The increase, he added, could also stem from federal authorities communicating with LAPD more. He said federal immigration authorities have not asked LAPD for support during enforcement actions.
For decades, the LAPD has refrained from directly enforcing immigration laws. That’s because policing experts say doing so could deter witnesses or victims from cooperating with law enforcement.
State and local laws have codified that policy in recent years and further prohibited California law enforcement from assisting in federal immigration enforcement.
The mayor issued two executive orders last year with instructions for how city departments interact with federal immigration officers.
Executive directive 17 mandates the monthly immigration reports from the LAPD and instructs officers to activate their body-worn cameras whenever they respond to potential immigration-related incidents.
Ridoutt, of the Office of Inspector General, said that while officers did activate body-worn and in-car video systems, the OIG found some recordings were not properly titled or tagged and that some videos or photos from community members were not uploaded to the department’s evidence database as required by department policy.
The Inspector General’s Office reviews the LAPD’s reports to ensure compliance with the directive. Ridoutt said the office will be releasing a more comprehensive report in October or November.
If you have a tip, you can reach me on Signal. My username is Jbennett.18.
At previous meetings, commissioners have asked for more details about what calls for service or incident reports entail.
Hurtado said the executive directive just requires the department to release aggregate numbers.
Shiu-Ming Cheer, deputy director of immigrant and racial justice at the California Immigrant Policy Center, said the directive calls for greater transparency than what the LAPD’s monthly reports currently provide.
The June report, for example, notes that LAPD twice dispatched officers in response to a report of ICE activity, but provides no description of the department’s role once officers arrived. Cheer said the public should know whether officers were responding for crowd control, interacting with federal agents or serving some other purpose.
Cheer said the LAPD’s monthly reports should explain what happened during the incidents the department counts.
Sophia Wrench, an attorney with Public Counsel, agrees.
“A central purpose of Executive Directive 17 was to provide increased transparency and build public trust, but LAPD’s reporting month after month falls short,” she said in a statement. “The lack of information in its monthly reports only creates more confusion in the community, building greater fear and mistrust of the police.”
