The Brief

A jury found Duane “Keffe D” Davis guilty of orchestrating the 1996 killing of rap icon Tupac Shakur, marking the first conviction in a case that has gripped hip-hop fans for decades.

The 63-year-old Davis was convicted Monday of a single count of murder with a deadly weapon and could be sentenced to life in prison. The jury deliberated for less than 3 hours after a weekslong trial in Las Vegas.

After the verdict was read, Shakur's sister, Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, cried and hugged the prosecutors. Also in the courtroom was Davis’ son, who covered his face with one hand.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors in closing arguments that Davis acquired a gun and “went hunting” for Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight after they beat up Davis’ nephew earlier that night.

Palal acknowledged that Davis’ accounts of the killing evolved over the years but argued those differences reflected Davis’ changing motivations and efforts to protect himself. One critical detail, he said, remained consistent: Davis repeatedly placed himself inside a white Cadillac from which the shots were fired.

The panel of 16 jurors, four of whom are alternates, heard testimony from 24 prosecution witnesses and three defense witnesses over nine days.

“The core facts remain. The material facts remain,” Palal said.

The prosecution said Monday evening that the state would dismiss the gang enhancement part of the charge due to witness logistics.

The decades-old case

The trial brought to a head a decades-old case that for years has drawn the attention of hip-hop fans and true crime experts alike. Shakur, who was considered one of the most influential rappers of all time, was in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996, and stopped at a red light when a white Cadillac pulled up beside him, and shots were fired. He died six days later from his wounds. Knight was also wounded but survived.

For years, nobody had been charged in the rapper’s death until Davis began making public statements, saying he was in the Cadillac and gave the gun to others in the backseat. Davis described the shooting as an act of retaliation after Knight and Shakur’s entourage beat up Davis’ nephew hours before the shooting.

Under Nevada law, someone who helps another person commit murder can be convicted of the crime. Davis is the only person still alive among the four men prosecutors say were in the Cadillac. The man who prosecutors say originally gave the gun to Davis is also dead.

Prosecutor says Davis' statements didn't need to be corroborated

Palal told jurors that if they believed Davis' statements, they did not have to be independently corroborated with additional evidence.

Still, he pointed to the rivalry between the South Side Compton Crips and Mob Piru, the fight with Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson and testimony that members of Shakur’s circle identified Anderson and Davis as suspects the night of the shooting. Witnesses had testified to the heated gang rivalry between the South Side Compton Crips and Mob Piru, which were associated with dueling record companies Bad Boy Records and Death Row Records.

“Who fired is not the question,” Palal said. Prosecutors haven't argued that Davis pulled the trigger, but instead that he was criminally responsible because he provided the gun and ordered the attack.

Palal also argued the shooting was premeditated, pointing to testimony and Davis’ accounts that the group searched for Shakur before spotting him on the road and making a U-turn. “It’s a plan, not an impulse,” Palal said.

Davis' own words are front and center

Palal held up Davis’ 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend,” and played an interview in which Davis encouraged people to buy it to get the “real truth.” Although the book contains a disclaimer saying some facts were changed, Palal argued that names, hotels and other details changed while the central account did not.

Palal also rejected the defense’s contention that Davis fabricated his accounts to make money. “It is an entirely different proposition to be profiting from a murder,” Palal said. “And that is what Mr. Davis is doing.”

Sanft also turned to his client’s memoir during his closing argument. While reading an excerpt, he said the N-word aloud, prompting people watching in an overflow courtroom to recoil and shake their heads.

In multiple interviews, Davis said he handed the gun to the back seat, but in others as well as in his book, Davis wouldn’t say who pulled the trigger.

In a rebuttal argument, prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo pointed to a scrapbook Davis kept containing articles about Shakur.

“This guy's scrapbooking his murder, for God's sake,” DiGiacomo told jurors.

The prosecution's witnesses included a gang expert who described Davis as the shot caller that younger gang members had to obey. Sanft asked jurors if there was any evidence that Davis had ever called the shots before or after the shooting.

During the trial, investigators said a Las Vegas hotel bill was found at Davis’ residence during a police search, but it wasn’t clear when it was dated — or where that evidence is currently located.

The case is nearly 30 years old, which has affected the kind of evidence presented in court. Prosecutors warned jurors that material collected in the ’90s is different from what law enforcement collects today, including hotel surveillance video from the night of the shooting.

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Landrum Jr. reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press journalist Rio Yamat contributed to this report from Las Vegas.

The large truck left Perris Monday morning to make a 70-mile delivery to Altadena. Its cargo: a nearly 500-square-foot modular home.

“The stork delivered our big baby today… it’s kind of like hope on wheels,” said Candice Kim, project director of the Altadena Builds Back Foundation.

It’s the first of a new, 14-unit rental complex reserved for low-income renters, like the ones who lost their homes when the original courtyard apartments on East Pine Street in West Altadena burned down.

Kim said the prefabricated aspect of construction is an important step in the process.

“The reason… our grantee chose modular, was that … it allowed us to create the rental housing much faster so we can get people back home faster,” Kim said.

A lottery will be held in October to decide who the units will be offered to. The developer has created a “Pine Notification List” people can sign up for.

Rebuilding is moving forward in Altadena as the public and residents weigh in with concerns about whether the area’s mixed economic and racially diverse character is gone for good.

This project’s backers say the delivery of the first unit in this development for low-income Altadena residents is an important part of the effort to keep the area open to people with modest means, as it was before the fires.

“If we have private developers come in, the concern is that rents will no longer be affordable,” Kim said, “and that could change the character of our community.”

How it came together

The owner of the property had managed it for years. After the Eaton Fire, she decided to sell it, but wanted the future building to remain for low-income residents. Eventually, the owner talked to Beacon Housing at an Eaton Fire Collaborative meeting.

One of the modular homes that will make up 14 housing units for low income residents at an Altadena complex.

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Pavel Molokanov

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Courtesy Beacon Housing

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Eventually, the Altadena Builds Back Foundation helped put together nearly $6 million for the project, some of it from $72 million received in donations by the Pasadena Community Foundation after the Eaton Fire, and the other part from area philanthropist Molly Munger, who graduated from nearby John Muir High School.

Many questions remain about the direction of Altadena’s rebuilding efforts. The state eased density limits at the same time that insurance payments continue to vex people whose homes were destroyed.

Former Altadena renters also continue to struggle. A survey conducted last year by the Eaton Fire Collaborative found that 72% of renters are still in need of housing. That survey also found that the fires destroyed the homes of more than two-thirds of Altadena renters.

Nutrition services workers file into the kitchen at Valley High School in Santa Ana from as early as 6 a.m. to start prepping for the breakfast and lunch hours.

For the last five years, the Santa Ana Unified School District initiated a scratch-cooking program, meaning the kitchens have pivoted from majority individually wrapped lunches to homestyle cooked dishes.

As the program rolls out, the menu has evolved. This school year, Santa Ana Unified high school students are served chilaquiles, birria, carnitas, fettuccine alfredo, and so much more.

“We try to focus initially on the demographic of our community, and we want to give them items that they have heard of or are familiar with, at least to start out,” said Jonathan Park, chef at Santa Ana Unified School District. “That way we can really see whether the scratch cooking is working.”

Park works with nutrition specialists on building out a well-balanced menu each month and gives each school detailed instructions on rolling out those meals.

“A lot of the time our staff isn't used to that type of cooking,” Park said. “Cooking now has really been part of their job. Every day they're prepping something, or they're cooking something from a raw state.”

Why it matters

Valley High School serves more than 1,000 students a day at lunchtime, Visoso said. With youth homelessness and hunger on the rise in Orange County and beyond, Visoso said she wants to make sure students are eating well, but also that they’re eating enough.

Students who don’t want a meal are encouraged to take one anyway and leave it at the share station for someone else to pick up. Food is very rarely left at those share stations, she added.

Josh Goddard, director of nutrition services for the Santa Ana Unified School District, said funding for school nutrition is generally limited.

“We get about $6 per lunch. We get about $4 per breakfast,” Goddard said. “That's got to cover everything from the food that goes into the plate to the people that put that plate together, and then all the other little miscellaneous things that are needed to get the food where it needs to go.”

And the scratch-cooking program is not where he wants it to be, yet, he added.

“We're not going to be satisfied until every single student feels proud of what they pick up; they feel like they're seen on the menus. They feel like their voices matter. Every single student needs to feel that way,” Goddard said. “We have a lot of work to do, and gratefully, the Santa Ana Unified School District has prioritized that, and will continue to do that.”

Jonathan Park, chef at Santa Ana Unified School District, prepares a batch of spaghetti noodles for lunch. Santa Ana Unified high schools have prioritized freshly made breakfast and lunch meals.

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Destiny Torres

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LAist

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How it works 

Designing the menu means trying to give kids what they want to eat with dishes or ingredients they're familiar with, but also incorporating new foods. Each menu includes 20 food options for breakfast and lunch.

“We're able to give them something different, and from there we keep trial and error. We constantly just improve the menu as we go,” Park said. “It's constantly just building off of what the kids like.”

When a new lunch menu drops, Cafeteria Supervisor Janet Visoso told LAist she studies it meticulously.

“I tend to print everything, read it to myself, reread it, rewrite it. That's just the way I learn,” Visoso said. “I don't get bored of my job. I'm excited, and I take it as a challenge.”

Visoso said when she started in nutrition services 12 years ago, the district offered a lot of individually wrapped items.

“Most of the stuff was hot dogs, pizza, hamburgers, and we all love that, but to get scratch cooking and why it counts more is because we feed them a labor of love, and they are actually enjoying what they're eating,” she said.

What do students think? 

The quality and health of the school lunches has improved, Alfonso Guttierez, a senior at Valley High, told LAist.

“Honestly, the previous year was different, and it’s been a big difference,” Guittierez added. “I like it very much.”

Edith Marin, a senior at Valley High School, said she feels extra appreciative of school lunches knowing that staff worked hard to cook them from scratch. For her and her group of friends, birria ramen was a big hit even with Southern California’s heat wave.

“Food cooked hot is just better,” Marin said. “Not all refrigerated food is as healthy, I think.”

Officials said it’s sometimes surprising what the students do and don’t enjoy. For example, when fish tacos and chile verde were added to the menu, staff thought they’d be instant hits — they weren’t.

“We had raw fish filets that we battered and we oven-fried until crispy. We had the slaw. We had the pico de gallo on the tortilla, and we thought that would be a hit,” Park said. “It didn't go so well.”

If you’re heading to Big Bear Lake to beat the heat — keep people and pets out of the water.

Officials have confirmed harmful algal blooms throughout the lake that are showing up as discolored water with a green sheen, scum and floating algae.

The blooms can produce potent toxins that could cause you and your furry friends to get sick.

Marisa Van Dyke, a senior environmental scientist with the State Water Resources Control Board, told LAist these conditions in California’s lakes and streams are primarily caused by tiny bacteria that grow into big, flower patch-like blooms.

“When you inadvertently swallow some of that water, it can contain those toxins,” she said. “It can be quite severe and cause you to need to have some hospitalization or even visit an animal veterinarian to get treatment."

What you need to know

People are being urged to avoid swimming, eating shellfish from the lake and drinking or cooking the water. Officials said boiling or filtering the water won't make it safe.

For anglers on the lake, Van Dyke recommends rinsing the fish off before handling and only eating the filets.

Dogs and children are especially vulnerable to exposure because they’re more likely to swallow water while playing and swimming, according to the State Water Resources Control Board.

Do not let pets in Big Bear Lake or near scum along the shore.

The harmful algal blooms in Big Bear Lake.

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Courtesy State Water Resources Control Board

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“If [the water] looks a little bit more green … and there's a little bit more growth of something that looks kind of like a plant but not quite, there might be a harmful algal bloom occurring,” Van Dyke said. “So keep an eye on children and pets so that they don't get in contact with that material.”

If you do have to dip your toes in, rinse yourself, your family and your furry friends with clean water after. Van Dyke also recommends drying off and changing into a pair of clothes as an extra precautionary measure.

You can learn more about healthy water habits here.

What to watch for

If you come into contact with harmful algal blooms and start showing symptoms such as eye irritation, rash, headache and vomiting — contact your doctor right away. It could also cause neurological effects, Van Dyke noted.

For dogs, the symptoms can include loss of energy and appetite, diarrhea, seizures and vomiting. You should reach out to a vet immediately if they start showing any signs.

People are asked to report any potentially related illness to state officials here.

Where is it safe to swim

Warning signs have been posted around Big Bear Lake, but when in doubt, stay out.

It’s prime time for harmful algal blooms in California. They’re most common between late May through October, although they can pop up year round, according to officials.

Van Dyke said research has shown that in the last decade, harmful algal blooms have been showing up more in lakes and reservoirs.

“There's many things that are driving that, including climate change,” she said. “So it's not just the warmer temperatures, but also less precipitation.”

California has a harmful algal bloom map that shows if any outbreaks have been reported in the area.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Nearly a year after Los Angeles officials approved $2.3 million to build a fence around MacArthur Park, several basic details remain unclear, including the fence’s final design or how it will change the neighborhood.

Those questions have become more pressing after the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission unanimously opposed the project in July, raising concerns about the enclosure of a park that has been a city Historic-Cultural Monument for more than 50 years.

The Department of Recreation and Parks was expected to provide an update at the MacArthur Park Neighborhood Council’s July meeting but did not attend. The department also did not respond requests for comment about the project or the Cultural Heritage Commission’s concerns. 

Here’s what we know so far:

Commissioners approved concept last fall

The Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners gave conceptual approval to the perimeter fencing project in October, earmarking $2.3 million for the project. 

The initial proposal called for green wrought-iron fence around both sides of MacArthur Park, with gates at eight existing entry and exit points. The department said fencing the space would allow the city better access to manage the park and oversee the property when it’s closed.

City officials said the project’s final estimated cost was unknown, as was the timing for bidding and construction.

In the last several months, the city provided a more specific timeline. Recreation and Parks General Manager Jimmy Kim told residents that installation of an approximately 8-foot-tall green metal fence was expected to begin this fall and winter, followed by artistic and decorative additions through spring 2027. He said at a June community meeting that residents would have an opportunity to weigh in on those elements.

Kim also said the fence was not intended to remain indefinitely.

“As we stabilize the community and the neighborhood, it’s meant to also come off,” Kim said.

The city has not publicly identified a date for its removal.

The city of Los Angeles plans to install a fence around MacArthur Park in the Westlake neighborhood by fall 2026.

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Steve Saldivar

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The LA Local

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Preservation commissioners oppose the current plan

MacArthur Park was designated as Historic-Cultural Monument No. 100 more than five decades ago.

The city’s original project report to enclose the park acknowledged that the fence could affect cultural resources and the park’s historic character.

On July 16, Recreation and Parks staff and a consultant from Tetra Tech presented the project to the Cultural Heritage Commission, and a month later, the commission officially opposed the project in an Aug. 17 letter to the Recreation and Park Commission.

“While the Commission is sympathetic to the Department of Recreation and Parks’ operational challenges and safety concerns, the Commission is apprehensive about the concept of closing off a civic monument to the public,” commission President Barry Milofsky wrote.

The letter also questioned what commissioners described as the fence’s “apparent permanency” and said the proposed height ranged from 8 to 11 feet in different sections.

The Cultural Heritage Commission urged Recreation and Parks to explore other options. If the city ultimately decides a physical barrier is necessary, commissioners suggested a lower and more temporary fence, pointing to the chain-link fencing installed around Echo Park in 2021 and removed two years later.

Residents in Westlake say they have received few details about plans to install a fence around MacArthur Park.

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Gary Coronado

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The LA Local

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The commission also asked Recreation and Parks to return with a revised design or alternate proposal and said the project should be reviewed by the Cultural Affairs Commission.

Richard Barron, who served on the Cultural Heritage Commission for 22 years before leaving the dais this summer, said Recreation and Parks came to the commission later in the process than he would normally expect for a project affecting a historic monument.

“Recs and Park kind of just came in and said, ‘We’re gonna put up a fence and here’s what it looks like,’” Barron told The LA Local. “And it was like, ‘What? Come on.’”

Barron said the commission has limited authority over projects carried out by other city departments, despite its role in reviewing changes involving historic monuments.

The Department of Recreation and Parks have not responded to the Cultural Heritage Commission’s letter.

What remains unclear

Recreation and Parks has not publicly clarified whether the design has changed since the Cultural Heritage Commission raised its objections.

It is also unclear whether the final fence will be approximately 8 feet tall throughout the park or reach as high as 11 feet in some areas, as commissioners were told in July.

And while city officials have described the fence as temporary, they have not identified an expected removal date or explained what would have to happen before it comes down.

Community involvement remains another question.

The MacArthur Park Neighborhood Council formally called for more transparency and input in March, asking to review design concepts before final plans were approved. The neighborhood council said its members had not been included in the city’s discussions when the project was approved in October.