Mike Roe

The attorneys general of California and Nevada are joining forces to investigate various fraud and impropriety around mortgages and foreclosures.

Gov. Jerry Brown has filed a ballot initiative to temporarily raise taxes on high income earners, Brown announced Monday in an “open letter” to California voters. The plan also hikes the state sales tax by half a percent. If approved by voters, the funds would go to education and public safety.

Beginning at 6 a.m., much of the L.A. area was under another red flag warning, with high winds expected again, though they were not supposed to be quite as dramatic as the winds that downed tons of trees and cut off power to a quarter million last Wednesday and Thursday.

Some of the most powerful Santa Ana winds in years ripped through Southern California Wednesday night, with more Thursday and more strong winds expected over the weekend. Hundreds of thousands of people lost power. Read our updates posted as the story broke.

Los Angeles police cleared the nearly two-month old Occupy L.A. encampment Tuesday night – emerging from City Hall and surrounding streets, arresting protesters who refused to move, and dismantling the remaining tents and structures. Follow our live blog of the continuing events here.

Los Angeles city officials are offering Occupy L.A. protesters incentives, including downtown office space and two empty lots for a community garden, if they agree to stop camping outside City Hall.

If you haven’t already heard, the Sunset Junction Street Fair will not take place this weekend in Silver Lake. The Los Angeles Board of Public Works denied permits to the event’s organizers because of hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid fees. But don’t give up on seeing your favorite bands, yet.

United Farm Workers union leader Richard Chavez has died. The 81-year-old brother of civil rights and labor leader Cesar Chavez and longtime partner of activist Dolores Huerta died in Bakersfield, following complications in surgery.

Former Los Angeles police lieutenant Kathleen Green has been awarded nearly $1 million in a gender discrimination case.

L.A. County Metro officials say they're ready for this weekend’s shutdown of the 405 Freeway between the 101 and 10 interchanges. Are the rest of us ready for "Carmageddon"? Metro spokesman Marc Littman offers his thoughts.

JetBlue announced flights between Long Beach Airport and Burbank's Bob Hope Airport this Saturday during the closure of the 405 dubbed "Carmageddon." The flights sold out within hours.

A memorial service for former First Lady Betty Ford will be held Tuesday afternoon at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Palm Desert. She and late President Gerald Ford worshipped there after he left office in 1977. Betty Ford died Friday at the age of 93.