Winds bring power cuts, fire risk in SoCal

LOS ANGELES — Gusty, dry Santa Ana winds swept parts of Southern California on Monday, forcing utilities to begin targeted power cuts to prevent electrical equipment from sparking and igniting wildfires in vegetation dried out after the hot summer months.

The Santa Anas were expected to grow in strength and persist into today.

Ventura County firefighters stopped the spread of a small fire that erupted late-morning and spread along the Santa Clara River in agricultural land northwest of Los Angeles. The blaze was started when a tree fell onto a power line, according to the Ventura County Fire Department.

Southern California Edison de-energized circuits serving more than 32,000 customers in six counties and was considering cuts to more than 183,000 customers in nine counties. San Diego Gas & Electric cut more than 8,000 customers’ power and said about 42,000 more could be affected.

SACRAMENTO — Weekend clashes between opposing protesters near the state Capitol are pulling hundreds of officers away from other crime-fighting, terrorizing downtown and causing a “ripple effect” of damage in a city already struggling with the pandemic and a rash of homicides, the police chief said Monday.

“This is not protesting. These acts are not demonstrating their constitutionally protected rights. This is unwarranted, unjustified criminal behavior,” Police Chief Daniel Hahn said in a video.

The chief’s video followed another faceoff Saturday afternoon during which bottles and fireworks were tossed by counter-demonstrators at a group waving American flags and banners supporting Donald Trump.

Such confrontations have been occurring every weekend since the Nov. 3 election.

LOS ANGELES — New Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, seeking to revamp the nation’s largest prosecutor’s office with progressive policies, said Monday after taking office that cash bail will be ended for many offenses and sentences in thousands of cases will be reevaluated.

Gascón, in remarks after taking his oath of office, took aim at his predecessors in recent decades — calling Los Angeles “a poster child for the failed tough-on-crime approach.”

“The status quo hasn’t made us safer,” he said during a live-streamed ceremony.