Monday, September 5, 2011

Brush fire threatening homes in Agua Dulce area [Updated]

(Photo submitted by KTLA viewer Mercedes)

Firefighters worked Monday afternoon to contain a brush fire that threatened several homes in the Agua Dulce area, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

By 4 p.m. the fire had burned about 500 acres, according to Inspector Matt Levesque, a spokesman for the agency.

“This is still a very dynamic fire, and it’s moving so quickly,” Levesque said.

Roughly 250 firefighters, five helicopters and two water-scooping aircraft were battling the blaze near Vasquez Rocks Park, said Inspector Don Kunitomi. The fire broke out about 1:30 p.m. along Wagon Wheel Road and when firefighters arrived, they found a barn and trailer burning and flames moving quickly into the nearby brush. One person was injured in the blaze, Kunitomi said.

The fire was moving southeast toward Vasquez Rocks Park, Kunitomi said. The department urged residents who lived downwind of the fire to evacuate and those with horses to begin moving them out of the area.

South Pasadena parking lot could be site for new mixed-use project

A parking lot on a busy corner of South Pasadena could be a key to the city's commercial growth as well as a source of income for its cash-strapped school district.

South Pasadena Board of Education members are expected Tuesday to discuss proposals for development of the school district parking lot on Mission Street.

City and schools officials say retail, residential or mixed-use construction would increase the vitality of South Pasadena's business corridor, strengthen the city's tax base and provide schools with a steady revenue stream.

The parking lot is increasingly viewed as the most underutilized space on Mission between the Gold Line station and Fair Oaks Avenue. "The term I've heard is the missing tooth in the Mission Street smile," South Pasadena Unified School District Supt. Joel Shapiro told the Pasadena Sun.

ALSO:

Five dead in L.A. County traffic accidents over holiday weekend

Sheriff's Explorers seek witnesses in slaying of one of their own

Seven suspected gang members jailed in Santa Ana crime spree

-- Joe Piasecki, Times Community News

Brush fire threatening homes in Agua Dulce area

Firefighters worked Monday afternoon to contain a brush fire that threatened several homes in the Agua Dulce area, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

By 4 p.m. the fire had burned about 500 acres, according to Inspector Matt Levesque, a spokesman for the agency.

“This is still a very dynamic fire, and it’s moving so quickly,” Levesque said.

Roughly 250 firefighters, five helicopters and two water-scooping aircraft were battling the blaze near Vasquez Rocks Park, said Inspector Don Kunitomi. The fire broke out about 1:30 p.m. along Wagon Wheel Road and when firefighters arrived, they found a barn and trailer burning and flames moving quickly into the nearby brush. One person was injured in the blaze, Kunitomi said.

The fire was moving southeast toward Vasquez Rocks Park, Kunitomi said. The department urged residents who lived downwind of the fire to evacuate and those with horses to begin moving them out of the area.

The winds were about 10 to 15 mph, Kunitomi said, but firefighters faced other challenges. "Some of the area where this fire is burning is inaccessible," he said.

RELATED:

Tehachapi fire burns 4,000 acres

Truck fire prompts 405 freeway lane closures

-- Anna Gorman and Ann M. Simmons

Reader photos: Southern California Moments, Day 248

Click through for more photos of Southern California Moments.

Endless summer: A Venice sunbather reads in a hammock in this July 23 photo by Chi Fai Chow.

Every day of 2011, we're featuring reader-submitted photos of Southern California Moments. Follow us on Twitter and visit the Southern California Moments homepage for more on this series.

Youths charged with stabbing man at L.A. County Fair

Two youths were charged in connection with a stabbing of a man at the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona late Sunday, police said.

The two minors, who were not identified because of their age, apparently argued with the victim before one of them stabbed him at 10 p.m., according to Pomona Police Lt. Eddie Vazquez.

It was not clear what the fight was about or what was used as a weapon, Vazquez said.

"It doesn’t seem there was any motive or rhyme or reason to it,” he said.

The youths were detained and charged with assault with a deadly weapon, and were being held at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall, he said.

The victim, who was not identified, was taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center where he was recovering and in good condition Monday, Vazquez said.

Vazquez said there have been no other major incidents at the fair since it began Saturday.

RELATED:

Two students wounded at party

Database: Mapping crime in Los Angeles

After 17 years, three strikes law hotly debated

-- Molly Hennessy-Fiske

 

 

School Curriculum Falls Short on Bigger Lessons

Now that children are back in the classroom, are they really learning the lessons that will help them succeed?

Many child development experts worry that the answer may be no. They say the ever-growing emphasis on academic performance and test scores means many children aren’t developing life skills like self-control, motivation, focus and resilience, which are far better predictors of long-term success than high grades. And it may be distorting their and their parents’ values.

“What are we really trying to do when we think about raising kids?” asked Dr. Kenneth R. Ginsburg, an expert in adolescent medicine at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “We’re trying to put in place the ingredients so the child is going to be a successful 35-year-old. It’s not really about getting an A in algebra.”

Take the question of praising a child’s academic achievement. In his new book “Letting Go With Love and Confidence: Raising Responsible, Resilient, Self-Sufficient Teens in the 21st Century” (written with Susan Fitzgerald), Dr. Ginsburg draws a crucial distinction between hard work and simply getting an A or “being smart.”

In one set of studies, children who solved math puzzles were praised for their intelligence or for their hard work. The first group actually did worse on subsequent tests, or took an easy way out, shunning difficult problems. The research suggests that praise for a good effort encourages harder work, while children who are consistently told they are smart do not know what to do when confronted with a difficult problem or reading assignment.

“When we focus on performance, when we say ‘make sure you get A’s,’ we have kids who are terrified of B’s,” Dr. Ginsburg said. “Kids who are praised for effort, those kids learn that intelligence is something that can be built.”

Academic achievement can certainly help children succeed, and for parents there can be a fine line between praising effort and praising performance. Words need to be chosen carefully: Instead of saying, “I’m so proud you got an A on your test,” a better choice is “I’m so proud of you for studying so hard.” Both replies rightly celebrate the A, but the second focuses on the effort that produced it, encouraging the child to keep trying in the future.

Praise outside of academics matters, too. Instead of asking your child how many points she scored on the basketball court, say, “Tell me about the game. Did you have fun? Did you play hard?”

Dr. Ginsburg notes that parents also need to teach their children that they do not have to be good at everything, and there is something to be learned when a child struggles or gets a poor grade despite studying hard.

“One of the feelings people often have is that in order to succeed, a child has to be good at absolutely everything,” he said. “Human beings in the adult world are absolutely uneven, but we don’t accept that in our children — which pressures them in a way that’s incredibly uncomfortable for them.”

One strategy is to teach children that the differences between easy and difficult subjects can provide useful information about their goals and interests. Subjects they enjoy and excel in may become the focus of their careers. Challenging but interesting classes or sports can become hobbies. Subjects that are difficult and uninteresting are just something “you have to get past,” Dr. Ginsburg said.

“We need to approach failure and difficulty and struggle as data that teach us what we should do with our lives,” he said. “It’s when you say to a child, ‘I expect you to do well in everything,’ that we’re preparing them to fail.”

Outside of school, parents have many opportunities to teach children about focus, self-control and critical thinking, said Ellen Galinsky, author of “Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs” and president of the Families and Work Institute, a nonprofit research group in New York.

When reading to children, for example, ask them what a character is thinking or feeling. That simple exercise helps develop perspective, an important social cognition skill.

In one experiment, children are given a crayon box but discover it really contains paper clips. Then the child is asked what a friend might think is in the box. Children younger than 4 typically respond “paper clips” because that’s what they know to be true. But about 4, they begin to see things from others’ perspective, understanding that the packaging would mislead another person just as it misled them.

“Perspective taking helps with school readiness and literacy,” Ms. Galinsky said. “The child has to understand a teacher has a different perspective, their friends have different perspectives.”

In young children, playing board games or games like Simon Says or Red Light, Green Light can help develop focus and self-control.

And in older children, parents willing to put in a little extra effort can help children develop critical thinking skills rather than just answering their questions. Ms. Galinsky recalls the time her son complained about boys being portrayed more negatively than girls on television.

She suggested he conduct an experiment: collect data on positive and negative portrayals by watching different shows and keeping a record. And when her son thought his data proved his point, Ms. Galinsky challenged the television sample, noting that he had watched only shows aimed at boys.

“Rather than dismiss it, I told him it was interesting, let’s make a chart,” she said. “I kept pushing back and talked about how to design a really good experiment. He got really into it, and it was an example of not answering him too quickly and letting him find out himself in order to help him become a critical thinker.”

Of course, parents don’t have to help children set up complicated experiments every time they ask a question. But when a question arises, Ms. Galinsky said, resist the temptation to say, “Look it up.” Instead, say, “Let’s look it up,” and guide your child in ways to get the information.

“It’s not just knowing the information,” she said. “It’s knowing how to find the answers to the questions that is the basis of critical thinking.”

LAPD still searching for man in shooting near USC

The Los Angeles Police Department continues to investigate a shooting Sunday morning that left two USC students wounded.

There have been no arrests and officers are still searching for the shooter, Officer Gregory Baek said Monday.

The incident occurred at about 2 a.m. Sunday at a party in an apartment complex on West 37th Place, police said. Several students confronted a stranger who they said appeared to be stealing items. The stranger pulled out a gun and began firing. A male student was hit in the chest and a female student was shot in the hand. Their names were not released.

RELATED:

Two students wounded at party

Database: Mapping crime in Los Angeles

After 17 years, three strikes law hotly debated

-- Anna Gorman

Truck fire prompts 405 freeway lane closures

Los Angeles authorities have closed the southbound lanes of the 405 freeway at Skirball Center Drive as they attempt to extinguish a fire in a pickup truck.

Two northbound lanes of the 405 freeway also have been closed, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Francisco Villalobos.

Villalobos said the pickup truck caught fire at about 10:48 a.m. Monday. No injuries were reported, no other vehicles were damaged and the fire had not spread to surrounding brush, he said, but Los Angeles firefighters were still battling the blaze late Monday morning. It was unclear how the fire started, he said.

Villalobos said they hoped to bring it under control and reopen the roadway within a half-hour.

ALSO:

Five dead in L.A. County traffic accidents over holiday weekend

Sheriff's Explorers seek witnesses in slaying of one of their own

Seven suspected gang members jailed in Santa Ana crime spree

-- Molly Hennessy-Fiske

 

 

Youths charged with stabbing man at L.A. County fair

Two youths were charged in connection with a stabbing of a man at the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona late Sunday, police said.

The two minors, who were not identified because of their age, apparently argued with the victim before one of them stabbed him at 10 p.m., according to Pomona Police Lt. Eddie Vazquez.

It was not clear what the fight was about or what was used as a weapon, Vazquez said.

"It doesn’t seem there was any motive or rhyme or reason to it,” he said.

The youths were detained and charged with assault with a deadly weapon, and were being held at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall, he said.

The victim, who was not identified, was taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center where he was recovering and in good condition Monday, Vazquez said.

Vazquez said there have been no other major incidents at the fair since it began Saturday.

RELATED:

Two students wounded at party

Database: Mapping crime in Los Angeles

After 17 years, three strikes law hotly debated

-- Molly Hennessy-Fiske

 

 

When Normal Sounds Are Excruciating

People with misophonia have an extreme reaction to certain sounds, often becoming enraged or anxious at the sound of chewing or someone clearing his throat, reports today’s Science Times.

Many people can be driven to distraction by certain small sounds that do not seem to bother others — gum chewing, footsteps, whispering, humming. But sufferers of misophonia, a newly recognized condition that remains little studied and poorly understood, take the problem to a higher level.

They also follow a strikingly consistent pattern, experts say. The condition almost always begins in late childhood or early adolescence and worsens over time, often expanding to include more trigger sounds, usually those of eating and breathing….

Misophonia (“dislike of sound”) is sometimes confused with hyperacusis, in which sound is perceived as abnormally loud or physically painful. But they are not the same, said Marsha Johnson, an audiologist in Portland, Ore.

“These people like sound, the louder the better,” she said of misophonia patients. “The sounds they object to are soft, hardly audible sounds.” One patient is driven crazy by her beloved dog licking its paws. Another can’t bear the pop of the plosive “p” in ordinary conversation.

To learn more, read the full report, “When a Chomp or a Slurp Is a Trigger for Outrage.

For Injured Athletes, Few Proven Treatments

In the new series, “The Athlete’s Pain,” medical reporter Gina Kolata explores how the hope and hype of many promising sports medicine treatments often outpace the evidence that they actually work.

Medical experts say tales of multiple futile treatments are all too familiar and point to growing problems in sports medicine, a medical subspecialty that has been experiencing explosive growth. Part of the field’s popularity, among patients and doctors alike, stems from the fact that celebrity athletes, desperate to get back to playing after an injury, have been trying unproven treatments, giving the procedures a sort of star appeal….

The result is therapies that are unproven, possibly worthless or even harmful. There is surgery, like a popular operation that shaves the hip bone to prevent arthritis, that may not work. There are treatments, like steroid injections for injured tendons or taping a sprained ankle, that can slow the healing process. And there are fads, like one of Ms. Basle’s treatments, P.R.P., that soar in popularity while experts debate whether they help.

All this leads Dr. Andrew Green, a shoulder orthopedist at Brown University, to ask, “Is sports medicine a science, something that really pays attention to evidence? Or is it a boutique industry where you have a product and sell it?”

Read the full story, “As Sports Medicine Surges, Hope and Hype Outpace Proven Treatments,” and then please join the discussion below.

Children of Sperm Donors May Have Many Siblings

As the number of children born through artificial insemination increases, many young people are discovering they have several or even dozens of half siblings in the world, reports today’s Science Times.

Now, there is growing concern among parents, donors and medical experts about potential negative consequences of having so many children fathered by the same donors, including the possibility that genes for rare diseases could be spread more widely through the population. Some experts are even calling attention to the increased odds of accidental incest between half sisters and half brothers, who often live close to one another.

“My daughter knows her donor’s number for this very reason,” said the mother of a teenager conceived via sperm donation in California who asked that her name be withheld to protect her daughter’s privacy. “She’s been in school with numerous kids who were born through donors. She’s had crushes on boys who are donor children. It’s become part of sex education” for her.

Critics say that fertility clinics and sperm banks are earning huge profits by allowing too many children to be conceived with sperm from popular donors, and that families should be given more information on the health of donors and the children conceived with their sperm. They are also calling for legal limits on the number of children conceived using the same donor’s sperm and a re-examination of the anonymity that cloaks many donors.

To learn more, read the full report, “1 Sperm Donor, 150 Brothers and Sisters,” and then please join the discussion below.

Questions about how porn industry handled HIV scare

Michael Weinstein, AIDS Healthcare Foundation

A filming moratorium in the porn industry was lifted this weekend after an adult-film performer whose HIV-positive test prompted a weeklong shutdown of Los Angeles-area productions was retested, with negative results.

But questions remain about how the case was handled.

Local production companies were notified Aug. 29 of the test outcome and agreed to hold off on filming. Those who had been in scenes with the performer were contacted and urged to get tested.

The performer's subsequent test was administered by Adult Performer Health and Safety Services, which is run by the Free Speech Coalition and recently launched a database that will allow porn industry agents and producers access to results from testing facilities.

"Industry self-regulation and best practices are alive and well in the adult entertainment industry," the group's executive director, Diane Duke, said in a statement.

But Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said that although he is glad to hear about the performer's negative results, he takes issue with a health-screening process that does not include public health officials.

Fast-moving Tehachapi fire burns 4,000 acres

(KTLA-TV)

A fast-moving fire has burned more than 4,000 acres in Kern County, officials said Monday.

The Canyon fire, which started when a small plane crashed near Tehachapi on Sunday morning, is 5% contained, according to fire officials.

Kern County Fire Department spokesman Cary Wright said the six-seat Cessna 210 crashed in Blackburn Canyon, northeast of Los Angeles, the Associated Press reported. The Bakersfield Californian reported that one person was killed.

Amid dry, windy conditions, the crash sparked a brush fire that quickly grew. Officials have issued a mandatory evacuation order for 30 homes threatened by the raging blaze.

ALSO:

Five dead in L.A. County traffic accidents over holiday weekend

Sheriff's Explorers seek witnesses in slaying of one of their own

Seven suspected gang members jailed in Santa Ana crime spree

-- Garrett Therolf

Photo: Smoke rises from a fire that has burned more than 4,000 acres in Kern County. Credit: KTLA News

Rain, extreme-heat warnings issued for L.A. County

Weather Story (click for larger image)

The National Weather Service has issued an hazardous weather warning, saying showers are possible in parts of Southern California, along with rising temperatures.

According to the weather service, scattered showers, high winds and thunder are possible in parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties Monday afternoon. Officials said the showers could produce periods of heavy rainfall and possibly dry lightning.

A new heat wave is also moving into the region Tuesday, officials said, with temperatures expected to top 100 degrees in valley and desert areas of L.A. County.

Britain has legalised assisted suicide when no one was looking


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I read the splash in The Times today: prosecutors in this country are turning a blind eye to cases of assisted suicide. The number of incidents where someone helps a friend or relative take their lives is rising; but no one is being prosecuted.


I didn’t need The Times to tell me that assisted suicide is, for all intents and purposes, legal. When I researched assisted suicide for the Centre for Policy Studies just over a year ago I could see the trend was underway: yes, the police was often questioning those friends and relatives who had returned from the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland where they’d helped their loved ones do away with themselves (and helped turn Dignitas founder, Dr Ludwig Minelli, into a milionaire); but the cases were always shelved. Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, had issued guidelines that spelled out clearly that it was not in the public interest to prosecute (or even investigate) cases of assisted suicide. “We’re losing this battle” a prominent campaigner against assisted suicide confessed, off the record. “Public opinion is against us.”


He was right: people are terrified of dying in the hostile environment of a hospital, of losing dignity because of a debilitating disease such as motor neurone, or even just old age. Our culture has become obsessed with health and youth: nothing else will do. If a little pill can take us out of the misery of brittle bones, immobility and incontinence, then let’s pop it.


But here’s a thought: what if, when you are 70, a bit frail, a bit needy, someone else decides that life would be a lot easier without you around? They can let you know, subtly, quietly, that their happiness and fortune would benefit a great deal from your speedy exit. They can pull at your heart strings and leave you thinking that, really, you owe them this. That’s when legalising assisted suicide turns tricky: because “suicide” in these cases is a euphemism. It’s murder.



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