Spectacular Villa Aurora, which was nearly destroyed in last year’s fires, leading the recovery as Pacific Palisades emerges from a dark chapter

A hillside villa that served as a cultural hub for German writers and artists fleeing the Nazis and narrowly escaped destruction in last year’s Los Angeles wildfires reopened its doors to the public this weekend, marking the latest milestone in the city’s slow recovery from one of the darkest chapters in its history.

Hundreds of friends of the Villa Aurora, a 1920s Spanish Mediterranean house that has taken on a second life as a cultural center with a fierce commitment to artistic freedom, international dialogue and democracy, crowded into the house on Sunday to mark the resumption of speaker events and artistic residencies.

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© Photograph: Photo by Mike Kelley, Courtesy of Villa Aurora

© Photograph: Photo by Mike Kelley, Courtesy of Villa Aurora

© Photograph: Photo by Mike Kelley, Courtesy of Villa Aurora

Company is offering cash reward for 40,000lb stolen cargo, and turns theft into lighthearted social media promotion

Pabst is offering a reward after tens of thousands of cans of its Blue Ribbon beer were stolen from the company’s southern California warehouse two weeks ago – if it is all safely returned.

In Instagram posts, Pabst put the weight of the stolen cargo at 40,000lb (18,000kg) and started a countdown seeking its return.

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© Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

© Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

© Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Singer, accused of murder and sexual abuse of teen Celeste Rivas Hernandez, to be represented by LA public defender

Singer D4vd lost his high-profile private lawyers on Monday at a hearing where he entered a new not guilty plea to charges that he killed, sexually abused and dismembered 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.

It is not clear why Blair Berk and her colleagues Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter parted ways with the singer, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke. They were replaced by a lawyer from the Los Angeles county public defender’s office.

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© Photograph: Getty Images

© Photograph: Getty Images

© Photograph: Getty Images

Both thefts occurred on 17 August at a distribution center east of Los Angeles

Thieves made off with tens of thousands of cans of Pabst beer in two separate heists from a southern California warehouse on the same day, police said.

Pabst Blue Ribbon has turned the thefts – valued by police at $70,000 – into a lighthearted social media promotion. But police in Montclair said on Friday that investigators were trying to determine whether they were part of a single operation.

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© Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

© Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

© Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The stench has enveloped a neighborhood next to a food warehouse that burned in a June fire, prompting legislative action, lawsuits and thousands of complaints.

© Mark Abramson for The New York Times

Jose Carlos Hoyoz-Munoz was arrested after a family altercation and restrained for ‘combative’ behavior

A cadre of Los Angeles police officers beat and restrained a handcuffed man in July, minutes before he was found dead in a jail cell, according to newly released body-cam footage.

On 15 July, Jose Carlos Hoyoz-Munoz, 58, was found unconscious in his cell at the Van Nuys regional jail. At the time, the LAPD said two use-of-force incidents had occurred, without specifying the nature. In the video released on Friday, the department said three use-of-force incidents occurred.

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© Photograph: Damian Dovarganes/AP

© Photograph: Damian Dovarganes/AP

© Photograph: Damian Dovarganes/AP

Nearly 600 days after the devastating 2025 fires, thousands of Los Angeles residents are still waiting for more than $15bn in federal funds to rebuild their communities

As thousands of residents in Spokane, Washington, begin to grapple with a long recovery after a destructive set of blazes that consumed hundreds of homes in the state’s second most populated city this month, victims of the Los Angeles firestorm broke a grim record – they have faced the longest delay in modern history for federal aid.

Nearly 600 days since a historic firestorm roared into communities across Los Angeles, reducing more than 16,000 structures to ash and toxic debris, the Trump administration has failed to appropriate more than $15bn in long-term recovery funds that are crucial to rebuilding. The delay in supplying the badly needed funds is months longer than the last record set when victims of the Maui fires had to wait 500 days to receive the support, LAist noted this week.

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© Photograph: David Ryder/Reuters

© Photograph: David Ryder/Reuters

© Photograph: David Ryder/Reuters

X2 ride at Magic Mountain has been closed for a month after one rider experienced brain compression and another remains in coma

An infamous Six Flags Magic Mountain rollercoaster, long favored by intrepid theme park goers, has been closed for more than a month after two people say they experienced brain injuries after riding it, according to a new CNN investigation.

The X2 rollercoaster sends riders plummeting and twisting hundreds of feet, reaching up to 76mph (about 122km/h) as the seats rotate 360 degrees. On the southern California theme park’s website, it’s advertised as a rite of passage for daredevils.

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© Photograph: Jae C Hong/AP

© Photograph: Jae C Hong/AP

© Photograph: Jae C Hong/AP

Judge ruled Jeanine John Taele, discovered with firearm days before Trump visit, was unfit to face felony charge

A judge in California has suspended criminal proceedings against a man found with a loaded gun near Donald Trump’s golf course in Los Angeles, and instead ordered him to undergo a mental health evaluation.

Jeanine John Taele, 38, of Downey, California, was arrested for weapons violations days before the president spoke at a 5 August Republican fundraiser at the Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes.

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© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

‘A child isn’t born to commit gun violence,’ Francisco Villarruel says

Francisco Villarruel and Gustavo Galvez sat in a park in Los Angeles reminiscing on their first boxing lesson together. They had gone to a big commercial gym, where they took turns hitting boxing pads and doing footwork exercises. They then started regularly training together.

For Villarruel, 40, working out together wasn’t really about boxing. It was about giving Galvez, 19, an opportunity to open up and to mentor someone whose pain he understands. “ I think a lot of the traumatic scenarios that he went through are very similar to mine in my upbringing,” Villarruel said.

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© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images/Francisco Villarruel

© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images/Francisco Villarruel

© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images/Francisco Villarruel

Tenants can be evicted for not paying utilities even if they have paid rent – tenants and their allies are fighting back

• This story was supported and co-published by the journalism non-profit the Economic Hardship Reporting Project

In 2024, Constance Soule got a surprise from her landlord: a “notice of termination” that gave her 10 days to move out of her apartment.

Soule, a disabled Alzheimer’s patient with a housing voucher, had paid her rent at a Larkspur, California, complex managed by Greystar, the country’s largest apartment manager. But she was about to be evicted from her home across from the Golden Gate Bridge solely over utility charges, court documents show.

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© Composite: Courtesy Virgil Square Tenants Association

© Composite: Courtesy Virgil Square Tenants Association

© Composite: Courtesy Virgil Square Tenants Association

A Los Angeles officer faced prison for secretly recording colleagues making offensive remarks. The county prosecutor is reducing those charges after critics said they would discourage whistle-blowers.

© Eric Thayer/Getty Images

Edward Zimbardi, 59, who had fled US, will appear in court in Los Angeles on wire fraud and money-laundering charges

A man from Flowery Branch, Georgia, has been deported from Fiji to face charges in his home state accusing him of defrauding more than 6,000 investors and causing more than $165m of losses in ⁠a cryptocurrency Ponzi ⁠scheme, the ​US attorney in Atlanta said on Monday.

Edward Zimbardi, 59, was indicted on 12 counts of ⁠wire fraud, 12 counts of money laundering and one count of money-laundering conspiracy.

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© Photograph: Anadolu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Our reporter Devlin Barrett explains why the Department of Justice is pursuing small-time fraud cases, and what that means for larger fraud investigations at the department.