Oh, how he wooed them: “Forty years after the Supreme Court affirmed a woman’s constitutional right to privacy, including the right to choose, we shouldn’t have to remind people that when it comes to a woman’s health, no politician should get to decide what’s best for you.”

A week later, he spit in...

The Southern California wildfire season got off to a foreboding start Thursday with a massive brush fire in Ventura County that officials fear is just a preview of dangerous months ahead.

The fire showed in dramatic fashion how the region’s record dry conditions and lack of rainfall can quickly combine with fierce Santa Ana winds to produce widespread havoc.

Firefighters said that the dry winter and spring left the brush much more combustible than they have ever seen at this time of year. Weather forecasters said the Santa Ana wind conditions Thursday produced gusts topping 60 mph. Those...

Actress Lindsay Lohan violated her probation Thursday by leaving a Newport Beach rehab facility where she was to begin 90 days of treatment in a reckless driving case, prosecutors said.

Mark Heller, Lohan's attorney, told Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James Dabney on Thursday morning that his client had already begun her therapy at the Morningside Recovery facility. Lohan arrived at the facility about 11 a.m.

Santa Monica City Prosecutor Terry White said he learned that Lohan spent just a few minutes at the Orange County rehab before leaving. “Ms. Lohan is in violation of her...

This post has been corrected. See note at bottom for details.

Michael Jackson’s family tried over and over to talk with the pop singer about his drug abuse and attempted one intervention at his Neverland retreat, a Los Angeles police detective who interviewed Michael Jackson’s mother testified Thursday.

Det. Orlando Martinez said that when he interviewed Katherine Jackson on Dec. 9, 2009 — months after Jackson’s death — she told him  she had never met nor known about Dr. Conrad Murray until her son died. Murray, who gave the singer a lethal dose of propofol,  is...

Benjamin Kuo says he captured this remarkable shot Thursday morning while dropping his children off at school. As of noon today his house was safe, and we're hoping it stays that way!

Kuo used his Canon T2i to shoot the photograph.

Each week, we're featuring photos of Southern California submitted by readers. Share your photos on our Flickr page or reader submission gallery. Follow us on Twitter or visit latimes.com/socalmoments for more on this photo series.

Normally, I'm the one reporting on wildfires, the person who shows up, notebook and pen in hand, to ask nosy questions during a traumatic time of panic and worry.

It felt a lot different when it was my home being threatened by flames.

This morning, as I prepared for work at the downtown Los Angeles apartment where I live during the week, my boyfriend drew my attention to the television news.

PHOTOS: Camarillo brush fire

There on the screen was footage of flames racing toward the Dos Vientos neighborhood, a subdivision directly north of my home in Newbury Park. Firefighters were saying that...

Two candidates for Los Angeles City Council who are running in separate districts said Thursday that they are joining forces.

At a news conference in Koreatown, candidates John Choi and Gil Cedillo said they will be supporting each other's campaigns because they have similar backgrounds and shared values. 

Choi, who is running against Mitch O'Farrell in the race to replace mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti in Council District 13, was born in Korea and was once the economic development director at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. 

Cedillo, who is running against Jose Gardea in District...

As Ventura County firefighters faced off with flames in Camarillo, another important battle was taking place miles away along the coast.

The Santa Ana winds that were pushing the Springs fire southwest toward the coast are meeting head-on with an ocean breeze blowing inland. And so far, Stuart Seto of the National Weather Service said, “the Santa Anas are winning.”

A fire that started about 6:30 a.m. Thursday quickly grew into an out-of-control blaze that burned more than 6,500 acres in less than six hours. Hundreds of firefighters from across Southern California were battling the...

The chief executive of a Newport Beach rehabilitation facility that actress Lindsay Lohan entered Thursday for court-ordered treatment defended the recovery center against charges that it’s not licensed to provide residential drug or alcohol treatment.

The actress entered Morningside Recovery LLC in Newport Beach on Thursday, her attorney Mark Heller told Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James Dabney. Heller assured the judge that the facility fully complied with the court’s requirement that it provide Lohan with 90 days of therapy in a setting in which she could not leave.

A wind-driven fire that threatened a mobile home park in San Bernardino was extinguished with damage to one home, authorities said

The fire started about 11:22 a.m. at the San Bernardino Spa Mobile Home Estates, and was contained a little more than an hour later, authorities said.

About 20 to 25 mobile homes were threatened as the fire spread through a row of tall palm and pine trees, San Bernardino Fire Department Capt. Kevinn Whitaker said. About 75 firefighters from multiple agencies battled flames in the treetops that rose 75 feet to 100 feet in the air.

The blaze partially burned the roof...