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A nonprofit known for training people to give great speeches has clammed up about efforts to move its worldwide headquarters out of Southe Califoia. The silence from Toastmasters Inteational executives no doubt stems from an opposition campaign launched by a proud Torrance member who decries the group’s lack of transparency. With 179 employees and 345,000 members in 15,900 clubs in 142 countries, Toastmasters will hold a vote this week at its Inteational Convention in Washington, D.C., on a proposal to move to Denver from Rancho Santa Margarita, where the organization’s home base has been since 1990. A two-thirds vote is required for approval. The Toastmasters board recommended in 2015 on i...

The SuperScoopers have landed! Just in time for sizzling temperatures this weekend, the county officially unveiled a huge part of its aerial firefighting fleet Friday. •RELATED STORY: SuperScoopers arrive 3 weeks early to help combat LA County brush fires Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich and Fire Chief Daryl L. Osby showcased the recent arrival of two Canadian SuperScoopers and an Erickson Air-Crane. •RELATED STORY: Massive Sand fire nearly contained after more than a week The water bombers landed at Van Nuys Airport Aug. 6 after their flight from their home base in Quebec, Canada. They are usually leased during the fall for work on L.A. County’s fires, but this year they ha...

Robyn Gogue will take her twin 5-year-old daughters to their first day of kindergarten next week in Menifee. Her husband, Roy, a Calu2009Fire firefighter, isn’t able to attend the milestone moment. “I know he’s upset that he will miss another first in their lives,” Robyn Gogue said. Corona firefighter John Deyoe was looking forward to a dier date with his daughters and girlfriend, whom he hadn’t seen in 10u2009days, but he had to cancel because of a last-minute work assignment. “My heart dropped to my feet. It was like somebody punched me in the stomach,” Deyoe said. Such is the life of Southe Califoia firefighter families at the height of the wildfire season, where one spouse — in most cas...

LOS ANGELES — President Barack Obama today commuted the federal prison sentences of 214 inmates, including five Southland residents, saying they were sentenced under outdated guidelines. “The power to grant pardons and commutations ... embodies the basic belief in our democracy that people deserve a second chance after having made a mistake in their lives that led to a conviction under our laws,” Obama said. Five Southland residents were among those who had their sentences commuted: • Charles Bynum of Torrance, who was sentenced in 2003 to life in prison in Florida for conspiracy to possess and distribute material containing methamphetamine. His sentence will now end Aug. 3, 2018, conditione...

ISTANBUL >> Authorities say fighting between Turkish forces and Kurdish rebels in the restive southeast of the country has killed eight Turkish soldiers and 35 Kurdish fighters. The office of Turkey’s General Staff headquarters said Saturday the eight soldiers were killed in a clash Friday afteoon with Kurdish militants at a checkpoint in the southeaste Hakkari province. A subsequent operation against the Kurdish rebels left eight Kurds dead, the military said. Separately, a further 27 fighters from the Kurdish Workers’ Party, or PKK, were killed in the same province when Turkish troops launched an air-and-ground operation against groups of PKK fighters attempting to infiltrate an area...

Wildfires have become a grim reality for Southe Califoia. With miles of dry sage brush carpeting most of the land — much of it in steep, rugged and inaccessible terrain — there’s plenty of material to fuel a blaze. And five years of drought ensure a future of even bigger fires for the region. The cost to battle these blazes is already high. With thousands of firefighters on the ground and fleets of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft on the scene, the price for fighting an aggressive fire can escalate quickly. The cost for fighting the Sand Fire, which broke out last week near Sand Canyon Road and the 14 Freeway in Santa Clarita, was projected this week to be around $28 million, and that bl...

SAN DIEGO >> Among the rows of booths selling limited-edition figurines, Marvel posters and Double Dare T-shirts at last week’s Comic-Con Inteational sat an indie artist from Los Angeles who’s locked in an epic battle of her own. Tuesday Bassen sells patches, pins and stickers adoed with cartoon women with attitude, strawberries and snarky slogans. Her work is popular among hip, L.A. locals and, according to her, with Zara, the world’s largest clothing retailer . Last week, Bassen accused the companyof stealing her original artwork and reproducing it for their own clothing and accessories. Bassen began collecting examples of the alleged copies in January after fans of her work tipped ...

There are plenty of business-related activities going on in Southe Califoia at any given time. But few are as important as the business of fighting fires. It’s dirty, it’s hard work and it’s often very dangerous. I realize that “business” may not exactly be the right word. But regardless of what you call it, I can personally report that Los Angeles County firefighters and others from the U.S. Forest Service who battled the Sage Fire did a heck of a job in containing the blaze. • PHOTOS: The Sage Fire bus near Santa Clarita The fire ignited a week ago at The Old Road and Calgrove Boulevard near the 5 Freeway just west of Santa Clarita and it quickly grew to more than 800 acres, prompting nei...

Lawyers for the city of Los Angeles say attoeys representing a former training officer for ex-LAPD Officer Christopher Doer aren’t entitled to view all of the investigative reports and persoel records involving the late rogue officer and want a judge to impose limits on what is released. Doer killed himself in a 2013 standoff with police in San Beardino County. Sgt. Teresa Evans alleges in a lawsuit filed last October that she is being made a scapegoat because of the racial cootations attached to Doer’s claims before he died. Evans is White and Doer was black. Evans’ attoeys want investigative files and Doer’s persoel records to help them prepare their client’s case for trial. But the City ...

GOLETA — The Latest on wildfires in the Weste U.S. (all times local): 8 a.m. A wildfire racing across central New Mexico has charred more than 26 square miles and destroyed two dozen homes near the small community of Chilili. Authorities said Friday that the latest infrared mapping shows the fire is holding south and west of State Highway 337 and is a half-mile from Chilili, which was evacuated earlier this week as the fire ballooned in size thanks to hot, dry and windy conditions. Authorities expanded the area covered by mandatory evacuations oveight to include a few more subdivisions. They could not immediately say how many homes were immediately threatened by the fire. Several roads are ...