A California county in the south with a population around 844,000; county seat is Ventura.
A fast-moving brush fire in Simi Valley has grown to multiple hundreds of acres, prompting evacuation orders for parts of Ventura County and Thousand Oaks as winds shift conditions. Firefighters are contending with windy, dry weather and ongoing containment efforts.
Multiple wildfires are spreading across Southern California, triggering dozens of evacuation orders and warnings. The Sandy Fire near Simi Valley is about 15% contained at roughly 1,700 acres, while the Bain and Verona fires in Riverside County have prompted widespread evacuations as firefighters fight steep terrain and shifting winds.
The Ventura County district attorney’s office has announced that Loay Abdelfattah Alnaji escalated a verbal confrontation and struck Paul Kessler with a megaphone during a Thousand Oaks protest. Kessler died the following day. The court has refused a harsher sentence, prompting renewed calls for justice from Kessler’s family.
Seven activists have been convicted on six misdemeanour counts for actions during a Tax Day protest in 2024 that blocked traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. One defendant faces an additional charge for refusing to disperse. Sentencing is set for August; conspiracy charges resulted in a mistrial.