A federal grand jury indicted the 29-year-old man accused of starting a fire that eventuallybecame the deadlyPacific Palisades wildfirethat killed 12 people anddestroyed large swathsof Los Angeles earlier this year. Jonathan Rinderknecht, who was arrested in Florida but previously lived in the Pacific Palisades, was charged with three counts related …
Read More »What You Tell an AI Chatbot Could One Day Be Evidence in a Criminal Trial
On Wednesday, the Department of Justice announced the arrest of Jonathan Rinderknecht, who was federally charged for setting the blaze that eventually became the massive and deadly Palisades Fire, which ravaged coastal communities of Los Angeles County throughout the month of January. Authorities mentioned various pieces of evidence that they …
Read More »Suspect in Palisades Fire Allegedly Used ChatGPT to Generate Images of Burning Forests and Cities
More than eight months after the devastating Palisades Fire in Los Angeles County was finally contained, the Department of Justice today announced that it had made an arrest in connection with the massive January blaze, which killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of structures in coastal communities, becoming one of …
Read More »'You Got Fucking Lucky': One Family's Improbable L.A. Fire Story
M y wife — as usual — understood the situation before I did. The night before, Monday, Jan. 6, we’d both been awoken by the wind. Hundred-year-old pine branches snapping off like matchsticks. Iron lawn furniture tumbling across the yard. Our dog, shaking, tried to crawl under our pillows. “This …
Read More »'It's All Gone': Devastation, Survival, and Hope From the California Fires
T he sun rose over Los Angeles County at 6:59 a.m. on Jan. 7 with many of its residents already on high alert. In Malibu, David Hertz had spent most of the night prowling around Xanabu, his aptly named 150-acre property nestled four miles above the Pacific Coast Highway. Hertz …
Read More »Why Los Angeles Burned
W e’re in serious trouble. That’s the message I saw written in the ashes of Los Angeles. And by “we,” I mean every human on this planet, rich or poor, young or old, Black or white or brown. In L.A., an $83 million house with 18 bedrooms and six bathrooms …
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