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The unprecedented wildfires in Southern California are impacting many events. Please check in advance to make sure they have not been cancelled, postponed or rescheduled.

EVENTS

Martin Luther King Jr. Parade and Celebration – Long Beach: The 37th annual parade, 10 a.m. Jan. 18, begins at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and East Anaheim Street (parade route: tinyurl.com/3dhaf98m). Parade is followed by the celebration, noon-5 p.m. at Martin Luther King Jr. Park, 1950 Lemon St. Details on the parade’s 2025 grand marshals and events at the park celebration: tinyurl.com/r7459738

Martin Luther King Jr. Day Unity Walk: The City of Santa Clarita presents the event with this year’s program theme “Mission Possible: Protecting Freedom, Justice and Democracy in the Spirit of Nonviolence 365,” 8 a.m. Jan. 20. Santa Clarita Mayor Bill Miranda leads a brief program (between fields 5 and 6 at Central Park), followed by your choice of walk distance (0.6 mile or 1.1 mile).  No registration is required to attend. For this year’s “Day of Service,” participants in the walk, and elsewhere, are asked to make donations to these local nonprofit organizations in Santa Clarita. Check the needs and the hours to donate directly to: Bridge to Home (a homeless services provider, btohome.org/); Family Promise (a homeless families service provider, familypromisescv.org); Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry (scvfoodpantry.org). Central Park, 27150 Bouquet Canyon Road, Santa Clarita. 661-286-4135. www.facebook.com/cityofsantaclarita/

L.A. Works’ Martin Luther King Day Volunteer Festival: The 2025 event includes hands-on volunteer “action zones” (including activities to help those affected by the recent wildfires), 12:30-3:30 p.m. Jan. 20. Register in advance, on the website, for a free admission ticket. Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, 3911 S. Figueroa St. (Exposition Park), Los Angeles. Updates: www.facebook.com/laworks. Registration and details:

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This is pretty scary, but in a good way because it looks like Southern California is rising above the rest when it comes to must-attend horror conventions.

Macabre Daily, a respected online publication that covers the national horror industry, has just published its list of the Top 10 Must Attend Horror Conventions of 2025, and four of those conventions are right here in the Southland.

“There are other conventions throughout the nation but Southern California seems to be cornering the market when it comes to horror conventions,” said Samuel Santiago, senior reporter at Macabre Daily who compiled the list for the Ohio-based national online publication that covers all aspects of the horror industry, from horror movies to sci-fi and horror oriented video games.

The list was published on Jan.7 and includes Long Beach’s Midsummer Scream, which was launched in 2016 and is the largest of the local horror-specific conventions in the area, attracting more than 50,000 people to the city’s convention center during its three-day run each summer. It’s set to return Aug. 15-17.

Also on the list is Monsterpalooza, which takes place at the May 30-June 1 at the Pasadena Convention Center, and while it’s not a horror-specific convention, San Diego Comic- Con also made the top 10 due to its international appeal and the fact that it’s always had a strong horror component. The Comic Con returns to San Diego June 23-27.

Rounding up the list is Creep I.E., the newest of the conventions which was launched in 2022 and is returning to the Ontario Convention Center Jan.31-Feb. 2.

“We’ve been around three short years so to make that Top 10 list of most anticipated conventions in the United States along with other major conventions here in Southern California is a major honor,” said Brian Boget, founder of Creep I.E. and its equally scary sequel convention Creep I.E. Aftermath, which will take place this September in Ontario.

“We pride ourselves on our celebrity guest list,…

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An extreme and rare wind event is on the way to Southern California this week, with 80-100 mile per hour winds expected in some regions.

The National Weather Service Los Angeles/Oxnard noted on Facebook that areas not typically impacted by wind will be affected during this weather event.

In preparation for what it is calling “critical fire weather,” Cal Fire is moving firefighting resources from Northern California to Southern California, deploying additional crews and engines to  Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties, according to a news release from the agency. This includes 45 fire engines and six hand crews, Cal Fire said.

Units in San Bernardino, San Diego and Riverside counties will increase their staffing during this time. The agency also plans to have more aerial firefighting resources in place as well as additional intelligence, dispatch and investigative resources.

Cal Fire Director and Chief Joe Taylor issued a reminder of the main cause of wildfires: Humans, who are responsible for 95% of wildfires.

“As we experienced in Ventura County in November with the Mountain Fire and again in December with the Franklin Fire in Malibu, wildfire is a year-round threat,” Tyler said the newsx release. “Please be vigilant and don’t be the cause of the next wildfire in your community.”

Out of an abundance of caution, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)  is relocating Topanga Elementary students to Woodland Hills Academy in the San Fernando Valley, according to a LAUSD spokesperson.

Topanga Canyon Boulevard will be closed between Mulholland Drive and Pacific Coast Highway from 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 7 to 6 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 10, according to Caltrans. The canyon will only be open to residents and local business traffic during this period.

The district has taken other precautions on their campuses, securing anything that could become airborne, keeping students and staff away from…

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Two people were injured after a small plane crashed at a golf course Sunday afternoon, Dec. 22, in Carson.

Officials responded around 3:45 p.m. after a single-engine plane, a Sling LSA, crashed at Victoria Golf Course.

Fire crews transported the pilot and a passenger, the sole occupants of the plane, to a hospital to treat minor injuries.

There was no fire at the golf course, and no one else was injured, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

A hazmat team was searching for any other damage from the crash that could affect the area.

Officials couldn’t confirm where the plane was traveling from or where it initially intended to land.

Footage from the Citizen App published by KTLA appeared to show the plane on the golf course alongside a tree and pole.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the crash.

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The Port of Los Angeles saw another significant boost in cargo during the month of November, according to figures reported on Tuesday, Dec. 17, during the monthly virtual press briefing by Executive Director Gene Seroka.

The month saw a 16% increase over November 2023, with 884,315 twenty-foot equivalent units moving through the port.

“We are well on pace to exceed 10 million container units (in all of 2024) for only the second time in our 117-year history,” Seroka said.  “All indications are that we’re heading into our best December on record.”

The pace is expected to slow somewhat around the Lunar New Year, which begins on Jan. 29, but the early weeks of 2025 before that should see another push, he said.

Consumer spending is a factor in the strong numbers, but shipments are also being front-loaded in anticipation of an East Coast and Gulf Coast dockworker strike if a contract is not signed by Jan. 15.

Other drivers include the prospect of tariffs, coming perhaps around summer, as the new Trump administration takes office.

Continued Middle East unrest impacting routes in the Red Sea also remain factors looking ahead, Seroka said.

Appearing with Seroka during the briefing was Scott Kelly, vice president of Ocean Services for the Americas at Expeditors International, one of the world’s largest logistics companies.

“Most of our customers are (in a) ‘wait and see’ (mode), trying to figure out what will happen,” Kelly said when asked what the industry landscape could bring in 2025.

“We don’t know what tariffs will look like, but cargo will move from one country to another,” he said. “Our job is to be prepared.”

Shippers have options, among them diverting East Coast-bound cargo to the West Coast to avoid strike complications. Some shipments are being diverted already in anticipation of 2025 issues to come, accounting for some of the continued uptick in numbers at the Port of Los Angeles.

Others can use air for sending freight, but that…

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A man was fatally shot at the Carmelitos Housing Project in Long Beach on Tuesday, Dec. 10, police announced.

At approximately 1:15 p.m., Long Beach police officers responded to the 900 block of Via Carmelitos regarding a report of shots fired. Officers located a victim, later identified as Los Angeles resident Dwayne Walton, 32, suffering from life-threatening gunshot wounds. Despite receiving medical aid, Walton was declared dead at the scene.

It is unknown if the shooting was gang-related, spokesman Richard Mejia said.

Homicide detectives are investigating the motive and circumstances of the shooting, and no further details are available at this time.

Detectives believe there may be additional witnesses. Anyone with information about this shooting is urged to contact Homicide Detectives Eric Thai and Chasen Contreras at 562-570-7244 or submit an anonymous tip to “LA Crime Stoppers” by calling 800-222-8477.

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