LOS ANGELES — A former Malibu resident was sentenced Thursday to nearly 16 years in prison for defrauding several people out of more than $3 million with bogus claims he had access to stock shares of Alibaba prior to its initial public offering.

Frank Rosenthal, 48, pleaded guilty in July in downtown Los Angeles to two federal counts of wire fraud.

U.S. District Judge Fernando Aenlle-Rocha ordered restitution of $1.18 million along with the 188-month federal prison sentence, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Rosenthal admitted making false claims of having inside connections at Goldman Sachs that would provide him with special access to purchase discounted shares of the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba before its initial public offering.

The defendant carried out his scheme through a middleman, David Kunkle, by making fraudulent representations and pressuring Kunkle to solicit funds from his relatives and acquaintances for the purportedly lucrative investment opportunity, according to Rosenthal’s plea agreement filed in Los Angeles federal court.

To lend legitimacy to his fraudulent scheme, Rosenthal negotiated and drafted loan agreements and promissory notes with the victims that promised the victims significant returns on their loans and investments, court papers show.

The DOJ said that after obtaining their money, Rosenthal lulled his victims by, among other ways, falsely stating that Alibaba shares had been purchased and sold. Rosenthal paid his earlier victims with money from later victims’ funds.

Instead of using victims’ funds to purchase shares of Alibaba, Rosenthal used the money to support his lavish lifestyle, which included the $16,000 monthly rent of a Malibu home.

Smith, the first player to win 100 open beach volleyball tournaments, has been suspended since May 31 and may not participate or attend USA Volleyball sanctioned events, according to USA Volleyball’s suspended list.

The reason for the suspension is listed by USA Volleyball as “U.S. Center for SafeSport administrative hold.”

When asked if the listing of Smith suspension was accurate and what was the reason for the suspension, Liani Reyna, USA Volleyball manager for SafeSport, said: “I have no comment.”

USA Volleyball communications manager B.J. Hoeptner-Evans also declined to comment.

Smith, in a series of telephone interviews and text messages since October 10, said he has “no idea why” he has been suspended by USA Volleyball.

Smith said he was unaware of the suspension until he was informed of it by SCNG more than four months after it went into effect.

“I’m not sure why you are hell bent on trying to mess with me?” Smith said in a text Thursday in response to a question about when he was last a member of USA Volleyball. “I think it is time to stop trying to find a way to tarnish my career. You must have better things to do?”

Smith on October 12 said he spoke with Reyna “who knows nothing.”

Smith said he is no longer a member of USA Volleyball. Nineteen persons on USA Volleyball’s suspended members list have “U.S. Center for SafeSport administrative hold” cited as the rule or code violation for their suspension. All 19 were suspended after their USA Volleyball membership had lapsed.

Smith said he does not remember when he was last a member of USA Volleyball.

“Don’t know,” he said. “Haven’t kept track.”

On Oct. 12, Smith also said he spoke to an official at the U.S. Center for SafeSport after speaking with Reyna. Smith said he did not recall the name of the U.S. Center for SafeSport official he spoke to.

The SafeSport official told Smith “they have no reason to investigate because I am not a USAV member,” Smith wrote in an Oct. 12 text. “She said USAV had no reason to post my name on their suspended list as I am not a member (of USA Volleyball). There is no suspension of non members. If I was trying to become a member, then they could open an investigation. I don’t have a reason to become a member.

“If for some reason there was a serious offense reporter, I am sure I would have heard something from other sources (of course there is not).

“If I decide to become a member of the USAV, I may find out what the issue is but like I said, no reason to do so at this time. Still, my curiosity is peaked!

“The gal at safe sport said there is a range of potential offenses that could be reported including verbal abuse all the way to much worse stuff which I think is listed on their site.”

Smith said the SafeSport official encouraged him to check back with USA Volleyball to see if they would remove his name from the suspended list. More than three weeks ago he said he contacted USA Volleyball again about the suspension. Smith said on Monday he still had not heard back from USA Volleyball.

A U.S. Center for SafeSport spokesman declined to comment on Smith’s status as suspended.

Hoeptner-Evans, USA Volleyball’s communications manager, initially declined to comment on the Smith suspension in early October. On Wednesday SCNG contacted Hoeptner-Evans again detailing Smith’s comments and asking for the reason for the suspension and if the national governing body would confirm that the suspension is still in place. Hoeptner-Evans said she would relay the questions to her bosses at USA Volleyball. In an email Thursday, Hoeptner-Evans wrote, “we do not have a response for your article.”

Smith, 66, has been involved in coaching and putting on clinics since retiring as a player in 2001. He coaches the Sinjin Beach Club, an age-group program based out of Santa Monica, adjacent to the Annenberg Beach House.

“Beach volleyball isn’t just a sport, it’s a lifestyle,” reads the Sinjin Beach Club website. “Our club embodies this by giving our players the tools to compete at the highest level and to have fun while doing so. We achieve this by offering elite coaches and drills that have been tested and proven by King of the Beach, Sinjin Smith. The most important thing to us is growing the sport and bringing it back to what it used to be.”

Smith has also run camps for the past 21 years. This past summer, Sinjin Smith’s Beach Volleyball Camps (BVC) operated camps in nine Los Angeles County communities.

Smith is the third current or former U.S. Olympic volleyball team member to be suspended by USA Volleyball in recent years.

Scott Touzinsky, a 2008 Olympic gold medalist with the United States volleyball team, was suspended by USA Volleyball in July 2018 in response to allegations of sexual misconduct involving an underage female athlete at a camp or clinic in Canada, according to U.S. Center for SafeSport and USA Volleyball documents obtained by the Southern California News Group.  

Beach player Taylor Crabb was suspended by USA Volleyball in 2017 for misconduct involving a minor-aged girl, according to USA Volleyball documents obtained by SCNG. USA Volleyball’s board of directors voted unanimously in May 2019 to extend the suspension through Sept. 28, 2021, after Crabb breached a settlement agreement for the first suspension by coaching at a camp for junior girls.

The decision was made with the clear realization that it would prevent Crabb from competing in the Tokyo Olympics, originally scheduled for 2020. An arbitrator later reduced Crabb’s suspension, clearing the way for him to compete in the 2021 Olympic Games. Crabb, however, missed the Tokyo Games after contracting COVID just days before the Olympics. He most recently teamed with Taylor Sander to win his first Manhattan Beach Open on Aug. 20.

Smith, a 1996 Olympian, led UCLA to NCAA titles in 1978 and 1979 and was a member of the U.S national team indoors from 1979 to 1982 before focusing on the beach game.

Smith won AVP International titles in parts of three decades. He was so dominant that the International Volleyball Hall of Fame called him the “King of the Beach” when he was inducted into the hall in 2003.

Smith even inspired an Electronic Arts video game fittingly called “King of the Beach.”

Smith was also influential off the beach, playing a leading role in the creation of the AVP, eventually serving as president and on the board of directors for the group. He was also a driving force behind the creation FIVB World Tour. Smith also served as president of the Beach Volleyball World Council.

SAN FRANCISCO — The man accused of bludgeoning former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer was caught up in conspiracies when he broke into her San Francisco home last year, his defense attorney said at his trial opened Thursday.

The attack on then-82-year-old Paul Pelosi in the early hours of Oct. 28, 2022, sent shockwaves through the political world just days before last year’s midterm elections.

Defense attorney Jodi Linker said Thursday she won’t dispute that her client David DePape attacked Paul Pelosi, an encounter caught on police body camera video. Instead, she will argue that he believed “with every ounce of his body” that he was taking action to stop corruption and the abuse of children by politicians and actors.

“This is not a ‘whodunit.’ But what the government fails to acknowledge is the ‘whydunit,’ and the why matters in this case,” she said.

DePape pleaded not guilty to attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official with intent to retaliate against the official for performance of their duties. Paul Pelosi is expected to testify next week.

Federal prosecutor Laura Vartain Horn told jurors that DePape started planning the attack in August and that the evidence and FBI testimony will show he researched his targets online, collecting phone numbers and addresses, even paying for a public records service to find information about Nancy Pelosi and others.

During her opening statement, Vartain Horn showed a photo of Paul Pelosi lying in a pool of blood. She also played a call DePape made to a television station repeating conspiracy theories.

“The evidence in this case is going show that when the defendant used this hammer to break into the Pelosi’s home he intended to kidnap Nancy Pelosi,” Vartain Horn said, holding a hammer inside a plastic evidence bag.

DePape posted rants on a blog and an online forum about aliens, communists, religious minorities, and global elites. He questioned the results of the 2020 election and echoed the baseless, right-wing QAnon conspiracy theory that claims the U.S. government is run by a cabal of devil-worshipping pedophiles. The websites were taken down shortly after his arrest.

If convicted, DePape faces life in prison. He was also charged in state court with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, residential burglary and other felonies. He pleaded not guilty to those charges. A state trial has not been scheduled.

In the courtroom Thursday were Christine Pelosi, one of the Pelosis’ daughters, as well as Gypsy Taub, DePape’s ex-girlfriend, and Taub’s and DePape’s two teenage sons. Taub called DePape’s name softly and blew a kiss, and he smiled and waved in return.

A Canadian citizen, DePape moved to the United States more than 20 years ago after falling in love with Taub, a Berkeley pro-nudity activist well-known in the Bay Area, his stepfather, Gene DePape said. In recent years, David DePape had been homeless and struggling with drug abuse and mental illness, Taub told local media.

Federal prosecutors say DePape smashed his shoulder through a glass panel on a door in the back of the Pelosis’ Pacific Heights mansion and confronted a sleeping Paul Pelosi, who was wearing boxer shorts and a pajama top.

“Where’s Nancy? Where’s Nancy?” DePape asked, standing over Paul Pelosi around 2 a.m. holding a hammer and zip ties, according to court records. Nancy Pelosi was in Washington and under the protection of her security detail, which does not extend to family members.

Paul Pelosi called 911 and two police officers showed up and witnessed DePape strike Paul Pelosi in the head with a hammer, knocking him unconscious, court records showed.

Nancy Pelosi’s husband of 60 years later underwent surgery to repair a skull fracture and injuries to his right arm and hands.

After his arrest, DePape, 43, allegedly told a San Francisco detective that he wanted to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage. He said that if she told him the truth, he would let her go and if she lied, he was going to “break her kneecaps” to show other members of Congress there were “consequences to actions,” according to prosecutors.

DePape, who lived in a garage in the Bay Area city of Richmond and had been doing odd carpentry jobs to support himself, allegedly told authorities he had other targets, including a women’s and queer studies professor, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, actor Tom Hanks and President Joe Biden’s son Hunter.

One of those targets is included in the defense’s short witness list, though their name has been redacted. Other possible witnesses are DePape, Nancy Pelosi’s chief of staff, Daniel Bernal, extremism and antisemitism researcher Elizabeth Yates, and federal public defender Catherine Goulet.

The prosecution’s list of potential witnesses contains 15 names, including the surgeon who operated on Paul Pelosi, federal agents, San Francisco police officers and several first responders.

U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley ruled last month that the jury can see footage that shows Paul Pelosi struggling to breathe and the police officers trying to stop the bleeding.

A Wednesday night, Nov., 8, event featured a screening of the 43-minute film “Bearing Witness,” which documents acts committed by Hamas against Israeli citizens. The screening was reportedly arranged in part by “Wonder Woman” actress Gal Gadot, who is Israeli.

During the event, protesters carrying Israeli and Palestinian flags gathered along Pico Boulevard. Los Angeles Police Department officials said there were no clashes between the sides during the screening. But clashes erupted later, with video showing fistfights spilling onto Pico.

“One hour after the event was over, a small group of demonstrators returned to the same location,” according to an LAPD statement. “Those demonstrators became involved in a physical fight that has been widely broadcast. Officers returned to the area and peace was restored. Two reports for battery were taken and will be thoroughly investigated. At this time, we do not have suspects in custody relating to the battery, or for any other reason relating to this event.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass denounced the violence.

“We cannot allow current worldwide tension to devolve into this unacceptable violence in our city,” she wrote on social media Wednesday night. “This is a time of immense pain and distress for thousands of Angelenos. We must stand together.”

Close your windows. Spray down patios, don’t sweep. Wash ash off pets.

Those were among health warnings Orange County’s newly activated Emergency Operations Center issued Thursday, after some smoke and debris from a still-smoldering fire that destroyed a massive World War II-era hangar in Tustin tested positive for the presence of asbestos, lead, arsenic and nickel. 

All Tustin schools and many city parks were closed Thursday — two days after a blaze tore through the U.S. Navy-owned north hangar at the shuttered Tustin Marine Corps Air Station. Schools were already going to be off Friday for the Veterans Day holiday.

The city of Tustin declared a local state of emergency and the Orange County Board of Supervisors declared a county-wide state of emergency Thursday afternoon due to the fire. And neighboring cities such as Santa Ana and Orange conveyed the health warnings to their residents, who still were seeing ash carried their way by the west-blowing winds.

“The city has contracted with certified asbestos contractors to further assess and remediate hazards to the public,” a city of Tustin announcement Thursday evening said. “The contractor will provide a report to the city and more information will be shared with the community, once complete.” 

A website, www.ocgov.com/tustin, was created Thursday where officials said the most up-to-date information will be provided, including future reports of South Coast Air Quality Management District testing.

“Residents are encouraged to exercise caution to reduce exposure during the clean-up of structural fire debris which may contain asbestos and heavy metal particles,” a county update released Thursday night said.

In a call Thursday afternoon, Fifth District Supervisor Katrina Foley said, “If you can smell it, then you probably shouldn’t breath it.” And if you can see debris, she said, “don’t touch it.” Instead, she directed residents to call a newly established hotline at 714-628-708 for guidance on what to do, with plans still in the works for dealing with the material.

Jeff Lawrence, who lives a few hundred feet from the hangar in the Columbus Square community, said neighbors have been experiencing shortness of breath since they were awakened by helicopters trying to douse the hangar’s flames around 1 a.m. Tuesday. He remains extremely concerned about potential long-term risks to his young daughter and others, he said, from exposure to known carcinogens such as asbestos.

Tustin Mayor Austin Lumbard, who lives near the hangar himself, said Thursday morning he shared residents’ frustration — “frankly anger, at this point” — at a lack of timely communication on potential hazards and what residents should do to stay safe.

With such health concerns in mind, firefighters still hadn’t entered the burned-out hangar site as of Thursday morning, according to Brett Cowdell, spokesman for the Orange County Fire Authority. Instead, he said they had a team standing by in case ongoing Santa Ana winds whip flames up again.

“We always worry about winds and the fact that they can fan flames and that they can dry out fuels,” Cowdell said. But with a team at the ready, he said, “We anticipate that any kind of flare up will be addressed immediately and people won’t have any reason to worry.”

Since firefighters haven’t yet gone inside what’s left of the building, Cowdell said there was no information available on a potential cause of the blaze. 

Lumbard said he’s been told the Navy is now sending a team up to the site.

“The city is not in a position to advise on environmental cleanup,” he said. “We’re really relying on the Navy to get onsite, take control from OCFA and clean up what’s been left after the fire.”

While Foley said she was glad to hear the Navy is sending folks to Tustin, she said, “The Navy needs to step up.”

“We’ve got this heap of a building now that’s owned by the Navy, on Navy property, and the Navy is unwilling to take the lead on the response. And that to me is just unacceptable,” Foley said. “They’ve got the knowledge, the resources, the know-how in terms of the cleanup, and they should be more actively engaged.”

Orange County’s congressional delegation also is pressing the Navy for answers regarding the impacts of the fire.

“We are deeply concerned about the environmental impact of this fire and about the release of pollutants in Tustin and the surrounding areas that could impact our constituents’ health,” Reps. Lou Correa, Young Kim, Katie Porter, Linda Sanchez, Mike Levin and Michelle Steel said in a joint letter to Navy officials Thursday.

The members requested information from the Navy regarding the building materials used to construct the hangar, its plans for cleaning up the site and mitigating impact to the community and plans for the site once cleanup is finished.

Navy officials said Wednesday they were working with local officials on evaluating any health risks from the materials used to construct the hangar and preserve and make the wood fire resistant, including asbestos-cement board and lead-based paint in places.

“The cleanup approach and path forward will follow as soon as possible,” a spokesman for the Navy’s Base Realignment and Closure program said Thursday. “Right now, the Navy, the city of Tustin and Orange County Fire Authority are working to determine the cause of the fire while OCFA continues to contain the fire. This is our priority now.”

The 17-story hangar, along with its southern twin, was built in 1942 at the Marine Corps Air Station Tustin to house blimps and planes for patrolling the West Coast for Japanese submarines. After the base was shuttered in 1999, most of the land transferred to Tustin. Hundreds of those acres have since been developed with housing and other community uses. But the Navy still owns both hangars, which are on the Register of National Historic Places.

Tustin leases the south hangar from the Navy and maintains the historic building, with community events sometimes held inside.

The north hangar was supposed to be transferred to county control decades ago, but has been plagued by problems. Its roof collapsed in 2013, prompting a lawsuit from an airship company doing work there at the time. Then reports started flooding in about people trespassing on the site, with a teenager who’d scaled the roof needing to be airlifted out.

The Navy has tightened security around the site in recent years, with regular patrols. And Lumbard said Tustin got permission from the Navy to pay to install a fence, trim vegetation around the site and take other steps to reduce such problems.

Cowdell, who regularly works in the area, said he hasn’t noticed issues with unhoused people or trespassers around. However, when it comes to the cause of this week’s blaze, he said, “Nothing is being ruled out just yet.”

Given when the largely wooden structure was built, Michael Kleinman, an environmental health professor at UC Irvine who researches health risks from fires, said there’s a very good chance arsenic was used to treat the wood and that lead was used in its paint.

“As long as this thing smolders, it will continue to put out toxic material,” Kleinman said. And he said, “The plumes from something like this can travel for miles.”

Those particles can get into nearby homes even when windows are closed, he said. One positive is that most houses in the immediate area are newer, he noted, and so should be well sealed with solid ventilation systems.

Children and people with health conditions are most at risk from exposure, Kleinman said. But he advises anyone who can see or smell obvious exposure to stay with relatives or friends out of the area for a while if they can.

Lawrence said many of his neighbors are now doing just that, or even checking into hotels out of town.

“They just don’t trust that the area is safe,” he said.

But in the nearly two days between when the fire broke out and when official alerts about potential toxins in the debris went out, he said some residents were cleaning up the ash with their bare hands and throwing it in regular trash cans.

The air quality district is still waiting on results of additional testing from the site, per the county. And the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will be helping to monitor any long-term air and ground contaminants, officials said.

Staff Writers Michael Slaten, Annika Bahnsen, Erika Ritchie and Hanna Kang contributed to this report.

Adrian Muñoz, 34 years old, was suspended on Tuesday and charged with one felony count of grand theft of property and one misdemeanor count of petty theft of property. The exact value of what he stole was not clear.

Authorities say surveillance footage caught Muñoz stealing a gold crucifix chain from a man who had died of a heart attack on the job at a warehouse in South Los Angeles on Jan. 6.

Investigators later searched Muñoz’s cubicle and discovered rare antique coins and a receipt belonging to a man who died on Nov. 12, 2022. His death investigation had been handled by Muñoz.

The District Attorney’s Office said that Muñoz had been an employee of the department since 2018.

An investigation is underway to find out if there are more victims, Gascón said.

An arraignment hearing will be set at a later time.

Convicted of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and obstruction of an official proceeding, both felonies, after a 17-day jury trial in Washington, the U.S. Department of Justice said, were: Erik Scott Warner, 48, of Menifee; Felipe Antonio “Tony” Martinez, 50, of Lake Elsinore; Derek Kinnison, 42, of Lake Elsinore; and Ronald Mele, 54, of Temecula.

List: Southern California residents accused or convicted in the Capitol insurrection

Warner and Kinnison were also convicted of tampering with documents or proceedings, a felony, after they erased social-media chats from their phone to hide them from a grand jury investigation.

All four were also found guilty of misdemeanor offenses of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds.

A sentencing date has not been set yet.

The men were members of the Three Percenters, a group that says it believes only 3% of American colonists took up arms against the British during the American Revolution. Some liken the current U.S. government to British authorities who infringed on civil liberties.

Ex-La Habra police chief Alan Hostetter, 5 others charged in Jan. 6 Capitol riot

Attorney Nicolai Cocis, who is representing Kinnison, said his client viewed the drive to Washington as a “road trip” to back Trump.

“While I respect the jury’s decision, I’m disappointed with the verdict,” Cocis wrote in an email. “Mr. Kinnison is a patriotic citizen who wanted to show his support for President Trump, who he believed was the rightful winner of the 2020 election. He regrets his involvement in the events of January 6 at the Capitol. We will be reviewing the verdict carefully and considering all available legal options.”

Kira Anne West, who represents Warner, declined to comment until after sentencing. Messages were sent as well to attorneys for Mele and Martinez seeking comment.

According to the indictment, Mele on Dec. 27, 2020, posted to Facebook: “January 6, 2021 — Congress meets in joint session to count the electoral votes. The Vice President, as President of the Senate, presides over the count and announces the results of the Electoral Vote. We are going to be there to show support.”

Two days, later, Mele posted to Facebook: “Soldiers hitting the highway soon to be in DC on the 6th. Ready up!”

On Jan. 2, Kinnison sent a text message to the three others asking if they wanted to bring a “shotty” and “another long iron” in the SUV that Mele had rented, the indictment says. Mele responded: “Shorter the better. Mine will be able to be stashed under the seat. I’ll bring it. 18″ barrel,” according to the indictment.

The men met at Mele’s house later that day and posed for a photograph in which they all made a hand gesture signaling affiliation with the Three Percenters, the indictment says.

On Jan. 6, the men went to the Ellipse for the rally and afterward headed toward the Capitol. As they approached the Capitol at approximately 2 p.m., federal officials said, Kinnison announced, “This is the storm of the Capitol.”

Warner then joined protesters climbing the northwest stairs to the Upper West Terrace, where police had been defending moments earlier.

At the same time, Martinez, Kinnison, and Mele advanced on a police line on the northwest lawn. Mele called out for the crowd to “Push! Push! Push!” as the officers on the lawn were surrounded, a Department of Justice news release said.

At approximately 2:13 p.m., Warner entered the Capitol through a smashed window.  When Martinez, Kinnison, and Mele heard by phone that Warner had entered the Capitol, they all moved together to ascend to the Upper West Terrace to join him, the indictment says.

As they ascended the northwest stairs, Mele shot a selfie-style video, in which he proclaims, “Storm the Capitol!” the release said.

Others then surged on the Capitol wearing tactical gear and carrying cans of bear spray, the release said. Martinez, Kinnison, and Mele were not accused of entering the building.

Cocis, the attorney for Kinnison, said some of the men were between jobs and “they thought it would be a good idea to go on a road trip. They called it like Cannonball Run 2021,” a reference to a 1981 movie about a cross-country car race.

Cocis acknowledged that the men brought with them ballistic vests, bear spray, gas masks, handguns and shotguns. But those items were for protection, Cocis said, because the men had “heard stories of Antifa attacking Trump supporters.”

More than 1,200 people have been charged so far with crimes related to the Jan. 6 breach, the DOJ said.

Raudel Sandoval, 48, of Placentia pleaded guilty in March in downtown Los Angeles to two federal counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false and fraudulent tax returns, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Sandoval, a licensed tax preparer, owns RSE Sandoval España, a Downey tax preparation company.

He admitted to preparing hundreds of false federal and state returns for clients for the tax years 2015 through 2018. On these returns, he claimed false or inflated amounts of the child tax credit, business losses, short-term capital losses and other items to which the taxpayer clients were not entitled.

He also inflated the amounts of deductions and credits that his clients were entitled to claim, according to papers filed in Los Angeles federal court.

When he finished preparing a tax return, Sandoval gave his clients copies of their returns that were true and correct, but falsely told them he would file those copies with the Internal Revenue Service on their behalf, he admitted.

Sandoval then filed the false returns with the IRS.

Sandoval then directed the inflated refunds to himself, causing more than $750,000 in losses to the IRS, prosecutors said.

“The fire activity was very minimal (overnight),” Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Thanh Nguyen said. “It was just stuff smoldering on the ground.”

For update, see: Smoke advisory issued for historic hangar fire in Tustin

The agency will have coverage on site for the next 24 hours in part because of the anticipated Santa Ana winds, Nguyen said.

Winds were mostly calm around Tustin on Wednesday, with speeds of about 10-15 mph, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Casey Oswant. By Thursday, Santa Ana winds were expected to peak with speeds of 15-20 mph, however those winds will likely hang around the Santa Ana Mountains.

Despite the slight breeze, far less smoke was visible from the hanger on Wednesday, said Captain Ben Gonzales.

Gonzales said that some smoke and ash could still pose a health risk for some Orange County residents.

Tustin hangar was largest surviving artifact of Marine aviation and a landmark for OC

Firefighters were called to the massive hangar just before 12:55 a.m. Tuesday. With concerns of a roof collapse, firefighters attempted to battle the blaze from outside and at one point used three helicopters to dump water on the blaze.

However, about 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, firefighters said for safety reasons they would allow the blaze to run its course. It sent tall columns of gray and brown smoke into the sky for much of the day.

The cause and origin of the fire were unknown as of Wednesday morning. Because of the continued smoldering, investigators have not yet been inside the building, Nguyen said.

“Our fire investigators were on scene yesterday, so they’ve done as much as they can from the outside, which is part of a normal investigation,” Nguyen said. “But as far as going inside, it’s still too early.”

A magnet for trespassers, a neglected Navy blimp hangar becomes Tustin’s headache

The two hangars were built in 1942 for the air station to protect military blimps and are among the largest wooden structures ever constructed; military helicopters later parked inside them. The air station, owned by the U.S. Navy, shut down at 1999.

The iconic hangars, 17 stories high and 1,000 feet long, were visible for miles and been featured in television shows and films, among them “JAG,” “The X Files,” “Austin Powers,” “Pearl Harbor” and “Star Trek.”

A Marine veteran shot and killed 12 people on a college night at the bar in Ventura County. One of the victims was a sheriff’s sergeant who tried to stop the carnage.

“No family or community should ever have to go through what the Thousand Oaks community did that night,” Biden said in a statement. “Yet, in the years since — from Lewiston to Highland Park, Buffalo to Uvalde, Monterey Park to El Paso, and thousands of communities impacted by daily acts of gun violence that do not make national headlines — our country has been devastated by an epidemic of gun violence again and again.”

David Long, the 28-year-old gunman, used a .45-caliber Glock handgun in the shooting before killing himself. Biden said “I am doing everything in my power as President to end the scourge of gun violence.”

“Through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act — the most meaningful gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years — through dozens of executive actions, through the creation of the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, I am taking every action that I can to save lives. I’ve also continued to call on Republicans in Congress to help pass commonsense gun safety policies — like banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and much more — that we know can save lives.”

Several hundred people were in the bar for a country dancing night. Sgt. Ron Helus of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department was shot and killed when he tried to stop the shooting. He was a 29-year veteran of the sheriff’s department and left behind a wife and son.

About a dozen more people were shot and wounded in the bar. A number of students from Pepperdine University were at the bar during the shooting.

“Today, our hearts are with all the victims and survivors of the Thousand Oaks attack, and those who are grieving the loved ones they lost five years ago. May we honor their memories by turning our heartbreak into action and ending our nation’s gun violence epidemic once and for all,” Biden said.