A smoke advisory was issued Wednesday for areas near the ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance due to an explosion and fire.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District advised residents who live near the refinery or who can see or smell smoke to avoid outdoor activity.

People with respiratory or heart disease, the elderly and children should remain indoors, according to the  AQMD.

The advisory was issued after a gas explosion Wednesday morning in a processing facility at the Exxon Mobil refinery injured four contractors, sent plumes of smoke and ash into the air and shocked residents who described rattling that felt like an earthquake.

Fourteen schools in Torrance were ordered to shelter in place because of air quality issues, according to Torrance School District spokeswoman Tammy Khan.

Josh Balbas, a junior at North High School, about eight blocks away from the refinery, heard two explosions.

"Windows kinda rattled," he said. "It was pretty scary. I looked out and saw a bunch of smoke."

Jerrett Schuler, a parent of a North Hills High student, lives across the street from the refinery.

"My house shook, windows shook," he said. "When I went outside, I saw the structure in question engulfed."

The man accused of shooting CBS 8 sports director Kyle Kraska outside his house appeared in court for the first time Tuesday.

Mike Montana, 54, pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempted first degree murder with allegations that the crime was premeditated and a firearm was used.

In court, Deputy District Attorney Rebecca Zipp said Kraska was shot six times, including once in the torso and once in the abdomen. She said Montana intended to kill him and shot him from several feet away.

Montana also pleaded not guilty to a charge of making a criminal threat in an unrelated incident. A felony complaint says on Nov. 6, 2014, Montana verbally threatened a victim with injury or death, though the Zipp said she cannot give details about the case.

A status hearing is scheduled for Feb. 24, and a preliminary hearing will occur on March 2. Bail was set at $750,000. Montana faces at least 37 years to life in prison if convicted.

The house painter suspected of shooting and wounding Kraska outside his Scripps Ranch home Tuesday, Feb. 10 led police on a countywide manhunt that ended with a SWAT standoff at an El Cajon home.

"It appears that Mr. Montana was doing work on Mr. Kraska's house and there was a financial dispute," said Zipp. "And that was the reason or the motive."

Kraska suffered 10 bullet wounds as a result of the shooting, which shattered through his car’s back window in a cul-de-sac south of Scripps Ranch Parkway as he was leaving for work.

Emergency crews took Kraska Scripps to La Jolla hospital, where he was immediately taken into surgery, a source close to him said. Hours later, the station reported Kraska was out of surgery and his prognosis is good.

Kraska started at CBS 8 in 1999 as morning and noon co-anchor, and four years later, he was promoted to evening sports anchor.

The San Diego State women’s golf team showed off their seriously cool tricks in a YouTube video that has generated more than 58,000 views since it was posted on Sunday.

The 55-second video, which plays over the Bruno Mars hit "Uptown Funk," proves these girls have some impressive trick shots. The multi-talented athletes display their skills by bouncing golf balls off their clubs, through their legs and rolling golf balls down their backs.

And the video doesn’t just include golf; it opens with two teammates doing cart wheels and aerials and ends with seven of the teammates simultaneously sinking putts in the same hole at the same time. These Lady Aztecs make golf look anything but slow.

If this is what their team practices look like, we can’t wait to see how they do through the spring season. Their next tournament is Feb. 23 and 24 at UC Irvine.
 

At least one person was hospitalized Wednesday when a car slammed into a medical offices building in Tarzana.

The crash was reported after 11 a.m. in the 18300 block of West Ventura Boulevard in Encino, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Building and safety inspectors were in route to check the two-story building.

Refresh this page for updates.

Seven years after the NBC4 I-Team first exposed lead-tainted drinking water at Los Angeles-area schools, thousands of schoolchildren are still drinking from fountains that might be unsafe.

2008 School Water Safety Reports: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Aging pipes are leaching tiny particles of toxic lead directly into water at drinking fountains, exposing children to potentially harmful amounts of lead. According to the Centers for Disease Control, children are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning, which can cause learning disabilities and a host of physical ailments.

Tests conducted by the I-Team on drinking fountains at schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District in 2008 found lead levels up to 400 times the level deemed safe by government guidelines.

After the initial I-Team reports, the district pledged to fix the problem. But undercover video and internal documents, obtained by the I-Team, show the problem is still not fixed at most schools.

When asked if there might still be dangerous amounts of lead in the drinking water at some schools, LAUSD's Carlos Torres said, "Is it possible ... sure."

Parents have been battling LAUSD for years to provide safe drinking water for the district's 600,000 students.

"They made promises that they were not able to keep. I want them to do what they said they were going to do," said Steve Thoma, a parent at Woodlake Elementary.

Find out which schools might still have a problem with toxic lead in the water coming from drinking fountains. Watch Joel Grover’s full investigation, on NBC4 tonight at 11 p.m.

Four ways to protect your child from toxic school water:

• Ask your principal if every fountain on campus is flushed every day. Insist they do this, as required by LAUSD policy.
• Ask if filters have been installed on any fountains at school, and if so, ask which fountains now have filters. At schools where LAUSD has installed filters to remove lead, its usually on some but not all fountains.
• Send your child to school with bottled water or a thermos of filtered water from home.
• If your child is drinking water from a school fountain, suggest that they "flush" or run a drinking fountain for several seconds before gulping. This removes water that might have been sitting in lead pipes or fountains for a period of time.

A male body was found Wednesday on rocks in Laguna Beach, about a mile south of where a teenager was swept off rocks and into the surf on Feb. 8.

Lifeguards and Orange County Sheriff's deputies recovered the body from the Three Arches Bay area after a resident along the beach spotted the body about 4 p.m., Laguna Beach police Sgt. Tim Kleiser said.

Using a jet ski, Orange County sheriff's harbor patrol ferried the body to a boat and took it back to the sheriff's station in Dana Point, Orange County sheriff's Lt. Jeff Hallock said.

"It sounds like the body is in poor condition so it may take several days to confirm the identity," Hallock said.

Anthony Parnell, 18, was visiting from Nevada when he was knocked by a powerful wave into the ocean south of Thousand Steps Beach. Rescue crews called off the search for Parnell on Thursday.

An avalanche from an ice rink's roof buried five people in snow Wednesday evening in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and sent two of them to the hospital.

The five were walking on a pathway between the rink and a softball field when the snow fell on them, police say.

Four of them managed to climb out of the snow, but there was so much snow that one other person couldn't.

Police and fire officials responded and managed to dislodge the fifth person.

One person was taken to the hospital with neck and shoulder pain, while the other was taken as a precaution.

Inspectors remained at the scene to examine the building's structural state.

A person has been taken into custody in connection with a report of a shooting a block away from Citrus Valley High School on Wednesday, police said.

Gunfire was reported near Texas Street and Baldwin Avenue, according to a tweet that appeared about 3:20 p.m. on the Redlands Police Department Twitter account.

The school went on voluntary lockdown as officers investigated. The lockdown was lifted about 4:30 p.m.

No injuries were immediately reported.

An LADWP truck struck and killed a 16-year-old boy riding a bicycle in Granada Hills on Wednesday evening, officials said.

The crash happened in the 16200 block of San Fernando Mission Boulevard before 3:20 p.m., Los Angeles fire officials said.

The incident was not and hit-and-run, and the driver of the DWP vehicle was cooperating with police, LAPD officials said.

NBC4 has reached out to DWP for comment.
 

The operator of a "revenge porn" website who posted stolen nude photos online has agreed to plead guilty, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles say.

Court papers filed Wednesday show Hunter Moore agreed to plead guilty to charges of hacking and identity theft.

Moore was dubbed the "most hated man on the Internet" for running a website that posted explicit photos, including some submitted by former lovers and spouses.

Photos included an "American Idol" finalist, the daughter of a major Republican donor and a woman in a wheelchair.

The 28-year-old signed court papers saying he had paid Charles Evens to hack computers and steal photos. Evens pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for trial next month.

Moore faces at least a two-year prison sentence.

Moore's lawyer did not immediately return a call for comment.

Hours after an explosion ripped through a Torrance refinery, residents for miles around continue to grapple with ash, a gas odor and concerns over poor air quality while inspectors confirmed that a filtration device was the source of the blast.

A smoke advisory was issued for areas near the ExxonMobil refinery due to Wednesday morning's explosion and fire.

"I have second thoughts about being out here right now," said resident Anthony Scales.

Minor injuries were reported after the explosion ripped apart structures at the oil refinery and shook homes for miles around the blast site in southern Los Angeles County.

Eight workers were decontaminated at the scene. Four were taken to hospitals. Three were treated and released. One person remained hospitalized with a knee injury.

Thick smoke rose from a mangled, multiple-story portion of the Torrance ExxonMobil Refinery, located south of the 405 Freeway, after the 8:50 a.m. blast. The explosion sent ash raining down on vehicles parked near the sprawling 750-acre site and caused what one worker described as intense shaking.

Firefighters found gasoline flowing on the ground as a result of the explosion, Torrance Fire Department Capt. Steve Deuel said.

"You could feel it," said refinery worker Jason Hernandez. "It was like a loud sonic boom. My first reaction was, this doesn't sound good, this doesn't look good. Let's get out of here.

"I just appreciate that I'm here. First thing I thought was to call my wife, my kids, and let them know I'm safe."

Residents reported shaking normally associated with earthquakes throughout the South Bay area. A Redondo Beach resident told NBC4 windows rattled at his house, about five miles from the refinery.

"I was having my cup of coffee and all of the sudden the whole house shook, the windows vibrated," said Torrance resident John White. "I kind of figured we had an earthquake, then I realized, living by the factory for all those years, they had a problem with the factory."

Caltech officials said the explosion created ground shaking that was equivalent to a magnitude-1.7 earthquake. The shaking was felt primarily in the immediate vicinity of the refinery, according to Caltech.

California Occupational Safety and Health officials were at the site investigating. While the unit where the blast occurred was ordered shut down, the rest of the refinery is still in operation.

Several residents noticed what they described as a larger-than-usual flame from the plant's towering flare stack. Flares from the stack, part of a safety relief valve system, are part of normal operations that occasionally produce a rumbling sound, like distant thunder, caused by turbulent mixing of vapors.

Deuel told The Associated Press the flare system was triggered to burn off fuel that could add to the fire. He said the blast happened in a processing facility and the material involved was gasoline.

"Emergency procedures have been activated to address the incident, and employees are working with the appropriate agencies," a statement by the ExxonMobil Torrance Refinery said. "Our main concern is for the safety of our employees and our neighbors."

The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued a smoke advisory for any areas where residents can see or smell smoke. Torrance officials said there was no chemical release and a citywide shelter-in-place order is not necessary, but those near the site should keep windows closed.

ExxonMobil said in a statement early Wednesday afternoon that "no harmful emissions have been detected."

Torrance school officials confirmed that staff and students sheltered in place due to possible air quality issues. Tammy Khan, of the Torrance Unified School District, said the shetler-in-place order was lifted early Wednesday afternoon.

The refinery, where about 155,000 barrels of crude oil are processed each day, has been part of the South Bay landscape since the 1920s.

Community members who may have been impacted by the explosion can call the ExxonMobil claims hotline at 844-631-2539.

Kim Baldonado, Patrick Healy, Jason Kandel, and Tena Ezzeddine contributed to this report.

When Cassandra Morphy travels to work from her home in Jersey City to her office in Keasby, it's a 23-mile, 30-minute commute -- but if she gets her dream job, her commute from work to her new home will take her 225 million miles and eight months to complete.

Morphy, a data analyst, is one of 100 finalists out of 200,000 applicants in the running for a trip to colonize Mars, sponsored by Dutch non-profit group Mars One. 

"I think I first wanted to go to Mars when I read 'Red Mars' when I was like 14 or so," she said. "It sounds like the most amazing place to go." 

Mars One plans to send 24 astronauts to Mars starting in the year 2025. In extremely harsh conditions, the astronauts would build a permanent settlement.

The big drawback: it's a one-way ticket to Mars, and there's no way to ever leave. 

Morphy said she's not scared by the idea of going to Mars forever, and in fact it's part of the reason she signed up.

"That's kind of the whole point, getting there and colonizing the planet," she said. 

"My head's always been in the clouds, so the next step is to go into the space," she added. 

After conducting interviews and physicals, Mars One has whittled down the group of finalists to 100. Long Island resident Nick Buccheri was one of the thousands disappointed to learn he didn't make the cut.

"I've had nothing but Mars on my mind for an entire year, so it's a big disappointment," he said. 

Mars One still hasn't even started unmanned missions to Mars yet, and many are skeptical they'll ever get off the ground. But Morphy is optimistic and is ready to start her training, hoping she'll make the final cut and the chance to make history.

"I'm excited, hopeful. I'm really looking forward to going forward with this," she said.

Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent, a 40-day period for penance leading up to Easter Sunday.

Thousands of local Catholics are observing the season of Lent, and they are remembering Christians overseas who are suffering in many parts of the world, most recently at the hands of ISIS in Egypt.

For Christians — both Protestant and Catholic — this year's religious holiday comes at a time of deep worry and concern, with those of faith being murdered for their beliefs.

"We still have people of faith … persecuted and even killed ... as a consequence of the fact that they have faith in God," Archbishop Jose Gomez of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles said.

The recent mass beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians kidnapped in Libya, among scores of other atrocities, have been carried out against people of all faiths — Christians, Jews, Muslims — in the name of "God."

These incidents add a particular meaning to this year's Ash Wednesday.

"We need to pray more for religious freedom and keep working and showing others that our faith is a faith of peace," Gomez added.

Gomez and the parishioners at Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels have pledged to make a personal effort during Lent to offer light and hope wherever they can. They'll leave the rest up to policy makers.

Two people were taken into custody after a police pursuit in Highland Park on Wednesday night.

The chase began in the Highland Park area just before 8 p.m. The driver lead authorities on the northbound 110 Freeway before exiting.

The driver and a passenger bailed, but were eventually taken into custody.

Police said the driver was wanted for reckless driving.

Confusion over President Barack Obama's executive order on immigration continues to spread fear Wednesday in parts of the undocumented immigrant community of Los Angeles. With a ruling this week that placed a temporary injunction on the president's plan for deferred action, questions continue to swirl as 5 million people remain in the shadows.

That's where Loyola Law School's Immigrant Justice Clinic comes in. The community-based clinic offers free legal services for anyone seeking help with their immigration status.

"There is fear," says East LA's Dolores Mission Church pastor, Father Ted Gabrielli, calling the clinic a life-saver for those who use it.

"This clinic is essential to the livelihood of our community," he says, adding that not everyone can get help. "They bring sometimes the harsh truth that's hard to hear, but when possible, the lawyers are helping them find the path to a better future and more stability here in this country."

Three full-time immigration lawyers oversee 12 law school students and handle dozens of cases throughout the year.

Brenda Ayon Veredusco, a second-year law student and an immigrant herself, says she has felt a connection with the cases she has handled.

"It's really important, in my opinion, for them to trust you," she says.

Three years in, and co-founder Emily Robinson knocks on wood that they haven't lost any cases they've take on, many dealing with U-Visas for undocumented immigrant victims of crime.

"Unfortunately for now, hope is on hold," Robinson says of the temporary injunction. "The waiting continues, but that's all they've done since they got to this country. Now they finally thought they had the opportunity to work and have a life that's full and safe."

Dolores Mission parishioner Blanca Duenas says she's been in the U.S. for 27 years, has four children who are American citizens, and learned through the Immigrant Justice Clinic that she's a shoe-in for DAPA: Deferred Action for Parents of American Citizen Children, if the program ever gets off the ground.

"I'm worried," Duenas says, "because I've been waiting so long for my pathway to citizenship."

Every Wednesday the clinic draws a line of people looking for help at the Dolores Mission. It's the same on Fridays at Homeboy Industries.

"It's a lot of families with mixed status," Robinson says. "They are the ideal candidates for a lot of these executive action programs."

"Everyone has been so hopeful for not only executive action but immigration reform," says clinic co-founder Marissa Montes. "When Obama announced he was expanding DACA and creating DAPA, it brought a lot of hope to the community that this was the right step."

But with so much still unknown about the future of the programs, the only thing the clinic can do for DACA/DAPA-eligible claims is educate those who still hope to apply.

"For right now, we're just going to have to wait, keep preparing documents and wait a little bit longer," Robinson says.
 

It's the sight we all dread when we head for our cars: a parking control officer slapping a ticket on the windshield. Usually it's the driver's fault for letting the meter expire, but Riverside resident Naveed Ghori says the ticket he received recently was blatantly unfair.

Be first to see Randy Mac’s newest investigation: A bogus call fools a former California mayor into giving up thousands of dollars. What to know so you don’t fall for this trick next, Thursday on the NBC4 News at 6.

"It's not right for a law abiding citizen to get a ticket in this kind of situation," Ghori complained to the NBC4 I-Team.

The situation played out like this: Ghori had driven to West Los Angeles to take his mother-in-law to get her passport. After pulling into a spot on Santa Monica Boulevard, he approached the kiosk-style parking pay station, and found the glass screen plastered with thick, black graffiti. Since the screen readout was obscured, he swiped his credit card, and just t be sure, dropped in several quarters, and hoped for the best. When he returned 45 minutes later, a $63 citation was waiting.

"I feel like I've been taken advantage of, because I'm there to pay with all forms of payment."

The I-Team reached out to the Los Angeles Department of Transportation for answers. A spokesman pointed out that state law forbids officers from issuing tickets at broken meters, but added that in this case, it appears the meter was defaced, not inoperable.

That means Ghori will have to pay the fine while he contests the ticket.

"I would definitely want to see...if there's any resolution to it, or if the department of transportation is doing anything about it," he said.

The I-Team leared the LADOT is doing something. A spokesman says the department is in the process of phasing out the kiosk-style "parking stations," which were installed as part of a pilot program, in part because graffiti and scratches often make the screens unreadable -- and because they're just plain complicated.

They'll be replaced with traditional single-space parking meters.

An adorable, homeless shepherd mix that has been wandering between two Manhattan parks for about a decade was rescued earlier this week by residents concerned the pup wouldn't survive the frigid temperatures.

The dog was taken to the BluePearl Veterinary Partners specialty and emergency hospital in Manhattan Monday. Veterinarians, who nicknamed the pup Charlie, said he was lethargic and dull when he first arrived but has shown some signs of improvement over the last two days.

Charlie -- or Ricky, as some people who live near his choice parks fondly call him -- had been living between Highbridge Park in Washington Heights and Inwood Hill Park in Inwood for 10 years, the residents who rescued him told veterinarians. His age is not known.

They had tried to capture him in the past, but he always escaped. This week, with temperatures hovering near 0 degrees, a group of neighbors managed to coax him into a van so they could take him to a hospital.

Neighbor Tina Ilmet, who is assuming responsibility for his care, said the pooch has become a local institution.

“Everybody knows him, but he’s a feral dog,” Ilmet said. “If you tried to approach him, he’d run away. I’ve been working with him for quite a while, so he finally got to the point where he would recognize me and wag his tail.”

Ilmet and her neighbors have set up a GoFundMe site to raise money for Charlie's care. By 5 p.m. Wednesday, it was nearly halfway to its goal of $5,000. According to the GoFundMe page, Charlie once had family to roam around with but all those pups were trapped years ago.

"He no longer has his pack, he's a slow old man now, and was not going to make it in this extreme cold," the page says, adding that the wind chill made it feel like 22 degrees below 0 the night he was rescued. "He is a handsome mutt that was never dangerous. This stoic old boy needs some help with vet bills."

Cassandra Williams, a board-certified veterinary neurologist overseeing Charlie's care at BluePearl, said doctors are awaiting results of a spinal tap before determining his next treatment steps. His blood is being screened for infectious diseases and he's being kept in isolation because it's not clear if he's been vaccinated.