LA Podcast - Mistrial By Fire

Alissa, Godfrey, and Kate examine why the Palisades arson case ended in a mistrial, and how the feds biffed the prosecution. What you won’t see on the November ballot after LA City Council charter reforms go down in flames. Then, LA finally has a city service agreement with LA28, but human rights advocates are sounding alarms. 

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Think Forward, or almost anywhere you get your podcasts.

A mistrial has been declared against Jonathan Rinderknecht, the man accused of arson in the 2025 Palisades Fire after a deadlocked jury 

Juror #4 on the case spoke publicly about deliberations, and the potential confusion surrounding convictions for a holdover fire 

The jury voted 10-2 in favor of acquitting Rinderknecht, and some Palisades residents would rather the effort of a retrial go into the effort of rebuilding. Longtime resident and journalist Lisa Sweetingham says, “They really don’t have the evidence to bring it home” 

Unlike the Palisades fire, the Eaton fire in Altadena has confirmed evidence that a century-old idle transmission line that Southern California Edison failed to remove was the cause of the blaze. Affected residents have to do the calculus between a compensation fund and a lawsuit, though rebuilds from both fires have a long journey ahead 

Fireworks are still banned in the city of Los Angeles

South LA families remain displaced by the LAPD’s 2021 botched fireworks detonation 

Seven workers were killed in  Northern California last year due to an explosion at a ranch storing huge amounts of fireworks owned by the aptly named company Devastating Pyrotechnics

LA Material’s Jessica Garrison reports on the massive black-market fireworks operation in Los Angeles, and how the illegal explosives are entering the city

We talked about charter reform a few weeks ago, but there’s an update: the ballot proposals for noncitizen voting and LAPD measures have been pulled  

Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez suggests in a comment that punting the LAPD measure may have been intended to support Mayor Bass’ reelection. And Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez says that protecting the status quo means the “city will remain broken  

A charter allocation for parks did make it through and will be on the ballot in November: Listen to Councilmembers Bob Blumenfield and Monica Rodriguez discuss the allocation here

Is LA’s mayor actually weak? Kate thinks the charter amendment process shows that might not be true! Read Robert Greene’s piece on power in LA for LA Reported

LA28 presented its human rights plan and answered questions about a city service agreement at the city’s  ad hoc Olympic and Paralympic committee meeting this week

Libby Rainey’s reporting for LAist notes how this city service agreement is nine months overdue and it has not yet been determined where the federal funds will go (or if LA will even get them) 

Read Alissa’s thread on Bluesky from the meeting

Councilmember Soto-Martinez grilled LA28 CEO Raymond Hoover over ICE enforcement; listen here And what do security perimeters mean for densely populated  areas and recently added venues like Griffith Park?

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Thanks to Sophie Bridges for producing

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

Alissa Walker writes the newsletter Torched, tracking LA’s megaevent progress. Find her at @awalkerinla on Instagram and @awalkerinla.bsky.social on Bluesky

Godfrey Plata is the deputy director of LA Forward and is @godfreyplata on Instagram

Kate Cagle is an anchor at Spectrum News and the host of the LA Times Studios podcast “Rebuilding Los Angeles.” Find her at @katecagle at Instagram