A.M. Brief: County Says No Trick-or-Treating This Year

Your kids can dress up for Halloween this year, but if they’re going to get candy, it won’t come from trick-or-treating. Also today: fire updates, another racist tirade caught on video, and a ridiculous price tag for homeless housing construction in Los Angeles. To the rundown we go!

Morning News Rundown

Not a huge shocker, but L.A. County Public Health has some strict rules for how you can and can’t celebrate Halloween. This year, there will be no door-to-door trick-or-treating, no “trunk or treating,” no parties, no carnivals, and no festivals or any large gatherings, even if they’re outdoors. So what is allowed? Well, you can host online get-togethers (a bit disappointing, I know, but better than nothing) or you can seek out drive-through events such as Haunt’OWeen in Woodland Hills or Freeform’s Halloween Road at Heritage Square Museum, both of which can be enjoyed from the safety of your car. [ABC 7]

Fire update: The Bobcat Fire has consumed more than 10,000 acres and is 0% contained. Evacuation warnings are still in effect for parts of Duarte, Bradbury, Monrovia, Acadia, Sierra Madre, Pasadena, and Altadena. [NBC Los Angeles]

Fire update 2: The El Dorado Fire, now in its fifth day in the San Bernardino National Forest, has consumed more than 11,000 acres and is 19% contained as of this morning. If you remember, this was the fire that was started by a pyrotechnic set off for a gender reveal celebration. [LAist]

Racist Tirade watch: A Garden Grove man who was riding an exercise bike in his garage was on the receiving end of a racist rant from an elderly neighbor. The complaint? Alex Wong’s children had doodled some chalk art in a nearby alley that the woman didn’t like. Wong captured the incident with his phone. [Los Angeleno]

Orange County has been downgraded to a “red” designation (substantial infection), according to the state’s revised COVID-19 reopening guidelines. This means you can expect more businesses to open up in the coming days, including (at limited capacity) indoor service at restaurants. Meanwhile, Los Angeles County remains at the purple level (widespread infection), with a current 4.3% positivity rate and 9.6 cases per 100,000 residents. For us to get upgraded to red, we need fewer than 7 adjusted cases per 100,000 people and a less than 8% positivity rate for two consecutive weeks. [LB Post]

In 2016, Measure HHH passed, designating $1.2 billion in city funds to help build 10,000 units for housing the homeless. To date, 228 have been built, and they have hardly been cheap. According to an audit by Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin, the average cost of units under construction is $531,000 per unit and could baloon to $746,000 per unit in some cases. Galperin calls the costs “completely unacceptable.” [NBC Los Angeles]