Authorities are working to re-open two lanes in each direction of the 15 Freeway in the Cajon Pass, after it was shut down for several hours due to a brush fire.

U.S. Forest Service spokesman John Miller said fire crews have made enough progress battling the 350-acre blaze to allow for the lanes closest to the center of the freeway to re-open.

"We have made significant progress," Miller said. "While we are not out of the woods, we are definitely in a better place than we were two hours ago."

The fire triggered mandatory evacuations in the Mathews Ranch area and backed up traffic for miles, as authorities shut down the 15 Freeway, a primary artery from Southern California to Las Vegas.

The Devore fire broke out shortly before 11 a.m. near the northbound 15 Freeway between the Kenwood Avenue and Cleghorn Road exits.

At least 200 firefighters were on the scene, supported by four helicopters and eight air tankers, with more available if needed, officials said.

The fire was 5% contained, Miller said.

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-- Andrew Blankstein

A manager in a Los Angeles city department that promotes business growth in depressed areas is alleging that he has become the target of constant harassment and criticism after refusing to take part in a racially based turf war.

Ninoos Benjamin, 55, hired in 2008 as a director in the Community Development Department, alleges in a lawsuit filed against the city last week that a racial divide pitting African American against Latino employees has developed throughout the department.

Promotions, hiring and perks are doled out to African Americans and Latinos, with “both pulling to favor their own group," Benjamin alleges. Employees of other ethnicities are forced to choose between one side or the other, or face on-the-job retribution, he contends.

A spokeswoman for the Community Development Department said General Manager Richard Benbow declined to comment on the case.

Benjamin, an Assyrian who came to the United States from Iran, claims that an African American assistant general manager, Rhonda Gaston, pressured him late last year to participate in a smear campaign against a Latino manager.

The man arrested in connection to the shooting at a USC Halloween party has been charged with four counts of attempted murder, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said Monday afternoon.

Authorities say Brandon Spencer, 20, opened fire on four people, including former Crenshaw High School football star Geno Hall, at an Oct. 31 on-campus party in what is believed to be a gang-related shooting.

The shooting -- which appears to be the first on-campus shooting at USC in two decades -- occurred in the heart of campus, putting the student body on edge and prompting discussion of changes to the university's oversight of on-campus parties and open-campus policy.

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Student leaders of the Black Student Assembly and Programing Board, which co-sponsored the Halloween party, as well as the Undergraduate Student Government have said they will review all policies regarding the sponsorship of on-campus parties. USC President C.L. Max Nikias told The Times in an email last week that he plans to announce policy changes this week.

Deputy District Attorney Antonella Nistorescu, of the hard-core gang division, will prosecute the case and request a bail of $2.04 million at an arraignment later Monday. If convicted, Spencer will face life in prison.

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Photo: Eugene Hall holds a photo of his son Geno, a former Crenshaw High School football star who was shot at a Halloween party at USC last week. Geno Hall is recovering from several bullet wounds, his father said. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

A former Santa Fe Springs city councilman was sentenced to two years in federal prison Monday for taking $11,500 in bribes from the owner of a medical marijuana dispensary, an investigation that ignited a widespread corruption probe in nearby Cudahy.

“This was pure greed,” U.S. District Court Judge Stephen V. Wilson said when he sentenced Joseph Serrano Sr.

Serrano continued to take cash from the owner of the pot house even after being interviewed twice by FBI agents. A day after talking to the agents, he met with the informant outside a Sizzler in La Mirada, where the informant paid him $1,700.

Document: Read the plea agreement.

When he took the bribes in 2010 and 2011, Santa Fe Springs was considering limiting the number of marijuana stores in the city or banning them entirely.

In return for the payments, Serrano promised to help the dispensary owner stay in business and provide him with inside information. Serrano was one of two council members on a subcommittee studying marijuana stores in the city.

In his sentencing memo, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph N. Akrotirianakis mentioned recent federal corruption cases in Los Angeles County.

“Corruption at the highest levels of smaller cities' local government appears to be rampant in Los Angeles County and in this judicial district, and the need for general deterrence is acute,” he wrote.

Serrano, a health-insurance salesman, had served as a councilman for nine years. He resigned after his arrest.

After he was shaken down by Serrano, the dispensary owner became an FBI informant. He served the same role in Cudahy, where his taped conversations with Councilmen David Silva and Osvaldo Conde and code enforcement chief Angel Perales led to their indictments.

The fast-moving brush fire in the Cajon Pass grew to more than 350 acres Monday afternoon, fueled by Santa Ana winds and high temperatures.

The fire triggered mandatory evacuations in the Mathews Ranch area and backed up traffic for miles, as authorities shut down the 15 Freeway, a primary artery from Southern California to Las Vegas.

Smoke could be seen for miles, and residents in the San Bernardino area reported on Twitter that the wind was carrying ash as far away as Fontana. By 1:40 p.m., the fire was 5% contained, U.S. Forest Service spokesman John Miller said.

The Devore fire broke out shortly before 11 a.m. near the northbound 15 Freeway between the Kenwood Avenue and Cleghorn Road exits.

Pushed by 10 mph winds, the fire was burning southeast in steep and rugged terrain, where it threatened several homes on Mathews Ranch Road and could pose a similar problem for residents in Devore Heights, Miller said.

A shipping container has been destroyed by fire, Miller said.

At least 200 firefighters were on the scene, supported by four helicopters and eight air tankers with more available if needed, officials said.

The northbound 15 was closed at Sierra Avenue. The southbound 15 was closed at Highway 138. The northbound 215 Freeway was also closed at the Palm/Kendall exit. Cajon Boulevard -- the old Route 66 -- was closed between Kenwood and Cleghorn.

Because the fire was shifting, authorities said, freeway closures are subject to change.

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-- Andrew Blankstein

Times reporter Abby Sewell will join city editor Shelby Grad at 2 p.m. for a Google+ hangout to discuss the race for Los Angeles District Attorney, the largest local prosecutorial office in the nation.

In her latest story, Sewell wrote that candidates Alan Jackson and Jackie Lacey are a study of opposites in many ways, but came from similar backgrounds:

Alan Jackson, 47, assistant head of the district attorney's major crimes unit, is a white, male Republican and a Texas-raised Air Force veteran who once dreamed of being a fighter pilot. He has a penchant for sports cars and a flair for the limelight.

Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey, 55, is a Democrat and would be the first woman and first African American to hold the office. Soft-spoken and low-key, she once planned to be a grade school teacher.

Yet the two sprang from similar backgrounds, raised by hardworking, blue collar parents with little formal education

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Photo: Los Angeles' district attorney candidates Alan Jackson, left, and Jackie Lacey have hardworking, blue-collar family backgrounds. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Fueled by Santa Ana winds and high heat, a fast-moving brush fire consumed more than 200 acres in the Cajon Pass and triggered mandatory evacuations in the Mathews Ranch area, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman said.

The Devore fire closed the 15 Freeway in the Cajon Pass and also threatened homes in Devore Heights, although mandatory evacuations have not been ordered there, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman John Miller.

It broke out shortly before 11 a.m. off the northbound I-15 Freeway between the Kenwood Avenue and Cleghorn exits.

Pushed by 10 mph winds, the fire was burning southeast in steep and rugged terrain, where it was immediately threatening homes in Mathews Ranch Road and could pose a similar problem for residents in Devore Heights, Miller said.

At least 200 firefighters were on scene supported by four helicopters and three air tankers with more available if needed.

Parishioners at Mission San Buenaventura were stunned by their pastor’s announcement at Sunday mass: Someone had stolen relics from the 230-year-old mission, including two bone fragments from California mission pioneer Junipero Serra and two from St. Bonaventure, the mission’s patron
saint.

In all, nine items were missing, most of them scooped out of a shadow box that had been mounted on the wall of the church’s baptistery, a room set apart for baptisms and, at San Buenaventura, normally entered just twice a month.

A man in Ventura County Jail on other charges has admitted taking the items, police said. None have 
been recovered.  The relics were discovered missing on Saturday but surveillance videos showed they were stolen last month. 

The suspect, who has not yet been identified by police, “probably didn’t know what he was dealing with,” said Father Tom Elewaut, the church’s pastor. “They don’t have much of a street value.”

The tiny bone chips, traditional relics in Catholic churches, were set in ornate medallions. Though the collection was meant to be visible through the baptistery’s padlocked iron gates, church officials
mistakenly thought the gates were secure.  

As it turned out, the padlock held in place a lever that wasn’t long enough to keep the doors shut. 
All it took to open them was a good shove -– and that’s what Elewaut and police officers saw as they scanned a surveillance video made on Oct. 12. That date was significant because of two incidents at the Mission in downtown Ventura. A man was cited for attempting to break in to a car. The same man was believed to have visited the mission’s gift shop and was later seen on video shoplifting there.  

A 45-year-old Whittier man has been sentenced to 28 years in prison on charges of pointing a submachine gun at police during a three-hour standoff outside his parents’ Santa Ana mobile home.

Authorities said that in June 2009, Stephen Thomas Foust -– armed with a loaded submachine gun and extra ammunition -– told his father that he wanted to kill himself, and when his father announced he would call police, Foust replied, “I’ll have them kill me.”

When police arrived, Foust yelled, “Shoot me, shoot me,” and holed up inside his Nissan for three hours, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

During the standoff, Foust threatened to kill the surrounding officers and pointed his submachine gun outside the window in their direction, the DA’s office said.

A police bullet hit Foust in the shoulder and he dropped the weapon.

In August, a jury convicted Foust of assault with a semiautomatic firearm on a peace officer and exhibiting a firearm in the presence of a peace officer.

Foust, who was sentenced Friday, had prior convictions for false imprisonment and assault with a deadly weapon, the DA’s office said.

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--Christopher Goffard

With just a day until election night, voter turnout is already surging in at least one polling place in Los Angeles County. 

The county registrar's office in Norwalk is the only place in the county where residents can vote in person before the election. A line of about 75 people was curling around the building by 8 a.m. Monday, said registrar media associate Talyssa Gonzales. 

About 5,000 people have cast their ballots in person since the office opened for voting Oct. 8, with more than 2,000 of those votes coming on Sunday, Gonzales said.

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Residents can vote early in person or drop off their mail-in ballot at the registrar's office until 5 p.m. Monday. The experience is slightly different from an election day vote.

Voters fill out a form requesting a mail-in ballot, then complete their ballot by hand in an available booth or in the lobby. Then they seal the completed ballot in a signed and dated envelope and finally drop it in a bin. The last step, however, is the same.

"Then they get their 'I Voted' sticker," Gonzales said.