SAN DIEGO — A small Cessna plane crashed in La Jolla Wednesday night, killing the pilot, officials said.

The wreckage of the plane, a single-engine Cessna P210, was found shortly after 2 a.m. in a brushy area off Caminito Claro near Gilman Drive, said San Diego police Officer David O’Brien.

Residents called 911 around 9:35 p.m. reporting that they heard or saw a distressed plane and that it had crashed.

“We got reports that the plane was low, circling the area” and reports that “the plane had gone down,” O’Brien said.

Officers searched the area, but it took hours to locate the wreckage in the dark. O’Brien said the aircraft missed a condo complex and hit a hillside.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration registry, the plane’s registered owner lives in Carlsbad.

The pilot was the only person on board the six-seater and died before he could be taken to a hospital. His name was not released, pending notification of family.

According to FlightAware, the plane departed from French Valley Airport, just north of Temecula, on Monday and flew to Buchanan Field Airport in Concord. The plane was headed back from the Bay Area Wednesday night but diverted from French Valley. The Cessna appeared to attempt to land at Montgomery Field in Kearny Mesa before continuing west toward La Jolla, according to FlightAware tracking. It crashed about 3 miles west of the airport, according to a spokesperson from the National Transportation Safety Board.

“An NTSB investigator will arrive on site later today to begin the on-scene portion of the investigation,” according to the spokesperson. “Once on site, the investigator will begin the process of documenting the scene and examining the aircraft. The aircraft will then be recovered to a secure facility for further evaluation.”

No other information was immediately available.

The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management called the event a “civic demonstration.” The protesters were stationed on the lanes before Treasure Island. According to the California Highway Patrol, about 50 protesters were arrested and 15 vehicles were towed as officers worked to reopen the bridge for traffic.

All lanes of westbound I-80 east of Treasure Island on the Bay Bridge are blocked by protesters. CHP on scene. No ETO. pic.twitter.com/BOQXCAuVhK

— CHP Oakland (@CHPoakland) November 16, 2023

We are in close contact with the California Highway Patrol and @CaltransD4 who are working to remove the protestors that are blocking traffic. City agencies are providing any necessary support. We will provide updates when we know more. https://t.co/N9YO6KEVeM

— London Breed (@LondonBreed) November 16, 2023

The demonstration Thursday morning comes amid a tension-filled week as numerous world leaders, including President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, filed into San Francisco for the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Protests have erupted throughout the week in support of a ceasefire in Gaza, as well as LGBT rights, women’s empowerment, Indigenous people’s rights and the environment.

This is a developing report. Check back for updates.

Can I keep my out-of-state plates and registration “forever,” renewing annually, until I move permanently to California? I’ll be spending three to four months at a time in California.

Anonymous

A: The DMV answered your question. If a driver claims a property tax exemption in California, then they are considered a California resident and must register their vehicle in California. A customer can only claim one primary residence. More information on what constitutes a “California resident” can be found on the DMV’s website at https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/how-to-determine-residency-when-fees-are-due-on-out-of-state-vehicles-htvr-33/.

Q: Drivers with high beams are bad enough. More often, I see drivers with no taillights on. They have their daytime running lights on, but that doesn’t turn on taillights. In earlier cars, when headlights were off, your dash was dark. Now, electronic dashboards are always lit up. There ought to be a federal law requiring all new cars to have automatic-on headlights, controlled by solar cells to sense darkness.

Doug Finley

A: And …

Q: I have two cars with auto high beams. I turn the automatic off and do it manually, as they seldom go back to low early enough when a car is approaching. Who wants to blind oncoming traffic?

John Hamblin

A: And …

Gwynne Willison

A: A good idea, having headlights adjusted if many other drivers think your high beams are on.

Q: Declining eyesight is a serious factor in night driving and any driving. It’s not just the headlight issue. I found night driving increasingly difficult, with glare from oncoming headlights blinding me, making driving dangerous and full of anxiety. I had cataract surgery, and my life was transformed. One hour, minor discomfort, zero after-effects. There are now actual colors and clarity. I recovered 20/20 in one eye and 20/40 in the other. Driving, day or night, is now confident and safe.

John Joss, Mountain View

A: And that’s today’s last word.

Look for Gary Richards at Facebook.com/mr.roadshow or contact him at mrroadshow@bayareanewsgroup.com.

Its iconic status is especially evident in Southern California, where it is known by several names as it runs through the heart of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, carrying 300,000 vehicles a day.

To those who continue the region’s tradition of naming roadways, it’s the Santa Monica Freeway. Traffic reporters refer to it as “The 10.” At one time, there was even a serious movement for Christopher Columbus – before, of course, the explorer became politically incorrect.

By any name, I-10 is an important artery for a region that still depends on autos and trucks to carry people and goods. Its vital role makes it, from time to time, a political lightning rod.

The freeway’s biggest political brouhaha erupted in 1976, when the pavement of one lane in each direction was marked with diamond-shaped symbols and reserved for cars carrying at least three passengers — the state’s first experiment discouraging single-occupant driving. The immediate result was traffic chaos both on the freeway and on nearby surface streets and countless angry drivers.

Although the so-called diamond lanes experiment had been planned during Republican Ronald Reagan’s governorship, Jerry Brown was governor when Caltrans made the switch, just as he was launching his first campaign for president.

Nevertheless, it reflected Brown’s philosophy. “Obviously,” he said that year in a speech, “the ethic of unlimited freeways that attempt to pour cement from one end of the state to the other is over and it takes a while for people to adjust to that.”

Adriana Gianturco, an old college friend of Brown’s who had been an urban planner in Boston, became Caltrans director the same day and had nothing to do with the project, but immediately became its much-despised symbol.

Five months after the diamond lanes experiment began, a judge ruled that it had not undergone a needed environmental impact review and with opposition still raging, the Brown administration quietly dropped it.

Eighteen years later, in 1994, I-10 once again became the center of political attention when the Northridge Earthquake seriously damaged the elevated structure. Although many other public facilities were also damaged, I-10’s central role made repairs a priority.

Then-Gov. Pete Wilson declared a state of emergency and the state hired a construction firm from the Sacramento area, headed by a larger-than-life builder named C.C. Myers, to rebuild the freeway with huge financial incentives for rapid completion. Myers’ crews worked around-the-clock and finished repairs 74 days ahead of schedule, earning a reported $200,000 a day bonus. The tab doubled from $14.9 million to $30 million, but it was worth it since closure of the freeway was costing the local economy an estimated $1 million a day.

The fire put Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on the spot to get the freeway fixed and back in operation as quickly as possible. During a Monday press conference, with workers in the background shoring up scarred pillars, both pledged to do so and on Tuesday Newsom estimated that repairs would take three to five weeks.

Newsom and Bass deflected suggestions that the homeless camps next to the pallet yards might have been responsible for the fire but the suspicion adds to the already raging public anger over such camps.

The I-10 countdown begins again.

Dan Walters is a CalMatters columnist.

Three other occupants of the vehicle were not injured.

They were able to drive to a medical center, where the CHP was notified. The man shot, a passenger in the vehicle, was transferred to a hospital with a wound that was not considered life-threatening. His age and place of residence were not released.

The shooting happened about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in the eastbound lanes of I-580 near Fairmont Drive.

A motive for the shooting is under investigation. There have been numerous shootings on I-580 and other East Bay freeways this year, several of which left victims dead.

Investigators did not release a description of the shooter or the vehicle they were in.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the CHP at 707-917-4491.

LOS ANGELES — The area under an elevated Los Angeles freeway that burned last weekend was a kind of open-air warehouse with businesses storing everything from wood pallets to cardboard boxes to hand sanitizer on lots leased by the state through a little-known program that now is under scrutiny.

The blaze Saturday burned about 100 support columns, forcing the closure of a vital mile-long stretch of Interstate 10 near downtown that is used by hundreds of thousands of people daily. It could take crews working around the clock between three and five weeks to repair the freeway, Gov. Gavin Newsom said.

Newsom said the state would reassess the practice of leasing land under roads to bring in money for mass transportation projects.

Details of that program remain opaque. Newsom’s office directed questions about whether the state has any regular inspection protocols to state transportation officials. The California Department of Transportation, known as Caltrans, did not respond to questions about inspections or provide information about how many properties the state leases.

State Assemblymember Miguel Santiago, who represents part of downtown Los Angeles, said officials should disclose how many sites are leased under the program, the terms of contracts, how much money the program generates and how the state ensures companies comply with the contract requirements.

“Some of those actions could have prevented what we now see happened underneath the 10,” Santiago said.

Apex Development Inc. has leased the land under Interstate 10 since 2008. One condition of Apex’s contract stipulated it not allow flammable or hazardous materials to be stored there.

The fire that spread quickly over 8 acres (3 hectares) was fed by pallets, cars, construction materials and other items being stored under the freeway in an industrial neighborhood. No injuries were reported but at least 16 homeless people living in an encampment there were taken to shelters.

No arrests have been made and Newsom has said investigators are trying to determine if more than one person was involved in what officials said was likely arson.

Prior to the fire, state officials filed a lawsuit against Apex saying the company stopped paying rent last year and owes $78,000.

The lawsuit also says Apex was subleasing to six other companies. That can be legal if the company received permission from state and federal regulators but Apex did not, Newsom said.

Apex has confirmed the litigation but has not answered other questions through a lawyer.

Owners of two of the companies that subleased the property said they had warned of fire danger and other hazards related to homeless people living under the freeway. Luis Cartagena of Eagle Wood Services said he decided to stop using the space for his wood pallet business more than a year ago because he was losing so much to theft.

“Since day one there was a lot of homeless people there, drug dealing, prostitution and there was a lot of theft,” he said. “I couldn’t leave anything.”

Rudy Serafin said he’s been leasing space under I-10 from Apex since 2009. He uses it to store supplies for businesses in the garment district including hangars, boxes and bags. He also stores office supplies including hand sanitizer, which is flammable.

He estimates he lost $800,000. “I don’t know what I am going to do. I am 49 years old. I have no other resources. This is my livelihood. This is what I feed my kids with,” he said.

Serafin said he’s been unable to get insurance for his business because of concerns about homeless people using cooking fires in the area. He said he and other businesses called the city repeatedly to request a cleanup of the encampment. The city removed homeless people from the space once, and then encampments quickly returned, he said.

The city didn’t respond to a request for comment about whether they had received complaints or removed people from the site. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Monday warned against assumptions that homeless people had started the blaze.

Serafin said he and other contractors received a notice from the state transportation agency in May saying Apex wasn’t paying its rent. Serafin and other business owners then decided to stop paying Apex, but then lost access to their properties. They resumed paying and tried to work directly with Caltrans but the agency’s lawyer said he couldn’t negotiate with them, Serafin said.

Serafin said he signed a contract with Apex back in 2009 but could no longer find it.

The danger of storing flammable materials under elevated interstates has drawn the scrutiny of federal investigators in the past. After a 2017 fire collapsed a section of Interstate 85 in Atlanta, the National Transportation Safety Board criticized the Georgia Department of Transportation’s decision to store construction materials beneath the bridge without assessing the fire risk. The department said it immediately changed storage practices.

California Fire Marshal Daniel Berlant said investigators have identified where Saturday’s fire started and what caused it after sorting through the rubble for evidence, but did not specify what they found. He had no information on a suspect and said investigators are talking to witnesses, including homeless people and nearby business owners.

An estimated 300,000 vehicles use the stretch of freeway daily, which runs east-west across the heart of the metropolis and connects with other major freeways. The city has been urging people to avoid the area, take buses and trains, or work from home.

___

Taxin reported from Orange County, California. Associated Press writers Sophie Austin in Sacramento, California, Christopher Weber and Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles, Jeff McMurray in Chicago, and Anisha Frizzell in Atlanta contributed to this report.

The CHP did not have information on the condition of the driver or anyone else who may have been in the vehicle.

Both the east and west directions of Highway 84 were closed following the crash on the highway about 10:25 p.m. The highway was closed from the Interstate 680 junction to the Main Street exit.

A part of Pleasanton Sunol Road from Paloma Way to Kooman Road also was closed, according to the CHP.

The CHP said the lanes opened about 7:25 a.m. A Sig Alert for severe traffic issued by the agency had been in effect since about 1:30 a.m. while work crews replaced the pole.

Please check back for updates.

Because of the meeting of President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping at the Filoli estate, roads in the area are closed Wednesday to motor vehicles, bicyclists and pedestrians.

The area is popular among cyclists and hikers, and includes a trailhead for Edgewood Park.

Biden and Xi are in the Bay Area for the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, which has prompted road closures and security checkpoints in San Francisco (map of seven major closures).

But what about the northbound 87 connector ramps to both directions of Interstate 280? It seems they could have gone another 50 feet in each lane. I’ve driven both and as it is now, as soon as you drive off the new pavement, a driver practically lands in an asphalt ditch that rattles the teeth. Does Caltrans’ plan include finishing those connector ramps?

Dan Hendrix, San Jose

A: Hopefully this will also be taken care of as part of the project. I’ve forwarded your comment to Caltrans.

Q: I understand and appreciate all the work that is being done on Interstate 80 and its ramps. However, I find it extremely frustrating that they can have the work area lit up like Christmas, but they can’t have an electronic sign to alert a driver that an upcoming ramp is closed. I had to cross the Carquinez Bridge recently because there wasn’t a visible notification before the Cummings Skyway ramp.

I would appreciate an email or phone number for the Caltrans fellow, so I can lodge my complaint. This isn’t the first time it has happened.

Melanie Andersen

A: Use the Caltrans Customer Service Request form to describe the problem, hopefully preventing it in the future. You’ll find it online at: https://csr.dot.ca.gov/. I’ve also forwarded your comment to Caltrans as general feedback about signage during road closures.

Q: You wrote about reflective gear for motorcyclists and bicyclists. The lion’s share of riding gear for both of these types of riders has retro-reflective elements in it. This has nothing to do with “coolness.” According to the Hurt Report (Motorcycle Accident Cause Factors and Identification of Countermeasures), two-thirds of accidents involving a car and motorcycle are the fault of the car driver. It is because drivers aren’t looking for motorcycles. They have been taught to look for and avoid other cars.

Most drivers are tuned out, and driving is secondary to whatever other thoughts are going on in their head. They just aren’t paying attention, or scanning the road for potential hazards or blind spots. They are thinking about that spousal argument, a child’s issues at school or their grocery list, etc. If drivers take the figurative horse blinders off, and turn their heads to see what is going on around them, it could save a life.

David Fraguglia

A: Distracted driving, whether because of technology or being lost in worries or thought is dangerous. Paying attention and being ready for the unexpected can prevent collisions and tragedy.

Look for Gary Richards at Facebook.com/mr.roadshow or contact him at mrroadshow@bayareanewsgroup.com.

Roughly 100 people stood along the 23600 block of Pacific Coast Highway where four “ghost tires” were placed to honor Niamh Rolston, 20; Peyton Stewart, 21; Asha Weir, 21; and Deslyn Williams, 21, all seniors at Pepperdine’s Seaver College of Liberal Arts.

“Deslyn would do anything for the people she loved,”  Bridget Thompson, a roommate of three of the victims, said through tears. “Niamh was pure joy and love personified, Asha was the most emotionally intelligent person I’ve ever met, Peyton was everything good. So nurturing, so kind.”

On Oct. 17, Fraser Michael Bohm, 22, was speeding when he crashed into several parked vehicles on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, authorities said. Those parked vehicles struck the four students, killing them.

“I lost my best friends, I lost my roommates, I lost my bridesmaids, I lost my maid of honor, I lost my everything,” Thompson said. “We lost four girls who were going to change the world.”

The ghost tires initiative, created in August by the non-profit group Streets Are For Everyone, takes inspiration from ghost bikes, roadside memorials meant to honor cyclists who were killed in a crash.

“A ghost tire is a white painted tire that is an artistic pop-up memorial that symbolizes a person whose life has been taken because of a speeding driver,” said Damian Kevitt, executive director of Streets Are For Everyone. “We were not able to put the tires where the crash actually happened because of how dangerous the area is.”

The tires were decorated with messages from friends and family before being nailed into the roadside.

“We’ve never placed four ghost tires at one time,” Kevitt said. “And it’s painful.”

Since 2010, there have been 58 fatal crashes and 210 injury crashes along the stretch of highway in Malibu, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Jennifer Seetoo.

“That’s an average of one fatality every 2.7 months, more than four fatalities a year,” said Barry Stewart, Peyton’s father.

“We had a year’s worth of fatalities in a few seconds four weeks ago tonight,” he said.

During the service, family members called on Caltrans officials to implement additional safety measures along the road, specifically in the area of the crash, referred to as “Dead Man’s Curve.”

“There shouldn’t be a highway tearing through a neighborhood with families, schools,” said David Rolston, Niamh’s father.Caltrans officials said they have completed 24 projects of around 130 recommendations made by the city in 2015, and at least a dozen more are in the works.

The city has spent around $39 million on traffic safety improvement projects since 2015 that include a bike route along Zuma Beach, more pedestrian crosswalk signals and intersection improvements.

Another $8 million has been set aside for future projects including median improvements near Paradise Cove and Zuma Beach, and a pedestrian undercrossing at Corral Canyon Beach.

But parents of the victims said the speed of which these projects are being completed is unacceptable.

“Caltrans has implemented one safety measure every 8.7 months since (2015),” Stewart said. “An average of three people die along Malibu PCH every 8.7 months.”

“That math doesn’t work. Fix PCH,” he said.

Bohm, 22, of Malibu, pleaded not guilty in late October to four counts each of murder and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. His attorney claimed his client was being chased at the time following a road rage incident.

On Sunday, Nov. 19,  54 more tires will be added next to the four students’ tires in recognition of World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.

“And we’ll have 10 more extra tires, unfortunately, because until Caltrans acts we’re gonna have to add more tires to those 58,” Kevitt said.

Rolston, Stewart, Weir and Williams will all be awarded their diplomas posthumously, the university said.

“Now I stand here with four huge holes in my heart trying to figure out how to live a life without them.” Thompson said