Month: June 2009

It’s high school graduation time and seniors are beginning the next chapter in their lives. But first, they are looking back at the last four years, which shaped who they are. “I focused on academics and community service the past four years,” says Hayden Rodarte, Palm Desert High School co-valedictorian. KESQ sat down with the

PALM DESERT – A new adventure lies ahead, one with mountains to climb and rivers to cross, but our local high school valedictorians are suited up for the challenge. “I want to be a genetic engineer,” says Tisa Barrios Wilson, La Quinta High School valedictorian. “It’s quite the undertaking, but I’m ready.” The desert’s valedictorians

PALM DESERT – Sidewalks, public art, even the lights on the trees would have been improved under a renovation plan on El Paseo. Much of it has been around for 15 years. The total cost for renovations is around $4.5 million. The city council just voted the idea down. Councilwoman Cindy Finerty called the idea

Ningunos eventos en este momento.

NewsChannel 3 and the Visiting Nurses Association along with the Nightingale Society invite you to help your neighbors and join the Fan Club. As the temperatures rise, so do the demands for your help. New fans, evaporative coolers and window A/C’s are desperately needed by local homebound and disabled hospice and home health care patients.

TWENTYNINE PALMS – With the U.S. in the middle of two wars, the military is striving for new ways to get the upper hand in Iraq and Afghanistan. More Marines are heading to Twentynine Palms for specialized training before being deployed. Marines from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina are the first group taking part in

LA QUINTA – If you haven’t prepared for the switch to digitaltelevision already,now is the time. “What’s going to happen is it’s going to go static, snowy just coming through there,” says Jake Fimbres with Best Buy in La Quinta about what happens without the switch. Nationally, about 3 million households are not prepared for

PALM SPRINGS – Thousands of students here in the valley finally completed a five-week race to better health. Palm Springs and Coachella took part in a challenge to find out which one is the desert’s fittest city. “It was challenging,” Cathedral City High School student Jonathon Malendrez explained. “We had to do a lot of

LA QUINTA -On May 28th, police found a burned-out car near Avenue 66 and Martinez Road in Thermal. Days later, a concerned family member reported 45-year-old Gloria Garza missing. Garza used to drive the car. Garza’s former landlord says it was not surprising that police found the car in Thermal. That’s because, he says, she

RANCHO MIRAGE – Rancho Mirage is home to a new museum remembering the Holocaust. But with Wednesday’s shooting at the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., Riverside County Sheriff’s deputies are adding extra patrols at the desert-area museum. Earl Greif survived the Holocaust, lost his parents in a Nazi death camp, and helped build the

RANCHO MIRAGE – News Channel 3 is following the International Medical Alliance to Ecuador for a second straight year. Last year, hundreds of people who have no access to health care were treated by American doctors. Many of those doctors are from here in the Coachella Valley. This year’s trip will do the same, and

Love is not abuse, and domestic violence kills millions of women each yet. Domestic violence affects men and women from all walks of life. But it rarely makes the headlines. Duania Hall was in a series of abusive relationships, in which one almost killed her. She now knows domestic violence can happen to anyone because

DESERT HOT SPRINGS – Keith Kroeker revisits the field where he found Anastacio Torres’ body. He discovered the body while jogging with his dog on Mother’sDay morning in 2006. “At first, it seemed like a transient had passed out and, then upon further inspection, which wasn’t that close, I noticed the mishap,” says Kroeker. Years

PALM SPRINGS – As a Palm Springs police officer takes a car out of the station, he may not be able to drive his car home for long. “Not every officer takes a vehicle home, but those that do, they would be on call,” explains city manager David Ready. “It’s also a deterrent in a

PALM DESERT – The Palm Desert Country Club is in danger of shutting down because of the poor economy. It is shocking news to homeowners whose life revolves around golf and who bought homes overlooking the green. “I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly here,” says Dave Osborn, who bought a house along

A total of 123 Palm Springs Unified school teachers will soon receive layoff notices. The district announced they’re $5 million short this year and they’ve got to make deep cuts. The budget is so bad, the district is doing something they’ve never done. They’re laying off teachers in August. The layoff notices sent out June

LA QUINTA- Proposed cuts to La Quinta’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year could mean one less motorcycle officer and other cuts impacting the city’s police department, a lieutenant said Monday. The La Quinta City Council will discuss the preliminary budget — which includes a proposal to eliminate funding for the motorcycle officer and four

By: Elyse Miller News Channel 3 Reporter emiller@kesq.com PALM SPRINGS – The Palm Springs Air Museum was busy on Saturday. Dozens spent D-Day there, getting an up close look at the historical event. June 6th, 1944 is a day that will always be remembered. “I was 12 years old, sitting on the couch,” says Bob

PALM SPRINGS – The rally outside the former Welwood Murray Memorial Library was one of a few around the country to remember the doctor gunned down in a Kansas church last weekend. Pro-choice advocates blame domestic terrorism on the death of Dr. George Tiller. They gathered at the Palm Springs Villagefest to remember the slain

RIVERSIDE- A 38-year-old serial arsonist, who lit a monster wildfire in 2006 that killed five firefighters, was sentenced to death today by a judge who said the defendant’s goal was “to create havoc” in Riverside County. “He became more and more proficient,” Judge W. Charles Morgan said of Raymond Lee Oyler. “He knew young men