Month: October 2009

PALM DESERT – Cosmetic contact lenses may be the perfect touch to your Halloween costume, but arethey hurting your eyes? The American Optometric Association is warning consumers about the dangers of wearing decorative contact lenses without a prescription from an eye doctor. “You leave yourself absolutely open to eye infections, possibly permanent scarring on your

PALM SPRINGS – Dean Lapin has waited weeks for the H1N1 vaccine. And, like others patients at the Desert Aids Project, may have to wait until early December before the CDC will issue the group the vaccine. “I could try and go with my insurance but there’s a long list of people for that too

DESERT HOT SPRINGS – Voters will be choosing a mayor next week. Election day is on Tuesday and many are voting early by mail. News Channel 3 interviews the two candidates highlighting their individual visions for Desert Hot Springs. Desert Hot Springs Mayor Yvonne Parks has been mayor for two years and wants to keep

INDIO – A reputed Los Angeles County gang member accused of gunning down a 45-year-old man outside a supermarket in Desert Hot Springs has pleaded “not guilty” to a murder charge, today. Anthony Raymond Magdaleno, 18, is accused in the Oct. 10 death of Chi-Lu “Tony” Chen outside the Vons supermarket on Palm Drive. Magdaleno’s

PALM SPRINGS – A worker for SkyWest, a partner of Delta Airlines operating out of Palm Springs International Airport, says he wants the same benefits given to married couples in the company. Gilbert Caldwell married his partner of 34 years last year, and now says he faces different rules when he and his partner want

BERMUDA DUNES – A single engineMooney M-20 airplane made a hard landing at Bermuda Dunes Airport, this morning. Emergency vehicles responded to the runwayaround 11:30am, when the plane heading from Monterey, California, made its final approach. The pilot tells News Channel 3 that rough winds in the area made landing very difficult; he was not

PALM DESERT – The head coach of the Palm Desert girls softball team, Ashley Nietois on administrative leave. Her husband, Ronald Nieto,a registered sex offender is out of jail and charged with three counts of not disclosing he is a sex offender.News Channel 3 first learned about the allegations last Tuesday,we waited to report on

TEMECULA – There is a select group of elite state drug agents that go inside the Mexican drug cartels, gain their trust by acting as one of them, and busting them with piles of meth and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash. In this high stakes game of spying and intercepting, there’s a lingo

INDIO – Riverside County Public Defenders and the District Attorney’s office are fighting over the personnel files of a Sheriff’s deputy investigated for raping a teenaged girl. News Channel 3 first broke news Friday of Deputy Christian Talavera. He’s now on paid administrative leave. No formal criminal charges have been filed at this time against

LOS ANGELES – After weeks of court wrangling, advance ticket sales and worldwide publicity campaigns, the Michael Jackson rehearsal-footage film “This Is It” will open Tuesday in selected theaters, with a red-carpet premiere planned in downtown Los Angeles. Hundreds of Jackson fans are expected to begin lining up by late afternoon for 9 p.m. advance

INDIO – An 18-year-old reputed gang member accused of fatally shooting a man in the head outside a Desert Hot Springs supermarket is scheduled to be arraigned today. Anthony Raymond Magdaleno was charged Monday with murder and a sentence- enhancing allegation of using a firearm in the Oct. 10 death of 45-year-old Chi- Lu “Tony”

PALM SPRINGS– Three years ago Monday,an arsonist started the deadly Esperanza Fire. Each year on the anniversary,family, friends and fellow firefighters meet to remember the five men who died that Octoberday. The families describe it asa sad day, but a day that helps them mourn and find closure. Mondaywas the second time they’ve met as

PALM SPRINGS – You asked for it, and you got it! “Mind blowing. Mind blowing,” says moviegoer Jeff Radcliffe-Nelson. “It’s just nuts,” says moviegoer Albert Arroyo. Paranormal Activity, a low-budget horror flick about a California couple being haunted by a demon, is Hollywood’s biggest success story since ‘The Blair Witch Project.’ “I’d give it that

THERMAL– It was once peddle to the metal. Now, illegal street racing is on the skids around the Coachella Valley. “There were guys coming out of here from LA, Riverside on the outskirts of the area out here street racing but that’s tamed down tremendously,” says Randy Walker, owner of Walker Automotive in Bermuda Dunes.

INDIO – Riverside County jails have begun quarantining inmates with flu-like symptoms in attempt to keep viruses from spreading through the population, a sheriff’s captain said today. Capt. Raymond Gregory, who oversees jails in Indio and Blythe, said inmates with flu-like symptoms are quarantined, along with their cellmates, for up to seven days to help

CATHEDRAL CITY – He’s called a pimp, a thief, and a scam artist by local prosecutors, and now theU.S. Marshals are adding the title of “fugitive” to Boaz Benmoshe. His trial for allegedly running a Coachella Valley prostitution ring is on hold until federal marshals catch him all over again. Benmoshe was first arrested by

COACHELLA – A 32-year-old man was in custody today on suspicion of attacking his mother and brother when she refused to give him money, a sheriff’s sergeant said. Taurino Galindo was arrested around 6 p.m. Monday at a home in the 50000 block of Jalisco Avenue when deputies responded to a report of a domestic

INDIO- U.S. Border Patrol Agents seized more than $1.45 million dollars worth of narcotics yesterday near Indio. Agents tell News Channel 3 a black Dodge Charger entered the Highway 111 checkpoint for inspection, and was referred to the secondary inspection area. During the secondary inspection, a Border Patrol canine team alerted to the center console

INDIO – Joseph Edward Duncan III, who is representing himself in his murder trial, will have a “standby counsel” waiting to help him during his trial, if he needs it. Duncan is charged with first-degree murder in the April 1997 death of Anthony Martinez, who was snatched from an alley in Beaumont by a knife-wielding

The Miss California USA pageant is coming to the desert. It’s bringing a lot of change, feeding of the past year’s controversy. “I never expected to get the title how I did,” says Miss California USA, Tami Farrell. Runner up, Tami Farrel was crowned Miss California after Carrie Prejean was de-throned for “contract violations.” “There