Month: January 2010

LOS ANGELES -Zelda Rubinstein, the diminutive actress with the high-pitched voice who rose to fame with her role as a psychic trying to rid a suburban family’s home of demons in all three “Poltergeist” films, died today in Los Angeles. Rubinstein, 76, died of natural causes at Barlow Respiratory Hospital. Her agent, Eric Stevens, told

INDIO – John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Indio is one of 13 in the state facing fines of $25,000 or more for code violations that endangered patient safety. The California Department of Public Health announced the penalties Wednesday, which were each $25,000 or more. The hospitals can appeal within 10 days, or submit plans

Do you have an eye for news? If you can bring compelling coverage of stories happening in the desert to television and the internet, let’s talk. KESQ-TV is looking for two Photojournalists.Qualified candidates will work together with a reporter and independently to cover local news events and shooting video that our viewers want to watch.

PALM SPRINGS – City officials announced the re-opening of Indian Canyon Drive and Araby Drive, this afternoon, after being closed for nearly a week. The roads were covered in inches of mud and debris that washed through the area during last week’s rain storms. Stay with News Channel 3 and KESQ.com for the latest.

WASHINGTON -President Obama will ask Congress Wednesday night to repeal the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that bars gays and lesbians from openly serving in, White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod told CNN. The request will be included in the president’s State of the Union address, Axelrod said. The issue has been a source

NEW YORK -It’s ugly news for all the fans of “Ugly Betty.” ABC says the series will be canceled after this season. A critical and popular success with its premiere in fall 2006, “Ugly Betty” has struggled in recent years with audience erosion. Based on a Colombian telenovela, the warmhearted dramedy stars America Ferrera as

INDIAN WELLS -Emirates, the award-winning global airline of the United Arab Emirates, has become a premier sponsor and the official airline of the BNP Paribas Open, the most attended tennis tournament in the world outside of the four major events, to be held March 8-21, 2010, at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, it was announced

SAN FRANCISCO -Testimony has ended in a federal case challenging California’s ban on same-sex marriage. Lawyers for the sponsors of Proposition 8 tentatively rested their case Wednesday after introducing materials from the 2008 election campaign. The trial is exploring whether states that deny gays and lesbians the right to wed are violating the U.S. Constitution.

BEAUMONT -A predawn crash today that killed a motorist and severely his passenger on state Route 79 near Beaumont was blamed on unsafe speed, the California Highway Patrol reported. The crash, north of County Landill Road, occurred about 3 a.m., according to CHP Officer Scott Beauchene. The driver was speeding south on the highway when

CHICAGO -All buildings on Northwestern University’s Chicago campus have reopened as of 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. The buildings were placed on lockdown after someone reported seeing a man with a gun on the 11th floor of the Rubloff Building, 375 East Chicago Avenue. Police searched the building and determined the building was safe. No one matching

WASHINGTON – ABC News has leared that one-time presidential contender John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth are now legally separated. The news comes after John admitted last week that he fathered a child with a former campaign worker while he was still married. ABC News is still working to find out more about the situation.

SAN FRANCISCO -Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the iPad as the company’s “latest creation,” saying the tablet-style device is more intimate than a laptop. Jobs made the appearance Wednesday in his trademark jeans and black turtleneck and opened with a history and update on Apple mobile devices. No price or information on availability was immediately

SAN FRANCISCO -A political scientist testifying for the sponsors of California’s same-sex marriage measure acknowledges that gays and lesbians face significant discrimination in the workplace. Claremont McKenna College Professor Kenneth Miller said under cross-examination Tuesday that he did not know how frequently gay Americans are fired or harassed at work but assumed it happens often.

LOS ANGELES -Authorities are watching the hillsides in foothill communities as a new storm heads into Southern California. National Weather Service meteorologist Bonnie Bartling says a weak, cold storm front will arrive by early Tuesday afternoon but will only drop around a quarter-inch to an inch of rain. However, last week’s storms saturated slopes in

INDIAN WELLS – A small plane has crashed on Miles Avenue, just north of Washington. Two people were on board the plane at the time, and were transported to the trauma center at Desert Regional Medical Center with major injuries.For hours after the crash, trafficwas being diverted around the area. According to an eyewitness, John

PALM SPRINGS – The storms from last week caused floods and road closures all over the valley. It also made for some nice scenery, but is that snow in the distance something to worry about? “We do have close to 200 miles of flood control facilities,” says Jack Porrelli with the Coachella Valley Water District.

BRANCHBURG, N.J. -Authorities in central New Jersey have seized a cache of weapons and ammunition including rifles, a grenade launcher and a night vision scope from the motel room of a Virginia man. Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest says Lloyd R. Woodson, a 43-year-old from Reston, Va., also had maps of a U.S. military facility

KESQ.com News Services RIVERSIDE -The Riverside County Board of Supervisors is expected today to approve a contractor’s bid to reconfigure a frequently clogged freeway interchange in the Coachella Valley. Skanska USA, the North American subsidiary of a Stockholm-based construction company, was chosen from a total of nine firms that bid on the Palm Drive/Gene Autry

PALM SPRINGS -A Federal Aviation Administration safety investigator in on-hand today to inspect the wreckage of a small plane that crashed in Indian Wells to determine what caused the aircraft to lose power. The plane, which crashed around 3:30 p.m. Monday in a field near Washington Street and Miles Avenue, is being held in a