Month: November 2012

The son of The Hollywood Reporter founder Billy Wilkerson is apologizing for his father’s and the trade paper’s role in the 1947 Hollywood Blacklist that destroyed the careers of writers, actors and directors accused of having communist ties. In an article published by The Hollywood Reporter on Monday, Willie Wilkerson calls the Blacklist era “Hollywood’s

The Sheriff’s Department’s Palm Desert station wasawarded a state grant of more than $100,000 to fund a year-long effort to crack down on drunken driving, the department announced today. The award from the California Office of Traffic Safety will help coverthe costs of sobriety checkpoints starting in January, along with other anti-DUI campaigns and efforts

Authorities have launched an experiment aimed at building beaches and sandbars on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar opened the river outlet tubes at noon Monday. The peak flow will last 24 hours from Monday night into Tuesday, and the river will run high for five days.

A Los Angeles federal judge has denied a Christian group’s bid for an injunction to force suburban Santa Monica to reopen spaces in a city park to private displays, including Christmas Nativity scenes. U.S. District Court Judge Audrey Collins formalized an earlier tentative ruling during a hearing Monday. An attorney for the Christian group says

The Marine Corps is hoping to deploy some four-footed recruits in the Mojave Desert – about 500 threatened desert tortoises. The Los Angeles Times says the hatchlings live in a special 5-acre facility at the Twentynine Palms Marine Base that’s protected from predators by wire and netting. The slow-growing tortoises may need a year or

The 24th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival has announced they will present Naomi Watts with the Desert Palm Achievement Actress Award at its Awards Gala. The awards gala is presented by Cartier, and will be held on Saturday, January 5th at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The Festival runs January 3-14, 2013. Past recipients

A Catholic bishop has apologized to worshippers for allowing a California registered sex offender to volunteer at a school festival last month. Diocese of San Jose Bishop Patrick McGrath told the St. Frances Cabrini congregation on Sunday that he takes full responsibility. The San Jose Mercury Newshttp://bit.ly/TSmHl3 says McGrath promised to make sure it wouldn’t

Palm Springs police officers have been watching an apartment at 200 South Belardo Rd in Palm Springs over the past couple of weeks. And, after receiving anonymous information that occupants of one of the units had been selling illegal drugs from the location. Also, conducting surveillance of the location over a period of time, the

Players and Coaches at Desert Hot Springs High School came into school Tuesday morning to find the window to the coaches office broken, and their hard earned fundraiser money gone. $1,500 in a lock box and several electronic items were taken sometime over the holiday weekend.Players like Greg Cortez were disappointed to say the least.

Police are on the lookout for a purse snatcher in Palm Springs. An off duty CHP officer and his wife were dining outside at the Chop House on the 200 block of South Palm Canyon Drive just after eight last night. The officer’s wife had her purse on the table when a man grabbed the

In Desert Hot Springs, firefighters were able to save a home early Sunday morning. The fire was reported around 5:30 at the unoccupied home on the 66000 block of Yucca Drive. Riverside County Fire says firefighters contained the flames to a bedroom and the living room. No one was hurt, or displaced. The fire caused

Three suspects are behind bars after a routine traffic stop Friday (11/16) turned into a car chase. Police say, the chase started shortly before 2:30 pm Friday (11/16) afternoon in Palm Desert. After police tried to pull over a stolen pick-up truck on Monterey Avenue and Magnesia Falls. Authorities say, the driver eventually led them

A follow-up on the federal food stamp raid. The Coachella Valley man arrested says he’s not worried about the charges against him. Haki Dervishi is out of jail, released on bond Thursday. Federal agents say he defrauded the government about $3.5 million in food stamps. We walked up to Dervishi’s door in Palm Springs with

California’s attorney general says the number of people identified as victims of human trafficking in the state has increased steadily since 2010. The report released Friday by Kamala Harris says there were 304 victims from April through June of this year, more than triple the number during the same period of 2011. The number has

A U.S. group representing atheists and agnostics has filed a federal lawsuit arguing that the Internal Revenue Service is violating the Constitution by allowing tax-exempt churches and religious organizations to get involved in political campaigns. The Freedom from Religion Foundation argues that churches and religious organizations have become more involved in political campaigns, “blatantly and

Rose Bowl officials are strongly recommending that fans arrive at the stadium by 9 a.m. for Saturday’s UCLA-USC football game to avoid delays. Carpooling, parking at the Parsons Engineering lot and taking a shuttle bus to the stadium or using public transportation is also encouraged. Having four people in a car instead of three will

It was an emotional gathering at a downtown Palm Springs parking structure, where family, friends and fellow Marines held a candlelight vigil in honor of 22-year-old U.S. Marine Corporal Allan DeVillena, II on Thursday. Aaron Olguin, 16, wore army tags that were a gift from his big brother. “He had so many plans. He was