Month: January 2013

A Palm Desert family is celebrating what they are calling a miracle tonight. Sixteen year-old Palm Desert high school student Grant Virgin is back home nearly four months after being left for dead by a hit-and-run driver in September. Balloons and ‘welcome home’ signs greeted him, his younger brother and his dad at their home

A 75-year-old Lakewood man was sentenced today to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the financially motivated murder of his 70-year-old sister at her La Quinta home. James Charles Oudin, 75, was convicted in May of first-degree murder forfinancial gain in the death of Judy Munson. The victim, who owned twosuccessful cleaning

Investigators are still looking for a man shown in several photographs tied to an 11-year-old child sex abuse and pornography case in the San Fernando Valley. A woman who was also shown in several of those photos was arrested last night. Letha Mae Montemayor, 52, was arrested outside an apartment complex in North Hills at

The Food and Drug Administration is proposing the most sweeping food safety rules in decades, requiring farmers and food companies to be more vigilant in the wake of deadly outbreaks in peanuts, cantaloupe and leafy greens. The long-overdue rules are aimed at reducing the estimated 3,000 deaths a year from foodborne illness. Just since this

An Indio man accused of robberies and burglaries across the Coachella Valley was scheduled to be arraigned today. Samuel David Lawson Jr., 40, was charged Monday with 47 felony counts — mostly robbery and burglary — and one misdemeanor battery count for alleged crimes stretching back to August 2011. Riverside County Superior Court Judge Victoria

A California lawmaker wants to protect the homeless from discrimination. Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco says state law already protects residents from discrimination based on sex, race, religion and sexual orientation and he says homelessness should be added to the list. The Sacramento Bee (http://bit.ly/TAp7qZ ) says Ammiano’s “Homeless Bill of Rights,” Assembly

Motorists were cautioned to expect a slowdown along Interstate 10 in Palm Springs Friday where Caltrans work was expected to close two lanes of the freeway just west of Indian Canyon Drive. Caltrans crews were scheduled to make emergency repairs to the freeway’s two eastbound slow lanes and the right shoulder after Thursday night’s hay

Police are still looking for the burglar who broke into a Starbucks in Palm Desert on Thursday. The crime happened around 2a.m. yesterday morning at the coffee shop located on Highway 111 and Deep Canyon. The suspect was able to get into the store by breaking a window and got away with an empty cash

A state report on special education in California has found that school districts are shouldering an increasing share of the cost of educating students with disabilities. The report released Thursday by the state Legislative Analyst’s Office says state and federal funds for special education have remained flat while the costs of educating children with disabilities

Megan Terlecky reports from Washington D.C. as Congressman Ruiz is sworn in as a member of Congress.

Yucca Valley Veteran Paul Cook was sworn-in to Congress Thursday in Washington, D.C.. Cook represents the newly formed 8th Congressional District and succeeds former Congressman Jerry Lewis who served the high desert for thirty-four years. Cook was first elected into the California Assembly in 2006 and was on the Yucca Valley Council before that. The

A sold out evening on the red carpet jump started opening night of the world-renown 24th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival on Thursday. All eyes in the cinema world are set on the Coachella Valley these next two weeks, featuring award-winning films and some of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Movie buffs near and

The city of La Quinta was expected to send out lay off notices for 22 city workers Thursday after the city council voted to shed roughly a quarter of the city’s staff Wednesday. City manager Frank Spevacek said, “”This has been a very tough decision and an unfortunate action that we had to take.” Spevacek

With the 12-day Palm Springs International Film Festival opening Thursday,the box office at the Camelot Theatres was doing good businesson Wednesday. In fact, film festival officials anticipate more than a 130,000 film goers this year. During the festival’s run, it will feature 180 films from 68 countries. “I love seeing the films you wouldn’t see

A new study from the Department of Motor Vehicles shows that unlicensed drivers are nearly three times more likely to be involved in deadly crashes than those who have licenses. The D-M-V’s study also found that unlicensed drivers are much more likely to be the party responsible when in a crash. Furthermore the study found

A Cathedral City man who allegedly posed as a landscaper in a Rancho Mirage gated community has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in two burglaries. Police arrested 21-year-old Robert Newton Wednesday after serving a search warrant at a home on San Ardo Avenue in Cathedral City. Officers say they found several stolen items from

Congressman-elect Raul Ruiz announced his senior staff appointments, as well as plans for a local office set to open Monday. Ruiz will open a district office at 777 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way in Palm Springs and wants to open offices in Indio and in the western part of the 36thCongressional District, said Kyle Layman, his