Month: February 2013

A federal judge in Los Angeles has ruled that a lawsuit brought by a lesbian Army veteran and her wife over the denial of disability benefits can move forward over the objections of the Department of Justice. U.S. District Judge Consuelo Marshall refused Monday to dismiss Tracey Cooper-Harris’ challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage

Backers of an initiative to increase the cigarette tax by $1 per pack and raise taxes on other tobacco products to expand financial aid for California residents enrolled at public universities received permission today from Secretary of State Debra Bowen to begin gathering signatures. What backers have dubbed as The California Residents College Accessibility and

Costs to operate the county hospital are exceeding revenues by tens of millions of dollars, while higher labor and service expenses are certain to leave the sheriff’s and fire departments’ budgets in the red at the end of the current fiscal year, according to a report Riverside County supervisors will review today. The Executive Office’s

Hundreds of police chiefs from all over California are in the Coachella Valley for the 36th Annual CPCA Training Symposium. The California Police Chief’s Association gathers every year to learn from one another. This year the conference is in Palm Springs. “It makes us all better when we see others doing better,” said Los Angeles

Jordan Kalsen now speaks with confidence. “I had no idea what to say, then a couple years later, I learned how to say the words right,” he said. That’s because of Head Start, a program that helps kids do just that – get a head start on life. “It’s really meant to work with children

The 12th annual Native FilmFest, which featuresfilms by, about and starring Native Americans and other indigenous peoples,opens in Palm Springs this week. Feature films, documentaries and shorts will be shown Feb. 27-March 3 atCamelot Theatres, and filmmakers and actors will answer questions afterward.The festival is organized by the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum. On Tuesday night,

Join us at any CPK in the state of California for a fundraising event to help support the families of fallen Police Officer Crain and Detective MacKay. February 25-28, 2013 (all day) Monday through Thursday. Just click here and print the flyer. When you visit CPK, present it to your server, and 20% of your

Five men were involved in the “cold-blooded, calculated”murder-for-hire of a La Quinta artist, a prosecutor told jurors today in thetrial of two of the alleged culprits, but one of them insisted he shot thevictim in self-defense and claimed there were inconsistencies in statements byprosecution witnesses. Jesse Dean Nava and Jerry Eugene Reynolds are both representingthemselves

C. Everett Koop, who raised the profile of the nation’s surgeon general by speaking frankly about AIDS and the dangers of smoking, has died in New Hampshire. He was 96. An assistant at Koop’s Dartmouth institute, Susan Wills, says he died Monday. She hasn’t disclosed his cause of death. Surgeons general before Koop were low-profile,

Palm Desert Police are still searching for a man suspected of assaulting and robbing a woman Friday night in a parking lot behind El Paseo. Around 9 p.m., the woman had just left a restaurant and was walking to her car when the suspectapproachedher, physicallyassaultedher, and stole her purse. With the purse in hand, the

Secretary of State Debra Bowen today announced that a proposed measure increasing cigarette tax by $1 per pack may begin collecting signatures. Supporters of the new proposal estimate the tax would generate over $800 million in revenue annually, most of which would go toward expanding financial aid for students enrolled at University of California and

El operativo se llev a cabo el 21 de Febrero en la ciudad de Palm Desert, teniendo como resultado tres mujeres tras las rejas bajo sospecha de prostituirse. Se trata de Torri Wilkinson de 31 aos residente de Salt Lake City, Yunhua Le de 40 de San Gabriel y Tricia Rodrguez de 25 de Coachella.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE-Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained ANIMATED SHORT FILM-Paperman ANIMATED FEATURE FILM-Brave CINEMATOGRAPHY-Claudio Miranda, Life of Pi VISUAL EFFECTS-Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott, Life of Pi COSTUME DESIGN-Jacqueline Durran, Anna Karenina MAKEUP AND HAIR STYLING-Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell, Les Miserables SHORT FILM-Curfew DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT-Inocente DOCUMENTARY

Three women are facing prostitution charges this morning after police conducted an undercover sting operation. The operation was conducted on Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. within the city of Palm Desert. During the operation, three women nwere arrested on suspicion prostitution: Torri Wilkinson, 31, from Salt Lake City, Yunhua Lu, 40, from San Gabriel, California

The Coast Guard is searching the waters south of San Francisco for four people who went missing after they reported their sailboat was sinking. Lt. Heather Lampert said the group, which included two children under 8, was about 65 miles off Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay when they called for help Sunday afternoon.

Opening statements will are scheduled Monday in the retrial of two men accused in the murder-for-hire of a La Quinta artist. Jesse Dean Nava and Jerry Eugene Reynolds were convicted in February 2007 of murder and a special circumstance allegation of murder for financial gain in the slaying of Bernardo Gouthier on Oct. 25, 1997,

The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in the Inland Empire increased Monday for the 28th consecutive day, rising three-tenths of a cent to $4.288, its highest amount since Oct. 25. The average price in Riverside and San Bernardino counties has risen 57.2 cents during the streak, including one-tenth of a cent

A mobile home in Thermal was destroyed by fire, a Riverside County Fire Department spokeswoman said today. The fire in the 85500 block of Airport Boulevard was reported at 10:40 p.m. Sunday, said Riverside County Fire Department spokeswoman Jody Hagemann. The home was fully involved when 17 firefighters arrived in four engines, she said. The

We’re not in Hollywood but there was Oscar fever flooding the Valley on Sunday. A special screening of the Academy Awards at the Mary Pickford Theater in Cathedral City brought the glitz and glam of Los Angeles right here to the desert. “All of the lights and cameras, it’s exciting,” said Jazmin Simon, a senior

A man walking along westbound Interstate 10 in Indio was struck and killed by a sedan whose driver fled the scene, the California Highway Patrol reported Sunday. The victim was later identified by the Riverside County Coroner’s Office as Antonio Salazar, 27, of Thermal. Officers were dispatched at 11:38 p.m. Saturday to the freeway east