Month: August 2013

A group of California business, education and nonprofit leaders have agreed to help revamp the state parks system in an effort to restore confidence and financial stability to an institution rocked by scandal. The dozen volunteers include Monterey Bay Aquarium founding director Julie Packard and Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton. The group will spend the

Riverside County Sheriff’s Department are investigating a shooting outside a home on the 8000 block of Bagdad Avenue in Coachella. They got the call around 5:20 p.m. A caller said a man had been shot outside the home. Sheriff investigators were on scene and a search was conducted for the shooter. There was no word

A 22-year-old former UC Riverside student accused ofattempting to arrange the murders of two ex-boyfriends must stand trial onsolicitation of murder charges, a judge ruled today. Barbara Wu was arrested in May following a UC Riverside policeinvestigation that allegedly uncovered instances in which the defendant hadsought to have two men killed. Following a preliminary hearing

One of the characters in Disney’s “Planes”is Skipper, the Corsair. As it turns out,Skipper’s engine sounds were recorded directly from a plane at the the Palm Springs Air Museum. To promote the film, The Palm Springs Air Museum will allow visitors to see Skipper, the Corsair in all his glory on August 10th. The Corsair

San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies have arrested a couple after discovering they had been driving with their two children stashed in the car’s trunk. Authorities say 32-year-old April Burgo and 29-year-old Richard Burgo were booked for investigation of cruelty to a child Sunday night. A third suspect in the car was arrested and booked on

Alex Rodriguez was suspended through 2014 and All-Stars Nelson Cruz, Jhonny Peralta and Everth Cabrera were banned 50 games apiece Monday when Major League Baseball disciplined 13 players in a drug case — the most sweeping punishment since the Black Sox scandal nearly a century ago. Ryan Braun’s 65-game suspension last month and previous penalties

A brush fire that broke out today in the ClevelandNational Forest quickly spread to 175 acres and prompted the evacuation of asecluded residential development as well as a campground. The blaze was reported at around 10 a.m. about five miles west of LakeElsinore and just south of the Ortega (74) Highway. U.S. Forest Service spokesman

More than two dozen seriously ill female inmates could be among the first in line for release as California struggles to meet a federal court order to reduce prison crowding by year’s end. The U.S. Supreme Court last week refused to delay a lower court order requiring the state to free nearly 10,000 inmates to

Without millions of dollars in investments,L.A./Ontario International Airport could face further desertion by airlines andpassengers, according to a report released today by Inland Empire officialspushing for local control of the facility. The report concludes the Ontario airport will continue on a “downwardspiral” that could bring passenger levels under 2 million by between 2020 and2024, and

Firefighters rescued a woman from her home in Joshua Tree early Monday morning after she fell asleep while smoking a cigarette, according to authorities. Apparently, the burning cigarette caused the elderly woman’s mattress to catch fire. The woman and a man left the house when they realized what washappening. However, the woman decided to re-enter

Hoy a las 12:40 a.m. estall un incendio que da severamente una casa mvil ubicada sobre Ave 61 y Van Buren Street en Thermal y que oblig a la evacuacin de una familia de cinco. Segn el vocero del Departamento de Bomberos del Condado de Riverside Jody Hagemann, no se reportaron heridos. El fuego fue

A 49-year-old Desert Hot Springs man who allegedlydrove drunk and struck a parked vehicle and a planter was arrested today. The crash was reported around 11 p.m. Sunday near Monterey Avenue andDinah Shore Drive in Palm Desert. Timothy Lee Hill was driving a VolkswagenJetta west on an access road through the parking lot between Walmart

The University of California, Davis, is adding an associate chancellor’s position at a $260,000 annual salary as part of a plan to improve the university’s image. The Sacramento Bee reports the university hired Luanne Lawrence as associate chancellor for strategic communications earlier this year at a salary higher than any other campus communications chief in

On a warm spring evening, hundreds of investment bankers, venture capitalists and geeky tech entrepreneurs gathered near the pool at the Phoenician, a luxury resort outside Phoenix, for a high-profile gathering of education innovators. As guests sipped cocktails and nibbled hors d’oeuvres, the mood was upbeat. And why not? Major innovations — forged by the

An 8-year-old boy who was hospitalized after being found inside a washing machine has died, and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s homicide detectives are investigating his death, sheriff’s officials said today. The boy was pronounced dead at 10 a.m. Sunday, said Deputy Mark Pope of the Sheriff’s Headquarters Bureau. The boy was hospitalized Wednesday at around

A 2-year-old exotic monkey was being cared for at an animal shelter following its discovery by sheriff’s deputies investigating an unrelated matter at a Thousand Palms home, a county official said. The female marmoset named “Penny” was found wearing a diaper Friday night at a home on the 31600 block of Christy Way. The animal

A La Quinta man is facing DUI charges after slamming into a vehicle over the weekend. Police responded to a call about a wreck on Avenida Martinez south of Calle Tampico on Friday at 10:24 p.m. That’s where they found the 27 year-old driver David Garcia, behind the wheel of a white Ford pickup truck.

A single-wide trailer was extensively damaged in Thermal Monday, causing no injuries but displacing a family of five, authorities said. The fire at Avenue 61 and Van Buren Street was reported at 12:40 a.m. and contained at 1:13 a.m., said Riverside County Fire Department spokeswoman Jody Hagemann. The American Red Cross was contacted to help

Firefighters in the Mt. David area south of Beaumont working today to improve containment lines and put out any flareups in the Relay Fire, which scorched around 60 acres of brush, authorities said. The blaze broke out in rough terrain near Relay Drive around 4:30 p.m.Sunday and was declared fully contained two hours later, said