Month: September 2013

The National Date Festival will accept applications untilOct. 9 for the Queen Scheherazade Scholarship Pageant, a spokeswoman saidtoday. Applications are available through Riverside County high schools, theRiverside County Fairgrounds administration office and the Riverside CountyFair & National Date Festival website, according to festival spokeswomanVeronica Casper. Pageant applicants must “exhibit exceptional character,” have at leasta 3.0

A valley man is in custody after a high speed chase that started as a test drive at a local car dealership. The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said Carlos Contreras of Coachella allegedly tried to steal a vehicle from Palm Springs Motors in Cathedral City. Local car dealerships say its a technique thieves have started

State officials are renewing warnings about distracted driving following four serious crashes involving highway workers and law officers in construction zones. The Sacramento Bee reports 15 people including several Caltrans workers, a California Highway Patrol officer and six community service cleanup crew members were injured in highway crashes over three days in mid-September. The incidents

The U.S. Air Force has test-launched an unarmed Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile from California. The missile lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 3:33 a.m. PDT Thursday. It was the second Minuteman launch from Vandenberg this week. The first was launched early Sunday. No details of the test were released. Such tests typically

A high wind warning is set to go in effect this afternoon in the Coachella Valley and the mountains of Riverside County, where gusts up to 65 miles per hour were expected to create dangerous driving conditions. “A deepening trough of low pressure will move through the region, resulting in stronger onshore flow,” according to

John Loe rides his bike to work every day. “Most of the time, people give you a respectful distance, but there are times when drivers it seems get as close as they possibly can on purpose to freak us out. And it does freak us out,” Loe said. A new law aims to make sure

The average student stresses about pop quizzes and grades on his or her next report card. Now, some worry about a different kind of scholastic measurement: their body mass index. Elementary schools in 19 states, including California, are testing students’ body mass index, or BMI. Those measurements are then sent home to parents as reports,

A man is wanted by Indio police after being accused of showing porn to two teenage girls as they were walking to school Tuesday morning, according to authorities. The two girls were walking inseparatelocations in the area of Avenue 48 and Jackson when a man in his late teens or early twenties approached the gitls

Los sobrevivientes se refugiaban el mircoles en albergues improvisados con pedazos de madera y sbanas, un da despus que sus casas de adobe se vinieron abajo en un terremoto que ha dejado 285 muertos en el suroeste de Pakistn y que hizo surgir una nueva isla en el Mar de Omn. Mientras esperaban que la

The Coachella Valley’s first two human cases of West Nile virus (WNV) have been confirmed by the Riverside County Department of Public Health. The Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District received confirmation September 24 that a 23 -year-old woman in the Thermal area and an 81-year-old Palm Springs man contracted the virus. Both residents

It may not be the list USC officials want to be on,but the university was ranked fourth today on Playboy magazine’s list of thenation’s Top 10 Party Schools. USC was the only California university to make the list, which rankedWest Virginia University as the top party school in the nation. According to the magazine, the

A man stole a car during a test drive this morning in Rancho Mirage, leading to a high speed pursuit that ended in Burmuda Dunes, according to the Riverside CountySheriff’sOffice. The suspect took the car, a 2011 Chevy Malibu, near the area of Palm Springs Motors. How he managed to carjack the vehicle during the

Skipper Jimmy Spithill and Oracle Team USA have won the America’s Cup with one of the greatest comebacks in sports history. Spithill steered Oracle’s space-age, 72-foot catamaran to its eighth straight victory, speeding past Dean Barker and Emirates Team New Zealand in the winner-take-all Race 19 on San Francisco Bay to keep the oldest trophy

A fire damaged a garage at a Desert HotSprings home today, but no injuries were reported, a county fire departmentspokesman said. The fire was reported at 8:30 a.m. in the 66300 block of EstrellaAvenue. Firefighters contained the blaze to the garage, which sustained“minimal” damage, Riverside County Fire Department spokesman Mark Annas said. The cause was

Gov. Jerry Brown has put his signature on a bill that will hike California’s minimum wage to $10 an hour within three years. The legislation signed Wednesday will raise the current minimum of $8 an hour to $9 on July 1, 2014, and then to $10 on Jan. 1, 2016. It’s the first increase in

A free event today will showcase Thousand Palms businesses. Businesses and county agencies will set up informational booths at the Thousand Palms Community Center, 31-198 Robert Road. The event, which begins at 4 p.m., is organized by the Coachella Valley Enterprise Zone, Thousand Palms Chamber of Commerce, Desert Recreation District and Riverside County. Prizes and

A Cathedral City man is facing charges this morning accused of resisting arrest and fighting with a police officer. Police arrested 27-year-old German Alverdin Tuesday morning in La Quinta. It started as a routine traffic stop when an officer pulled him over near Jefferson and Independence Way. Police say Alverdin was driving without a license.

More than $1.14 million in property tax overpayments that went unclaimed by hundreds of individuals and businesses in Riverside County was deposited into the county’s general fund today by the Board of Supervisors, several of whom expressed regret that the money couldn’t be returned to taxpayers. “I can’t help but wonder what we’re not doing

The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in the Inland Empire dropped Wednesday for the seventh consecutive day, falling 1.3 cents to $3.96. The average price in Riverside and San Bernardino counties is 5.3 cents less than one week ago and 15.7 cents lower than one year ago but 13.1 cents more