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LOS ANGELES -The Los Angeles City Council has voted to eliminate 3,000 city jobs to balance the budget. The decision on Thursday comes a day after a major credit-rating agency issued a gloomy outlook for the city’s financial situation. Moody’s Investors Service downgraded its opinion of the city’s finances from “stable” to “negative” because the

PALM DESERT – Who says it doesn’t pay to drink your milk? “Got Milk?” recently partnered with rocker Jesse “Boots Electric” Hughes from Eagles of Death Metal to help judge its White Hold High School Arts Giveaway. In exchange, Hughes got to choose which high school arts program should get $5,000. He chose Palm Desert

BLUEFIELD, W. Va. -The military says a Navy helicopter has crashed during a training exercise in a remote, hilly area of West Virginia, injuring at least four. West Virginia Air National Guard Lt. Col. Harrison Gilliamsays the accident occurred about 20 miles south of Lewisburg about 2 p.m. EST Thursday. The helicopter was participating in

INDIAN WELLS -The BNP Paribas Open will hold a “Hit For Haiti” exhibition on the evening of Friday, March 12. It will feature former BNP Paribas Open champions with a combined total of 44 Grand Slam singles titles, and is expected to raise a minimum of $1 Million for Haiti relief efforts. Larry Ellison, who

SACRAMENTO -California lawmakers are expected to begin chiseling away at a $20 billion deficit as part of a special legislative session ordered by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Democrats in the Senate scheduled budget votes Thursday that they say will prevent a cash crisis this spring. Already, today, theyapproved a bill ending three-day-a-month furloughs for tens of

RIVERSIDE -Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina will campaign from one end of Riverside County to the other today. The former Hewlett-Packard officer chief executive has two scheduled speaking engagements — one in Palm Desert and the other in Riverside. Her first appearance will be at a 12:30 p.m. meeting of the Lincoln Club of the

SAN DIMAS -The California Highway Patrol says a hillside has collapsed and closed a freeway transition road in San Dimas. The hillside gave way around 8:45 a.m. Thursday. No damage or injuries are reported. Tons of dirt and boulders are on the quarter-mile-long transition roadway between the northbound State Route 71 and the northbound State

LOS ANGELES -Kathryn Grayson, whose beauty and lilting soprano voice brightened some of the most popular movie musicals of the 1940s and ’50s, has died. She was 88. Grayson’s longtime companion and secretary, Sally Sherman, says the actress died Wednesday of natural causes at her Los Angeles home. Grayson starred in such popular MGM musicals

PALM SPRINGS -A 12.2 percent drop in violent crimes in Palm Springs last year is due to hard work and new crime-fighting tools, the city’s police chief said today. “The dramatic decrease in crime is a direct result of the extremely hard work of all the men and women, sworn and civilian, along with your

WASHINGTON -Automotive analysts are divided over the effects of another possible Toyota recall. Toyota is considering a recall of its Corolla subcompact after complaints about power steering problems. The managing director at Advanced Research Japan says another recall would deal a major blow to the world’s largest automaker. He called it “another big, big negative.”

NEAR DESERT HOT SPRINGS -A mobile home caught fire this afternoon in a trailer park near Desert Hot Springs, but there were no injuries. Firefighters were sent around 4:30 p.m. to the Palm Drive Trailer Park at 14881 Palm Drive near 15th Avenue and quickly put out the blaze, according to broadcast reports. The American

PALM SPRINGS -An alleged child predator who used MySpace to meet girls will stand trial. Tuesday,a judge ordered 32 year old Joshua Threlkeld to stand trial on 135 counts. He’ll be in court on March 24. We first told you about Threlkeld in Octoberwhen he was first charged with kidnapping to commit rape, aggravated assault,

PALM DESERT -The Palm Springs City Council will consider tonight whether to approve a proposed restructuring of the city’s Business Improvement District. Council members will consider whether to change the way the city collects the assessment fees that fund the district, which includes uptown and downtown businesses. Under the restructuring, businesses would be charged based

YUCAIPA – A coalition of law enforcement personnel served a search warrant on the 10000 block of Sprig Avenue, and found all the makings of a cock-fighting ring. Authorities say their investigation started three months before serving the warrant after getting information from the Humane Society of the United States. They claimed the people living

COACHELLA – The Coachella Valley Water District is looking into supplying water to thousands of people living in rural parts of the east valley where unsafe drinking water is a big problem. Most of the people affected live in mobile home parks like Saint Anthony’s in Mecca. The problem,the ground water that’s drawn from private

WASHINGTON -The U.S. will open an investigation Thursday to probe possible steering issues on about 500,000 Toyota Corollas. According to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration official about 363,000 Corollas from model year 2009 and 136,000 from 2010 could be affected. The NHTSA will formally announce the probe Thursday, the official said. Calls to Toyota

PALM DESERT – Three teenagers, ranging in age from 14 to 17, were arrested Wednesday morning – hours after they allegedly tried to break into a Palm Desert home while the resident was still there. It happened at 9:30 Tuesday night, according to police. Four people, armed with firearms,tried to get into the residence on

DESERT HOT SPRINGS – A police officer with a keen eye netted two men in jail and a stack of stolen property on Tuesday. Desert Hot Springs Police Officer Paul Tapia was on routine patrol when he came across what he thought were two suspicious people getting into a dark gray Ford Focus. He thought

LA QUINTA – He is known as Pastor Jesse. But, this clean-cut, sharp-dressed man once was a notorious gang member known as “Zombie.” In fact, he helped create one of the oldest gangs in Desert Hot Springs that is still active today. “I have a lot of regrets,” he says. “I wishI never did it.

REDLANDS – The U.S. Geological Survey says a 3.4 magnitude earthquake rocked the Redlands and Moreno Valley area, this afternoon. The quake hit at 1:35pm on Wednesday, and was measured 3 miles, south-southwest of Redlands. There are no reports of damage or injuries, but today’s quake follows a series of temblors to hit the same