News

PALM SPRINGS – ATV spot advocating legalization and taxation of marijuana in California is airing all over the state.Supporters say it could help California close a $26.3 billionbudget shortfall. The30-second ad features a retired state worker who says marijuana users want to pay their “fair share” of taxes.They say tax marijuana and cut the state

PALM SPRINGS – Palm Springs residents may be left with one less fire station by the end of the year if the city cannot balance its budget. The city is facing a $12.5 million deficit, and Fire Station No. 5 located on Bolero Road is on the short list. If Manya Wopschall could have her

MORONGO VALLEY – At a time when schools are dealing with massive budget cuts, there’s some relief for schools in the High Desert. The Morongo Unified School District is getting a $2 million government grant. “Their families deal with crises that we can only hope to understand,” says Tom Baumgarten, assistant superintendent of instructional services,

RANCHO MIRAGE – Lee Chikafsky struggles to get to his walker. His severe rheumatoid arthritis gives him almost constant pain. He says his only freedom of movement comes from the therapeutic pool at Eisenhower Medical Center. “My doctor explained…you’re only 10 percent your body weight when you’re in that pool. When that happens — with

PALM SPRINGS – Many children here in the valley don’t know if or when they’ll eat their next meal. “What are they going to eat? How can I prepare it?,” says Beatriz Guanajuato. These are questions Guanajuato faces everyday. Summertime is the hardest. Work slows down and money is tight. “In the summer it’s not

PALM SPRINGS – Palm Springs residents may be left with one less fire station by the end of the year if the city cannot balance its budget. The city is facing a $12.5 million deficit, and Fire Station No. 5 located on Bolero Road is on the short list. If Manya Wopschall could have her

A new household hazardous waste facility will open July 11 in Palm Springs. The new location replaces the previous facility on Alejo Road, which closed permanently June 27. The new facility on 1100 Vella Road, across from Demuth Park, will accept drop-offs starting 7 a.m. This new site will be open to the public on

INDIO – At least two buildings caught fire when flames broke out Tuesday afternoon at an Indio apartment complex. Indio Police said the fire happened at the Plaza Del Sol Apartments on Arabia Street just after 3 p.m. Two buildings neighboring each other caught fire. No word on the extent of damage to the buildings.

PALM DESERT – The day whenTV stations across the country turned off their analog signals to go completely digital has come and gone. So, now what do you do with your analog leftovers? if you’re like Bruce Davis, you bring your old set to a local recycling center. “It’s plastics. It’s electronics. It potentially has

PALM DESERT – Two of the local ticket winners for Tuesday’s Michael Jackson Memorial work at Palm Desert High School. Palm Desert High School biology teacher Ron Paiz will call in a substitute for Tuesday. He’s one of the few chosen to go to the Jackson memorial at LA’s Staples Center. “When I found out

PALM SPRINGS – The Fourth of July is a busy nights for parties and fire crews. “We had a lot of people calling in saying people were shooting off bottle rockets,” says Mark Avner, Palm Springs Fire Battalion Chief. ” Our engines were back and forth around the city.” From Palm Springs to Coachella, thousands

PALM SPRINGS – It takes hours of design, hard work, sweat. “We’ve been out here since 6 AM,” says Michael Martin, pyro-tech for Pyro-Spectaculars of Rialto. It’s all done to wow the crowd. “I want to give everyone a good show,” says Martin. People are celebrating Independence Day across the nation and the valley. At

There are new developments in a Rancho Mirage cold case murder investigation. The Riverside County Sheriff’s cold case squad are investigating the murder of 3 people in 1981 now called “The Octopus Murders.” News Channel 3 first broke news of this investigation last year and has since won an Emmy award for investigative reporting. We’re

More than 300,000 Riverside County homeowners will receive notification by July 15 that a property reassessment could save them an average of $1,600.00 in annual property taxes compared to two years ago.If you dispute the value set by the Assessor’s office, you may file an appeal between July 2 and November 30th. To get an

There are new developments in a Rancho Mirage cold case murder investigation. Earlier this week, we told you the California Department of Justice in now in charge of this case because of a conflict of interest in local law enforcement. Now, we’re following the money, finding out what secret these murder victims died for. Sam

Thousands of inflatable baby floats are deemed unsafe and will be pulled from store shelves. They’re sold at stores like Toys ‘R Us, WalMart, and Target. There are 14 models involved in the recall and expands to nearly 4,000 floats sold from December 2002 through June 2009.The names and model numbers are located on the

On July 1, 2009 a new government program started to help people pay off student loans. The plan lets graduates reduce their monthly student loan payments based on income. It’s called the “Income-Based Repayment Plan” and it’s available to borrowers who took out federal loans or used a federal consolidation loan to combine debt. To

DESERT HOT SPRINGS – A multi-agency investigation leads to the arrest of three people who are said to be large-scale drug distributors. Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco identified them Rigoberto Lopez, 22, Miguel Gilbert, 26, and Teresa Coronaod, 20, all of Desert Hot Springs. The arrests follow a nearly year-long investigation into drug rings

RIVERSIDE – Families in the Coachella Valley are waiting to see if the Governor reaches a budget compromise with state lawmakers. They say it could mean the difference in whether they can feed their children. News Channel 3 talked to homecare providers protesting the budget stalemate. Filling a bus, members of the Homecare Providers Union

PALM DESERT – A Nordstrom executive has confirmed to Newschannel 3 that the store has decided to pull out of the Westfield Shopping Town, Palm Desert. According to a spokesperson “it’s a timing issue, not a market issue”, we would like to someday be in Palm Desert down the road. Right now it does not