News

The widow of author Harold Robbins will sign copies of her new memoir at a Palm Springs bookstore this afternoon. Grace Robbins is scheduled to appear at Just Fabulous from 2 p.m. to 4p.m. to talk about and autograph copies of “Cinderella and the Carpetbagger: my Life as the Wife of the World’s Best-Selling Author

A convicted DUI offender accused in an alcohol-fueledcollision that fatally injured a 70-year-old bicyclist pleaded not guilty todayto second-degree murder and hit-and-run charges. Brandon Royce Melton, 27, of Palm Springs was arrested April 13 afterallegedly killing Edward James Shaieb in a collision in the 67300 block of EastPalm Canyon Drive in Cathedral City. Along with

Beer lovers can sample from an array of craft brewsduring the 4th annual fundraiser for The Living Desert zoo and botanical gardenin Palm Desert, a spokeswoman said today. Samplings from 45 restaurants and craft breweries will be offered duringthe ”Brew at the Zoo” event from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, LivingDesert spokeswoman Nyla Patzner

Hotel Zoso, the soon-to-be Hard Rock Hotel, will create a new look all around from the rooms, lobby and pool area, all of the way to its staff. About 90 Hotel Zoso employees received a notice of termination on Friday, according to general manager Hector Moreno. A copy of the letter was sent to us

Fire season is coming on early and coming on strong. “We are experiencing mid summer in mid spring right now,” said Capt. Fernando Herrera with Calfire. The lack of rain in April is bringing May wild fires. “It’s a very volatile environment that we are in in Southern California,” said Fred Pena, US Forest Service.

More people now die of suicide than from car crashes. What’s causing so many people to take their own lives? Leaders and experts on mental health issues gathered at the CSU San Bernadino Palm Desert Campus, the goal, early prevention through education. “Once you know that you aren’t alone and you get this information out

Law enforcement agencies throughout Riverside Countywill be ramping up patrols this weekend to nab Cinco de Mayo celebrants oranyone else who decides to drink and drive. The county’s Avoid the 30 task force, named for the number participatingagencies, will conduct an anti-DUI campaign beginning Saturday evening andwrapping up shortly after midnight Monday. Saturation patrols and

Eastbound I-10 was closed at Wabash Ave near Redlands today after another fire broke out in the area. The blaze grew to 20 acres before firefighters stopped forward spread of the fire, according to the Cal Fire twitter feed: 20006634 20006340

Damage was estimated today at $2 million from a second-alarm fire that gutted the packing area of a date company in Thermal anddestroyed a nearby Nextel tower. Firefighters dispatched at 12:19 p.m. Thursday to the Jewel Date Co. inthe 84500 block of Avenue 60 arrived to find flames charring date packing boxesstacked 25 feet high,

The federal government will cover around three-quarters of the costs of fighting a roughly 3,000-acre wildfire near Banningthat destroyed a home and threatened hundreds more, it was announced today. The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved a Cal Fire request forreimbursement of expenses tied to “managing, mitigating and controlling” theSummit Fire, which broke out Wednesday afternoon

Twenty library/classroom books were donated by the Soroptimist of Palm Desert club to Abraham Lincoln Elementary. This follows a long tradition of donating the books to the school in honor of the club’s speakers at their monthly luncheon meetings. The school recommends book titles for library and classroom usage according to their needs. Presentation of

A World War II-era mortar shell was uncovered today at anIndio car dealership when a work crew dug underneath the concrete, a policeofficial said. Indio police were dispatched at 8 a.m. to the Fiesta Ford dealership at78990 Varner Road, where the crew was working near a car display. As they dug, workers found the 30-inch

A motorist suspected of drunken driving was arrestedafter barreling through a gas station in Rancho Mirage and into a fire hydrant,a sheriff’s sergeant said today. Sheriff’s deputies received a call at 7:30 p.m. Thursday about the crashat a Chevron station parking lot near the intersection of Bob Hope and GeraldFord drives. The driver, Salvador Ibarra

Health officials in San Bernardino County are looking for a man who came in contact with a rabid bat in the Mojave Desert. County health officials say in a statement that the bat landed on the man’s neck outside a book store at Kelso Deport on April 30. The bat tested positive for rabies. They

The board overseeing California’s high-speed rail project has voted to give its largest private contractor another $96 million and two more years to perform architectural and engineering work, but warned that it will exercise rigorous oversight. Board members on Thursday told contractor Parsons Brinckerhoff that the California High-Speed Rail Authority has beefed up its senior

A Twentynine Palms Marine has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his 5-week-old son. KCDZ radio reports Thursday that 26-year-old Zachary Brendemuhl entered the plea in Joshua Tree Superior Court. San Bernardino County sheriff’s officials say Brendemuhl told deputies he had been feeding his son on April 8 when the boy started choking, and

Firefighters battling a nearly 3,000-acre blaze nearBanning again will be contending today with gusty winds, low humidity and bone-dry vegetation, but they have made progress encircling the blaze, which fireofficials say is now 65 percent contained. The Summit Fire has scorched 2,956 acres, according to Jody Hagemann ofthe Riverside County Fire Department. The acreage did

A Southern California wildfire cutting a path to the sea has grown to more than 15 square miles, and crews are preparing for another bad day of gusting winds and hot weather. The fire that begun in Ventura County has been running down coastal canyons all night along the Pacific Coast Highway toward Malibu. It

A man who posed as a police officer and subjected motorists to phony stops in Chula Vista is scheduled to be sentenced today at the courthouse in Chula Vista. Kevin Alan Kenniston was convicted last November of 20 counts, includingimpersonating a peace officer and violating a restraining order by breakinginto his ex-girlfriend’s apartment and assaulting

Kobe Bryant is in a court battle to try to keep his mother from auctioning off mementoes from his high school days in Pennsylvania and his early NBA career. A southern New Jersey auction house is suing for the right to sell the stuff after the NBA star’s lawyers wrote the firm to say it