News
- A sad and strange 24 hours: On Wednesday afternoon, a 20 year old driver allegedly struck and killed a 70 year old bicyclist at the corner of Stevenson Ranch Parkway and Pico Canyon Road. And on Thursday morning, a 58 year old woman was found dead in her car in the lower parking lot of Saugus Cafe. A Saugus Cafe worker thinks the woman was living in her car. Finally, a man who suffers from schizophrenia is missing from his Stevenson Ranch home, and his family "very concerned."
- Cam Smyth Borrows Page from McKeon, hosts Teleconference: The Freshman Assemblymember called some 4,800 constituents in his district on Wednesday night to discuss "issues ranging from increased traffic to illegal immigration to water to government spending," according to the Signal. Buck McKeon, the SCV's man in Washington, has also used the "teletown hall" technology to call 25th District voters. Not online.
- I-5 Truck Tunnel Reopens: The I-5's truck bypass tunnel, which was the scene of a horrific and fiery crash that killed three people last month, reopened Thursday night in time to benefit southbound commuters. The firm that repaired the tunnel got a $2.9 million bonus for finishing early. Carol Rock, at KHTS, reports
- Jury Recommends Death for Canyon Country Gang Member: In 2002, a Canyon Country gang member named Anthony Navarro arranged the kidnapping and murder of a Buena Park Businessman. He was convicted on several counts in October, and yesterday a jury recommended the death penalty for Navarro, age 40. Daily News has more
- Staff, Board member fought fire at elementary school: Leona Cox Elementary school staff and a board member on the Sulphur Springs School District used buckets and garden hoses to fight "spot fires" at the school during last month's intense Buckweed fire. They even flagged down a Montebello fire truck to help put out a small fire in one of the school's buildings. KHTS has a great report
- Cam Smyth Joins Good Ol' Boy Network: No wonder our freshman Assemblyman had the patience to hold a conference call with 4,800 constituents Wednesday. The Los Angeles Times reports that Smtyh was one of 16 state legislators who went to a conference last week in Maui hosted by the Pacific Policy Research Foundation. The SacBee notes that the conference, held annually now for a few years, is a "chance to escape the capital's glare for bipartisan policy discussions, scuba diving and beachcombing." And it's not just legislators who stayed at the luxurious $300-a-night Fairmont Kea Lani resort: Chevron, Pacific Gas & Electric, Indian gaming tribes, and California prison labor group officials also attended the junket. It's all ostensibly legal as long as the legislators pay their own way, but, such junkets have been an issue lately for Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nunez, who is a Democrat. As for Smyth: Up-and-coming doesn't begin to describe him. Scarcely one year ago, the dapper Smyth (described as a best-dressed legislator by a gay Sacto blogger) was sitting on the Santa Clarita City Council dealing with small potatoe issues like street maintenance, hospital expansion, the routing of the Amgen race, and Cemex. And here you thought rhetoric was a go-nowhere major!
- Las Lomas Blogging: LA Bloggers took note of the City and Supervisor Antonovich's strong opposition to the proposed 5,500 home Las Lomas project this week. Aside from the developer, CityWatch LA notes that "proponents" of the project seem hard to find, though one Los Angeles City Councilman's district might receive some $10 million in taxes annually if the project site was annexed into Los Angeles. Meanwhile readers at CurbedLA call the project "sheer madness" and speculate that Dan Palmer, the developer, really wants to sell the land to the state or a conservancy.
- Signal Reporter gets his own column: Parimal Rohit, one of the freshest new reporters on Creekside, penned a commentary in the Signal today. His topic was Barack Obama, fund raising and whether the constitutional law professor and Senator from Illinois can actually get voters to the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire. It's a good column and it's nice to see our reporters write in a different, non-inverted pyramid style for once. Rohit joins two other Signal staffers who have written personal columns recently: Female Sports writer Amanda Branam wrote about what it's like covering the COC football team, and City Editor Josh Premako has has had four A-2 columns about his experience at a Santa Clarita fitness boot camp.
- Speaking of the Signal: A Cal State Northridge journalism professor wrote into the Signal congratulating the paper on "phenomenal" coverage of the fires on its website. "There is nowhere else on the web where Santa Clarita residents like myself can obtain such up-to-date coverage," she wrote. Sorry Professor, but you're just not well informed. The Signal's coverage during the fires was great, but KHTS and the City had accurate, timely and important updates as well. Local media, in general, has begun to take the web much more seriously in the last year or so. KHTS has hired Carol Rock to write and possibly broadcast stories, the Signal is now posting previews of tomorrow's newspaper on its website, and there are several good local blogs that cover news also. So if it's news you want about the SCV, there's certainly no shortage of it on the web.
- Finally, two strange stories: Westside blogger Tootsie Farklepants is upset that some homeowners in her tony neighborhood park their cars on their lawn while Tell It user "MissKittyRN" says her dinner at a sushi place was interrupted when some jerk started slashing tires in the parking lot, including two on her truck. According to her, the SCV Sheriff's office reportedly sent eight, yes eight, squad cars to investigate, but the guy escaped and continued his tire-slashing rampage at Edwards Theater in Canyon Country. I'll see if I can get the straight-poop from the Sheriffs on this story if they aren't still mad at me.
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