Taxes due tomorrow! OMG!
News
- Ambulance Drivers/EMTs may strike this month: Jerry Berrios at the Daily News reports today that some 300 employees working for American Medical Response -an ambulance company that contracts with Santa Clarita among other cities- may strike for better wages and benefits later this month. AMR pays medics about $9.50/hour but employees say they can “barely make ends meet.” Some 160 AMR employees work between contract cities of Lancaster, Palmdale and Santa Clarita. Link
- Pockets of foreclosed homes in SCV, other areas: We’ve read that Santa Clarita has fared better than Los Angeles County in general when it comes to foreclosures, but a Daily News report today quotes a realtor who says there are “pockets” of foreclosures in the SCV and that they are likely to grow. The Daily News calls these pockets “ghost towns” and says that condo foreclosures are having a domino effect on HOAs and their ability to make payments. A realtor says 95 percent of foreclosures happened because of “Liar loans.” Some borrowers, he said, “got in with the allure of a 2,400 sq. ft. home with $1,400 a month, which ballooned to over $4,000 a month.” Link
- Signal remembers LaWana Clary murder: Last year, we reported on a shocking murder in Castaic. Valencia High special ed teacher LaWana Clary, 50, was “found bludgeoned to death” in her Castaic home on April 5, 2007. Josh Premako, who covered the murder last year, got an update on the case from LA County Homicide Detectives who say they are “hopeful every day” that they’ll solve the case. Clary’s husband, David, started a blog to remember his wife last year, but has since moved out there area. According to the detective, David Clary is the “sole person of interest” in the case, but no arrests are planned. Link
- Traffic accidents result in death: The Signal reports that a 35 year old man from Acton was killed this weekend when he reportedly lost “control of his motorcycle” and went off the edge of Sierra Highway. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. And in Victorville on Friday night, a Valencia woman allegedly struck two stranded motorists on the side of Interstate 15. A 46 year old father was killed and his 15 year old son suffered serious injuries. The woman, Sage Allard, 24, and her passenger, Taylor Bayer 19 of Stevenson Ranch, also suffered minor injuries according to the Victorville Daily Press.
- Saturday Fire in Valencia suspicious: A 2 and a half acre brush fire broke out in a river bed behind auto dealers on Creekside on Saturday night. Firefighters were able to douse the flames quickly. According to The Signal, witnesses reported seeing “fireworks in the sky near the area shortly before the fire flared up.” And over at KHTS, some “young women…reported seeing a teenage boy with a lighter leaving the creek area.” Firefighters from eight separate SCV stations responded to the blaze. The Sheriff’s Arson unit is investigating. KHTS report
- Over 300 turn out for Gibbon fundraiser: Some 350 people turned out for a breakfast fundraiser at the Gibbon Conservation center in Bouquet Canyon, the Signal reports. Alan Mootnick, the center’s director, was “thrilled” by the turnout. Proceeds from this year’s breakfast will “go towards finding a new property for the habitat as increasing development around the center’s current location could become a threat to the gibbons.” In the past, Mootnick has said he’d like to move to a cooler climate like Malibu. Signal Report, SCVegan’s report on the vegan food.
- Crime shorts: Stolen car parts have been in the news a lot recently, and SCV Sheriff’s deputies were able to make an arrest in one case on Friday in Val Verde. Signal writer Tammy Marashlian reports that four people were arrested after a Val Verde resident noticed someone tampering with his car at around 2:15 am Friday. The car parts contain precious metals which thieves can recycle for profits, according to a Deputy. And over in Valencia, a domestic violence incident left a man and woman with injuries. The man had a gunshot wound to his shoulder while the woman suffered head injuries. The pair were ex boyfriend and girlfriend.
SCV & Religion
- Signal reports on SCV Pagans: On Saturday, the Signal had an interesting story on a local pagan woman and the SCV group she belongs to, the SCV Pagan Network which counts some 200-plus people in its rolls. The woman, Nancy White, started off her journey in religion as a “mainstream Christian,” then became Mormon and is now a witch who celebrates an “earth-based” religion. White was part of the group that asked that the Pagan network be a part of the SCV Interfaith Council. This ought to fill the LTE section.
- New Christian High school will teach classics, Latin: Trinity High School, part of the Trinity Classical Academy school, will open next year with a “classical education, including the study of Latin,” the Signal reports today. The new high school will be grade 9 only next year, but will add a new grade each year and, if all goes according to plan, will graduate its first class in 2011. The new high school will compete with Santa Clarita Christian, which offers a K-12 education and has been a fixture in the SCV for decades. Trinity High will cost $9,360 per year and will be built on the NorthPark Community Church campus, a mega-church in Northern Valencia.
Business
- Tejon Ranch section gets Foreign Trade Zone status: The SFVBJ has an interesting article today on Tejon Ranch, the largely vacant hilly area north of Santa Clarita. The journal reports that a 177 acre sliver of the Tejon Industrial Complex is now a “foreign Trade zone,” a designation that helps businesses cut costs by “bypassing, reducing and deferring fees and possibly saving time in processing at the port.” Ikea is a major benefactor of the designation, and proponents of the program hope more companies will take advantage of the new designation. The Journal says that manufacturers can avoid customs duties if it exports products from the zone. What’s this mean for Santa Clarita? Possibly more truck traffic on Interstate 5; the Journal notes that the location is only 40 minutes from Valencia. Link
- Honda plant in SCV to get more business after racing leagues unify: The long dispute between two “Indy racing leagues” is about to end and the Honda Performance Development center in Santa Clarita stands to benefit, the Los Angeles Business Journal says. The facility in Valencia “designs, build and maintains engines” for some 18 vehicles in one league now, but after the two leagues unify, Honda will “accelerate its local operations to accommodate a surge in business as the league expands to 26 teams.” More local jobs could result, the president of the Honda group told the Journal. Link
- Valencia based food company gets organic status: Organic Cotton Candy? An SCV company named Maria Elena has gotten “organic” certification for its cotton candy and will be the first company to market such products. The company, Latino-owned, got its start selling ice cream at Magic Mountain, but now is selling its products at some 40 Whole Foods grocers. SFVBJ reports.
Blogs, Opinion & Misc:
- Wall Street Journal misquotes Buck McKeon: The Journal says a quote attributed to Buck McKeon during last week’s Petraeus testimony was based on a faulty Associated Press transcript. McKeon, you’ll recall, opened up a teleconference with district reporters last week by quoting Osama Bin Laden. The Journal and/or AP apparently, attributed the Bin Laden quote to McKeon, when in fact McKeon was just referencing Bin Laden’s views on the War in Iraq. WSJ
- California’s Oil Fields: Interesting report in today’s SF Chronicle on the history of oil exploration and drilling in California and how companies are now exploring for more oil in the Golden State given the market. The report mentions Chevron’s first California oil field, which was in Pico Canyon, and was, until the early 1990s, the longest-running oil well in the world. Link
- LAist reviews Newhall Farmers’ Market: “So imagine our surprise when we showed up to the “farmers market” around 6 pm and saw the following: a tamale stand; a sausage stand; a granola stand; a Whole Foods information booth, as well as a lemonade stand (to wash down the aforementioned tamales and sausages, probably.) Oh yeah, and tucked away in the corner was a solitary produce vendor,” the popular blog says, noting that an A-1 Signal cover photo didn’t “tell the real story of this farmers market debacle.” That photo, the blog says, was tightly cropped and was taken at the market’s only produce stand. Link
- Roger Gitlin is the most irritating Signal columnist ever: Whether he’s denouncing illegal alien “invaders,” asking us all to mind our mouths by not swearing, or ranting about the pledge of allegiance, local conservative Roger Gitlin is quite possibly the most annoying Signal columnist ever in my opinion. It’s all hot button issues with Gitlin, and Sunday’s was no different. Gitlin says if the Hart District enacted a “strong zero-tolerance policy [against cursing]…the problems of teen pregnancy, drugs, weapons and gangs might diminish.” Uh-huh. Link
- Signal says Boydston raised legitimate concerns: In its Sunday editorial, The Signal remarked on the recent City Council election and mentioned all the controversial issues the new city council will have to deal with when Laurie Ender and Bob Kellar are sworn in on April 22. The paper notes that outgoing Councilmember TimBen Boydston “brought some vigorous debate to the proceedings,” and that he lead the council “by scrutinizing the hospital plan carefully, identifying troublesome issues, and sending it back for review and revision.” The editorial ends by commending the last city council and says the new one ought to hear “the concerns of the minority.” Link
- 30 years later, Boyer still pushing new County: City father, former Santa Clarita Councilmember and Mayor Carl Boyer had yet another column arguing for something to be done to change Los Angeles County. Boyer was one of the organizers back in the 70s who wanted to create a “High Desert County.” Link