- High Speed rail authority officials are said to be excited about possibility of Grapevine alignment for HSR. The City’s Paul Brotzman said the city wants more detail and will judge the pros and cons of both routes. A Grapevine route for the train would likely result in a Santa Clarita HSR station. SIGNAL, BAKERSFIELD PAPER
- A WalMart truck carrying bananas crashed on a transition bridge of the southbound I-5, tying up traffic in the Newhall Pass yesterday morning. Squished bananas join a myriad of other objects that have crashed in the Newhall Pass. SIGNAL
- Sacramento parolee tosses bags of meth out of his vehicle while leading police on a high speed (but safe according to the CHP) chase through the SCV SIGNAL
- Man from Agua Dulce is the first person in the greater SCV to get a Nissan Leaf. The Signal takes you through the buying process of the $32k all-electric car SIGNAL
- A mobile home in Saugus caught fire last night and was completely destroyed. Unknown if there were any injuries WRB
- There will be blood sugar: One week from today a “Cupcake War” will be held in Old Town Newhall to celebrate the Tour of California swinging through town. That and more Old Town events are on tap for May KHTS
- Buck McKeon receives “Charter School Champion Award,” calls charter schools “laboratories of learning,” “innovative,” and “high quality.” WRB
- Meanwhile, the Newhall School District, the highest rated elementary district in the SCV, laid off 16 more teachers this week KHTS
- I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, but Buck McKeon was on MSNBC yesterday to talk about Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan, and presumably, why we should continue to stay in Afghanistan YOUTUBE
- Annette Benning will speak at CalArts’ (usually crazy and festive) commencement ceremony this year as the school awards her an honorary doctorate degree. WRB
- Cougar News tells you what Cinco De Mayo is all about COUGAR NEWS
- And since this is a first Thursday, the food truck event and street fair has a Cinco de Mayo flavor to it in Old Town Newhall, so check it out CITY BRIEFS
- Bicyclist thanks persons unknown who helped him after he crashed on his way to work. The man suffered a concussion and doesn’t know what happened to him, eerily similar to what happened to me last year LTE
- But don’t let that dissuade you from Bike to Work day, which is coming up on May 19 CITY BRIEFS
- Boeing’s Phantom Ray, the amazing looking stealth drone, took to the skies for the first time above Edwards Air Base late last month LA TIMES
- The producer of the Atlas Shrugged movie whines that the free market bitch-slapped his film. As a result, sequels to the Ayn Rand-inspired pic (shot, in part, in nearby Piru!) are in doubt, he says. The film cost about $18 million to make and has only generated $3.1 million at the box office LA TIMES
- Did you know President Theodore Roosevelt once stayed at a hotel in Acton? That and more history in John Boston’s TIME RANGER
- What is the identity and breed of the heroic Navy SEAL dog that helped take out Bin Laden? NY TIMES
House Keeping Note: We’re going to try something different here on SCVTalk. No comments will be allowed on this or any other post. Instead, what you should do if you want to comment on a post, email me with your thoughts. If your comment is on-topic, smart, funny, thoughtful or just well-written, there’s a good chance I’ll post it as its own front-page post at some point during the day. If this doesn’t work out, we’ll go back to the old style comments.
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