- A 19 year old woman was killed Wednesday when she stepped in front of a northbound Metrolink train near Golden Valley Triangle Road and Carl Boyer Drive. Deputies are investigating the death as a suicide. SCVNEWS, SIGNAL, DAILY NEWS
- Investigators have released the names of the mother and daughter who were killed in that terrible I-5 collision on Tuesday. SIGNAL
- Another driver drove her car off Bouquet Canyon road yesterday and was injured. SIGNAL
- The Valencia Home Depot was robbed by a shotgun-toting man and woman yesterday evening. The suspects are described as in their late 20s and escaped with $1,000 in stolen hardware. A Signal commenter blames, paradoxically, easy freeway access and nearby high density apartments. SIGNAL
- Three reports by three different public and private sector groups say that tax credits intended to keep film & tv production jobs in California aren't effective ahead of another new film tax credit bill on Jerry Brown's desk valued at $200 million. In Massachusetts, lawmakers found that their film & tv credit cost $300,000 for every one job created, an absurd amount that could have hired 4 or 5 teachers. One group found that for every dollar in tax credits spent to keep a job in California, only $0.30 cents in revenue resulted. Proponents note that three dozen states offer such programs, which, to my mind, proves how successful the industry has been at playing off states against each other. LA TIMES
- Tejon Ranch developers are teaming up with the Rockefeller Group to construct a large outlet mall near where Highway 99 and I-5 intersect, just south of Bakersfield. The group says the mall would serve "the 3.2 million residents living in Bakersfield and the Northwest Los Angeles County communities of Santa Clarita, Valencia, Castaic, Lancaster and Palmdale." That sucking sound you hear is County/City tax money escaping to Kern County...but wait- would SCVers really hump it over the Grapevine to save a few bucks at the Gap Outlet or Nordstrom Rack when gas is $4.30/gallon? Camarillo is just as close. Maybe an enterprising SCVer could set up a bus line like the ones that ferry high-dollar Asian tourists to the Outlets in Camarillo and Palm desert. SCVNEWS
- Deputies
raidedchecked four "retail sites in Santa Clarita yesterday for "bath salts and spice," mysterious drugs that "mimic the effect of illegal drugs." At least one retailer was arrested, but Deputies aren't saying who it was. There are pictures of the illegal products at SCVNEWS - Re: the above: Forget Cemex, are salts the SCV's Public Enemy #1? First the chloride matter in the river, and now this.
- Today is the last day for public commenting on Castaic High School SIGNAL
- Sometime in the last few months, the Signal decided it would be acceptable to spam their Qwik-E (Actually is that still around) and morning update email subscribers with offers and Group-on style coupons. But the karma police are on the beat; it looks to me as if The Signal.com is no longer getting links from Google News, the internet's #1 news aggregator and search engine. I haven't seen a single Signal news link on Google News in days.
- The Senior Center will host a candidate's forum two weeks from today on September 20, but so far, only Democrats are confirmed to attend. Scott Wilk says he can't make it and McKeon's office is out of touch as usual. KHTS
- President Bill Clinton knocked the skin off the ball last night during his speech at the Democratic National Convention, making the case in a "deeply personal way, sometimes articulating the argument for Mr. Obama more forcefully than the president has done throughout his race with Mitt Romney." NY TIMES. Even Republicans were impressed, with CNN talking head Alex Castellanos saying, "This convention is done. This will be the moment that probably re-elected Barack Obama.” TPM A local DNC delegate shared her take on the convention SIGNAL
- Has there ever been a week in which so many cool new smart phones were released so closely together? The phone makers are innovating innovation itself practically, detailing the incredible new Nokia Lumia Windows 8 phone, a set of new Motorola phones, and culminating next week with Apple's iPhone 5 event. Oh, even Amazon is getting into the mix and will reportedly release a smart phone of its own today. My advice is to wait until closer to the holidays to get a new phone.
- Happy Birthday Newhall! The "cultural bedrock of the SCV" (Laurene Weste) turns 136 today. Of course back then Newhall was in Saugus near the modern-day donut hole. Also Happy Birthday to Hart High, which opened with 961 students on this date in 1942. TIME RANGER
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