- Newhall Ranch dealt serious setback as Judge rules that Newhall Land "hadn't done enough to explain how it intends to protect an endangered flower as it starts to develop Newhall Ranch." A final ruling is expected next month. DAILY NEWS, SCVNEWS
- Five suspects in the Stevenson Ranch hotel robbery case dating back to September 3 have been arrested in Placer County. SIGNAL, SCVNEWS
- Giant novelty scissors to get a workout this weekend as the new Newhall Library officially opens at a ribbon cutting ceremony tomorrow morning at 10:30. The City will also host a street fair to celebrate the grand opening. The Signals says the library will have 135,000 literary items, 68 public-use computers, private study areas, and meeting rooms. The building itself is only the second one in the City to be LEED certified (I think the first is NCWD's building). Congrats! SIGNAL
- Also, the City's libraries now sport laptop check-out kiosks. Input your library card, agree to watch over it, and you can use a laptop for free for two hours. Librarian chief Ed K. says the kiosks are expensive but save staff time CITY BRIEFS
- KHTS/SCVNEWS has a brief article about the Walmart Market planned for Westfield Town Center SCVNEWS
- SCV Beacon's Karen Jonas reports on the City Council meeting this week SCV BEACON
- Battle of the mailers 1: Buck McKeon is in full campaign mode and has released a gigantic mailer tagging Dr. Lee Rogers as a carpetbagger who refused to see poor patients after Medi-Cal payments were cut. Next to an unflattering picture of the Dr., the mailer refers to Rogers simply a "Podiatrist." It's the biggest and most comprehensive McKeon mailer I've ever received.
- Battle of the Mailers 2: But Rogers is punching back with a new mailer of his own, slamming McKeon for voting for the Sequestration act then whining about its effects. "Buck McKeon might as well have signed those pink slips himself," the mailer says, referring to the estimated 150-225k jobs that might be lost in California as a result of the deficit cutting act. SIDE 1, SIDE 2
- Battle of the Mailers 3: Also received a Todd Zink mailer yesterday arguing that Fran Pavley is a tax and spend liberal the state can't afford.
- COC's Associated Student Government will host two candidate Meet 'n Greets next week at the Canyon Country campus and Valencia campus on Oct 2 and 3 respectively. They even got a vice presidential candidate to attend. SCVNEWS
- Meanwhile, State Controller John Chiang will join Dem. Ed Headington this weekend here in Valencia at a campaign event. Headington has challenged Scott Wilk to "join him in pledging to reject being provided with a state-owned vehicle," if he wins. SCV BEACON
- Carmageddon 2 Weekend: Stay away from the 405 this weekend as the Sepulveda Pass will be closed. Instead, why not enjoy some fresh air? UCLA Scientists say that during last year's Carmageddon event, air quality improved some 75% in West LA and up to 25% in Santa Clarita. The change in air quality happened within minutes of the freeway closing. Pollution levels last year "were almost below" what the UCLA researchers' instruments could detect. Incredible. BLOG
- The LA Jewish Journal has more insight on the Albert Einstein Academy petition. Turns out organizers of the charter school have dropped Hebrew as a second language, at least for now, as SUSD considers their petition. The Journal says Hebrew is taught as the AE high school, and the school also organizes trips to Israel, where they learn to "care about Israel." The article says Rabbi Mark Blazer, who started the high school, has taken a much lower profile as AEA petitioned for the third time to SUSD for an elementary charter. JEWISH JOURNAL
- Federal money to fund purchase of canyon land to preserve endangered species in Acton SIGNAL
- Another Six Flags Magic Mountain photo report from COASTER GUY
- "On this date, by an informal local vote, we decided to “officially” call ourselves the Santa Clarita Valley. We have gone by many names over the years, starting with long-forgotten clicking noises of what the local Tataviam referred to as their stomping grounds. When the Spaniards arrived, the name of the Mission San Francisco stuck. When ex-soldier and general manager of the Mission San Fernando was given essentially the entire valley, he called his new digs the Rancho San Francisco and in 1876, we were simply called Newhall. Other names came: Newhall-Saugus; the Soledad Township; Newhall-Saugus; Newhall-Saugus-Valencia." TIME RANGER
-----------------