- Buck's spokeswoman says he didn't mean to offend when he remarked that crafty Arab terrorists could fool some people into believing they were Mexicans. Smith at KHTS
- 46 year old Stevenson Ranch woman booked on DUI charges after she turned left in front of an oncoming motorcyclist who suffered major injuries in the collision on Sunday evening near Chuy's. Suzette Crockett is being held on $100k of bail and apparently failed field sobriety test. Smith at KHTS, Holt at SIGNAL
- And on the 5 Freeway northbound in the "Mewhall" pass near Calgrove, a three vehicle collision and subsequent car fire halted all northbound traffic for more than a half hour Monday afternoon. No one was injured but yet again the SCV was choked off from the south, just like the Newhall Pass wheel of doom predicts each week. Holt at the SIGNAL with the misprint of the month
- But maybe Musk has a way out! Elon Musk, our real life Tony Stark, founder of PayPal, Tesla Motors (I'm seeing so many of those now!!!) and SpaceX, comes up with radical "HyperLoop" concept for 34 minute travel between LA and SF. The system would operate inside a near vacuum tube, and Musk says vehicles holding up to 14 people could be whisked above ground at around 700mph over some sections of California, following the I-5 and kicking the bullet train's butt. If anyone can do it, it's this guy, and he wants to build and prove a prototype. Map of the proposed route, tech BLOG about it, and Petz already opposes it because it might come through the SCV.
- Hey check it out, we have a new CEO of the government-backed, taxpayer funded private corporation that's designed to get more develop the SCV economically. Holly Schroeder, a local and veteran of the building & development industry, takes over for Jonas Peterson who left the SCV Economic Development Corporation in June. Schroeder has lived in the SCV since 2005 and is friendies with some major folks on Facebook and gets a warm embrace from none other than Don Fleming, who says her "intimate knowledge of the SCV and Southern California business environment and the issues we face will let her hit the ground running as we focus on growing our local job base." Those issues include 20% office space vacancy, the chloride problem, and few major growth sectors in the SCV, save for the film business. Schroeder penned an article for the Signal back in May, defending the mortgage interest rate tax deduction, letting borrowers buy houses with less money down, and condemning harsh credit standards for home loans. Jana Adkins with the SIGNAL report, Schroeder COLUMN
- Speaking of vacancies, looks like parking at the Best Buy/Trader Joes shopping center is about to get easier as Orchard Supply Hardware announces it will close the OSH hardware store there, perhaps by October. OSH is being sold to Lowe's and with a Lowe's within a (big, strong man's) stone throw distance from the OSH, I guess it didn't make sense to keep it open. A Signal commenter mourns the death of local hardware stores and the small-box replacements that have gone under in the last few years: "We still have Sand Canyon Hardware on the east side. Are there any others left? RIP Newhall Hardware, Ace, Do It and now OSH!" Adkins at the SIGNAL
- And another piece of interesting economic news: mortgage rates are on the rise, but so are home prices in California. Last year some 56% of Californians could afford to buy a single family home, whereas only 36% can afford to do it now, if you go by the median statewide house price. An economist at USC says the "decline in affordability" is an indication of wage stagnation. "People are not making more money, except at the high end." LA TIMES
- A Valencia home was nearly destroyed by fire yesterday afternoon, with the fire breaking out on the second story and quickly spreading. But no one was at home and no one was injured. Investigators aren't sure of the cause. A woman on Facebook says the family that lives there is crushed by the loss with all their clothes ruined just as the family's children are headed back to school. FACEBOOK, SIGNAL
- Yet another reason to cut the cable and go 100% online + over the air HD: Senators Boxer and Feinstein ask Time Warner and CBS to cool it and let their customers watch some TV. I think I'm going to do it. I don't get TWC TV, but I'm so tired of shelling out $50/month for "250 channels" that include shopping networks, religious channels, and, well, garbage, that I'm ready. It can be done in the SCV as our old friend John proved way back in 2010. It's either that or wait for Aereo to come to our region. KHTS with the LETTER
- Dialing 911 from a cell phone isn't likely to alert dispatchers to your precise location, especially if you're an AT&T or T-Mobile user, a new study says. In fact the study found AT&T & T-Mobile successfully reported a caller's position to dispatch only 31% of the time in 2012, compared to 92% of the time in 2008. Verizon & Sprint however, do much better. It's well known in the SCV if you dial 911 from a mobile you'll get the CHP, not the Sheriff's Station...at least that was the case a few years ago right? LA TIMES
- Chris Sharp, Beacon writer and teacher, asks his students whether they would save their family dog or a neighbor if a house was on fire. Equivocating only delays and both die. He says most students said they'd save the dog, which he blames on "PETA enculturation" and goes all Great Chain of Being on us, saying a human being is "much more elaborately valued than a dog." BEACON
- Joe Messina says most Americans are stupid and/or asleep about our history, then proceeds to give a history lesson on how racist the Democrat party has been throughout its history. Like the Democratic party of 2013 is the same as it was in 1803, or post-Civil War, and the Southern Strategy never happened. Wow. MESSINA
A decade of the Valley’s town square · 2006–2015
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