Results tagged “antelopevalley”

Evacuation centers have been opened in two more schools to shelter residents who are being asked to leave their homes in the Antelope Valley due to the Station Fire. In addition to the first evacuation center opened in the region at Highland High School in Palmdale, shelters are now accepting evacuees at Golden Valley High School in Santa Clarita and Verdugo Hills High School in Tujunga. The Glendale Unified School District announced early this morning they were canceling all classes on what would have been the first day of the school year; the GUSD is housing one evacuation center at Crescenta Valley High in La Crescenta. The La Cañada Unified School District, which is housing an evacuation center at La Cañada High, is expected to announce later today if they, too, will close tomorrow and postpone their first day of school.

With parts of the Valley at 83 degrees at noon, it was a welcome surprise after yesterday's blistering temps and with LA County public health officials extending a week long heat alert through today. Of course, the Antelope Valley has already hit triple digits with the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys to follow, but the National Weather Service is no longer predicting that nor are they reporting high temperatures at the height of the day. Temperatures for both valleys are in the 80s. However, an air quality adivosry has been sent out for the Santa Clarita and Antelope Valleys stating the air is unhealthy for sensitive--old, young, sick prone--individuals.

Talk about opposites. An Orange County man who owns 320 acres abut the internationally famous poppy reserve in the Antelope Valley wants to build a 3.6-mile course race track. The owner says there won't be much of an impact as it will be built for car clubs and racing organizations with no grandstand for spectators. Still, there are other concerns, explains the LA Times in a feature story:

Abram Bynum, 35, was killed by Columbus Police officers yesterday in Ohio at the end of a high-speed chase on Interstate 70. Before moving to Columbus, Bynum lived in the Antelope Valley and is accused of five rapes that happened between 2004 and 2007, according to the LA Times.

An asymptomatic blood donor in the Antelope Valley has tested positive for the West Nile Virus, marking the first case for the year, according to LA County health officials. As of June 19th in Los Angeles County, Public Health and the mosquito abatement districts have detected WNV in five dead birds, two mosquito pools, and three sentinel chickens. In past seasons, most of the infected birds and positive mosquitoes have been found in the San Fernando Valley, San Gabriel Valley, and East Los Angeles County areas.

An ordinance in the high desert city of Lancaster went into full effect on March 1st, but today Lancaster officials are reminding residents not to water their lawns between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. “The summer heat is already beaten down upon us," said Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris about today's reminder. "It is imperative that we each do our part to conserve water this summer. We must sustain this precious resource in our Valley." Recently, the Antelope Valley has been regularly experiencing temperatures in the high 80s and 90s, which is nothing compared to normal temps during the height of summer. The ordinance, which was adopted last year, stays in effect until October 31st.

       

The peak bloom has already quickly come and gone at the California Poppy Reserve in Antelope Valley where crowds packed the park this past weekend. "All the wildflowers are fading quite suddenly," said the state's Poppy Reserve website on Sunday. "Although the rains seemed to come at the right time and drop the right amount, the bloom hadn't seemed to peak yet before it began fizzling out."

There are some new locations within the immediate Los Angeles area with wildflower reports on this week's Theodore Payne Foundation wildflower hotline including the Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden at UCLA and Debs Park in Boyle Heights. Eaton Canyon in Pasadena continues to grow as well as viewing, but over at Poppy Reserve in the Antelope Valley, things are a little different.

After our wildflower post earlier today, a couple commenters had questions and comments specifically about poppies and the cherry blossom season.

    

Ever since the high desert city of Lancaster took sewer maintenance duties from LA County, they've been facing a problem: objects are illegally being dumped into sewers causing sewage to backup and overflow onto the streets.

Yesterday, the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's Station deputies arrested a 15-year-old for allegedly boarding an Antelope Valley line Metrolink train with an automatic assault weapon.

Snow in Santa Clarita? As the snow level dips to 2,000 ft., Caltrans has closed the 14 Freeway for 26 miles between Soledad Canyon in Santa Clarita to Palmdale Blvd in Palmdale for an unknown duration as they clear snow. This arctic storm has brought a good amount of snow across the region: 7 inches have fallen at Mount Wilson, 6 inches in Frazier Park, up to 8 inches in Wrightwood with an estimated 12 inches expected in some areas as the day continues, according to the National Weather Service. UPDATE, 2:50 P.M.: 14 remains closed, 5 and 138 also closed.

Brace yourselves, and bundle up: Another storm's a-comin'!

Wind: A red flag warning was issued until 4 p.m. today, but the National Weather Service is also warning of strong winds and gusts that could be damaging, as they say. However, the winds should weaken later this afternoon.

A man in an unmarked police car allegedly pulled a woman over in Palmdale Saturday night and began to grope her when he was frisking her. "The victim said she fought with the man and was able to break free, run back to her car and drive away," CBS2 reported. "Authorities are looking for a man in his 30s, about 5 feet 10 inches and 185 pounds who was driving a dark colored Ford, possibly a Crown Victoria, with spotlights and a forward flashing blue light."

In the name of water conservation, the high desert city of Palmdale is expected to pass a new ordinance banning traditional grass front lawns on any new residential projects, according to the Daily News.

It's been a year and a couple months since United began service at the city of Los Angeles owned Palmdale Airport. And today they announced they'll be leaving come December due to the money losing endeavor.

After four bodies were discovered in a home that was on fire, investigators concluded that the mother and her three daughters had suffered trauma before the fire occurred. A murder investigation ensued, but shortly after, Corey King, 18, turned himself in to Sheriff's detectives after hearing on TV they were looking for him. At first, he was reportedly just in for questioning and not a suspect. But by early this morning, reports stated he was later arrested.

The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch for the Antelope Valley and other mountain areas of LA County except for the Santa Monica Mountains. They predict some slow moving showers and thunderstorms "capable of producing very heavy rainfall." Most of the activity is expected in the mountains and northern foothills of the San Gabriel range.

Through 10 a.m. this morning, here are the rain and snow totals in inches from the National Weather Service.

Although it's a brief warning, the overall weather picture remains grim here in the greater Los Angeles area. We're under warnings and advisories galore; the flood advisory is still up for Ventura and LA Counties, snow is expected in the "lower elevations of Santa Barbara County as well as the Foothills of the Antelope Valley," the wind advisory is in effect until tomorrow night, and multiple roads in and out of town are closed.

After questioning 1200 Los Angeles County residents in a survey, Metro might be confident it could get the two-thirds stamp of approval from voters if such a measure went to the ballot. If passed, it could generate $4.5 billion within 6 1/2 years, according to an investigation by the Daily News.

About the above picture: The Rawking Refuses To Stop!, a blog of all things Los Angeles pop culture and MP3, shares with us their best concert photos of 2007. Above, they sneak out of LA to New York to see Les Savy Fav at the Bowery Ballroom (we'll just say they did the same thing when they came here). Don't forget -- you still have today and tomorrow to enter our Rufus Wainwright/Belinda Carlisle...

One thing that separates LA from the rest of the world are our televised high-speed vehicle pursuits.

Despite the risk of building a home, selling a home and moving into a home in a high risk fire zone, companies, homeowners and governments still find it acceptable finds the LA Times today. "This is a land rush into danger," said Roger Kennedy, former director of the National Park Service and author of a recent book on wildfires. "A land rush by people who do not understand what they are doing and who...

North County just can't catch a break lately: another fatal freeway pileup near Antelope Valley today, this one involving eight vehicles and at least one fatality. The freeway has been closed in both directions. Things Not Worth Beating Someone With a Hammer For: six dollars? A group of males accosted and hammered a man in Canoga Park last night; then they blew the cash on penny candy and stamps. Not really, but six bucks??...

The devil is in the details. This astute and well-named handle said it best:The Antelope Valley sits in the western Mojave Desert in north Los Angeles County. The Palmdale Water District threatened a mandatory 30% reduction in water use in a special meeting the last week of August. In spite of drought conditions, in the Mojave Desert, government agencies have an Oasis of grass planted on their property. Had it not been raining, the...