Archive By Author - Jim Holt
State casts a shadow over city
If you break the little laws in Santa Clarita - get a parking ticket, build without a permit, make too much noise - it's going to cost you more money than before.
City may contract premier consultant
Santa Clarita is considering buying the "Ferrari" of environmental consultants to create a plan to meet state goals on reducing greenhouse gases, a city planner said Monday.
Wading through wages
There's a lid for every pot, the old adage goes. Sometimes, however, finding an odd-shaped lid for an odd-shaped pot proves to be a difficult task. Such is the story of the Castaic Lake Water Agency, the Santa Clarita Water Division - which it owns - and the person who juggles finances between the two who apparently has no equal in California. On Wednesday, the agency's directors unveiled the results of an arduous summerlong search ...
Toxic lot nears milestone
Government officials monitoring the cleanup of nearly 1,000 acres of contaminated Whittaker-Bermite property in the heart of Santa Clarita could deem a portion of that land clean as early as February, an official said Wednesday.
No milk spills as cars crash in rain
A sudden, gusty rainstorm over Santa Clarita Valley was part of the reason a big-rig milk truck flipped on Interstate 5 near the Newhall Pass on Monday and contributed to more than a dozen traffic crashes Sunday night.
Investigators expected to keep quiet on fraud probe
The probe into allegations of fraud and illegal building contracts handled by the Los Angeles County Fire Department - punctuated with the recent suicide of a local fire chief who oversaw local station construction - will not likely wrap up before year's end, the county's top claims investigator said.
Woman injured in patrol car crash
A woman was hospitalized with serious injuries Monday after a California Highway Patrol officer, driving 90 mph on Interstate 5 in his patrol car to join a pursuit, slammed into the back of the SUV she was riding in, authorities said.
Land deal builds dream
Close to a thousand acres in the heart of the Santa Clarita Valley are still uninhabitable - the soil still contaminated with traces of explosive material and the water still dirty with perchlorate. But city planners are happy today over a court settlement that will save them about $5 million in the long process to, one day, make it fit to live on.
Alaskan chill visits SCV
A cold, wet low-pressure front on its way from Alaska to Santa Clarita Valley carries with it the threat of frost and rain this weekend and a reminder that winter is on its way.|
The fixings by the fix-it shop
The spirit of giving shut down Main Street Thursday. What began five years ago as a Thanksgiving Day dinner at the back of a Newhall bike shop mushroomed to embrace more than a thousand people this Thanksgiving Day, shutting down Main Street in Newhall to traffic for a couple of hours. A simple one or two plates of turkey and mashed potatoes shared back in 2006 evolved this year into a food line stretching down ...
A grateful gathering
Before Don Ferguson tucked into his Thanksgiving Day dinner of mashed potatoes and turkey at the Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center, two boys on the Valencia High School football team sat down at his table.
Giving thanks for the place they call home
VAL VERDE - Thanksgiving in Val Verde has a lot to do with thanking the children who give back to their community.
Help for those in need of food — or just company
Roger Hasper loves to feed people. On Thanksgiving Day, as he's done every year for the past five years, he's expecting to feed more people than he's ever fed before. "Every year, it doubles," he said. "Last year, we saw about 450 people - so we're looking at nine-ish (hundred) this year." On Thursday, he and a small band of community helpers will be serving up Thanksgiving dinner to whoever wants one beginning at about ...
Agency fined for ‘chronic’ problems
The state department responsible for delivering water to Santa Clarita Valley from Northern California has been charged $33,000 for discharging muddy, greasy water from Pyramid Lake, officials said Monday.
Chief’s suicide under scrutiny
VENTURA - A Los Angeles County Fire Department chief who committed suicide in a Ventura County parking lot last month may have been under investigation for contract irregularities, a Ventura County coroner's official confirmed.
Articles By Author - Jim Holt
Is 'blond scammer' crime spree related to others?
Detectives in four jurisdictions are scrutinizing the actions of a woman suspected of being the so-called "blond scammer" - a woman believed at the center of a ring that stole wallets from shopping carts and impersonated credit card holders to obtain cash or expensive jewelry.
West Ranch: 1 student taken to hospital, 1 girl in custody in alleged pot-laced cookie case
A West Ranch High School student was treated at the local hospital Thursday after another girl allegedly gave her pot-laced cookies to eat, a sheriff's official said.
UPDATE: Red flag warnings issued for fire danger
High winds triggered local house alarms and fanned the flames of a brush fire in the Newhall Pass Thursday as the National Weather Service called a red flag warning for the Santa Clarita Valley and other areas in Los Angeles County.
Daughter pleads not guilty in mother’s slaying
A former Saugus High School student accused of killing her mother pleaded not guilty Thursday to a felony charge of first-degree murder, a court official said.
Preliminary hearing set for Castaic man in bar beating case
A preliminary hearing was set Wednesday for a Castaic man charged with attempted murder after he allegedly beat a disabled man with a "mini baseball bat" inside a Sunland bar last month, a court official said.
Jury trial scheduled in Agua Dulce assault, kidnap case
Two men charged in the alleged beating and abduction of an Agua Dulce woman last fall and with the alleged attempted kidnapping of her adult son will be tried by a jury next month, an assistant district attorney said.
Report: Agua Dulce driver in fatal crash was 3 times legal limit
An Agua Dulce man killed in a January head-on crash that left another man still recovering from injuries was three times over California's legal blood alcohol limit, a coroner's report shows.
Valencia: Two injured, including SCV Sheriff’s deputy, in crash
Two people, including a local sheriff's deputy, were taken to the hospital today following a two-car crash on Copper Hill Drive, a sheriff's spokesman said.
Probation ordered in car crash that killed woman
A 20-year-old Turkish man charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter for a car crash that killed a young Turkish woman last summer pleaded no contest Monday and was placed on three years' probation, a District Attorney spokeswoman said.
Woman pleads no contest to charges in ‘blond scammer’ ring
The ringleader in the so-called "blond scammer" case was sentenced to three years in prison Monday after pleading no contest to a charge of identity theft, a court clerk said.
UPDATE: At least 2 injured in Valencia crash
Six cars piled up in the eastbound lanes of Newhall Ranch Road in Valencia on Monday, injuring at least two people.
UPDATE: Boston Marathon runners with SCV connection shaken by experience
At least 15 Santa Clarita Valley marathon runners competing in Monday's death-marred Boston Marathon - including a 70-year-old pulled from the course half a mile before the finish line - are OK today but weighing the severity of the deadly incident, according to family, friends and at least one competing runner.
Fingers may point to identity of 'mummified' body
Investigators with the county coroner's office hope "re-hydrated" fingers will identify a Hispanic woman whose body was found "mummified" in a tarp and dumped at the side of San Francisquito Canyon Road last week.
'Mudders' get down and dirty at Castaic Lake mud run
They call themselves the "Dirty Girls," and on Sunday the four friends from Stevenson Ranch worked hard running, scrambling, climbing and crawling to get head-to-foot dirty in the Merrell Down & Dirty Obstacle Race at Castaic Lake.
Small brush fire in Valencia extinguished
A small brush fire at the side of Interstate 5 was quickly doused Sunday morning, an emergency response spokesman said.
