Charity’s winning hand

The United Way came up with a winning hand Saturday night, combining poker with fresh-baked cupcakes.

Rides, tradition and tasty fundraising

If you could fit a state fair into the back lot of a church, what would it look like? Answer: The 66th annual Our Lady of Perpetual Help Barbecue Fair. From Friday to Sunday, thousands of people packed Newhall on the north side of Lyons Avenue at Wayman Street, sampling hot dogs, hamburgers, tacos and scores of other tasty items from food tents that ringed the church lot. From the buzzing carnival-like rides such as ...

McLean rails against state demands made without funds

Santa Clarita City Councilwoman Marsha McLean called on California cities Wednesday at a San Diego conference to stand up to projects forced by the state without funding by proposing a resolution to demand funding for any state-imposed duty or obligation.

Natural-gas lines under scrutiny

Could the Santa Clarita Valley fall victim to a massive natural gas explosion like the one that killed four people in San Bruno last week? That's what The Signal asked investigators still trying to figure out what happened in the disaster near San Francisco. The answer, as it happens, is uncertain. While natural gas pipes do run beneath the Santa Clarita Valley, experts still weren't sure what caused the blast in San Bruno. Peter Knudson, ...

A blast from the past

If something goes "boom" in the hills east of Railroad Avenue, do not be alarmed. It's simply cleanup crews dismantling and removing unexploded munitions found on the Whittaker-Bermite site.

9/11 events honor victims, the first responders and others who have given their lives

Three thousand miles away and nine years later, the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks were remembered throughout Santa Clarita Valley. Poems were read, songs were sung, patches, plaques and honorary T-shirts were offered for sale at Central Park in Saugus on Saturday. The message of the poetry, the songs and the slogans on the patches was consistent: "We remember." It was a day ...

In remembrance of their sacrifice

From the tragic minutes that unfolded nine years ago on Sept. 11 to the tragic minutes that recently claimed the life of a local, young United States Marine Corps hero, first responders to the terrorist attacks and our latest responders were remembered Saturday.

No fine lines for water board

Water-law enforcers have hit the Santa Clarita Valley with some of the largest fines in Southern California during the past few years, including a half-million-dollar fine against the city and close to a million dollars in penalties against Six Flags, The Signal has recently learned.

Water board levies four more fines

A nonprofit marine institute devoted to understanding and minimizing human impact on oceans is among the latest agencies to be fined by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board for polluting water.

Smyth to float bill

Santa Clarita Valley Assemblyman Cameron Smyth wants the regional water boards that issue "devastating fines" against small towns to be more accountable to the public and is calling on an oversight body to see that it happens.

The faces behind the fines

Santa Clarita Valley has a chance to control its own water destiny this fall when most of the seats on the ruling water board come up for grabs.

Crashed and burned

An explosive, fiery crash shut down Highway 14 for hours and sent a truck driver to the hospital Wednesday after his big rig, which was hauling several cars, reportedly collided with a parked Caltrans truck north of Sand Canyon Road, authorities said. The driver, whose name has not yet been released, was taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital with undetermined injuries. The driver was conscious and moving after the crash, according to motorists stopped ...

No silver bullet for salt

After talking to farmers, water officials, engineers, scientists and city officials from the San Joaquin Delta to the Pacific Ocean, a monthlong investigation by The Signal into chloride in the Santa Clara River and those who enforce a clean water balance comes down to one simple observation: We're adding too much salt to our state.

Salt-of-the-earth solution

DIXON - If you take Interstate 80 from Oakland to Sacramento, you'll pass near the tiny farming town of Dixon.

High cost of compliance

FILLMORE – Never has the Santa Clara River been filtered so vigorously, so urgently and at such great cost to tiny towns as it has in the last two years.

Magnitude-4 quake recorded near Rancho Palos Verdes

Federal earthquake monitors reported an earthquake six miles south of Rancho Palos Verdes today at 1 p.m.

Officials share plans to reduce chloride

Local sanitation officials held their first of six public hearings in Castaic Tuesday night in an effort to gauge which plan they should pursue in reducing the amount of chloride discharged into the Santa Clara River.

UPDATE: Tour of California races through SCV

Hundreds of cycling fans crowded along Magic Mountain Parkway Tuesday to watch some of the world's fastest cyclists cross the finish line for Day 3 of the Amgen Tour of California.

Woman pleads innocent in collision with bicyclist

A Valencia woman charged with felony hit and run for a vehicle collision with a bicyclist last March has pleaded not guilty this week, court papers show.

Canyon Country man gets 64 years to life in shooting of neighbor

A Canyon Country man who shot and killed his neighbor following a vicious seven-year feud has been sentenced to 64 years to life in prison.

UPDATE: Blaze in Valencia held to 1 1/2 acres

A Santa Clarita Valley brush fire that was initially reported as two separate blazes was doused by Los Angeles County firefighters in the Valencia Industrial Center today.

Saugus: HOA structures vandalized with anti-Semitic symbols

Vandals defaced HOA complex structures with racist slogans and anti-Semitic symbols during the weekend in Saugus, prompting a probe by local sheriff's detectives, a manager for the property said Monday.

Smoke from controlled burn alarms Castaic residents

Smoke from a controlled burn near Hasley Canyon alarmed some Castaic residents this morning, a Fire Department spokesman said.

Family, friends gather to honor crash victim

Blast to the past at Placerita Canyon nature Center's Open House

Outdoor fire in Castaic spreads to house

An outdoor fire around supper time Saturday ended up spreading to a house, emergency response officials said.

Chloride options: Pay up or pay up

Nearly everyone who flushes a toilet or does a load of laundry in the Santa Clarita Valley faces a complicated and costly problem over the issue of chloride contamination ­- and, according to sanitation officials, it's a problem that's not going to go away.

Coyotes are threat at local park

A coyote snatched a dog from a girl's arms in Valencia Summit Park, where sheriff's deputies and animal control workers responded Friday on a report of a jogger chased by a coyote, officials confirmed.

UPDATE: Coyotes snatch dog, confront person at Valencia park

A coyote snatched a dog from a girl's arms in Valencia Summit Park, where sheriff's deputies and animal control workers responded Friday on a report of a jogger chased by a coyote, officials confirmed.

Calif. PUC looking into Valencia Water Company purchase

The California Public Utilities Commission has opened an investigation into Castaic Lake Water Agency's purchase of the Valencia Water Company.