Fire officials get land

The Newhall Land and Farming Company is handing over an acre of land valued at $1.5 million to county fire officials as a bankruptcy court continues to restructure debt incurred by its parent company, LandSource Communities Development, LLC.

'Tea party' picks up steam

A number of rebels invited to Southern California's "Boston Tea Party" is mushrooming to include Los Angeles, Riverside and Orange counties, one party organizer reports.

Development might not bear traffic

County planners hope to stifle a plan to build 484 homes on the unincorporated northern edge of the city of Santa Clarita, The Signal learned Tuesday.

Come hail or high water

More than two inches of rain fell on the Santa Clarita Valley in the past week and it couldn't have come at a better time, sending water tumbling through the Santa Clara River and soothing the nerves of drought-fearing water officials.

Locals awarded for budget

The Newhall County Water District is hanging a national award on its wall this week for having prepared a budget that stands out against all other budgets across the country as exemplary.

Waiting for FEMA

Sitting on a stoop of my mobile home waiting for my FEMA check to come. Although it may sound like a country song of woe, it's the sad refrain one Canyon Country man has been singing since the Buckweed wildfire burned down his home and changed his life forever. It's been 476 days and Terry Herdliska has yet to see a dime from the agency mandated in part to compensate disaster victims. For Herdliska, disaster ...

Anger over hiring of rapist at county health center

Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich wants some accountability for rehiring a convicted rapist who worked as an x-ray technician at Roybal Comprehensive Health Center.

County threatens tax revolt

Consider this your invitation to the Boston Tea Party. The venue is changed and calendar reset, but the issues behind a tax revolt and the withholding of tax money owed to the state is an option considered by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. "The (supervisors) are declaring our own Boston Tea Party right here in Los Angeles County," said Supervisor Gloria Molina, representing the county areas of Azusa and Pomona. Under her plan, ...

Supervisors allow water hauler to uncork well

A father and his son are thrilled to get back to pumping and hauling water from their Agua Dulce well today, but neighboring water company officials fear their wells will run dry.

Residents oppose water merchant's plan to pump

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is expected to approve a Conditional Use Permit today granting a tireless Agua Dulce water merchant permission to pump and sell 40,000 gallons a day.

In spite of sprawl, a tiny fish fights to survive

The unarmored three-spine stickleback is one tough little prickly survivor. As a freshwater fish the size of a minnow, fighting for its life in a quasi-desert terrain, the stickleback has survived every single major drought since the glaciers from the most recent ice age melted about 10,000 years ago and has managed to dodge every predator two to 10 times its size. It survived the dustbowl days of the "Dirty Thirties" and it outlasted Southern ...

Sun shines on Devil’s Den

While Devil's Den may sound like an ominous and scary place, local water officials want to turn the Kern County water outpost into a green and sustainable, solar-powered, money-making enterprise.

VIDEO UPDATE: Bailout package not that stimulating

President Barack Obama's $819 billion stimulus bill approved Wednesday by the Democrat-controlled House might be historic, but it won't create the jobs most people think it will, says Congressman Howard "Buck" McKeon.

Leasing company wants golf equipment returned from TPC

Two firms that lease equipment to the Tournament Players Club are seeking the return of their golf carts and course-trimming machines because they haven't received payment.

Local nurses do not want merit pay system

Local registered nurses held a candlelight vigil outside Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital Wednesday as a show of solidarity on the only sticky issue of ongoing contract negotiations - performance-based pay.

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.

Valencia: SCV Sheriff’s deputies bust suspected meth-dealing operation

Local drug squad deputies disrupted a meth-dealing operation in a Valencia neighborhood this week with the arrest of one man charged with possessing a controlled substance for sale, court documents show.

Santa Clarita mayor sees ‘definitive year’ on two major city issues

This year will be the "definitive year" for chloride and Cemex - two of the weightiest issues vexing residents in the Santa Clarita Valley, said Santa Clarita Mayor Bob Kellar during a town hall meeting Wednesday night.

Memorial service for Brittany Schlumpberger scheduled Saturday

Parents of a popular woman killed in a single-car crash on Sand Canyon Road last week are inviting the public to join them Saturday in paying tribute to their daughter, Brittany Schlumpberger.

Newhall man gets 2 years in death of woman

A 68-year-old Newhall man who left the scene of a fatal accident in Valencia more than a year ago has been sentenced to two years in jail, a court clerk said.

2 suspected gang members arrested on weapons charge

California Highway Patrol officers arrested two women, identified as convicted felons and suspected gang members, for allegedly having a firearm in their possession, court papers showed Wednesday.

Saugus residents oppose registered sex offender’s return

A registered sex offender recently released from a jail sentence for previously violating his parole is back in the same neighborhood where he lived when he committed those violations, and neighbors are protesting.

Sand Canyon residents remember youth killed at oak tree 32 years ago

While Kevin and Michelle Schlumpberger prepare for the funeral of their daughter, Brittany, killed last week in a single-car crash on Sand Canyon Road, others in Canyon Country recall a teen who died at the same spot 32 years ago today.

UPDATE: Suspect in deputy-involved shooting was hit in hand, officials say

A suspect arrested for allegedly pointing a handgun at officers last week was shot in the hand, possibly by local sheriff's deputies, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said Tuesday.

UPDATE: Police chase in Valencia nabs 3 suspects

Three people suspected of burglary for allegedly stealing a safe from a Saugus home were behind bars Tuesday after a wild ride through the Santa Clarita Valley, and a foot chase across the Santa Clara River, officials and witnesses said.