Experts describe wounding of lifeless little girl

SAN FERNANDO - A veteran emergency room physician said Friday he had never seen a patient injured as badly as tiny 5-year-old Desarie Elizabeth Saravia when she arrived lifeless at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital one afternoon in 2004.

Tragic details unfold through pictures

SAN FERNANDO - A crayon drawing done by a badly beaten boy three days after his 5-year-old sister was savagely beaten to death in a Castaic park bathroom gave jurors a glimpse into the children's shared suffering Thursday as a murder trial continued. On Nov. 15, 2004, Brian Saravia, then 6, remained silent when a doctor specializing in cases of child abuse asked him a few questions at the University of California Los Angeles ...

Meadows works out with the best of ’em

Having exercised with students almost every other day for a month, teachers at Meadows Elementary School will have little problem jumping for joy today when they learn their school is a finalist in a statewide challenge to keep kids fit.

Reliving Desarie’s final moments

SAN FERNANDO - Two Castaic women described in court Wednesday what happened the day a lifeless, naked young girl ended up on their quiet suburban street.

High cost of salt wars

The victor of a water war over chloride levels in the Santa Clara River, pitting upstream suburbanites against downstream farmers, could be determined with the flourish of a pen on two emerging fronts this summer, The Signal has learned following a month-long investigation.

Downstreamers’ plight

VENTURA COUNTY - As he makes his way through a furrow that cuts one strawberry mound from the next, his steps are slow and sure, one dusty boot in front of the other.

SCV pays to pass the salt

Snow melting atop mountains in Plumas County, some 480 miles from the Santa Clarita Valley, is as clean as state legislators demand in their Porter-Cologne Act of 1969, and it's as clean as the Feds demand in their Clean Water Act of 1972.

Of woolly mammoths and farming

As the glaciers melted about 10,000 years ago, torrents of freshly melted ice and snow were sent rushing down the Santa Clarita Valley.

Man charged with assault on woman

A woman is conscious but suffering serious head injuries today after a man allegedly hit her in the face, causing her to fall and strike her head on the pavement.

Lines drawn in salty river

You and three friends sit down for lunch at a Santa Clarita Valley restaurant, and each of you orders the soup of the day.

Jets, comets, mystery

It's been about one month since the heavens over Santa Clarita opened up with a roar and revealed - something. It's still not absolutely clear what caused such a commotion at about 8:30 p.m. May 4. Initial reports referred to a "jet doing doughnuts," according to a complaint filed with Edwards Air Force Base, and to "two jets" according to several e-mails to The Signal. After a month of probing, the skies over Santa Clarita ...

Medic: ‘I did all I could’ for fallen Pfc. Suter

A U.S. Navy medic assigned to the same U.S. Marine Corps division as the late Pfc. Jake William Suter says he did all he could to help the local hero the day he died.

NEW PHOTOS: Loved and lost: Community supports fallen Marine

While parents of a young soldier killed in Afghanistan wait to learn how he died, a community has provided them one irrefutable reminder - their son was loved.

CHP reports rise in arrests

California Highway Patrol officers arrested twice as many people in Santa Clarita for drunk driving this Memorial Day weekend compared to those arrested during last year's long weekend. In Santa Clarita, the CHP logged 28 alcohol-related arrests this past weekend as opposed to 17 the same time last year. "I think the best thing about these numbers is that it's bad there were more drunks on the road, however, we're getting them off the road," ...

UPDATED: Vigil set for fallen Marine

The outpouring of love for fallen United States Marine Corps Pfc. Jake William Suter is expected to spill out on to the Stevenson Ranch street he lived on tonight during a candlelight vigil in his honor.

California Public Utilities Commission panel hears from ratepayers about purchase

Two California Public Utilities Commission hearings about a proposed Valencia Water Company rate hike drew more complaints Thursday about the firm's takeover by another water district than about higher water bills.

Pit bull attacks second dog in Sand Canyon

A roaming pit bull that ripped the leg off of a smaller dog in Canyon Country is expected to be humanely killed, a county official said Thursday.

UPDATE: Names of victim, suspect released in Acton homicide

Investigators probing a homicide in Acton have released the identities of the man who was shot and killed and the name of his alleged killer.

Boydston challenges chloride data

Santa Clarita City Councilman TimBen Boydston called the whole issue of chloride cleanup a scam Wednesday night after local sanitation officials presented their plan for reducing how much of the salty compound the sanitation district discharges into the Santa Clara River.

Newhall woman faces murder charges in Arizona

A Newhall woman charged with two counts of second-degree murder in connection with a fatal 2011 crash near the Arizona state line that claimed the lives of two children goes on trial in Arizona this week, The Signal has learned.

Tour of California racers blast out of SCV

After a night's rest in the Santa Clarita Valley, cyclists competing in the annual Amgen Tour of California left town en mass Wednesday to completed the first half of the eight-day race in Santa Barbara.

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