Archive By Author - Jim Holt
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.
Memorial Day: ‘You are not forgotten’
Boys sprinted up the hillside to their father, careful not to step on the grave markers of the veterans they came to honor.
Articles By Author - Jim Holt
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.
Deputy accused of beating 19-year-old inmate
A Saugus man who works as a deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has been charged with assaulting a 19-year-old inmate in the back seat of a patrol car almost two years ago, according to the Los AngelesCounty District Attorney's office.
20-year-old Valencia woman arraigned on felony count
A 20-year-old Valencia woman was arraigned this week on a felony charge of hit and run causing injury or death following a collision with a bicyclist at a Newhall intersection last month, a District Attorney's spokeswoman said.
No injuries reported in two morning crashes on Highway 14
Crown Valley Road in Acton was a busy place this morning with traffic collisions reported on both the north and southbound lanes of Highway 14, emergency response officials said.
UPDATE: Newhall: Young woman talked down from freeway bridge
Quick-responding California Highway Patrol officers talked a young woman down from a freeway bridge Wednesday as she threatened to jump, a CHP spokesman said.
UPDATE: Sanitation district board OKs $334,000 ‘outreach’ contract
WHITTIER - Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District directors agreed Wednesday to pay $334,000 on public outreach as the district prepares to release a plan to reduce chloride in the Santa Clara River.
UPDATE: At least 4 injured in Highway 14 collision
Four people were hurt, including a mother and her 9-year-old son, in a multi-vehicle crash on the southbound Highway 14 freeway near Via Princessa on Tuesday.
Outreach on chloride in river could cost $334K
Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District directors are due to decide today whether to spend $334,000 on public outreach as the district prepares to release a plan for ridding the Santa Clara River of chloride.
Acton: Girl on slow recovery following devastating car crash
On Nov. 21 last year, Laurel Slothower of Acton received the phone call that every parent dreads.
UPDATE: Saugus Brush fire held to 4 acres despite high winds
Winds approaching hurricane force whipped flames through brush in Saugus on Monday, prompting swift reaction from firefighters who halted the blaze after it blackened more than four acres in Bouquet Canyon.
UPDATE: Powerball arrives in California
Tickets for the Powerball lottery went on sale in California for the first time Monday, and the new game was a big hit with one Castaic cashier selling the tickets.
Big winds may cause damage
Property damage due to high wind is expected in the Santa Clarita Valley today as two intense wind systems collide, a weather specialist said.
3 arrested in local Wal-Marts
Three people arrested recently for crimes allegedly committed at local Wal-Mart stores are expected to appear separately in court this month, charged with offenses including burglary, embezzlement and trespassing.
