Archive By Author - Jim Holt
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.
SCV challenges water cops
At a raucous public hearing in July, Santa Clarita Valley residents made it clear they have no intention of shelling out $210 million from their own pockets so farmers downstream can raise salt-sensitive crops in the Santa Clara River Valley.
Patented rides
A Santa Clarita man has reinvented the wheel - and put a bicycle seat on it. Local inventor Doug Fraser now holds the U.S. patent for a bicycle in which the seat is directly attached to the back wheel. For more than 30 years, Fraser has pursued his vision of perfecting a revolutionary new style of bike that's more than a unicycle, but less than a conventional bike. "I got little boys knocking on my ...
‘Fair and firm’ cash grab
You might call them the water police. Their beat runs from storm water runoff to overt dumping and extends throughout California. Their staff of 12 is evenly split between scientists and Special Investigations team members, their cases made and culprits exposed through lab work. While they carry no firearms, the sting of their punishment - including millions of dollars in fines - has proven so punitive and persistent that it's prompted some cities to band ...
Hate-crime handling questioned
The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's Station is one of two Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department stations singled out as lacking in the way it investigates hate crimes, according to a county report examining stations throughout Los Angeles County.
Articles By Author - Jim Holt
Deputy arrests 4 in suspicious car found to be stolen
An alert sheriff's deputy arrested four people on charges including drug possession and possession of stolen property early Sunday morning when something about their car didn't add up, a local sheriff's spokesman said.
SCV Sheriff’s Station volunteer coordinator takes role of volunteer
Artie Thompson - the nation's one-time Airman of the Year, the state's National Guardsman and the community's veteran sheriff's deputy reserve coordinator - is retired but not deterred in pursuing his civic duties.
Truck fire shuts down 2 lanes of I-5
A truck fully engulfed in flames shut down two lanes of Interstate 5 today for more than an hour near Smokey Bear Road, emergency response officials said.
Truck fire shuts down two lanes on Interstate 5
A truck fully engulfed in flames shut down two lanes of Interstate 5 today for more than an hour near Smokey Bear Road, emergency response officials said.
5 plead not guilty of identity theft
Five people arrested for identity theft at a Stevenson Ranch hotel last month each entered a plea of not guilty in court Thursday, a court clerk said.
Firefighters respond to Agua Dulce brush fire
Firefighters responded to a half-acre brush fire near Agua Dulce today on the north side of Highway 14 just north Escondido Canyon Road, a fire official said. About 1 p.m., officials with the Los Angeles County Fire Department were dispatched to a brush fire north of the highway's southbound lanes, said Inspector Scott Miller. "We had a report of four small spot fires in that location," he said. Officers with the California Highway Patrol reported ...
Alleged SCV graffiti vandal ordered to preliminary hearing
A preliminary hearing was set Wednesday for a young man described as a prolific graffiti vandal who allegedly spray-painted property across the Santa Clarita Valley 160 times, a court clerk said.
UPDATE: San Fernando Valley man arrested in boating death last summer
A 29-year-old man has been charged in the boating death of a young Russian man on Pyramid Lake last summer, court papers show.
Chloride plan offers four alternatives
In a bid to stave off more chloride fines levied by the state, local sanitation district officials Wednesday have released four proposals for reducing the amount of salt discharged into the Santa Clara River.
San Francisquito Canyon body not murder victim
A woman whose body was found wrapped in a tarp and dumped at the side of San Francisquito Canyon Road two weeks ago does not appear to be the victim of foul play, the lead investigator said Tuesday.
UPDATE: Canyon Country: Child airlifted to L.A. hospital
An 8-year-old boy who lost consciousness after he fell from play structure at a Canyon Country elementary school was airlifted to a hospital in Los Angeles Tuesday morning, the school's principal said.
SCV Chloride plan due to be released Wednesday
When Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District officials release their proposal Wednesday to remove chloride from the Santa Clara River, with it will come close to a million dollars of advising, polling, presenting and translating "engineer-speak" into English, organizers say.
UPDATE: Newhall stabbing victim recovering in hospital
A 29-year-old Hispanic man is recovering in the hospital Tuesday after being stabbed an estimated seven times in an alcohol-fueled altercation in Newhall Monday night, a sheriff's official said.
Misdemeanor battery filed in skirmish over flag football game
An alleged "bad call" at a flag football game resulted in misdemeanor battery charges filed against the teen who refereed the game and the coach of one of the teams, a sheriff's deputies said.
Saugus swap meet turns 50
The thunderous roar and squeal that made the Saugus Speedway a local fixture in California for more than half a century has given way to the muffled sounds of bargain-hunters shuffling booth to booth at a swap meet that marked local legacy.
