1. Funeral Notices

   Services for May 25, 2013

   TO OUR READERS The Californian provides free death listings using information supplied by local mortuaries. The in-depth notices that follow are paid obituaries and remembrances. They must be purchased by 2 p.m. To place an Obituary or In Loving Memory, call 395-7302. Services pending Marie Angelique Abbott, 73,...

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2. Local News
   

   Life without parole sentence stands for two guilty in grisly double murder

   A Kern County judge decided Friday his original sentence for Kyle Hoffman and Luis Palafox of life in prison without the possibility of parole would stand for the grisly murders of an elderly couple whose home they broke into the night of Aug. 4, 2008. The two had been found guilty of the murders of Dorothy and...

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3. Breaking News Blog

   Congressman's offices burglarized

   Someone -- for some unknown reason -- broke into the Bakersfield offices of Congressman Kevin McCarthy Friday and took "items of value," police said. And it wasn't the first time someone at least tried to break into the offices of one of the most powerful members of Congress. Bakersfield police also responded to...

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1. Inga Barks
   

   INGA BARKS: Shame on the media is right

   BOY did Sheriff Donny Youngblood tell US how the cow eats the cabbage this week. By "us" I mean we in the media. In his Thursday press conference regarding the death of David Sal Silva, who died after an altercation with sheriff's deputies, Youngblood released results from a coroner's report and the department's...

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2. Local News
   

   A splash of color: Wheelchairs used to create murals

   Bottles of different colors sat atop a table in the corner of the Independent Living Center of Kern County. A white canvas was taped down on the floor and the eyes of people who use wheelchairs scanned around the room, trying to figure out how exactly they were going to paint. Little did they know they were about to...

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3. Local Politics
   

   In turnaround, runoff now likely in state Senate race

   Andy Vidak is, for now, no longer a senator-elect. And it is almost certain the Hanford cherry farmer will have to battle Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez  head-to-head in July for the 16th Senate District seat he thought he’d already won. The turnaround was dramatic. On Friday morning, Republican Vidak had a...

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1. Oil

   Oil conference to explore complexities of Monterey Shale

   An oil conference returning to Bakersfield next week promises to share insights into recent efforts to tap the Monterey Shale and other geological formations attracting industry interest to the southern Central Valley. The $1,799-per-person event, titled Tight Oil Reservoirs California 2013, is expected to examine...

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2. Business
   

   New veterans IDs to provide convenient proof of service

   William Kelley sat in a blue chair, asked if his hair looked OK and smiled at the camera. It took about 45 seconds to make the veteran identification card that the 59-year-old Vietnam veteran can now show at any business that offers military discounts. The Kern County Veterans Service Department is now providing IDs...

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3. Business
   

   Senate committee approves sweeping immigration bill

   WASHINGTON -- Far-reaching legislation to grant a chance at citizenship to millions of immigrants living illegally in the United States cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on a solid bipartisan vote Tuesday night after supporters somberly sidestepped a controversy over the rights of gay spouses. The 13-5 vote...

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1. Business
   

   KSFCU rescues ailing Tehachapi credit union

   The county's largest financial institution is riding to the rescue of a much smaller credit union in Tehachapi that federal data show has fallen on very hard times. Kern Schools Federal Credit Union announced Monday that it has agreed to merge with Tehachapi Federal Credit Union, whose perilous financial condition...

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2. Business

   Unemployment picture brightens in California, Kern

   California's unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level in 4 1/2 years as the state experienced one of the sharpest drops in joblessness nationwide, the state Employment Development Department reported Friday. Unemployment fell to 9 percent in April, the lowest point since November 2008, nearly a year after the...

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3. High-speed Rail
   

   Judge to hear lawsuit over high-speed rail bonds

   SACRAMENTO -- State officials on Thursday agreed to drop a request to consolidate all lawsuits challenging California's use of voter-approved high-speed rail bonds, allowing a trial seeking to stop their sale to begin later this month. Opponents of the $68 billion bullet train project and attorneys for the California...

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1. Inga Barks
   

   INGA BARKS: Shame on the media is right

   BOY did Sheriff Donny Youngblood tell US how the cow eats the cabbage this week. By "us" I mean we in the media. In his Thursday press conference regarding the death of David Sal Silva, who died after an altercation with sheriff's deputies, Youngblood released results from a coroner's report and the department's...

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2. Richard Beene

   RICHARD BEENE: Bakersfield Observed, a blog about life, media, politics and people

   Bako Bakersfield has long suffered a "brain drain" as some of our best and brightest young people leave for greener pastures, but now comes word that our community is becoming increasingly attractive to young college graduates. According to a recent survey, Bakersfield ranked No. 3 on a list of smaller cities that pay...

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3. Dining

   PETE TITTL: Like a fine wine, eatery has matured

   New restaurants change as the years go by, ideally for the better. Steak & Grape is one of those restaurants. I wasn't that impressed during my first visit after it opened two years ago, but I felt it had potential. It's improved in a lot of ways since then, with an impressive Sunday brunch, First Friday wine and beer...

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1. Outdoor / Fishing

   Steve Merlo: Memorial Day a special time of remembrance

   A special trophy hangs from a wall in my house. Unlike my other hunting or fishing trophies, so strong are the emotions associated with this particular piece of life's memorabilia, I would gladly give all my worldly possessions if the trips related with it never existed. Writing about this black-inscribed commemorative...

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2. Robert Price

   ROBERT PRICE: Ralph Bailey's radio fiction

   If you caught Ralph Bailey's May 22 show on KERN-AM 1180 in which he ripped yours truly for having supposedly acquiesced to the unreasonable demands of a politician and ordered the removal of radio/webcast host Scott Cox from his own show, read this. "Price threw Scott Cox under the bus," Bailey told listeners, and...

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3. Music
   

   MATT MUNOZ: Artists work it out at Rabobank

   Last week's visit by Latin singer Juanes was no average tour stop. The Grammy-winning artist, who kicked off his "Loud & Unplugged" tour before a full house at Rabobank Theater on Friday, spent a number of days rehearsing and doing press below the radar. But Juanes isn't the only megastar attracted to Bakersfield....

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1. Preps
   

   Freshman's sharp outing not enough for Tehachapi

   VISALIA -- The baseball axiom is that good pitching beats good hitting. But, as Tehachapi High found out in the Central Section Division III title game Friday, even great pitching needs some run-support in order to win. Despite an outstanding complete-game effort on the mound by Sagun Gainey, the No. 9 Warriors lost...

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2. Preps
   

   Clovis North topples Stockdale for D-I crown as Lemon's 21-year tenure comes to close

   FRESNO -- It wasn't the ending coach Dan Lemon and Stockdale High's baseball team imagined for the final page of their fairy tale. Not even close, actually -- but then, maybe that's OK. Clovis North routed Stockdale 13-2 at home for the Central Section Division I title Friday, ending a magical Mustangs run that few...

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3. College

   'Runners' must-win game postponed in scoreless tie

   GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas -- Cal State Bakersfield was in a scoreless tie with the University of Texas-San Antonio when their Western Athletic Conference tournament game was delayed Friday night because of thunderstorms. The game, which will determine the Pool A representative in Sunday's title game, will resume today at 8...

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1. Sports

   County raceway's medical response gets early test

   The medical response at Bakersfield's new racetrack was tested on opening night May 18. Not from a fiery crash at Kern County Raceway Park, but when a spectator suffered an apparent heart attack about the time the opening ceremonies concluded. The man survived, thanks to quick work by the track's fire and safety...

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2. Community - MyBakersfieldSports.com

   Local report: County raceway to host twin Late Model features

   Twin Late Model feature races will highlight Week II of racing Saturday at Kern County Raceway Park. The NASCAR CITGO Lubricants Late Models will have back-to-back 35-lap features on Coca Cola Armed Services Night at the new racing site. There will also be a 35-lap Legends feature and 30-lap Bandolero feature. Pit...

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3. College

   Lightning delays hammer throw

   Lightning storms forced the postponement of the field events, and Cal State Bakersfield senior Thomas Judge will have wait until today to compete in the hammer throw at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field West Preliminary Round in Austin, Texas. The event, which was orginally scheduled to begin at noon Friday,...

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1. Dining

   PETE TITTL: Like a fine wine, eatery has matured

   New restaurants change as the years go by, ideally for the better. Steak & Grape is one of those restaurants. I wasn't that impressed during my first visit after it opened two years ago, but I felt it had potential. It's improved in a lot of ways since then, with an impressive Sunday brunch, First Friday wine and beer...

   Read More
2. Community
   

   Broadcasting pioneer Rodewald dead at 86

   “Until tomorrow at 3, when it’s just you and me.” With that line, which would become the catchphrase of a lifetime, Don Rodewald went from genial announcer to Bakersfield icon in the early days of television, a giddy era of seat-of-the-pants improvisation, when every telecast held the potential for greatness,...

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3. Music
   

   MATT MUNOZ: Artists work it out at Rabobank

   Last week's visit by Latin singer Juanes was no average tour stop. The Grammy-winning artist, who kicked off his "Loud & Unplugged" tour before a full house at Rabobank Theater on Friday, spent a number of days rehearsing and doing press below the radar. But Juanes isn't the only megastar attracted to Bakersfield....

   Read More

1. Dining
   

   Not all the beers -- just the best ones -- at festival

   Although Budweiser bills itself as the "King of Beers," it's no match for a god. Coming down from the heavens (of Lengthwise Brewery), Zeus Imperial IPA will make its debut Saturday as part of the first-ever Bakersfield Craft Beer Festival. And by now, it may take divine intervention to land a ticket. The VIP tables...

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2. Music
   

   Korn on mission to find cure for diabetes

   The members of Grammy-winning hometown heroes Korn will be preparing to head overseas for the European leg of their current concert tour when the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation holds a wine and food event in Bakersfield June 1. But they will be there in spirit and, better yet, a piece of history that has huge...

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3. Dining

   Omelet cooked in a bag: Not as weird as it sounds

   If the phrase "hobo breakfast" has you thinking of a Chaplin-esque tramp boiling a shoe or drinking a hearty libation, well, you're not completely off. The Italian Heritage Dante Association's Sunday fundraiser will involve boiling food and a cocktail, but it's much tastier than it sounds. This hobo breakfast will...

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1. Our View

   Teens may not care enough about privacy

   In the 1960s, a free speech activist at UC Berkeley named Jack Weinberg coined a phrase that became one of that turbulent era's signature expressions and an iconic pop culture phrase: "Don't trust anyone over 30." It's been a long time since America's youth have had a galvanizing rallying cry, but they seem to have one...

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2. National Voices

   MICHAEL GERSON: The unwelcome role of the IRS in Obamacare

   Let us stipulate that now might not be the best time -- with IRS officials exposed for abusing power, caught in self-serving deceptions, invoking their constitutional right against self-incrimination -- to dramatically expand the authority and size of their agency. But this is what Obamacare requires. Thousands of new...

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3. Letters to the Editor

   Tooting the horn of a helpful local bugler

   I've lived in Bakersfield for more than 50 years and I've seen the city grow in population each year. I thought that the small-town, good-neighbor philosophy went down the drain when we started getting these big retail businesses overrunning the local, family-run businesses that offered the best customer service. I...

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1. Letters to the Editor

   This vet honored by performance

   On Friday morning, along with a couple of dozen other veterans, I was invited to attend a Memorial Day celebration at College Heights Elementary School. What an honor! What an outstanding performance! We were all surprised and thankful for the reception we "old-timers" received. The performance by the school orchestra...

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2. Letters to the Editor

   100 pats on the back

   I am a World War II veteran, 87 years old. Ever since I left the service in 1953, nothing special ever really happened to me regarding my service. I never really talked about it. In the last year to the present I have been thanked and patted on the back a hundred times. I went to Washington, D.C., flew on a C-47 and...

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3. Our View

   Sheriff sees only perfection in Silva case

   As accidental deaths go, David Sal Silva's is one of the most unusual you'll ever hear about. Hog-tied, beaten with batons and held down by as many as nine sheriff's deputies and CHP officers, Silva, in a startling coincidence of tragic timing, died suddenly of chronic hypertension. That's right: Silva's May 8 death...

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1. Breaking News Blog

   Motorist gets 16-month jail sentence for fatal drunken crash

   A drunken driver who crashed after a Mojave bonfire party, killing one passenger and badly injuring another, was sentenced Friday to 16 months in jail. John Cullinan, 19, pleaded no contest last month to DUI vehicle manslaughter without gross negligence, according to court records. Two other felony DUI charges were...

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2. Breaking News Blog

   Sheriff's inmate work crew cleans up cemetery grounds

   The Sheriff's Inmate Community work crew partnered with the Kern County Parks Department Tuesday and picked up litter, chopped down shrubbery, removed weeds and mowed the grass at the Glennville Cemetery. On Wednesday, the work crew filled two bins with illegally dumped trash and yard waste in the area of Wood Street...

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3. Breaking News Blog

   Congressman's offices burglarized

   Someone -- for some unknown reason -- broke into the Bakersfield offices of Congressman Kevin McCarthy Friday and took "items of value," police said. And it wasn't the first time someone at least tried to break into the offices of one of the most powerful members of Congress. Bakersfield police also responded to...

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1. Breaking News Blog

   Police ask for help finding two runaway teens

   Bakersfield police are asking for the public's help in locating two runaway juveniles. Dustee Mathis and Ashley Acres were last seen together in the 2900 block of La Costa Street in a blue 1998 two-door Chevrolet Cavalier. The license plate reads 6FEU437. Mathis, 17, is described as white, 5 feet 5 inches tall, 165...

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2. Breaking News Blog

   Guns, money and drugs seized from Tehachapi residence

   Kern County Sheriff's Office deputies from the Tehachapi substation have been conducting several investigations of recent burglaries in the area. A search warrant was served Wednesday at a residence in the 500 block of South Mill Street and items including stolen property were seized. Some of the items seized were 21...

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3. Oil

   Oil conference to explore complexities of Monterey Shale

   An oil conference returning to Bakersfield next week promises to share insights into recent efforts to tap the Monterey Shale and other geological formations attracting industry interest to the southern Central Valley. The $1,799-per-person event, titled Tight Oil Reservoirs California 2013, is expected to examine...

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Editors' picks from the last week

1. Pick 6 - Editors Picks from Past Week
   

   East Hills theater to begin showing latest Hollywood blockbusters

   East Bakersfield residents no longer will need to schlep downtown or farther west to see the latest Hollywood releases now that Regency Theatres has converted its East Hills complex to a first-run movie house. And the theater -- which makes the shift at 10 tonight -- is already off to a "Fast & Furious" start. "A...

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2. Pick 6 - Editors Picks from Past Week
   

   Raceway Park's debut a hit for NASCAR fans

   "They did a really good job out here." That was the general consensus of fans and race officials who attended the opening night Saturday at Kern County Raceway Park. What looked like a capacity crowd of 8,000 fans showed up, to the delight of NASCAR and park officials, even while park accommodations were overwhelmed....

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3. Pick 6 - Editors Picks from Past Week
   

   Kern's image may be taking a hit

   The death of a man in custody following a prolonged struggle with Kern County Sheriff's deputies and CHP officers and the subsequent fracas over confiscated witness cellphones have gained international attention and raised concerns here that the incidents could tarnish the county's emerging reputation as a desirable...

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1. Pick 6 - Editors Picks from Past Week
   

   Silva's screams mark video that lacks baton strikes

   David Sal Silva’s screams seem like they will never stop. But they do. Daniel Rodriguez, the attorney now representing the witnesses in the in-custody death of Silva following his beating earlier this month by several law enforcement officers, released cellphone video shot by one of the witnesses Monday. As...

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2. Pick 6 - Editors Picks from Past Week
   

   Sun Pacific gets custody of Cuties in Paramount divorce

   The two companies behind the popular Cuties brand of mandarins have begun a corporate divorce that forces a name change on a popular product that accounts for thousands of acres in Kern County orchards. Under a deal announced Monday, Pasadena-based Sun Pacific was to pay Paramount Citrus, part of Los Angeles-based...

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3. Pick 6 - Editors Picks from Past Week
   

   Council committee waters down anti-abortion ordinance

   A draft city ordinance that would have restricted abortion in Bakersfield was placed on hold Monday when the Bakersfield City Council's Legislative and Litigation Committee voted 3-0 to table its discussion indefinitely, and instead, ordered the drafting of a resolution that could be less restrictive. The so-called...

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