1. City Beat Blog
   

   High speed rail may be stopping at Shafter, for now

   A proposal by Bakersfield officials for a "time-out" on California's high speed train through town may be gaining traction. The California High Speed Rail Authority will consider a recommendation by staff members at its June 6 monthly meeting to approve a rail alignment and station locations between Fresno and...

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2. Hot Topics

   ROBERT PRICE: Infallibility has some real drawbacks

   Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood slapped down critics of his department with such confident certainty at last week's news conference addressing David Sal Silva's fatal skirmish with officers, he may not want to hear this. He so authoritatively relegated the media to the role of irresponsible alarmists he might not...

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3. Lois Henry

   LOIS HENRY: Why officers' names must sometimes be disclosed

   I adamantly disagree with Sheriff Donny Youngblood's decision to withhold names of officers involved in major incidents. Not only on basic legal grounds but also in light of one particular statement he made during his press conference on Thursday regarding David Silva's death. The issue of officer names came up after...

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1. Local News
   

   Class of 2013 includes teens who overcame adversity

   It's high school graduation season. Most school districts in Kern County will be wrapping up the 2012-13 school year over the next week or two. The Kern High School District class of 2013 of more than 7,000 students will participate in commencement exercises next week. For many youths, a high school diploma is a...

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2. Health

   Reported valley fever cases fell in California, Arizona last year

   California's tally of valley fever cases dropped by more than 1,000 last year and some counties have also seen fewer cases in the early months of 2013. But public health officials say it's too early to identify long-term trends in the numbers. "The number of reported cases in 2012 was still high compared to...

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3. Business

   Downtown success stories attract new investment

   Downtown Bakersfield is finally happening. Independent investors lured by increasing foot traffic and higher-end clientele are opening restaurants, stores and galleries, confident that the area's stigma is on the decline and recent success will prove contagious. "You can just see the rejuvenation that's going on," said...

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1. Business

   Downtown success stories attract new investment

   Downtown Bakersfield is finally happening. Independent investors lured by increasing foot traffic and higher-end clientele are opening restaurants, stores and galleries, confident that the area's stigma is on the decline and recent success will prove contagious. "You can just see the rejuvenation that's going on," said...

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2. 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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3. 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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1. 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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2. 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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3. 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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1. Hot Topics

   ROBERT PRICE: Infallibility has some real drawbacks

   Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood slapped down critics of his department with such confident certainty at last week's news conference addressing David Sal Silva's fatal skirmish with officers, he may not want to hear this. He so authoritatively relegated the media to the role of irresponsible alarmists he might not...

   Read More
2. Lois Henry

   LOIS HENRY: Why officers' names must sometimes be disclosed

   I adamantly disagree with Sheriff Donny Youngblood's decision to withhold names of officers involved in major incidents. Not only on basic legal grounds but also in light of one particular statement he made during his press conference on Thursday regarding David Silva's death. The issue of officer names came up after...

   Read More
3. Local Lifestyle

   HERB BENHAM: Desire to keep one's teeth: Is it even a question?

   Last Monday I went to the dentist. It had been six months since my last visit. Things happen with teeth; seldom do they become healthier and more photogenic with time. After I kicked off my shoes and sat down -- the sleek, comfortable dentist chair just inviting patients to be casual -- the woman checking in patients...

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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. College
   

   CSUB falls short in WAC baseball tournament

   GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas -- Cal State Bakersfield couldn't solve the University of Texas-San Antonio pitching staff Saturday morning, losing 1-0 in the Western Athletic Conference baseball tournament. With the loss, the winningest season in CSUB program history likely comes to a close. Needing a victory to advance to...

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2. Motorsports
   

   Mayhew sweeps Late Model features at county raceway

   If one exciting victory wasn't enough, David Mayhew pulled out a second thriller to close out racing at Kern County Raceway Park on Saturday night. The Bakersfield driver swept dual 35-lap CITGO Lubricants Late Model features on the half-mile track, edging Eric Richardson each time. Mayhew and Richardson had the...

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3. College
   

   Life in the Minors: As far as road trips go, this trumps them all

   FREDERICK, Md. Our current road trip has brought us to Frederick, Md. It is about an hour outside of Washington D.C. and is home to Fort Detrick. While riding from Salem, Va., we drove along Interstate 81, the main highway into the Washington and Baltimore area from Nashville, Tenn., and Birmingham, Ala. For the...

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1. College

   Local report: Centennial grad Robinson hits go-ahead HR to lift Ports past Blaze

   Centennial High graduate Dusty Robinson capped a perfect night at the plate with a 3-run homer in the top of the ninth inning to lift the Stockton Ports to a 3-0 victory Saturdasy night over the Bakersfield Blaze at Sam Lynn Ballpark. Robinson, who struck out a California League record seven times in a game earlier...

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2. Preps

   Stockdale's Haney 7th in Miracle Mile

   Stockdale junior Blake Haney finished seventh in the most elite high school mile race in the country Saturday in New York City, setting his second Central Section record in the process. Haney's time of 4:07.78 in the Dream Mile in New York City converts to 4:06.35 in the 1,600 meters. The old section record in that...

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3. Sports

   May 24 high school roundup

   Central Section baseball championships Division I No. 2 Clovis North 13,  No. 4 Stockdale 2 At CNHS. W: Labosky (10-0).  L: Carroll (4-2). 2B: SHS (Coles);  CN (Rossi, Labosky, Cummings).  HR:  CN (Rossi). Notes: SHS (Josh Stone 2-3, RBI); CN (Christian Rossi 3-5, 3R, 3RBIs; Koby Cummings 2-3, 2R; Jack Labosky...

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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....

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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

   House's student loan plan would hurt

   Just in time for high school commencement exercises, Congress has wrapped up the graduation gift for college-bound seniors that keeps on giving: Additional years of debt. The Republican-dominated House has passed legislation that would tie subsidized student loan rates to prevailing market trends, bringing an end to...

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2. Our View

   Another bridge collapse and another warning

   The partial collapse Thursday of an aging bridge on Interstate 5 in Washington state serves as a reminder of the deteriorating state of core components of the nation's aging infrastructure. All too frequently, it takes a disaster of epic proportions to propel government and its citizens to action. Fortunately, that did...

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3. Hot Topics

   KIM TSO: Why Proposition 30 funding was too little too late

   While Gov. Jerry Brown and his fellow Democrats are arguing about a new funding formula for dividing up some school dollars, parents like me are still scratching our heads over why, despite the passage of the temporary tax initiative Proposition 30 last fall, so little has changed in our schools. For all the spin on...

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1. National Voices

   DANA MILBANK: Washington, DC, is where the money talks

   Call it the revenge of the 1 percent. President Obama bested Mitt Romney by portraying his Republican opponent as a rich businessman who used offshore tax havens and ran enterprises into the ground without regard for working people. On Thursday, senators held a confirmation hearing for President Obama's nominee to be...

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2. Letters to the Editor

   Citizens' review board is monumental stupidity

   Hearing that the first Kern County Sheriff's deputy on the scene fought with David Sal Silva for some seven minutes prior to the arrival of his cover units made me think of my friend and fellow deputy, Rick McHale. Rick died waiting for a cover unit that was in the next year's budget. What the public did not know then...

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3. Letters to the Editor

   In the usual Bakersfield fashion

   You just have to love Bakersfield's predictability. I prognosticated the outcome of the David Sal Silva case as soon as Superior Court Judge Charles Brehmer issued a search warrant for the witnesses' cellphones. Now it is a done deal. The evidence has been rendered harmless, the blows were not to vital places and the...

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1. City Beat Blog
   

   High speed rail may be stopping at Shafter, for now

   A proposal by Bakersfield officials for a "time-out" on California's high speed train through town may be gaining traction. The California High Speed Rail Authority will consider a recommendation by staff members at its June 6 monthly meeting to approve a rail alignment and station locations between Fresno and...

   Read More
2. Breaking News Blog
   

   CALM loses beloved mountain lion, Willow

   The California Living Museum suffered a devastating loss Friday when its beloved 3-year-old mountain lion, Willow, died suddenly. Willow had suffered a mysterious puncture wound no more than 48 hours before her death. It was tiny, only two to three millimeters, on her side near her front left leg, said CALM...

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3. 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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1. 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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2. 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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3. 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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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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