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Recent Blogs

1. Motorist gets 16-month jail sentence for fatal drunken crash

   By BREAKING NEWS BLOG

   Friday, May 24 2013 06:16 PM

   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 dismissed.

   California Highway Patrol officers said Cullinan drank schnapps and rum at a party on July 6 of last year and was driving at 4:30 a.m. on Silver Queen Road, west of Highway 14, when the crash occurred. He failed to negotiate a curve, drove off the roadway and slid into a wooden utility pole that crushed the right side of his pickup.

   Joseph Ginnow, 21, was killed and his brother, Johnny Ginnow, 18, suffered a broken left orbital socket and abrasions on both arms and knees, officers said. Cullinan suffered a lacerated liver and abrasions to both arms.

   Officers said Cullinan blew an estimated .22 blood alcohol content - nearly three times the legal driving limit - on a breathalyzer.

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2. 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.

3. 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.

4. Police ask for help finding two runaway teens

   Bakersfield police are asking for the public's help in locating two runaway juveniles.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. Motorist who struck and killed elderly couple convicted of murder

   A motorist who was driving under the influence when he crossed over the center divider and struck and killed an elderly couple walking on a sidewalk has been found guilty of two counts of second-degree murder.

8. SWAT standoff leads to arrest

   Kern County Sheriff's deputies arrested a man Thursday night after he led them on a foot chase, prompted a SWAT standoff and tried to flee from the window of a residence.
9. 

   Fire spreads from cutting torch

   A homeowner's use of a cutting torch led to a significant fire Thursday that spread to grass, fences and other homes on Shiloh Ranch Court in northeast Bakersfield, the Kern County Fire Department said.
10. 

    No fatalities in I-5 bridge collapse in Northwest Washington

    MOUNT VERNON, Wash. -- Authorities say there were no fatalities when an Interstate 5 bridge over a river north of Seattle collapsed.

11. Suspect grabbed and kissed woman in parking lot

    Bakersfield police are asking for the public's help in identifying a suspect wanted for battery.

12. Forest service reports Grand fire cost $8.2 million

    The Grand fire east of Frazier Park cost an estimated $8.2 million to extinguish, according to a U.S. Forest Service news release.

13. One killed in car crash on Edwards Air Force Base

    The driver of a vehicle who died in a crash on Edwards Air Force Base has been identified as 26-year-old Fernando Reyes Flores.