Free Republic

A 71-year-old Los Angeles man died in California’s Death Valley National Park on Tuesday, likely due to heat, as the afternoon high recorded in the park was 121 degrees, officials said. The Inyo County Coroner identified the deceased as Steven Curry. Curry fell to the ground outside the restroom at the Golden Canyon trailhead, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office and the national park wrote in a news release. Before collapsing, Curry had been interviewed in the early morning by a Los Angeles Times reporter at Zabriskie Point; he had hiked about 2 miles from Golden Canyon to the point. “It’s...

When it comes to attracting business to California's eastern deserts, Inyo County is none too choosy. Since the 19th century the sparsely populated county has worked to attract industries shunned by others, including gold, tungsten and salt mining. The message: Your business may be messy, but if you plan to hire our residents, the welcome mat is out. So the county grew giddy last year as it began to consider hosting a huge, clean industry. BrightSource Energy, developer of the proposed $2.7-billion Hidden Hills solar power plant 230 miles northeast of Los Angeles, promised a bounty of jobs and a...