Free Republic

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A high-speed bullet train from Southern California to Las Vegas is a step closer to reality. Brightline, the company that will build the system, has announced a landmark labor agreement with the High-Speed Rail Labor Coalition, which is "compromised of 13 rail unions representing more than 160,000 freight, regional, commuter, and passenger railroad workers in the United States." The $10 billion investment is expected to create nearly 35,000 jobs during construction and over 1,000 permanent jobs once operational, according to a press release from Brightline. The fully-electric train will be able to travel 200 miles an...

SAN BERNARDINO — Surveillance video that authorities say shows Malcolm Harsch hanging himself in Victorville late last month was released Thursday and Friday to the man’s family members, who then issued a statement confirming the suicide. The video evidence, captured May 31 from two surveillance cameras on buildings on Victor Street, was also shown to a group of reporters at San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department headquarters Friday afternoon. A man in a white shirt, who authorities identified as Harsch, can be seen in the video near two tents in a homeless encampment. He throws objects,...

A tractor-trailer traveling southbound on Interstate 15 slammed into the back of another tractor-trailer and Chevrolet pickup Tuesday night near Stoddard Wells Road after failing to yield to stopped traffic, according to a CHP news release. At the time of the collision, which authorities say occurred at approximately 11:57 p.m., traffic was at a standstill due to a full-freeway closure for construction of the D Street Bridge. As traffic was being routed off the freeway at Stoddard Wells Road, 52-year-old Mariano Valle, of Montclair, approached the stopped vehicles in a 2014 Freightliner tractor-trailer traveling at 60 mph. For unknown reasons,...

When a Muslim enters prison, what is done to turn him away from jihad? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. On the contrary, Muslims are given the opportunity to study the Quran and pray with other inmates. And so things like this are going to happen. There needs to be a thoroughgoing overhaul of how Islam is treated in our prison system. But that is not on the horizon. “Man serving 25 years in terrorism case pleads guilty to attempted murder of Victorville prison warden,” by Brittny Mejia, Los Angeles Times, March 13, 2018 (thanks to RN): The prisoner had been serving a...

A Southern California Chuck E. Cheese's saw two brawls among adults this week. The establishment in Victorville, about 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles, saw one fight erupt over tickets and another over an accidental push. Customer Sharon Cabrera shot footage of the first fight, which she uploaded to Facebook and YouTube.

San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department arrested a Muslim man on Monday after he allegedly threatened to kill his neighbor with a sword. Mohamed Ahmed Elrawi, 57, of Victorville, California, allegedly screamed, "I die and kill for Allahu!" during an altercation. Authorities said Elrawi was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after chasing a man in his apartment complex. A Quran and other items were located inside the suspect’s residence, leading investigators to believe Elrawi may have been a radicalized Muslim," Sgt. Dave Burgess told the Daily Press on Tuesday.

The pilot killed in the Apple Valley plane crash has been identified as 60-year-old Mike Mangold, a world-famous aerobatics champion for Red Bull who was a resident of Victorville. The crash occurred on Sunday, December 6, 2015 at about 2:20 P.M., according to the Apple Valley Fire Protection District the aircraft is described as an L39 Jet. Witnesses say, that the small plane was attempting to take off from the airport located at 21600 Corwin Road.

A long-discussed high-speed rail project linking Southern California and Las Vegas will be built by a U.S.-China joint venture, Chinese officials said Thursday, though many details about the agreement remained hazy. Announcement of cooperation on the XpressWest project adjacent to the 15 Freeway comes days ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the United States. Financial terms of the agreement, and the cost of the project, were not immediately clear. XpressWest, a private venture formerly called DesertXpress, has been under discussion since at least 2007. Chinese officials described the project as a 230-mile train linking Las Vegas and...

VICTORVILLE • A controversial proposal to give federal land north of Victorville to Cemex in hopes of ending a 12-year dispute over mining in Santa Clarita is back before the City Council Tuesday night.Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, first introduced the Soledad Canyon Mine Act in 2008 and then again in 2009. The bills aimed to give 10,600 acres of Bureau of Land Management property north of Victorville to cement producer Cemex USA. In exchange, the company would agree to a band on its rights to mine gravel in Soledad Canyon, where residents have been protesting the impact on...

Surface Transportation Board to permit high-speed rail project that will create more than 32,000 Nevada jobs October 26, 2011 Washington, D.C. — Nevada Senator Harry Reid today applauded the decision by the Department of Transportation’s bipartisan Surface Transportation Board (STB) to grant an exemption for DesertXpress to build and operate a 190-mile high-speed rail line between Las Vegas and Southern California that could create more than 32,000 Nevada jobs.  “I’m pleased that the DesertXpress project is getting the green light to proceed, which will not only put tens of thousands of Nevadans to work but ultimately bring more tourists to...

VICTORVILLE, Calif. -- Brawling parents interrupted a Southern California kindergarten graduation ceremony. School officials placed Puesta del Sol Elementary in desert Victorville on lockdown Wednesday morning after a fight broke out among a group of parents. San Bernardino County sheriff's spokeswoman Karen Hunt said witnesses told deputies several mothers were involved in a verbal argument and it got physical in a field near the ceremony. Several men then jumped into the fray and the incident turned into a brawl. Hunt said arriving deputies didn't see any physical contact. There were no arrests and no one reported injuries. No children were...

3-year-old raped by uncle, officials say August 30, 2007 - 11:14PM KATHERINE ROSENBERG VICTORVILLE — A 3-year-old girl was found abused and bleeding Thursday night, and officials have arrested her uncle, an illegal alien, for child molestation. Salvador Luna, 29, who was previously deported, was arrested on suspicion of sexual abuse of a child and was taken to the Victorville sheriff’s station where he underwent a physical examination, said Detective Ryan Collins. The victim was originally admitted to Victor Valley Community Hospital around 7 p.m. after her mother found the girl bleeding inside their home on Rockrose Street, said Detective...

BARWANA, Iraq (Nov. 10, 2005) -- Just days after Company L, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment arrived here, an early morning patrol left their firm base Oct. 26 to learn more about the community. Corporal Ralph E. Arzate of Victorville, Calif. led the census patrol from house to house as they gathered basic information about each family in the community. Arzate, some Marines with the company, and an interpreter went to each house in a three-block area, meeting the people and gathering information like names, the number of people in the family, weapons in the house, occupations and vehicles they...

High Desert banks tap illegal immigrant market VICTORVILLE -- National and local banks have found in their quest to attract more customers that catering to illegal immigrants can significantly increase traffic and business. A widely ignored group for many years, illegal immigrants have become a force within the nation's economy, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research center based in Washington, D.C.Research by the center shows that of the 13.9 million illegal immigrants living in the United States, 6.3 million of them were employed as of March 2004.A recent study by Inter-American Dialogue revealed that consumer remittances to...

SACRAMENTO - As the California Charter Academy grew into the state's largest charter school, it developed close ties to various local and state politicians who accepted campaign contributions and pushed the academy's political interests, according to a state audit released Thursday. Between 1999 and its collapse last summer, the Victorville-based school placed members of a tightly woven band of Republican politicians in California's High Desert on boards and gave them jobs and money. In many cases, they responded. In 2003, Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster, carried a resolution for the California Charter Academy that urged state lawmakers to support adult education...

Leave it to a California high school, a charter member of a state now ranked 48th out of 50 states in academic proficiency, to demonstrate exactly why so many parents are pulling their kids out of government educational institutions. Silverado High School, located in the city of Victorville in the California high-desert region, has had its share of student-body challenges, most recently an outbreak of racially motivated fisticuffs between black and Latino students during an assembly on February 4. "It was divided along racial lines," said Superintendent Greg Lundeen, of the Victor Valley Union High School District. "A lot of...

Attorney says stopping mock gay weddings would violate students' free-speech rights: Though some school board members said they may disagree with the simulated gay weddings a student club plans to hold today at Silverado High School, they must uphold the state and federal laws that allow it. The board is bound by the laws in the Education Code, the Equal Access Act and rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court, according to a written statement from the district. "Although my personal beliefs conflict with this event, I am still bound to support the Constitution of the United States," said Valerie Emick,...