Bakersfield news

• Man kills his wife and 2 grown children, then self

  02-01-2015 23:32
  
  A man shot and killed his wife and two grown children before taking his life at a Northern California home on New Year's Day, police said Friday.
  
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• Federal prosecutors to seek death penalty in LAX shooting

  02-01-2015 23:29
  
  Federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty against the man charged in a deadly shooting rampage at Los Angeles International Airport, according to court papers filed Friday.
  
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• Boy, 1, stabbed to death in Ventura; dad suspected

  02-01-2015 23:14
  
  A 1-year-old boy was found stabbed to death Friday, and his father, who was also found with stab wounds, is the lone suspect, police said.
  
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• Witness: Roller rink guard killed taking on gunman

  02-01-2015 23:12
  
  A security guard died confronting a gunman firing at a crowd outside a Southern California roller rink where about 200 people, including many children, gathered for an all-night New Year's Eve party, authorities and witnesses said Friday.
  
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• No injuries in train vs semi truck collision

  02-01-2015 21:50
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA - A collision involving a train and a semi truck in Shafter today did not result in any injuries, but it did cause some delays.
  
  The crash happened at Poplar Avenue near Highway 43.
  According to the California Highway Patrol, there were no injuries and the cargo trailer was empty.
  No word yet what caused the crash.
  An Amtrak representative said its 713 train, the San Joaquin, is waiting in Wasco for clearance to continue its trip to Oakland.
  
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• 'First Look': Curious kittens featured on 'Pet of the Week,' low-cost vaccine clinic Saturday

  02-01-2015 21:40
  
  What's better than one adorable blue-eyed kitten? How about two!
  
  Brother and sister Bandit and Smokey are looking for a forever home to start off the new year.
  
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• CSUB gets new dorms

  02-01-2015 21:33
  
  Over 500 students will fill the rooms of the new dorms located on the northeast side of campus.
  
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• Former cop pleads guilty in DUI injury crash

  02-01-2015 20:35
  
  A former police officer pleaded guilty Friday to a drunken driving charge, stemming from a crash that left a woman injured.
  
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• Freight train crashes into big rig near HWY 43

  02-01-2015 20:30
  
  A freight train has crashed into a big rig near Highway 43.
  
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• Former BPD officer pleads guilty to DUI charge

  02-01-2015 20:28
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA. - The former BPD officer suspected of driving under the influence and hitting a woman at a gas station last April, pleaded guilty Friday to one felony DUI charge.
  The California Highway Patrol said Kristopher Carter, 31, was drunk when his truck plowed into the Shell gas station on Merle Haggard Drive and struck Leann Harris, 20. Officers said Harris was pumping gas and she became pinned between her car and the gas pump, leaving her partially paralyzed. Officers said Carter t
  
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• US sanctions North Korea over Sony cyberattack

  02-01-2015 20:28
  
  The United States imposed fresh sanctions on North Korea on Friday in its first public act of retribution for a crippling cyberattack against Sony.
  
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• CSUB welcomes students to new $41M housing

  02-01-2015 19:44
  
  New student housing opens Friday on the campus of California State University, Bakersfield.
  
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• Veteran Bakersfield reporter Steve Swenson dies of cancer

  02-01-2015 19:29
  
  Veteran Bakersfield reporter Steve E. Swenson died New Year's Day after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
  
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• Low cost dog vaccination clinic this Saturday

  02-01-2015 19:22
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA. - The community is invited to take advantage of a low cost vaccination, licensing, and microchip clinic that will be held on Saturday, Jan. 3.
  The event is hosted by the City of Bakersfield Animal Control Division and will be held at the Park at Riverwalk, at 11200 Stockdale Hwy, from 9 a.m. until noon.
  The rabies vaccinations will be offered to all dogs 3 months of age and older. Thevaccine cost is reduced, however; the licensing fees are regular price
  Microchips are off
  
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• Governor appoints KCHCC Chairwoman to Fair Board

  02-01-2015 19:17
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA - Governor Brown has appointed the chairwoman of the Kern County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to the Kern County Fair board of directors.  According to a news release from the governor's press office, Blodgie Rodriguez, 46, has been a Realtor at Paramount Real Estate since 2012.
  
  She was a Realtor at Walters and Associates from 2007 to 2012 and at MJC Properties from 2004 to 2007. Rodriguez was interim program director at the Kern County Youth Mariachi Foundation
  
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• Low oil prices unlikely to hurt railroads much

  02-01-2015 19:09
  
  The stunning collapse in oil prices over the past several months won't derail the railroads' profit engine even if it does slow the tremendous growth in crude shipments seen in recent years.
  
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• Now available: Immigrants seek California driver licenses

  02-01-2015 18:51
  
  Hundreds of people lined up in early morning cold Friday as California began taking driver's license applications from the nation's largest population of immigrants in the country illegally.
  
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• PG&E to raise rates by nearly 6 percent

  02-01-2015 18:45
  
  Monthly rates for California's largest provider of electricity and natural gas service are going up by nearly 6 percent for the average home.
  
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• Many locals jump right in to start the new year

  02-01-2015 18:30
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA. - Dozens of locals started with a clean slate this new year by taking a freezing plunge in the pool.     This is the 10th year for the Polar Bear Plunge at McMurtrey Aquatic Center in downtown Bakersfield.     Participants braved the cold weather and either slid down the slide or jumped into the icy water.
  "I highly recommend it," said Nina Ha. "I think you should definitely do it once, and it's exhilarating, and when you're done,
  
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• FREE microchips for dogs on Saturday

  02-01-2015 18:28
  
  The City of Bakersfield Animal Control Division would like to invite the community to a low cost vaccination, licensing and microchip clinic for dogs living within the city limits. 
  
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• Passenger bus service between Bakersfield to LAX disrrupted

  02-01-2015 18:21
  
  Dispute between Airport Valet Express and California Public Utilities Commission terminates bus service. Owner vows to continue providing transportation.
  
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• Passenger bus service between Bakersfield, LAX disrupted

  02-01-2015 18:21
  
  Dispute between Airport Valet Express and California Public Utilities Commission terminates bus service. Owner vows to continue providing transportation.
  
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• Passenger bus service between Bakersfield, LAX disrrupted

  02-01-2015 18:21
  
  Dispute between Airport Valet Express and California Public Utilities Commission terminates bus service. Owner vows to continue providing transportation.
  
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• CSUB students ready to move in to new dorms

  02-01-2015 18:17
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA. - Cal State Bakersfield students are getting settled into their new homes today as 500 students move in to the new campus dorms.
  It's time to move out of the old dorms built back in the 1970s and in to new spaces on the northeast side of campus. 
  The new CSUB dorms are finally ready for the new tenants after a forty-one million dollar project financed by the chancellor's office.      The three-building housing complexes boast six-bedroom suites divi
  
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• Man arrested in improvised explosive device case

  02-01-2015 18:15
  
  Kern County sheriff's deputies arrested a man in Lebec after the Bomb Squad found a suspicious device.
  
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• Ride service charges rider much more than expected

  02-01-2015 17:52
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA. - You might've heard about the possibility of increased fees New Year's eve for the ride sharing service Uber.      One local rider paid eight times the regular fare New Year's eve -- costing more than $270 for a 20 mile Uber ride. 
  "We took more stops than usual to get home and thought the bill would be a little bit higher, not as extremely high as it was," said Sean Stevens.
  Stevens took an Uber ride just after 1:30 a.m. New Year's morni
  
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• 2014 Year in Review- Part 2

  02-01-2015 17:42
  
  What stories do you remember from 2014? The hero cat that saved her buddy from an attacking dog? The spaceship that fell from the sky over Mojave? 
  
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• 'First Look': First News for Jan. 2

  02-01-2015 16:43
  
  Lead stories from "First Look with Scott Cox's" Top Stories:
  
  FORUM SEEKS TO DRAW COMMUNITY INTO METH FIGHT: The Kern Stop Meth Now Coalition has been fighting to understand and combat the epidemic of crime, health and mental health problems created by methamphetamine use since 2008. Now the group hopes to take the fight against the illegal drug to a new level. On Monday, at 9 a.m., a commu
  
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• Long-time Bakersfield Californian reporter...

  02-01-2015 09:18
  
  A reporter who spent thirty years covering local stories for the Bakersfield Californian has died. Steve E. Swenson lost his nearly 3-year long battle with pancreatic cancer this morning, something he wrote about in the past year. Using his humor, and honesty through writing as the way to share with his friends how he planned to live out the rest of his life. 
  
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• Welcome 2015's first local baby

  02-01-2015 08:02
  
  Baby girl Milagros Lorenzo was born 30 seconds after midnight Thursday, making her the first baby born in 2015 -- at least of those in Bakersfield hospitals.
  
  Her father, Urbano Lorenzo, said he and his wife, Norma Delgado, were buying ingredients to make tamales and pozole when she started to feel minor cramps.
  
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• New Year's dinner for the homeless attracts hundreds

  02-01-2015 08:01
  
  Jazz Kehn, a 6-year-old clutching a toy box Thursday, ran to his mom and dad, who were sitting in a tent outside the Comprehensive Blood & Cancer Center.
  
  The group blended into what looked like a sparsely filled tent at 12:45 p.m. But actually about 450 homeless men, women and children cycled in for an annual meal for the homeless.
  
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• Career reporter Swenson succumbs to cancer

  02-01-2015 04:22
  
  He pounded out countless crime stories over a 40-year career that began in the era of manual typewriters and concluded in the age of Facebook.
  
  As a veteran "cops" reporter for The Californian, he rode shotgun in patrol cars and saw the city from a helicopter circling rooftops at night.
  
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• Baby, whose name means 'miracle,' is 1st born in Bakersfield in 2015

  02-01-2015 03:48
  
  Some couples began celebrated New Year's Day at the hospital with a new addition to their family. Just seconds into 2015, Urvano Lorenzo-Morales and Norma Delgado brought their baby girl into the world.
  
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• 2015's 'Miracle Baby'

  02-01-2015 03:48
  
  The New Year began with a new member of the family for this Bakersfield couple
  
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• New laws for California

  02-01-2015 03:38
  
  The New Year brings lots of new laws for Californians.
  
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• 2015 brings new laws for Californians

  02-01-2015 03:38
  
  Take the number 2,015, cut that number in half, and you’re pretty close to the amount of laws we’ll see – 930 to be exact. Many of those laws started Thursday - the first day of the year 2015.
  
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• Dozens begin the year with a polar plunge

  02-01-2015 03:23
  
  Nearly 150 people started 2015 on Thursday with a trip down a slide into cold water.
  
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• Remembering Steve Swenson

  02-01-2015 02:12
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA - Steve Swenson may have been cancer's most formidable foe. He beat throat cancer in 2007 and had every intention of being triumphant again when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2012. "He had a distinctive cackle that you could hear all the way across the newsroom, you know, just full of life," says Robert Price, executive editor, Bakersfield Californian.  
  
  "He was a man to be respected, he was an expert in his trade, and he served Kern County
  
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• Funeral services for Jan. 2

  02-01-2015 01:09
  
  Services scheduled
  
  Maxcimino Pena Rodriguez, 70, Bakersfield, Dec. 30 in Los Angeles. Visitation 4 to 6 p.m. Jan. 7, Doughty-Calhoun-O'Meara Chapel; service 9 a.m. with rosary 8:30 a.m. Jan. 8, St. Francis Church. Doughty-Calhoun-O'Meara Funeral Directors.
  
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