Bakersfield news

• Scouts hope for badges with City Council's help

  08-01-2015 23:57
  
  It's probably the last place you would expect to see three young teenage boys on a Wednesday night, but there they were, seated in front of City Council in uniform, listening.
  
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• Kern County detectives look for break in '06 murder case

  08-01-2015 22:52
  
  Elizabeth Leon, 22, was found stabbed to death and stuffed in a water heater closet inside her apartment in December 2006. She was more than seven months pregnant at the time.
  
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• KCSO: Man wanted for killing pregnant wife

  08-01-2015 22:51
  
  The Kern County Sheriff's Office is looking for a man they say murdered his pregnant wife back in 2006.
  
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• Open meeting tonight to discuss KHSD funds

  08-01-2015 22:47
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA - If you are a parent of a local high school student, tonight is your chance to weigh in on the use of new school funding.
  The Kern High School District is taking input from the public for its local control accountability plan.     The district is receiving funding earmarked for programs directed at low-income students, foster youth, and those learning english as a second language.     Trustees say that amounts to more than 60 percent of the distr
  
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• 'First Look': Skateland's new owners continue local skating tradition

  08-01-2015 22:37
  
  When Helen Swall heard the iconic Bakersfield Skateland was going out of business to be replaced with a warehouse, she knew something had to be done to prevent the closure.
  
  As a part of the Bakersfield Diamond Diva roller-derby team, Helen -- also known as Dutch Dynamite -- has not only won many competitions at Skateland, but that's also where she took her first stumbly steps with her own pair of ska
  
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• KCSO looking for murder suspect

  08-01-2015 22:35
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA - The Kern County Sheriff's Department is looking for a suspect wanted for two counts of first degree murder.
  Jorge Tovar Gonzales is suspected of killing his wife, Elizabeth Leon, in 2006. 
  On Dec. 21, 2006, KCSO deputies found the body of 22-year-old Leon concealed in a water heater closet inside her apartment on the 2,000 block of Flower Street, in east Bakersfield.
  According to KCSO, Leon was seven-and-a-half months pregnant at the time of her death. She had been
  
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• 23 hurt in tour bus crash near Arizona-Mexico border

  08-01-2015 22:29
  
  A tour bus on an agricultural sightseeing trip crashed Thursday near the Arizona-Mexico border, injuring more than 20 people.
  
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• San Francisco Bay Area man gets ring back 35 years later

  08-01-2015 21:25
  
  A San Francisco Bay Area man who lost a ring while surfing in the ocean 35 years ago had it returned to him by a treasure hunter.
  
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• Rig hauling 6,000 cases of beer overturns in California

  08-01-2015 21:24
  
  A big-rig driver was injured and beer was spilled onto a California highway after the truck carrying 6,000 cases of Coors Light and Pabst Blue Ribbon overturned.
  
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• Local human trafficking film premieres tonight

  08-01-2015 21:15
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA - A locally produced documentary raising awarness about human trafficking will premiere at Maya Theaters tonight.
  The Kern Coalition Against Human Trafficking is hosting the premiere  of "The Trafficked Life," a film by Michael Fagans.       There will also be a panel discussion including trafficking survivors and subjects featured in the film.     The premiere will also include an art exhibit, silent auction, and live mus
  
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• Local group giving out bike lights to riders

  08-01-2015 20:59
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA - Bike Bakersfield is looking to keep cyclists safe while on the roads at night by hosting another bike light giveaway.
  Bike Bakersfield will be giving out taillights and headlights today, Jan. 8, at four locations throughout Bakersfield for riders that stop by on their bikes who do not already have lights.
  Tonight is the fourth installment of the Project Light Up The Night event.
  Bike Bakersfield representatives will be at the followng locations:
   - Bike Bakersfiel
  
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• Houchin still looking for blood donors

  08-01-2015 20:32
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA - Houchin Blood Bank is still in need of donors as they say reserves are dangerously low, below 60 percent. 
  
  Every donor will receive a T-shirt and is also entered to win one of two prize packages. 
  Houchin said "the supply of all important negative blood types is of particular concern, because patients with those blood types can only take A-, B-, AB- or the universal O- blood type.  Having enough of each blood type collected, tested and ready to
  
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• Students compete in regional robotics competition

  08-01-2015 20:17
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA - Six local schools are gearing up for a regional robotics competition this Saturday at the Kern County Fairgrounds. Students will compete with other middle and high school students from across California for a top spot at the annual robotics extravaganza.     Each team must be able to build a robot that can stack cubes as high as it can to create one massive tower. Students design the robot themselves and figure out the proper mechanics for controlling the moving
  
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• California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer to retire

  08-01-2015 20:10
  
  California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, a tenacious liberal whose election to the Senate in 1992 heralded a new era for women at the upper reaches of political power, announced Thursday she will not seek re-election to a new term next year.
  
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• How lower oil prices could fuel more hiring in US

  08-01-2015 20:00
  
  In June, when oil cost $107 a barrel, U.S. employers added a healthy number of jobs — 267,000. Now, with oil below $50, hopes are rising that hiring in the United States is poised to intensify.
  
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• Boron Bobcats win trip to Super Bowl

  08-01-2015 19:58
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA - In case you missed it, the Boron High School football team is heading to the Super Bowl.
  The Bobcats won the NFL's Together We Make Football contest after months of voting.     The 11-man football team's success, despite its size, helped land them a spot as a finalist.     And now they're heading to Glendale to watch the big game.     NBC's Today show will have a special reveal tomorrow morning right here on KGET    
  
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• Boys and Girls club learns about urban forestry

  08-01-2015 19:58
  
  The Boys and Girls Club of Kern County along with the Tree Foundation of Kern was recently granted more than $3,000 to teach students about Urban Forestry. 
  
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• Ruling puts foie gras back on California menus

  08-01-2015 19:40
  
  California restaurants can once again feature foie gras after a federal judge cut loose the ban on the fatty goose liver's sale in the state.
  
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• 'First Look': First News for Jan. 8

  08-01-2015 19:34
  
  Lead stories from "First Look with Scott Cox's" Top Stories:
  
  SMALL PRICE DECLINE SPARKS THEORIES ABOUT LOCAL HOME MARKET: The median closing price for a single-family home in Bakersfield dropped 1.5 percent in December from the same month a year before. And it's the first time that figure has been negative since December 2010. Local appraiser Gary Crabtree compiled these figures and cal
  
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• Delano family burned out of home, then belongings stolen

  08-01-2015 19:33
  
  Adding insult to injury, someone steals a family's belongings that survived a fire.
  
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• Crosswalk improvements being made on hwy 184

  08-01-2015 19:32
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA - A teenager who was struck by a car while walking to Foothill High School, has filed a lawsuit in connection with the accident.
  According to the CHP, 17-year-old Gina Fields and another student were struck in October while walking in a crosswalk at Weedpatch Highway and Eucalyptus Drive.
  Fields was in a coma, but is now able to walk.     The law suit filed by Fields, names the city of Bakersfield, Kern County, the state of California and the driver, 26-year-o
  
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• Grand jury now accepting applications

  08-01-2015 19:32
  
  The Kern County Superior Court is accepting applications for anyone interested in serving as a grand juror.
  
  The Kern County grand jury is made up of 19 citizens who volunteer for the positions.
  
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• Big rig rollover blocks lanes on Hwy 58

  08-01-2015 19:12
  
  Some lanes of westbound Highway 58 near the Woodford off-ramp in the Keene area were blocked Thursday morning by a big rig rollover.
  
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• Bullying app is helping students make a change

  08-01-2015 18:16
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA - Kern County students are the only ones in the state testing a new phone app as a way to stop bullying. The new application is part of the Safe School Ambassadors program, which is designed for students to report to an adviser when they witness bullying.     The phone app was piloted in nine schools last spring and has grown to 20 schools only here in Kern County. Local schools were chosen because of the large number of districts in our area.     T
  
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• Sen. Boxer announces she will not run in 2016

  08-01-2015 17:45
  
  California Sen. Barbara Boxer announced today, Jan. 8, that she will not run for another term in 2016.
  
  Boxer made the decision on her website today, announcing her retirement during a video interview with her grandson.
  
  She said that her age is not a factor.
  
  "Some people are old at 40 and some people are young at 80," said Boxer. "I feel as young as I did when I got elected"
  
  She added that she is not retiring from politics and will continue to make an impa
  
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• French police detain 9 in massive hunt for 2 suspects

  08-01-2015 15:53
  
  Police SWAT teams backed by helicopters tracked two heavily armed brothers with al-Qaida sympathies suspected in the newsroom massacre of a satirical French weekly that spoofed Islam, honing in Thursday on a region north of Paris as the nation mourned the dozen slain.
  
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• French hunt for 2 terrorists amid fears of new attack

  08-01-2015 15:53
  
  As frightened yet defiant citizens held a day of mourning for 12 people slain at a Paris newspaper, French police hunted down the two heavily armed brothers suspected in the massacre to make sure they don't strike again.
  
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• Overturned big rig blocking eastbound Hwy 58

  08-01-2015 13:50
  
  An overturned big rig is blocking the slow lane of eastbound Highwy 58 near Woodford Tehachapi Road in Keene.
  
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• THE GRADE: KHSD talks earlier school year

  08-01-2015 09:00
  DISTRICTS TALK EARLY START: School officials in districts throughout Kern County are considering plans to start the 2015-2016 school year a couple of days early.
  
  Kern High School District trustees voted last school year to start the 2015-2016 year Aug. 24.
  
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• Kern County law enforcement taking precaution

  08-01-2015 08:24
  
  Law enforcement from across the country, including here in Kern County are warning officers to take extra precaution while on patrol.  This comes on the heels of recent attacks on officers.
  
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• Small price decline sparks theories about local home market

  08-01-2015 06:02
  
  Every month, the dean of Bakersfield's home market issues a sheet with 50 numbers on it summarizing how things went the month before, the implication being that to focus on just one of them it would be folly.
  
  Still, for people who know what they're looking at, one figure fairly jumps off Gary Crabtree's preliminary report for December: -1.5 percent.
  
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• 'Bodies of believers' come together in churches' moves

  08-01-2015 05:58
  
  Bakersfield was still a frontier town when the First Baptist Church was founded here in 1889.
  
  Since those early days, the church has changed addresses several times, and in 2001, its northwest Bakersfield campus came to be known as Olive Drive Church.
  
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• Council approves $16 million Rosedale widening

  08-01-2015 05:55
  
  After hearing new details on the city's many major road projects, the Bakersfield City Council kicked one into high gear, approving a $16 million construction contract to widen Rosedale Highway and improve the area's water system.
  
  * Rosedale widening is a go:
  
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• At least 7 Bakersfield restaurants expected on Food Network show

  08-01-2015 03:53
  
  From Salty's to Pyrenees Cafe' and downtown at KC'S Steak House, Mama Roomba and Muertos, chefs across the city have showcased their flavor for “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” host Guy Fieri.
  
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• Environmental groups, oil companies at odds over water safety

  08-01-2015 03:42
  
  Environmental groups say that toxic liquid that comes up during oil production makes its way into the aquifers, because they believe oil companies are improperly disposing of them.
  
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• Report: Bakersfield water use falls 20 percent

  08-01-2015 03:33
  
  In a rare piece of good news about Bakersfield's water supply, a recent state report showed that the area used considerably less water in November than it during the same time period last year.
  
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• What you need to know about tax season 2015

  08-01-2015 03:29
  
  With tax season lingering around the corner, it is never too early to know about the changes for 2015.
  
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• Two officers attacked in separate incidents

  08-01-2015 03:26
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA - Two men were arrested for attacking law enforcement officers Wednesday in separate incidents that so far investigators say have no apparent motive.
  
  The sheriff's department says early Wednesday morning a 33-year-old man shot at one of its deputies. CHP officials say a 23-year-old man punched one of its officers in the face Wednesday afternoon.
  
  Sheriff's officials say Deputy Herbert Stout was speaking with a resident who reported a prowler -- when Bernado Mendoz
  
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• Grave marker found in an east Bakersfield back yard

  08-01-2015 03:23
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA - The Ortiz family moved into their east Bakersfield home in October 2010. When they bought the house they had no idea that Wesley Lester Barber's gravestone was under a bush in their backyard. Daisy Ortiz lives in the home with her husband and two sons. "When we got the house we looking in the back yard to see what we were going to fix up. It was turned around we didn't think anything of it just thought it was some stones, until we turned it around and saw what it really w
  
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• Bill would create OIS oversight panel

  08-01-2015 03:22
  
  A new bill in Sacramento aims to change the way officer-involved shootings are investigated in California.
  
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• Bakersfield gets a Guy-ful

  08-01-2015 03:17
  
  There’s no mistaking Guy Fieri: Even in a dark gray button-up, a demure departure from his typical bowling shirt with flames up the side, the shorts, sunglasses, stocky build and bleach-blond spikes are a dead giveaway that perhaps the most famous foodie in America has rolled into your town — make that our town.
  
  Rolling up to Mama Roomba Wednesday in a black Mercedes SUV — no, he d
  
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• Shots fired at deputy's cruiser in east Bakersfield; suspect arrested

  08-01-2015 03:03
  
  After a man allegedly shot at a Kern County sheriff's deputy's cruiser in east Bakersfield early Wednesday morning, he ran to a nearby yard, cut his throat with a broken bottle and yelled for the deputy to shoot him.
  Deputies said the suspect, 33-year-old Bernardo Mendoza, is in critical condition but expected to survive. He'll be booked on suspicion of attempted murder of a peace officer following his release from Kern Medical Center.
  
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• Obamacare to take effect, may cause tax changes

  08-01-2015 02:58
  
  Tax season is officially underway – and you may be seeing some changes when you file your returns this year.
  
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• Summons issued in lawsuit against city, county, state, driver by girl hit in crosswalk

  08-01-2015 02:44
  
  A student struck and severely injured in a crosswalk outside Foothill High School in October has filed a lawsuit against several government bodies and the car's driver.
  
  Named in the suit filed Dec. 23 were the City of Bakersfield, Kern County, the State of California and 26-year-old Esmeralda Sanchez, the driver in the Oct. 16 accident.
  
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• Woman plunging San Diego toilet pulls up 5 1/2-foot snake

  08-01-2015 02:13
  
  Officials in San Diego are trying to sort out how a 5 1/2-foot snake wound up in a toilet at an office building.
  
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• 13 hurt when bus, 2 big rigs crash on California freeway

  08-01-2015 02:08
  
  Authorities say at least 13 people suffered minor injuries in a crash involving a charter bus and two big rigs on a Los Angeles County freeway.
  
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• Board of supervisors has new chairman

  08-01-2015 02:08
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA - The Kern County Board of Supervisors has a new chairman. Fourth District Supervisor David Couch was confirmed as the new chairman during a meeting Monday afternoon.
  
  Since 1971, the board chooses a chairman on a rotating basis from a different district each year, in numerical order.
  This year, Couch will take on the extra job and says he is looking forward to getting a lot of work done. "It's an exciting time to be chair.  We have never had a water de
  
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• Knife attack on transgender woman spurs hate crime charges

  08-01-2015 02:05
  
  A man has been charged with hate crimes after prosecutors say he stabbed a transgender woman who fled a San Francisco bus to escape his taunts about her gender preference.
  
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• 3 new women in LA accuse Cosby of sexual assaults long ago

  08-01-2015 02:04
  
  Attorney Gloria Allred held a news conference Wednesday in Los Angeles with the women who described unwanted encounters with the comedian between 1981 and 1996 in LA and Las Vegas.
  
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• Trafficking story hits close to home

  08-01-2015 01:57
  
  As a drive down Union Avenue can attest, human trafficking hits much closer to home than a Hollywood story. And that's exactly what local groups want you to realize.
  
  "People have a perception that is a problem somewhere else but not in their community," said Phil Gazley, coordinator for the Kern Coalition Against Human Trafficking.
  
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