Bakersfield news

• Fresno shooting was murder suicide

  31-03-2015 23:46
  
  FRESNO, CA- The Fresno Bee reports a man and woman are dead after shots were fired at a downtown Fresno medical office, Deputy Chief Pat Farmer said.The shooting occurred at a pediatrics medical office at S and Mariposa streets in downtown Fresno.An armed Asian man entered the office at Sang Pediatrics and shot an employee who police believe was a receptionist, Farmer said.The female victim was 33, and the shooter was identified as Moua Neng, 43, of Clovis, Farmer said. The woman’s n
  
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• Kern County welcomes new US citizens in Keene

  31-03-2015 23:10
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA- Kern County is welcoming around two dozen new American citizens today as part of a ceremony honoring the late Cesar Chavez.At 11 Tuesday morning officers from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services in Fresno came to Bakersfield and performed a naturalization ceremony at the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument.Tuesday is the birthday of the civil rights icon.
  
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• Charter Communications to buy Bright House Cable

  31-03-2015 22:26
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA- Charter Communications announced an agreement to buy Bright House Networks for $10.4 billion.Bright House is the sixth-largest cable operator in the country, with about two million subscribers in Florida, Alabama, Indiana, Michigan and California.
  The deal will make Charter even bigger.Charter is involved in the pending huge merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, the two biggest cable operators in the country.
  
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• Initial brief filed in appeal of Vincent Brothers murder case

  31-03-2015 22:09
  
  Nearly eight years after he was convicted of killing five members of his family and sentenced to the death penalty, the case of Vincent Brothers is headed to appeal.Visalia attorney Phillip Cherney filed an opening brief March 19 with the State Appellate Court.All death penalty convictions are appealed by a matter of state law.The Attorney General's office, which will represent the people of California, must now file a response.A spokeswoman for the office declined to comment.Brothers, a former
  
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• City says it will tear down tent city on Union Ave.

  31-03-2015 21:14
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA- A planned city hearing to discuss a controversial homeless encampment in central Bakersfield has been canceled.Richard Iger from the City of Bakersfield says the owner of thevacant lot on South Union Avenue has signed a waiver admitting to violating the land use code, which allowed a tent city.
  Several dozen people have been living in tents on the property off Daniels Lane.Administrators had claimed it poses a health and sanitation risk and that city laws forbid camping in
  
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• Local church and charity work to curb infant deaths

  31-03-2015 20:11
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA- Many local infants will now rest safer at night thanks to the generosity of a local church congregation.Bridge Bible Church members collected over 150 portable cribs and other safe sleeping products to help prevent sudden unexplained infant deaths.Monday night, they donated those items to the Kern County Network for Children.This after 17News aired in in depth story on this issue last month.
  SUID caused 48-percent of infant deaths in Kern County in 2013, according to the C
  
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• Three new Haggen stores open this week

  31-03-2015 19:25
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA- Three local Albertsons are closing this week reopening as Haggen Food and Pharmacy.The Albertsons at 7900 White Lane, and 3500 Panama Lane will reopen later Tuesday as Haggen Food grocery stores.The Albertsons location at 8200 East Stockdale Highway will close Tuesday at 6 and re-open as Haggen Thursday.Haggen says it partners with local farmers and producers to offer locally sourced products.The company plans to retain current Albertsons employees.
  
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• BPD: Man accused of rape and arson also tried to drown victim

  31-03-2015 18:35
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA- A man who died in an officer involved shooting Friday had raped a woman at a southwest Bakersfield home hours earlier and tried to kill her by tying her hands, dousing her in a flammable liquid and setting her on fire, according to Bakersfield Police.Adrian Hernandez, 22, raped the woman reportedly his roommate in the home on Tungsten Street, police said.They say Hernandez turned to the flammable liquid after he had tried to drown the woman in an upstairs bath tub.After be
  
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• Shannon Grove seeks to reform PAGA

  31-03-2015 18:12
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA- Assemblywoman Shannon Grove says she is working to amend a law that allows lawyers to sue businesses for minor paycheck stub mistakes.The owner of Weststar trucking says he is thinking of leaving California after nearly three decades in business.Last week, Weststar's owner Dan Corriea and Larry Jenkins, who owns B and L Casing in Bakersfield,joined Grove at the state capitol to introduce AB 588.
  The bill is designed to close loopholes from 2004's private attorney general a
  
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• Local women who have made contributions to our community & our nation

  31-03-2015 16:27
  
  BAKERSFIELD, CA.-From suffrage to sports, American women have made great strides in equalizing our country. On this last day of women's history month, we take a look at local women who have made significant contributions to our community and our nation. 17's Ryann Blackshere Vargas tests the knowledge of female phenoms at the Women of Kern Exhibit at CSUB. This exhibit was created by six students who wanted to share the contributions of Kern County women. Whether political, entrepreneurial
  
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• Charter Communications buying Bright House Networks

  31-03-2015 15:58
  
  Charter Communications Inc. is buying fellow cable operator Bright House Networks LLC in a deal valued at $10.4 billion.Charteris the fourth-largest cable operator in the U.S, while Bright House isthe sixth biggest with customers in Florida, Alabama, Indiana, Michiganand California. The Bright House transaction would make the new companythe second-largest U.S. cable operator.
  
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• US home prices rise modestly, but affordability an obstacle

  31-03-2015 15:07
  
  U.S. home price increases continued to rise at a steady pace in January,as the housing market deals with affordability problems and fewproperties listed for sale.
  
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• Bakersfield police improve 911 response times

  31-03-2015 04:44
  
  The good news for Bakersfield residents – police are responding to life-and-death calls much faster this year than they did last year, records show.
  
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• Bakersfield police improve 9-1-1 response times

  31-03-2015 04:44
  
  BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) – In a police emergency, every second counts during the response.
  "It could be the difference between life and death, between catching a suspect and not catching a suspect,” Bakersfield Police Sgt. Joe Grubbs said.
  
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• Report shows big concern from Californians about drought

  31-03-2015 04:07
  
  A new report from the Public Policy Institute of California shows that the majority of Californians want more restrictions on water usage.
  
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• Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day

  31-03-2015 04:02
  Bakersfield, CAToday is Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day, a reminder of the heroism and courage Vietnam veterans extended years ago.
  
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• Video footage in trial of alleged serial rapist shows woman filmed inside her home through window blinds

  31-03-2015 03:16
  
  The footage, taken in darkness outside homes, showed a hand searching underneath a doormat and inside a flower pot by a front door, and was followed by a shot taken through window blinds into a room where a naked woman applied lotion to her body.
  These short videos, prosecutors said Monday, were taken by accused serial rapist Billy Ray Johnson after he had already committed four attacks that terrorized east Bakersfield. He used prepaid cellphones to shoot the videos as he prowled through neighbo
  
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• Endangered bighorn sheep moved to Yosemite, Sequoia parks

  31-03-2015 03:14
  
  For the first time in a century, endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep are back on their ancestral range and headed toward recovery, wildlife officials said Monday.
  
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• More homicide cases going unsolved

  31-03-2015 03:13
  
  Across the nation one in three murderers will not be caught, according to statistics from the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
  
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• Two local Haggen stores to open Tuesday

  31-03-2015 03:10
  
  Two local Albertsons stores are in the process of a 46-hour transformation will convert them from their previous commercial identity into Haggen Food & Pharmacy grocers, the familiar blue and white logo replaced with pine-green Haggen signage, and by week's end a total of three Bakersfield Albertsons will have been changed over.The three-store conversion will have cost a little under $2 million.
  
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• New info: Alleged rapist, arsonist also tried drowning victim

  31-03-2015 02:53
  
  Police have released additional details of what they believe happened before a southwest Bakersfield home erupted in flames Friday morning at the hands of an alleged rapist.
  
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• Neighbor speaks of saving arson, rape victim

  31-03-2015 02:30
  
  More details are being released about a woman who was raped and what possible motivation her attacker had in mind.
  
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• BPD:Woman nearly drowned, doused with accelerant

  31-03-2015 02:29
  
  Detectives have released more information in the Friday rape and arson case.
  
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• Defendant whose case was dismissed due to prosecutor falsifying transcript pleads no contest to new charges

  31-03-2015 02:14
  
  An accused sex offender whose 2013 case was dismissed when a prosecutor falsified a transcript has pleaded no contest to three sex crimes stemming from an arrest late last year.
  Efrain Velasco-Palacios, 20, faces four years and four months in prison at his April 15 sentencing.
  
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• Funeral Services for March 31, 2015

  31-03-2015 01:57
  
  Services scheduled
  Elma Allen, 86, Bakersfield, March 26. Service 11 a.m. April 1, Historic Union Cemetery. Basham Funeral Care, 3312 Niles St.
  
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• Crash stalls traffic north of Bakersfield

  31-03-2015 01:43
  
  Traffic was snarled Monday afternoon after a two-vehicle crash at Highway 99 and 46.
  
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• Police search for university student who vanished at party

  31-03-2015 00:25
  
  Vasquez's family is offering a $50,000 reward for information about his whereabouts.
  
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• Police: Missing college athlete died on Los Angeles freeway

  31-03-2015 00:25
  
  A University of California, Berkeley soccer player who disappeared aftera weekend party was killed by a car as he ran across a Los Angelesfreeway, police said Monday.
  
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• Federal agents charged with stealing digital currency

  31-03-2015 00:22
  
  Two former federal agents were charged with fraud in the theft of digital currency during an investigation into an online black market known as Silk Road that let users buy and sell drugs and other illegal items, authorities said Monday.
  
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• Expect traffic on SR-178 near Morning Drive

  31-03-2015 00:21
  
  Motorists should expect short delays while traveling on State Route 178 near Morning Drive, Wednesday, April 1 through Friday, April 3.
  
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• Climbing temperatures end Southern California ski season

  31-03-2015 00:20
  
  Climbing temperatures and a lack of snow have ended the ski season at the Bear Mountain and Snow Summit resorts.
  
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• Teens taunting passers-by wounded by shooter

  31-03-2015 00:19
  
  Police say two teenagers were shot in a California State University, Los Angeles, parking lot after taunting passers-by while driving in their van during the weekend.
  
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