The West Ranch Beacon – News & Commentary for the Santa Clarita Valley

A runaway truck carrying hazardous materials crashed into 11 other vehicles on Interstate 5 north of Tejon Pass on Wednesday, injuring 11 people and closing all northbound lanes for almost three hours, the California Highway Patrol said. (more…)

As the New Year approaches, the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station would like to remind all residents to celebrate responsibly.  Successful New Year’s Eve celebrations begin with careful planning and prudent judgment and any alcohol related event should include arrangements for designated drivers or other safe alternative accommodations.  A designated driver is an individual within a group of people drinking alcoholic beverages at an event/establishment who remains sober to drive the others home afterwards. (more…)

The following are some favorite non-wine Holiday cocktails you might want to consider for your New Year’s eve celebration. Enjoy!! (more…)

Last year at this time, we were wondering if it could get any worse. It did. Trouble in the subprime market exploded into an across-the-board rout. The credit crunch evolved into a global financial crisis. Markets tanked. Mighty institutions fell. (more…)

Authorities say a 15-year-old boy has been arrested after carrying an unloaded assault pistol onto a Los Angeles County commuter train. (more…)

While many people believe that alcohol-impaired (AI) drivers are usually alcoholics, in fact, 80 percent of AI incidents are caused by binge drinkers. A recent study conducted among college students has found that binge drinkers, even when legally intoxicated, nonetheless believe they having adequate driving abilities. (more…)

Field sobriety tests are expected to be conducted at DUI checkpoints throughout California on New Year’s Eve. The California Highway Patrol says designated drivers could save partygoers as much as $7,000 or more this New Year’s Eve. (more…)

Seven astronauts slipped into unconsciousness within seconds and their bodies were whipped around in seats whose restraints failed as the space shuttle Columbia spun out of control and disintegrated in 2003, according to a new report from NASA. (more…)

Wildfire spending in California continued its upward climb this year, driven by one of the worst fire seasons in the state’s history. Almost a quarter of all the wild land that burned across the country in 2008 was in California — roughly 1.4 million acres. (more…)

A small, early-morning earthquake has shaken Malibu. There is no word of any injuries or damage. Seismologists say the magnitude-3.2 quake struck at 3:05 a.m. Wednesday at a depth of about 1.2 miles reports the Associated Press. Randy Baldwin of the National Earthquake Information Center says it was centered six miles off the coast of the upscale beach city and 33 miles west of downtown Los Angeles. A deputy at the Malibu/Lost Hills sheriff’s station said he had received no calls about the temblor and it was not felt at the station. (more…)

The Federal Reserve pushed ahead with its plan to buy mortgage bonds issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Tuesday, saying it would start buying early next month and purchase up to $500bn (£345bn) by the end of June. (more…)

A Saugus man accused of raping two women was charged Tuesday with four felony counts and ordered held on $4 million bail. Jason Keith Renaux, 29, made his initial court appearance this afternoon on three counts (more…)

Los Angeles County Assessor Rick Auerbach and County Consumer Affairs Director Pastor Herrera, Jr. today warned homeowners to be wary of solicitations from private companies offering to file property assessment reduction forms for a hefty fee to pay for a review by the Assessor’s Department for free. (more…)

A 29-year-old Saugus resident was charged today with raping two women and threatening them with a box cutter, the District Attorney’s office (more…)

In a new study, aged laboratory animals that ate a diet rich in the berry and grape compound pterostilbene performed better than those in a group that did not eat the enriched diet, scientists with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have reported. (more…)

Public schools across the country, hurt by state- and local-government cutbacks, are tapping an alternative source of cash: Mom and Dad. Parent groups and local nonprofit organizations have long raised money for activities like class trips, school dances (more…)

Football’s history teaches us that when the going gets tough, the tough get going.  Remember that it was during the hard years of the Depression that football earned its modern face.  In the Thirties, football launched its first real power-back running with Bronko Nagurski and its first real forward passing in Slinging Sammy Baugh. (more…)

Home values in America’s 20 largest metropolitan areas plunged at a record pace in October as the fallout from the financial collapse reverberated through the housing market, according to data released on Tuesday. (more…)

A tractor-trailer and up to three other vehicles were involved in a collision on the northbound Antelope (14) Freeway in Acton today, but no one was believed to be seriously injured reports the Daily News. The accident near Crown Valley Road occurred just before 6 a.m. and was cleared shortly afterward, according to the California Highway Patrol Officer Anthony Martin. Initial reports said a Honda was spotted being driven recklessly just before colliding with the big rig.

More than three decades have passed since Richard Nixon, the Republican US president, declared: “We are all Keynesians now.” The phrase rings truer today than at any time since, as governments seize on John Maynard Keynes’s idea that fiscal stimulus – public spending and tax cuts – can help dig their economies out of recession. (more…)