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

(From the AP) Chris Rivest’s father sent him from San Francisco to the family vacation cabin near the Sierra Nevada crest with a seemingly simple chore — clear it and the driveway of snow. Easy for him to say. When Rivest arrived earlier this week at the cabin near Soda Springs, about 90 miles northeast of Sacramento, the snow was so deep it nearly touched the power lines crossing in front of the cabin. Snow was piled at least 10 feet high on top of the deck of the A-frame home. (more…)

After returning from a Department of Defense fact-finding trip to Alaska, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) today released the following statement on the President’s Monday evening address to the nation regarding military operations in Libya: (more…)

Mayor Michael D. Antonovich announced that the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the 55-point action plan he initiated to provide  comprehensive integrated services for the county’s child welfare system. (more…)

During the month of February, D.I.S.A.R.M. Officers confiscated 107 weapons – including 48 handguns,23 assault rifles, and 21 rifles/shotguns, $3.9 million in illegal drugs, and arrested 264 probationers during 1,400 unannounced searches of residences, persons, vehicles, and businesses, announced Mayor Michael D. Antonovich. (more…)

(From Science Daily) Calculations by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and the University of California, Berkeley estimate that the cancer risk associated with one type of airport security scanners is low based on the amount of radiation these devices emit, as long as they are operated and function correctly. (more…)

The following is political activity for Tuesday, March 29, 2011, going on in Washington and across the nation. It is courtesy of Scott Wilk, Community Organizer, and Anchor Consulting group. The Beacon will be posting these daily as they become available. (US Flags by Jasper Johns) (more…)

Back in the real Dark Ages, some unknown poet in England wrote a small poem that no one thought would last for over a half dozen centuries. The poem was so bright and cheerful that the Dark Ages immediately began to dissolve like a toxic miasma to show a bright Renaissance shining above. Even though this poem was written in rather inscrutable Middle English, it seems to still bring a spirit of brightness out of those Dark Ages that from where I sit has resettled in Washington DC since Bill Clinton entered office and started mortgaging America to the Chinese: (more…)

In its tradition of service, Los Angeles County kicked-off the 10th Annual Cesar Chavez Service Week on Monday, March 28, 2011, with service projects; and encouraging county employees and residents to donate to the Red Cross for the earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan. (more…)

(From the latimes.com) Gov. Jerry Brown is about to make official what a winter of downpours and rising reservoir levels have already made obvious: California’s drought is over. Brown is expected to lift the state’s 3-year-old drought declaration Wednesday, when the next snow survey is conducted. (more…)

(From the AP) A small earthquake has rattled northern San Diego County. The U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude-3.8 quake struck Tuesday at 3:43 a.m. and was centered about 20 miles northeast of Escondido in the Lake Henshaw area. An Escondido police dispatcher says the quake wasn’t felt at police headquarters and no one called to report feeling the quake.

Los Angeles County Mayor Michael D. Antonovich announced Metrolink’s new late-night train service after weekday Dodger home games and throughout the regular season. To get to Dodger Stadium, fans can take regularly scheduled Metrolink trains and use L.A. Metro’s Dodger Stadium Express to travel between Union Station and Dodger Stadium. (more…)

On Wednesday, March 16, 2011, a 50 year old homeless woman was brought into the Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital Emergency Room (ER) by ambulance complaining of wrist pain. She was evaluated by the Hospital staff and sent “home” at 7:00 PM. (more…)

(From Science Daily) Scientists have discovered why orchids are one of the most successful groups of flowering plants — it is all down to their relationships with the bees that pollinate them and the fungi that nourish them. The study, published February 1 in the American Naturalist, is the culmination of a ten-year research project in South Africa involving researchers from Imperial College London, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and other international institutions. (more…)

The following is political activity for Monday, March 28, 2011, going on in Washington and across the nation. It is courtesy of Scott Wilk, Community Organizer, and Anchor Consulting group. The Beacon will be posting these daily as they become available. (more…)

One of the motivations as to why The West Ranch Beacon got started was because of the lack of factual information being disseminated to the public on local issues in a timely manner. There was and continues to be a censorship issue in another local publication which is suppressing those residents that are raising questions and voicing differing opinions. These are some of the reasons why The Beacon has continued to grow and expand. (more…)