(From the AP) George Steinbrenner, who rebuilt the New York Yankees into a sports empire with a mix of bluster and big bucks that polarized fans all across America, died Tuesday. He had just celebrated his 80th birthday July 4. (more…)

(From the latimes.com) Paul Johnson, 75, a longtime Los Angeles traffic reporter who worked at KNBC-TV Channel 4 for 22 years and was known for his signature phrase “Buckle up, be careful out there,” died Tuesday at his home in Orange Park Acres, the TV station announced. (more…)

(From the nytimes.com) Robert C. Byrd, who used his record tenure as a United States senator to fight for the primacy of the legislative branch of government and to build a modern West Virginia with vast amounts of federal money, died at about 3 a.m. Monday, his office said. He was 92. (more…)

(From the AP) A California Highway Patrol officer was struck and killed Sunday when a car veered onto the shoulder of the freeway during a traffic stop in San Bernardino County, authorities said. The incident happened about 3:40 a.m. when two officers stopped a vehicle for speeding on the northbound 15 Freeway in Barstow, CHP Officer Mario Lopez said. (more…)

(From the AP) A California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer who was critically injured in an accident on Interstate 405 in Los Angeles two weeks ago has died. The CHP says Officer Phillip Ortiz died at 5:50 p.m. Tuesday at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood. (more…)

(From the latimes.com) The Los Angeles county coroner’s office said Tuesday night that a 13-year-old Pomona boy died of a staph infection, not a spider bite. (more…)

(From the AP) Authorities are awaiting an autopsy report to determine if a spider bite contributed to the death of a 13-year-old Pomona boy. Pomona police say paramedics were called to the boy’s home Sunday afternoon for a possible knee injury. (more…)

(From the Signal) A church service for Marine Pfc. Jake Suter will be held on Saturday, June 5 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is open to the public. A community memorial service will follow at Jake Kuredjian Park from 12:30 p.m. to 12:50 p.m. It will include a 21-gun salute, a performance of the national anthem and taps. (more…)

(From the Signal) While parents of a young soldier killed in Afghanistan wait to learn how he died, a community has provided them one irrefutable reminder — their son was loved. Scores of well wishers descended on a tiny, quiet cul-de-sac in Stevenson Ranch on Wednesday night to show how much they care about U.S. Marine Corps Pfc. Jake William Suter, who died on Saturday morning in local Afghanistan time, after only five days in the war-torn country. (more…)

In an exclusive to The Beacon, Congressman Buck McKeon will be attending the prayer vigil for fallen Stevenson Ranch Marine, Private 1^st Class Jake Suter. The Congressman, who was home for the Memorial Day Holiday, will attend the planned vigil at 7:00 PM Wednesday evening on Bates Place where Jake lived. The entire community is encouraged to attend to remember and pray for Private Suter and to show support for his family and friends.

(As The Beacon reported Monday morning, Stevenson Ranch resident and West Ranch High School graduate Jake Suter was killed by a sniper in Afghanistan. The following is a further update on this story from the Signal; Photo: Marine Private Jake Suter with his mother) Those attending Memorial Day events at Eternal Valley Memorial Park in Newhall on Monday had arrived ready to reflect on memories of fallen heroes, but few expected so recent a memory as that of young United States Marine Corps Pfc. Jake William Suter, killed in Afghanistan on Saturday morning, Afghanistan time. (more…)

Less than two months after Stevenson Ranch resident Sgt. Ian Gelig was killed in action in Afghanistan, the community has lost another brave son. Marine Private 1st Class Jake W. Suter, a graduate of West Ranch High School and resident of Stevenson Ranch was killed in action on Friday, May 28, 2010 in Afghanistan. He had only arrived for duty in that country on Wednesday, May 26. His remains were flown back today, Memorial Day, to Dover Air Force Base in Maryland. The remembrance/vigil is currently being planned for this week. Please check back as more information becomes available.

(From the latimes.com) Dennis Hopper, the maverick director and costar of the landmark 1969 counterculture film classic “Easy Rider” whose drug- and alcohol-fueled reputation as a Hollywood bad boy preceded his return to sobriety and a career resurgence in the films “Hoosiers” and “Blue Velvet,” died Saturday. He was 74. A longtime resident of Venice who also was known as a photographer, artist and collector of modern art, Hopper died at his home of complications from prostate cancer, said Alex Hitz, a friend of the family. (more…)

(From the nytimes.com) He was an irreverent teenager with a pregnant girlfriend when the idea first crossed his mind: Join the Army, raise a family. She had an abortion, but the idea remained. Patrick S. Fitzgibbon, Saint Paddy to his friends, became Private Fitzgibbon. Three months out of basic training, he went to war. (more…)

(From KHTS) A 35-year old Canyon Country woman jumped to her death this afternoon from the Via Princessa Bridge. The woman was a passenger in her brother’s Chevy Blazer. As they drove across the bridge at about 5:30 p.m., the brother said that he and his sister, Rebecca, had been arguing. (more…)

(From the AP) The last Ziegfeld Follies Girl has died. Doris Eaton Travis, one of the legendary Ziegfeld Follies chorus girls, who wore elaborate costumes for the series of lavish Broadway theatrical productions in the early 1900s, died Tuesday at age 106, public relations firm Boneau/Bryan-Brown said. It didn’t say where or how she died. (more…)

More than 800 family members, friends, community members and colleagues, attended services this afternoon at the College of the Canyons — Performing Arts Center for Deputy Cameron Paul Glover. In a moving ceremony, fellow deputies shared personal stories of Cameron and the incredible person and public servant he was. Cameron’s brother, a firefighter with the Los Angeles Fire Department, concluded the services with touching comments about his brother and the life they shared together growing up in Santa Clarita. (more…)

On Wednesday, April 28, 2010, an off-duty traffic collision claimed the life of a Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff assigned to the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station. Deputy Cameron Glover, age 27, joined the ranks of the department after completing the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Training Academy Class #354. He graduated from the Sheriff’s Training Academy and Regional Services (STARS) Center in Whittier on January 19, 2007. (more…)