PALMDALE - Southeast Antelope Valley residents are blasting a plan to haul 42 million tons of sand and gravel from the proposed Big Rock Creek mining project in the Llano area.
Feb. 1
PALMDALE - Southeast Antelope Valley residents are blasting a plan to haul 42 million tons of sand and gravel from the proposed Big Rock Creek mining project in the Llano area.
LANCASTER - City officials and the owners of three hotels are working to develop a bond issue to buy out the existing mortgages on those facilities.
Feb. 2
CAJON SUMMIT - An early-morning train derailment kills two people, injures 20 others, closes roads and sends a toxic cloud of smoke hundreds of feet into the air in the sparsely populated West Cajon Valley.
The 49-car, four-locomotive train, hauling six different hazardous chemicals from Barstow to Los Angeles, slides off the tracks at about 4:15 a.m.
Feb. 3
WASHINGTON - In what could become an election-year change in defense policy, President Bill Clinton orders up options for expanding the B-2 bomber fleet that he once wanted frozen at 20 planes.
Feb. 4
PALMDALE - The British government is studying whether the U-2 would meet that country's reconnaissance needs, raising the possibility that the U-2 production line here could be restarted.
Garfield Thomas, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works vice president of reconnaissance programs, says the British are considering a $300 million order for 10 planes in the next year. He estimates that at least 100 workers would be needed to fill that order.
Feb. 6
LANCASTER - Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies capture an escaped criminal after a short car chase ends with the man plowing into a fence.
LANCASTER - Los Angeles County's new health director calls High Desert Hospital an oasis of medical services. Mark Finucane says he believes the 170-bed hospital will remain a county facility but with more private-sector partnerships.
Feb. 7
CHINA LAKE - At least 160 people will lose their jobs at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division by this summer to help the facility erase a multimillion-dollar budget deficit.
ROSAMOND - The former manager of the Rosamond Community Services District is arrested in Utah for alleged involvement in a 1993 scheme to defraud the Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency of $157,500 in water hookup fees. Raymond Archie "Bud" Hill, 50, is being held on $75,000 bail in the Salt Lake County jail pending extradition to Kern County.
LANCASTER - Council members vote unanimously to establish a city-based office to attract film dollars to the Antelope Valley.
Feb. 8
LANCASTER - A state prison teacher named the region's best three years ago is being fired for being too friendly with inmates. James Attensil, who taught high school equivalency classes at California State Prison Los Angeles County, has been on paid leave since Dec. 19.
State and local officials are investigating Almond Blossom Moving and Storage Co. for allegedly leaving customers' unattended furniture outdoors in a dirt lot and bilking thousands of dollars from local trucking merchants.
LANCASTER - A last-minute outcry from audience members convinces Lancaster School District trustees to select conservative Jeff Hanson to be the fifth member of the board.
Feb. 9
WASHINGTON - President Bill Clinton sides with the Pentagon and decides against buying more B-2 bombers, despite the decision's effects on thousands of workers in politically important California.
Northrop Grumman's B-2 Production Facility employs about 3,000 workers in Palmdale and the corporation employs 9,000 workers in Southern California. The defense giant says subcontractors and indirect economic impacts affect roughly 25,000 California jobs.
PERRIS - The "Red-Eye Bandit," allegedly responsible for 15 bank robberies - including eight in the Antelope Valley - is captured by federal agents in Riverside County. Authorities say William Miles, 41, of Palmdale, earned the nickname due to his habit of pre-heist drinking, evident from tellers' descriptions of his bloodshot eyes and alcohol-reeking breath.
Feb. 10
SACRAMENTO - Gov. Pete Wilson criticizes President Bill Clinton's decision not to buy additional B-2s and use money budgeted for the stealth bomber to buy spare parts for the 20 production aircraft.
Feb. 11
EDWARDS AFB - The yearold practice of ferrying Army desert warfare trainees heading to Fort Irwin through Edwards Air Force Base will end on April 15 by congressional decree.
The change, ordered in a Defense Appropriations Conference Report by Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-San Bernardino, prohibits landing Army troops at Edwards and requires that they arrive and depart through a new "National Training Center Airhead" at civilian-operated Southern California International Airport - formerly George AFB - in Victorville.
WASHINGTON - President Bill Clinton signs a $265 billion defense authorization bill that includes $493 million for more B-2 bombers that won't be built, White House officials say.
Feb. 13
PALMDALE - The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is considering building a temporary station in Palmdale's Trade and Commerce Center until funds are found for a larger, permanent station.
Feb. 14
LOS ANGELES - Nearly 100,000 welfare recipients are told to get by with less as county supervisors cut monthly General Relief payments from $285 to $212.
PALMDALE - Rockwell Space Systems and Orbital Sciences Corp. calls it quits on the X34, a prototype for a rocket to launch satellites into orbit more cheaply.
LANCASTER - Documents obtained by the Valley Press show that Lancaster City Council member Deborah Shelton failed to disclose two personal loans, totaling $5,000, that a member of the Lancaster Mobilehome Park Rent Arbitration Board made to her husband. State law requires elected officials to report personal loans of $250 or more made to them or their spouses by lenders within their jurisdiction.
Feb. 15
LANCASTER - City Attorney David McEwen is developing an ordinance that will permit Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies to issue tickets to students found skipping school.
MOJAVE - Comanche Indian Peter Trevino Jr. of Tehachapi is convicted of disturbing the peace and fined $135 because he illegally tested an amp on his front yard while drumming and chanting religious music.
Trevino, a soft-spoken 33yearold who is father of five children, placed his hands over his eyes as Kern County Commissioner John Dean declared him guilty. Standing at the payment window, Trevino said he would not appeal.
Feb. 16
LANCASTER - Serious crimes reported in the Antelope Valley increased by 3.8% in total numbers last year, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department statistics.
PALMDALE - The Antelope Valley office of United Way of Greater Los Angeles has awarded grants totaling $200,000 to various local charities.
Feb. 17
PALMDALE - Lockheed Martin's proposal for a 632-acre business park gets a go-ahead from the Planning Commission, after more than two years of planning.
A ride in the Goodyear blimp lifts the spirits of Chelsey Thomas, the Palmdale girl who has been on a medical quest for a smile.
Chelsey spends the afternoon in the skies over Goodyear Airship Base in Carson. She took three, half-hour blimp rides, two of which included her parents, Lori and Bob, and brother Brett, 14.
Feb. 18
LANCASTER - A former groundskeeper is suing Palmdale School District, saying she was unfairly reassigned and then fired after she complained of sexual harassment by a supervisor.
Feb. 20
EDWARDS AFB - A father of modern rocketry wins one of seven Phillips Laboratory fellowships.
Robert C. Corley, chief scientist at Phillips Laboratory Propulsion Directorate at Edwards, has a year to do a research project of his choice. The fellowships, awarded for the first time this year, carry a $100,000 award for the recipient's work.
Feb. 21
The year's fiercest rainstorm pummels the Valley, dropping from a half to nearly 4 inches of rain, forcing closure of a Wrightwood ski area and causing numerous traffic mishaps.
PALMDALE - Air Force Plant 42's payroll is unchanged from a year ago at $424 million, but 700 fewer people work at the companies along the runways.
After years of declining home values, a real estate report has good news for Antelope Valley homeowners.
The median base price of detached homes rose in the last quarter to $127,990 in the Antelope Valley, an $11,000 increase from the previous quarter, according to the report by The Meyers Group, an industry research organization.
Feb. 22
A few rumbles of thunder are heard in Lancaster as Valley residents for the third day weather the Pineapple Express, a Pacific storm that dumped more than 6 inches of rain in some areas.
Feb. 23
Records show officials seized 16 methamphetamine labs throughout the Valley in 1995, more than twice the number raided in 1994. In 1993, only one illicit drug lab was discovered.
Feb. 24
Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies break up a major credit card fraud ring, raiding eight homes, including four in the Antelope Valley, and arresting 14 people.
The crime ring consisted of several members of the same family, ranging in age from 18 to 52, and involved the bilking of about $5 million from retailers throughout Los Angeles, authorities say.
Feb. 25
LANCASTER - Jeffrey and Kathy Woolf began trying to have a child soon after they were married in 1988. For seven years, nothing worked.
Last June, the Burbank couple tried in vitro fertilization with a California City woman. It was wildly successful.
The surrogate mother, Florence Thomsen, gave birth to healthy triplets Thursday at Antelope Valley Hospital. Bradley Marshall (5 pounds, 2 ounces), Elizabeth Katie (5 pounds, 6 ounces) and Grant Allan (5 pounds, 13 ounces) were born by Caesarean section.
Feb. 27
LANCASTER - The city's Redevelopment Agency will issue $33 million worth of new bonds to get a better interest rate on $29 million worth of outstanding debt while generating nearly $3 million for agency projects and about $300,000 for local schools.
Feb. 28
LOS ANGELES - High Desert Hospital would be privatized in less than five years under plans to overhaul the county's health system.
EDWARDS AFB - The Propulsion Directorate at Phillips Laboratory begins checking out the linear aerospike engine in preparation for its firing in March.
Rocketdyne's aerospike engine is part of a 10% scale model that is the heart of Lockheed Martin Skunk Works' proposed X-33 prototype of the next-generation space shuttle.
Feb. 29
CALIFORNIA CITY - The city's Planning Commission gives initial approval to the concept of allowing construction of a privately run 550-bed state prison two miles north of downtown.