LANCASTER - Directors of Antelope Valley Hospital have agreed to pay E.H. Butland Co. of Reseda $182,327 for the first two phases of a $1.18 million, four-phase expansion of the hospital's emergency room.
LANCASTER - Directors of Antelope Valley Hospital have agreed to pay E.H. Butland Co. of Reseda $182,327 for the first two phases of a $1.18 million, four-phase expansion of the hospital's emergency room.
LANCASTER - The city will receive a $1 million state grant to help build launch facility infrastructure for the next-generation space shuttle prototype.
April 2
PALMDALE - A long-running battle for space-shuttle maintenance and modification work between Florida and California may be resolved once and for all this summer. NASA officials ordered a report to answer bolt-for-bolt where the cheapest and best shuttle work is done and to compare Florida and California facilities equally.
CALIFORNIA CITY - The city's financial well-being might be riding on two bills now under scrutiny in the state Legislature, Mayor Larry Adams said. If approved, Assembly Bill 1264 and Senate Bill 1264 would provide the funding needed to build two new state prisons, one in San Diego and the other in California City, Adams said.
Four days after his photo appeared in the Valley Press "AV's Most Wanted" column, a Palmdale man suspected of bank robbery turned himself in to FBI agents in Los Angeles.
April 3
LANCASTER - In the wake of the dismantling of a massive burglary ring, city and law enforcement officials hailed the Antelope Valley's three-month-old Crime Tip hotline as more successful than anticipated.
April 4
PALMDALE - A spring storm moved swiftly through the Antelope Valley overnight Wednesday, bringing a dusting of snow to southern Palmdale as well as rain, gusting winds and power outages throughout the Valley.
April 5
PALMDALE - Businesses come and businesses go, and by one measure, City Hall's numbers show more businesses are coming than going. According to the Palmdale Business License Department, 709 business licenses were terminated from March 31 to Dec. 31, 1996, while 862 new businesses licenses were issued.
LANCASTER - The total number of companies doing business in the city grew by 8% last year, business license records show. There were 4,554 licensed businesses in Lancaster on Jan. 1, 1996 and 4,917 as of Jan. 1, 1997, records showed. And since the beginning of this year, City Hall records show the number has increased to 5,275, indicating "an economy that is becoming more conducive to people opening new businesses," city Finance director Gary Hill said.
PALMDALE - Ground was broken for a 9-acre family fun park off of Avenue P-4 and Trade Center Way.
April 6
LANCASTER - The role of the U.S. Forest Service air tanker base at Gen. William J. Fox Airfield could be greatly expanded after runway extensions and improvements are completed, officials said.
PALMDALE - Lilac lovers of the Antelope Valley celebrated a half century of fragrant blossoms Saturday at the 50th annual Lilac Show at the Palmdale Cultural Center.
April 8
LOS ANGELES - County officials are investigating complaints that two Acton Rehabilitation Center employees released a patient before his court-ordered treatment was completed, according to Valley Press sources.
LANCASTER - The co-owner of land sold to the city of Lancaster for a new fairgrounds is a defendant in two current civil lawsuits, one alleging land fraud and the other claiming failure to pay a previous lawsuit settlement of $348,750. The suits are two of 12 known similar civil actions filed against San Mateo County businessman Chen Chi Wang since 1984, court records show. The earlier lawsuits were either settled out of court or dismissed.
April 9
PALMDALE - Bomb threats forced the closure of three Antelope Valley post offices for more than two hours Tuesday and delayed delivery of much of the Valley's mail.
PALMDALE - A holdup at a Great Western Bank turned into a nightmare for a bank customer when a gunman took her hostage, robbed her and forced her at gunpoint to drive him to a nearby store, where he let her go and fled on foot.
April 10
LANCASTER - Forty-two Iraqi nationals seeking asylum in the United States have been housed since late last month at Mira Loma, the former county jail now operated as an Immigration and Naturalization Service holding center.
ACTON - An investigation at the Acton Rehabilitation Center concluded that two employees misled a judge about a patient's completion of court-ordered substance-abuse treatment, a rehab center official confirmed Wednesday.
April 11
PALMDALE - Westside resident who packed the Palmdale City Council chambers broke into applause when the council rejected a General Plan change that would allow a commercial development the homeowners opposed.
LANCASTER - A measure approved Monday by the AV College board calls for elimination of degrees in English, foreign language, political science, sociology, speech communications, theater arts and agriculture.
LANCASTER - City officials opened a new major east-west route through town with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the $7.9 million Avenue H railroad overpass.
April 12
LANCASTER - The husband of a Lancaster woman charged with leaving her screaming son to die in a residential fire invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination and refused to testify against his wife Friday.
PALMDALE - Much as they like the idea of an airpark, three City Council members rejected paying $90,000 to start it, saying it isn't prudent to spend the money during austere times.
PALMDALE - $10 million worth of tax-exempt bonds will be sold to help an electronics manufacturing company relocate from Chatsworth to Palmdale. Senior Systems Technology, Inc. plans to build a 130,000-square-foot headquarters-manufacturing plant that would employ 350 people upon completion and up to 150 more workers later.
April 13
LOS ANGELES - Things began going downhill fast for the planned Avenue M courthouse about the time Los Angeles County discovered it was $2 million short - then covered up that revelation, sources say and county documents indicate.
April 15
PALMDALE - City officials said they will have to renege on $800,000 worth of hiring credits promised to Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in a deal to help bring work on the next generation space shuttle X-33 to Palmdale.
Instead, officials said they will negotiate with Skunk Works officials to find impact fees, drainage projects and other ways to fulfill the city's $800,000 promise as a part of a state incentives package to bring the project here.
