EDWARDS AFB - Northrop Grumman officials said Wednesday that 80 B-2 flight test workers at Edwards Air Force Base will receive 60-day notices today and another 320 people will lose their jobs this year. Test flights on the radarevading bombers will wind down this summer.
CALIFORNIA CITY - Philosophical differences on prisons and spending have put a budget-saving prison in limbo, Mayor Larry Adams said Tuesday. Such a prison could mean the difference between surpluses and deficits for the city's general fund, which was saved from a $500,000 shortfall by a special Fire Suppression and Panic Tax adopted by the City Council in September.
May 2
LANCASTER - Squinting into the late-morning sun, Brig. Gen. Charles M. Duke Jr. told thousands of middle school students gathered at The Hangar how he became an astronaut in the Apollo space program.
EDWARDS AFB - Two Phillips Laboratory researchers are on their way to Washington, D.C., today to be honored early next week with a national award for environmental innovation.
May 3
PALMDALE - City Council approved in concept spending $2.5 million for a separate children's library Thursday night, but without knowing the exact cost of the project at Sierra Highway and Avenue Q-6.
LOS ANGELES - A Superior Court judge ruled Friday that the former architect of the stalled Antelope Valley courthouse project can't bring Los Angeles County to trial to recover millions of dollars in allegedly unpaid fees.
May 4
PALMDALE - There was some hammering here, some digging there and fresh coats of paint applied to the walls at the Antelope Valley Boys and Girls Club Saturday.
But it wasn't a construction crew doing the work. It was about 50 Palmdale Northrop Grumman Military Systems Division employees giving new life to the center and raising money for it by washing cars and selling hot dogs and sodas.
May 6
PALMDALE - As of Jan. 1, Palmdale had 114,874 residents, 2.6% more than a year ago, according to information from the state Department of Finance. Lancaster had 123,197 residents, reflecting growth of 1.8%.
LANCASTER - The federal government pays Los Angeles County $33,031 a day to feed, house and guard 475 immigrant detainees at the Mira Loma jail, despite a maximum occupancy of only 338 detainees since February. The disparity could mean a waste of taxpayer dollars totaling $1 million.
Two new weapons in the Antelope Valley's crime-fighting arsenal are quickly becoming the prime nemeses of local criminals. Monday, a man featured as the "Antelope Valley's Most Wanted" was captured as a result of a tip from someone who saw the wanted man's photo in the Valley Press. Another tip generated from an earlier "Most-Wanted" profile led to the arrest last month of two men in connection with a strong-arm robbery.
May 7
LOS ANGELES - The District Attorney's Office announced it will not prosecute Lancaster Sheriff's Sgt. Kevin Carney, who had been placed on leave pending an investigation into allegations that he inappropriately touched two young girls.
QUARTZ HILL - A brush fire fanned by 35 mph winds ignited near 70th Street West and Avenue K Tuesday afternoon, scorching some 60 open-field acres to the east and pushing flames within feet of a clump of homes, a ranch and a golf course.
TULSA, Okla. - A judge ruled Friday that there is enough evidence to try three men in connection with the death of a 33yearold Lancaster resident who was smothered at a Tulsa nightclub last year. Robert Mark D'Errico, a popular aerospace worker for McDonnell Douglas, died under suspicious circumstances Sept. 24 while on business trip in Tulsa.
May 8
SACRAMENTO - Antelope Valley representatives are in the state capital today to plead the case for a five-state Southwest Military Complex composed of research and test facilities as the best way to protect California from further military base closings.
LANCASTER - Presiding Antelope Municipal Court Judge Pamela R. Rogers has taken a fiveweek leave of absence to combat acute migraine headaches she suffered since 1993, her husband said Wednesday. She is expected to return to the bench May 27.
May 9
LANCASTER - Ufracio "Frankie" Gutierrez, one of seven brothers who own some of the Valley's most successful Mexican restaurants, was ordered Thursday to stand trial for allegedly shooting his wife in front of the couple's three young children.
LANCASTER - Proposed drug testing of athletes in the Antelope Valley Union High School District sparked heated and lengthy debate but no action was taken on the issue by the board of trustees.
ACTON - Spending $10 a week on two Quick Pick lottery tickets finally paid off for Acton resident Carol Haskett, who picked Wednesday's winning Super Lotto numbers and won $3 million.
May 10
LANCASTER - Homeowners could receive a $125 tax break on their October property tax bill under a proposed 1997-98 budget presented Thursday night to the Lancaster City Council.
May 11
KINGMAN, Ariz. - A pregnant Lancaster teen charged with masterminding a triple murder last summer in Golden Valley, Ariz., proclaimed her innocence this week in a jailhouse interview.
Kimberly Lane, 15, consented to the interview in the Mojave County jail in Kingman, saying she is a "caring" person who didn't kill Leta Kagen, 37, Kagen's son Robert Delahunt, 15, and a family friend, 50-year-old Roland Wear.
ANTELOPE VALLEY - The real estate picture in the Antelope Valley has brightened considerably as the sales of single-family homes continue to improve.
The latest sales figures for March 1997 indicate an increase of 22.1% over the same period in 1996. Sales were up 19.5% for the first quarter of 1997 compared to the first quarter of 1996, according to statistics provided by Crisnet Multiple Listing Service. Most HUD and VA properties are not included in the data.
May 13
LANCASTER - Mission commander Lt. Col. James Halsell Jr. says he was disappointed when a potentially serious equipment failure forced space shuttle Columbia home just four days into its April mission.
But Halsell, who was stationed at Edwards Air Force Base from 1986 to 1990, will get a second shot at finishing the job. NASA adjusted launch schedules to accommodate re-flying the Columbia mission. It's set for launch July 1.
PALMDALE - Early landscape-assessment ballot returns indicate the city's westside might become much greener than the rest of the city.
Eastside property owners have shown reluctance to reinstitute landscape-assessment districts, which were outlawed by the November passage of Proposition 218. The districts can remain intact if voters so choose.
Property owners within the city are deciding the issue with mail-in ballots.
May 14
LOS ANGELES - Some Antelope Valley residents could see their library services reduced by 35% if a proposition on the June 3 ballot isn't approved.
Libraries in Quartz Hill, Littlerock and Lake Los Angeles could be closed more often if Proposition L doesn't get the support of twothirds of voters.
LANCASTER - While fiscal demands can be met with slashand-burn techniques such as layoffs, service cuts and more taxes, the Lancaster City Council is studying a proposed budget nickeland-dimed to the benefit of residents.
May 15
LANCASTER - After gobbling up a breakfast that apparently wasn't up to snuff, 150 detainees at the Mira Loma immigration facility refused to return to their barracks Wednesday morning, prompting officials to call for backup.
Eighteen deputies from the Lancaster Sheriff's Station arrived about 7:30 a.m. to assist 35 personnel already at the site. Once they saw the increased manpower, protesters returned to their barracks.
LANCASTER - A despondent gunman wounded one deputy Wednesday before barricading himself in his home while keeping dozens more Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies at bay, firing several rounds from a shotgun at "anything that moved."
