LANCASTER - Chief Executive Officer Robert Harenski has asked the board of directors of the Antelope Valley Healthcare District to approve a four-year contract giving him at least $446,225 a year. With bonuses, that amount could total $511,225 a year.
EDWARDS AFB - As space shuttle Atlantis flew to Air Force Plant 42, Lockheed Martin, NASA, Sverdrup Corp. and Antelope Valley officials helped break ground for the launch site of a new space shuttle prototype, the X-33.
Nov. 16
LANCASTER - The many circles in which James DuPratt moved in life came together Saturday to celebrate and share the memory of what he brought to each of them. Former students drawn from 22 years worth of 11th-grade English literature classes at Quartz Hill High School were in virtually every row of the packed pews for DuPratt's funeral.
LANCASTER - A steady increase of Antelope Valley juvenile delinquency cases has prompted officials to reopen a courtroom to handle them.
LANCASTER - An Antelope Valley Hospital director who used a hospital-issued credit card to charge plane tickets for his family and other personal expenses has agreed to repay the hospital $2,152.83. An audit revealed director Steve Fox, as well as about 10 others with hospital-issued credit cards, failed to complete travel vouchers and provide receipts and certain reimbursements, hospital spokesman Gary Cothran said Friday.
Nov. 18
Thomas "T.J." Heller, the Antelope Valley's junior champion trap shooter, has a good chance to become a contender in the next Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, in 2000. The 17-year-old has been placed on a National Developmental Team that includes the nation's top shooters for 1998 and 1999. The team consists of 20 women and men who must continue to qualify to be eligible for the Olympics.
Antelope Valley residents are breathing cleaner air this year, according to data collected from the local air-monitoring station.
Preliminary figures for 1997 show the Valley exceeded the state air quality standard 14 times, for a decrease of about 75%. Between 1994 and 1996, the Valley exceeded the same standard an average of 54 times a year.
Nov. 19
PALMDALE - State Assemblyman George Runner will introduce legislation to remove one of the impediments to getting a longdelayed courthouse built in the Antelope Valley, the Lancaster Republican said.
PALMDALE - The Census Bureau reported that Palmdale was the fourth fastest-growing city in the nation from 1990 through mid-1996 - absorbing 51.6% more residents. The only cities growing faster than Palmdale were Pembroke Pines, Fla., ranking third with 53.5% growth; Chandler, Ariz., second with 59% growth; and Henderson, Nev., first with 88.4% growth.
Nov. 20
EDWARDS AFB - A black cloud with a bright light emerging through the darkness rumbled down a runway at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.
In the eye of the rolling jet fuel cloud was a NASA B-52. Under its massive right wing was the X-38 - the prototype of a future escape pod that would provide an emergency exit from the International Space Station.
PALMDALE - The Antelope Valley's overburdened court complex may get a quick-fix expansion under a deal worked out by county, state and court officials, state Assemblyman George Runner said.
LANCASTER - Proposed new school grades for 3- and 4yearolds are drawing fire from Antelope Valley Assemblyman George Runner, who calls the Sacramentohatched idea "welfare for the wealthy."
Nov. 21
LANCASTER - Lancaster Factory Stores, beset by sagging occupancy, is in foreclosure, a company spokesman confirmed.
Merrill Lynch, lender for High Desert Outlets Ltd., assumed control of the property earlier this year, said Stuart Newmark of Newmark Communications Inc. Newmark is responsible for marketing the factory-outlet center.
Under the agreement with Merrill Lynch, Mid Valley property management will continue to manage the retail outlet mall property at Lancaster Boulevard and Valley Central Way.
LITTLEROCK - A recent meeting of the Littlerock Town Council was capped by a battle royal that sparked continued friction between council members.
LANCASTER - Antelope Valley Healthcare District officials voted 3-2 to enter into negotiations for a new contract with Chief Executive Officer Robert Harenski, despite lingering questions about his old one.
Nov. 22
CHATSWORTH - Palmdale is one of the most business-friendly cities in the Western United States, said executives with Senior Systems Technology (SST), the high-tech electronics firm that is moving its entire San Fernando Valley operation and workforce to the Palmdale Trade and Commerce Center.
Senior Systems executives led a tour of their Chatsworth facility for Congressman Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, and members of the press.
Nov. 23
LANCASTER - The Antelope Valley is on track to set a new record for home foreclosures, statistics showed this past week.
Local owners let 3,204 homes go back to lenders in the first nine months of 1997 - 21% more than the 2,647 houses let go during the same period in 1996.
In all of 1996, owners walked away from the current record of 3,643 homes in the statistical area that includes Acton, Palmdale, Quartz Hill, Lancaster, Hi Vista, Pearblossom and Littlerock but not Lake Los Angeles.
Nov. 25
PALMDALE - The City Council will consider reviving a plan for a four-room civil courthouse to be built near City Hall now that funding is available for two or three new judges in the Antelope Valley.
LANCASTER - Antelope Valley motorists are finally seeing a drop in gasoline prices, a trend that is happening across the country, industry analysts say.
Nov. 26
CANOGA PARK - Boeing's Rocketdyne Division hopes to answer the call for better, faster and cheaper rockets with a new generation rocket engine that will be test fired at Edwards Air Force Base in January.
One of the first new American rocket engines in more than 25 years, Rocketdyne's RS-68 model has already undergone nonfiring tests at the base.
PALMDALE - High school senior Chris Ohren has again racked up a perfect score on a college-entrance exam, this time on the SAT II math test.
LANCASTER - Toll lanes for single-occupant cars will be built adjacent to carpool lanes now under construction on the Antelope Valley Freeway, a Southern California region planner told the Antelope Valley Board of Trade Tuesday.
Nov. 27
PALMDALE - A fierce Pacific storm hammered the Antelope Valley Wednesday, dropping an inch of rain in parts and contributing to mudslides that stranded two motorists on Soledad Canyon Road.
PALMDALE - Home developer Kaufman & Broad will pay out more than a quarter-million dollars to settle homeowners' claims of cracking slabs and substandard roofs at 17 houses in the westside California Marquis tract.
Nov. 28
LANCASTER - The city has recovered all money invested in the Lancaster Factory Stores, Lancaster City Manager Jim Gilley said. City taxpayers will also have no long-term financial exposure, regardless of what happens to the financially troubled center, Gilley said.
Nov. 29
PALMDALE - A second DarkStar is expected to make its debut on the Edwards Air Force Base flightline this month, said Ron Landeke, a Lockheed Martin Skunk Works spokesman.
