EDWARDS AFB - Firing of a model VentureStar engine strapped to the top of an SR-71 research aircraft continues to be delayed because of leaks in its liquid oxygen system.

LANCASTER - A federal grant of more than $200,000 will supplement city funds to start a Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement team operating out of the Lancaster Sheriff's Station. The goal: Knock out meth labs.

LOS ANGELES - Fifth District Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich wants to take his battle for expansion of Palmdale Regional Airport to the voters. Antonovich said the people of Los Angeles County need to be heard on whether Los Angeles International should be expanded or if the Palmdale and Ontario airports should be used to handle the county's increasing air traffic.
Aug. 2

CALIFORNIA CITY - A new federal law requiring four firefighters be present before anyone can enter a burning building has California City officials looking for help. The threeman city department is one body short of meeting the OSHA requirement, which calls for a minimum of two firefighters to be outside of a burning building and at least two to enter if facing an inferno is necessary.

EDWARDS AFB - Environmental cleanup of rocket fuel, solvents and other toxins that contaminated several areas of the 470square-mile base is far ahead of schedule, base officials announced.

VAN NUYS - To lessen traffic congestion throughout the Los Angeles freeway system and to provide more travel-related jobs and tourism revenue, a San Fernando Valley trade group voted to back an upgraded LAX Van Nuys Flyaway.
Aug. 4

PALMDALE - Antelope Valley temperatures hit triple digits again Monday, the 19th time since the beginning of summer, June 21, it has been over 100 degrees.
Aug. 5

EDWARDS AFB - Results from tests for radioactive poisoning preformed on two Phillips Laboratories employees who handled a stainless steel tube containing radium 226 showed acceptable levels of contamination, a base spokesman said, but the origin and purpose of the material remain a mystery.

PALMDALE - Preliminary indications on a study of water and ground contamination shows Air Force Plant 42 to be relatively clean and safe from contaminants.

PALMDALE - Recordbreaking temperatures drove residents of the Antelope Valley and California indoors Tuesday, pushing statewide electricity use to new heights for the second day in a row.
Aug. 6

LANCASTER - Sting operations, mission-specific policing and good old-fashioned detective work prompted a drop in Lancaster and outlying area crime, the most recent official Sheriff's Department statistics show.

PALMDALE - A Quartz Hill woman, wanted on a $2 million arrest warrant for alleged securities fraud, turned herself in Wednesday. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office filed the warrant against Carolina Acio Paredes Friday along with 47 different charges of securities fraud, securities fraud scheme and grand theft stemming from an alleged land fraud scheme.
Aug. 7

WHITEMAN AFB, Mo. (AP) - The Air Force suspended training missions for its B-2 stealth bombers because of problems with crew ejection systems, according to officials.

WASHINGTON - A group of congressmen intensified efforts to revive the SR-71 Blackbird program, calling the sleek spy plane crucial to national security. The group cited the recent denial of requests by U.N. inspectors for access to possible Iraqi weapon testing sites and a report released last month that cites poor U.S. intelligence concerning foreign nuclear threats as reasons to revive operations of the high-speed, high-altitude jet.
Aug. 8

PALMDALE - Fire destroyed a home while blazing a 200-acre path across the north end of Palmdale Friday. Zack Kalpakoff lost his home of nearly two decades while more than 200 Los Angeles County firefighters battled the blaze.

PALMDALE - Valley officials are pushing for joint strike fighter assembly at the current B-2 modification site at Air Force Plant 42 as part of a continuing effort to lure the advanced fighter production work to California.

PALMDALE - A Palmdale man was arrested for investigation of manslaughter and allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol in a freeway rollover accident that killed two teenagers and injured four others.
Aug. 9

PALMDALE - Children, among a crowd of 400 celebrants, got their first look at the new Palmdale Youth Library during a dedication and grand opening celebration.

PALMDALE - A 40% increase in F-22 Raptor work for Lockheed Martin Skunk Works could mean the arrival of more joint strike fighter work if Lockheed wins the highly valued JSF contract, a company spokesman said. The key to getting the additional and future work was through the Skunk Works' lean enterprise effort. The cost-cutting measures help make the Skunk Works more competitive for projects.

PALMDALE - Senior Systems Technology, formerly based in Chatsworth, moved to Palmdale over the weekend. Now about 200 SST workers who live in the Antelope Valley can sleep an extra hour if they choose, instead of spending it on the freeway.
Aug. 11

LANCASTER - With the advent of class-size reductions from last year's round of contract bargaining with teachers and a wave of retirements and resignations last spring, the Antelope Valley Union High School District district is working to hire enough teachers before September.

PALMDALE - A new warehouse for F-117 parts is being completed at Lockheed Martin Skunks Works as all maintenance activities for the stealth fighter are being consolidated here.

PALMDALE - Final assembly of the massive joint strike fighter project, one of the 21st century's biggest defense contracts, is not a likely prospect for the Antelope Valley, Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon said.
"I don't see the final production coming here," McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, said in an interview with the Valley Press. "Final production of the plane, economically, I don't think that is something they would do - Boeing or Lockheed."

Aug. 12

LANCASTER - After six years of bringing the arts to the Antelope Valley, Bruce Spain, director of the Lancaster Performing Arts Center, is moving on. According to Lyle Norton, director of the Lancaster Parks, Recreation and Arts Department, Spain handed in his resignation during the weekend.

PALMDALE - The truth is out here. Or, at least, the cast of television's hit show "The XFiles" is out here, filming.

PALMDALE - Lightning, thunder and rain cut a swath across the Antelope Valley, as residents were treated to an afternoon of muggy weather, power outages and flash flood warnings.
Aug. 13

EDWARDS AFB - With neither Lockheed Martin nor Boeing Co. apparently listening, plans to lure the joint strike fighter assembly to the Antelope Valley will be aimed at the Pentagon, a Valley official said.

In a talk at an Air Force Association meeting at Club Muroc, Phil Brady of the Aerospace Office said that the battle will be fought in Washington.

LAKE LOS ANGELES - Wet and wild weather, which cut power to thousands of Antelope Valley residents, produced hurricane-like conditions in Rosamond, and left a few people still in the dark a day later.

PALMDALE - Something smells in the city of Palmdale - namely, piles of litter temporarily left by street sweepers alongside public roadways.

The Environmental Health Protection Agency, a subdivision of the California Integrated Waste Management Board, decided to look into a complaint made by a citizen after he saw the piles being left by the street sweepers Wednesday morning.
Aug. 14

PALMDALE - Construction of a new civil courthouse now lies in the hands of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. The Palmdale City Council voted unanimously, and without comment, to approve a lease agreement between the city and the county in anticipation of courthouse construction.

PALMDALE - Without discussion, the City Council voted unanimously to allow Aspen, Colo. developer John D. Musick Jr. to purchase and resume work on the dormant Ritter Ranch housing project in Leona Valley.

PALMDALE - Air Vegas Airlines, based at Henderson Executive Airport south of Las Vegas, announced it is ready and willing to add passenger service at Palmdale Regional Airport.

LANCASTER - Five worldrenowned test pilots will be inducted into the city's Aerospace Walk of Honor on Sept. 19, bringing to 40 the number of pilots so honored since the city began the annual program nine years ago.

PALMDALE - Tucked within Boeing's announced consolidations and realignments made public Thursday is the plan to move its Reusable Space Systems manufacturing facilities from Downey to Palmdale's Plant 42.

The company reiterated its plan to cut up to 28,000 jobs and also said it will begin another round of job cuts in the year 2000. Company officials did not say how many jobs would be eliminated during that second round.
Aug. 15

LANCASTER - Trunks raised and tusks bared, red, white and blue elephant signs bounced Friday amidst whooping and clapping for Attorney General Dan Lungren, who addressed two audience-packed houses on his Antelope Valley tour.

LANCASTER - California could reap major economic benefits from work on the joint strike fighter regardless of where competing aerospace companies decide to assemble it, Assemblyman George Runner said. The $750 billion JSF project, which would be the largest defense contract in the nation's history, is expected to create 20,000 jobs.
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