Palmdale School District admits surveillance

An overabundance of oil and fierce competition among retailers drives down gasoline prices. A Valley Press survey finds prices of $1.09 per gallon for regular, $1.21 for mid-grade, $1.29 for premium and $1.21 for diesel.

LITTLEROCK - Water spills over the Littlerock Dam for the first time since improvements made the 74-year-old structure 12 feet taller in 1995.

Feb. 18

LAKE HUGHES - Two men angry at being ejected for excessive profanity and rowdiness from the Rock Inn bar and grill shot seven rounds of gunfire into the historic pub Monday night where 10 patrons, including a 9-month-old baby, were dining. No one was injured.

PALMDALE - Boeing Co. intends to invest $40 million for assembly and flight testing of its joint strike fighter prototypess in the Antelope Valley.

Feb. 19

PALMDALE - If you fly out of Palmdale Regional Airport after April 22, boy, will your arms be tired. After five years of service, United Express flights will end on that day because a contract between the airline and Mesa Airlines of Farmington, N.M., - which staffs United's Palmdale Airport station - was not renewed.

SACRAMENTO - Secession from Los Angeles County may no longer be just a buzz word. Plans have been divulged for an all-out effort by the Antelope Valley and other areas to sever ties with California's most populous county.

Feb. 20

PALMDALE - A marketing executive for an airline that flew away from Palmdale Regional Airport service said dollars and sense will likely discourage commuter airlines from moving into this market, where ridership is historically low.

LANCASTER - Antelope Valley College will pay one of its professors $44,000 to settle a lawsuit he filed after being thrown out of a board meeting last June, according to terms of a tentative settlement.

LANCASTER - Councilman and mayoral candidate Michael Singer may have violated the state Government Code by soliciting donations from unionized firefighters countywide, City Attorney Dave McEwen said.

Feb. 21

PALMDALE - The Boeing Co.'s plan to assemble two prototypes of its joint strike fighter in a Space Systems Division-operated building raised speculation about the fate of the Aircraft Division factory. The Boeing North American Aircraft Division building, where previous owner Rockwell North American assembled all 100 of the Air Force's B-1B Lancer supersonic bombers, still employs about 450 people.

LAKE LOS ANGELES - In heated discussion with Lake Los Angeles residents, Wilsona School District trustee Maurice Kunkel admitted a former board member had moved out of town but remained on the board and drew full medical benefits for two years without residents' knowledge.

Feb. 22

LANCASTER - California Highway Patrol officers and Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies arrested a car-theft suspect at the end of a 13-mile chase at speeds up to 105 mph on the Antelope Valley Freeway.

LOMA LINDA (AP) - A teenage snowboarder, who survived for six days without food in a subfreezing mountain range and had appeared to be improving in the week since he was rescued, died from cardiac arrest, doctors said. Jeff Thornton, 14, of Brawley developed severe breathing problems at Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he was being treated for frostbite on his feet, legs, arms and hands, dehydration, broken bones and an eye injury.

QUARTZ HILL - Hiram Johnson is the pride of Quartz Hill High School, but not because he rushed for 725 yards and six touchdowns for the football team or led the soccer team to a Golden League championship.

No, classmates, teachers, coaches and school counselors are gushing about what he achieved - appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Feb. 24

PALMDALE - Three people were killed and 10 others injured in a three-car, head-on traffic accident on Sierra Highway north of Avenue P.

NEWHALL - For the second consecutive day, Antelope Valley's Metrolink commuters are washed-out of their train ride, and have to find another way to work in Los Angeles due to flooding of the railroad tracks and saturated hillsides at the north end of the Newhall tunnel.

LANCASTER - According to a state-required summary of crime statistics, the total number of incidents reported in the Antelope Valley Union High School District rose 24% from the 1995-96 school year to the 1996-97 year.

PALMDALE - A relentless deluge of rain more powerful than many longtime residents could recall laid siege to the Antelope Valley, flooding entire streets, stranding motorists, damaging homes and threatening many small businesses. The El Nino-driven downpour set a one-day record for the month of February.

Feb. 25

PALMDALE - Toll lanes are a hot topic during a public hearing to present the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) regional transportation plan.

LANCASTER - A $1 million state grant will allow the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in Lancaster to track career criminals by using the latest computer technology.

The sun breaks through over the Antelope Valley, following an El Nino-backed assault that dropped 4 inches of snow in Juniper Hills and forced closure of three major mountain roads used by hundreds of westside commuters. The season's heaviest downpour also left in its wake an ongoing power outage for some 240 Southern California Edison customers in Keene, Caliente, Twin Oakes and Tehachapi.

Feb. 26

LANCASTER - Robert Girolamo, superintendent of the Antelope Valley Union High School District, is now the highest-paid high school superintendent in Los Angeles County after the district board of trustees raises his salary to $121,000 a year and extends his contract to June 2002.

Feb. 27

PALMDALE - Contractors and subcontractors finally would be paid for past work on the Ritter Ranch housing project under a draft settlement approved unanimously Wednesday during a special session of the City Council.

Although minor points of the settlement remain in negotiation, the agreement's major points have received approving nods from all relevant parties, City Attorney Matt Ditzhazy said Thursday.

LITTLEROCK - A training helicopter operated by a La Canada Flintridge flying instructor crashes into an arroyo near here, killing the pilot.

LANCASTER - While incidents of crime at California public schools dropped last year statewide, the number of incidents reported in the Antelope Valley Union High School District rose 24% from the previous year, according to the California Safe Schools Assessment program report.

Feb. 28

A 3.8-mile stretch of the aging California Aqueduct is getting an upgrade. Pool No. 48, on a hillside between 110th Street West and Munz Ranch Road, has been targeted for repairs for a couple of years now, and when a small leak was spotted in January, the state's Department of Water Resources sought an emergency contract to patch things up.

LANCASTER - Some Antelope Valley school administrators said crime statistics in a recent school safety assessment were misleading, while others questioned the accuracy and consistency of the schools' crime reports.