Agreement delays decisions on furlough days, benefits cuts
January 24, 2012 3:29 PM
Natasha Lindstrom, Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • Three months after declaring an impasse, the Victor Valley Union High School District and its teachers union have struck a tentative agreement. (Click here to read the agreemment.)

But rather than resolve contentious compensation issues, the proposed deal essentially delays the hard decisions until negotiations resume in March for the 2012-13 school year.

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January 19, 2012 12:43 PM
Brooke Edwards Staggs, City Editor

VICTORVILLE • A recent default on debt payments triggered one of the top credit rating agencies to downgrade $51 million in Southern California Logistics Airport Authority bonds another two notches, with Moody’s Investor Services predicting the airport won’t catch up on debt payments until 2029.

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January 18, 2012 11:58 AM
Brooke Edwards Staggs

VICTORVILLE • Less than 12 hours after his contract was approved by the City Council, Victorville received notice that the man chosen to serve as deputy city manager overseeing finances had opted not to take the position.

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Airport, city separate legal entities but closely bound together
January 15, 2012 6:00 AM
Brooke Edwards Staggs

VICTORVILLE • With the city’s airport authority behind on debt payments, residents are left wondering whether basic city services such as public safety and road maintenance might pay the price.

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January 08, 2012 3:14 PM
Brooke Edwards Staggs, City Editor

VICTORVILLE • Even before the state axed redevelopment agencies to bolster its budget, the viability of Victorville’s RDA was in question, according to an annual audit released this week.

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Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/07/2012 02:42:29 PM PST

Victorville City Manager Doug Robertson said the city’s November default on bond payments totaling $10.6 million has not prompted an inquiry from a federal agency that has been investigating the city’s bond debt for the last two years.

In an e-mail, Robertson said investigators from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not made any inquiries about the defaults thus far, but he is expecting they will.

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January 03, 2012 1:50 PM
Brooke Edwards Staggs, City Editor

VICTORVILLE • An attorney is seeking to recover more than $9 million in damages on behalf of 4,300 people who’ve received tickets from Victorville’s red light cameras, claiming the system is “unfair, unlawful, fraudulent and deceptive.”

Robert Conaway, a criminal defense attorney from Barstow, sent notice in early December to the city of Victorville and Redflex Traffic Systems that he intends to file a class action lawsuit unless changes are made with the way red light cameras are handled here. He updated that notice in late December, tacking on the calculated damages.

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Monday, January 2, 2012- 1045 a.m.

The fight over the future of Victor Valley Community Hospital (VVCH) has some interesting twists.

Dr. Prem Reddy, who operates Prime Healthcare Services, wants the bankrupt facility as part of his network of highly-profitable hospitals.

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BY KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
STAFF WRITER
kpierceall@pe.com

Published: 30 December 2011 07:21 PM

Leaders with three Inland groups overhauling former military bases say legislation that would dissolve the state’s redevelopment agencies doesn’t apply to them.

The legislation was upheld by the state’s Supreme Court on Thursday.

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Southern California Logistics Airport seen in Victorville Thursday, July 28, 2005./STAFF PHOTO

A technical payment mistake hits the city and the Southern California Logistics Airport
BY KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
STAFF WRITER
kpierceall@pe.com
Published: 28 December 2011 08:29 PM

Victorville has defaulted on two of several municipal bonds used to make improvements to the Southern California Logistics Airport, according to letters from the Bank of New York Mellon.

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December 27, 2011 6:15 PM
Brooke Edwards Staggs, City Editor

VICTORVILLE • The city has defaulted on two bonds after trying to use restricted funds for a $535,000 payment due Dec. 1, according to a notice from the Bank of New York Mellon.

As a result, if a majority of bondholders agree, the bank notice states they could demand full and immediate payment of the outstanding balance on $173 million in bonds taken out in 2007 and 2008 for improvements at Southern California Logistics Airport.

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Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris in September killed the proposed takeover of a struggling Victorville hospital by a nonprofit arm of Prime Healthcare Corp., saying it was “not in the public interest.” (Paui Sakuma, Associated Press / December 13, 2011)

By Michael Hiltzik
December 28, 2011

In September, state Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris killed the proposed takeover of a struggling Victorville hospital by a nonprofit arm of Prime Healthcare Corp., saying it was “not in the public interest.”

Her ruling was anything but casual. Basing the decision on what she said was her own department’s investigation, as well as testimony at a marathon public hearing in August, Harris indicated that the takeover would result in the reduced availability of healthcare in the High Desert.

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December 23, 2011 1:41 PM
Brooke Edwards Staggs, City Editor

VICTORVILLE • A federal appeals office upheld the termination of Victorville’s EB-5 visa investor center, leaving the city with no option but to pursue a pricey lawsuit or say goodbye to millions in funding they’d hoped to borrow through the program.

City officials got the news Thursday afternoon, with plans to discuss next steps during the Jan. 17 city council meeting.

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December 15, 2011 1:21 PM
Natasha Lindstrom, Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • Victor Valley College’s board members have voted themselves a 60 percent raise, increasing their monthly stipend from $250 to $400.

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Protesters pack Victorville City Hall
December 15, 2011 8:45 AM
Brooke Edwards Staggs, City Editor

VICTORVILLE • Residents packed City Hall on Wednesday night, carrying signs and giving impassioned speeches against a Walmart Supercenter that’s planned near the entrance to Spring Valley Lake.

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Split City Council approves first COLA hikes in three years
December 07, 2011 4:59 PM
Brooke Edwards Staggs, City Editor

VICTORVILLE • The Victorville City Council approved 3 percent pay raises for all employees starting Jan. 1, with Councilwoman Angela Valles protesting the perk in light of the city’s rocky finances.

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San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos

By Mark Gutglueck
Friday, December 2, 2011

Federal prosecutors have horned in on an unprecedented number of high profile political corruption cases that would otherwise be handled by the district attorney’s office in San Bernardino County. In some matters, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has wrested from district attorney Mike Ramos prosecutorial authority or has opened with the FBI parallel investigations into issues Ramos or the San Bernardino County Grand Jury have delved into without reaching a successful conclusion. In at least three matters, federal prosecutors and investigators have taken on probes or investigations of elected officials or political donors with whom Ramos was politically aligned.

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Memo claims city is violating worker agreements
December 01, 2011 8:47 AM
Brooke Edwards Staggs, City Editor

VICTORVILLE • The city continues to clash with employees of the water districts it absorbed in 2007, with workers looking to protect their health benefits while Victorville aims to cut costs.

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Friday, November 25, 2011 – 10:30 a.m.

Victorville can’t pay its debt service payments, while some of the city’s leaders want area voters to place them into higher office.

Laugh out loud!

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November 23, 2011 6:17 PM
Brooke Edwards Staggs

VICTORVILLE • The city is $7.5 million short to make its annual debt payment due Dec. 1 — a shortfall that could trigger default and further downgrades on the already precarious bonds.

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November 23, 2011 2:36 PM
Tomoya Shimura
Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • A Victorville judge on Wednesday denied the California Attorney General’s attempt to prevent Prime Healthcare Services from helping keep bankrupt Victor Valley Community Hospital open.

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Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Posted: 11/11/2011 04:37:50 PM PST

Members of Occupy Wall Street-inspired groups from throughout region will protest together today as Occupy Inland Empire for the first time in a rally in San Bernardino.

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City expects decision on appeal of EB-5 termination Dec. 2
November 07, 2011 7:23 PM
Brooke Edwards Staggs
City Editor

VICTORVILLE • A judge has agreed to pause Victorville’s lawsuit against the federal government, waiting to see if the city first succeeds in overturning the termination of its EB-5 visa investor program through an administrative appeals process.

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Sandra Emerson, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Created: 11/06/2011 05:53:46 PM PST

RIVERSIDE – After nearly an hour and a half of group discussion in the human microphone fashion, members of several Occupy Wall Street movements in the Inland Empire raised their hands, wiggled their fingers and a consensus was reached – a committee will be formed to propose future activities bringing all their movements together.

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San Francisco auditor to investigate
November 01, 2011 5:45 PM
Brooke Edwards Staggs
Timeline of grand jury investigation:

VICTORVILLE • The new grand jury has picked up a probe into Victorville spanning more than two years, hiring an independent firm to audit the city’s operations, accounts and records.

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October 31, 2011 4:24 PM
DOUG SAUNDERS

VICTORVILLE • Victor Valley Community Hospital won a reprieve Monday when a judge rejected the state Attorney General’s attempt to block a stopgap financing plan that would keep the bankrupt hospital running, at least in the short term.

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Monday, October 31, 2011 – 03:30 p.m.

As predicted the U.S. Department of Justice has a task force examining the financial situation of Victorville, California.

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Attorney general nixes option to keep hospital open
October 29, 2011 9:15 PM
Don Holland, Editor

VICTORVILLE • The state Attorney General’s office is seeking to block a stop-gap financing plan for beleaguered Victor Valley Community Hospital — a move hospital officials say puts 500 local jobs on the line and more than one-third of hospital beds on the brink of closure.

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Valles

Victorville, Hesperia leaders make fourth, fifth to announce for new seat
October 24, 2011 2:46 PM
Beau Yarbrough
Staff Writer
Related stories:

A former mayor of Hesperia and a current member of the Victorville City Council are the fourth and fifth people to formally announce their candidacy for the newly created 8th District Congressional seat.

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October 21, 2011 1:12 PM
Tomoya Shimura
Staff Writer
Related stories:

RIVERSIDE • A federal bankruptcy court judge has agreed to allow Prime Healthcare Services to provide financial assistance to Victor Valley Community Hospital, which has been on the brink of shutting down amid dire financial straits.

Read the rest of this entry »

McEachron

October 19, 2011 11:08 AM
Brooke Edwards Staggs
Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • Mayor Ryan McEachron has formed a campaign finance committee to run for Congress in 2012, according to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission.

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Tuesday, October 18, 2011 – 10:15 a.m.

After helping drain Victorville’s finances an Orange County businessman has now set his sights on a new public trough.

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October 04, 2011 3:48 PM
Beatriz Valenzuela
Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • The city has fielded three additional San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies and one detective to augment the staff of 64 field officers.

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October 03, 2011 11:08 AM
Brooke Edwards Staggs
City Editor

VICTORVILLE • Public safety issues will again dominate a good portion of Tuesday’s City Council meeting, as Victorville officials discuss adding more deputies, response times, Brentwood crime and ways to keep neighborhoods in better shape.

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Upward trend continues after years of steady decline
October 02, 2011 12:00 PM
From Staff Reports

VICTORVILLE • Net sales tax revenues to Victorville increased by 11.63 percent in the second quarter, for the largest year-over-year gain in six years.

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Settlement, fate of Westwinds Sports Center on City Council agenda
September 17, 2011 2:00 PM
Brooke Edwards
City Editor

VICTORVILLE • The fate of Westwinds Sports Center and a nearly $500,000 settlement payment to the federal government will be before the City Council on Tuesday night.

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Hesperia to pay $7.1M to keep RDAs’ doors open, Victorville to pay $2.8M
August 03, 2011 5:15 PM
BEAU YARBROUGH AND BROOKE EDWARDS, Staff Writers
Staff Writers

Both Hesperia and Victorville have agreed to pay the state a combined $10 million “ransom” this year to keep their redevelopment agencies alive, joining Apple Valley and a regional redevelopment agency in opting into California’s new alternative RDA program.

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Regional redevelopment agency is $9.1 million short
August 02, 2011 8:44 AM
Brooke Edwards
Staff Writer

To keep all of the Victor Valley’s redevelopment agencies alive under a new state law, data released Monday shows local cities will have to revisit their strained budgets and come up with a combined total of nearly $29 million over the next year.

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August 01, 2011 4:15 PM
GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press

VICTORVILLE (AP) — The billboard outside the Arbor Lane subdivision offers a hollow promise of elegant homes at rock-bottom prices.

A drive down the flag-lined entrance reveals the truth: Empty lots filled with weeds swallow up the several dozen completed houses. Winding cul-de-sacs lined with extinguished street lamps dead-end in piles of dirt and dried grass. Nothing resembles an arbor.

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July 24, 2011 11:43 AM
Brooke Edwards
Staff Writer

It appears Victorville is closer to striking a deal with the Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority to sell its distressed wastewater plant.

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Valles

July 20, 2011 3:44 PM
Brooke Edwards
Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • The city’s contract for risk management services is stirring controversy, with both the San Bernardino County Grand Jury and Councilwoman Angela Valles raising concerns over what Victorville is getting for its money.

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July 15, 2011 5:21 PM
Brooke Edwards
Staff Writer

Bruce Chambers/Orange County RegisterDr. Prem Reddy, CEO of Prime Healthcare, addresses a town hall in 2006.

Daily Report: Health & Welfare
July 11, 2011 | Christina Jewett

The Prime Healthcare Services Foundation, the nonprofit arm of Prime Healthcare Services, is seeking judicial approval to buy Victor Valley Community Hospital in bankruptcy court tomorrow, a move that, if successful, might expand the reach of the controversial hospital chain.

Read the rest of this entry »

July 08, 2011 4:51 PM
Brooke Edwards
Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • After nearly a decade of calling Southern California Logistics Airport home, Army officials say eight Black Hawk helicopters, 58 part-time Army Reserve soldiers and 29 full-time workers are relocating soon some 90 miles away to Los Alamitos.

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July 08, 2011 9:23 AM
Brooke Edwards
Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • Mayor Ryan McEachron is calling for his city to let 10 Tanker Air Carrier operate out of SCLA rent-free for the time being rather than risk losing the firefighting supertankers now based at Southern California Logistics Airport.

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College’s accreditation in tact; officials have two years to correct ‘deficiencies’
July 06, 2011 5:36 PM
Natasha Lindstrom
Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges has placed Victor Valley College on probation for failing to comply with several accreditation standards, ranging from maintaining stable leadership to fostering a healthy campus culture.

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By Joe Nelson Staff Writer
Posted: 07/01/2011 07:54:57 PM PDT

An unprecedented two-year investigation by the San Bernardino County Grand Jury into allegations of fiscal mismanagement in the city of Victorville produced no findings in the Grand Jury’s annual report released Thursday.

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Sources indicate an investigation is ongoing
June 30, 2011 8:12 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • In spite of a two-year probe into the city’s finances by San Bernardino County’s civil grand jury — and a drum roll to the release Thursday night of the watchdog group’s annual report — Victorville isn’t mentioned in the lengthy document.

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June 21, 2011 7:55 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • A split City Council voted Tuesday night to sue the federal government, challenging U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ decision to terminate Victorville’s EB-5 visa investor program.

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Valles

June 15, 2011 2:21 PM
Brooke Edwards
Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • Conflict of interest charges continue popping up in the city of Victorville, this time lodged against Councilwoman Angela Valles and one of the largest law firms in Southern California.

Read the rest of this entry »

June 14, 2011 3:03 PM
Tomoya Shimura
Staff Writer

The High Desert housing market in May mirrored that of Southern California overall, where median home prices saw the largest year-over-year drop in 20 months.

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June 13, 2011 5:16 PM
Beatriz Valenzuela
Staff Writer

The economic woes that have plagued the state, county and Victor Valley cities could lead to reductions in specialized law enforcement teams.

Due to budgetary cuts, some members of local gang teams may be reassigned, according to those close to the program.

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June 10, 2011 9:16 AM
Brooke Edwards
Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • Laying off 10 more workers, closing Westwinds golf course for a second time and dramatically reducing funds for citywide improvements are all proposals included in Victorville’s draft budget that should take effect July 1.

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Cox

June 08, 2011 10:35 PM
Brooke Edwards
Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • City Manager Jim Cox appears poised to retire again in as little as three weeks, when his current contract runs out.

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June 08, 2011 10:37 PM
Brooke Edwards
Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • The City Council voted to rehire Mayer Hoffman McCann, the auditing firm under fire for not catching a slew of financial issues that led to criminal charges for city of Bell officials.

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Proposed Victorville policy to be discussed Tuesday night
June 07, 2011 9:45 AM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • The city may begin requiring a vote for individual council members to request information from and give direction to City Manager Jim Cox.

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June 06, 2011 2:31 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • The City Council will vote Tuesday night on whether to hire Mayer Hoffman McCann to again audit Victorville’s books, even as the state continues investigating the firm for failing to pick up on misappropriation of funds and other violations in the embattled city of Bell.

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Cabriales

May 29, 2011 9:38 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • City records show Mayor Pro Tem Rudy Cabriales voted to approve $55,000 in sponsorships over the last eight years to the High Desert Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a nonprofit headed up by his wife.

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City Council calls special meeting to discuss options
May 26, 2011 6:49 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • The federal government rejected Victorville’s appeal of the termination of its EB-5 visa investor program, citing concerns over how the city planned to use the loans from foreign citizens and whether enough jobs would be created.

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Mayor Pro Tem’s wife calls Valles a ‘blood-sucking tick’
May 18, 2011 4:52 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • Councilwoman Angela Valles has asked the San Bernardino County Grand Jury, the county’s District Attorney and the U.S. Attorney General to join the state Attorney General in looking into potential conflict of interest concerns involving Mayor Pro Tem Rudy Cabriales.

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Valles

Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 05/16/2011 08:01:44 PM PDT

Victorville Councilwoman Angela Valles has asked the state Attorney General’s Office to investigate a councilman who voted in favor of contracts that benefitted his wife financially.

Read the rest of this entry »

May 16, 2011 6:29 AM
Tomoya Shimura

VICTORVILLE • While the United States economy added more than 200,000 jobs for the third straight month, local residents may still feel like they’re in the middle of the Great Recession.

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Valles

May 12, 2011 3:08 PM
Brooke Edwards
Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • Councilwoman Angela Valles has sent a letter to the state Attorney General’s Opinion Unit, asking the agency to look into a potential conflict of interest regarding Mayor Pro Tem Rudy Cabriales.

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Cabriales

Agency urges city to consult state Attorney General; McEachron says no
May 07, 2011 8:05 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • The Fair Political Practices Commission told the city there is “maybe” a conflict of interest involving Mayor Pro Tem Rudy Cabriales and his connection to the High Desert Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, urging the city in a letter sent this week to consult the state Attorney General’s office.

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May 07, 2011 1:00 PM
Natasha Lindstrom
Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • School board member Duneen De Bruhl is seeking $33,000 from the Victor Valley Union High School District to drop a wrongful termination suit that alleges she was discriminated against as a district employee.

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April 28, 2011 9:05 AM
Brooke Edwards
Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • When Amy Lyn De Zwart opted for an early retirement from the Victor Valley Water District in 2005, it was with the comfort that her health insurance premiums would be covered for life.

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April 25, 2011 4:11 PM
Brooke Edwards, Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • Three city managers and two of Victorville’s attorneys were among those subpoenaed for testimony by the San Bernardino County Grand Jury as part of a two-year investigation into the city’s finances and management practices.

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District claims city overcharged $410,900 in trash fees over 15 years
April 22, 2011 3:10 PM
Natasha Lindstrom, Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • The Victor Valley Union High School District is moving forward with a lawsuit against the city of Victorville in an attempt to recoup up to $410,400 in alleged trash fee overcharges.

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April 21, 2011 5:45 PM
Brooke Edwards

Victorville is calling for the regional wastewater authority to hire a new attorney, citing conflict of interest concerns.

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Andre de Bortnowsky

Split commission may oust Victorville’s de Bortnowsky over conflict of interest concerns
April 21, 2011 3:49 PM

He’s been their attorney for 20 years, since representatives from each local city formed the Victor Valley Economic Development Authority to help redevelop the area surrounding shuttered George Air Force Base.

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Thursday, April 21, 2011 – 07:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, April 21, 2011 – 09:05 a.m.

On a 3-2 vote the governing board of the Victor Valley Economic Development Authority (VVEDA) fired its general counsel Wednesday night.

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April 19, 2011 7:24 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • Five city officials have been subpoenaed for testimony by the San Bernardino County Grand Jury as part of a two-year investigation into Victorville’s finances and management practices.

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April 18, 2011 4:31 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • The city owes $82,628 to the Internal Revenue Service, including $14,330 in late fees for a refund that should’ve been made nearly four years ago.

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Investors sold land to Victorville in “homerun” deal. But city sold “”library” land at a loss, failed to notify potential bidders

April 17, 2011 12:02 AM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • Six parcels of land once intended to be a new library continue to cause problems for the city, as investigators look into restricted bond funds Victorville used to purchase the plots and how they relate to a conflict of interest concern tied to Mayor Pro Tem Rudy Cabriales.

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Valles

April 16, 2011 2:30 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • The City Council on Tuesday will discuss whether it should ask voters to amend Victorville’s charter and approve term limits for council members.

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