Archive for the ‘ Victorville ’ Category

VVDailyPress: Grand jury completes Victorville investigation

Draft report done; findings expected out in June
April 25, 2012 11:37 AM
Brooke Edwards Staggs, City Editor

VICTORVILLE • Three years after the Daily Press first reported that the San Bernardino County Grand Jury was investigating the city of Victorville, sources confirm a draft report of the citizen group’s findings is complete and will likely be released within the next two months.

City Manager Doug Robertson said he was recently given an opportunity to review the draft report. He was then asked to sign a confidentiality form on April 16, prohibiting him from discussing any of the report’s contents.

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InlandPolitics: CD-8: Valles reports campaign finances

Victorville Council Member Angela Valles

 

Wednesday, April 25, 2012 – 10:45 a.m.

8th Congressional District candidate and Angela Valles (R-Victorville) has finally reported her fundraising results.

For the entire 2011-12 election cycle Valles has raised $32,584 and spent all but $175 of that amount.

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VVDailyPress: Red light camera suit bumped to federal court

April 24, 2012 5:41 PM
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Brooke Edwards Staggs, City Editor

VICTORVILLE • The class action lawsuit over Victorville’s red light cameras has been moved from state to federal court, with the city motioning to dismiss the case while a local attorney gears up for a potentially precedent-setting battle.

The venue change came at the request of Redflex Traffic Systems, the private company that operates 10 cameras in Victorville and is a codefendant in the case alongside the city.

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VVDailyPress: Victorville sued over ‘promised’ benefits

Employees of water district say city reneging on promises made to fund vested coverage

April 19, 2012 9:04 AM
Natasha Lindstrom, Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • Current city employees and retired employees of the water district absorbed by Victorville in 2007 are suing the city to protect their benefits, arguing the city is reneging on promises made to fund their vested coverage.

The six plaintiffs charge that Victorville is not standing by agreements it made to some 49 employees who’d worked for the former Victor Valley Water District.

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InlandPolitics: CD-8: Valles campaign finance disclosure late

Valles

Thursday, April 19, 2012 – 09:45 a.m.

Victorville City Council Member Angela Valles (R-Victorville), candidate for the 8th Congressional District, is the only candidate not to have filed a campaign finance report with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

The deadline for her filing was April 14.

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VVDailyPress: SEC probe, water hikes on Victorville agenda

Council also to view changes to agenda policy
April 17, 2012 8:54 AM
From Staff Reports

VICTORVILLE • The two-year Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, twice-delayed water service hikes and proposed changes to a controversial policy about how issues end up on the agenda to begin with are all before the Victorville City Council Tuesday night.

During the closed session meeting starting at 5 p.m., before the regular session, the council will discuss the ongoing SEC investigation. The agency has been looking into Victorville’s bond expenditures since summer 2010, recently issuing a new subpoena and conducting interviews with city staff and officials.

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VVDailyPress: With RDAs axed, time to unload debt, property

Oversight boards charged with navigating complex process
April 14, 2012 2:11 PM
Natasha Lindstrom, Staff Writer

Two and a half months ago, they lost their battle against the state to keep redevelopment agencies alive.

Now, in a complicated, untested process that’s likely to take years, local government officials are members of a select group serving on new boards charged with overseeing the agencies’ demise.

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VVDailyPress: SCLA company lands deal to service Boeing Dreamliners

Agreement should add up to 50 jobs this year
March 28, 2012 5:21 PM
Brooke Edwards Staggs, City Editor

VICTORVILLE • A company at Southern California Logistics Airport has landed a competitive deal to service Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliners for the next 10 years.

Pacific Aerospace Resources & Technologies LLC, or PART, will be hiring between 35 and 50 new workers by the end of 2012, according to company CEO Johan Claasen, with more jobs expected over the life of the agreement.

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VVDailyPress: Buying up Victor Valley

Investors purchase undervalued abandoned housing subdivisions
March 22, 2012 9:09 AM
Tomoya Shimura, Staff Writer

A private investor who recently bought 233 abandoned housing lots in four Victor Valley subdivisions plans to sit on them until the housing market picks up, according to a broker involved in the deal.

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VVDailyPress: McEachron refunds improper campaign donation

McEachron

March 19, 2012 4:32 PM
Brooke Edwards Staggs, City Editor

VICTORVILLE • Mayor Ryan McEachron on Monday refunded a $1,000 contribution to his campaign for the 8th Congressional District after learning the donation wasn’t allowed under federal election code.

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VVDailyPress: Another bleak audit for Victorville

Financial reviews, water service fees, wastewater plant sale on tonight’s agenda
March 19, 2012 5:24 PM
Brooke Edwards Staggs, City Editor

VICTORVILLE • A bleak audit, price hikes for some water services and discussion about selling the city’s wastewater treatment plant are all on the agenda for Victorville’s City Council Tuesday night.

For the third year in a row, an independent audit of Victorville’s finances came with a warning about whether the city will be able to stay afloat.

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VVDailyPress: SEC eyes personal bank records in Victorville probe

Agency investigates relationship between broker, Inland Energy VP
March 18, 2012 10:17 AM
Brooke Edwards Staggs

Editor’s Note:

This is part one in a two-part series looking at the SEC’s investigation into the city of Victorville. See Monday’s Daily Press for part two, looking at whether bond funds were used to make campaign contributions.

VICTORVILLE • As part of its two-year probe into Victorville, the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether there were hidden financial ties between the man who led the charge on the city’s largest energy venture and the man who’s brokered more than $400 million in taxpayer-supported debt on behalf of the city.

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VVDailyPress: SEC subpoenas more Victorville records

Another city official called to testify
February 21, 2012 1:13 PM
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Brooke Edwards Staggs, City Editor

VICTORVILLE • The Securities and Exchange Commission is subpoenaing more information from Victorville and has interviewed another city official as part of its two-year investigation into how bond money was spent.

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The Sun: Lawsuit filed against red-light camera operator, Victorville

By Mike Cruz, The (San Bernardino County) Sun
Posted: 02/20/2012 12:54:49 PM PST

A class-action lawsuit against Victorville and its red-light camera program alleges vehicle owners’ due-process rights were violated and seeks millions of dollars in damages.

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VVDailyPress: Victorville still shopping power plant

February 20, 2012 8:48 AM
Brooke Edwards Staggs, City Editor

VICTORVILLE • With permits set to expire next year and more than $76 million invested into plans for Victorville’s second power plant, the city could finally strike a deal Tuesday night for a private company to take over the $1.2 billion project.

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VVDailyPress: VVUHSD, teachers union strike tentative deal

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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VVDailyPress: SCLA bonds fall further into ‘junk’ status

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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VVDailyPress: Victorville’s new deputy city manager turns down job

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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VVDailyPress: Could SCLA woes impact Victorville residents?

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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VVDailyPress: Auditors: Victorville’s RDA in trouble before state killed it

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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The Sun: Victorville defaults on bonds

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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VVDailyPress: Victorville, Redflex face $9M claim over red light cameras

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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InlandPolitics: Troubled High Desert hospital has interesting twist

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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The PE: REGION: Military reuse agencies say they shouldn’t dissolve

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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The PE: VICTORVILLE: City defaults on two bonds related to airport

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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VVDailyPress: Victorville gets two default notices from bank

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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LATimes: Hospital is facing a bleak prognosis

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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VVDailyPress: Victorville loses final appeal in EB-5 termination

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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VVDailypress: VVC trustees vote themselves raises

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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VVDailyPress: Walmart vote delayed

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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VVDailyPress: Raises for all Victorville employees

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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The Sentinel: Feds’ presence in county betrays DA’s prosecutorial malaise

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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VVDailyPress: Victorville, employees clash over benefits

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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InlandPolitics: Victorville on verge of default, while leaders seek higher office

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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VVDailyPress: Victorville $7M short for debt payment due Dec. 1

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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VVDailyPress: Victorville judge allows Prime to help VVCH

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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The Sun: Inland Empire Occupy groups rally Saturday in San Bernardino

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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VVDailyPress: Victorville’s suit against Feds on hold

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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DailyBulletin: Occupy movements from Inland Empire meet together

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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VVDailyPress: New grand jury picks up Victorville probe

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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VVDailyPress: Judges OKs VVCH financing plan

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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InlandPolitics: FBI probes Victorville finances

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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VVDailyPress: State seeks to block VVCH rescue plan

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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VVDailyPress: Valles, Jensen running for Congress

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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VVDailyBulletin: VVCH to get financial help from Prime to stay open

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.

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VVDailyPress: McEachron forms committee to run for Congress

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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InlandPolitics: O.C. Businessman’s new target: Palmdale

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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VVDailyPress: Victorville puts more cops on the beat

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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VVDailyPress: Public safety issues still center stage for Victorville City Council

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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VVDailyPress: Victorville sales tax jumps 11.63 percent

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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VVDailyPress: Victorville owes feds $497K

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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VVDailyPress: Local cities consider ‘ransom’ RDA payments

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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VVDailyPress (AP): Victorville pins hopes on revamped air base

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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VVDailyPress: VVWRA deal for Victorville’s plant advances

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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VVDailyPress: Grand jury, Valles question city contract

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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VVDailyPress: Victorville files suits against feds

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

VICTORVILLE • The city of Victorville has filed its lawsuit against the federal government over the termination of its EB-5 visa investor program, Mayor Ryan McEachron confirmed Friday. (Click here to view the complaint.)

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California Watch: Hospital chain under investigation seeks to expand

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.

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VVDailyPress: Black Hawks to leave SCLA

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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VVDailyPress: VVC put on probation

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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The Sun: Victorville audit not in Grand Jury report

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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VVDailyPress: Victorville not blasted or cleared by grand jury

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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VVDailyPress: Victorville suing feds over EB-5 termination

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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VVDailyPress: Valles letters still stirring up Victorville

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.

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VVDailyPress: High Desert home prices drop nearly 10 percent from last year

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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VVDailyPress: Do budget cuts mean possible gang team reductions?

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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VVDailyPress: Layoffs, cuts loom for Victorville

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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VVDailyPress: Jim Cox poised to step down

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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VVDailyPress: Split Council rehires ‘Bell auditor’

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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VVDailyPress: Council members may need approval to request information

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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VVDailyPress: Victorville may rehire embattled ‘Bell auditor’

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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VVDailyPress: Concerns mount over Cabriales conflict

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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VVDailyPress: Feds deny appeal of EB-5 termination

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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