California lawmakers are trying to force the state to defend Proposition 8. Nearly 30 Republican members of the assembly sent a letter to Governor Schwarzenegger saying it was up to him to defend the rights of the voters who passed Prop 8 two years ago. Just yesterday, a legal action group filed a motion to force the Governor to defend it. But the Governor and the Attorney General say they will not do it.

California would delay kindergarten for thousands of youngsters under a bill approved by the state Senate. The bill passed 21-15 yesterday and now heads to the Governor. It would require children to have turned five by September 1st to begin kindergarten in that school year. The current cutoff date is December 2nd. California, Connecticut, Michigan and Vermont are the only states that have a cutoff date later than December 1st. The state Department of Education says about 100,000 of the state's 430,000 children start kindergarten before their 5th birthday. The bill could save the state an estimated $700 million per year by cutting enrollment. SB-1381 would be phased in over three years starting in the 2012-13 school year.

California lawmakers are approving more bills to rein in excessive salaries and pensions of public employees. Three bills passed their final legislative hurdle yesterday in the Assembly and now head to the Governor. One bill would cap salary figures used to determine pension benefits of city and county officials. The Assembly also advanced AB900, which would require the city of Bell to refund Los Angeles County the excess property taxes it collected over the past three years. The county would then repay the taxpayers. Residents in the city of 37,000 have been in uproar since the “Los Angeles Times” reported excessive pay for city executives and overcharging on property taxes. Under a third bill, employment contracts could not be renewed automatically.

Workers put the finishing touches on the Desert Hot Springs Community Health Center yesterday to get ready for today’s opening. Vice President of Operations Mark Connelly expects a hectic first day. The new center will have nine exam rooms and three doctors. Borrego Community Health Foundation, which runs the new health center, realized the community's need for a health center when they discovered 30 percent of their patients at a Cathedral City clinic were coming from Desert Hot Springs. Dr. Raul Ruiz has been researching the need for doctors in the Coachella Valley. He says before the new clinic, there was one doctor for every 12,000 people in Desert Hot Springs. According to government standards, a community with less than one doctor for every 3,500 is under-served. The new clinic can see about 1,500 people a month.

A Riverside County sheriff's deputy was arrested for allegedly assaulting his wife. 32-year-old Jaime Morales was taken into custody August 24th on suspicion of battery on a spouse and assault with a deadly weapon. Morales, who is assigned to the sheriff's Temecula station, allegedly attacked the victim on August 23rd, while he was off-duty. The suspect was booked into the Southwest Detention Center in Murrieta and was released an hour later after posting $25,000 bail. The case was referred to the District Attorney's Office, which is considering whether to file charges.

The Phoenix Suns dancers and former players visited Coachella Valley schools today in an effort to rally student support. Several schools will sell tickets to the outdoor NBA game. A portion of the proceeds will support school athletic departments. The Phoenix Suns will take on the Dallas Mavericks October 9th at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Tickets are between $10 and $100. You can purchase them at the box office or at Suns.com.

The sheriff's department released surveillance footage today of a gunman who stole a case of beer from a Coachella convenience store. The man walked into the am/pm on Harrison Street just after 2 a.m. August 24th and picked up a case of beer. On his way out, he pulled a handgun and pointed it at the clerk behind the counter. The man, believed to be 19 to 25 years old with a medium build, fled in a vehicle. Anyone with information about the robbery was asked to call the sheriff's department.

A 71-year-old man riding a bicycle was hit by a car in Cathedral City this morning. The man was hit in the area of Shifting Sands Trail and Ramon at around 8:20 a.m. He was transported to Desert Regional Medical Center with moderate injuries.

More trouble in the city of Bell. The “LA Times” reports former city manager Robert Rizzo loaned $400,000 of city money to two businesses. And he did it without any city leaders or residents knowing about it. Both loans were never repaid. Rizzo is the man who resigned after the Times found out he made $800,000 a year.

A man who was a focus of a search warrant in the murder investigation of Moreno Valley teenager Norma Lopez worked at the girl's high school, but as of today detectives have not publicly identified him as a suspect. 25-year-old Lazarus Tasby worked at Valley View High School from March 2007 to November 2009. School district records show Tasby resigned for personal reasons from his position as an instructional assistant working with disabled students. His resignation followed his arrest October 29 on suspicion of soliciting a prostitute. Sheriff's detectives served the search warrant yesterday at a home on Pegasus Way near Valley View High, and they towed a green sport utility vehicle in connection with the murder investigation. They also took several papers from Tasby’s room. Tasby, who lived at the home with his step-parents, was not there when the search warrant was served. The owner of the home, 42-year-old Eric Muswaswa, was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor obstructing a peace officer around 11 a.m. and released about five hours later on $2,500 bail. Police say there have not been any arrests for the murder. Moreno Valley police are offering a $35,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in Norma’s death.

Palm Springs Unified School District released a report yesterday addressing the tower at Vista Del Monte Elementary School. Several teachers suggested electromagnetic waves from the tower caused their cancers. The school district hired an epidemiologist from UCLA who concluded that current measurements at Vista Del Monte indicate very low magnetic fields and low health risks. Field Management Services undertook a survey of both inside and outside the school. Testing by other agencies was also done on water, mold, and dirty electricity. According to school officials, nothing was deemed unsafe or unhealthy. There are persisting concerns about cell tower radiation. That's one of the reasons cell phone towers are banned on school property in Los Angeles. Here in the valley, the Palm Springs Unified School District does plan to add a second cell phone tower at Cathedral City High School. That’s expected to generate about $1,800 a month for the district.

Cahuilla Elementary School has joined other schools in the Palm Springs Unified School District in handing out laptops to its students.
About 200 fourth and fifth graders are receiving brand new Macs. Some parents say the laptops will bring more knowledge into their homes and faster. The laptops do have high security measures in place to prevent the children from accessing inappropriate sites. The school used Title One funding to secure money for the laptops, which will be costing about $60,000 a year for 4 years.

A fire that broke out yesterday near Murrieta scorched 85 acres, and stranded school students in the area. Riverside County fire officials say the fire was about 40 percent contained as of 8:00 p.m. last night. Full containment was expected by midnight. The fire was burning in the city of La Cresta, off of Clinton Keith Road, near the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve. The fire burned at a "moderate rate" in heavy fuels, and brought 280 firefighters to the scene. In addition, 33 engines, 6 air tankers, 4 water tenders, 2 bulldozers and 2 helicopters battled the fire. Clinton Keith Road was closed at Bear Creek Road in Murrieta. The road closure affected students at Cole Canyon Elementary, Thompson Middle School and Murrieta Valley High School. Power was shut off to more than one thousand Southern California Edison customers in the Wildomar area at the request of firefighters.

If your employer provides health insurance, next year, more than likely, they'll pass more of the cost on to you. There are several reasons for the increased costs: new technologies, new medicines, and the new health care reform bill signed into law by President Obama. Susan Sheldon, president of Sheldon Insurance Services in La Quinta, says the cost of premiums will increase anywhere from 15-to-18-percent on average, with an estimated three-percent of that cost increase attributed to the national healthcare plan.

A wanted Los Angeles man was arrested in La Quinta today. 26-year-old Lesco Wooten was staying at a house in the 53000 Block of Avenida Vallejo when authorities tracked him down. The Inland Regional Apprehension Team, who was tracking Wooten, asked the La Quinta Police Department for assistance in detaining him. Both agencies surrounded the house around 4 p.m., at which time Wooten refused to come out. He remained holed up for about 20 minutes, after which time he surrendered and was arrested. Police don't think Wooten has any ties to the Coachella Valley, and they're still trying to determine what he was doing at the house. Wooten is wanted for a Conspiracy to Distribute Narcotics warrant out of Los Angeles.

As of today JFK Memorial Hospital in Indio is tobacco free. The hospital has been preparing for this change for months. The hospital even offered nicotine patches to employees to help them kick the habit. Executive Chef Gregory McMillen is one of 21 employees who took the patches. He says it’ll make it a lot easier to stay smoke free if there aren’t any smoking designated areas. atients or employees who want to light-up will have to walk across the street. Other hospitals in the area have also gone tobacco-free including Eisenhower Medical Center.

The FIND Food Bank in Indio held its grand opening ceremony today for its new warehouse. As thousands of people in the Valley struggle to find jobs, more and more people need help putting food on the table. The food bank opened up a new warehouse in Indio. It has ten times the freezer and cooler space, allowing the non-profit to accept more food than ever before. CEO Lisa Houston says that the organizations numbers were growing so fast they had difficulty fulfilling the need. She adds it wasn’t because of a lack of food, but because their old location was simply running out of space.

Nearly a million California children are overweight or obese. Nationwide it's estimated that more than 23-Million children and teens fall into that same category. The first-ever National Childhood Obesity Awareness month kicked off Wednesday. Dr. Sarah Hampl with Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics says she can't stress enough that children need balanced meals as well as regular physical activity. But a child can't do it alone. A new study from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, finds obesity and diabetes have increased significantly in just six years, despite the fact California offers plenty of outdoor activities and a robust agricultural industry.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's department is talking about the technology that led to the capture of a suspect in a West Hollywood triple homicide. Thirty-One-Year-Old Harold Yong Park is suspected of killing three men last week in an apparent drug deal gone bad. Sheriff Lee Baca says he was located by a license plate scanner and is amazed at how quickly the technology works. Officials say there are roughly 40 units system-wide that can scan nearly a thousand plates per minute.

The Apple Store on El Paseo is set to open this Saturday. The store will open its doors at 10 a.m., and the first 1,000 customers will get a free t-shirt. In addition, the first 250 customers who are current Mac owners can buy a "One to One Amembership", which is normally available only with the purchase of a new Mac. The store is located at El Paseo Village, at 73445 El Paseo in Palm Desert.