Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 323
The situation in Tehachapi regarding the COVID-19 emergency can be summed up in this exchange March 21 at the Dollar Tree: Customer to the clerk at checkout: "When do you expect...?" Clerk (before the question is completed): "Tuesday." Interpretation: The supplies are coming, and they are arriving every day. Don't panic. While grocery shoppers are alarmed at the strange sight of empty shelves in America, the supply lines are open while truckers, stockers and clerks are working hard, and there...
The Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District (TCCWD) has closed its office to the public and the district is working with a minimal staff at the office. The March 18 and special meeting on March 25 were conducted by teleconference. District Manager Tom Neisler said the district is increasing the water supply in Jacobsen Reservoir and is accessing more water from district-owned wells. “We anticipate that service will not be interrupted,” Neisler said. “We are planning for every conti...
No cases of corona virus among inmates or staff at the California Correctional Institution at Tehachapi have been reported as of March 26 and four inmates have been tested. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) Press Secretary Dana Simas reported that one incarcerated individual in the state prison system has tested positive for COVID-19. This person is at the California State Prison, Los Angeles County (Lancaster). No staff person at the Lancaster facility has tested...
Two main COVID-19 test sites in Bakersfield take walk-in patients. Priority Urgent Care is testing at all their locations, and check-in can be done online. Daniella Diaz, receptionist at Accelerated Urgent Care, said its clinic on Coffee Road is now dedicated entirely to Coronavirus testing, complete with a big red tent in front for pre-screening. Accelerated will bill the insurance or a patient can self-pay $100, with the lab billing $55 later for the lab work. The turn-around time that...
To ensure that home-bound students continue the learning process during their days away from the classroom, the Tehachapi Unified School District (TUSD) prepared and provided packets of enrichment instructional materials for all grades, transitional kindergarten (TK) through grade 12. Chief Administrator of Instructional Services Scott Heitman's team passed out the packets to parents in cars March 23 at the feeding stations at Golden Hills and Tompkins elementary schools and Jacobsen Middle...
The challenge of conquering space makes for a motivated workforce at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). "NASA was named the best place in to work in the federal government for the eighth year in a row," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said by video feed at a social (internet-based) media event Feb. 10 at Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. "We are leading the world into a new and dynamic era of space flight." Bridenstine set the day's tone in...
Stolen hearts - Alex Mullenax's sidekick captured hearts at the March 4 Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council (GTEDC) meeting at the Slice of Life Enrichment School. The soft, curious, friendly critter was a week-and-a-half old miniature breed of dairy goat called a Nigerian Dwarf. It had been rejected by its mother as defective and Alex is raising it by hand. She is taking suggestions for names. Edwards envoy - Edwards Air Force Base Installation Director Dr. David Smith, featured...
The Tehachapi Unified School District (TUSD) is prepared to meet the provisions of the California Senate bill that prohibits the suspension of students through the eighth grade for willful defiance, according to the Superintendent of Schools. "We have the practice in place that aligns with the Education Code," TUSD Superintendent of Schools Stacey Larson-Everson said. "We don't suspend TK [transitional kindergarten] through grade three for willful defiance – that's already in place." For the h...
“The movement to halt classroom suspensions for willful defiance is the manifestation of a broader philosophy that rejects punishment as ineffective and embraces a positive re-direction in response to inappropriate behavior. “Redirecting children’s behavior is part of the teacher’s job,” Tehachapi Unified School District Superintendent of Schools Larson-Everson said. “All kids misbehave at one point or another. The positive side of it is the key. “We use alternate means of correction. P...
Edwards Air Force Base changes commanders -- Col. Matthew W. Higer, Brig. Gen (Select), assumed command of the 412th Test Wing on Feb. 5 in a ceremony at Edwards AFB. Former commander Brig. Gen. E. John Teichert has been reassigned to Baghdad, where he is now the Defense Attache and Senior Defense Official to the country of Iraq. He will be the senior military adviser to the U.S. Ambassador. Higer is a former Air Force Test Pilot School Commandant at Edwards. There are more than 8,000 personnel...
The full impact and force of the California government's climate change directives burst forth on Jan. 14 at the Kern County Supervisors meeting, as hundreds of people overflowed the chamber to protest new state initiatives that are key ingredients in the long march toward shutting down of the oil industry. The initiatives, which include a moratorium on various drilling permits, have hit Kern County hard, creating a climate of uncertainty, a drop in investment and confusion in the production pip...
In analyzing recent crime statistics, Tehachapi Police Chief Kent Kroeger discovered that chronic offenders accounted for more than half of all arrests in Tehachapi in 2019. Of the 575 arrests in Tehachapi in 2019, he said, 89 people had accumulated 324 arrests, or 56.3 percent of the total. "Some had 10 or more arrests, some as many as 13 in this one year," he told the Kiwanis Club of Tehachapi at its Wednesday, Jan. 22 luncheon meeting at the Gold Mountain Sports Tavern. The year 2017 had...
Kern County Supervisors prioritized public safety when they closed the $44.5 million fiscal deficit that became apparent four years ago. "We cut only 12.8 percent. Fire [Dept] was never cut. We did not cut the Sheriff or the DA," 2nd District Supervisor and Tehachapi resident Zack Scrivner said in his presentation at the Jan. 8 Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council meeting at the Slice of Life Enrichment School. With the submission of the 2019-2020 budget in August, the supervisors...
Tehachapi native Louis Tolentino, new owner of The Coffee Mill restaurant at 120 S. Mill St., plans to offer extended hours and an expanded menu. He has added a new chef to partner with the current chef to give the enterprise culinary distinction. He announced the changes at the Jan. 8 meeting of the Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council. The chef will focus on vegan and vegetarian dishes while offering some meat dishes as well. "His flavors are out of this world," Tolentino said of...
Kern County Dist. 1 Supervisor Mick Gleason said the state's goal of being fossil-fuel-free by 2045 "is not in the best interests of Kern County or for the security of the United States." Speaking at the Jan. 9 East Kern Economic Alliance meeting at Cerro Coso Community College in Ridgecrest, Gleason said, "I think Sacramento is nuts. Their regulations are directly targeting Kern County. We have invited the governor's staff [Jan. 14] and I am going to lay into them." He said the other challenge...
Both communities are on Tejon Ranch, one in Los Angeles County, one in Kern County. An environmental challenge seeks to stop the Centennial development in Los Angeles County. Kern County overcame the last environmental challenge to the Grapevine project and Supervisors voted final approval on December 10. The Kern County Board of Supervisors on Dec. 10 re-approved the Grapevine master planned community development following a year's delay to meet an environmental challenge from the Center for Bi...
The Old West Ranch and Mountain Meadows mailboxes on Dennison stand above high drifts of snow on Nov. 30. The Thanksgiving holiday snowstorm snarled travel plans as temperatures dipped below freezing or hovered just above that mark. According to www.mountainbase.com at Oak Knolls, the heaviest precipitation of 1.47 inches came down on Nov. 27, with 0.20 on Nov. 28, 0.10 on Nov. 29 and 0.20 on Nov. 30. The precipitation year-to-date as of Dec. 2 was 2.24 inches....
When two federal agencies released biological opinions Oct. 19 regarding the management of water resources in California, farmers cheered. The opinions found that with newer technology, more cold-water pools and rapid response to fish migration, water could flow while fish could thrive. When California Governor Gavin Newsom vowed to challenge those biological opinions in court, setting the stage for a state-vs-feds battle, environmental groups cheered. One environmental organization...
When employees at the Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District were faced with a problem that seemed impossible to solve, they had one go-to solution: "Let's ask Rod." That would be Rodney Michael, a 25-year water district employee who began working for the district on Aug. 2, 1994 and has just retired. The district board honored Michael with a resolution of recognition and appreciation at its Nov. 20 meeting at district headquarters at Brite Lake. Water district employees who worked with...
Tehachapi rocks – In his presentation to the Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council on Nov. 5 at the Slice of Life Enrichment School, Tehachapi Economic Development Director Corey Costelloe reported that the median single-family home sale price in the city of Tehachapi is $265,000, compared to a median price of $663,110 for homes in Los Angeles County. The overall price per square foot is $173.89 and the average price on new construction is $340,000 for an 1,800 square foot home. The m...
Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District standby generators snapped into action four times during recent utility company power outages, keeping State Water Project (SWP) water flowing up the mountains. "In four instances, we were notified of potential shutoffs," water district Manager Tom Neisler said. "We were shut down all four times. "We're equipped to handle that. Our standby generators are hardwired to the natural gas supply with automatic transfer switches." Neisler said it takes ten...
Funds to repair and rebuild the July earthquake damage to the Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake are stuck in Congress, which has not passed a 2020 -21 budget. The damage amounts to $3.9 to $4 billion dollars, J. David Janiec, executive director of the China Lake Alliance, said at the Nov. 14 East Kern Economic Alliance meeting. The China Lake Navy facility represents 86 percent of the economy at Indian Wells Valley (Ridgecrest), he said, and the Navy base is operating at 80 percent...
Fly by battery – John Joyce of Rosamond reported at the Nov. 14 East Kern Economic Alliance meeting at the California City Arts and Community Center that builders have installed the engines in NASA's electric battery-powered experimental X-57 Maxwell airplane. The Rosamond community broke ground Nov. 8 on a revitalized $15 million water reclamation plant, which will recharge cleaned-up water into the ground, providing a credit of 1,000 acre feet (AF) of groundwater a year. Previous a...
Veterans Day, 2019 In 1944, World War II battles raged in the South Pacific as the Americans and Allies gained foothold after bloody foothold in the push toward Japan. In the European theatre, the Allies had moved from North Africa north into Italy and were fighting from village to village on the march against the Axis forces. On D-Day of that year, the Allies would launch the greatest land invasion in history to retake the continent. U.S. war strategists, looking ahead, secretly set Oct. 1,...
The Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District is close to securing a judge's stamp of approval on a legal action that began in 1972 regulating groundwater pumping in Cummings Valley. The legal action, Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District, plaintiff, vs. Frank Armstrong, et. al., defendants, sought to establish pumping regulations that would protect the supply of groundwater in the Cummings Basin. After the state of California appealed the original judgment in 1975, the case was removed from...
