More San Marcos interviews from spring signing day

KEYT on May 1, 2025

Mike Klan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Here are more interviews from the San Marcos High School signing celebration for spring student-athletes.

Ben Callanan, Cross Country, Cal St. San Marcos

Wendy Guarneros Barraza , Soccer, Willamette University

Lucy Haaland-Ford, Water Polo ,Stanford

Kenzie Hessell, Soccer, University of St. Andrew’s (Scotland)

Maddie Kelly, Lacrosse, Lewis and Clark

Molly McCarter Molly, Lacrosse, Whitworth University

Nicolly Oh, Soccer, Lander University (South Carolina)

Seamus Russell, Lacrosse, Columbia College (Missouri)

Himmat Singh, Golf, University of Redlands

Hattie Valdez Lindgren, Soccer Lewis and Clark

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San Marcos celebrates spring signing day

KEYT on May 1, 2025

Mike Klan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Ten San Marcos High School student-athletes were celebrated for committing to play their chosen sport at the next level.

Ben Callanan, Cross Country, Cal St. San Marcos

Wendy Guarneros Barraza , Soccer, Willamette University

Lucy Haaland-Ford, Water Polo ,Stanford

Kenzie Hessell, Soccer, University of St. Andrew’s (Scotland)

Maddie Kelly, Lacrosse, Lewis and Clark

Molly McCarter Molly, Lacrosse, Whitworth University

Nicolly Oh, Soccer, Lander University (South Carolina)

Seamus Russell, Lacrosse, Columbia College (Missouri)

Himmat Singh, Golf, University of Redlands

Hattie Valdez Lindgren, Soccer Lewis and Clark

For more interviews https://youtu.be/LFdGWefoyZ4

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Expert weighs in on what parents can do to support kids affected by teacher’s arrest

KESQ on May 1, 2025

Gavin Nguyen

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (KESQ) – A private school teacher is facing multiple child sex charges after being arrested at his Yucca Valley home on Tuesday.

While the teacher, 43-year-old Stephen Spurlock, has not been convicted, events like his arrest can be a difficult topic to navigate for parents and their children.

“It’s hard because then everything they ever did that could have been good gets painted bad. Was this interaction suspect? Was this suspect? And they repaint every moment, every time, every comment,” says Dr. Matt Larsen, a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist.

Dr. Larsen says the best thing that parents can do when approaching their children about topics like these is to remind them they’re not responsible for others’ actions.

He also says you should show your children that you can help them handle the situation without a big, emotional reaction.

“They need to see their parents don’t have a big emotional reaction [that is] over the top or out of control, because then they learn, ‘I can’t talk to my parent about that, they will overreact,'” Dr. Larsen explains.

Palm Valley School writes in a statement to News Channel Three:

“Yesterday afternoon, the Interim Head of School PVS was notified by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office (Morongo Basin Station) that Stephen Spurlock, a Palm Valley School third grade teacher, was arrested in San Bernardino County and charged with sex against a child. The Sheriff’s office confirmed the incident did not involve a Palm Valley Student, nor did it occur on Palm Valley School property.

Stephen Spurlock was immediately placed on indefinite leave.

In adherence to our commitment to child protection and accreditation standards, Palm Valley School maintains a stringent policy mandating background checks for all individuals working in proximity to students. We emphasize our steadfast dedication to the safety of children, and this commitment remains unwavering.

We extend our gratitude to law enforcement authorities for their diligence in this matter. The well-being and safety of our students are paramount. We are focused on supporting our students, families, faculty, and staff at this time. We will continue to take all necessary measures to support our community and cooperate with law enforcement.”

Francene Fisher, Interim Head of School at Palm Valley School

Dr. Larsen says parents and children should be ready to speak about these topics.

“We can train our kids how to avoid it and we can train all of us how to handle it better when it happens so it doesn’t traumatize us forever.”

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Local standouts honored at 2025 St. Joseph Sports Inc. Awards

News-Press NOW on May 1, 2025

Calvin Silvers

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – St. Joseph Sports Inc. hosted its 2025 high school scholar-athlete, coach of the year and community engagement awards presentation Thursday night inside Missouri Western’s Spratt Hall Atrium and theater.

The two-hour event opened with a casual reception before transitioning into the formal awards presentation. The evening recognized 20 standout student-athletes and five high school coaches for their excellence on the field, in the classroom and in the community.

This year’s Coach of the Year nominees included Joshua Walters of Lafayette, Johnny Coy of Benton, Kathryn Runyan of St. Joseph Christian, Gregg Mrkvicka of Bishop LeBlond and Callene “Callie†Farrell of Central.

The award went to Johnny Coy, who guided the Benton Cardinals baseball team to a second-place finish in the Class 4 state tournament. Coy, also named MEC Coach of the Year, led Benton to a 32-4 overall record and continues to serve as head coach of the St. Joseph Mustangs, a franchise with nine MINK League championships.

“It’s really humbling, I mean, there are so many coaches in Saint Joe that weren’t even, you know, nominated and probably should have been,†Coy said. “This is an award for, you know, all 

The Scholar-Athlete of the Year award was split into male and female categories, with the top honorees each receiving a $1,000 scholarship. The remaining finalists were awarded $500 scholarships.

In the female category, nominees included Sadie Sanders (Lafayette), Abigail Robinson (St. Joseph Christian), Kennedy Sponseller (Central), Emma Loehnig (Benton) and Claire Heater (Bishop LeBlond).

Emma Loehnig earned the honor, as the senior and three-sport standout qualified for state in golf twice and earned All-District recognition in golf, volleyball and basketball. She ranks fourth in her senior class academically.

“It really means a lot, it feels like all my hard work is really paying off,†Loehnig said. “But to be picked out of the females that were over there, like hearing everyone’s stories and like, their journey and all of that, I mean, like it was a tough competition and I’m just honored that I was chosen to represent this and represent my school and I’m just very happy.â€

In the male category, finalists included Elias Chapin (Lafayette), Logan Hubble (St. Joseph Christian), Amonttay Henderson (Central), Chris Coy (Benton) and Jacob Winkelbauer (Bishop LeBlond).

Winkelbauer took home the award after a decorated two-sport career. He earned multiple Academic All-State honors in football and baseball and served as a team captain in both sports while helping his teams to district and state-level success.

“It’s huge for me,†Winkelbauer said. “My biggest goal has been to balance sports and athletics, and I’ve been trying to do that for the past four years, and it really shows that my work paid off.â€

The evening also recognized Community Engagement Award of Excellence winners in both the male and female divisions.

Christian Anderson of Bishop LeBlond was honored for his work with Second Harvest Food Kitchen and two other volunteer organizations, while Alexia McDaniel of St. Joseph Christian was recognized for her service at Mosaic Cancer Center and seven additional organizations.

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Crook County commissioners move forward with supporting Pacific Power proposed transmission line Route D

KTVZ on May 1, 2025

Tracee Tuesday

(update: adding video)

PRINEVILLE, Ore. (KTVZ) – The debate surrounding PacifiCorp’s Blueprint South Transmission Line Project, continues.  

Crook County Community Development Director Will Van Vactor introduced in Wednesday’s work session a draft letter to the Crook County commissioners in support of Route D. 

Even though there has already been push back from residents southeast of Bend surrounding Routes A and B, Crook County sees a way forward with Route D.

Route D is their preferred routing alternative for PacifiCorp’s Blueprint South Transmission Project.   

According to the energy services provider and the county commissioners, this project is critical to relieve transmission system constraints and increase capacity for the growing population of Central Oregon, and the needs of the Crook County economy.   

Crook County Commissioner Seth Crawford told KTVZ News Route D is the best plan moving forward. 

“We heard from a lot of different community members because there are multiple routes proposed, and from what we heard from our community members was that Route D was the least invasive in their views and their properties and then their neighborhoods. And so that’s where we wrote a letter in favor of that. Another thing we really like about it is it follows the existing line, and so there’ll be the least amount of impact to the community.” 

Central Oregon Community members in southeast Bend, have already voiced their opposition to routes A and B.   

“That’s going to affect the whole eastern skyline of, of bend area. You’re going to be able to see these things a long ways away,” said Robert Reiten. 

The draft letter supporting Route D has been pushed forward to next Wednesday’s board meeting for a vote.  

Commissioner Crawford said he’s confident that the draft letter will be approved.  

Once PacifiCorp determines what route they’ll go with, breaking ground on the project won’t begin for a few years.   

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Construction on the Pellicano Widening Project may soon resume

KVIA on May 1, 2025

Isabel Garcia

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — Nearly 3 years after the Pellicano Widening Project was supposed to be completed, the 3 mile stretch of road between Loop 375 and Darrington Rd. could soon have upgrades begin again thanks to a new court ruling.

The construction project is managed by the Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority (CRRMA). 

The CRRMA contracted J.A.R. Construction, Inc., Which filed for bankruptcy in March of 2023. That move left the CRRMA unable to finish the project.

The CRRMA issued a Notice of Default to the contractor, and tried to have it’s surety continue to work on the project.

J.A.R. Construction, Inc did not continue the project, claiming the default was improper.

Now, the United States Bankruptcy Court ruled in favor of the CRRMA, saying the move to default the contractor was justified.

The ruling will now remove the surety’s stated reason for not restarting the work.

“The residents of Far East El Paso deserve infrastructure that matches the rapid growth of ourcommunity,” said El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego in a press release. “This ruling is more than just a legal victory—it’s a meaningful step toward rebuilding trust and honoring the promises made to this community.

The completion of the project was originally set for July 2022.

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President Trump signs executive order mandating English proficiency for truck drivers

KVIA on May 1, 2025

Olivia Vara

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — President Donald Trump has signed an executive order requiring all commercial truck drivers in the United Stated to demonstrate English proficiency.

The order directs the department of transportation to enforce English literacy tests for truckers.

The White House says drivers who fail to meet literacy criteria will be placed out of service.

This policy follows a March 2025 executive order by President Trump declaring English as the official language of the United States.

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Ribbon cut on Dune Palms bridge completion

KESQ on May 1, 2025

Cynthia White

LA QUINTA, Calif. (KESQ) – La Quinta and other Coachella Valley leaders gathered on Wednesday to celebrate the grand opening of the long awaited Dune Palms bridge, which runs across the wash and connects La Quinta High School to Highway 111.

The project took more than two years to complete, with delays due to Tropical Storm Hilary back in August 2023.

The new 86 foot wide bridge includes four traffic lanes, bike paths, a walking path, and a dedicated CV Link underpass. It cost just over $30 million and replaced the city’s final low water crossing, which will improve traffic flow in the area.

CVAG Executive Director Tom Kirk says the project is critical for the community as the bridge is a key north-south connection in the city and the prior flooding caused delays in travel time that could affect emergencies.

La Quinta city leaders are now looking ahead to the next major project starting soon – which will redo the roadways on Highway 111 from Jefferson Street to Indian Wells. The cost for that project will run about eight million dollars.

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False alarms: 9-1-1 tech ‘glitches’ led to a pair of untrue warnings of a fire at Bend’s new Costco

KTVZ on May 1, 2025

Barney Lerten

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Central Oregon users of a popular website and smartphone app to track the latest fires, crashes and other emergencies were alerted twice in 24 hours to a reported structure fire at a large local store – but it turned out to be a pair of tech hiccups, nothing more.

The alerts were sent by PulsePoint Tuesday evening and Wednesday afternoon, indicating several Bend Fire units and Redmond Fire as well were called out to a structure fire at the new Bend Costco on the city’s north end. In the first case, the “incident” finally showed as being cleared about 12 hours later.

But in both cases, quiet police scanners and no reports of smoke columns or fire sightings in the area were a clue that something was amiss.

When KTVZ News inquired about what happened, Deschutes County 9-1-1 Operations Manager Chris Perry gave us the answer.

“9-1-1 staff are conducting training exercises ahead of fire season, using the test environment of our dispatch software,” Perry told us. “The test environment usually doesn’t have access to the outside world and allows us to simulate different training scenarios internally.”

“Unfortunately, there have been a few glitches with system settings during our training, which we’ve now resolved,” Perry said late Wednesday afternoon.

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The Cheyenne Mountain girls tennis team wins Class 4A regional championship

KRDO on May 1, 2025

Rob Namnoum

The Cheyenne Mountain girls tennis team won a Class 4A regional title on Wednesday.

Here are the results:

#1 Singles: Alyssa Sadri of Cheyenne Mountain defeated Julia Yuzkiv of Lewis Palmer 6-1 6-2.#2 Singles: Rose Katen of Cheyenne Mountain beat Karlynn Aoki of Lewis Palmer 6-0 6-0.#3 Singles: Sophie Zhou of Cheyenne Mountain defeated Katy Oliger of Lewis Palmer 6-1 6-1.#1 Doubles: Mary Koury and Saffron Heroldt of Cheyenne Mountainbeat Kristina Cozzolino and Lauren Aquino of Lewis Palmer 6-0 6-0.#2 Doubles: Emma Varnum and Sisi Haubert of Cheyenne Mountain defeated Gaby Tiffany and Lily Font of Lewis Palmer 6-1 6-1.#3 Doubles: Grace Namnoum and Erica Leveille of Cheyenne Mountain beat Morgan Bush and Alayna Brown of Lewis Palmer 6-2 7-6. #4 Doubles Lauren Sharp and Charlotte Wellens of Cheyenne Mountain defeated Ziva Abbot and Joella Streeter of Lewis Palmer 7-6 6-0.

Cheyenne Mountain wins their regional title. The State Tennis Tournament begins next Thursday in Pueblo.

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