Month: January 2026

Luis Avila

COACHELLA VALLEY, Calif. (KESQ) – The wet weather may be over, but its impacts are still being felt across the Coachella Valley. Several roadways remain flooded, causing ongoing travel concerns.

“We were trying to make our way to the Palm Springs Air Museum and it took us almost two hours to get there because of all the detours we had to go through,” says Donald Owens, hitting the road back to Simi Valley after celebrating the new year.

One of the impacted areas for drivers is the intersection of Bob Hope Drive and Varner Road in Cathedral City, where heavy flooding made travel difficult and, at times, hazardous.

Vehicles drive through floodwaters at Bob Hope Drive and Varner Road in Cathedral City.

Some drivers said they were caught off guard, citing a lack of warning signs.

Ronnie Huerta, a Desert Hot Springs resident, recalls, “Last night I was getting off work… and me and my daughter, there were no signs and I told my daughter, ‘you got to be careful.’ We didn’t know that it was flooded.” He continues, “We should have signs out there because cars could stall, cause accidents.”

Flooded roadways can also hide serious hazards, like debris and potholes.

Officials continue to remind residents to slow down, avoid flooded areas and use alternative routes.

News Channel 3 reached out to Riverside County, which oversees Thousand Palms, but has not received a response. Cathedral City officials, who oversee the area of Bob Hope and Varner Road, were unavailable for comment.

Stay with News Channel 3 for more.

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Athena Jreij

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) – Bobo Palm Springs, a boutique stationery store off N. Indian Canyon, is sounding the alarm for other small businesses after they claim they found their shop’s products listed on Amazon without their knowledge or consent. 

The shop owner, Angie Chua, says she first noticed the items listed earlier this week and contacted Amazon to take them down. The online mega-retailer removed Bobo from the program, but she now worries her small business isn’t the only one being listed without the owner’s knowledge.

“Our entire catalog was listed on Amazon without our permission and without our consent. It was a combination of products that we had, products that we’ve long deleted, that don’t exist on our site or on our back-end, as well as leveraging AI images that we didn’t create or use,” Chua said.

For Chua, who says she’s spent years curating trusted relationships with her customers, she feels like the listing without permission was a violation.

“We spend a lot of time building trust with our customers. It takes a long time for us to earn their dollar, and for Amazon to come in and undercut us and just step in under the guise of, ‘we are supporting these small businesses,’ is like appalling,” she said.

Chua believes she was opted into an Amazon beta program called ‘Buy For Me,’ that lists outside businesses’ products on the site.

“We were starting to see an increase of these orders for items that were out of stock, items that were like a single item, which was very out of the norm for what we would normally see. Every single one of those orders had a jumbled Amazon email address titled ‘@buyforme.amazon.’ It was there that we realized that those orders were actually coming from Amazon and being fulfilled through our Shopify account.”

The cost? Chua says she’s had to refund orders for items that didn’t exist and worries this could interfere with her direct customers relationships.

News Channel 3 reached out to Amazon, who said in a statement they are piloting a ‘Buy For Me’ program that lists several products on the website, including some ‘additional relevant products’ from other vendors. Shoppers can then click ‘Buy For Me,’ that’s when Amazon makes the purchase from the website on the customer’s behalf using AI.

When asked if shop owners give consent to list their products online, Amazon responded that they ‘proactively introduced’ several shops they thought would benefit from the program, and owners can opt-out if they’d like.

Spokespeople say the goal is to increase small business visibility and sales. However, Chua disagrees and points to recent collaborations Amazon did with other small creators.

“Having a one off $11 or $3 sale from Amazon is not enough to cover the fact that this is a long game for them. They had a platform called Amazon Handmade, where they recruited thousands of independent makers to sell their products on Amazon Handmade as a competition to Etsy. They ended up finding what items did really well and then created dupes for those items,” Chua alleges.

Chua’s products have since been removed from Amazon at her request, but she says shell items of her products still exist with special SEO keywords that could divert traffic from her own website.

For this small business, the incident is another notch in the belt of Amazon’s global market dominance.

“There is this constant, villainous behavior that happens from these large companies and it is always at the expense of somebody else. It doesn’t matter who it is, and for us, it’s small business and they continue to exploit us,” Chua said.

She believes e-commerce retailers that use Shopify or Woo Commerce could be unknowingly opted into the pilot program and is now encouraging all business owners to check for themselves.

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Jeff Stahl

News Channel 3 is focused on 2026 and talking with city leaders across the Coachella Valley about what we can expect this new year. Many cities are focused on new housing developments to address shortages and the state’s affordability crisis. There are also new parks and infrastructure in the works, along with new business and community initiatives to create jobs and make life more enjoyable throughout the Coachella Valley. Let’s start our look ahead at what’s new in Rancho Mirage in 2026. 

RANCHO MIRAGE

In the City of Rancho Mirage, the Cotino by Disney community is set to expand this year.”

Expect the opening of Cotino Bay Beach, introducing a large, swimmable lagoon with a public beach, new waterfront dining, retail, and public spaces.

The city is also addressing housing needs, with nearly 900 new affordable and workforce housing units for families, seniors, and veterans.

“The hospital, the hotels, those are our biggest employee workforce,” said Rancho Mirage Mayor Lynn Malotto, adding, “How can we make it better? How can we make it easier on them? We want to bring that workforce closer.”  

The Rancho Mirage Library and Observatory will also celebrate its 30th anniversary with a year of special programming. READ MORE HERE.

INDIO 

In Indio, the nearly completed Indio Sports Park will open in early summer, offering families and tournaments with extensive amenities, including more than a dozen soccer and baseball fields.

The Lights at Indio golf course will debut a modern 5,000-square-foot clubhouse featuring dining and event spaces.

And the Avenue 44 Bridge is set to reopen this spring, replacing the roadway destroyed by Tropical Storm Hilary. READ MORE HERE.

INDIAN WELLS 

Indian Wells is enhancing its recreational offerings by upgrading its popular “Shots in the Night” attraction at the I-W Golf Resort, which should complement the recently reopened $13 million renovation of the Players Course.

“This is a great remodel,” said Indian Wells Mayor Toper Taylor, adding, “And I gotta tell you, the first hole is a 625 par five. Welcome to Indian Wells!” 

The Indian Wells Tennis Garden is also undergoing improvements to ensure a record-breaking year for the BNP Paribas Open and other community events. 

The city is prioritizing resident safety through additional sidewalks, traffic infrastructure upgrades, and lighting. READ MORE HERE.

DESERT HOT SPRINGS 

In Desert Hot Springs, residents will see the official grand opening of Fire Station 98 this year. 

The city will also formally launch a new 7,000-square-foot Amazon Fulfillment Hub, bringing new jobs and reinforcing Desert Hot Springs’ emerging status as a Coachella Valley logistics hub.

Cultural and beautification efforts will also intensify with the Phase II Mural Program, bringing a full year of monthly “Desert Nights on The BLVD” arts and entertainment events. READ MORE HERE.

CATHEDRAL CITY

In Cathedral City, the state-of-the-art Roadrunner Motors Campus at College of the Desert is set to open next summer. “It fulfills a long promise here in Cathedral City to help with our auto center,” said Mayor Raymond Gregory, adding, “having skilled labor with our local residents throughout the valley here, having a place where they can learn an essential skill.”

Progress is being made on the new measure J-Funded Community Recreation Center, with consultants completing a study on a potential location. 2026 is also the first full year of expanded parks programming and professional maintenance at six city parks with the Desert Recreation District, which is introducing new recreation opportunities for residents. READ MORE HERE.

LA QUINTA

In La Quinta, the Fritz Burns Park improvement project is expected to be completed in 2026, with $7 million in upgrades, including new playgrounds, expanded picnic areas, EV charging stations, and a pool area with a new water feature.

The city is also advancing its affordable housing initiatives and is looking to finalize development contracts for a key mixed-use site on Highway 111 at Dune Palms.

The city’s Cultural Campus is in its final design stages and is expected to go out to bid for construction this Spring. READ MORE HERE.

PALM SPRINGS 

In Palm Springs, expect to see a lot of construction continuing at the new College of the Desert (COD) Palm Springs Campus. The campus represents a $405 million investment to expand workforce opportunities in high-demand fields. Mayor Ron deHarte said, “Plus, we’ll lean into tourism and reinforce that tourism is not going to be our focus.”

Expect the spring opening of the new Demuth Park Pickleball Courts Expansion Project, featuring 22 courts and improved amenities. And VillageFest is set to undergo a modern refresh with new themes and events. READ MORE HERE.

PALM DESERT

The City of Palm Desert anticipates several significant developments in 2026. The DSRT Surf water resort is expected to open its doors by early summer.

Fire Station 102, the city’s fourth station, is going up on the city’s north side at a cost of $23.4 million and is set to open in late spring.

The City also projects a continuing boom in new housing, much of it affordable, with 4 to 5 construction starts expected to bring more than 1,000 new units to north Palm Desert.

Look for the Catavina, Vesta, and Portola Springs residential projects to move ahead. READ MORE HERE.

COACHELLA 

In Coachella, the Coachella Electric Financing Authority (CEFA) is being formed with the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) to secure essential energy sources for planned commercial and residential developments.

The city also successfully annexed the 377-acre P7/Mesquite Area from Riverside County. That’s expected to allow for future infrastructure investment, housing, and economic growth.

Finally, the city is preparing to break ground on a new bridge over the Whitewater Channel on Avenue 50 to improve driver safety and mobility by eliminating flooding and road closures during rainstorms. READ MORE HERE.

COACHELLA VALLEY ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTS (CVAG)

CVAG is focusing on increasing use of the recently expanded CV Link by encouraging residents and visitors to use it and coordinating with partners like Desert Recreation District and Tour de Palm Springs to promote safe events. It’s also responding to changing federal grant requirements. “It’s hard to make plans when it comes to federal funding,” said Executive Director Tom Kirk, adding, “We’re not sure what the government wants from year to year, depending on the administration.”

CVAG plans to work closely with member agencies to secure necessary outside funding for desert projects and ensure the region receives its fair share.

It’s also continuing efforts to keep traffic moving with Phase 2 of the CV Sync regional signal synchronization project, along with planning future road improvements for Varner Road and Rancho Mirage. READ MORE HERE.

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