Author: KESQ

Kendall Flynn

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) – The California Indian Nations College in Palm Desert is receiving help to become California’s only federally accredited tribal college.

Friday morning, Assemblymember James C. Ramos (D-San Bernardino) presented a $10 million state general fund check to CINC. The check presentation will help it become the state’s only federally accredited tribal college.

Becoming federally accredited is crucial for the college to access funding opportunities and it recognizes the college’s programs. A federally accredited tribal college, like the two-year CINC, is controlled and operated by a federally recognized American Indian tribe and offers programs incorporating indigenous culture.

California has the greatest numbers of Native Americans in the United States, but has not had an institution accredited, compared to the more than 30 accredited tribal colleges with 75 campuses throughout 13 states.

CINC was granted candidacy/pre-accreditation status in January by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.

Officials with CINC said this accreditation is particularly important because the “high school graduation rate for American Indians is 11.4% lower than the overall rate, and the college going rate is 14.4% lower than the overall.”

According to Friday’s event organizers, CINC does not receive ongoing federal or state support. The tribal college has received one-time state funding for $5 million in 2022 to help reach accreditation, and $9 million in seed money from the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians.

Stay with News Channel 3 to hear from officials on the check presentation and its importance for reaching accreditation status.

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Jesus Reyes

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article stated that Replogle was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. This was incorrect. The judge sentenced Replogle to life without the possibility of parole. The article has been updated with the correct information.

INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – A former attorney convicted twice for his role in the murder of a Palm Springs art dealer was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

In 2022, David Replogle, 76, was convicted of murder and multiple other charges following a retrial for the 2008 death and disappearance of 74-year-old Clifford Lambert.

News Channel 3’s Garrett Hottle will have more on the sentencing tonight at 4, 5, 6 p.m.

News Channel 3 Exclusive: American Hustlers – The Lambert Story

Clifford Lambert

Replogle, once a prominent Bay Area attorney, forged Lambert’s name on official documents, allowing the men to drain bank accounts and take assets.

Replogle’s sentencing hearing was rescheduled multiple times over the three years since his second conviction.

The case, originally involving six co-conspirators who murdered Lambert for financial gain, has dragged on for 15 years. They were originally convicted a few years after the murder, but were granted new trials because of the behavior of the judge in the original trial.

Replogle was first convicted in 2011, resulting in a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The other suspects have been convicted or made plea deals. Kaushal Niroula was killed at the Cois Byrd Detention Center on Sept. 6, 2022.

Stay with News Channel 3 for any new developments.

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Haley Meberg

PALM DESERT, Calif. (KESQ)– Palm trees in Palm Desert caught on fire Thursday night with local authorities arriving on the scene shortly after. 

Thursday night on Fred Waring Drive, a group of palm trees took up in flames lighting up the road in Palm Desert. 

Palm Desert Sheriff Station Deputies and CalFire took to the scene to shut down the fire before it was able to spread widely. 

No further information about the cause of the fire has been shared at this time.

Stay with News Channel 3 for more information.

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Allie Anthony

CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. (KESQ) – This morning, SunLine Transit Agency delivered a bus full of school supplied to kids at the Boys and Girls Club of Cathedral City.

This year, the community donated 563 backpacks for local children ahead of their school year. “We got a ton of books from the Read with Me volunteer program and it feels like we got a lot more school supplies this year,” said Carmen Cubero from the SunLine Transit Agency.

The boys and girls club predicts the supplies will support nearly 1,000 children. This is a relief for parents as the cost of school supplies continues to rise. “Parents are taking additional work loads to try to earn more money to be able to buy supplies,” said Scott Robinson, the Director of the Boys and Girls Club of Cathedral City.

Stay with News Channel 3 to hear from kids about this exciting delivery.

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KESQ News Team

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ) – An Indio jury took less than an hour to convict a man accused of assaulting two women and threatening to kill them in Cathedral City back in 2018.

41-year-old Christopher Elmer Barkley broke into a Cathedral City home late at night in 2018 while the two women and a baby were inside.

The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office says the baby’s mother and her mother-in-law were alone and asleep for the night when Barkley entered the home and sexually assaulted them.

During the attack, he threatened to shoot and kill both women and the infant. Before leaving, Barkley stole the women’s cell phones and their identification so the victims couldn’t call for help.

Barkley was later identified through DNA evidence and arrested on May 8, 2018 near Ramon Road and Landau Blvd. in Cathedral City.

After hearing the evidence in the case, the jury found all allegations to be true, and found Barkley guilty of all 12 counts against him, including rape, burglary, assault with a gun, and false imprisonment in addition to the charges of sexual assault and threats of death.

Barkley faces multiple consecutive life sentences and is scheduled to be sentenced on September 5th.

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Shay Lawson

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ)  –  A stretch of South Palm Canyon Drive under construction has seen a sharp increase in collisions according to the Palm Springs Police Department (PSPD).

Captain Kyle Stjerne, with PSPD, said it’s prompting the department to ramp up patrols.

“We did see a bit of an increase with some minor traffic collisions that involved non-injuries,” Stjerne said. “We did have some injury traffic collisions. There have been a few hit and runs that we’ve investigated. So again, we’re just seeing some increase in traffic related activity there.”

He said the area, which previously had two lanes in each direction, is now narrowed to one lane each way with a cone pattern that people may not be used to.

“We’re really encouraging people to just be aware,” Stjerne said. “Please monitor your speed.”

Some residents have also taken to social media to criticize nearby developments for poor lighting and visibility they say is contributing to the dangerous conditions on the roadway.

Clarke Shae has lived in Palm Springs for over a decade, and said he has noticed more collisions on this street.

“I live right around the corner. I hear everything,” Shae said. “I don’t drive that road anymore.”

Stay with News Channel 3 for continuing coverage on this story.

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Jesus Reyes

HOMELAND, Calif. (KESQ) – A 38-year-old is in custody after authorities said they found bomb-making materials and long rifles in his home following a stolen vehicle arrest in western Riverside County.

According to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office, the investigation started on the morning of June 8 in Temecula. Deputies conducted a traffic stop and detained the driver, a Homeland resident. During the search of the vehicle, deputies located four firearms, a mix of long rifles and handguns, along with a large amount of ammunition and suppressors.

The suspect was arrested and booked for possession of the stolen vehicle and related weapons charges.

During the follow-up investigation, deputies discovered Edwards was manufacturing and selling firearms.

On Wednesday, authorities served a search warrant at the suspect’s property in Homeland. Deputies found dozens of illegal firearms, ammunition, explosive-making materials, and homemade improvised devices that were in the process of being assembled. The Riverside Sheriff’s Hazardous Device Team responded and seized the devices.

RSO said additional charges will be filed against the suspect for weapons possession, criminal threats, and bomb-making materials.

He is currently being held at the Cois Byrd Detention Center without bail.

Anyone with information related to this case is asked to contact Deputy Richard Schweitzer at 951-696-3063.

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Peter Daut

COACHELLA VALLEY, Calif. (KESQ)– A new toll-free hotline is launching here in the Coachella Valley dedicated to supporting the migrant community.

The hotline is operated through the United Farm Workers (UFW) Foundation with the goal of offering support and guidance to families navigating the current immigration landscape.Organizers say callers will be able to speak with attorneys and local organizations in English or Spanish.

They hope this will help migrant farmworkers get answers.

UFW Foundation organizer Baltazar Aguirre Jr. explained what type of calls they are anticipating to receive at the hotline, “One of the most frequent is if a family is detained. Where can they find them, what can they do if they’re detained, and their rights once detained.” 

The number to reach this hotline is 1-888-295-4282 with hours set to operate from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

For more information stay with news Channel 3.

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City News Service

INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – An unlicensed motorist who killed a woman and injured three others in a driving under the influence collision in Cathedral City on Christmas Day pleaded guilty today to DUI gross vehicular manslaughter.   

Angel Gabriel Torres Hernandez of Cathedral City admitted the felony count, along with a sentence-enhancing great bodily injury allegation, under a plea agreement Thursday with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. In exchange for his admissions, prosecutors agreed to drop two related counts and sentence enhancements against Hernandez.   

Superior Court Judge Dean Benjamini scheduled a sentencing hearing for Tuesday at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.   

The defendant is being held without bail at the Benoit Detention Center.   

According to the Cathedral City Police Department, the deadly wreck occurred shortly after 11 p.m. on Dec. 25, 2023.  

Hernandez was driving northbound on Date Palm Drive when he veered into southbound lanes while attempting to make a turn onto Varner Road, plowing into two southbound cars because he was heavily intoxicated, police said.   

One of the drivers, identified in court documents only as “Enma C.,” was fatally injured in the crash and pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics. Occupants of the other vehicle, two women and a man — “A.B.,” “J.Z.” and “E.S.” — suffered minor to moderate injuries, according to investigators.  

Hernandez fled the scene but was apprehended minutes later without incident by patrol officers.    He had no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.

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City News Service

LOS ANGELES (KESQ) – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a multistate coalition in filing a challenge to a final rule by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that critics say would create significant barriers to obtaining health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act.  

“Far from delivering on their promises to drive down costs and `make America healthier,’ the Trump administration’s HHS and CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) are doing their best to make it harder and more expensive for Americans to obtain health insurance and access care,” Bonta said in a statement.   

“These sweeping changes would impose onerous verification requirements, junk health insurance premiums for some consumers, shorten enrollment periods in federal and state health care exchanges like Covered California, deprive up to 1.8 million Americans of health insurance, drive up out-of-pocket health care costs and so much more,” he said. “It’s unlawfuland it’s wrong — we’re meeting the Trump administration in court to defend Americans’ health care coverage.”  

The coalition is co-led by Bonta with the attorneys general of Massachusetts and New Jersey.

The Trump administration’s final rule would make a range of amendments to the rules governing federal and state health insurance marketplaces, which the administration estimates will cause between 725,000 and 1.8 million people to lose their health insurance, while causing millions more to pay increased insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs like co-pays and deductibles.

In the lawsuit, the attorneys general argue that the HHS and CMS rule is arbitrary and capricious, contrary to law, and violates the Administrative Procedure Act. The coalition is also seeking preliminary relief, and a stay, to prevent the challenged portions of the final rule from taking effect before the Aug. 25 effective date.   

Congress enacted the ACA in 2010 to increase the number of Americans with health insurance and decrease the cost of health care. The plaintiffs say that 15 years later, the act continues to meet its goals, with annual enrollment on the ACA marketplace doubling over the past five years, resulting in over 24 million people signing up for health insurance coverage in plan year 2025 on the ACA exchanges and receiving subsidies to make such coverage affordable.

California has nearly two million ACA plan enrollees, the third highest of any state, Bonta said.

According to the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, with less than four months until open enrollment for plan year 2026 begins, the Trump administration’s final rule would abruptly reverse the trend, erecting a series of new barriers to enrollment, including imposing an automatic monthly charge on all automatically re-enrolled consumers who qualify for $0 premiums, shortening the open enrollment period for signing up for health coverage, and making other changes which will make coverage less affordable for millions of individuals nationwide.

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