Category: kesq-local-news

Luis Avila

INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – An Indio neighborhood was shaken early Wednesday morning when multiple sheriff patrol cars and law enforcement vehicles arrived unexpectedly at the Arabian Gardens Mobile Home Estates, triggering panic among residents who feared it was an immigration raid.

Many began calling family members to warn them to stay indoors.

““People got scared, didn’t know what was going on. A lot of people thought it was ICE. They didn’t want to leave their homes.”

Arturo, resident

City Council Member Oscar Ortiz responded to the incident after receiving a call from a terrified mother hiding in her bathroom with her children. Upon arriving, Ortiz confirmed that it was a search warrant service operation, targeting a single residence, not ICE.

Ortiz acknowledged the broader concern within the community, pointing to recent raids across the state that have heightened fear among undocumented residents.

“Especially being they are targeting work places now, we see people afraid to go to work, we see businesses struggling to find workers, we know it’s going to be impacting our economy. Biggest impact right now is families and the fear they’re having.”

Oscar Ortiz, Indio council member

He reminds residents that Indio police and sheriffs are not supposed to ask about immigration status, and urge the community to continue seeking help when needed.

Stay with News Channel 3 for more.

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Gavin Nguyen

COACHELLA, Calif. (KESQ) – As fears amid ongoing immigration raids continue throughout Southern California, a nonprofit organization, TODEC, is providing community members with mental health resources.

“A lot of stress on mental health, for sure. A lot of families may be scared to come outside to, you know, engage in going to the stores, going to go into work, going to school,” said Ismael Cruz, the Civic Engagement Coordinator for TODEC.

The nonprofit’s newly-opened ‘Farmworker Justice Center’ is directing farmworkers and laborers in the East Valley to important resources for immigrants and their families.

Those resources include immigration legal assistance, information about their constitutional rights, and mental health support lines.

“They are able to come in and we just want to be able to give you that peace of mind. We’re giving [them] the resources and the knowledge to know what to do in case there is something happening,” Cruz said.

For citizens and non-citizens alike, the stress of the current political climate has had significant mental health effects.

In an interview posted to TODEC’s Instagram, one Moreno Valley resident said in Spanish, “I can’t be living like this. I feel so hated that I can’t allow my body to relax to be okay without knowing what’s going to happen. My daughter is also doing really bad because of this same situation, she is also an American citizen.”

Mental health experts, like Carolina Vasquez, a clinical therapist and Executive Director of Desert Insight in Cathedral City, told those struggling mentally to remember the good.

“If you do happen to find yourself in those situations, stay grounded, which I know is a very hard thing to do. To breathe, to know that you’re not alone, that there [are] people that are speaking up for you. Those of us that can are trying to,” she said.

To view the interview that TODEC posted on its Instagram, you can find it here. That post also says in part:

We urge our community to seek help if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the trauma caused as a result of these raids by contacting 24/7 Mental Health Support (951) 509-2499 or (800) 398-0018.

TODEC (@todec1, Instagram)

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Kendall Flynn

PALM DESERT, Calif. (KESQ) – The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens introduced two bobcat kittens to their new habitat and what care professionals are calling their “forever home.”

David and JoAnn are brother and sister, and were brought to the zoo from Oregon. The siblings were found in a box on a driveway near Springfield and Eugene. Officials with The Living Desert are unsure who took them, where they were found originally or where their mother is.

Photo Courtesy: The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens

“It’s really important that we know that when we see animals out in the wild that might be struggling or that we perceive need help, that we’re contacting authorities rather than taking things into our own hands,” Heather Downs said, one of the zoo’s animal care curators.

Down and Elizabeth Hiner were a part of the team caring for David and JoAnn, which required around-the-clock care to feed them and ensure they were gaining weight daily. Hines, the animal care lead keeper, said it was a special experience for her.

“It’s not every day that you get to raise little ones from kittenhood to adulthood,” Hiner said. “And it makes us feel good that we’ve kind of set them up for success.”

Photo Courtesy: The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens

Photo Courtesy: The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens

Because of the circumstances they were found under, with no mother present, the kittens will spend their lives under the care of the living zoo staff. They say without human intervention, the siblings would not have survived in the wild.

Stay with News Channel 3 to hear their story, more about their care and how important officials say it is to coexist with animals.

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Kendall Flynn

PALM DESERT, Calif. (KESQ) – The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens is announcing the opening of a brand new greenhouse – something they hope will improve climate resilience and community access to nature across the Coachella Valley.

Officials with the zoo aid Southern California as regional leaders growing native California plants for outplanting in urban areas. This new greenhouse will aid in this effort by helping grow plants to make native habitat for the benefit of people and the wildlife.

The Living Desert’s team, says having the greenhouse will allow them to restore degraded natural areas by outplanting more native and drastically increasing the number of seeds available to restore those areas.

Stay with News Channel 3 to hear from officials on the importance of the greenhouse and how impactful it will be on the Coachella Valley.

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Jesus Reyes

CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. (KESQ) – 911 phone lines are down in Cathedral City, police announced Wednesday morning.

The Cathedral City Police Department received a notification at around 7 a.m. that its 911 system was down and callers may receive a busy signal, authorities said.

“We are working with our service provider to restore it, though the exact timeline is currently unknown,” CCPD wrote in a news release.

If you have an emergency, you are asked to text 911 or call CCPD’s business line at 760-770-0303 and a dispatcher will immediately assist you.

CCPD will update the community when the system is back up.

It’s the second 911 outage this week in the Coachella Valley. On Monday, Indio’s 911 system went down for several hours before being resolved due to a Frontier outage. That outage also impacted phone lines at city facilities in Palm Springs. Phone lines were back up by Tuesday morning.

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Athena Jreij

INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) — The nonprofit, Coachella Animal Network, is hosting a low-cost dog and cat clinic June 11 – 12 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The two day clinic will offer low-cost spay and neuter surgeries Wednesday by appointment only, as well as microchips and vaccines on Thursday for walk-ins.

For Kim Hardee, CAN’s founder, she says the affordable care is needed now more than ever, especially as surgery costs range from $300 to $2,500 for some animals. CAN is offering spay and neuter surgeries for just $30.

“Well it’s keeping animals out of the shelter. Spay and neuter is really the only answer,” Sam Rhodes with Travel Paws said.

It comes as the county is facing an overcrowding and euthanasia crisis. Currently, almost 1,200 animals sit in Riverside shelters.

Officials say they’re at 200% capacity and have long said affordable pet care plus more adopters and fosters will aid in the crisis.

Nonprofits at the clinic say they’re also catching up on thousands of animals who weren’t fixed during the pandemic.

News Channel 3 took those concerns to officials like Supervisor V. Manuel Perez to see if this action is too little, too late.

“It’s never too late to improve those conditions. Change is already here. It’s going to continue. We just approved to allocate another $5 million that was necessary, through our budget process for our shelters that we have within the county of Riverside,” Supervisor Perez said.

News Channel 3 checked how those conditions are improving and found some progress.

Last month, we found 821 animals were taken into shelters and 152 were euthanized between May 20th and 27th.

Within the past week, RCDAS says 790 animals were taken in and 137 were euthanized. The over-capacity also decreased from 220% to 200%.

It’s progress officials say can only continue if the community steps up.

“We really need to get them adopted fosters to care for the animals, while they’re trying to be adopted.”

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Jesus Reyes

Editor’s Note: The wrong address for the Arabian Gardens Mobile Home Park was listed in the original version of the article. The correct address is on Clinton Street and Fred Waring Drive.

INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – Police recovered several illegal firearms during a search warrant service at a mobile home park in Indio Wednesday morning.

The investigation started at around 5 a.m. at the Arabian Gardens Mobile Home Park

“Early this morning, the Desert Regional SWAT Team and the Coachella Valley Narcotics Task Force, served a search warrant in the Arabian Gardens Mobile Home Park as part of an ongoing investigation,” reads a news release by the Indio Police Department. During the operation, several illegal firearms were recovered. This action is part of our continued efforts to enhance public safety and reduce the presence of illegal weapons in our community.”

There was no word on whether any arrests were made.

Stay with News Channel 3 for any updates.

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City News Service

RIVERSIDE, Calif.(KESQ) – The Board of Supervisors approved Riverside County Fire Department Chief Bill Weiser’s request to draft a revised ordinance delineating which communities should be designated fire risk zones, encompassing large swaths of the county, where households are already feeling the impacts from escalating property insurance costs.

Changes to Ordinance No. 787 will reflect updates to the Fire Hazard Severity Zone Maps published in March by the Office of the State Fire Marshal, which is part of Cal Fire, the agency under contract with the county for fire protection services going back nearly a century.

The updated maps depict locations that rate “moderate,” “high” and “very high” under criteria established by Cal Fire.

The practice of classifying localities by zone began in the early 1990s, and since then, the Legislature has modified how classifications occur, focusing on “local responsibility areas,” in addition to “state responsibility areas.”   

After the maps are ironed out, they’re submitted to local jurisdictions — counties and cities — for consideration and approval after public hearings.

“The dramatic increase in areas designated as high fire risk, specifically within the city limits, has been exponential,” Lake Elsinore Mayor Bob Magee said in a statement released Friday. “The insurance industry has responded, raising rates and cancelling homeowners’ insurance policies left and right.”  

Magee has been one of the most outspoken critics of the latest zone changes, complaining that the Office of the State Fire Marshal did not accommodate the city’s and others’ attempts to contribute to the rating process.

Magee said that as a member of the State Board of Fire Services, he and the lobbying organization the League of California Cities tried to arrange for an agendized hearing involving Cal Fire administrators.

“The Zoom link on the agenda was missing one digit, preventing remote participation from those wishing to comment,” the mayor said.   

Magee expressed bewilderment over the updated maps and how they were arranged, pointing out that “a significant portion of our lake — underwater — has been designated as a High Fire Risk.”

Comments from Cal Fire were requested several times, but as of Tuesday afternoon, the agency had not responded after acknowledging receipt of questions.

“Once again, the elites in Sacramento stiff-armed the ability for local officials with intimate knowledge of their communities to have a voice,” Magee said. “As a result, hundreds of taxpaying homeowners now face the very real possibility of being unable to obtain homeowners insurance to protect their largest investment.”   

Along with Lake Elsinore, other cities and unincorporated communities countywide now have high or very high Fire Hazard Severity Zone risk designations.

The thousands of homes ringing the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Park in Riverside, as well as properties within a large slice of the city’s western border with Norco, fall into red-lined tiers.

The same applies to parts of Banning, Canyon Lake, Calimesa, French Valley, Mead Valley, Meadowbrook, Menifee, Moreno Valley and Temescal Valley. Segments of the Coachella Valley generally rank at the moderate level.   

Movable maps can be viewed at osfm.fire.ca.gov/what-we-do/community- wildfire-preparedness-and-mitigation/fire-hazard-severity-zones.   

Representatives in other cities were asked to comment on the changes but did not immediately respond.

Although the California Department of Insurance placed a moratorium on policy cancellations in January, the requirement only covers areas impacted by the major wildfires in Los Angeles County that resulted in thousands of damaged or destroyed properties amid the Santa Ana windstorm at the start of the year.  

“Fire Hazard Severity Zones are designated based on the likelihood of fire occurring and its expected behavior over a 30- to 50-year period,” according to a county fire statement posted to the board’s agenda Tuesday. “These zones are determined using factors such as fuel loading, terrain, fire weather conditions, historical fire activity and wind patterns.”   

The revised county ordinance will include mandates regarding “defensible space” around properties, land use planning, building code standards and full disclosures when real estate is sold, according to fire officials.

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Julia Castro

INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) — A man was killed late Tuesday night after being struck by a car on State Route 86, just south of Interstate 10, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The crash happened around 10:56 p.m. The California Highway Patrol says a white Nissan Altima was traveling southbound on SR-86 near Dillon Road when a pedestrian attempted to cross the highway from the east to the west shoulder.

The driver, a man from Mexicali, Mexico, tried to avoid the collision but was unable to stop in time. The pedestrian died at the scene. His identity has not been released.

CHP says alcohol and drugs do not appear to be factors.

SR-86 was closed for approximately three hours while the investigation was underway. Traffic was detoured through Dillon Road to eastbound I-10 before returning to the highway.

The investigation is ongoing.

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Shay Lawson

CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. (KESQ)  – The recent immigration raids in Cathedral City are leaving behind more than fear — some workers said it’s hitting the local economy hard.

Alexander Rosas, landscape worker, who posted about the issue on social media, said when he was driving around the Coachella Valley he didn’t see a single landscaper or gardener.

“We thought it was weird because right now it’s Palm season. It’s a very busy time for gardeners and landscapers,” Rosas said.

He said workers in agriculture, landscaping and pest control are skipping shifts, amid mounting fears of immigration enforcement.

“My cousin works in agriculture,” Rosas said. “She was telling me that a lot of her workers are not showing up as well, because a lot of people are just scared.”

Multiple landscaping supply companies in the region also told News Channel 3 that they are seeing a noticeable drop in foot traffic and order volume.

While none would speak on camera, each confirmed that business has slowed significantly since the ICE raid last week.

“We were going to get supplies and usually when you pull up to anywhere that has supplies for gardeners and everything, it would be packed,” Rosas said. “These places were empty.”

The owner of Lead Pest Control, who asked to remain anonymous, said he’s worried about the future of his business.

“I am truly scared of what’s going to happen, what the country has in store for us in the next year,” the owner said.

Stay with News Channel 3 at 10 and 11 p.m. for the full report.

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