THOUSAND PALMS, Calif. (KESQ) — Hurricane Marie continues to weaken offshore of Southern California and Mexico, bringing spotty showers to the Coachella Valley.
News Channel 3 is speaking with residents and tourists to hear how they are adapting their holiday plans to the volatile weather.
Click here to follow the original article.THOUSAND PALMS, Calif. (KESQ)- September is National Suicide Prevention Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness, sharing resources and encouraging conversations about mental health and suicide prevention.
The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows 48,824 people died by suicide in the United States in 2024- an average of about 134 deaths every day.
While the national suicide rate decreased slightly from 2023 to 2024, it remains significantly higher than it was more than two decades ago.
Here in the Coachella Valley, one advocate is using clothing and his own personal experiences to help start conversations about suicide prevention.
The Burnt Out Collective began as a streetwear brand, but its founder says it has grown into something much bigger – a way to help people feel seen and remind those going through difficult times that their story is not over.
News Channel 3 is speaking with the founder about the experiences that inspired the brand, his message for others who may be struggling and why he believes talking openly about suicide can make a difference.
Watch the full story tonight on News Channel 3.
If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis or having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Click here to follow the original article.THOUSAND PALMS, Calif. (KESQ)- Riverside County has approved a $32.69 million agreement to upgrade more than 2,000 body-worn cameras used by sheriff’s deputies, but officials say the price tag covers much more than the cameras themselves.
The five-year agreement with Axon includes 2,086 body-worn cameras, along with unlimited cloud storage, supporting equipment and technology needed to manage the large amount of video deputies record.
Captain Steve Favero with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office said deputies can record four, five or even six hours of footage in a day, making storage one of the major costs of operating the system.
“This contract is not just all cameras,” Favero said. “It’s actually the infrastructure behind it, the storage requirements and all of the supporting accessories.”
In previous contracts, Favero said the department would reach its storage limits and have to purchase additional space. Unlimited storage is included in the new agreement.
The department also says the initial 2,086 cameras will not be the only cameras deputies receive during the five-year contract.
Favero said body cameras have an average lifespan of about 30 months because of heavy daily use. Under the new agreement, the department expects to receive three generations of cameras over the life of the contract.
“It’s really not 2,000 cameras. It’s 6,000,” Favero said.
The agreement also includes new technology, including artificial intelligence that can transcribe recorded interactions and help deputies draft reports. Deputies will still be responsible for reviewing and editing those reports before submitting them.
Sheriff’s officials say the cameras also provide evidence for investigations and a record of interactions between deputies and the public.
“They do try to provide a little bit more transparency,” Lieutenant Deirdre Vickers, Public Information Officer said. “They help with investigations and evidence to our cases.”
The Riverside County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the agreement. It runs through August 2031 and will be paid for through the Sheriff’s Department budget rather than the county’s General Fund.
Riverside County has used Axon body cameras since 2021.
Click here to follow the original article.THOUSAND PALMS, Calif. (KESQ) — In general, fatal car crashes spike on weekends, according to the National Safety Council. But that number increases during extended holiday weekends.
This year, the council anticipates between 375 and 496 fatal crashes will occur over the Labor Day weekend.
In an effort to keep you safe, News Channel 3 spoke with an expert to hear her tips for getting on the road this weekend — regardless of how far you’re traveling.
Click here to follow the original article.COACHELLA VALLEY, Calif. (KESQ) – Most residents in the Southern California desert can probably tell you that the seven casinos in the Coachella Valley are owned by different Native American tribes. But they might not be able to tell you more than that.
The history and force of these tribes helped shape the Coachella Valley, including its current economic power. But the tribes’ recent prosperity is fairly new — built on pain suffered over the past 100 years. These casinos — run by various bands of the Cahuilla and Mission Indian tribes — are one of the most powerful economic forces in the desert — employing thousands of locals and bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars in tourism and economic activity.
But all of this is fairly recent.Just about 30 years ago, none of this existed.
Forced on to reservations in the 1800s — tribes across America have struggled since — with the highest poverty rate of any minority group.
“Our tribe was placed on a reservation. It wasn’t allowed to do what it was doing for generations,” said Amanda Augustine, the Chairwoman of the Augustine Band of Cahuilla Indians.
“It took away our identity. Even to this day, we’re still struggling to maintain what we have,” said Michael Mirelez, a lineal descendant of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians.
The Cahuilla tribe made their home thousands of years ago in the Coachella Valley area — and today, they’re grouped into 9 bands: the Mountain Cahuilla — the Pass Cahuilla which includes the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians — and the Desert Cahuilla — whom we know best — as the Torres Martinez — Augustine — and Cabazon. Their homes would be forever changed as white settlers and the U.S. government seized California land through the Western expansion.
In the 1850s — the U.S. government divided up Coachella Valley land into a checkerboard pattern and gave land to Southern Pacific Railroad.
In 1876 — some of these parcels were designated as Indian land.In an attempt to create division within the Cahuilla people — the government gave Agua Caliente the largest portion — and what turned out to be prime real estate.
In 1892, children from various tribes were forced into Indian boarding schools — like Sherman Institute in Riverside — required to speak only in English, to celebrate Christian traditions. Many children were abused and at least 500 died, with the end goal of erasing their Native cultures and tongue, according to a 2022 Department of the Interior report.
“There are very few people that remember, and so for ourselves, the struggle is to maintain that,” said Mirelez.
For the past century — tribes have struggled to keep their culture and language alive, through bird songs and the oral histories of their people. These songs echo through time — preserving the spirit of the people — even as another rhythm has come and along with it — heartbreak.
I asked — why so many Native Americans have Hispanic or Anglo names.
“It was part of assimilation. The old people felt that by giving their children names that were Hispanic, it would make life easier for them,” said Mirelez.
The battle over identity — the names sacrificed — just to survive in the world.How could tribes thrive after having so much taken away?
In this — our local Cabazon band holds a significant place in history.
“The tribe was really pursuing economic development. It grew out of a lot of, frankly, just racism and discrimination,” said Arkamez Blankenship, the Director of Cultural Affairs, Cabazon Band of Cahuilla Indians. “It was nearly impossible for tribal members to gain employment or even become entrepreneurs without developing something on the reservation.”
So in the early 1980s, they started gaming on their land. But, with it, came trouble.
“The police showed up, guns blazing, tried to lock down the bingo hall, and the tribe fought against it and fought against it over and over and over again. Kept reopening, kept fighting against the state of California, Riverside County police and sheriffs,” said Blankenship.
In the end — it was the California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians decision in 1987 that paved the way for legalized gaming across the U.S. — changing Coachella Valley’s economy into what it is today through entertainment and gaming at large casinos like Fantasy Springs.
SOT2:49We’re one of the largest employers in the Valley. I believe we employ around 1,100 employees. Most of them are from the Valley,” said Doug Welmas, the Chairman of the Cabazon Band of Cahuilla Indians.
Torres Martinez with Red Earth Casino and gas station employs around 260 people, while Agua Caliente casinos — in Palm Springs, Cathedral City, and Rancho Mirage — employ about 2-thousand 200 locals.
The Coachella Valley — would not be what it is today — without the tribes. And while it’s easy to reduce the tribes to just gaming — they say it’s important to remember they’re doing the most they can in a system they’ve been forced into.
“I think we will always be stuck in the past,” said Augustine. “It’s the trauma that’s not addressed. How can you move forward?”
In the process of reporting this story it became apparent that tribal politics — both within and between each band — was complicated and sensitive — and tribal members were often afraid of saying the wrong thing.
As you may have noticed, the Agua Caliente tribal chairman was not part of this story.
After months of asking — News Channel 3 was promised an interview with the new chairman in September but it was cancelled. It has now been rescheduled for October.
In part 2 of “Against All Odds.” morning anchor Angela Chen will introduce one woman who became the last of her people here in the desert — and her mission to not let her people become lost to history.
Click here to follow the original article.INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – A crackdown on drunken and drug-impaired motorists is scheduled tonight by the Indio Police Department.
The anti-DUI patrols will begin at 6 p.m. Friday and continue until 2 a.m. Saturday, focusing on removing the potential threat of impaired drivers on roadways citywide, as well as reinforcing the importance of safe driving, according to the department.
“Impaired driving is preventable. It’s a choice,” Sgt. Peter Fuentes said. “If you’ve been drinking or taking drugs … find a sober driver or alternate transportation.”
Fuentes emphasized that both prescription and over-the-counter medications may cause impairment, along with other substances, such as marijuana.
Drivers were encouraged to read medication labels carefully and choose alternate methods of travel if there is a risk of impaired driving.
“Drivers caught driving impaired and charged with a first-time DUI face an average of $13,500 in fines and penalties, as well as a suspended license,” according to an agency statement.
The Friday night campaign was funded by a grant provided by the California Office of Traffic Safety.
Click here to follow the original article.COACHELLA, Calif. (KESQ) — A group of Coachella Valley farmworkers received settlement payments Friday after coming forward with allegations of unpaid wages and difficult working conditions.
The workers gathered at the TODEC Legal Center in Coachella, where they shared their experiences and received payments through the California Labor Commissioner’s Office.
One farmworker, who asked to remain anonymous, described her experience working at a Coachella Valley farm as stressful and traumatic.
The worker says she eventually left the job but was still owed money for her final day of work.
She and other workers turned to TODEC for help.
“When you empower a worker, a community member they get that power and strength to come forward when there are injustices,” said TODEC Executive Director Luz Gallegos.
TODEC then worked with the California Labor Commissioner’s Office to help the workers recover the money they were owed.
California Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower says the case is significant because her office used California’s crop lien law — a tool that can help secure unpaid wages for agricultural workers.
“When an employer fails to pay a worker who harvested or transported crops, there’s a lien that attached to those crops. That lien maintains until they are paid,” she said.
García-Brower says unpaid wages can be a widespread problem.
“It’s a rampant problem particularly in immigrant communities, particularly in the Coachella Valley where you don’t have a strong presence.”
The settlement event was held as Labor Day weekend began. Gallegos says the timing was meant to bring greater awareness to farmworkers’ rights and remind workers that they should not be taken advantage of regardless of their immigration status.
The worker says she is still dealing with fear from what she experienced, but is grateful to finally receive payment for the work she was owed.
Stay with News Channel 3 for more.
Click here to follow the original article.MURRIETA (CNS) – A 48-year-old man accused of gunning down an acquaintance and burying his remains just south of Interstate 10 in Cabazon pleaded not guilty today to first-degree murder and other charges.
Jesse Bruce Kennedy of Cabazon was arrested last month following a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation into the death of Cristian Valenzuela Nieto, who was previously reported missing.
Jesse Kennedy (Left) and Cristian Nieto Valenzuela (Right)
Along with murder, Kennedy is charged with a special-circumstance allegation of lying in wait and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.
The defendant was arraigned Friday before Superior Court Judge Theresa Canepa, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for Dec. 1 at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.
Kennedy is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the nearby Byrd Detention Center.
According to sheriff’s Sgt. Carlos Mendoza, detectives working a suspicious-circumstance investigation initiated after Nieto vanished developed leads on Aug. 22 indicating his body was located near a residence in the area of Poplar Street and William Avenue, less than a quarter-mile from eastbound lanes of I-10.
Further investigation led to recovery of the remains. It was unclear exactly where the victim was fatally shot, though court documents indicated he perished on Aug. 11. Mendoza did not specify a possible motive.
He said Kennedy was immediately identified as the alleged perpetrator and taken into custody without incident in a parking lot near the location where detectives found the remains.
Court records indicated that Kennedy has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County. However, he has a traffic-related conviction from the summer of 2021.
Click here to follow the original article.PALM DESERT (CNS) – The Palm Desert City Council will consider adopting a proposed resolution calling for Southern California Edison to conduct less planned outages during the summer months, slated for next week at City Hall.
The resolution, titled “A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Palm Desert, California, Requesting Southern California Edison (SCE) to Minimize Planned Outages During High Temperatures Summer Months,” focuses on asking the electric utility company to perform their planned outages outside of June, July, August and early September, if feasible, to provide residents relief amid triple-digit heat.
The item comes after a maintenance outage initially scheduled for July 28, in which residents voiced their concerns about temporarily living without power for several hours during high-heat temperatures. The outage would have affected 878 customers, but SCE opted to reschedule the outage to Aug. 9.
City staff learned during an outreach that some nearby businesses were unaware their electrical services were affected by the scheduled outages, and other businesses reported renting portable generators adding costs to their operations, according to a city staff report.
City official said the city understands the routine planned maintenance is necessary to maintain the safety and reliability of the electrical grid. “The intent of the proposed resolution is not to interfere with SCE’s responsibility to maintain the electrical system,” the staff report reads.
Additionally, the resolution also requests that SCE officials coordinate and communicate with the city and affected customers, so nearby residents and businesses can adequately prepare.
Thursday’s meeting will be held at 4 p.m. at 73-510 Fred Waring Drive.
Click here to follow the original article.INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) The arraignment of the Palm Desert woman accused of killing her husband with a flag pole was pushed back for a fourth time Tuesday after a judge said she still has not been medically cleared to appear.
Vicky Kim, 65, is now due in court Wednesday, Sept 16, at the Larson Justice Center in Indio. Her arraignment was first set for Sept. 10, then continued to Sept. 11, and then again to Sept. 14, before another pushed hearing Tuesday. Each time, the court said she had not been medically cleared.
Prosecutors have asked that Kim be held without bail, which is expected to be argued at the arraignment. The murder complaint alleges she used a flag pole as a deadly weapon and personally inflicted great bodily injury, and notes she faces a potential life sentence.
New details from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department bail-setting affidavit state investigators processed the victims remains and located multiple injuries consistent with blunt force trauma covering the body, face and head,” according to the declaration.
A social worker briefed investigators that there were several financial fraud investigations referred to Adult Protective Services.” That stemmed from the fact that a bank had informed the county that Kim was attempting to force the decedent to transfer large sums of money out of his account,” the affidavit alleged.
Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase branches reported incidents of potential financial elder abuse, involving Kim withdrawing money from the decedent’s bank account,” according to the sheriff’s statement.
The length of time the couple were married was not disclosed.
This story will be updated after the hearing Sept. 16.
Original Report
Six arrests in a year
Deputies arrested Kim six times between September 2025 and January 2026, according to court records obtained by News Channel 3. Prosecutors filed five domestic violence cases against her during that stretch, totaling 10 counts: two of battery, three of corporal injury on a spouse, four of violating a protective order and one of elder abuse. All were misdemeanors except one corporal injury count filed in January as a felony.
The victim is identified in the filings only as John Doe. The district attorney’s office has said the cases involved Kim’s husband.
In the January case, a sheriff’s deputy wrote in a sworn statement that deputies found Kim’s husband with a visible injury to his nose. He said Kim slapped him in the face during an argument about finances and infidelity allegations, and that a restraining order required her to stay 100 yards away from him, the statement says. Kim told the deputy she hit him on the nose three times after an argument over finances, and said she had posted bail after the previous incident and planned to post bail again.
Court records show the felony count was amended to a misdemeanor the day after it was filed. The records do not show when Kim was released from custody or when the protective orders ended.
Prosecutors’ objections
In an email to News Channel 3 on Sept. 10, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office said it charged Kim with a felony in January, obtained criminal protective orders and intended to “aggressively prosecute” her. “Despite our office’s clear objections, a judge resolved all of the defendant’s cases as misdemeanors, released her from custody, and terminated all protective orders that prosecutors worked hard to obtain,” the office wrote.
Salas, who is prosecuting the murder case, said Friday the earlier cases involved “domestic violence charges, elder abuse charges, and violation of a protective order,” and that the pattern began in September 2025.
“That is part of the reason why we requested protective orders, part of the reason why we objected to the resolution of the felony as a misdemeanor, because of the concern for this individual’s safety in the future,” she said.
Salas would not name the judge and said she could not comment on the court’s decision or discuss the facts of the earlier cases, because they could be evidence at trial.
“It’s certainly a very tragic turn of events that somebody who has previously been a victim in the criminal justice system is now where we are,” she said.
A neighbor’s account
Kelly McDaniel moved into The Enclave, the gated condo community on Gateway Drive, on Aug. 1. She said that about a week before the killing, she and her roommate saw an older man fall and stopped to help.
“He was so feeble, I had to use all my weight to get him up,” McDaniel said. “He could barely walk. My hand was covered in blood.”
McDaniel said the man told her his name was Rich. As they walked him home, she said, a woman approached and took him from them without asking if he was OK or thanking them. McDaniel said the woman was Kim.
The murder complaint identifies the victim only as R. Kaufman. The sheriff’s office has not released his full name or age, saying next of kin had not been notified and the investigation is ongoing.
Kim also has an arrest outside California. Hawaii police records show she was arrested in July 2007 for a bomb threat at the airport in Kona. Police said she repeatedly claimed there was a bomb on a plane. The flight was emptied and every passenger and bag was screened again. Kim, then 46, was charged with first-degree terroristic threatening, a felony, and released the next day on $1,000 bail. How that case ended is not known.
Deputies were called to the 35000 block of Gateway Drive at 9:47 a.m. Sept. 4. They found a person with injuries from a physical assault who died at the scene. Kim was there and was arrested without incident, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office. Crime scene tape blocked off part of the gated community for much of the day, and the sheriff’s office announced the arrest the next day.
Kim remains in custody at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside.
Anyone with information is asked to call Central Homicide Unit Investigator Chua at (951) 955-1700 or Palm Desert Sheriff’s Station Investigator Mitroff at (760) 836-1600.
This story will be updated after the hearing.
Click here to follow the original article.
