Category: kesq-local-news

Cynthia White

LA QUINTA, Calif. (KESQ) – Desert Sands Unified School District is making sure all positions are filled for the school year.

On Thursday, the DSUSD hosted a Career Fair at the District office in La Quinta.

Open positions included substitute teachers, paraeducators, and bus drivers.

Some staff members were on hand to answer questions and provide information throughout the workshops.

DSUSD Director of Classified Personnel Brad Fisher says it’s efforts like these that help avoid staff shortages. Fisher added, “We host two certificated job fairs, two classified job fairs, and we’ve been fortunate enough that we are almost fully staffed at this point with still several weeks to go. Our staff is pretty solid right now, which is really good, and again, it’s events like this where we refill our substitute ranks.”

Fisher went on to say that recruitment efforts continue throughout the year for the District.

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Haley Meberg

LA QUINTA, Calif. (KESQ)– The California Highway Patrol Indio Office, along with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, will host a Child Passenger Seat Safety event on Saturday, July 26. 

The event will take place at La Quinta Fire Station 32, located at 78111 Avenue 52, La Quinta, CA 92253, from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. 

At the event, residents will have the opportunity to have their car seats inspected and adjusted for no cost to ensure all safety measures are met. 

These services are free to all with a child present. To schedule an appointment, contact CSO Avalos or CSO Foster at (760) 863-8990.

Walk-ins are accepted.

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Haley Meberg

PALM SPRINGS (CNS) -The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway will offer free admission throughout August to members of select law enforcement agencies.

The appreciation program runs from Aug. 1-31 at 1 Tram Way and is available to active members of law enforcement, including police officers, firefighters, California Highway Patrol officers, FBI agents and others, officials said.

A valid photo ID must be presented in person to receive complimentary admission. Eligible personnel can also bring up to four guests, who will each receive 25% off regular tramway admission prices, according to officials.

“First responders are the cornerstone of every community. We greatly appreciate the dedication of all first responders and the work they put in every day to keep our communities safe,” Tramway manager Nancy Nichols said. “We hope a trip to the tramway will provide a fun and enjoyable experience forfirst responders and their families to explore our beautiful mountain.”  

A full list of qualifying agencies is available at www.pstramway.com/tram-news-2/.  

For more information, call 888-515-8726.

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Shay Lawson

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ)  –  Local LGBTQ+ and civil rights organizations are gathering Thursday night in Palm Springs to discuss Executive Order 14168 and what they call a rise in transphobia across California and the nation.

The order titled, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” was issued by President Donald Trump on January 20, 2025, at the start of his second term.

The order says federal policies must recognize the biological differences between men and women, rejecting the idea that people can self-identify their sex. 

It aims to roll back transgender inclusive policies by requiring agencies to base rules and programs on biological sex, not gender identity and end the federal funding of gender ideology.

The event is by Transgender Health & Wellness Center at the Mizell Center from 6 to 7:30 p.m. 

Stay with News Channel 3 for an inside look of the meeting. 

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Haley Meberg

PALM DESERT, Calif. (KESQ)– A Cathedral City man was arrested on suspicion of stealing and using fraudulent checks from his former 90-year-old employer. 

The Cathedral City man, 31, was arrested and booked in connection to first-degree burglary, embezzlement of more than $400, check fraud and committing a felony while out on bail for a prior offense, before being released on bail Thursday morning.

Riverside County Sheriff’s Office (RSO) reports that on January 23, they received a call from the 90-year-old victim reporting fraud occurring within her checking account.

An investigation revealed the alleged burglary took place following the hiring of the suspect in December 2024, for unspecified work at the victims’ home. 

RSO reports the accused was taken into custody without incident on Wednesday and booked into the Benoit Detention Center in Indio, before being released on $55,000 bail Thursday.  

No further information on the incident has been released at this time. Anyone with additional information is urged to contact Deputy Pouchoulen at the Palm Desert station at 760-836-1600.

The accused is set to be back in court for this incident on August 29. 

Stay with News Channel 3 for more information.

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Haley Meberg

WASHINGTON, D.C. (KESQ)– Congressman Ken Calvert (CA-41) introduces a new “Bill to Outlaw Wounding of Official Working Animals Act,” called the BOWOW Act, protecting animals used by federal law enforcement agencies. 

The BOWOW Act would make the assault of an animal used by federal law enforcement a deportable offense under Section 237(a)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. It would also make applicants with such offenses on their record inadmissible to the U.S. under Section 212(a)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

This act came in response to an incident that occurred in June, where an immigrant from Egypt assaulted a Customs and Border Patrol agriculture detector dog who had detected prohibited items in the luggage. 

Freddie, Customs and Border Patrol agriculture detector beagle, detected the prohibited items in a luggage at Dulles Airport before being assaulted by the offender. 

“The dogs and horses are on the front lines of our federal law enforcement efforts alongside our officers and deserve our protection,” said Rep. Calvert. “The BOWOW Act sends a clear message that we will stand up for our four-legged friends and have zero tolerance for any immigrants who assault them. Animals, like Freddie, work every day to keep Americans safe – we owe it to Freddie to do our best to keep him safe too.”

Stay with News Channel 3 for more information.

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Haley Meberg

UPDATE 7/29/25 10:17 AM- Riverside Sherriff’s Office has identified the two victims in the double-fatal crash that occurred the morning of Thursday, July 24.

It is reported by the RSO and CHP that the two victims were David Lynch, 68, and Kimberly Lynch, 65, who were traveling westbound on I-10 near the Cactus City rest stop before their car overturned.

The two individuals were pronounced dead at the scene and authorities began an investigation.

The cause of the incident has not been determined at this time.

UPDATE 7/24 4:40 PM- CHP reports all lanes have been reopened on I-10 Eastbound following Thursday morning double-fatal car crash.

CACTUS CITY, Calif. (KESQ)– CHP is investigating a double-fatal car crash that occurred on eastbound I-10 early Thursday morning. 

California Highway Patrol reports that at approximately 9:58 a.m., a 2002 Ford pick-up truck was driving in the #2 lanes going eastbound on I-10 near the Cactus City Rest Area before overturning onto the right shoulder. 

CHP reported that following the crash, the vehicle was engulfed in flames causing the two individuals inside the car to succumb to the injuries at the scene. 

CHP has shared that #2 and #3 lanes on I-10 Eastbound are closed while officers investigate the crash.

At this time the cause of the incident is unknown. We have reached out to CHP for more information.

Stay with News Channel 3 for more updates. 

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Kendall Flynn

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) — Tahquitz Creek tails are set to get major landscaping upgrades with hundreds of trees, plans and more. The Palm Springs City Council approved plans for $690,000 in upgrades, a project that’s been in the works since the master plan was approved in 2010.

The fresh landscape will be planted along the wash, between South Sunset Way and South Palm Canyon Drive. The project funding comes from Measure J tax, specifically coming from the tax portion dedicated to projects originating from local community groups.

Stay with News Channel 3 to hear from Palm Springs officials on this project and local groups who advocated its necessity.

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Garrett Hottle

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) From streamlining clinical trials to pinning down new candidates for drugs in record time, artificial intelligence is fast rewriting the pharmaceutical industry playbook.

To get a better sense of what’s going on behind the scenes, News Channel 3 sat down with Christian Olsen, Strategy VP of Dotmatics, a worldwide research software business that serves more than two million scientists worldwide.

“AI and machine learning are technology that we’re using to be force multipliers in the research and discovery space,” Olsen said. “They let us connect sophisticated data, uncover patterns that we might’ve otherwise missed, and make better hypotheses more quickly.”

Dotmatics builds software that helps researchers organize and analyze vast amounts of biological and chemical data, especially in early-stage drug development. But as Olsen pointed out, AI is notreplacing researchers it’s enhancing their ability to do the work.

“We’re taking a conservative approach. Because at the end of the day, even if AI suggests something promising, it still has to be tested and validated in the lab,” he said. “Biology is complex—and sometimes the tech gets it wrong.”

The fears of artificial intelligence in medicine are more prevalent as products become a subject of general conversation. Olsen mentioned a potential disadvantage of too much dependence on conclusions created from AI, mentioning recent high-profile cases ofhallucinated sources in academic papers.

“If all you relied upon was that, then yeah—the fears are well-founded,” Olsen said. “That’s why experimental validation is so critical. You have to see the science work with your own eyes.”

Further down the line, Olsen thinks that the real revolutionizer is what he terms the broad digital revolution going on within research organizations loosening up data from secluded silos into systems where applications of AI can get to work.

“We are engaged with companies actively in that transition,” said Olsen. “And that doesn’t happenovernight. But when it’s in place, it unlocks a vast amount of what’s possible.”

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Athena Jreij

INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – Federal cuts to SNAP under the Senate reconciliation bill could increase traffic to local food banks as more Valley residents lose access to affordable groceries, officials say.

The Congressional Budget Office projects over $186 billion could be cut in SNAP benefits over the next decade. It’s a nearly 20% cut that Debbie Espinosa with FIND Food Bank says they’ll be feeling as more clients walk in needing support.

“We’re projecting more people coming to the food bank because of the SNAP cuts and the Medicaid cuts that are happening. A lot of the times, people that are food insecure are also medically insecure, too, because they struggle paying for their health care bills,” Espinosa said.

For one local senior living community, they fear what the rollbacks could mean for their financial security.

“There’s not a single cut that won’t affect us down the road. Everybody in this building is on Social Security. So that’s definitely a concern of us. Everybody here is on Medicare. A lot of people use SNAP benefits, and we don’t know what’s going to happen with that,” Bryan de Simas said. 

While De Simas says he gets little from SNAP, he worries what the snaps could do to less-privileged neighbors.

“I get a little but every bit helps and I’m fighting more for people who can’t fight. I mean, there’s people in this building who can’t even get out of their apartments,” he said. 

According to a 2020 Desert Healthcare District & Foundation community health survey, the Coachella Valley’s low-income communities could suffer the most. Data from 2020 found Indio Hills and Desert Hot Springs had the highest percentage of households receiving SNAP benefits, at 23.9% and 17.8%. When considering households that had children and were receiving SNAP, those margins increase, with 100% of Bermuda Dunes households and 92% of households in Oasis receiving benefits.

Espinosa says they’re already preparing for this impact, by increasing outreach to local donors and supporters.

“In California, we are projecting that there’s going to be over 395,000 people that are affected by these cuts. We have to be preemptive. We have to be strategic. We have to be able to build up our resources now. So when it happens, we’re already prepared as opposed to being behind and trying to make up.” 

FIND is confident they’ll support the community through this rough patch, but are asking anyone who can to also contribute to the solution.

“We require food, friends meaning volunteers and funds, so we can maintain our resources.”

If you’re interested in volunteering with FIND, visit: findfoodbank.org/get-involved/volunteer/

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