Julia Castro
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) — North Gene Autry Trail has reopened after being closed Friday morning due to low visibility caused by blowing sand through the Whitewater Wash.
The temporary closure affected the stretch between Salvia Road and East Via Escuela.
Other nearby Whitewater Wash crossings, including Indian Canyon Drive and Vista Chino, remain open
Allie Anthony
As summer temperatures rise, your electric bill might too.
Dan Cornelius from Dan Only HVAC recommends setting your thermostat to 78 degrees and keeping it running. Using a smart thermostat, closing blinds during the day, and running ceiling or floor fans can all help keep your space cooler without relying solely on your AC.
Keeping your AC unit in good shape is just as important. Regular maintenance, like cleaning or replacing filters, shading the outdoor unit, and scheduling professional tune-ups can help your system run more efficiently and lower your energy bills over time.
Another way to save money is through incentives and rebates through the Imperial Irrigation District or Southern California Edison.
Stay with News Channel 3 today for more money saving advice.
Athena Jreij
MECCA, Calif. (KESQ) — The woman who says she notified authorities about multiple illegal growing farms, leading to a raid and the arrest of 70 undocumented workers, is now speaking out.
Perla Verduzco says the three farms targeted in Thermal and Mecca earlier this week were hotbeds for human trafficking and illegal growing.
“It’s owned by a Chinese guy that pays bail bonds or brings them illegally from China, and he puts them to work in the marijuana cultivation.”
Verduzco says many of those detained are her own neighbors who she witnessed by abused by farm leaders for years.
“The manager from the resort, he likes to take advantage of his people like he yells at them. He treats them really bad and they let him treat them however he wants because he tells them that he’s going to call immigration on them, or that he’s going to kick them out,” she said.
She also claims the investigation into the farms was ongoing for years, and that she reported the working conditions after a manager at her mobile home park called immigration enforcement on her husband. Verduzco added those leaders put pressure on her to move out of the park.
While officials have stood by the response, some community leaders have questioned if the use of militarized personnel was too extreme.
Coachella Mayor Steven Hernandez has been outspoken against recent immigration raids in the valley.
“We’ve seen marijuana raids happen throughout the Coachella Valley, but I’ve never seen a 500-person crew go into a marijuana field, and do such an operation,” Hernandez said.
Authorities have been clear it was a DEA operation, but immigration enforcement was called to detain those without proper documentation.
Still, ICE or not, Hernandez says the fear it’s instilled in the community is the same.
“The goal was to create a presence and create fear and, I think mission accomplished on their end.”
CNN Newsource
By Devan Cole, CNN
(CNN) — A federal appeals court is allowing President Donald Trump to maintain control over thousands of members of California’s National Guard.
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request from Trump to lift, for now, a lower-court ruling that had required the president to relinquish control of roughly 4,000 guardsmen from the Golden State that he had federalized to beef up security in Los Angeles amid unrest over immigration enforcement.
The court said in an unsigned ruling “that it is likely that the President lawfully exercised his statutory authority” under the federal law he invoked to federalize the guardsmen earlier this month, rejecting arguments pushed by California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom that Trump had violated federal law when he seized control of part of his state’s militia.
The panel of judges who issued Thursday’s ruling is comprised of two Trump appointees and an appointee of former President Joe Biden.
Last week, US District Judge Charles Breyer directed the president to relinquish control of the guardsmen after concluding that Trump had violated several provisions of the law he leaned on in order to take control of the troops, including one that requires presidents to issue an order “through the governor” when they want to federalize state troops.
The appeals court briefly put Breyer’s ruling on hold shortly after it was issued, and Thursday’s ruling from the 9th Circuit extends that pause while the legal challenge plays out. California has the option of asking the Supreme Court to step in on an emergency basis.
Though the ruling hands a significant loss to Newsom, the appeals court still rebuffed some of the arguments Justice Department lawyers had presented to the judges earlier this week, including that courts lacked authority to second-guess a president’s determination that certain requisite factual predicates had been met to justify his decision to invoke the law at issue in the case.
But the court concluded that its “review of that decision must be highly deferential” to the commander in chief.
“Under a highly deferential standard of review, Defendants have presented facts to allow us to conclude that the President had a colorable basis for invoking” the law, the judges said in the ruling, going on to note that some protesters in California had targeted federal property or agents. “Those activities significantly impeded the ability of federal officers to execute the laws,” the court said.
In leaning on the law, 10 USC 12406, Trump pointed in part to one provision of it that said a president can federalize a state’s National Guard if they are “unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”
The appeals court on Thursday also rejected another key argument California had made in its challenge to Trump’s actions: that he violated a procedural aspect of the law that requires presidents to issue an order “through the governor” when they want to federalize state troops. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave the state’s top general, not Newsom, Trump’s June 7 memo calling up members of the militia.
But since the California general is an “agent” of the governor, the appeals court said, Trump and Hegseth’s actions “likely met the procedural requirement.”
The ruling comes as the situation in Los Angeles has calmed significantly since last week, when the legal fracas over Trump’s decision to send troops to the streets of America’s second-largest city began after a weekend of unrest there.
Shortly after the court’s ruling, Trump boasted on his Truth Social platform, calling it a “BIG WIN” and insisting the decision means that “all over the United States, if our Cities, and our people, need protection, we are the ones to give it to them should State and Local Police be unable, for whatever reason, to get the job done.”
More legal wrangling over how Trump is actually using the guardsmen on the ground in Los Angeles is expected to continue during a hearing Breyer, of the federal court in San Francisco, has set for Friday afternoon.
This story and headline been updated with additional developments.
The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
Haley Meberg
SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KESQ)- This past Monday, U.S. Border Patrol agents and Homeland Security discovered the origin point of a sophisticated drug smuggling tunnel connecting Tijuana to the San Diego area.
In early April, U.S Border Patrol agents from the San Diego Sector Tunnel team uncovered a drug-smuggling tunnel that was actively under construction. They report that the tunnel was equipped with electrical wiring, lighting, ventilation systems and a running track that seems to be designed to transport large amounts of contraband.
This tunnel is said to have been incomplete but spanned over 1,000 feet into the U.S. with an exit that was projected to connect to a commercial warehouse space based on the initial evidence.
The tunnel itself was measured by authorities and spans 2,918 feet in total and about 50 feet underground at its deepest point. Border Patrol, along with Homeland Security and the Government of Mexico, located the origin point of the tunnel to a residence in Nueva Tijuana. Following a warrant served by the Mexican authorities, it was revealed that the entry point had been freshly tiled over.
This was not the first obstacle that the agents faced. Upon their initial entry into the tunnel they were met with haphazardly placed barriers that were said to be placed in attempts to impede their progress.
“As we continue to strengthen the nation’s air and maritime border security, it’s not surprising that foreign terrorist organizations would resort to underground routes,” said Jeffrey D. Stalnaker, Acting Chief Patrol Agent of the San Diego Sector. “Disruption of narcotics smuggling tunnels is critical to protecting American lives. I’m grateful for the exceptional work of the Tunnel Team agents who placed themselves in danger, as well as the cooperation of our Mexican law enforcement partners.”
This tunnel is set to be filled with thousands of gallons of concrete to prevent the tunnel from use by Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
Since 1993, over 95 different tunnels have been uncovered and remediated in the San Diego area alone. In hopes of preventing the smuggling of human, drugs and other contraband the U.S Border Patrol is maintaining high vigilance along pathways away from the U.S border.
Jesus Reyes
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ) – Home prices dropped last month in Riverside County from $645,000 to $638,000 for an existing single-family home, as May’s sales pace fell 5.1% statewide, the California Association of Realtors announced.
Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 254,190 in May, the association said Wednesday. Last month’s sales pace fell 5.1% from the 267,710 homes sold in April and was down 4.0% from a year ago, when 264,850 homes were sold on an annualized basis.
May’s sales level statewide was the lowest in four months. The year- over-year decline was the largest since December 2023, and the monthly decline was the first in 17 months. Year-to-date sales barely exceeded the same time frame in 2024 and could dip below last year’s level in June if the market continues to lose momentum.
“With home prices leveling off and more homes coming onto the market, it’s a great time for well-qualified buyers to enter the market,” CAR President Heather Ozur said in a statement. “Lower prices are making homes more affordable, and the growing inventory means buyers have more choices. It’s a rare window where people can find their ideal home at a good value — making now an ideal time to buy.”
The CAR report found that sales of single-family homes in Riverside County dropped 2.5% from April to May, while prices decreased 1.1%. Home prices were $644,500 in May 2024.
Localized data is not seasonally adjusted, accounting for any discrepancies between their increases and the statewide decrease in sales.
After recording a new high in April, the California median price pulled back in May but remained above the $900,000 benchmark. Last month’s median price of $900,170 declined 1.1% from April and was down 0.9% from $908,000 in May 2024. The monthly decline was below the historical average of the 1.2% increase recorded between April and May.
The statewide median price decline can be attributed to multiple factors including elevated interest rates, insurance availability/affordability, economic uncertainty and home sellers’ willingness to reduce prices.
Home prices will likely come down further from April’s record high as the market enters the second half of the year. Seasonality will play a role in the price moderation, and an increase in housing supply will also relieve upward price pressure.
“Although the market has slowed in recent months, there’s potential for a rebound if economic concerns subside,” said CAR Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Jordan Levine. “Consumer sentiment appears to have bottomed out and is now showing signs of improvement, which could support astronger housing market in the second half of the year. Buyers may take advantage of improved conditions, including deeper price reductions and increased housing inventory.”
Garrett Hottle
THERMAL, Calif. (KESQ) The Drug Enforcement Administration says Wednesday’s large-scale operation was aimed at illegal marijuana grows near Thermal, involving roughly 500 federal agents and covering more than 700 acres across the eastern Coachella Valley. Authorities say they arrested 70 to 75 undocumented migrants and one U.S. citizen for obstructing law enforcement, and said the number of arrest was preliminary information, subject to change.
1) Today, DEA LA Field Division (Riverside DO), with crucial support from multiple federal partners, executed search warrants at multiple illegal #marijuana grow operations. The investigation resulted in several arrests. One trailer was padlocked with 2 people inside. @DEAHQhttps://x.com/DEALOSANGELES/status/1935558820014809383
Coachella Mayor Steven Hernandez said the operation spanned far beyond the reported raid site, with federal agents seen throughout Mecca, Thermal, and even Coachella itself.
it didn’t happen just in, you know, the area where they said they were at,” Mayor Hernandez said. “It happened throughout the eastern Coachella Valley, and it happened in, thermal Oasis, Mecca, all throughout. Even in Coachella, they rode heavy through Coachella.”
Screengrab of viewer video taken at Oasis Park and Ave. 76 on Wednesday.
News Channel 3 received multiple viewer videos showing multiple law enforcement en-mass at sites across the Coachella Valley on Wednesday.
Screengrab of viewer video from Wednesday off of Buchanan and 62nd street.
But it wasn’t just the arrests drawing attention it was who showed up: agents from ICE, Border Patrol, the National Guard, and unmarked military-style vehicles. For Mayor Hernandez, the scope and scale of the operation was something unseen in his time in the Coachella Valley.
“I’ve never seen a 500 person crew, go into a marijuana field, and do such an operation,” he said. “I’ve never heard of it in the state of California. I’ve never heard of it in Riverside County. I’ve heard of 100, I’ve heard of 50, I’ve heard of large operations…And then I’ve also heard of, you know, when they actually let the local community know.”
He criticized the lack of communication from federal agencies, saying his office were never notified, and the matter has left some in the community gripped with fear.
“Very sad, very terrifying,” he explained. “A lot of fear. You know, the militarization of the approaches, the tactics. the goal was to create a presence and to, create fear and I think mission accomplished on their end. People were hiding in the fields in 115-degree heat,” Mayor Hernandez said. “Families didn’t know what was happening. It caused chaos.”
The DEA insists this was not an immigration enforcement action. But Hernandez, along with community advocates and some elected officials, questioned that distinction citing the visible ICE presence and the fact that the overwhelming majority of those arrested were undocumented.
“The facts speak for themselves,” Hernandez said. “If it wasn’t about immigration, why were 75 migrants taken?”
Asked about post on social media from residents and some elected officials describing the operation as an “ICE Raid” despite the DEA stating the operation was not an immigration enforcement action, Hernandez said it comes down to communication.
“Look, I think when there is a lack of communication,” Mayor Hernandez explained. “When the federal government and government is not communicating, then people are going to react the way they’re going to react. And you know, what we’ve seen across the US and what we’ve seen across California is that there is a lot of passion on both sides mobilizing and speaking out.”
Tune into News Channel Three at 4pm, 5pm, 6pm, and 6:30pm to hear more from Mayor Hernandez.
Athena Jreij
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) — In honor of Juneteenth, Oscar’s in Palm Springs is ringing in the cultural holiday with a celebration hosted by Sunset Music & Education Foundation, Juneteenth: The Fight for Freedom.
From 5-7 p.m., the free event will feature a panel, live music, and entertainment. According to organizers, the event is sold out.
It’s not the only celebration in Palm Springs. Villagefest will also celebrate the holiday from 7-9 p.m. with free paints and crafts.
Tune in tonight from 4:30-6 p.m. for live coverage of the events.
For more information on the celebration, visit: https://gaydesertguide.com/events/juneteenth-the-fight-for-freedom-oscars/
