Category: kesq-local-news

Jesus Reyes

INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – Indio City Manager Jonathan Nicks has been appointed as the City Manager of Bell Gardens.

The city of Bell Gardens announced Nicks’ hiring on Thursday after being approved by its city council earlier this week.

Nicks is set to assume his responsibilities in Bell Gardens on January 4, 2027. He will have a three-year term with optional two one-year extensions and an annual base salary of $316,380.

A spokesperson for the city of Indio confirmed Nicks will continue to serve as City Manager through the end of the year.

Nicks was appointed Indio City Manager in May, taking over for Bryan Montgomery, who retired in the summer. Nicks spent the past two years as Indio’s assistant manager.

Stay with News Channel 3 for any new developments.

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City News Service

THERMAL, Calif. (KESQ) – After elevated levels of arsenic in the drinking water system at Oasis Mobile Home Park in Thermal had plagued residents’ lives for numerous years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency made a final delivery of bottled water to residents this week.

The agency stated it was “prepared to make a determination” that water was safe to drink, and intended to lift the emergency administrative order’s water requirement.

The EPA issued a public notice online on Oct. 16 stating that lab analysis of collected sample results at the drinking water treatment facility revealed arsenic levels since 2023 were consistently at or below the maximum containment level of 10 parts per billion in compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act.

“Based on these sampling results, EPA is prepared to make a determination that arsenic levels in the Oasis drinking water system no longer pose an imminent and substantial endangerment to the public health of Oasis drinking water consumers,” the agency stated. “EPA is also prepared to make a determination that residents may consume the water for drinking, cooking, bathing and brushing teeth.”

A spokesperson for the EPA told City News Service that the EPA will continue to exercise oversight over drinking water maintenance, operations and future improvements. Additionally, the California State Water Resources Control Board’s Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience Program made the final scheduled delivery of bottled waters to residents this week.

The mobile home park, located at 88740 70th Ave., within the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian Tribe’s reservation, had received three emergency administrative orders issued by the EPA between 2019 to 2021 for high levels of arsenic. In 2019, arsenic levels ranged from 16 ppb to 97 ppb from the groundwater that had naturally occurring arsenic.

Arsenic was described by the agency as a carcinogen that can cause lung, bladder and skin cancers as well as heart disease, diabetes and neurological damage.

After more than dozens of residents have moves out in previous years and a lawsuit to the park operators, Oasis park addressed the issue, including upgrades to its treatment system, adjusted treated water chemistry, installed new water storage tanks and maintained a consistent monthly flushing program through its fire hydrants, according to the EPA website.

More information can be found at https://www.epa.gov/pacific-southwest-media-center/oasis-mobile-home-park.

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Peter Daut

THOUSAND PALMS, Calif. (KESQ) – Israel is facing political uncertainty following a closely watched election with questions about who will lead the country next.

In an exclusive interview, we spoke today with Danny Labin, CEO of the Jewish Federation of the Desert, who is in Israel right now. Labin shared his firsthand perspective on the political climate and what the uncertainty could mean for the country’s future.

He also discussed how events in Israel are resonating with Jewish communities here in the Coachella Valley and across the globe.

“There was so much passion at the polls. No matter what people’s voting preferences were, people showed up, took part in the democratic process. And nearly 100,000 Israeli citizens from around the world came back to vote, because there is no absentee voting in Israel. And many people found it very important to come and cast their vote,” Labin said.

Labin says the connection between Israel and the Jewish community here in the desert remains strong.

For more on the Jewish Federation of the Desert, click here

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City News Service

PALM DESERT (CNS) – Students at the Cal State San Bernardino Palm Desert campus can directly engage with employers in different career fields as part of an initiative to help them gain insight into different career environments, skills and experiences, it was announced today.

Work Local Industry Immersion Days connects students with local organizations to learn about career pathways, hiring processes, industry trends and helps students explore career opportunities in the region.

“Work Local is about creating direct pathways between our students and the communities in which they live and aspire to work,” Oscar Fonseca, career readiness program coordinator at the Palm Desert campus, said in a statement. “Industry Immersion Days give students the opportunity to see what careers look like in practice, ask questions of professionals and make informed decisions about their next steps.”

Officials said the program has taken place at Altus Schools Coachella Valley, Coachella Valley Unified School District and Palm Springs Unified School District during the fall 2026 semester, with additional dates scheduled for the spring 2027 semester.

“When students have opportunities to engage directly with local educators and employers, they begin to see themselves not just as college students preparing for the future, but as emerging professionals who have something meaningful to contribute to their own communities,” Amanda Reigle, a faculty member at the Palm Desert campus, said in a statement.

More information about the initiative is available at https://www.csusb.edu/career-center/worklocal.

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City News Service

INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – Three young men who opened fire on a crowded Thermal home, unleashing numerous rounds in a drive-by attack that continued after sheriff’s deputies arrived, were sentenced today.

Eric Orozco Diaz, Guillermo Alexander Martinez and Gustavo Isbojet Barrera Pena, all 19 and from the eastern Coachella Valley, pleaded guilty in August to 16 counts of firearm assault, two counts of recklessly discharging a gun and one count each of shooting at an occupied dwelling and firing from a moving vehicle.

The defendants’ pleas were directly to Riverside County Superior Court Judge Susanne Cho, without pretrial negotiation between the defense and District Attorney’s Office.

During a hearing Thursday afternoon at the Larson Justice Center in Indio, Cho sentenced Martinez to the longest prison term — 11 years — while Diaz and Pena were each sentenced to eight years behind bars.

The men were arrested last December following a sheriff’s investigation.

The victims at the Thermal property include nine men and five women.

Sgt. Jarred Bishop said that shortly before 10 p.m. on Dec. 5, the defendants drove to a house in the 88000 block of Avenue 70, near Fillmore Street, and cut loose with a volley of shots at the property, not hitting anyone inside.

The victims called 911, and several patrol units reached the location a short time later.

“While on scene, a vehicle drove onto the street, and an occupant fired multiple rounds in the direction of deputies, striking one of the patrol vehicles,” the sergeant said. “No deputies were injured.”

They also didn’t shoot back, but instead gave chase as the vehicle sped away.

“Deputies pursued the suspect vehicle but lost sight of it,” Bishop said. “A short time later, they located an abandoned vehicle matching the suspect vehicle, (which was parked) in the 63000 block of Landon Lane.”

That’s roughly 10 miles northwest of where the shooting occurred.

Bishop said a search of the location after midnight on Dec. 6 resulted in contact with Pena, who tried to run away but was quickly apprehended without further incident.

Two days later, Diaz and Martinez were also taken into custody after they were summoned and questioned at the sheriff’s station on Airport Boulevard in Thermal.

A possible motive for the attack wasn’t disclosed.

The defendants had no documented prior felony convictions in county adult court.

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Jesus Reyes

COACHELLA, Calif. (KESQ) – With election day just days away, voters in Coachella will soon decide who will lead their city for the next two years.

Four candidates are seeking the mayor’s seat, each with their own ideas about what needs to change and how to move the city forward. On Wednesday, News Channel 3 spoke with some of the candidates about their priorities.

Incumbent Mayor Dr. Frank Figueroa is running for reelection and joins us live in studio at 4:00 p.m. to discuss his record, the challenges facing Coachella, and why he wants another term.

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City News Service

LOS ANGELES (KESQ) – A Los Angeles federal judge granted a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from conducting suspicionless and racially discriminatory immigration stops across Southern California, court papers obtained today show.

U.S. District Judge Maame Frimpong also partly certified a class of individuals who have been affected by the practice.

Following evidence presented in the case, the court order prohibits defendants from enforcing the policy and practice of conducting detention stops in the Central District of California based on racial stereotyping except when such a stop is conducted at a port of entry, checkpoint or other functional equivalent of the border.

The ruling applies to the Central District of California, which includes the seven counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura.

The order was issued Friday, but largely sealed from public view until the following week.

The order specifies that in developing reasonable suspicion, “an immigration agent or officer must consider the totality of circumstances and may not rely solely on apparent status as low-income or working-class and Latino, even when an identified target is allegedly low-income or working-class and Latino.”

Evidence showed federal agents were carrying out an ongoing campaign of warrantless and discriminatory immigration enforcement stops in the region since the summer of 2025.

The request for a preliminary injunction stemmed from a case in which residents, Latino workers and immigration advocacy groups sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, alleging unconstitutional detention practices.

According to the ACLU of Southern California, which is representing plaintiffs in the case, the Trump administration is targeting “people who appear Latino and low-income or working-class.”

In a video discussed in the plaintiffs’ motion for a block on the alleged stops, a DHS agent is captured saying to another: “Yeah, just plug us in wherever you see some tonks,” while other agents guessed whether people were “wet” simply based on appearance.

The complaint says “tonks” is a derogatory and violent term understood to refer to the sound of a flashlight striking a migrant’s head. “Wet” is short for “wetback” and is a racist slur historically directed at Mexican and other Latino immigrants crossing the Rio Grande.

In response to the suit, the DHS has frequently insisted federal agents in the field are operating within the law to protect American citizens.

“Our agents are focused on protecting the American people — not entertaining performative outrage,” according to a statement from DHS. “Where is the media’s outrage for Angel families who lost a loved one to illegal alien crime?”

“Angel families” refers to the relatives of those killed by undocumented individuals present in the United States.

Frimpong heard arguments in September in Los Angeles federal court.

“This order recognizes that the armed goons who targeted and abducted Latino community members in Southern California were in fact simply racially profiling as many people as they could get handcuffs on, a practice that violates multiple provisions of the U.S. Constitution,” Mohammad Tajsar, director of immigrants’ rights at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, said in a statement.

“Having spent more than a year amassing reams of evidence of widespread illegal behavior, we will now closely monitor compliance with this court order to make sure we end this project of racist immigration enforcement once and for all.”

The July motion for restrictions on immigration stops includes body camera footage and depositions of federal agents as part of evidence ordered by Frimpong after the U.S. Supreme Court stayed an earlier temporary restraining order last year which allowed the challenged practices to continue unabated.

Plaintiffs argue the Constitution prohibits law enforcement from using race as a substitute for individualized suspicion. The motion alleges the stops violate both the Fourth Amendment and the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection.

“For over a year, agents have been showing up at car washes and taking people without a warrant, never asking whether they have a family and a home to return to,” said Flor Melendrez, executive director of CLEAN Carwash Worker Center, a member of the Los Angeles Worker Center Network, a plaintiff in the case.

“The law requires more than a biased guess about someone’s status, and today the court made the government follow it. Our community fought for this protection, and we will hold the government to it on every street and at every car wash.”

County Board of Supervisors Chair Hilda Solis also applauded the ruling.

“Today’s ruling confirms what we have known to be true: The Trump administration’s federal immigration enforcement has violated the law by making racially discriminatory stops in Southern California to unlawfully detain individuals,” Solis said in a statement.

“Over the last year and a half, federal immigration enforcement has terrorized communities, including residents in Los Angeles County, sowing fear and instability in the lives of working people and families,” she said. “The injunction set by the court’s decision recognizes the federal government’s insistence on an unlawful policy and a growing record of an administration that continues to find opportunity to undermine the constitutional rights of the people. While the ruling is being challenged again, Los Angeles County remains firmly committed to standing with Angelenos and their civil liberties.”

County Supervisor Janice Hahn also commended the ruling.

“ICE agents are not targeting violent criminals,” Hahn said in a statement. “They are racially profiling our Latino residents — grabbing people because of how they look, the way they speak or where they work. This is an assault on our entire Latino community and this federal judge cites a ‘mountain of evidence’ proving it.

“I welcome the judge’s order, but we all know that as long as ICE roams our streets, our residents’ rights will continue to be violated.”

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Jesus Reyes

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ) – The Justice Department’s emergency bid to stop California from processing more than 20,000 ballots from suspected non-citizens included more than 1,300 ballots in Riverside County.

In a letter dated Monday, Oct. 26, Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in the Los Angeles area, gave Riverside County Registrar of Voters Art Tinoco 48 hours to “commit to working with the DOJ and DHS to identify who on the accompanying list is a citizen and who is not.”

“For individuals whom citizenship status cannot be confirmed, we request that you immeditely instruct the appropriate elections official to segregate-not cancel-those individuals’ vote-by-mail ballots until their citizenship can be determined,” Essayli wrote.

Riverside County responded on Thursday through the Office of County Counsel, citing the logistical impossibility and the court rejecting the DOJ’s bid on Wednesday.

“In light of the Court’s order issued on October 28, 2026, and the logistical impossibility, the ROV is unable to segregate the 1,355 ballots of named individuals as requested,” writes a letter to Essayli from County Counsel.

Check Out: Congress members tour Riverside County Registrar ahead of Election Day

The DOJ sued California on Oct. 15, more than a week after mail ballots were sent to all registered voters, demanding it set aside 20,000 ballots from alleged non-citizens after the state refused to voluntarily sequester those votes.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter rejected the DOJ’s bid, saying it “would wreak havoc and disrupt the election that is already underway, create a chilling effect on election workers and voters alike, and discount the votes of United States citizens.”

“The Executive Branch cannot replace the remedy Congress carefully enacted with its own unlawful and unconstitutional solution instead. Eroded trust in our democracy is irreparable. Once a vote is segregated, lasting harm has occurred,” Carter wrote in a 26-page order Wednesday.. “If the Executive can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger. This Court declines to be a party to such process.”

The judge said election officials have until Dec. 3 — the date by which election results must be certified — to resolve the issue, suggesting there was no immediate need for a last-minute temporary restraining order.

The DOJ filed renewed its bid with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals late Wednesday, seeking a ruling by Friday.

In opposition to the administration’s TRO demand, Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan argued they lack the mechanisms and legal authority to freeze mail ballots until voters’ citizenship can be verified.

“Voting is already underway in Los Angeles County,” the motion states. “Ballots have been mailed, returned and processed, and election officials are working toward fixed deadlines for counting and certification. Plaintiff United States of America, through the Department of Justice … now asks this court to interrupt that work and enjoin the withholding of 20,000 registered California voters’ ballots pending investigation based solely on an unreliable voter roll maintenance list.”

Weber’s office said federal officials claimed in July that California had 190,000 non-citizens on its voter rolls. When her office asked for evidence, “They refused and provided California with nothing.”

The Trump administration has long alleged that large numbers of non- citizens were casting ballots in California and elsewhere, but officials have not provided proof or documentation of widespread fraud.

Also on Wednesday, the San Diego County Registrar of Voters refused a request from the DOJ to set aside the ballots of 1,709 San Diego County voters who federal officials allege are non-citizens.

A letter signed last week by San Diego U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon requested the ballots be left uncounted until the voters’ citizenship status could be verified, while hinting at “legal consequences” if votes ended up cast for non-citizens.

The Orange County Registrar of Voters told Essayli in a letter Wednesday that the federal government’s request of a list of 1,754 individuals prosecutors allege are likely non-citizens is “impracticable and potentially disenfranchising” because the election is already underway.

The letter from county counsel Leon Page said that latest demand was “vastly more expansive and burdensome” than last year’s request for confidential voter information, which was rejected by Carter and was being appealed.

Prosecutors demanded that the 1,754 potential votes be put aside and not counted, but the county has received more than 360,000 votes so far.

Page added, “There is currently no streamlined process established for flagging any of the 1,754 individuals that may appear in the (Orange County) voter database and segregating their ballots, and such a process would require substantial time and effort to develop, test and implement.”

Officials estimate it would take “several hundred man hours of effort” to do the work, Page said. And that’s aside from overseeing the election, he said.

Essayli has repeatedly threatened to prosecute election officials if they don’t meet the DOJ’s demands to set aside ballots until citizenship status is confirmed. “Knowingly processing non-citizen ballots is a federal crime … We will hold election officials accountable,” he recently posted on X. “No one is above the law.”

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Luis Avila

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ) — Three members of Congress visited the Riverside County Registrar of Voters on Thursday to get a firsthand look at how ballots are processed and protected ahead of the November 3 general election.

Congressman Dr. Raul Ruiz, Congresswoman Norma Torres and Congressman Mark Takano toured the county’s ballot processing center and spoke with local election officials about election security, voter protections and the process of counting ballots.

During the visit, Torres emphasized the importance of seeing election procedures firsthand, especially amid political rhetoric surrounding elections.

“It is one thing to hear political rhetoric and fear mongering surrounding our elections. It’s another thing to come here to see the process firsthand and hear directly from the people doing the job every day and that’s why congressional oversight matters,” Torres said.

Riverside County Supervisor Karen Spiegel said the county has made changes to its election operations based on feedback and past experiences.

“We hear the rhetoric and sometimes it’s out of not knowing and not knowing that we’ve growth, taken the information and utilized that to make ourselves better,” Spiegel said.

Ruiz also criticized claims of widespread voter fraud involving noncitizens, calling them false. He accused President Donald Trump of fueling doubts about elections and said Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco was contributing to those concerns.

“We have a president doing everything he can to sow confusion, distract and doubts on our election, and we have a sheriff who is doing everything he can to help him. Trump is spreading the lie of rampant voting fraud by noncitizens voting… that’s a lie,” Ruiz said.

Ruiz also addressed voter intimidation, saying voters who feel threatened should contact their local registrar of voters and the California Secretary of State.

“Intimidation is a tactic to suppress a vote. By law, if a person feels they are being intimidated to vote, they call the registrar’s office and the county needs to respond to that to secure the intimidation and the second thing is to call the Secretary of State,” Ruiz said.

He said public confidence in the election process is essential.

“To defend and protect our democracy, we need to have confidence. We need to trust the process,” Ruiz said.

Riverside County Registrar of Voters Art Tinoco and Assistant Registrar Matthew Ceballos also participated in the visit.

Stay with News Channel 3 for more.

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Garrett Hottle

LA QUINTA, Calif. (KESQ) Voters across most of the Coachella Valley are deciding whether to give the Desert Recreation District a new property tax: 5 cents per square foot of building, every year, with no end date.

Measure P is on the Nov. 3 ballot for voters in Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Indio and Coachella, and in unincorporated communities from Thousand Palms to the Salton Sea. A 2,000-square-foot home would pay $100 a year. The district estimates the tax would bring in $11.3 million a year. Because it is a special tax, it needs a two-thirds yes vote to pass, according to the resolution and ordinance the district’s board adopted unanimously in July.

The district says it needs the money. In its own analysis of the measure, it reports spending about $6.2 million a year more than it takes in, and it lists 15 sites it says it would close and 119 jobs it says would be lost if Measure P fails. Pawley Pool in Indio and the Palm Desert Community Center top the list.

Two valley council members who spoke with News Channel 3 on Thursday said they are voting no.

“There’s no plan for what they’re going to do with the money,” said La Quinta City Councilmember Steve Sanchez, who published an op-ed against the measure in September. “It’s basically saying, hey, give me more money. We’ll take care of things, don’t worry about it. And that’s not a plan. That’s a hope.”

Sanchez, who also sits on the Riverside County Local Agency Formation Commission and lost a bid for county supervisor in June, said the district should fix what he called “bad planning and poor management” before asking for a tax, and that any new tax should come with an end date.

Indio City Councilmember Glenn Miller said the district has not explained how it ended up with a deficit or what it would do with the money once the gap is closed.

“It’s just not a one-time tax. It’s going to be a tax that’s continually going forward,” Miller said. “The Desert Recreation District never came to me, none of their board members, to talk about why it was so important to them.”

Both said their cities run their own parks. Sanchez said the only service La Quinta contracts from the district is lifeguards and pool management at the city-owned Fritz Burns Pool. Miller said Indio funds and runs its own parks department, and that the district’s work matters most in unincorporated areas such as Thermal, Mecca, Oasis and Bermuda Dunes. The district owns Pawley Pool and the Indio Community Center, and its analysis shows Indio property is already covered by a separate district assessment capped at $54 a year.

The two differ on whether the district should exist. Miller said it should, mainly to serve county areas, and that the county and cities would fund programs “with or without the rec district.” Sanchez has written that a separate regional recreation district may no longer be needed and has asked LAFCO to review the district’s structure.

On jobs, Sanchez called the district’s warnings “a false narrative” and “a scare tactic” and said a district board member told a recent meeting there would be no layoffs. News Channel 3 has not confirmed that account. Miller said he has asked the district for its job numbers and has not received them. He said Pawley Pool, named for a former Indio mayor, is “in disrepair,” and that the city is looking at building a pool at what he called the city’s “super park.”

The district’s own documents point to a structural problem. Its district-wide assessment is $9.90 per parcel a year and does not rise with inflation, and the district says district-wide maintenance costs more than four times what the assessment brings in. The district has been covering the difference with more of its own money each year, from about $583,000 three years ago to $4.16 million last year. Its most recent audit shows about $17 million in reserves. The district’s staff grew from 343 employees in 2021 to 482 in 2024, and payroll rose from about $7 million to more than $9 million over that period, according to its filings. It also owes a $5.2 million payment in March on money it borrowed to build Thermal Community Park.

Two weeks ago the district’s board voted to remove Giovanna Healy as board president after she said publicly she could not get financial information from staff. General Manager Gabriel Martin disputed her account. Healy remains on the board and voted in July to place Measure P on the ballot.

The district has tried this before. In November 2022 it asked Indio voters for a tax of 7 cents per square foot and Cathedral City voters for 15 cents. Both measures won majorities of about 54% and both fell short of two-thirds.

If Measure P passes, the tax would first appear on property tax bills in fall 2027. It applies to parcels with buildings the county assessor values above $50,000, with a 500-square-foot minimum and a 250,000-square-foot cap.

Homeowners 65 and older who live in their homes and meet the federal very-low-income limit can apply for an exemption.

The money goes into a separate account and an independent auditor reports to the board each year. The measure does not create a citizens’ oversight committee. It stays in place until voters repeal it, which would take another two-thirds vote.

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