Category: kyma-local-news

Carolina Garcia

BRAWLEY, Calif. (KYMA) – A cancer awareness walk dedicated to both women and men will take place this Saturday in Brawley,

The event is organized by Comité Acción del Valle, and it marks the first time the organization has held the walk since it was founded three years ago.

Organizers said they launched the initiative to address the challenges farmworkers face when dealing with cancer.

“After the events, there will be a brief gathering with snacks and appetizers, and people facing cancer who wish to share their life story with this disease will also have the opportunity,” said Rubén Partida, the organization’s director.

The event is free and will begin at 6:45 a.m. at White Cross Pharmacy on Main Street. They will also feature a Zumba class and a nutrition workshop for cancer patients.

Click here to follow the original article.

Skylar Heisey

IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif. (KYMA) – Imperial County Public Health officials are warning residents about mosquitoes that can transmit disease-causing viruses.

Aedes aegypti mosquitoes have been detected in several locations, including Calexico, Brawley and Heber.

The mosquitoes can transmit viruses that cause diseases such as dengue.

The Imperial County Public Health Department is urging residents to remove standing water around their homes, wear loose-fitting, long-sleeved shirts and pants, and apply insect repellent.

If anyone notices unusually high mosquito activity around their home, contact the county’s Vector Control Program.

To learn more about this, read the press release, written in English and Spanish, below.

NR_ Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes_ English Version_102226Download NR_ Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes_ Spanish Version_102226Download

Click here to follow the original article.

Lynette Niebla

HEBER, Calif. (KYMA) – A local community proved that when one of their own is in the fight of his life, he will never have to fight alone.

Over the weekend, neighbors, staff, and students from Heber Elementary School turned a local street into a massive celebration of love and resilience for 12-year-old Xavier Guereña, a student currently undergoing intense cancer treatments.

Guereña was diagnosed with cancer in June of this year. Because of his aggressive treatment schedule, he has been unable to attend classes.

Missing school didn’t mean his school family forgot about him, however. Instead, they brought the entire school spirit straight to his front door to celebrate his birthday.

The quiet neighborhood was suddenly filled with the vibrant sounds of the Heber Elementary Drumline, playing out in full force to lift the young boy’s spirits.

Classmates from Guereña’s sixth grade class lined the street holding colorful handmade posters, eventually presenting him and his family with special gift baskets.

The emotional display of unity left an impression on everyone in attendance, from the young students to top district leaders.

“Obviously, it’s emotional. It’s one of our students, and we just wanna show him our love,” said Juan Cruz, Heber Elementary School District Superintendent. “I’m very grateful to the staff, to the students that are here, [and] to the family for working with us. But it is emotional because we care.”

School board leaders noted that the gathering was a real-world lesson in empathy for the students participating.

“We’re trying to build the next generation of leaders in our community, and sometimes that means just being a genuine good person,” said Tony Sandoval, Heber Elementary School Board Member. “Watching our students come out after school and be with the family, just showing that care and that compassion.”

Those who know Guereña describe him as an energetic, sweet, and kind-hearted boy with a deep passion for baseball. He is known throughout the school as an avid, die-hard fan of the San Diego Padres.

Because he is a member of the community, school leaders emphasized that their support extends far beyond a single afternoon.

“He’s not just a student, he is part of our families,” said Matthew Kaste, Heber Elementary School Principal. “And so we’re going to be here to support him throughout this process…not just today, but for the rest of his journey and healing, hopefully.”

Following a powerful, community-wide prayer circle right in front of his home, the day wrapped up with an unexpected, major league twist.

Ruben Niebla, an Imperial Valley native and current Pitching Coach and Associate Manager for the San Diego Padres, sent a personalized video message directly to the young fan.

“Hey Xavier, Ruben Niebla here, pitching coach for the San Diego Padres,” Niebla said in the video message. “Heard you’re a big San Diego Padres fan, so just wanted to give you a quick message and let you know that we’re all pulling for you, man. You’ve got friends, family, community pulling for you, rooting for you, praying for you…so keep fighting, man. And as always, go Padres.”

Though the road ahead remains tough for the 12-year-old, the Heber community made one thing perfectly clear: Guereña has an entire village, and a Major League team, backing him every single step of the way.

Click here to follow the original article.

Adrik Vargas

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) – Scouting Arizona and the Grand Canyon Council honored two Yuma men for their decades of service to the Boy Scouts.

According to Scouting Arizona, they honored Harold Maxwell and Pastor Vince Harman during the annual Trail of Leadership event Thursday at Elks Lodge #476.

The Trail of Leadership, according to the organization, is to raise support for their programs “that help young people build confidence, develop character and serve their communities.”

The organization said Maxwell’s commitment to the Scouts spanned for decades as it is part of his family’s legacy.

Meanwhile, the organization said Pastor Harman’s commitment to Scouts started over 30 years when his church, Christ Lutheran Church, opened its doors to the Boys Scouts of America as a charter organization.

Since then, the organization said Harman “helped make the church an important home and resource for local Scouting families.”

Click here to follow the original article.

Lauren Duffel

WINTERHAVEN, Calif. (KYMA) – “Scalped” is how Imperial County District 5 Supervisor John Hawk said he felt after meeting with Quechan tribal members.

They were advocating for their community regarding the Picacho Bridge, which is still in need of repair and remains closed.

Supervisor Hawk made the remarks during an Imperial County Transportation Commission meeting this year.

Here’s exactly what he said: “A couple of public works workers and I went to meet with them about that, so we said we would be happy to meet with the tribe. There were 75 people there, and they took turns. I mean, it was brutal. We felt like we were scalped.”

Quechan tribal members have been raising concerns about the continued closure of the bridge.

They’re calling for the bridge to be repaired and requesting a formal, written apology to the tribal community, signed by the entire Board of Supervisors.

News 11 reached out to Hawk for comment, and we’re still waiting to hear back. Although, Imperial County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Peggy Price released a lengthy statement addressing the concerns and the respect of the Quechan community. You can read the full statement here.

Click here to follow the original article.

Abraham Retana

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) – Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) was in Yuma Thursday, campaigning with locals.

Rep. Biggs visited the Yuma County Republican Party headquarters.

He addressed the state’s main issues, and how he’ll include Yuma in his agenda if he’s elected as Arizona’s next governor.

“Yuma is incredibly important not only to the state but to the entire nation, national security, food security, and we need to make sure that Yuma’s water is protected and we are going to take care of that,” Biggs shared. “But more than that we are going to make sure that Yuma sits at the table on a lot of issues that come out before the state.”

Biggs is facing Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-Ariz.) in the midterms.

At the same time, local Democrats gathered at Fry’s Gas Station to call out Biggs. To learn more about this story, click here.

Click here to follow the original article.

Abraham Retana

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) – A Democratic Party group is calling out Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) as the midterm elections get closer.

Local Democrats gathered at Fry’s Gas Station, located in the area of Fourth Avenue and 24th Street, as part of the Copper State War Room.

They once again blamed Rep. Biggs, who is running for governor of Arizona, for the gas price hikes and tariffs that are impacting the Arizona economy, including Yuma County.

“Andy Biggs voted to protect tariffs and expand tariffs, and those tariffs has cost the average Arizonans $4,400. And those votes cost hikes and headaches for trucking, logistics and agriculture in Yuma’s economy,” said Xanthe Bullard, Chairwoman of the Yuma County Democratic Party.

This is the Copper State War Room’s last planned local press conference before Election Day.

At the same time, Biggs visited the Yuma County Republican Party headquarters to rally locals. To learn more about that story, click here.

Click here to follow the original article.

Connor Emery

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) – The Yuma County Superior Court Division 5 race is gaining a lot of attention after a letter was recently posted to social media.

In the letter, candidate John LeSueur said the political action committee (PAC), State + Local Election Alliance, funded $50,000 in favor of his opponent, Jorge Lozano, for a digital advertisement on social media.

This comes from an October 15 filing with Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes.

While it is not illegal, LeSueur, in the letter, said it’s unprecedented, and said an out-of-state donation should not influence the race.

Both candidates talked about the matter.

“We see political action committees, and independent expenditure show up in partisan races. That’s just the run of the mill these days. But what is unusual and what is unprecedented is to weigh in on a local county judicial race,” LeSueur, who is also the Assistant City Attorney for the City of Yuma, expressed.

“Well I’m not going to complain if there’s a separate entity out there looking into this race. One of the things that you have to understand is I’ve been living here in Yuma County for close to 50 years,” Lozano explained.

When talking with Lesueur, he showed News 11 an additional filing from October 19 that went towards election mailers to the tune of over $37,000.

“Having a partisan group come in and spend $87,000 in a rural judicial campaign. It threatens the ability of Yuma County to have local control over the selection of our judges,” LeSueur detailed.

“That’s five times I’ve been on the ballot most of my adult life. The common denominator here is an outsider. Mr. LeSueur is not from Yuma County. He moved into town three or four years ago. I don’t know why these people are targeting him, but they’re definitely not in contact with me,” Lozano retorted.

In the mail, it said Lozano previously served as a Superior Court judge, and both candidates spoke on the matter.

“They are trying as hard as they can to convince voters that Mr. Lozano is an incumbent sitting Superior Court judge and running for reelection, and that is not the case,” LeSueur said.

“When I was a justice of the peace judge, I did eight years in Yuma County. When I was elected to that spot, there was a special order that came down from the Arizona Supreme Court that allowed me to pro tem as a superior court judge. So, yes, I would appear occasionally in Yuma County Superior Court,” Lozano added.

When it comes to a small local nonpartisan judicial race, the people decide on the judge rather than the governor appointing someone.

“You have to look at his background…What is his ties to data centers? What is his ties to increasing utility rates here for Yuma County residents? If you want my opinion, that’s why I think there’s a PAC involved,” Lozano said.

“If you care about local control, if you care about, hey, I want to have a say, I don’t want the governor to make this decision for me. I think the voters should make that decision and I can understand that view. But if that’s something that you have, you need to be really worried about having a national group come in in a partisan way,” LeSueur added.

Both candidates also said it’s up to the voters on who they want to elect, but to also do some research prior to casting their votes. The letter can be found on LeSueur’s Facebook page or on his website.

The race is to replace Judge Roger Nelson.

Click here to follow the original article.

Jessamyn Dodd

EL CENTRO, Calif. (KYMA) – John Paul 2 (JP2) Catholic Radio’s 95.7 FM in El Centro and 93.3 FM in Brawley went off the air earlier this week after an intruder allegedly cut into an electrical cabinet at the station’s tower site, apparently to steal copper wiring.

The damage disrupted power to the transmitter building, but the transmitter itself remains undamaged.

Raul Caro, JP2 Catholic Radio founder and president, expressed regret over the disruption and urged local leaders to address the growing problem of copper theft, emphasizing its impact on essential community services.

“There’s three big electrical wires that feed electricity to our equipment and equipment for AT&T and other cell phone companies. I came here early Monday morning to see why our station was off the air,” Caro told News 11. “This was open. There was a tarp covering this. And I looked inside and all these wires were cut. I think they were probably trying to steal a little bit of copper, probably not worth too much.”

Caro said that he caught someone in the building and called the police. The police however did not find the wires on the suspect and let him go, according to Caro.

Rick Lopez, a candidate for El Centro City Council showed up to support the station. He said homelessness and theft have been an issue in the area for a long time. He said the homeless population should be taken care of, but there is a distinction between a homeless person and someone who commits crime.

“For a number of years, we’ve had a large problem with homelessness here in El Centro. And we’ve got encampments throughout the city. And which is actually, you know, a lot of these homeless, they resort to breaking into buildings to sleep,” Lopez said.

Offering a solution to the growing problem, he said, “Once we have, in my opinion, we have a day shelter, a night shelter, managed campground, we can actively enforce the anti-camping rules that the ordinance the city currently has. We do have one, but it’s not being enforced.”

“I really urge our civic leaders and civic organizations to really start fixing this problem, because, you know, it’s just it’s just this causes damage to the community. People rely on our signal to feed themselves spiritually. And so this is not this is not acceptable,” Caro added.

Both stations will remain off the air until electrical service is repaired and confirmed safe, and no restoration date has been announced.

In the meantime, listeners can continue tuning in through jp2radio.com, or the free JP2 Radio app.

The network’s San Diego County stations, 93.7 FM and AM 1450, remain operational.

Click here to follow the original article.

Jessamyn Dodd

IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif. (KYMA) – California voters will soon decide whether to require voter ID at the polls.

Proposition 39 would require voters casting a ballot to show a government-issued ID. It would also add ID number requirements for mail-in ballots.

Supporters of the measure say that it will help protect election integrity.

“One of the flaws in our system right now is you have to sign your envelope, right?” California GOP Secretary Sayrs Morris told Newsl 11. “This would provide a four-digit code, which is a lot easier to verify than a signature you signed maybe 25 years ago.”

Morris said if anyone needs help getting a government-issued ID, “The government will provide you one for free.”

The measure would also require the government to audit voter rolls every two years.

For people worried about the name on their ID not matching their birth certificate, Morris clarified, stating, “Prop 39 is very different than Donald Trump’s SAVE Act. So it can be any government ID that you already have. So if you have a driver’s license, you can use your four-digit pin from that.”

Francis Beope from Democrats United Imperial Valley, an opponent of the measure, said there are already safeguards in place to stop voter fraud.

“Study after study has shown, not only in California, but nation-wide, that voter fraud does not exist in any significant numbers. Here in California, all absentee ballots that come in are verified, signature for signature to make sure that the person who casts their ballot is the person who the ballot belongs to,” Beope told Channel 11 in an interview.

“When a problem does not exist, it’s basically trying to create distrust,” Beope explained.

Last week, the federal government filed a lawsuit against the state of California, concerning “likely noncitizens” on California’s voter rolls.

Click here to follow the original article.