Category: kyma-local-news

Manoah Tuiasosopo

UPDATE (3:46 PM): A semi-truck rollover crash in yuma created a dangerous situation on Interstate 8 (I-8) late Tuesday night.

News 11’s Manoah Tuiasosopo was driving home when he came upon the crash, and saw the dangerous conditions unfold.

The crash happened around 11:15 p.m. on I-8 heading west, about a mile from the Fortuna offramp.Tuiasosopo said he heard a loud pop, and looked across the freeway to see a semi-truck on its side.

The Yuma Fire Department (YFD) said the semi was hauling steel bars, Scattered debris and materials across the roadway.

Several vehicles hit the debris, with one car narrowly missing another vehicle before ending up in the median.

YFD says the semi driver was able to get out of the vehicle himself, but suffered significant injuries and was taken to the hospital.

Firefighters said crashes like this are among the most dangerous calls they respond to, outside of structure fires.

The scene was eventually turned over to the Arizona Department of Public Safety, which worked to clean up the debris and reopen I-8.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) – A semi-truck rollover crash in Yuma created a dangerous situation on Interstate 8 (I-8) Tuesday night.

The late night crash sent debris into traffic, causing damage to handfuls of vehicles as first responders raced to clear the road.

Footage captured shows drivers having no clue a big object is in the road that can cause a lot of damage.

Footage also captured a car was a feet away from the first responding officer, striking debris before narrowly missing a vehicle and ended up in the dirt median on the westbound lane of I-8.

The semi, lying on its side, barely on the shoulders of I-8, with the nose of the truck facing oncoming traffic near the Frontage Road offramp.

The rollover crash forced over a handful of vehicles as well as fellow semi-trucks to pull over, with drivers being stuck on the side on the road well past midnight.

News 11 has reached out to local law enforcement and fire officials for details regarding the crash, and we’re waiting to hear back.

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Jessamyn Dodd

EL CENTRO, Calif. (KYMA) – When she was 26-years-old, Ashley Contreras De la Vega was in an accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down.

Now, she has her sights set on a seat on the Imperial Valley Healthcare District.

Contreras is currently the CEO of Access to Thrive, a nonprofit focused on providing resources to people with disabilities.

She said she wants to bring more transparency and more results to the healthcare district.

“I do think that there should be a lot more transparency. I’m actually really happy that the two hospitals are merging,” she told News 11 in an interview.

El Centro Regional Medical Center and Pioneers Memorial Hospital in Brawley are uniting into one regional system in an effort to stop resident s from leaving the county for care.

“I think that’s a great thing that’s happening. And it’s really close to being done, so that’s some change that is really exciting,” she said.

Contreras said it gets frustrating dealing with limited healthcare resources in the county.

“It doesn’t make sense that we have to pay, you know, a hundred dollars to take a trip to San Diego to be there for five minutes and then, you know, come back,” she explained.

Contreras brings with her a lived experience as someone with a disability who has been navigating the health care system.

“There’s a huge lack of resources for individuals with disabilities here in the valley, especially for people with physical disability and mobility impairments. I was shocked when I found out because I realized that we do have resources for intellectual and developmental disabilities,” Contreras divulged.

Contreras said she also wants to focus on training local healthcare students for a variety of positions and to help bring more specialists to Imperial County.

“We need to focus on is training our local students, creating programs for our students to be able to have more options here locally because they don’t have to go out to other schools outside of the valley,” Contreras said.

“There are so many medical positions other than just nursing that are also good paying jobs,” she added.

In addition, Contreras said home modifications for disabled individuals can help them live more independently.

“There are no home modification assistance. That’s something that I really have been pushing for and will continue to push for, that we have some sort of fund to help people with home renovations and modifications,” she said.

Contreras will face Jacob Nicholas Rodriguez and Gregory Gelman for the district seat on November 3.

For a list of other candidates, click here.

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Carolina Garcia

CALEXICO, Calif. (KYMA) – A popular department store in Calexico is closing its doors in Calexico in the coming weeks.

Garlan’s has operated on Second Street in Calexico for 66 years, and liquidation sales will begin Wednesday ahead of the closure.

As of this month, the store is no longer extending credit to customers.

Business owners in the area said they are concerned about the closure of these major businesses in the city.

“They are the only retail location that we have besides Sam Ellis as a local retail store for clothing and brands. And I think it’s a window for the future of this city, of this town,” said Jesus Gallardo, a merchant. “Retail went online after COVID…during COVID, meaning that either the brand’s evolution into online presence or they won’t last anymore.”

This is the third major business to close in the city this year following the closures of the Calexico 10 Theatres and Applebee’s.

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Adrik Vargas

YUMA COUNTY, Ariz. (KYMA) – Fifth and sixth graders across Arizona can now enter a statewide contest for a chance to win money towards their future education.

The Arizona Treasurer’s Office is asking students to write about their dream job, and how they plan to achieve it.

The winners will receive $529 towards an AZ529 Education Savings Plan, and one winner will be selected from each of Arizona’s 15 counties, including Yuma County.

“The essay really does allow for that student to really kind of sit back and think about what that future looks like,” said Arizona State Treasurer Kimberly Yee.

Entries are due October 11, and winners will be honored at the State Capitol in November. For details on how to enter, click here.

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Jessamyn Dodd

EL CENTRO, Calif. (KYMA) – The El Centro Police Department (ECPD) said a suspect was arrested following a foot chase over Labor Day weekend.

In a Facebook post, ECPD responded to the area of Ocotillo Drive, near Imperial Avenue, after receiving reports of an assault with a deadly weapon.

ECPD said the victim told them “a suspect had brandished a firearm” and made threats to kill them.

“We received a call at a local barbershop regarding an individual who made threats to the victim.  And during that encounter, the suspect pointed a handgun at the victim, and that’s when he threatened to cause harm to the victim,” Sgt. Miguel Garrido told KYMA.

Once officers were told the suspect’s description and associated vehicle, ECPD said they searched the area for the suspect, locating the vehicle near Bucklin Park.

ECPD said officers found the suspect’s vehicle at Bucklin Park, and said they saw the suspect exiting the vehicle and walking into the park.

However, when the suspect saw the approaching officers, ECPD said he ran, prompting officers to maintain communication and provide updates on the suspect’s movement.

“He gave a foot chase, put out a good direction of travel for the suspect.  Assisting officers were able to establish a quick perimeter and encountered him on the northwest side of Buckland Park, which would be close to 12th and Ross in the West Alley of the park. And he surrendered peacefully, which is what we wanted,” Sgt. Garrido said.

After additional units caught the suspect, ECPD said he was “safely detained and taken into custody without further incident,” and said officers found a loaded illegal firearm.

The suspect was booked into the Imperial County Jail on the following felony charges:

Brandishing a firearm Assault with a deadly weapon involving a firearm Child abuse Resisting arrest Illegal possession of large capacity magazine Carrying a concealed firearm Possession of methamphetamine Possession of drug paraphernalia

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Madeline Murray

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) – The Yuma County Republican Party hosted a VIP dinner event, bringing together local Republicans and several candidates ahead of the November election.

The event took place at the Elks Lodge Monday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., with Scott Jennings, a senior political commentator for CNN, serving as the keynote speaker.

Several Arizona Republican candidates also attended the dinner, including Rep. Andy Biggs and former State Sen. Sine Kerr, who are running for governor and lieutenant governor.

To learn more about the dinner, click here.

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Lynette Niebla

IMPERIAL VALLEY, Calif. (KYMA) – SDSU Imperial Valley’s Steppling Art Gallery kicks off the new academic year with a powerful new exhibition celebrating Chicanx culture and local history.

The exhibition, titled “Proof of Concept: Retrospecting the Ephemeral and Activist Art of Armando Rascón,” is completely free and open to the public on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 9:00 to 11:30 a.m., through October 1.

The showcase features the retrospective and activist art of Calexico native Armando Rascón, whose decades of work explore border community identity while highlighting local political history.

“The practice of Armando Rascón…he’s been considered a pioneer of Chicano conceptual artists,” said Luis Hernandez, Director of the John H. Steppling Art Gallery. “A conceptual artist is an artist who works more with ideas rather than objects.”

For Rascón, bringing this comprehensive retrospective back to the Imperial Valley represents a profoundly personal milestone.

“It’s super interesting because I’ve had an awareness of everything here since childbirth basically, my earliest years,” Rascón shared. “I wanted to appropriate myself, my history, my cultural history, our story.”

The gallery exhibition ties directly into a companion book that spans five decades of Rascón’s career from 1976 to 2026.

The book uncovers the hidden stories and behind-the-scenes photography of his creative process.

Strikingly, much of the exhibition serves as a moving memorial to art that has physically vanished over the years.

“The book that I published…the last chapter in the book is this: Works that don’t exist,” Rascón explained.

Visitors will see fabric flags hanging on the gallery walls, which represent these lost historical pieces.

“What we have in this exhibition are flags that represent works that he did in the past that no longer exist because of different reasons—because they were ephemeral or temporary artwork,” Hernandez said.

Locally, Rascón is celebrated as the lead artist for the famous “Border Metamorphosis Mural Project.”

The original, large-scale public work took four years to complete and brought together more than 2,000 volunteers between 1998 and 2002.

Though the physical border fence and the canvas have since been replaced and destroyed, Rascón insists that the true spirit of the project can never be erased.

“These are things you can’t control, so I still want to celebrate that piece,” Rascón said. “To me, the fact that the community got together, and there was so much collective memory in having contributed to that, changes the tone of public art from being a passive consumer of culture to an active participant in the production of the art.”

The fabric displays function as a “memento mori,” which means a reminder of impermanence, but they double as a metaphor for a career that stays alive through public domain records and community impact.

“These are works that don’t exist except in the existing memory, and I think that’s a really good place to be if you look back on a career of 50 years,” Rascón added.

Ultimately, Rascón believes that grit and unfiltered truth are what define the Chicanx art movement. He encourages the Imperial Valley community to visit the gallery and form their own personal interpretations of the history on display.

“I would say that the history of Chicano art is sweat equity…where it’s just your ability to have backbone, grit, conviction, and truth, and you wander your own history,” said Rascón. “You don’t have to balance and falsify it.”

What: “Proof of Concept: Retrospecting the Ephemeral and Activist Art of Armando Rascón”

Where: John H. Steppling Art Gallery, SDSU Imperial Valley (720 Heber Ave, Calexico, CA 92231)

When: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. (Running through October 1)

Cost: Free and open to the public.

Parking: Public parking is available in the lot off East Sherman Ave and surrounding streets.

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Adrik Vargas

(KYMA) – California lawmakers are moving to limit how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used in mental health care.

Senate Bill 903, written by State Sen. Steve Padilla (D-District 18), would prevent companion chatbots from advertising or providing psychotherapy in California, but therapists and AI developers said the technology can still have a role as a support tool.

Stephanie Levitt, a licensed therapist and co-founder of AI Powered Therapist, said the platform is designed to help people between therapy sessions, not replace a therapist.

The platform includes tools that can help users work through worrying thoughts, including interpreting stressful text messages. It also has guidelines intended to recognize when someone may need additional help.

Co-founder Scott Enrico said users who may be experiencing emotional dysregulation can be directed to 988.

Enrico acknowledges that AI can make mistakes, which is why the platform can also connect users with licensed therapists.

As lawmakers work to set limits, developers say there is still a place for AI as a mental health support tool.

The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline provides free, confidential support 24/7. You can call or text 988, or use the online chat.

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Abraham Retana

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) – While most of the people are coming back from a holiday weekend, or resting at home, others “celebrated” Labor Day actually working.

Some workers News 11 spoke to said they are happy to have a job, especially in Yuma County, where the unemployment rate is almost 19%, the second highest in the country.

“To tell you the truth, I love to work, and I’m blessed to have a job and that I have to work,” said Caty Anaya, a department store worker.

Meanwhile, El Centro is number one nationwide in unemployment rate with 19.7%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics.

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Dillon Fuhrman

EL CENTRO, Calif. (KYMA) – The El Centro Police Department (ECPD) said a teen was arrested for making reported school threats.

In a press release, they received information from the San Diego and Imperial County Joint Terrorism Task Force Friday, September 4, regarding threats involving Central Union High School.

ECPD said officers immediately worked with school officials and law enforcement partners to investigate the circumstances as well as ensure “the safety of students, staff and the surrounding community.”

During the investigation, their School Resource Officer, detectives and agents from the FBI’s Imperial County Field Office worked with school officials to identify the students believed to be responsible for the threats.

As a result, the teen was taken into custody in connection to the reported threats, and ECPD said the investigation is ongoing.

If anyone has information regarding the case, call 760-352-2111.

Press Release – September 4 School ThreatsDownload

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