Dispatch: Week of October 11
Yucca Valley construction commences, plus Frank Luckino goes to DHS
Hello from California’s high desert, where it is prime planting season. If you’ve been waiting to get some plants in the ground, now’s the time.
Onto this week’s news:
In local news:
Hi-Desert Water District crews started installing new pipe south of Twentynine Palms Highway between Camino del Ceilo and Pinion Drive in Yucca Valley this week. The project is expected to end in April 2024, and will involve traffic control and minor delays.
The Friends of the Yucca Valley Library is accepting donations of small electronics — anything smaller than a VCR, including cell phones, tablets, stereos, or video game consoles — throughout the month of October.
The Yucca Valley Airport is officially reopened with a ribbon cutting ceremony this morning. The airport was closed for repaving.
Desert Hot Springs hired Frank Luckino as its new city manager effective November 6. Luckino was previously the city manager for Twentynine Palms, a role he held for the last eight years.
Ryan Heffington, an Emmy-award winning choreographer and high-desert resident, is teaching a free dance class at the Freedom Plaza Community Center in Twentynine Palms this Saturday (10/13).
This free class is open to everyone, including families and children over 6, and is being offered by the the Twentynine Palms Public Arts Advisory Committee funded in part by the California Arts Council. You can register to attend here.
The Bureau of Land Management California is holding a hiring event in Riverside in December to fill over 100 wildland firefighter and support positions for the 2024 Fire Year.
The Riverside event will run December 1 through 3 at the Forest Service Southwest Research Station from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Black Bear Diner opened its new Yucca Valley location on Tuesday. The new location is open daily from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. at 57084 Twentynine Palms Highway.
In state news:
Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that decriminalized personal possession and use of some psychedelics, citing that more research should be done to prove the drugs have beneficial effects.
Gov. Newsom also vetoed a bill that would have explicitly banned caste discrimination in the state, saying that caste discrimination is already banned by the state via other existing laws.
Newsom did sign a bill that banned some potentially harmful food additives in any items sold in California. The law prohibits the manufacture, sale or distribution of food products in California containing red dye No. 3, potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil, or propylparaben.
In other news:
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country was at war with Hamas after the recognized terrorist organization launched a full-scale attack over the weekend. The situation is developing rapidly, but CNN has the latest.
Anna Gutu was killed, along with her Nepalese guide, Mingmar Sherpa, in an avalanche on Mount Shishapangma in Tibet. Gina Marie Rzucidlo is still missing, though her guide, Tenjen Sherpa, was confirmed dead on Sunday.
Gutu and Rzucidlo were both American women going for a record to be the first American woman to scale all 14 8,000 meter peaks in a season.
Tenjen Sherpa successfully scaled all 14 peaks with Norwegian climber Kristin Harila, setting a new speed record for the ascents, earlier this season.
Kelvin Kiptum set a new world record at the Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:00:35.
Pupdate of the week: It is officially the season to hang out on the porch all day long, and the dogs are loving our new outdoor couch. They are hard to please, and require a full selection of blankets to get cozy even when we’re outside.
Trail tip of the week: It’s starting to feel like busy season here in the Basin, so now is the time for off-peak hiking! Hitting the trails really early or right around sunset will help avoid some of the biggest crowds and get a parking spot. You can also hit up some of the less popular trails (I’d avoid Boy Scout Trail and Ryan Mountain, for starters) until things quiet back down in a few months. Luckily that leaves more time to explore some of the less well-known trails in the park, or other areas outside the park’s boundaries (if you haven’t hiked the Amboy Crater yet, for example, I highly recommend it).
Read of the week: If you spend any time to our north in the Sierra Nevada, you’ve seen marmots. The pesky little critters are a hiker favorite has a bit of a history, according to an article in The Guardian I came across late last week. And it’s all at risk due to the changing climate.
Watch of the week: If you missed Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour in person this summer, fear not. The official tour film premieres this Friday (10/13) and is being screened at multiple theaters in the low desert. The film runs for a full two hours and 45 minutes, which begs the question of what they decided to cut from the three-plus hour set she did. Singing, dancing, and costumes are all encouraged by the theaters.
That’s it for this week! I hope you have a great rest of your week, with plenty of chances to get outside.
- Megan