The Desert Sun Around the State Section

LOCAL /
Around the State

Visitors to Joshua Tree National Park will be able to view the strangely shaped trees and the lunar-like landscape, but won't find but a few campgrounds open this summer in Joshua Tree National Park. / Raju Chebium, Desert Sun Washington Bureau

Joshua Tree National Park better prepared for peak season than peers

Many national parks are finalizing plans to hire fewer temporary employees this summer, close some campgrounds and scale back popular family programs such as ranger-led nature walks and cultural tours because of mandatory budget cuts that took effect March 1.

May 19, 2013

LOCAL /
Around the State

Water that rushes from the Colorado River Aqueduct near Whitewater will end up in ponds and seep into the Coachella Valley's aquifer. Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Water District

Lawsuit claims agencies put water supply at risk

Water from the Colorado River flows through a canal and a pipeline, and then pours into ponds in the Coachella Valley. That water seeps down through the sandy soil to the aquifer and enables the desert to bloom in an oasis of thousands of palm-studded gardens, golf courses and swimming pools.

May 19, 2013

LOCAL /
Around the State

Graphic: Aquifer under stress

The Coachella Valley uses water from the Colorado River to replenish its natural reservoir of groundwater. A lawsuit by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians

May 18, 2013

LOCAL /
Around the State

Agua Caliente tribe sues over water rights

The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians has filed a federal lawsuit seeking confirmation of the tribe's water rights in the Coachella Valley.

May 15, 2013

LOCAL /
Salton Sea

Agencies vow to work together to preserve Salton Sea

The Imperial Irrigation District and Imperial County have for years been jostling in court over the terms of a farmland-to-urban water transfer and efforts to preserve the shrinking Salton Sea, and they now have taken an initial step that could move them toward a tentative agreement.

May 14, 2013

LOCAL /
Around the State

Agua Caliente tribe water-rights lawsuit: Full text

Read the full text of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians lawsuit over water rights, filed against Coachella Valley Water District and Desert Water Agency.

May 14, 2013

LOCAL /
Around the State

Hiking, off-road sites likely to be closed due to fire risk

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday is expected to authorize Riverside County fire Chief John Hawkins to close access to seven hiking and off-road sites where fire danger is high in the summer months.

May 13, 2013

LOCAL /
Around the State

Senior research scientist Stanley Sander stands on the rooftop of the California Laboratory for Atmospheric Remote Sensing (CLARS) facility at Mount Wilson. AP

Mountaintop view tracking LA's CO2

Every time Los Angeles exhales, odd-looking gadgets anchored in the mountains above the city trace the invisible puffs of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases that waft skyward.