Copper theft investigation in Indio leads to two arrests

Two men accused of copper theft were arrested following a brief standoff early Friday in Indio.

• 4:41 PM

Desert Hot Springs home fire displaces man

A predawn fire today blackened a Desert Hot Springs apartment and displaced one man, but no one was hurt, a spokeswoman said.

• 11:12 AM

Blythe police, CHP to conduct sobriety test Saturday night

The Blythe Police Department and California Highway Patrol will operate a sobriety and driver's license checkpoint tonight in Blythe.

• 11:17 AM

Riverside Freeway shuts down for maintenance

The Riverside (91) Freeway will be shut down next week in downtown Riverside to facilitate work on a railroad bridge, and motorists were urged Friday to consider taking alternate routes to avoid detour-related delays.

• May 25, 2013

Man arrested in Coachella murder case

Riverside County investigators have arrested a man accused of killing a 19-year-old woman who was found in a Coachella field two years ago.

• May 24, 2013

Memorial Day traffic 'just average day on the road'

By the time the clock hit 5 p.m. Friday, traffic on Interstate 10 was far from what motorists said they had expected for the Memorial Day weekend.

• May 24, 2013

Public safety briefs for Saturday, May 26, 2013

Minor injuries were reported in a four-vehicle collision that delayed traffic in Palm Springs Friday night.

• May 25, 2013

Palm Springs collision blocking traffic on North Gene Autry

A traffic collision is delaying traffic on North Gene Autry Trail tonight.

• May 24, 2013

Jodi Arias trial's jury foreman: 'We're mere mortals'

They were 12 ordinary citizens who didn't oppose the death penalty. But unlike spectators outside the courthouse who followed the case like a daytime soap opera and jumped to demand Jodi Arias' execution, the jurors faced a decision that was wrenching and real, with implications that could haunt them forever.

• May 24, 2013

Unsolved homicides from Jan. 1, 2011, to May 24, 2013

Coachella Valley police have investigated 55 deaths as homicides since Jan. 1, 2011. They have made arrests in 29 of the cases -- or 52.7 percent -- as of May 24, 2013. No arrests have been made in 26 of the cases.

• May 24, 2013

Photo of man arrested after chase released

Ralph Rivas was chased for 50 minutes Thursday evening before deputies arrested him along Interstate 10 near Cook Street.

• May 24, 2013

Public safety briefs for Friday, May 24, 2013

Cathedral City authorities are investigating the cause of a fire that damaged a plumbing business and shut down Date Palm Drive for more than an hour Wednesday night.

• May 23, 2013

Pair pleads not guilty in 2-year-old's death

Derrick Brown and Patricia Brown, a couple accused in the death of the Derrick Brown's 2-year-old son in La Quinta 10 years ago both pleaded not guilty to murder Thursday.

• May 23, 2013

Jurors deadlock on Jodi Arias penalty, retrial set

A little more than an hour into deliberations on Wednesday, the jurors in the Jodi Arias murder trial told the judge that they had a question: If they couldn't reach a unanimous decision on whether to sentence Arias to death or to life in prison for the 2008 murder of her lover, Travis Alexander, should they write it on a jury-question form or just tell her?

• May 23, 2013

Pine Cove house damaged in fire

Fire damaged a 4,000-square-foot house in Pine Cove late Wednesday, but no one was hurt, authorities said.

• May 23, 2013

Indio woman suspected of DUI free on bail

An Indio woman suspected of driving under the influence of prescription drugs when she allegedly clipped another vehicle in Palm Desert was free on bail Thursday.

• May 23, 2013

Palm Springs police hear shots, looking for SUV

Gunshots were fired from a sport utility vehicle Wednesday night in downtown Palm Springs, police said. But officials haven't found anyone who was hurt and don't know what the shooter was targeting.

• May 23, 2013

Incident near Indio HS not a kidnap attempt

Indio police said Wednesday that an Indio High School student's report of an attempted kidnapping she said happened as she walked to school 'did not occur as originally reported.'

• May 23, 2013

Driver hurt as big rig overturns on Highway 74

A big rig overturned Wednesday on Highway 74 south of Idyllwild, blocking lanes and hurting the driver, according to the California Highway Patrol and California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

• May 22, 2013

Jury deliberations to resume in murder trial of Desert Hot Springs man

Jury deliberations are due to resume Thursday in the trial of a Desert Hot Springs man accused in a shooting that killed a 17-year-old boy in 1994 and wounded the boy's friend.

• May 22, 2013

Public safety brief for Thursday, May 23, 2013

A woman police say was killed by her husband in an apparent murder-suicide in Desert Hot Springs was identified Wednesday.

• May 22, 2013

1 hurt in PS crash

Police and fire crews responded to a two-vehicle collision near the intersection of Farrell and East Palm Canyon drives.

• May 22, 2013

Gas prices beginning to fall after recent hike

Gasoline prices are slowly dropping after undergoing a two-week spike this month.

• May 22, 2013

Woman killed in Desert Hot Springs murder-suicide ID'd

A woman killed by her husband in an apparent murder-suicide in Desert Hot Springs was identified today.

• May 22, 2013

Indio student knew man in attempted kidnapping

Indio police released a sketch Tuesday of a man who they say tried to kidnap a girl near Indio High School and said Wednesday they have new information on the case.

• May 22, 2013

Some question DUI-limit cut

A federal agency's recommendation to drop the legal blood-alcohol level from 0.08 percent to 0.05 percent could, if it became law, make it more difficult for law enforcement personnel to detect impaired drivers whose blood-alcohol levels are this low, local law enforcement officials say.

• May 22, 2013

Palm Springs police look for witness in fatal hit-and-run

William Dominguez Lopez, a 20- to 30-year-old man believed to live in Cathedral City, is being sought as a potential witness to the 4:30 a.m. crash on East Palm Canyon Drive at Camino Real, police Sgt. Harvey Reed said during a news conference held Tuesday afternoon.

• May 22, 2013

Public safety briefs for Wednesday, May 22, 2013

A 2-year-old Thermal boy who died over the weekend was a victim of homicide, investigators said Tuesday.

• May 21, 2013

Arias pleads for life

Jodi Arias, who said after her murder conviction she would prefer death to life imprisonment, stood before jurors Tuesday and pleaded for her life instead, asking them not to punish her family for her actions.

• May 21, 2013

Police shooting that killed Robert Shirar sent to DA

One year after a California Highway Patrol officer shot and killed a man during a confrontation on Interstate 10, the case now sits idle on a desk at the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.

• May 20, 2013

Jodi Arias' attorneys put one witness on: Arias

Complaining that Jodi Arias' sensational murder case has become a modern-day 'witch trial,' her lawyers tried to quit in the middle of the death-penalty phase Monday, then said they will call only one witness: Arias.

• May 20, 2013

Coachella Valley man gets 10 years in kid-porn case

A Riverside County nurse caught trying to send child pornography to a girl via the Internet was sentenced Monday to 10 years in federal prison.

• May 20, 2013

Prosecutors' vote reveals rejection of DA Zellerbach

Riverside County District Attorney Paul Zellerbach was almost unanimously rejected by the prosecutors who work under him in a vote taken following a series of closed debates with senior Deputy District Attorney Mike Hestrin, who is challenging him, it was announced Monday.

• May 20, 2013

Palm Springs man pleads guilty to DUI

A Palm Springs man whose truck collided with a compact car, injuring the 73-year-old driver, pleaded guilty Monday to driving under the influence.

• May 20, 2013

Would you stop for this guy?

• May 20, 2013

DUI suspected in crash into wall

A Palm Desert woman was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol Sunday night after hitting a wall in her Pontiac Grand Am while trying to make a turn on Courtside Drive in Palm Desert, police said Monday.

• May 20, 2013

Indio woman killed in I‑10 crash near PS

The late-night crash followed two other fatal collisions Sunday.

• May 20, 2013

Public safety briefs for Tuesday, May 21

Public safety-related news and notes from across the Coachella Valley

• May 20, 2013

3 killed in separate crashes around valley

Three separate crashes Sunday claimed the lives of three Coachella Valley residents.

• May 20, 2013

15 motorists arrested or cited at Riverside County checkpoints

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department on Sunday released the results of two sobriety/driver's license checkpoints in the county.

• May 19, 2013

1 killed, 2 suffer major injuries in traffic collision in Palm Desert

One person is dead and two people suffered major injuries early Sunday morning in a traffic collision at Highway 74 between El Paseo and Highway 111 in Palm Desert, a Riverside County Sheriff's spokesman said.

• May 19, 2013

Ramon Road makeover to begin in Cathedral City

A much-needed improvement project is scheduled to begin Monday on one of Cathedral City's busiest and bumpiest streets.

• May 18, 2013

Palm Springs police arrest man on suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle

Police arrested a man early Saturday morning on suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle, Sgt. Kelly Fieux said.

• May 18, 2013

Public safety briefs for Sunday, May 19, 2013

Authorities released the name of an Idyllwild rockclimber who died Friday after falling 150 feet.

• May 19, 2013

Businessman dead; RM fire ruled arson

Craig Marlar — a longtime Coachella Valley businessman who battled over ownership of the fire-ravaged GG's Island — is dead, The Desert Sun learned Friday.

• May 17, 2013

Jodi Arias victim's family makes dramatic statement

For 4 1/2 months the trial has been about Jodi Arias and Travis Alexander, two attractive young people whose obsessive sexual relationship exploded into murder. One of the lovers is dead, the other may soon be sent to death row.

• May 17, 2013

Public safety briefs for Saturday, May 18, 2013

A rock climber died Friday after falling 150 feet in Idyllwild.

• May 17, 2013

Man enters plea in Jurupa Valley exposure case

A 57-year-old man accused of exposing himself to a girl in a Jurupa Valley supermarket pleaded not guilty Friday to indecent exposure.

• May 17, 2013

Ex-con accused of killing homeless man to stand trial

An ex-con accused of fatally beating a homeless man with a rock during a confrontation in a transient camp near Lake Elsinore must stand trial on murder and other charges, a judge ruled Friday.

• May 17, 2013