Officers from the Deselt Hot Springs police department were called to the 66900 Block of Flora Avenue for a robbery that just occurred. The victim said he was riding his bicycle when a dark colored vehicle approached him and three suspects got out. One of the suspects produced a weapon and demanded the victim’s property. The victim complied with the orders and gave up the propelty. Two suspects got back in the car and
drove away while the third suspect rode off on the bicycle.

Shortly after the robbery, Desert Hot Springs dispatch broadcasted a robbery that had just occuned in the Dos Palmas (County) area of Desert Hot Springs. The details matched that of the robbery that Deselt Hot Springs was investigating.

An officer conducted a traffic investigative stop on a vehicle matching the robbery suspect vehicle. A search of the vehicle revealed the weapon used in the robbery and the stolen property.

The occupants were arrested and booked for robbery. Four suspects were booked at RCJBanning and one suspect was booked in juvenile hall.

SUSPECTS:
#1-Marcos Martinez 09/13/92: Hispanic Male, 5′ 4, 140, Brown Hair, Brown Eyes.
Deselt Hot Springs resident.
#2-Ventura Escarsega 06/10/93: Hispanic Male, 5’9, 130, Brown Hair, Brown Eyes.
Deselt Hot Springs resident.
#3-Marco Sosa 08/01/93: Hispanic Male, 5’5, 150, Brown Hair, Brown Eyes. Desert Hot
Springs resident.
#4-Adalberto Martinez 07/17/92: Hispanic Male, 5’2, 140, Brown Hair, Brown Eyes.
Desert Hot Springs resident (County).
#5-Information withheld due to being a juvenile.

Anyone with any information regarding this incident should also contact the Desert Hot Springs Police Department and ask to speak with Sgt. Paiz. Dispatch Tel: (760) 329-2904 x325.

The passing of the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, could very well scrub the Internet clean of any content that the US government considers questionable.

The massively popularly website Reddit is well aware of these implications and is ready to show the world just what harm SOPA could do to the Internet.

On January 18, Reddit, a user-generated aggregator of content contributed by all corners of the Internet, will black out their own site in protest of SOPA. For an online hub that snags up around 2 billion hits every month, a lot of traffic and ad revenue stands to be lost during the 12-hour span. For the administrators of the site, though, they are running short on finding ways to fight the legislation.

Advocates against SOPA have rallied in Washington and across the country and Internet since a congressional committee began drafting the Act. Under the legislation, websites and people that post or share third-party content could be crushed with heavy fines and imprisoned for the distribution of knowledge. While opposition has existed ever since the terrifying realities of SOPA made its way to the Web, the ban by way of Reddit stands to be the biggest and only protest of its kind so far.

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US and Afghan officials have condemned a video purportedly showing US Marines urinating on the bodies of slain Taliban fighters. Though the Taliban says the “brutal” acts will not derail peace talks, the damage to the US mission may be irreversible.

A statement released by Afghan President Hamid Karzai Thursday called the act “completely inhumane” and demanded the US military punish the marines responsible, the Associated Press reports.

Meanwhile, the White House is scrambling to contain the fallout from the latest accusation of war crimes against US soldiers.
On Thursday, defense secretary Leon Panetta released a strongly-worded statement concerning the incident.

“I have seen the footage, and I find the behavior depicted in it utterly deplorable. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms,” Panetta said.
Also, Marc Grossman, Obama’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, is expected to fly into the region this weekend to hold talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, as well as other top officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

Fears remain that Grossman’s attempts to reach an agreement with the Taliban concerning the opening of a political office in Qatar could be scuttled by the latest scandal.

However, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that despite the shocking nature of the video, peace talks would continue unaffected.

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The 28th annual Desert Arts Festival will be held at Frances Stevens Park on February 18 – 20, 2012, in Downtown Palm Springs.

The Desert Arts Festival will feature 100 artists presenting their original work in all medium of two and three dimensional fine art, including paintings in acrylic, oils and watercolors, photography, etchings, sculpture in clay, glass, metal, stone and wood. Each artist will be present to meet with the public and discuss their work. All work is available for purchase.

In addition to fine art, fine crafts will also be presented. Festival attendees will find blown glass, turned wood, semi-precious jewelry, pottery, stained glass, and an array of high-quality crafts.

Frances Stevens Park is located at 538 N. Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs, at the corner of Palm Canyon and Alejo. The hours of the event are from 10:00 am – 4:30 pm on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Admission and parking are free. The event is handicap accessible.

The Desert Art Festival is presented by West Coast Artists and will benefit the Desert Art Center, a local Non-Profit Organization. For additional information visit our website at www.westcoastartists.com or call 818-813-4478

Two-thirds of Americans now believe there are conflicts between the rich and poor, an issue that has seeped into the Republican primary debates and is sure to be present in the general presidential election.

The findings, reported in a Pew Research Center survey of 2,048 adults, showed that 66 percent believe there are “very strong” or “strong” conflicts between the rich and the poor. The figure is an increase of 19 percent from 2009. Those holding that belief now include majorities of Democrats, Republicans and Independents as well as whites, blacks and Hispanics.

“As a result, in the public’s evaluations of divisions within American society, conflicts between rich and poor now rank ahead of three other potential sources of group tension — between immigrants and the native born; between blacks and whites; and between young and old,” Pew reported. “Back in 2009, more survey respondents said there were strong conflicts between immigrants and the native born than said the same about the rich and the poor.”

GOP challengers to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney have recently attacked him for coming from a wealthy background and for his work at the private equity firm Bain Capital. They have charged that Romney and the firm are responsible for layoffs at companies acquired by Bain. President Barack Obama is expected to make income inequality a central issue in his re-election campaign.

Pew Research believes the changes in attitude “over a relatively short period of time may reflect the income and wealth inequality message conveyed by Occupy Wall Street protesters across the country in late 2011 that led to a spike in media attention to the topic.”

“But the changes also may reflect a growing public awareness of underlying shifts in the distribution of wealth in American society,” Pew said in the report. “According to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data, the proportion of overall wealth — a measure that includes home equity, stocks and bonds, and the value of jewelry, furniture and other possessions — held by the top 10 percent of the population increased from 49 percent in 2005 to 56 percent in 2009.”

The Pew survey found that among Republicans, 55 percent believed there were conflicts between the rich and poor, an increase of 17 percent from 2009; Democrats were at 73 percent, an increase of 18 percent; and Independents were at 68 percent, a jump of 23 percent.

Whites believing there are conflicts between rich and poor increased by 22 percent to 65 percent since 2009, while 74 percent of blacks held that view and 61 percent of Hispanics. The increase among blacks and Hispanics was 8 and 6 points, respectively.

Nonetheless, Pew cautioned that the findings “do not necessarily signal an increase in grievances toward the wealthy.”

“It is possible that individuals who see more conflict between the classes think that anger toward the rich is misdirected. Nor do these data suggest growing support for government measures to reduce income inequality.”