December 28, 2011 at approximately 6:00PM Baltazar Sanchez a resident of Desert Hot Springs was arrested for armed robbery, resisting arrest and a parolee at large warrant. Baltazar approached a customer of the AM/PM gas station who was in the process of pumping gas and demanded money from the victim while exposing the handle of a handgun he had concealed in the waistband of his pants. The victim gave Baltazar one dollar.
Shortly after the robbery, officers located Baltazar a short distance away from the AM/PM. Baltazar fled on foot from the officers. During the foot chase Baltazar discarded a handgun (later determined to be a replica air soft pistol). Baltazar was eventually caught and later booked into the Riverside County Sheriff’s Larry Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.
For more info, please call
Desert Hot Springs Police Department or Police Sergeant Brian Link at 760.329.6411.
Desert Hot Springs, CA — The Executive Committee of the Desert Hot Springs Chamber Of Commerce recently hired Heather Coladonato to fill the position of Business Development & Marketing Director.
Coladonato, a valley resident since 1991, was named one of Palm Springs Life Magazine’s 40 Under 40 young professionals for 2010. She brings a wealth of experience in both national and international business relations as well as contacts from the greater Palm Springs area. “She is well equipped to promote Desert Hot Springs as the unique Health and Wellness center that we know it is” said Chamber President Russ Augustine. “She brings positive energy to the ‘Spa City.’”
With a membership of about 250, the Chamber serves business in and around the greater Desert Hot Springs region. For more information contact the Desert Hot Springs Chamber office at 760.329.6403.
Soon thousands will flock to the 23rd Palm Springs International Film Festival and hundreds of volunteers will ensure details are managed. Many of the volunteers will come from the Festival’s Senior and Active Retirement Programs, which were recently awarded a $25,000 grant from the Auen Foundation. The funds will build on the Festival’s extensive volunteer network, which includes approximately 500 senior volunteers who are critical to the success of the International Film Festival in January and the ShortFest in June.
“We appreciate the Auen Foundation for recognizing how essential our volunteers are to the success of the Palm Springs International Film Festival,” said Harriet Baron, Director of Development for the Film Festival. “This gift is one more way the Foundation is enhancing the lives of area seniors who are an integral part of both Festivals. The word-of-mouth recruiting and promotion by our volunteers are priceless.”
The Palm Springs International Film Festival depends greatly on local volunteers who assist at film screenings and the various functions that accompany one of the desert’s largest and premier events of the year. Many of the volunteers are mature adults who work through the Festival’s Active Retirement Program.
“It is very rewarding for seniors to participate in this internationally-known event,” said Catharine Reed, Program Director for the Auen Foundation. “We are happy to support this program that connects seniors with their community.”
Seniors and active retirees are recruited for volunteer positions to help in every aspect of the Film Festival’s operation. The Auen Foundation grant assists in funding a part-time volunteer coordinator and provides for much needed recruitment materials and handouts, to ensure the Film Festival maintains a proper level of volunteer staffing.
The Auen Foundation grant funding also partially underwrites the distribution of free screenings tickets to local senior centers and assists with the Film Festival’s free shuttle busses, which help defer transportation costs for seniors on fixed incomes. Shuttles also make it easier for patrons to see multiple screenings in one day.
The 23rd Palm Springs International Film Festival runs January 5-16, 2012, screening 187 films from more than 70 countries. The Black Tie Awards Gala, featuring an amazing line-up of Hollywood Stars is Saturday, January 7, 2012 at 5 p.m. For more information about the Palm Springs International Film Festival or how to volunteer visit psfilmfest.org.
The Desert Hot Springs Police Department will host a Community Police Academy from Monday February 6, 2012 to March 26, 2012. The free academy is open to residents of Desert Hot Springs and will meet on Monday night for eight weeks from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Applications are due by January 26, 2012. As class size is limited please submit your applications early. Applications can be obtained from the city web site at
www.cityofdhs.org, or at the Police Department lobby located at 65950 Pierson Blvd., Desert Hot Springs, CA. 92240.
The Academy is designed to provide residents with an overview of department operations and to continue to build on the strong relationships within the community. (Residents interested in becoming a Citizen on Patrol volunteer are required to attend.)
Any questions regarding this public service announcement should be directed to Community Resource Specialist Jim Knabb at the Desert Hot Springs Police Department.
Tel: (760) 329-2904 Ext. 340
HPHA fits financially challenged, Coachella Valley residents, with hearing aids at NO COST. Qualified applicants (once approved) will receive a hearing test, ear molds, fitting or fittings, and hearing aids free through our partnering local hearing aid business. HPHA collects used hearing aids in any condition, then after complete refurbishment are redistributed.
If you feel like Congress fat cats can’t relate to their fellow Americans anymore, the truth behind the matter might just be that they can’t.
While Americans have seen a recession ravage savings accounts, lawmakers on Capitol Hill have only gotten richer.
The US Capitol (AFP Photo / Karen BLEIER)
Between the US Senate and House of Representatives, the median net worth for a member of Congress is around $913,000, reports The New York Times. That man in the middle is Ed Pastor (Dem-AZ), and although he makes a pretty penny nowadays, his income today is gigantic when gauged with what he was worth when he first came to Washington. Twenty years earlier, Pastor pulled in enough to have only $100,000 saved up, a figure he has magnified nearly tenfold in the two decades since.
Comparing the mean in 2009 with the mean for lawmakers’ assets in 1984, the figure has tripled.
Off of the Hill, however, others aren’t so lucky. Taking into account all of America, the median net worth today is roughly $100,000 — what Congressman Pastor pulled in 20 years earlier. And while lawmakers have seen their wallets only fatted in recent times, the incomes of average Americans have dwindled as a recession and depression downturned the American economy.
Somehow, those effects managed to largely miss Washington.
While the US Census Bureau reports half of America as either impoverished or otherwise living in low-income conditions, 250 members of Congress — nearly half of the Hill — can say that they are legit millionaires. In Washington DC, one-in-ten residents live below half of the poverty line — but if you can track down Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) in his Capitol Hill chamber, you might be able to borrow a few bucks from the richest man in Congress — who holds onto $294.21 million in assets.
Rep. McCaul wasn’t always as lucky. Back in 2005, his worth was only at around $12 million. But with dozens of lawmakers worth more than just one or two millions, those that they represent think that perhaps their vote isn’t being cast by a voice that really represents the people.
“There’s always a concern that they can’t truly understand or relate to the hardships that their constituents feel — that rich people just don’t get it,” Representative Laura Richardson tells The New York Times. While Rep. Richardson might have an office on Capitol Hill, the Democrat from California is also in debt to the tune of $464,000. She is among the poorest members of Congress, but that group isn’t exactly a big one. Regardless, with 200-plus lawmakers pulling in the multi-millions, it’s easy to see why the so-called 99 percenters feel poorly represented in America today.
The National Defense Authorization Act that recently cleared Congress has become a hot topic for debate among average Americans who fear the provisions in the bill that will allow for the US to detain and torture citizens indefinitely. Despite petitions and pleas from coast-to-coast, the legislation passed overwhelmingly. As it turns out, many politicians may be representatives of the people, but their voices are ones bought by corporations. Senator Robert Portman (R-Ohio) not only voted in favor of the NDAA, he also received $272,853 from the special interest groups that backed the bill.
For others, incomes are subsidized in other ways. Rep. Pastor from Arizona, his income is also subsidized by Social Security. If that makes you angry tough, don’t worry — you’re not alone. A study conducted by CBS News in conjunction with The New York Times this October revealed that Americas’ job approval rating of Congress was at an all time low. A similar poll this summer courtesy of the Washington Post revealed that Americans were more into human cloning than Congress, too.
