On Aug. 18, a group of concerned local residents from the Democratic Club of the High Desert came to U.S. Rep. Steve Knight’s office to discuss with him about how they are wanting to hold another town hall meeting  with their congressman on issues they disagree with him on such as healthcare. The...

Speaking with one of our Santa Clarita sheriff’s deputies recently, he was telling me about the hardest part of his job. It wasn’t going on parole searches, dealing with armed criminals or responding to dangerous situations. The one aspect of his job that keeps him up at night and haunts him during...

Although it looks dry, our very own Santa Clara River is actually a very lively natural resource. It is the longest free-flowing river and one of the last two natural river systems remaining in Southern California. The river is home to 14 endangered bird species, six endangered plant species, 57 archeological...

It’s been said you can tell a lot about a man by his friends and the company he keeps. There’s also a school of thought that you can tell a man by who his enemies are. No doubt, all of those apply to Donald Trump, as we are reminded constantly by the media in one form or another. Recently a name...

As I was preparing to write this article, I decided to do a little informal survey of my family and friends, to gauge their reaction. I started by asking my grandchildren what color they would use to draw a fox. I handed them a box of crayons. The situation became impossible when both started fighting...

At a recent meeting of my staff, the topic of diabetes came up. When we went around the table, it turned out that 25 percent of them have problems with blood sugar. That figure exactly matches the percentage of Americans 65 years old and older who have diabetes or a condition called pre-diabetes. I’m...

Glancing at an overview of the past year and certainly since Jan. 20, I have to disagree that there is no bipartisanship in America today. There indeed is, and it’s called anti-Trumpism. There is no doubt the vast majority of Democrats and liberals loathe Trump. Certainly all of the leftists thoroughly...

Santa Clarita City Manager Ken Striplin guests on SCVTV’s “Newsmaker of the Week.” With raging fires, destructive earthquakes, severe weather, power outages and fast moving floods, our city is no stranger to natural disasters. In fact, the city of Santa Clarita has been declared a federal...

As our first president George Washington said, “We must consult our means rather than our wishes.” That is the same conservative fiscal approach which has served our City well over the past 30 years. From my time in the State Assembly, I have seen the challenge of balancing a budget first hand. I...

One of the reasons I wanted to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro was to see the glaciers before they were completely gone. It’s an amazing site to stand on an area near the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro as the sun is rising and watch the small, remaining glaciers turn pink. It was breathtaking, to say the least. The...