Senate Bill 634 and its new amendments make a hodgepodge of changes that will have potentially detrimental and unforeseen consequences for California Water Law and LAFCO (local government agency formation) law. These changes are made to legitimize the questionable acquisition of Valencia Water Co., a...

As everyone probably knows, Enron was an energy company that collapsed at the end of 2001 after it was revealed that its reported financial condition was really just creative accounting, over-stating profits and hiding liabilities in off-book maneuvers. According to Wikipedia, “Enron has since become...

Are you one of the Newhall Water customers who got a deceptive postcard in the mail asking you how your water district should be eliminated, three board members, districts, etc., multiple choice? Of course the post card had no space for “no merger; we like our voter-elected district.” Because that...

There’s an old journalist’s trick used by every reporter at one time or another to track down information from public agencies. It’s called a Public Records Act request. A public record request is a formal request for information based on the California Public Records Act, approved by the Legislature...

Linda Storli Santa Clarita Valley voters made a change Tuesday when they retired longtime Hart School Board member Gloria Mercado-Fortine and replaced her with first-time challenger Linda Storli-Koontz. With all precincts reporting, Storli-Koontz garnered 1,193 votes (56.65 percent) to Mercado-Fortine’s...

The four candidates who are vying for two seats on the Newhall County Water Board faced off Saturday in a forum hosted by KHTS AM-1220, SCVTV, The Signal and COC Cougar News. The forum will be televised beginning this week and will run through the Nov. 3 election on SCVTV (Time Warner Channel 20, AT&T...

It’s not so much a matter of what “is” is. It’s more a question of what “or” means. Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment isn’t satisfied with a court ruling that cleared the way for the Castaic Lake Water Agency to own and operate the Valencia Water Co. SCOPE filed...

The Habitat for Humanity people will have to dig some holes in the ground first – but at a discounted cost of less than $5,000, that’s not a big deal when you’re talking about building 87 affordable homes for returning military veterans and their families. The Santa Clarita Planning...