Inyo County

BrightSource Energy has suspended its application to build a $2.7-billion solar power plant at Hidden Hills, saying it needed to redesign the Inyo County project and the delay would lead to financial uncertainty. With the project nearing final stages of approval from the California Energy Commission, BrightSource considered adding power storage to the 500-megawatt facility. But doing so would trigger another round of time-consuming and costly engineering and environmental analyses.

California courts, reeling from years of state budget cuts, are delaying hearings and trials, allowing records to sit unprocessed for months and slashing services at public windows, a judge's committee has reported. The report by the Trial Court Presiding Judges Advisory Committee was based on a survey of all presiding judges and prepared for the Judicial Council, the policy-making body for the courts. All but 10 of the state's counties responded to the survey. The survey represented the most in-depth look yet of how California courts are faring with less money and suggested that the effect of the cuts is growing.

The Inyo County Planning Commission is expected to vote Wednesday on whether to recommend approval of a permit that would allow a geothermal plant to pump water from an aquifer that is the lifeblood of a 50-year-old hunting club, Little Lake Ranch, and its wetlands along U.S. 395. Coso Operating Co.

BrightSource Energy has suspended its application to build a $2.7-billion solar power plant at Hidden Hills, saying it needed to redesign the Inyo County project and the delay would lead to financial uncertainty. With the project nearing final stages of approval from the California Energy Commission, BrightSource considered adding power storage to the 500-megawatt facility. But doing so would trigger another round of time-consuming and costly engineering and environmental analyses.

A magnitude 4.0 earthquake struck Monday in the Coso range in Inyo County east of U.S. 395, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The shallow 3:08 p.m. temblor was centered 31 miles north of Ridgecrest and 27 miles east of Olancha. It caused neither damage nor injuries.

Two small earthquakes rattled portions of California on Wednesday: a magnitude 4.1 tremor in a remote desert section of Inyo County 40 miles northeast of Lone Pine and a 3.3 aftershock of the 194 Northridge quake centered a mile northeast of San Fernando. The U.S. Geological Survey reported that the Inyo County quake occurred at 8:50 a.m., while the San Fernando Valley aftershock took place at 1:46 p.m. Neither caused any reported damage or injuries.

Caltech seismologists reported 45 earthquakes greater than magnitude 2.0 on Thursday as vigorous seismic activity continued in the Inyo County desert north of Ridgecrest. The strongest quake was magnitude 3.8. Two others were magnitude 3.6. Scientists have warned that there will probably be a large number of aftershocks in coming weeks from Wednesday's moderately strong 5.0 temblor in the Coso Volcanic Range, 30 miles north of Ridgecrest.

Supervisor District 1 100% Precincts Reporting: votes (%) H.B. Irwin*: 593 (38%) Warden Allsup: 591 (38%) Liz Blackwell: 386 (25%) Sheriff 100% Precincts Reporting: votes (%) Allan B. George: 3,273 (53%) Don Dorsey*: 2,876 (47%) Public Administrator 100% Precincts Reporting: votes (%) SallieCline*: 3,711 (66%) Caroll J.

California courts, reeling from years of state budget cuts, are delaying hearings and trials, allowing records to sit unprocessed for months and slashing services at public windows, a judge's committee has reported. The report by the Trial Court Presiding Judges Advisory Committee was based on a survey of all presiding judges and prepared for the Judicial Council, the policy-making body for the courts. All but 10 of the state's counties responded to the survey. California's courts have lost about 65% of their general fund support from the state during the last five years, and Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed budget fails to restore any of the lost revenue.

When it comes to attracting business to California's eastern deserts, Inyo County is none too choosy. Since the 19th century the sparsely populated county has worked to attract industries shunned by others, including gold, tungsten and salt mining. The message: Your business may be messy, but if you plan to hire our residents, the welcome mat is out. So the county grew giddy last year as it began to consider hosting a huge, clean industry. BrightSource Energy, developer of the proposed $2.7-billion Hidden Hills solar power plant 230 miles northeast of Los Angeles, promised a bounty of jobs and a windfall in tax receipts.

Inyo County has lost a six-year legal battle for control of “Last Chance Road,” an alleged public highway that starts in a desert wash and peters out at several spots halfway up a small hill on Death Valley National Park's northern edge. The county had sought to open the road for public use, but environmentalists had fought to keep it closed. “This is a great ruling for Death Valley National Park and the wildlife that calls it home,” said Ted Zukoski, an attorney with Earthjustice.

On a cool, crisp morning, Scott Kemp's battered white pickup truck was the only vehicle in sight along a long, narrow lane lined with desert daisies and curious cows on the eastern flanks of jagged, gray Mt. Whitney. The road streaked across the historic Lubken Ranch, a spread that Kemp and his three sisters inherited from their father, Sandy Kemp, after he died in 2004. Against a backdrop of rippling meadows and sagebrush rising up to the Sierra Nevada, the tall, lean cowboy shook his head and said, "It won't be easy leaving this ranch.

A 13-year-old mystery involving the disappearance of four German tourists in the sweltering desert of Death Valley may have ended Friday, when authorities announced that bones that may be their skeletal remains had been found. In a statement, Inyo County Undersheriff Jim Jones said that personal identification belonging to one of the tourists was found near the skeletal remains, which were discovered by two hikers Thursday in a remote area of Death Valley National Park. The four tourists -- Cornelia Meyer, 28; her 4-year-old son, Max; Egbert Rimkus, 33; and his son, Georg Weber, 10 vanished in July 1996, when temperatures at the park reached 115 degrees.

On a recent weekday morning, Tom and Jo Heindel strode to the top of a hill at the edge of town and held hands, savoring the panoramic views below of elk grazing in alfalfa fields, strips of willows along streams and elm trees glistening with the remnants of rain. Then Tom, 73, and Jo, 71, got down to business. "A few dozen scaup, 10 eared grebes, 12 Clark's grebes, 20 canvasbacks and a Northern harrier gliding low and fast," Jo said, peering through a spotting scope. "Got it," said Tom, transcribing the information on a tally sheet spread across the hood of their aging white mini-pickup truck.

A magnitude 4.1 earthquake hit the Eastern Sierra region of the state Tuesday, but there were no reports of damage or injuries. The quake struck about 11:06 a.m. near the town of Keeler in Inyo County. The quake hit in the same general area as a swarm of temblors last week that rattled Inyo County. Scores of mostly tiny temblors have been recorded in the region over the last week. -- Shelby Grad

`The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research has revised an earlier study detailing severe shortages of dentists in several California counties. A technical error -- which arose because some ZIP Codes span two counties -- caused an underestimate in the total number of active dentists and the ratio of dentists to population in some areas. The overall remain largely the same: Some counties are experiencing a severe shortage and others may soon see shortages when aging dentists retire.