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The jobless rate in Riverside County was 15.1 percent in January, up from 14.3 percent the previous month, new figures show. About 137,600 people are unemployed in Riverside County, according to the California Employment Development Department. Riverside County's jobless figure was in line with the 15 percent unemployment rate that the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan statistical area reported, state officials said. San Bernardino County's unemployment rate was 14.8 percent in January, up from 13.6 percent in December, the monthly labor report showed. In the Coachella Valley, unemployment rates for cities ranged from a low of 5.4 percent in Indian Wells to 29 percent in Mecca. In January, California's unemployment rate was 13.2 percent, compared with 10.6 percent for the nation, EDD reported. Read more tomorrow in The Desert Sun.

The funeral procession for Tahnee Whiting - the woman whose vehicle was found at the bottom of the California Aqueduct earlier in the month - was traveling east on Main Street when for unknown reasons the tractor trailer heading north on Highway 395 ran through the intersection striking the white SUV directly behind Whiting's hearse, according to Whiting's mother, Kim Isom. About six people were in the overturned vehicle, but only three were transported to Desert Valley Hospital with minor injuries.

Two men were found shot dead in a truck near Highway 395 and Eucalyptus Road, and a third man is fighting for his life, officials said. "He was standing in the middle of the street and screaming," said Melanie Haprov, who called 911 around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday when she and her boyfriend drove up to the intersection and spotted the survivor. "He was covered in blood - his face, his whole shirt - and he was holding his stomach." When San Bernardino County Sheriff's deputies arrived, the man told them there were other victims out in the desert, according to Sgt. Doug Hubbard of the Homicide Detail. On a paved road in an undeveloped housing tract just northwest of the intersection, they found the two other men dead in a truck. The men may be from the Los Angeles area.

Bua hit a submerged boulder feet-first, according to his grandmother, Cheryl Rollins of Hesperia . The impact was so powerful that some people said they could hear bones break. Bua broke his right femur in 17 places and sustained fractures of the tailbone, pelvis, left tibia and fibula. He also cracked his L1 and shattered his right heel.

Bua hit a submerged boulder feet-first, according to his grandmother, Cheryl Rollins of Hesperia . The impact was so powerful that some people said they could hear bones break. Bua broke his right femur in 17 places and sustained fractures of the tailbone, pelvis, left tibia and fibula. He also cracked his L1 and shattered his right heel.