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At more than 17 percent unemployed, the Victor Valley continued to top California's unemployment rate of 12.5 percent. Though the state added more than 32,000 non-farm payroll jobs in January, it still has the nation's fifth-highest unemployment rate, exceeding the national average of 10.6 percent, according to the state's Employment Development Department. Michigan leads the nation with an unemployment rate of 14.3 percent, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Adelanto continued to have the highest unemployment rate in the Victor Valley at 22.8 percent. But every city noted in the state's report suffered from double-digit unemployment percentages - most over 15 percent. Most of the 19,500 jobs lost in Riverside and San Bernardino counties from December 2009 to January 2010 were in the trade, transportation and utilities sector, which declined by 7,700 workers. Retail stores shed over 6,000 jobs as the Christmas shopping season closed, while professional and business services jobs saw a decline of 3,600 workers.

filming "Priest," what Dresser calls a post-Apocalyptic vampire Western.

filming "Priest," what Dresser calls a post-Apocalyptic vampire Western.

Sohn said the Central Valley and Inland Empire, which have suffered some of the worst foreclosure rates in the nation, are dragging down the rest of the state. Coastal California is rebounding well, he said, and the comeback in Asia's economy is helping California's major ports.

These two scumbags made the big-time national news when this happened. Machnick and her husband were tried for felony child abuse in 2002. Jury deadlocked. In 2005, facing re-trial, Machnick pled "nolo contendere" (equivalent to guilty) to misdemeanor child abuse in a plea bargain and received 120 days community service. Their child was in junior high, and Machnick was a public school principal in Walnut. When this broke, she got promoted to "administration" so she would have "no contact with children"...  top aide on leave after child abuse allegations surface Comments 11 | Recommend 2 March 20, 2010 11:32 AM Natasha Lindstrom VICTORVILLE * The Victor Valley Union High School District has placed the superintendent's top aide on paid leave after officials discovered she was charged with abusing her teenage stepson 10 years ago, including taking nude photographs of him and forcing him to carry dog feces in his backpack. Deborah Machnick, 54, joined the district in September 2007 as director of curriculum and instruction and was appointed special assistant to the superintendent six months ago. Machnick was placed on leave March 11 after a district employee tipped off officials about prior child-abuse charges, Superintendent Marilou Ryder confirmed. "To be clear now, during her employment there's been absolutely no complaints or any proof of misconduct at all, but we have certain information that we were obligated to investigate," Ryder said. Prosecutors alleged Machnick and her husband, Grady Machnick, a former Los Angeles County Sheriff's sergeant, emotionally and physically abused their then-14-year-old son at their residence in Yorba Linda, the Los Angeles Times reported in 2002. To discipline the unruly boy, the couple allegedly forced him to sleep outside on a dog mat, prevented him from using the bathroom at night and poured water on him as he slept, the Times reported. The boy was forced to "earn" clean clothes, according to the Time

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.

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.

likely witnessed the killing. Carlos Meza, 41, of Hesperia was shot multiple times around 6:50 p.m. March 3 in the Rite Aid/Stater Bros. parking lot at Amethyst and Bear Valley roads, officials said. Homicide detectives are eager to talk with witnesses in hopes of solving the case. The photos released Tuesday were taken at the entrance to RiteAid. Investigators believe the shoppers in these photos may have witnessed the shooting. The gunman is described as a 30 to 40-year-old Hispanic male, between 5'6" and 5'8" weighing 180 to 200 pounds and wearing all black clothing. The suspect reportedly got into the passenger side of a late 1980s or early 1990s Ford Escort Wagon with light blue oxidized paint, said officials.