A former Lakeside Union School District board member pleaded no contest Tuesday to attempted statutory rape. Travis Fugitt, 40, must also register as a sex offender after he tried to meet a minor for sex. Fugitt, of Fugitt Farming and Harvesting, was arrested at Fruitvale Norris Park in 2021 where he showed up to meet…… Read More
Kern County fire investigators have arrested a Bakersfield woman in connection to a deadly trailer fire in Oildale. Nicole Taylor, 34, was booked into Lerdo Jail on Saturday hours after the blaze that took the life of Amber Wimberley, 52, and two dogs at Superior Mobile Home Park on State Road. Taylor faces several charges…… Read More
Crews with the Bakersfield Fire Department rescued a 45-year-old woman from the Kern River near Hart Park Monday. It happened around 5:20 p.m. when first responders saved the woman from an island in the river. Fire officials say the woman was exhausted from hanging onto a branch to stay afloat.… Read More
A 30-year-old man faces murder charges after a body was found inside a south Bakersfield apartment. Jason Garibay was arrested after Bakersfield police responded early Monday morning to reports of a body inside the apartment in the 400 block of South Williams Street. Anyone with information in the case is asked to call the Bakersfield…… Read More
A hearing takes place Monday for a man suspected of slitting his estranged wife’s throat after a graduation party in east Bakersfield. Rafael Estrada, 44, allegedly stabbed Taylor Estrada, 32, to death May 28 at a house in the 2400 block of Monterey Street. Kern County Sheriff’s deputies say Estrada was not invited to a…… Read More
Delano Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains is calling for the resignation of California’s top air regulator. Bains says California Air Resources Board Chair Liane Randolph should step down after admitting the agency doesn’t study how its rules affect gas prices. Randolph made the statement during a state hearing on the new Low Carbon Fuel Standard, which could…… Read More
A young woman was stabbed to death Wednesday at a house in east Bakersfield, prompting authorities to issue a warning about the dangers of domestic violence. Kern County Sheriff’s deputies say Taylor Estrada, 32, was killed Wednesday night, allegedly by her estranged husband Rafael Estrada, following a graduation pizza party for the victim’s middle-school-aged daughter.…… Read More
Bakersfield’s new budget sparked a heated debate over public safety funds and whether they’re being used to help the fight against homelessness. City leaders on Tuesday reviewed the proposed $850 million budget for next year. Concerns surfaced about how $12 million in Measure N funds are being used. Measure N is a voter-approved sales tax…… Read More
A former Stallion Springs police officer has pleaded no contest to sexually abusing a child. James Best. Jr., 54, entered the plea Wednesday to two felony charges after prosecutors say he abused the girl for several years. She was between the ages of 9 and 16. She came forward to authorities in 2023. Best admitted…… Read More
A 19-year-old man is facing assault and vandalism charges after an alleged rock attack at a downtown Bakersfield McDonald’s. Police say Quintin Flight threw softball-sized rocks at a truck in the drive thru on F Street on May 21, shattering the driver’s window and causing cuts to the man’s face and neck. Flight allegedly laughed…… Read More
