Outrage continues over plans to open the state’s largest detention center in California City. Community members, immigrant rights advocates, and local leaders gathered in protest outside City Hall Tuesday ahead of a scheduled city council meeting. Protesters’ demands include increased transparency, compliance with California’s public health, zoning, and environmental laws, and an immediate halt to…… Read More
Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace, which has played host to nearly every country star and acts as the de facto headquarters of the Bakersfield sound., has closed its doors for good. The 28-year-old restaurant, bar and club in Bakersfield, which occupied more than 21,000 square feet in a two-story Western Revival-style house at 2800 Buck Owens…… Read More
Police say speed and drugs may have led to a fatal accident in northeast Bakersfield. Officers went to the 4400 block of Union Avenue Sunday evening to find a crash between a Hyundai and a Jeep. A 16-year-old passenger in the Hyunadai was pronounced dead at the scene. The Hyundai driver and two other passengers…… Read More
Police say speed and drugs may have led to a fatal accident in northeast Bakersfield. Officers went to the 4400 block of Union Avenue Sunday evening to find a crash between a Hyundai and a Jeep. A 16-year-old passenger in the Hyunadai was pronounced dead at the scene. The Hyundai driver and two other passengers…… Read More
Authorities are investigating a fire at a mobile home park in Oildale. The blaze is the third fire at the location in four months. The body of a woman identified as Linda Kelly was found around 2:00 a.m. Friday at a burned-out trailer at Superior Mobile Home Park in the 6000 block of State Road.…… Read More
A Kern County Fire battalion chief suffered serious injuries when the vehicle he was driving crashed in the Romero Canyon area. James Agee received medical aid at the scene before being flown by helicopter to Henry Mayo Hospital in Newhall after his pickup rolled over during operations on the Canyon Fire in Ventura and Los…… Read More
A recent grand jury report is putting Kern County Child Protective Services under the microscope. The information released in April comes on the heels of the death of Genesis Mata, 8, whose tortured body was found August 2, 2025, inside a bathtub at a central Bakersfield motel. Authorities say the girl’s father, Ray Mata, Jr.,…… Read More
A downtown Bakersfield tattoo shop was hit by vandals after claims that one of its artists has a tattoo of a swastika on his body. The front window at Electric Wizard Tattoo Castle on 19th Street was broken out Wednesday night and the words Nazis F*** Off were spray-painted above the entrance. The owner of…… Read More
Troubling new details are emerging following the death of an 8-year-old girl whose battered body was found in a bathtub at a central Bakersfield motel. Police found the remains of Genesis Mata on Saturday at the La Quinta Inn on Riverside Drive, but say she died the day before after allegedly being tortured by her…… Read More
A major solar project in eastern Kern County is now online. The Eland Solar and Battery Center near Mojave held a ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday. The new facility will power over 260,000 Los Angeles homes and will cover 7% of the city’s electricity. Built by Arevon Energy, the site includes giant batteries to store solar…… Read More
