Gabriel Hart

For the meeting's agenda, the Commission will hold their second review and discussion on the Outdoor Lighting Ordinance, following up on last month's meeting where they focused on two standards of the Outdoor Lighting and Night Sky Ordinance: Fully Shielded, which states any outdoor lighting fixtures must not direct light onto adjacent property, and Light Trespass, which prohibits “nuisance glare” from any lighting onto neighboring property that interferes with viewing of night sky.

Last night, The Morongo Valley Community Service District Board of Directors held their regular meeting at Covington Park, where the Assistant Fire Chief reported their donation of outdated gear and the fire crew's planned OSHA-required testing, and the Board discussed updates to district holidays and Conflict of Interest policy. Reporter Gabriel Hart takes a closer look.

The discourse on the Dark Sky/Outdoor Lighting Ordinance continued with the Yucca Valley Planning Commission going into their second review and discussion at last night's meeting. Reporter Gabriel Hart was in attendance and has this recap.

On Thursday at 2:07 p.m. on the corner of Senilis and Highway 62 in Morongo Valley, a cargo truck hauling bales of hay was reported on fire heading east, closing both eastbound lanes. Eyewitness photos show the fire starting towards the front of the trailer by the cab before it engulfed the whole load and the interior of the cab.

While 2026 saw major shifts of the Morongo Valley Fire Department chiefs, there is now a solid command structure of three: Battalion Chief Ryan McEachen, Volunteer Fire Chief Paul Lindley, and the newly appointed Assistant Fire Chief Daniel Casner, who returns to the Morongo Valley Fire Department since he “cut his teeth” there in 1992. Many are hesitant to call Morongo Valley Fire a training department, but Casner pridefully says that's essentially what it is.

In Therrio's practice, mental and physical articulation and the technical challenge of the limitations of materials is where the creativity lies, its intense demand for focus facilitates a meditative process, a means of visioning and accessing alternate realities and deeper truths. His abstract figures evoke other-than-human spirits, talismans, and totems. They prompt reflection on the connections between the disciplined focus of the work and the unseen.

With a decade of pie making to her name, baker and poet Alexandra Martinez recently opened her Galaxy Pies shop at the Shops at Zanny's in Joshua Tree. Because she was offered so much freedom in the space, Martinez envisioned the pie shop walls doubling as a small gallery space for local artists.

Following the initial efforts by local historians Joan Wilson and Ruth Long, The Morongo Basin Historical Society was formed in 1999 to preserve the region's history for future generations. Its logo is a windmill and cattle watering trough representing Warren's Well, the center of social life for early Yucca Valley (formerly “Lonestar”) settlers, (its memorial plaque is now located behind the Yucca Valley airport).

In effort to preserve dark skies, The Commission will continue discussions on the Outdoor Lighting Ordinance, setting guidelines, and exploring practical ways of enforcement. Updates include accounting for LED technology, balancing safety and security, encouragement to warmer lighting, ensuring standards are implementable, and comparing regulation examples from other cities in the Morongo Basin and Coachella Valley.

As introduced by Senior Planner Jared Jerome, the primary update of the Outdoor Lighting Ordinance would be a five-year sunset period for commercial businesses to comply with the new updates from the date the ordinance is passed. The new standard for outdoor lighting is a maximum of 3000 Lumens and 3 Lux for commercial businesses with 1000 Lumens and 1 Lux, the lowest measurable light, for residential.