ICYMI: Top headlines in the Coachella Valley Aug. 15-21

Riverside County's monkeypox cases are mostly in Palm Springs, Cathedral City

More than half of Riverside County's monkeypox cases have come from Palm Springs alone, data released by public health officials this week showed.

There have been 124 confirmed and probable monkeypox cases in Riverside County as of Friday. The cities with the highest number of cases include Palm Springs (66), Cathedral City (21) and Desert Hot Springs and Riverside (five each), according to the dashboard.

Palm Springs and Cathedral City together have over 70% of the county's total cases so far.

Palm Springs' case total exceeds that for all of Orange County, which as of Tuesday had confirmed 57 cases, according to data from the California Department of Public Health. Palm Springs has about 48,000 residents, compared to Orange County's 3.1 million.

— Ema Sasic

COD plans 'citizens advisory group' on Palm Springs campus

College of the Desert will move forward with a modified version of its proposed “Citizens Advisory Group” to inform design elements of its planned Palm Springs campus.

The school’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously in favor of a motion to create the advisory group Friday, with changes to its composition and stated purpose.

College staff originally recommended the body have 7 to10 members drawn from a specific list of different constituencies, such as students and business leaders. Now, it will have a total of 11 members. Each of the school’s five trustees will recommend two members based on any criteria they see fit, plus one alternate candidate.

College President/Superintendent Martha Garcia and Board Chair Ruben Perez will then make final selections from among these candidates, swapping in alternate candidates as necessary with the stated goal of creating a diverse mix of participants.

The final advisory group member will be a student chosen by the Associated Students of College of the Desert to ensure representation of that group.

 — James Cutchin

Tickets on sale for immersive Van Gogh exhibit

"Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience" is coming to the Coachella Valley.

The highly anticipated exhibition runs Sept. 30 to Nov. 27 at The Forum Tent at Empire Polo Club in Indio. Tickets went on sale at 6 a.m. Friday at vangoghpalmsprings.com. Admission starts at $39.99 for adults and $23.99 for children (ages 5-15).

"Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience" is produced by Paquin Entertainment Group and features projections of 300 artworks by Van Gogh, including "The Starry Night," "Sunflowers" and "Café Terrace at Night."

The production takes up 30,000 square feet and has four trillion content pixels. It was created by French-Canadian Creative Director Mathieu St-Arnaud of the Montreal-based Normal Studio.

— Brian Blueskye

La Quinta council races set

A longtime incumbent and four newcomers — three of whom have run for local office before — will vie for two seats on the La Quinta City Council in the Nov. 8 election.

John Peña, a member of the council since 2014 who also served as mayor from 1988 to 2002, is seeking another four-year term in office.

The other incumbent whose term is expiring, Robert Radi, announced in January that he won’t seek re-election

Four newcomers — Richard Gray, Brian Hanrahan, Joe Johnson and Deborah McGarrey — have qualified to appear on the November ballot, according to La Quinta City Clerk Monika Radeva. Council members are elected at large, meaning the top two vote-getters of the five will win the council seats.

As The Desert Sun reported earlier, Mayor Linda Evans is facing a pair of challengers — Alan Woodruff and Robert Sylk — in her bid for a fifth term as mayor. In La Quinta, council members serve four-year terms, while the mayor is elected every two years.

— Tom Coulter

After shooting, Palm Springs says officers can’t aid bounty hunters

Under a new policy adopted a year after a bounty hunter fatally shot a man, with officers present, Palm Springs police are now barred from helping anyone in the bail industry apprehend fugitives.

“The policy states officers are prohibited from working with bail agents,” Police Chief Andy Mills said. “If there is a person with a warrant in our jurisdiction, our officers will take that case over completely and the bail agents or their representatives cannot be involved.”

Mills declined to say whether the policy is related to Palm Springs resident David Spann’s death, citing an open civil lawsuit his family filed against the city and others.

But the new policy, adopted in June, establishes a clear line between the sometimes overlapping work of police and bail agents. Bail agents, who are licensed by the state, post bond for defendants facing criminal charges, providing them with a way to be released from jail before trial in exchange for a portion of the cost of their bail. Bail agents can apprehend defendants for a variety of reasons, and often hire bounty hunters to do that job.

Bounty hunters are not licensed, but the state Legislature is currently considering a bill that would establish such a license.

The policy comes more than a year after Spann, 33, was fatally shot by a man working as a bounty hunter inside his East Via Escuela condo.

Two Palm Springs police officers had been dispatched to the confrontation after both Spann and the bounty hunter called police during the tense standoff last April. Spann, who was holding a knife, was telling officers and the bounty hunter to get out of his home shortly before he was killed.

Spann did not have a court-issued warrant for his arrest, and the bounty hunter, Fabian Hector Herrera, was not legally permitted to do that work or possess a firearm because of his criminal history. Herrera and his mother, Lisa Vargas, who was also present, have both been charged with Spann’s murder and have pleaded not guilty.

— Christopher Damien

Few challengers in Cathedral City council race

A pastor is challenging one Cathedral City council member in November’s election, while two other members run unopposed for re-election.

There are three seats up for grabs on the council to represent Districts 3, 4, and 5.

Mayor Ernesto Gutierrez, Councilmember Mark Carnevale, and Councilmember Raymond Gregory are all running for re-election.

Rick Saldivar, a pastor at valley-based Destiny Church who also ran for council four years ago, is challenging Gutierrez for the District 4 seat.

Carnevale, who represents District 3, and Gregory, who represents District 5, are running unopposed.

Saldivar said his goal if elected would be to strengthen local government by bringing in more funding for areas like police and fire. He cited his experience writing grants for Destiny Church, saying, “Money’s out there, but you need to find it.” He added that he would also want to help local businesses and improve the city’s relationship with nonprofits.

— Ani Gasparyan

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Top news headlines in the Coachella Valley Aug. 15-21