Bakersfield police officer Aaron Stringer has been charged with misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence of a sleeping agent and hit and run in a June 26 incident of erratic driving from his Rosedale area home to the downtown police station, a prosecutor said.

Stringer, 30, a five-year veteran, is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges Sept. 30, Deputy District Attorney Mark Pafford said.

One of five suspects in a marijuana growing operation was shot numerous times Wednesday morning by four officers in a confrontation in rugged terrain about 10 miles north of Democrat Hot Springs, sheriff's deputies said.

The person who was shot was airlifted to Kern Medical Center with major injuries, sheriff's spokesman Ray Pruitt said. Democrat Hot Springs is about 12 miles east of the mouth of the Kern River Canyon.

School districts here are waiting to see how they will be able to potentially use hundreds of thousands of dollars aimed at saving teacher jobs.

The federal Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act signed several weeks ago will give California about $1.2 billion to save or create an estimated 16,500 K-12 jobs. The money cannot be spent on district administration, overhead costs or reducing debt. It is unknown when school districts will receive the money because distribution is dependent on enactment of the state budget. School districts would have until 2012 to spend the money.

Samuel Ramirez Bravo, who was convicted in a string of market robberies before one ended with the shooting death of a popular market owner, was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the killing plus another 53 years to life for the robberies and other crime conditions.

Bravo, 29, was convicted last month of first degree murder and special circumstances of robbery and burglary in the June 27, 2008 killing of 51-year-old Youll Kwon at the Honey Market on Panama Lane near Union Avenue.

It's hard to look at Kern's horrendous animal overpopulation problem and realize we've made progress.

But we have.

A defense attorney blasted the prosecution's evidence in the murder and rape case against 43-year-old Phillip Ellison stemming from the death of his 14-year-old niece three years ago in California City.

Attorney Dominic Eyherabide contended the prosecution's case "is speculation and conjecture without any evidence to support it."

Three local women will be honored for their community leadership next month at a luncheon organized by the Girl Scouts of Central California South.

Former First 5 Kern executive director and cancer survivor Wendy Wayne, Southern Auto Supply co-owner Stella McMurtrey and Kern County Undersheriff RoseMary Wahl will be inducted into the Women Inspiring Girls Society at 11:30 a.m. Oct. 7 at Stars Theatre Restaurant.

Several shots were fired at a south Bakersfield park Tuesday afternoon shortly after classes at an area high school finished for the day, marking the second shooting at a city park within the past two weeks.

No injuries had been reported in the 2:35 p.m. shooting at Planz Park, said Bakersfield police Sgt. Jason Townsend. The park is on South H Street, north of White Lane and east of Highway 99.

YOUNG GUNS: Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) has teamed with two other up-and-coming Republicans in the House of Representatives to author "Young Guns," a book that sets out a new path for the Republican Party. The trio (McCarthy, Virginia's Eric Cantor and Wisconsin's Paul Ryan) earned the nickname, "Young Guns," from the Weekly Standard, which described these three as a new generation of conservative leaders. If the Republicans take control of Congress in November, these three will be in key positions to move their agenda forward. McCarthy would be in line to be majority whip. The book will be released to the public next week.

THOMPSON'S: Many readers have sounded off on the topic of the old Thompson's pet store, now closed, and it prompted this response from Mike Thompson. "I certainly know the whereabouts of the old Thompson's Pet Land owner, as he is my dad. My parents, Warren and Rhoda Thompson, purchased the old Clyde's Pet Shop way back when. It was located across the railroad tracks from the old Haberfelde Ford dealership on Chester Avenue. When the Chester Avenue underpass displaced them, they moved the business to the old Greyhound Bus Station on 19th Street, where they operated the store for many years. My parents were well known in the community. Both were accomplished pilots, my mom a lady air racer and my dad active in the Sheriff's Aero Squadron. Warren Thompson now lives in Campbell River, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island's northeast coast. He published his first novel, "EARTHQUAKE," in 1990 and is working on its sequel. He also recently published a historical book for the town's Maritime Heritage Museum. My dad is still independent, drives, and has been an avid Rotarian for many years, earning the 'Rotarian Of the Year' award many times. He will turn 96 this November.

The local chapter of a national charity will design hand-crafted blankets for needy children on Saturday, Sept. 11.

Project Linus is hosting the event from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 5500 Fruitvale Ave. near Olive Drive.

Earlier this week, bakersfield.com blogger VanityFair posted about an interesting study and test she came across -- you guessed it -- online.

Netaddiction.com features tests and information for a variety of net-based addictions and available treatment services. You're asked to rate 20 statements in regards to your use of and feelings about the Internet.

Downtown business leaders are beginning to wonder if it isn't time to put their money where their mouth has been and tax themselves to create an improvement district to benefit the city's heart.

The idea has been proposed before. It never got great traction in the eclectic downtown district, where a few iconic businesses sit next to empty shops and a never-ending procession of quirky, ambitious start-ups.

A few words from Bill Thomas offered a ray of hope -- for one woman -- at the end of Tuesday's field hearing of the federal Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in Bakersfield.

Otherwise, local attempts to modify home loans are failing in droves, testimony indicated, and the housing market is still reeling since the bubble burst.

It’s a long way — and not just in miles — from the oil fields and bar rooms of Bakersfield to Washington’s prestigious, exclusive Kennedy Center, a cultural organization devoted to honoring the legendary artists of our time.

But Merle Haggard, who over the decades has turned his life story into poetry set to music, joined the ranks of such towering performers and past honorees as Frank Sinatra, Sidney Poitier, Johnny Cash and Luciano Pavarotti when it was announced Tuesday that his name was on the 2010 Kennedy Center list. And he’s keeping pretty impressive company: Also being honored at the Dec. 5 event, traditionally attended by the president and first lady, are Oprah Winfrey and Paul McCartney.

Default notices were up sharply in August after having dipped lower for a time, numbers from the Kern County Recorder's office show, providing an unsettling spike on the eve of the federal Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission's hearing Tuesday in Bakersfield.

Some 1,100 default notices were recorded in Kern last month, a 27 percent jump from July's 867 filings and about even with a year earlier.