By Leon Worden — SCVNews.com Mirroring a spike in joblessness nationally, Santa Clarita’s and Los Angeles County’s unemployment rates notched up in January as holiday retail jobs were eliminated and motion picture work slowed down. Santa Clarita’s unadjusted jobless rate hit 6.7 percent in January, up from December’s 6.2-percent rate but down from the year-ago January figure of 7.4 percent. ...

Forcible rape and grand theft auto cases occupied much of the calendar for Santa Clarita Valley sheriff’s deputies during 2012, but homicide investigators got a bit of a reprieve. Violent crime across the Santa Clarita Valley rose 27.7 percent during 2012 compared to 2011, according to data released Wednesday by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. But while the SCV’s ...