More than $52 million has been spent protecting land across the Santa Clarita Valley and city leaders say even more is on the way. At Tuesday night’s Open Space Preservation District Financial Accountability and Audit Panel meeting, city staff and committee members highlighted the program’s growth and what still lies ahead. A growing investment in open space Since the program ...

Santa Clarita’s annual City Council reorganization meeting brought a mix of celebration and tension Tuesday night as Laurene Weste was sworn in as mayor for the seventh time. Outgoing Mayor Bill Miranda formally passed the gavel to Weste.  Weste has served on the City Council since 1998 and previously held the mayoral role in 2001, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and ...

The Santa Clarita City Council will hold a Special Meeting in open session on Tuesday, Dec. 9, at 5 p.m. at Santa Clarita City Hall to conduct the annual Council Reorganization event, when the gavel will be passed to a new mayor.  The council will also elect a new mayor pro tem for 2026. Mayor Bill Miranda is expected to ...

At Tuesday night’s Santa Clarita City Council meeting, what seemed like a straightforward certification of review for chemical manufacturer HASA Inc. quickly turned into a fiery debate about transparency, oversight, and public trust. HASA, which specializes in the manufacture and distribution of water-treatment chemicals, is seeking approval to move its one-gallon bottling operations from Drayton Street to a modernized site ...

At Tuesday night’s Santa Clarita City Council meeting, Mayor Pro Tem Laurene Weste appointed Daniel “Dan” Faina as her new planning commissioner, following the council’s 3-2 vote on July 8 to remove former commissioner Denise Lite.  Faina did not attend Tuesday’s meeting for the nomination. Faina, a longtime Santa Clarita resident, brings nearly two decades of homebuilding and community development ...

By: Corey Downs, J.D. candidate. Ed. Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the individual author or authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of KHTS Radio and its staff. Planning Commissioner Denise Lite, and potentially any eligible citizen of Santa  Clarita, may challenge the recent Santa Clarita City Council action to ...

Denise Lite delivered a powerful defense of her service during the July 8 Santa Clarita City Council meeting, urging councilmembers to reject her removal from the Planning Commission and calling the move political retaliation against her efforts to promote transparency and responsible development. The following is the complete version of Lite’s statement read at the Santa Clarita City Council Meeting ...

Planning Commissioner Denise Lite was officially removed from her post Tuesday night in a 3-2 vote by the Santa Clarita City Council, a decision that ignited a wave of public outcry, accusations of political retaliation, and ultimately, Lite’s announcement that she will run for City Council. The removal request came from Mayor Pro Tem Laurene Weste, who appointed Lite in ...

By: Tami Stephens The following is a copy of a letter submitted to the Santa Clarita City Council for the meeting on July 8, 2025. Ed. Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the individual author or authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of KHTS Radio and its staff. Dear Mayor ...

In recent weeks, Santa Clarita’s City Council has been embroiled in a heated debate over Mayor Pro Tem Laurene Weste’s request to remove Planning Commissioner Denise Lite, an appointment Weste herself made in September 2022. At the June 25 Council meeting, Weste expressed concerns about communication breakdowns and questioned Lite’s alignment with constituents’ interests, prompting the council to agendize the matter for ...