Nogales High School Principal Nancy Padilla and her team are treating students to a tasty barbecue and some fun from 11 a.m. to noon Friday.

They want to congratulate the 341 students who took and passed the California High School Exit Exam for the first time as sophomores. The magic number to pass is 380.

Soooo enjoy the picnic lunch you deserved it.

Elena Paul, the new principal at Wilson High School, helps 14-year-old Larson Jedidiah on his first day as a freshman at the Hacienda Heights campus.

Former principal Albert Clegg has moved up to the district office, where he will serve as executive director for secondary education assessment.

Paul previously was assistant principal at Cleveland High School of the L.A.Unified School District in the San Fernando Valley.

William Roberts, the former principal at Los Altos High School has also moved to the district offices to become director of human resources. His replacement is Cheli McReynolds.

Read all about the principals being shuffled around the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District in an upcoming story in the Hacienda Heights Highlander.

Home prices in LA County dropped more than 3 percent in July compared with June. That's down 27 percent from 2007, according to the California Association of Realtors.

Statewide, home prices dropped 40 percent from last year, the largest decline ever recorded.

Prices in Hacienda Heights have plummeted more than any other community. Hacienda Heights' median home price in July was $345,000, down 43 percent from last July.

In Rowland Heights, the median home price held steady, dropping only 0.7 percent to $519,000.

Read all about it in the Highlanders.

Photo by Raul Roa
Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Zonni reads to her students at Blandford Elementary School in Rowland Heights on the first day of school Monday.

Can you believe that the new school year has already started. Unbelievable!!

Got any cute first day stories and photos to share?

So those big shiny yellow buses will be sharing the road with us today. And lots of kids will be crossing the street to get to their schools.

Everyone will be excited by the start of school so motorists need to be extra careful as they drive to work.

And parents be patient as new families learn the traffic patterns at their new schools. We've all been there.

Ice cream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM!!!!!!!!!!!

And Dreyer's Ice Cream delivered.

Actually, they chose the Puente Hills YMCA in Hacienda Heights for one of their block parties.

The kids wrote a cute essay and were one of 1,500 neighborhoods across the nation picked for a party.

And what a party they had Wednesday, with tubs and tubs of tasty frozen treats. Congrats to 11-year-old Angel Zabala who helped write the winning entry.

See the cute kids and read about their party in the Highlanders.

More than 300 angry neighbors are fighting a developer planning a 775-unit apartment on a 15.7-acre site that's currently home to the Southlands Church International and its tenant, Southlands Christian School.

Residents are worried the complex will cause traffic congestion, as well as parking and crime problems.

Many are also expressed concerned the developer, Trammell Crow Residential, will want to amend the community's general plan.

What do you think of the proposed complex?

A forensic investigator examines a computer seized in a raid targeting child porn on computers on Aug. 18 at a lab in Long Beach. (Photo courtesy U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

Five local men accused of sharing child pornography over the Internet were among 52 Southern Californians arrested in a federal sting operation, authorities announced Tuesday.

Jensen Quan, 24, of Rowland Heights was arrested in the sting, according to a statement from the United States Department of Justice.

The suspects have been booked on charges ranging from possession of child pornography to manufacturing child pornography.

The sting targeted people sharing child porn through "peer-to-peer" file-sharing networks -- programs better known for music sharing such as "Limewire" that allow computer users to transfer files to each other, often for free, officials said.

Law enforcement officials noted that some of those arrested had prior convictions for sex offenses. The maximum sentence for a first conviction of possession of child porn is 10 years in federal prison, officials said.

"... We have a message for child sex predators who think they can escape justice by hiding in Cyberspace," said Robert Schoch, special agent in charge of the ICE office of investigations in Los Angeles. "We will do everything in our power and use every tool at our disposal to keep our children safe, whether they are around the block or around the world."

Yesterday, the Sheriff's Department had to talk a Hacienda Heights man out of commiting suicide because he hasn't been able to find work.

The construction worker reportedly called his wife around noon to say that he was going to kill himself.

Fortunately, deputies were able to convince the man to come out of his house and check himself into the hospital.

With rising gas and food prices every family is under a lot of pressure to make ends meet. How are you doing?

Nothing like a long three-day weekend to get the kids excited about going back to school. But they wouldn't be taking summer school if they didn't have to.

The Hacienda La Puente Unified School District opened the summer session Monday at Sierra Vista Middle School. Hey, at least the summer session is only from 8 a.m. to noon.

The Hacienda La Puente Unified School District will present its Classified Employees Service Awards Ceremony at the Hsi Lai Temple today at 5:15 p.m.

La Puente High School is handing out its Technology Academy Awards in the Wig Wam, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Fairgrove Academy will hold an open house from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., while Shadbend Elementary in Hacienda Heights will open its doors to the public from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Wilson High School will offer a Quadrant Band Concert in the gym at 7 p.m.

The Rowland Council PTA presented their annual awards at Los Angeles Royal Vista Golf Course in Walnut this morning. The new executive board was also installed.

Tonight, Giano Intermediate School will host its Academic Awards Night at Diamond Bar Country Club from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Congratulations to Nogales High School for winning the Solar Cup competition last weekend at Lake Skinner near Temecula. The contest is sponsored by the Metropolitan Water District.

The local high school registered several perfect scores and took first place in the endurance race. In the end, the Nobles ruled beating out Canyon High of Anaheim which came in second and Charter Oak of Covina finishing third.

Check out how the underdogs came out on top in the Rowland Heights Highlander.

Ellen "Zippie" Franklin, 96, of Hacienda Heights was recently honored for 30 years of volunteer work at West Covina Hills Adventist School's library. She shows the quilt the students made for her.

Read all about this amazing woman in the Hacienda Heights Highlander.

Staff Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz / Staff