Three men and a woman were arrested after a standoff in Alta Sierra.

On Tuesday, at about 8:30 a.m., deputies from the Kern County Sheriff’s Office Kern Valley Substation were sent to a burglary investigation in the 10500 block of Sequoia Drive in Alta Sierra.

Deputies said the victim reported several guns and other miscellaneous items had been stolen from the home...

So far, the death penalty for defendants in Kern County has just meant a long stay in prison.

Consider these facts:

Of the 31 death penalty verdicts by Kern juries since 1978, only three defendants have died -- two by suicide and one from throat cancer. Five other cases were reversed and four of those defendants were resentenced to terms of life in prison. One is awaiting a hearing on whether he will receive a life term.

Thirteen people were executed in California between 1992 and 2006, the state reported. Executions were stopped in 2006 because of issues over lethal injections. Those have been resolved so executions may resume soon...

Kern County has been tentatively awarded a $100 million state grant to construct 790 beds in a new jail building at Lerdo Jail.

The Corrections Standards Authority, a division of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, made a preliminary award to Kern County, said department Press Secretary Seth Unger Thursday afternoon.

The funding comes from Assembly Bill 900, approved in 2007. Unger said Kern's petition in the competitive bid for funding got the third highest mark in the state…

The state prison system says it is facing a bed shortage for inmates, and so it wants to expand four of the prisons here in Kern County. But in Delano, residents aren't exactly crazy about having up to 2,000 more inmates in their community.

McFarland resident Miguel Garnica likes to take his children to Cecil Park. But the former correctional officer doesn't like the idea of having the state bring in up to 1,000 more inmates at Kern Valley State Prison and 1,000 more at North Kern State Prison, both located in Delano. Garnica says bring in more inmates, and their families follow, "I noticed different people coming around this area, mostly LA people, mostly people from the north. And I've noticed a lot of more gang banging…"

There are mounting concerns here at home about a proposed plan to release 22,000 inmates from state prisons in California. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made the proposal to help close a $14 billion gap in the state's budget. But local law enforcement officials are taking aim at the plan.

Kern County District Attorney Ed Jagels blasted the Governor's proposal, and Tuesday county supervisors joined Jagels in criticizing the plan to give hardened criminals a fast track to freedom. With California's budget $14 billion out of whack, one proposal is to save millions by releasing low risk convicts out of prison early…

Kern County supervisors on Tuesday ripped into Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to release 22,000 state prison inmates early to save money.

They voted to send letters to local lawmakers demanding the state Legislature scuttle the governor's plan.

One supervisor even suggested shipping released Kern County prisoners to Beverly Hills to help Schwarzenegger understand the impact…