Anna Marie Reynosa’s failure to obey traffic laws — including not texting while driving — despite three speeding tickets and repeated warnings from law enforcement resulted in the death of a motorcyclist and calls for a conviction of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, prosecutors said during opening arguments Friday.

Reynosa’s trial is unique for Kern County in that it’s the first time a motorist has been charged with vehicular manslaughter in connection with texting while driving.

The injured American White Pelican is now in good hands.

Three staff members from California Living Museum captured her Friday and are busy nursing the beautiful, large, white bird back to health.

The Bakersfield man accused of initiating a March 14 gunfight and police standoff lasting several hours pleaded not guilty to all charges Friday in his first court appearance.

Bond was set at $5 million for Miguel Villanueva, 29, who is charged with attempted murder, assault with a firearm on a peace officer, assault with a firearm on a person and taking a vehicle without the owner's consent, as well as several misdemeanors.

Services pending

Josephina Romero De Gomez, 68, Bakersfield, May 9. Basham Funeral Care.

Editor's note: Action Line is a weekly column from the Better Business Bureau answering consumers' questions and concerns about money and business issues.

Dear Action Line: My family and I plan to travel over the summer months. We are looking to book our hotel and flight. I'm concerned about making sure that we can travel safely and I also want to make sure I get quality at an affordable price. I heard of the travel websites but am unsure if they are credible and ethical.

I don't think it would be much of a stretch to say that I have a passion for dogs; this weekly love letter attests to that.

But training man's best friend requires training man himself, which often proves more difficult than training the dog.

Reader: In the May 5 Bakersfield Californian, buried at the bottom of page 18, in the Nation section, were two brief articles that, in my opinion, should have received a little more visible coverage. They certainly received more coverage when they were originally considered news.

Headline 1: "Gay bishop divorce." The first openly gay Episcopal bishop and his partner of 25 years are divorcing. This marriage was an event that ripped the Episcopal Church apart in 2003. Hundreds of parishes left the umbrella of the Episcopal Church and formed a more conservative branch. Some even left the church for good. People were hurt. Christianity was attacked by those who believe that God intended marriage to be for both male and female same-sex couples. The gay community was literally dancing in the street. Now the famous bishop is divorcing his "husband." Think of all the emotional damage this man and his "husband" did to his congregants across America, and to each other and their families. Divorce is sad business. If we have to face the fact that a husband can have a husband and a wife can have a wife, we have to face the fact that divorce can creep into these relationships, too. I doubt the bishop gave much thought to that when he married his husband.

Assemblywoman Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, said she's staying the course and using the election plan of two years ago while campaigning for re-election in the 34th Assembly District race. She's concentrating on putting up signs, doing interviews and being a part of debates.

"We continue to get our message to people," Grove said Friday on "First Look with Scott Cox." "I'm pro jobs, helping people in the community and fighting for veterans."

LOS ANGELES -- When Rep. Gary Miller announced in February he would retire from Congress, it was hardly a surprise. The surprise was that Miller was a member of Congress.

The wealthy Republican's unexpected 2012 victory in a Southern California district President Barack Obama carried by 17 points was largely attributed to the quirks of the state's primary election rules, which get their second test June 3.

Clark, a 7-month-old Vizsla dog, was very affectionate and playful Friday on "First Look with Scott Cox," and at one point, simply lounged across the studio table.

"He's so sweet and you can't get a better personality," said Julie Johnson, who runs the shelter on Mount Vernon Avenue and is also Bakersfield SPCA director.

More than 18,000 Kern County residents signed up for health plans made possible by the Affordable Care Act during the first open enrollment period for those plans, according to new local data the state released Wednesday.

Between Oct. 1, 2013, and March 31, 2014, 18,083 people got health insurance through the state's health insurance exchange, nearly 91 percent of whom were eligible for subsidies, according to Covered California and the California Department of Health Care Services

With tax revenues improving in the aftermath of the Great Recession, city officials revealed plans Wednesday to hire five more police officers and make nearly $5.6 million in park improvements as they gave the Bakersfield City Council its first look at the proposed new budget.

As might have been expected for an area that received $630 million in federal earmarks for major highway projects, secured by former Congressman Bill Thomas, R-Bakersfield, highway improvements left skid marks all over this year's budget.

Lead stories from "First Look with Scott Cox," Top Stories:

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE OKS CREATION OF KMC HOSPITAL AUTHORITY: Kern County supervisors have started a process that could turn control of troubled Kern Medical Center over to an independent hospital authority, and on Wednesday got help from a state Assembly committee. Supervisors say the county hospital can operate more efficiently -- and profitably -- outside of the county bureaucracy. They voted unanimously Tuesday to take the first step in creating an authority and support passage of Assembly Bill 2546. The legislation would give supervisors the power to create the authority and disentangle themselves from the financial millstone KMC has become. Read the full story here.

Kern County supervisors have started a process that could turn control of troubled Kern Medical Center over to an independent hospital authority, and on Wednesday got help from a state Assembly committee.

Supervisors say the county hospital can operate more efficiently -- and profitably -- outside of the county bureaucracy.

The image of Tehachapi test pilot Bill Dana wearing a gleaming silver pressure suit, flying alone in a black X-15 rocket plane hurtling toward the edge of space, is practically the definition of the iconic phrase, The Right Stuff.

Dana, one of the nation’s most respected aerospace pioneers, and a distinguished research pilot and aeronautical engineer, died Tuesday after a long illness, according to a NASA spokesman. Dana was 83.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority approved its Fresno-Bakersfield section Wednesday -- the second piece of what is planned as the backbone of a statewide passenger train network.

The agency's board, meeting in Fresno, took two separate votes related to the 114-mile route. Board members certified the final 20,000-page version of its environmental-impact report, intended to analyze how building and operating the rail system would affect homes, businesses, farms and wildlife habitat in the region, and detail how the agency will minimize or make up for those effects.

The oil company owning the faulty Arvin gas line that leaked and caused the evacuation of eight homes will compile a human health risk assessment on the released toxins.

Petro Capital Resources LLC pipeline has left more than three dozen people displaced since March 18. The pipeline has since been shut down.

Giving Bakersfield a token of its esteem, the California High-Speed Rail Authority board on Wednesday approved the Fresno to Bakersfield segment of its bullet train line -- and a resolution affirming construction will stop at city limits for now.

The bullet train will still take out numerous private buildings in Bakersfield, and bisect portions of city facilities including its recent Mill Creek redevelopment project, the parking lot of the McMurtrey Aquatic Center, and the Municipal Services Corporation Yard.

TEACHER TALKS TARDIES: A math teacher at Highland High School is urging the Kern High School District to enact a district-wide policy to curb student tardiness -- which he calls "a serious classroom management problem" that he's seen escalate.

"Let's do something about tardies," Scott Clare told the school board Monday night.

SACRAMENTO -- The board that oversees California's $68 billion high-speed rail project voted Wednesday to unanimously adopt a planned route for its second and most substantial section to date, a 114-mile stretch between Fresno and Bakersfield.

Meeting in Fresno, the board voted 7-0 to approve a 20,000-page environmental planning document, sending the next phase of the project on for federal review.