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California mother arrested for DUI crash that killed her 2 young children: ‘Total tragedy for the community’

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California mother arrested for DUI crash that killed her 2 young children: ‘Total tragedy for the community’


A California mom was allegedly driving intoxicated and speeding when she crashed and killed her two young children, according to cops.

Yesica Barajas, 31, lost control of her 2006 Nissan sedan while exiting Highway 29 in Napa and crashed into a tree at high speed just before 7:30 a.m. Sunday, ABC 7 reported.

Her son Damien Montanez, 10, and daughter Aaliyah Montanez, 9, were both pronounced dead at the scene.

The mom suffered major injuries and was taken to Napa’s Queen of the Valley Hospital where she was charged on suspicion of driving under the influence, the California Highway Patrol said Monday.

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Yesica Barajas was allegedly driving while intoxicated when she crashed her car Sunday morning, killing her two young children. abc7News

Police believe alcohol, speed and drugs played a factor in the fatal crash.

“There’s a lot going into this,” CHP Sargent Andrew Barclay told ABC 7. “It will be an ongoing investigation.”

The mother will remain in CHP custody until she is medically cleared to be transferred to the Napa County Jail. Her bail has been set at $500,000, records show.

Barajas, who is still recovering in the hospital, has been charged on suspicion of driving under the influence. abc7News

“A tragic situation is made even more tragic, the fact that two young kids lost their lives due to the decision of someone else to drive impaired, that’s a hard thing to get past,” Barclay said.

Gabriel Cardenas, who was laying flowers down for the two children near the crash site on Monday, told ABC 7 the children’s deaths are a “total tragedy for the community.”

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“I just felt horrible for the kids, because at that time of the morning, kids should be being normal kids, watching cartoons with their bowl of cereal,” Cardenas said.

9-year-old Aaliyah Montanez and 10-year-old Damien Montanez were both killed in the crash. Gofundme

Family friend Angela Villasenor told KRON4 that the children’s family is “devastated” over their deaths.

“Everybody is still in shock,” she said. “No one is prepared for something like this to happen.”

The siblings are remembered as being “full of life,” Villasenor, who organized a GoFundMe page to help the family with funeral expenses, wrote.

The children’s family is “devastated” over the sibling’s deaths, a family friend said. Gofundme

“Damian & Aaliyah were sweet, loving, full of life kids who will be missed greatly. They touched everyone they met. They were always helpful and loved camping in Lake Tahoe, where they often went with their grandparents, Lilia and Enrique,” Villasenor, who organized the page for the family, wrote.

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“Everybody is still in shock. No one is prepared for something like this to happen. The family right now is devastated. They will be missed.”

The brother and sister attended school in the Napa Valley Unified School District.

“Our hearts go out to the family as we grieve with our community and offer support during this difficult time,” a district spokesperson said.

“We continue to have counseling and social worker support available for students and staff.”

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Northern California’s House of Clocks has stood the test of time for 55 years

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Northern California’s House of Clocks has stood the test of time for 55 years


While we may lose an hour of sleep this coming weekend, one clock store in California is gearing up for one of its busiest times of the year: daylight savings.

It’s the House of Clocks, the largest clock company in Northern California, which was recently celebrating 55 years of business.

It’s a place frozen in time. Just visit the store’s 240-year-old grandfather clock. It’s got plenty of stories to tell, dating back to 1780.

“This is the oldest piece we have right now,” clocksmith Joey Hohn said.

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The House of Clocks is on the outskirts of Downtown Lodi in San Joaquin County.

“We have new, we have vintage, we have antique,” co-owner Sandy Hohn shared. “Honestly, it feels like not a day goes by that we don’t get a phone call or an email of somebody wanting to sell something for 100 different reasons.”

The clock store has been with the Hohn family for three generations. It’s all thanks to one family heirloom.

“When the first war started, [my grandparents] left everything and had to move,” Joey Hohn explained. “After the Second World War, my grandpa was stationed in Germany. They went back to the house that had been abandoned and the neighbor who they left the property to said, ‘As far as I’m concerned, everything in the house is still yours.’ They went back and got this, so this is my great-great-grandparents’ clock.”

You can find just about anything in the House of Clocks, from old grandfather clocks to clocks that can fit in the palm of your hand.

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What you can’t find anywhere else is the Hohns’ love for Lodi.

“We’ve made so many friends over the years out of customers,” Sandy Hohn said. “Friends that are just wonderful, that love collecting, and we keep them repaired for their families, which is awesome. They have sentimental value that’s passed down.”

That same love for the city and their community runs in the family.

“We had a customer that wanted to repaint their dial,” Joey Hohn explained. “We told them no because it was her father’s who had passed away. Every time he went to wind the clock, he placed his thumb in the same spot. When we told her that smudge there on the dial was her father, she said, ‘Back away, don’t you dare.’ It was just a good memory we have.”

While you can’t turn back time, what we can do is keep memories alive and treasure the present moment.

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“There’s so many personalities,” Sandy Hohn said. “We just try to find a good home for them.”



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Signs of spring blooming at Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve after wet, warm winter

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Signs of spring blooming at Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve after wet, warm winter


It’s beginning to look a lot like spring!

The warm and wet weather this winter has led to the start of a dazzling super bloom at the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve.

“We had an unseasonably warm winter as well, so there’s actually a lot of growth,” said Callista Turney with California State Parks. “We’re having early wildflowers that are already at the park. So if you look at the poppy live cam, it shows a lot of orange already.”

The rain has helped the early blooms, but it’s actually the heat that accelerated the growth of the flowers.

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“It will actually speed up the growth of the plants, so some of them were already blooming and that’s going to cause those blossoms to accelerate faster towards seed production. And the blossoms that are in the process of being formed, those are going to open up soon as well.”

We also sometimes see great super blooms in Death Valley National Park, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Joshua Tree and the Mojave National Preserve.

“It’s definitely a rare occurrence because we don’t always have the right conditions. It’s gotta be the weather, the wind, the rain, all coming together,” said Katie Tilford, Director of Development and Communications with the Theodore Payne Foundation.

If it continues to stay unseasonably warm, we’ll see a shorter bloom. The key to a longer season is milder weather.


Copyright © 2026 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Republican governor candidate Chad Bianco says he’s the ‘antithesis to California state government’

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Republican governor candidate Chad Bianco says he’s the ‘antithesis to California state government’


We are counting down to the California governor’s race. Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County, is one of the two biggest names running on the Republican ticket.

In a one-on-one interview with Eyewitness News political reporter Josh Haskell, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said, “I am the antithesis to California state government because I am going to take a nuclear bomb into that building and absolutely destroy everything that they do to us behind closed doors.”

Although he’s been elected by the voters twice, Bianco says he’s not a politician — which is why he believes his campaign for California governor is resonating, as reflected in the polls.

“President Trump, in one year, from 2025 when he took over, until now, did absolutely nothing to harm California. What’s harming California is 30 years of Democrat one-party rule that have created an environment here that no one can live in anymore. They’ve only been successful here in California because we vote D no matter what. You vote D or die. I mean, that’s it. Charles Manson would be elected in California if he was the only Democrat on the ballot,” Bianco said.

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Bianco isn’t the only conservative Republican running for governor, and according to polling, he’s neck-and-neck with former Fox News host Steve Hilton.

SEE ALSO: CA governor candidate Steve Hilton says ‘everybody supports’ Trump’s immigration policies

Leading in some polls in the wide-open California Governor’s race as the June primary creeps closer is Republican and former Fox News host Steve Hilton.

“Steve has no chance of winning in November. The Democrats know that I’m going to win in November, and so they have to do everything they can to keep me out of that,” Bianco said.

When asked about the affordability crisis in the state, Bianco said, “Almost the entire issue of affordability in California is because of regulation, excessive regulation imposed by government. Every single regulation can be signed away with the governor’s signature.”

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“It is a drug and alcohol addiction problem that, and a mental health problem,” he said about the homelessness crisis. “Every single bit of money that is going to these nonprofits that say ‘homeless,’ zero money. You’re getting absolutely nothing. I can’t tell you that we would end what we see in the homeless situation within a year, but I guarantee you we would never see it again after two years.”

When challenged on that prediction, pointing to how the state doesn’t have the facilities to treat the number of people living on our streets, Bianco responded, “We have been conditioned to believe that buildings take five years to build. It takes 90 days or less to build a house, but in California, it takes three to five years because the government won’t allow it. The regulations that are destroying this state are going to be removed with me as the governor.”

Bianco also said California jails shouldn’t have to play the role of treatment facilities.

Although he says he supports the Trump administration and wants the president’s endorsement, Bianco has been traveling the state — meeting not just with Republicans, but Democrats and independents as well. He says all of our state government officials have failed.

The primary election is June 2.

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No clear front-runner in race for California governor, new poll shows

A new poll shows there’s still no clear front-runner in the race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom.

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