17 News @ Sunrise 04/25/2024

Some of today's top storiesKern County firefighters had their hands full last night... with a vegetation fire near the Bena landfill.The call came in around 6:40.    Crews worked quickly to knock down the flames.    At last check, the fire is under control with three acres burned.    No word yet on a cause.This morning... we know the name of a man who died following a shooting late Friday night near Panorama Park in northeast Bakersfield.    24-year-old Ronald Josue Rivera Hernandez was shot April 19 at the intersection of River Boulevard and Panorama Drive.    He died at the scene.    Bakersfield police said he was found with multiple gunshot wounds in the park's parking lot.     The shooting remains under investigation.    Anyone with information is asked to call BPD at 327-7111.A man known as the "pillowcase rapist" was sentenced yesterday for trying to kidnap a woman in Bakersfield. A man known as the "pillowcase rapist" was sentenced yesterday for trying to kidnap a woman in Bakersfield. 12  years...     That was the sentence handed down to a driver involved in a deadly street racing crash.     The crash happened back in November 2021 on Stockdale Highway.     Nathan Valencia was racing a red Honda Civic, which sideswiped another vehicle and crashed into a traffic pole.. killing Jose Beltran-Lopez and Carmen Romero Vidal.    A third person in the civic survived.    Valencia last month pleaded no contest to two counts of vehicular manslaughter.     Murder charges were dismissed.A new partnership between the Bakersfield Police Department and the California Highway Patrol - will lead to more officers on the streets.    It comes as Governor Gavin Newsom pledges to crack down on crime in California. It's what Newsom is calling a crime suppression partnership... and it's part of more than one billion dollars spent on crime since 2019....    Meaning there will be more resources and personnel locally.  Partnerships are ongoing in San Francisco and Oakland.     Newsom says compared to the statewide average... Kern County sees higher rates of property and violent crime... as well as arrest rates.     This partnership targets roadway dangers and vehicle and retail theft.A pressing issue in our community -- businesses hit by vandalism. The latest incident happened at Mill Creek Antique Mall in downtown Bakersfield. 17's Cecilia Trevino reports.