Category: Inland Empire

In a decision that has left many residents dissatisfied, the Colton City Council voted to extend its contract with CR&R, Inc. for municipal solid waste collection services for another 10 years without undergoing a Request for Proposal (RFQ) process. The move, which bypasses the city’s own municipal code, has sparked criticism from both council members and the public. During the council meeting, Public Works Director Brian Dickenson presented the proposed Second Amendment to the existing agreement with CR&R. The amendment includes several changes such as replacing 64-gallon residential containers with 96-gallon ones, increasing the number of bulky item pickups, and implementing new performance review standards. “The amendment offers numerous benefits to our community, including a residential rate freeze until 2026 and additional community cleanup events,” said Dickenson. However, the decision to forgo the RFQ process was met with strong opposition. Councilmember Dr. G voiced his concerns, stating, “I want to state my reasons for not supporting this agreement. It is a business decision, and we should shop around. This contract is worth multi-millions of dollars and multi-years, and it affects every resident and business in

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has ordered the Probation Department to determine why juveniles whose cases have resolved are remaining in Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall for days or weeks longer than necessary before they are transferred elsewhere. The majority of the juveniles in custody at Los Padrinos are “predisposition,” meaning their cases are ongoing. But, on any given day, about 30 to 50 juveniles — or about 15% of the facility’s total population — have been ordered to serve time in another location, such as a juvenile camp, a step-down facility, or a secure youth treatment facility, but haven not been moved yet, according to an approved motion by Supervisors Janice Hahn and Hilda Solis. “This means for those youth, there is an unnecessary delay in getting to their next placement, and there is a burden on the Los Padrinos facility by increasing the daily population,” the motion states. “As a juvenile hall, Los Padrinos is not an ideal setting for young people to be for extended periods of time. It lacks the consistency in staffing, programmatic opportunities, and homelike environment that the

By Kenneth P. Miller and Chad McElroy | Inland Empire Economic Partnership Elon Musk’s recent decision to move the headquarters of both X and SpaceX from California to Texas is the latest in the exodus of major businesses from California to other states. In the past decade, Toyota USA, Tesla, Charles Schwab, Oracle, Hewlett Packard Enterprises, McKesson, Coremark, CBRE, Parsons, Neutrogena, and Blaze Pizza have left the state. Many smaller and family-owned companies have left as well. Multiple reports have shown that this migration by businesses out of California has increased in recent years. Why are companies exiting the Golden State? Business owners cite various reasons, but most complain it is too expensive to do business here. They note that taxes, fees, rents, energy and utility costs, and labor costs, among other expenses, are higher in California than in competing states. When Charles Schwab moved his company’s headquarters from California to Texas five years ago, he explained: “The costs of doing business here are so much higher.” Do the facts support this widely held view? Researchers at the Rose Institute of State and Local Government

Four alleged victims of a former Fontana middle school teacher now serving a 20-year prison sentence have settled their sexual abuse lawsuits with the school district for $14 million. The settlement was reached in March but not announced until Tuesday, July 23, by an attorney representing the victims of Garry Lee Gorgei, who taught at Southridge Middle School from 1996 through 1999, when he left the Fontana Unified School District district and moved out of state. Three of the victims were Gorgei’s students. Gorgei taught math at Southridge and also was a teacher and mentor at Fontana High School, but no students from that school were identified as victims, said attorney Morgan Stewart. Fontana police arrested Gorgei, 64, of Colorado Springs in February 2020 on suspicion of molesting five young girls. San Bernardino County prosecutors initially charged him with 25 felony counts, but under a plea agreement, Gorgei pleaded guilty in March 2022 to seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child. He was sentenced to 20 years at San Quentin State Prison, court records show. “The amount of this settlement reflects

Wear and tear is doing what a 1990s downsizing couldn’t — close March Air Reserve Base’s exchange. After more than 50 years, the March Main Exchange, or “BX” as it’s known in military circles, will close permanently Aug. 31, shutting down the only exchange in Riverside County, which is home to more than 100,000 veterans. “Safety and operational issues” are forcing the exchange — essentially a private department store for service members — to close, Julie Mitchell, vice president of marketing and customer engagement for the Army & Air Force Exchange Service, said in an email. The exchange, which has operated out of a roughly 86,000-square-foot building since 1973, “needs a new costly fire suppression system, in-depth roof repair, new plumbing, updated security and more,” Mitchell said. A customer prepares to enter the March Air Reserve Base exchange near Riverside on Friday, July 19, 2024. The department store open to retired and active duty military and their families will close at the end of August. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) Customers come and go Friday, July 19, 2024, from the March Air

The Fontana City Council voted 4-1 Tuesday afternoon, July 23, to extend a building moratorium that will stall construction of a proposed Planned Parenthood clinic for another year. Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties, meanwhile, is pursuing legal action against Fontana. In a lawsuit filed in December in San Bernardino Superior Court, the nonprofit accused Fontana of enacting a moratorium on new construction that exclusively blocks its proposed health center on Sierra Avenue. Mayor Acquanetta Warren and Councilmembers Peter Garcia, John Roberts and Phillip Cothran voted to extend the moratorium an additional year. The ordinance was originally adopted on July 25, 2023, then extended to July 23, 2024. It will now remain in effect until July 23, 2025. Pro-Life supporters stand outside Fontana City Hall on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, reacting to the stalled response regarding a proposed Planned Parenthood clinic in the area. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Pro-Life supporters stand outside Fontana City Hall on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, reacting to the stalled response regarding a proposed Planned Parenthood clinic in the area. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Pro-Life

What’s to be done when you have hillsides of brush that need be trimmed and hungry goats that need to eat? The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians has answers. A herd of 400 goats will get to work chowing down in the San Bernardino Mountains. The San Manuel Fire Department will deploy the herd to help trim the landscape spawned by winter rainfall. The herd is the “greatest of all time” at consuming grasses and scrub brush in the area, according to a news release. A herd of goats move toward dry brush as their source of feed in an effort to reduce wildfire danger on Tuesday, July 23, 2024. The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Fire Department is using the herd to clear mountain fire fuel in the San Bernardino hills.(Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) A herd of goats feeds on the dry brush in an effort to reduce wildfire danger on Tuesday, July 23, 2024. The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Fire Department is using the herd to clear mountain fire fuel in the San Bernardino hills.(Photo by Anjali

A train extension bringing the Los Angeles Metro A Line into San Bernardino County is inching closer to the finish line. Daytime testing of the trains started in early July, but crews have since shifted to nighttime tests that will last through the end of the year, a news release states. RELATED: State funds Pomona-to-Montclair light rail, first LA Metro project to San Bernardino County The extension marks the first time the LA Metro rail line will link Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. When the line launches as early as one year from now, the light rail trains will travel a 9.1-mile track extension from Glendora to Pomona, with stops in La Verne, San Dimas and Glendora. A Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority train slowly heads westbound from the Pomona station near Garey Avenue and Arrow Highway on Tuesday, July 9, 2024, during a test. Trains will be tested until the end of the year. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) A Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority train stops its test at the end of the line in Pomona

By Renee Gurley | Contributing Columnist Renee Gurley is a writer and an English teacher with more than 20 years of experience. She is the former editor of Copper Mountain College’s HOWL Literary Review. (Courtesy of Renee Gurley) Southern California’s Morongo Basin has gained the momentum of a tumbleweed in recent years. Joshua Tree National Park, where the Colorado and Mojave Deserts intersect (creating a mixture of rock formations reminiscent of stacked marbles and yuccas looking like something from the pages of a Dr. Suess book) has become one of the top 10 most visited national parks in the nation. Stories have been woven into Morongo Basin’s desert landscape since the appearance in the 16th century of a group of Shoshonean-speakers known as the Serrano near what is now known as Twentynine Palms. The Serranos referred to this expanse as Mara meaning “the place of little springs and much grass.” One Serrano legend claims a medicine man instructed the tribe to settle close to the springs to plant a palm for every boy born. Twenty-nine of these trees were sowed in the months to come

Q: Mark P. Sullivan of Pinon Hills, near Phelan, asked three separate questions about east-west routes in the high desert. He said east-west traffic is problematic in that area because of a lack of adequate routes. First, Sullivan asked about plans to complete Bear Valley Road/Duncan Road. It currently runs from the 15 Freeway in Apple Valley to Baldy Mesa Road and “is intermittently paved from Baldy Mesa heading west. The completion of Duncan Road would take considerable pressure off Phelan Road and Highway 18,” Sullivan said. Second, regarding Phelan Road, from Hesperia to Highway 138, Sullivan asked if there are plans to expand this road to four lanes and if so, when? He said this road is always congested and also badly needs resurfacing. Third, focusing on Victor Valley and the Antelope Valley Expressway, Sullivan asked if this project is still in the planning phase and when groundbreaking could be expected. A: First, there are no specific plans to pave Duncan Road from Wilson Ranch Road to Baldy Mesa Road, said Amy Ledbetter, spokesperson for the San Bernardino County Public Works Department. “At this

Hello, Riverside – and happy Monday! The Raincross Gazette staff is off on an end-of-summer break; this will be the last regular issue of The Gazette until we return to the office.* We have two Sunday editions prepared for you on July 28 and August 4, but we will be returning to work on Monday, August 5. The next regular issue will land in your inboxes on Wednesday, August 7. It is my hope to have a fully staffed newsroom by the end of 2025 so we can continue publishing news while staggering breaks and time off. With our current team size, synchronizing our time off is the best way for us to rest fully from work. If you want to contribute to the vision of a multi-reporter newsroom serving Riverside, please consider becoming a paid member. Every member paying $5 a month makes a massive difference, and membership revenue is the best way to help us hire more staff. Thank you, and see you August,Justin *I’m saying “return to the office” even though we all currently work from home; please forgive the confusion!

Thousands of visitors flocked to The Huntington Library, Art Gallery, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino on Monday as words spread like wildfires overnight: the world’s largest single-stem flower cluster is in full bloom, but only for a fleeting time. Odora, the 26th Corpse Flower at The Huntington since 1999, commended attention not only with its imposing presence but with its pungent aroma that earned the plant its macabre nickname. Its towering upright column and outer covering unfurled around 5 p.m. Sunday to reveal an intricate velvety maroon interior, exuding a distinctive pungent smell that mirrors rotting meat, staff at the conservatory said. “It took its time a bit,” Bryce Dunn, conservatory gardener at The Huntington, said Monday. “I was here until 8:30 p.m. yesterday, and it was about a quarter of the way open by the time I left and then it fully bloomed overnight.” Visitors pack into the conservatory at the Huntington Library in San Marino to get a glimpse, and smell, of the corpse flower on Monday, July 22, 2024. The rare flower bloomed overnight and will only stay open for a

Structure losses and evacuations have occurred in the Hawarden Hills neighborhood due to a wildfire in the Arroyo adjacent to the Gage Canal between Maude and Mary Streets. The fire spread south and east toward Overlook and Alessandro, affecting nearly five hundred acres.  Information on the fire’s perimeter, containment progress, and access to public safety announcements can be found on the Watch Duty app. An evacuation center has been set up at Orange Terrace Park in Orangecrest. Emergency crews ask that everyone stay away from the area unless they need to be there.

Workers at Amazon’s San Bernardino air hub walked off the job and picketed outside their workplace Sunday, July 21, in what organizers called a protest over the online retailer’s unfair labor practices. The one-day strike stems from retaliation workers said they have faced for union organizing, according to a news release sent by a public relations firm on behalf of the striking workers. “We’re on strike to send a message to Amazon: Treat your workers with the respect and dignity we deserve,” Anna Ortega, a worker at the facility, said in a news release. “Amazon is one of the most profitable companies in the world, but it consistently treats its workers like trash. We are standing up for our right to organize and to fight for a better future at Amazon.” Amazon workers picket outside the company’s San Bernardino air hub Sunday, July 21, 2024. Organizers said workers have been retaliated against for union organizing. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer) Workers protest Sunday, July 21, 2024, outside Amazon’s San Bernardino air hub. In recent years, employees at the facility said they’ve risked their health

The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and the Inland Empire Health Plan are teaming up for the community. LoanMart Field, 8408 Rochester Ave., in Rancho Cucamonga was the site for a free health fair on Sunday, July 21. It was the first of two Grand Slam Health Jam events to be held there this summer. Arryoni Bishop, 9, of Colton, plays a throwing game while visiting the Adrian’s World booth during the Grand Slam Health Jam on Sunday, July 21, 2024, at LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucamonga. Inland Empire Health Plan along with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes hosted the free community event which offered health services along with access to community nonprofits that also provide support. (Photo by Stan Lim, Contributing Photographer) Symphony Truss, 14, and her boyfriend Jadin Caldwell, 14, both from Redlands, check out a display of sensory activities at The Behavior Lab booth during the Grand Slam Health Jam on Sunday, July 21, 2024, at LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucamonga. (Photo by Stan Lim, Contributing Photographer) People dance to the music playing during the Grand Slam Health Jam on Sunday, July 21, 2024, at LoanMart

During my years researching San Bernardino County’s past, I’ve met some very interesting people. One of the most unique was John Howard Weeks. Articulate, funny and creative, John had a huge role with The Sun newspaper staff for 45 years as a news reporter, news editor, features editor, and columnist. The self-proclaimed “Emperor of the Inland Empire,” who made a wonderfully light-hearted lasting impression for his devoted readers, died July 8 at age 75. RELATED: John Weeks, author and longtime writer at The Sun, dies at 75 The eldest of four children born to Howard Benjamin and Dorothy Mae White Weeks, John was born in Chickasha, Oklahoma on May 30, 1949. As a child, his family moved to Loma Linda, where John’s great-grandmother Ellen G. White, a founder and prophet of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, inspired the creation of this Inland Empire city. John Weeks in 2024. (Photo courtesy of Lyn Killian) John grew up Seventh-day Adventist and wasn’t introduced to what some members of his church would consider a “non-healthy diet.” That is until his family moved to Southern California in the early ’60s.