Inland Empire

Rain possible Thursday night, then a cool, windy forecast

By CaliNews 3 days ago

Those throughout Southern California wanting to head outdoors for brief breaks from self-isolation will have an upcoming weekend of cool weather and some wind, according to forecasts from the National Weather Service. Los Angeles County only has a 20 percent chance of rain on Thursday night. and Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties have a “chance of showers in the evening,” the NWS said. Forecasts project that most of Southern California will get no more than one-tenth of an inch of rain, with minimum rainfall potentially hitting one-hundredth of an inch in Irvine, Temecula, Hemet and San Bernardino. Cities higher up in the mountains like Idyllwild and Big Bear Lake were projected to get around on-half an inch of rain. Any rain likely would be cleared up by Friday morning, making way for high temperatures in the low to high 60s throughout the region on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, according to forecasters. Winds from 15 to 25 miles per hour were also expected. Between two to four inches of snow was projected to fall in the mountains in Lake Arrowhead, Crestline, Big Bear and Running…

Uptown Kiwanis Club of Riverside provides awards for elementary school students

By CaliNews 3 days ago

Riverside’s Uptown Kiwanis Club completed its second round of awards to students at three elementary schools in Riverside in late February and early March. For several years, the club has provided award certificates and small recognitions of appreciation, called BUGs, to children in all grades of three of the schools it sponsors, Highgrove Elementary School, Magnolia Elementary School and Liberty Elementary School. BUGs stands for “Bringing Up Grades,” and teachers select the students who have brought their grades up, compared to the last trimester, to receive the awards, according to a press release. The Uptown Kiwanis Club also provides Terrific Kids awards for teachers to award with broad discretion. The award  certificates are presented at assemblies with parents attending. For many years, Ben Orozco has coordinated the Uptown Kiwanis members who volunteer to attend the awards programs at the three schools. The club also sponsors Mountain View Elementary School in Riverside, which uses a different motivational model, promoting near-perfect attendance. Those awards, provided partially by the Uptown Kiwanis Club, are given at the end of the school year. For information about the Uptown Kiwanis Club…

San Bernardino County reports 3rd coronavirus death

By CaliNews 3 days ago

An 89-year-old female is the third person to die of the novel coronavirus in San Bernardino County, officials said Thursday, March 26. There are now 55 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the county, up by one from Wednesday, March 25. On Tuesday, the county reported its first death from the virus, a 50-year-old man with underlying health conditions. A 42-year-old man with underlying health conditions was the second person to die of the virus, which was reported Wednesday. As of Thursday evening, 673 patients had been tested for COVID-19, of which 8% had positive results. The majority of patients tested, 619, tested negative. Males made up more than 59% of positive cases, with more than 40% being female. The highest number of cases were reported in residents 18 to 49-years old, while 17 are 50 to 64 years old, nine are older than 65, the county’s data show. The county will stage an appointment-only pilot drive-thru coronavirus testing site Friday, March 27.

Hemet woman celebrates 100th birthday

By CaliNews 3 days ago

Isabel Klein, a resident of Yorkshire Village in Hemet, celebrated her 100th birthday Nov. 19 at Yorkshire Village. Celebrating with her were her friend Dora Rodriguez of Riverside, Rodriguez’s son and daughter-in-law Jesse and Loretta Lopez and Yorkshire Village residents and staff. She was born Nov. 19, 1919, in Junction, Texas, to Florence and Felix Pompa and had four brothers and six sisters. She moved with her family to San Antonio, Texas, when she was 10. In the 1940s she lived for a while in California and married Donald Klein, whom she met in Los Angeles, according to Dora Rodriguez. She returned to San Antonio in the 1940s, then moved back to California in 1961 and lived in El Monte until she moved to Riverside in 1993, according to Rodriguez. She moved to Yorkshire Village in Hemet in 2016. She had worked as a seamstress. She had two daughters, Elizabeth Garison, who died in 2014, and Cynthia Nivell, who lives in Florida. She also has two grandsons and three great-grandchildren.

Canyon Lake Middle School team wins show cheer championship

By CaliNews 3 days ago

The competition cheer team from Lake Elsinore’s Canyon Lake Middle School wins the championship in Medium Junior High Show Cheer, novice division, at the United Spirit Association Junior Nationals held Feb. 15-16 at the Anaheim Convention Center. (Photo by Tammy Howard, Canyon Lake Middle School cheer coach) The competition cheer team from Lake Elsinore’s Canyon Lake Middle School won the championship in Medium Junior High Show Cheer, novice division, at the United Spirit Association Junior Nationals held Feb. 15-16 at the Anaheim Convention Center. The competition, for schools on the West Coast, included more than 2,000 competitors in the middle school divisions, according to a press release from Tammy Howard, one of the coaches of Canyon Lake Middle School’s competition cheer team. The Canyon Lake team began the weekend with the Saturday evening Junior High Game Day, Band Chant division, competition. They won that division and became National Game Day champions, according to the press release. The following day began with stunt group championships, with two Canyon Lake groups entered in the junior high advanced division and two in junior high novice. The advanced stunt…

Is your grocer stocked? Some supplies return as coronavirus quarantines continue

By CaliNews 3 days ago

The meat is back. So too is a limited supply of eggs and milk. But toilet paper? Not so fast, shoppers. Weeks after Southern California’s supermarkets were ravaged by hordes of shoppers on a coronavirus buying binge, grocery shelves are gradually returning to normal. The meat counter was fully stocked early Thursday at an Albertsons in Riverside. There were also ample supplies of produce, dairy and other essentials. Still missing was bread, rice, pasta, flour and packaged quick dinners. And the aisle with toilet paper and paper towels? Virtually empty. That landscape was similar at a Stater Bros. in Riverside. The meat department looked almost normal, but other staples such as cheese, bread, canned goods and pasta were running low, with some of those items limited to one per person. Cleaning supplies also were scarce, with every bleach-related item at Stater Bros. sold out. People endure crowds and long lines while shopping at Vons in Chatsworth, Friday, March 13, 2020. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG) Stater Bros. market employee Jason Ramos restocks frozen food items in Rancho Cucamonga Monday afternoon March 16, 2020.…

Here’s the season’s first foal at Cal Poly Pomona

By CaliNews 3 days ago

Dillon, the first foal of the season at Cal Poly Pomona’s W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Center, was born March 19. With him is his dam, B witched. (Photo by Cindy Reich, Cal Poly Pomona) The first foal of the season at Cal Poly Pomona’s W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Center was born just after midnight on March 19. April Mason, the lead student who foaled out the mother, has given the colt the informal barn name of Dillon, which means “bright light” or “ray of light” in Gaelic, according to a press release. The horse center expects to have six foals this year and is breeding 11 for next year. Dillon will get a formal name when he is officially registered with the Arabian Horse Association of America sometime in the next few months, Cindy Reich, the lead for breeding and herd management at the center, said in the press release. The association’s current president is Cal Poly Pomona alumna Nancy Harvey, who was active at the horse center as a student. Although it is now brown, Dillon’s coat is expected to turn gray. His height…

A service dog in training brings comfort to ER doctors on the frontlines

By CaliNews 3 days ago

(CNN) — Heroes come in all shapes and sizes — this one just happens to have four legs and a furry coat. Wynn, a service dog in training, is bringing joy and comfort to the medical staff on the front lines of the coronovirus fight in Denver. The one-year-old yellow Labrador serves up cuddles to health care workers who need a much needed mental break from the emergency room at Rose Medical Center. Wynn is no stranger to the medical staff, as she’s being trained by Susan Ryan, an emergency physician at the hospital. Ryan shared an image of the two of them on Sunday. In it, the doctor is seen wearing a face shield and a mask while sitting on the floor of the hospital petting Wynn. “I saw Wynn coming back in from being walked outside,” Ryan told CNN. “I just slumped down on the floor and said ‘can I just have a minute with her’?’” Ryan said she had just finished with a patient and washed up before getting some quality time with Wynn. “Seeing stuff and hearing stuff that you can’t unsee has…

U.S. Now Has More Coronavirus Cases Than Any Other Country

By CaliNews 3 days ago

The United States now has the highest number of known cases of coronavirus in the world with more than 81,000, according to CNN’s tally of cases reported by health officials. The US cases piled up Thursday, surpassing China and Italy. The per capita rate of cases varies because of the countries’ vast differences in population. As of Thursday evening, the United States had at least 81,836 cases while China was reporting 81,782. There have been more than 510,000 cases reported worldwide. The countries’ numbers are changing constantly and both the totals and the rank order of countries could change at any time. The grim milestone comes just as US officials reported a new high for fatalities reported in a single day. At least 237 new deaths were reported Thursday, bringing the total number of deaths nationwide to at least 1,186. The spike of cases has hospitals around the country scrambling to keep up with the demand for care. In New York, where more than half of the US cases have been reported, exhausted hospital workers are turning to increasingly desperate measures to combat the virus.…

Three migrant children in US government custody test positive for coronavirus

By CaliNews 3 days ago

(CNN) — Three unaccompanied migrant children in government custody have tested positive for coronavirus, according to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, marking the first announced positive cases among children in the agency’s care. The children are in the care of one of the agency’s facilities in New York. “ORR’s medical team is working with the programs in New York and local health department to collect information and determine next steps,” the agency stated. It did not say which countries the children were from or their ages. The agency, which is charged with the care of unaccompanied children, had earlier stopped placing children in New York amid the increase in coronavirus cases. It will also stop releasing children to sponsors, such as a parent or relative, in the interim as well. Five staff members and one staff contractor at three separate care provider facilities in New York also recently tested positive for coronavirus, ORR said Thursday, as well as one staff member at a facility in Texas and one foster parent in Washington State. The Office of Refugee Resettlement, which falls under the Department of Health…

Riverside County projects 1,000 coronavirus deaths, 50,000 cases by May 1

By CaliNews 3 days ago

At current rates, Riverside County could have 50,000 cases and 1,000 deaths from the novel coronavirus by the start of May, with hospitals filled to capacity and ventilators running out by mid- to late-April, public health officials said Thursday, March 26. Officials shared the dire projections as they urged county residents to stay home, practice social distancing, wash their hands and take other steps to avoid getting and transmitting COVID-19. “It doesn’t have to be our future,” Public Health Director Kim Saruawatari said of the projections. “We have the ability to control our own future as a county.” Going into Thursday, the county of 2.3 million people had 107 confirmed COVID-19 cases and eight deaths – seven from the Coachella Valley, one in the mid-region, which the county defines as The Pass, Hemet, San Jacinto, Idyllwild and Anza areas. The number of cases jumped 81% over 24 hours and for the first time, there are more confirmed cases – 44 – in western Riverside County than in the Coachella Valley, which has 41. At Thursday’s news conference, Dr. Cameron Kaiser, the county’s public health officer,…

Hemet closes parks during coronavirus outbreak

By CaliNews 3 days ago

The city of Hemet has closed its parks in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay at home order last week, and the City Council’s local emergency declaration also last week, the city has now closed public parks and facilities, it announced in a Thursday, March 26, news release. “While the community is still encouraged to get sunlight and stay active,” the parks “serve as gathering places and are directly contrary to the safety of Hemet residents at this time,” the release stated. “At this time, the public will not be allowed to use the play equipment, facilities, and other installed infrastructure at the City’s parks.” COVID-19 has forced many changes to daily lives, including the closure of all Riverside County schools until April 30 and the closure of many businesses. City offices continue to provide services and essential businesses in Hemet continue to sell goods, the release said. Officials are following state and federal guidelines and orders. Related Articles Angels manager Joe Maddon uses coronavirus shutdown to connect with people Riverside County projects 1,000 coronavirus deaths, 50,000 cases by May 1…

President Trump’s letter to governors says he’s preparing new guidelines

By CaliNews 3 days ago

(CNN) — President Donald Trump told US governors on Thursday his administration was preparing to issue new, potentially more relaxed social distancing guidelines based on geographic risk factors for the novel coronavirus, even as some health experts warn it’s too early to allow Americans to congregate in large groups or return to their workplaces. In a letter, Trump said new coronavirus testing capabilities would allow his administration to identify “high-risk, medium risk and low-risk” counties where different levels of social distancing would be appropriate. “Our expanded testing capabilities will quickly enable us to publish criteria, developed in close coordination with the Nation’s public health officials and scientists, to help classify counties with respect to continued risks posed by the virus,” he wrote. New, more tailored guidelines will help governors and other state policymakers decide on “maintaining, increasing or relaxing social distancing and other mitigation measures they have put in place,” Trump wrote. The President has been itching to loosen the 15-day social distancing measures he announced last week in a bid to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Even as he’s agitated to relax the guidelines, however, some state governors have…

County Employees in Desert Hot Springs Report Flu-Like Symptoms; Office Closes

By CaliNews 3 days ago

Several employees working at the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services office in Desert Hot Springs reported flu-like symptoms, officials said Thursday, spurring the office to close until next week for deep cleaning. COVID-19 often includes symptoms similar to a flu or cold, such as fever, cough or breathing difficulties, but the department did not say whether the employees were being tested for coronavirus infection. “The health of our employees and customers is our top priority,” said Allison Gonzalez, an assistant director at the department, in a statement. “We’re working to keep everybody safe while delivering vital benefits and services to individuals and households with great needs during this very challenging time.” The office, at 65753 Pierson Blvd., will reopen Monday with limited staff and restricted public access, officials said. Customers requiring face-to-face meetings with DPSS employees can go to the Cathedral City or Banning offices for the time being. According to the department, more than half of its 4,300-member workforce is currently teleworking from home. DPSS services and benefits can also be accessed online at http://www.dpss.co.riverside.ca.us, and by phone at 877-410-8827.

Crocs donating its shoes to healthcare workers

By CaliNews 3 days ago

(CNN) — Go into most US emergency rooms, and you’ll find staff wear Crocs. Now their manufacturer has announced a program to donate 10,000 a day to healthcare workers fighting against the novel coronavirus. “Over the past week, we have spoken to healthcare workers, their facilities and even their family and friends, and they have specifically asked for our shoes in an effort to provide ease on their feet, as well as ease of mind as they need the ability to easily clean up before they go home to their families,” said Crocs CEO Andrew Rees. Crocs are made out of a rubber-like molded polymer resin. They are waterproof and can be easily washed off, which is an advantage as people take special precautions because of the spread of the coronavirus. Crocs said it is delivering some shipments straight to hospitals and other facilities, but that it is allowing workers to sign up for the free shoes by going to www.crocs.com/freeforhealthcare. It said it will continue to donate the shoes as long as supplies last. “The duration of our giveaway will depend on our level of inventory and the…

Riverside’s Mount Rubidoux to close at sunset Friday due to coronavirus crisis

By CaliNews 3 days ago

Mount Rubidoux, a popular hiking and picnic park that provides sweeping panoramic view of Riverside and the Inland Empire, is set to close at sunset Friday, March 27, for an indefinite period in response to the coronavirus pandemic. An electronic sign has been posted near the entrance to Frank A. Miller Mt. Rubidoux Memorial Park, alerting recreation enthusiasts to the closure. Riverside spokesman Phil Pitchford said Thursday, March 26, that the city’s decision came after throngs of people in close proximity to each other flocked to park trails. “We have seen over the last few days a significant number of people not only walking up Mount Rubidoux, but walking up Mount Rubidoux in groups and not practicing social distancing,” Pitchford said. He was referring to health officials’ plea for people to stay 6 feet apart to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. The move mirrors others across Southern California in recent days as authorities seek to hold people to the 6-feet rule. Diana Twiss, a 39-year-old Riverside resident who hiked the mountain with her two dogs, Nova and Max, on…

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