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MUHAMMAD NAEEM: Teaching is not so Noble | Page B2
Weather: 63o/40o | Volume II | Issue XLIX
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Real Estate: Property Guide| Page C2
Thursday, December 10 - 16, 2020
A FAITH
| $2.00 (Tax Incl.)
D HEALTH
STRAIT ON: Hemet City Council Begins New Regime
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HEALTH | Page D1
www.HSJChronicle.com |
B OPINION
SUSAN BECKETT: Don’t Grinch Your Christmas!!
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Biden calls for action on virus as he introduces health team
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SAN JACINTO
Soboba Breaks Ground for New Health Clinic MIKE HILES | CONTRIBUTED
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he Soboba Health Clinic operated by Riverside-San Bernardino County Indian Health Inc. has been a mainstay for the Native American population for many years. More than 15 years ago, talks began about expanding the clinic to better serve the community. When the land that currently houses the Soboba Fire Department was put into trust in 2018, the timing seemed right to plan on building a bigger and better clinic. The current clinic, less than a mile from the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians reservation, is 18,400 square feet. The new clinic and a commodities warehouse will be a combined 53,000 square feet. “RSBCIHI has a land-lease agreement with the Soboba Tribe for eight acres for an initial agreement of 25 years with an option for another 25 years,” explained Bill Thomsen, Chief Operations Officer for Riverside-San Bernardino County Indian Health, Inc. “The BIA lease agreement process started in November 2018 and was approved by the BIA in October 2020.” A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Nov. 20. It was an intimate event with only a handful of invited guests due to COVID-19 precautions. Wayne Nelson gave a blessing and was presented with a blanket in appreciation. Soboba Tribal Council representatives received a gift basket from RSBCIHI board delegates in attendance. “We will plan something bigger when construction is completed; we expect that to be sometime in the spring of 2022,” Soboba Tribal Council Chairman Isaiah Vivanco said. “This was a vision of previous councils and when we got the land
into trust back in 2015 we knew it would be great to have a bigger facility that could offer more services.” Soboba Tribal Council Vice Chairwoman Geneva Mojado has been employed as a health educator with RSBCIHI’s grant-funded Native Challenge program for more than five years but has been a patient at the clinic since she was born. “The program will have its own office at the new clinic, and I was happy to hear they will have a cultural/healthy living garden at the new site as well as other new clinic sites,” she said. “My mother has been employed with IHS for more than 25 years as a pharmacy technician and is excited to be in the new building.” Mojado said that throughout her mother’s career, this will be the third clinic that Soboba has operated that she has worked at. She said she is also happy to see that the commodities department will have a final place to call home in a brand-new air-conditioned building. RSBCIHI Board Delegate Julia Parcero, who was recently re-elected to another four-year term, said it took a lot of planning from the full board to get this project moving and to stay on track. She said delegates met with Soboba Tribal Administration and Tribal Council to go over all the plans. “I’m very proud and excited to be a part of the whole process,” she said. Construction for the new commodities warehouse and clinic began with grade staking on Nov. 23 and heavy equipment was brought on site Nov. 30. Thomsen said while the warehouse and clinic construction will be simultaneous, the ware-
See SOBOBA on page A4
CEREMONY: A groundbreaking ceremony for the new Soboba Health Clinic took place on Nov. 20. Attendees included, from left, Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians Tribal Council Secretary Monica Herrera, Tribal Council Treasurer Sally Moreno-Ortiz, Tribal Council Chairwoman Geneva Mojado, Tribal Council Chairman Isaiah Vivanco, Riverside-San Bernardino County Indian Health Inc. Board Delegate Charles (Chuck) Castello, RSBCIHI Board Delegate Julie Parcero and RSBCIHI Board President Sherry Salgado. | Photo Courtesy of Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians.
CLINIC: An artist’s rendering of the new Soboba Health Clinic, which began construction on Nov. 23 about a mile away from the current clinic. | Photo Courtesy of Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians.
WASHINGTON
New White House offer adds $600 checks to COVID-19 relief
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PRST STD US POSTAGE PAID HEMET, CA PERMIT NO. 69 92543-9998
he Trump administration dove back into Capitol Hill's confusing COVID-19 negotiations on Tuesday, offering a $916 billion package to House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi that would send a $600 direct payment to most Americans — but eliminate a $300 per week employment benefit favored by a bipartisan group of Senate negotiators. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made the offer to Pelosi late Tuesday afternoon, he said in a statement. He offered few details, though House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy said it proposes the $600 direct payment for individuals and $1,200 for couples, which is half the payment delivered by the March pandemic relief bill. Mnuchin reached out to Pelosi after a call with top congressional GOP leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who remains at odds with Democratic leaders over COVID-19 relief. Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., responded to Mnuchin's entreaty with a statement that said they would prefer to
MOMENTS IN TIME
ANDREW TAYLOR | AP NEWS
Courtesy Photo, PBS.
let a bipartisan group take the lead. The bipartisan group, led by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, among others, is seeking to rally lawmakers in both
On Dec. 10, 1690 A near-mutiny forces the Massachusetts Bay Colony to issue the first paper currency in the Western Hemisphere. Soldiers were typically paid in coins, but shortages forced armies to temporarily issue IOUs -in one case, in the form of cut-up playing cards.
On Dec. 11, 1978
A half dozen masked robbers raid the Lufthansa Airlines cargo building at JFK Airport in New York, making off with more than $5 million in cash ($20 million in today's dollars) and almost $1 million in jewelry.
On Dec. 12, 1989
Leona Helmsley, nicknamed the "Queen of Mean," is sentenced to four years in prison, 750
parties behind a $908 billion framework that includes a $300-per-week pandemic jobless benefit and $160 billion for states and local governments. It is more generous than a GOP plan that’s been filibustered twice already but far smaller than a
hours of community service and a $7.1 million taxfraud fine in New York. Helmsley once quipped that "only the little people pay taxes."
On Dec. 13, 2003
In Seattle, the iconic Hat 'n' Boots Tex Gas Station is hauled away from the spot where it had stood for almost 50 years. The 44-foot-wide Stetson hat had perched atop the filling station's office, while the 22-foot-tall cowboy boots housed the men's and the women's restrooms.
On Dec. 14, 1909
Workers place the last of the 3.2 million 10-pound bricks that pave the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Since then, most of that brick has been buried under asphalt, but 1 yard remains exposed at the start-fin-
wish list assembled by House Democrats. McConnell had earlier proposed shelving a top Democratic priority — aid to state and local governments — in exchange for dropping his own pet provision, a shield against lawsuits for COVID-related negligence. Democrats angrily rejected the idea, saying McConnell was undermining the efforts of a bipartisan group of Senate negotiators and reneging on earlier statements that state and local aid would likely have to be an element of a COVID-19 relief agreement given Democratic control of the House. The $916 billion Mnuchin offer, the separate ongoing talks among key rank-and-file senators, and the shifting demands by the White House all add up to muddled, confusing prospects for a long-delayed COVID-19 aid package. The pres-
See RELIEF on page A3
ish line. Kissing those bricks after a successful race remains a tradition among Indy drivers.
On Dec. 15, 1973
Jean Paul Getty III, the grandson of American billionaire J. Paul Getty, is found alive near Naples, Italy, five months after his kidnapping. Getty had initially refused to pay the ransom, but agreed after the boy's severed right ear was sent to a newspaper in Rome.
On Dec. 16, 1998
President Bill Clinton announces he has ordered air strikes against Iraq because it refused to cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors. Key members of Congress accused Clinton of using the air strikes to divert attention from ongoing impeachment proceedings against him.
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