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POLITICS: Audit - Millions may have to repay California jobless aid | Page B1
Weather: 62o/44o | Volume III | Issue IV
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Real Estate| Page C2
January 28 - February 3, 2021
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C VALLEY BEAT
Effort to put Tubman on $20 bill restarted under Biden
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THE LOWRY COLUMN The Flight 93 Post-Election
Strait On: Seventeen and on The Road Again
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NATIONAL
GOP largely sides against holding Trump impeachment trial LISA MASCARO AND MARY CLARE JALONICK | AP NEWS
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ll but five Senate Republicans voted in favor of an effort to dismiss Donald Trump's historic second impeachment trial on Tuesday, making clear a conviction of the former president for “incitement of insurrection” after the deadly Capitol siege on Jan. 6 is unlikely. While the Republicans did not succeed in ending the trial before it began, the test vote made clear that Trump still has enormous sway over his party as he becomes the first former president to be tried for impeachment. Many Republicans have criticized Trump's role in the attack — before which he told his supporters to “fight like hell” to overturn his defeat — but most of them have rushed to defend him in the trial. “I think this was indicative of where a lot of people’s heads are," said South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, after the vote.
CITY COUNCIL MEETING: Full council group with City Attorney, City Manager & City Clerk. | Photo by Ann Smith.
HEMET, CA
A New Hope ANN SMITH | CONTRIBUTOR
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rriving early Tuesday evening, I was greeted by a crowd of enthusiastic SEIU employees and their union representative, TK Delgado. They were there to express their gratitude to the city council for continuing to come to a resolution as regards a new contract. They are hopeful. The employees have worked without a raise for years. Brett Long and TK Delgado, along with one other employee, expressed their thanks and hope that employees would be extended a livable wage. I’ve yet to meet a city employee that doesn’t love their job, that hates working for the city. These employees are truly dedicated (for the most part). Just as important as the meeting itself was the invocation and pledge of allegiance. The invocation was given by two participants, Bob Beckett, the senior past of DP (formally Dwelling Place) Church and Mary Rysdale, Hemet-San Jacinto Interfaith Council. The Pledge of Allegiance was particularly stirring when the council and audience recited “one
nation under God.” We haven’t forgotten yet. There were relatively few items on this agenda. There was a verbal restatement (house cleaning of sorts) on the Community Development Block Grant (known as CDBG). All items with regard to this grant have been budgeted and the council was happy with the way the money will be used. Finance Department Grant Administrator Veronica Allen gave a short presentation to confirm details associated with this item. No vote was required. Considerable attention was given to an exhaustive policy manual, the first-ever, devoted to the Finance Department. City Manager Chris Lopez explained the need for such a document and the improved format of policy. Finance Director Lorena Rocha commented on the review and formation of best practices in the manual. That document took about a year to create. An explanation provided by new City Clerk Daryl Betancur explaining why the city needed to make some changes to resolution numbers took place. Most
TRIAL: Former President Donald Trump. | Photo source: Wikipedia. Late Tuesday, the presiding officer at the trial, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., was taken to the hospital for observation after not feeling well at his office, spokesman David Carle said in a statement. The 80-yearold senator was examined by the Capitol's attending physician, who recommended he be taken to the hospital out of an abundance of caution, he said. Later Tuesday,
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MORENO VALLEY, CA
CITY CLERK: Daryl Betancur. | Ann Smith. resolutions are identified by four numbers. For some reason, when COVID interrupted the normal routine, someone began using seven numbers. In terms of governmental reporting, that might be a problem and would definitely cause confusion on the other end. The primary concern on the part of some citizens was that by changing the numbers, citizens doing research on the city website might have difficulty in finding particular resolutions they wanted background on. By the way, let me introduce you to Hemet’s new city clerk, Daryl Betancur. A native of Puerto Rico, Betancur comes to Hemet with an abundance of municipal
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Charges Filed Against Trucker Accused of Shooting at Vehicle MYNEWSLA.COM | CONTRIBUTED
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ttempted murder and other felony charges were filed Tuesday against a trucker accused of opening fire on a motorist in Moreno Valley while traveling with a young girl in his rig. Abdi J. Reynaldo of Florida was arrested last Thursday in the Coachella Valley. Along with attempted murder, the 32-yearold defendant is charged with two counts of assault with a gun and one count each of shooting at a vehicle and wilful child cruelty. Reynaldo, who remains in custody in lieu of $1 million bail at the Southwest Detention Center in Murrieta, is sched-
uled to be arraigned Wednesday at the Riverside Hall of Justice. California Highway Patrol Officer Juan Quintero said Reynaldo was traveling with a young girl — court papers list her age as 9 — at the time of the alleged shooting. Their relation to one another, if any, was unclear. According to Quintero, Reynaldo was eastbound on the Moreno Valley (60) Freeway, passing Heacock Street, when he became enraged with a motorist for unspecified reasons about 5 p.m. Thursday. The suspect allegedly pulled a handgun and fired two shots at the car, hitting it once, though the two occupants were not in
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The City of Hemet adds to its alternative fuel fleet and electric vehicle charging stations CITY OF HEMET | CONTRIBUTED
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he City continues to move towards its goal of becoming more sustainable by announcing the addition of three alternative vehicles and four electric vehicle charging
MOMENTS IN TIME
PRST STD US POSTAGE PAID HEMET, CA PERMIT NO. 69 92543-9998
HEMET, CA
stations. With the assistance of grant funding from the Mobile Source Air Pollution Review Committee (MSRC) and AB 2766 Subvention Funds, the City of Hemet purchased a CNG Dump Truck, two Nissan Leaf 100% electric vehicles, and four
On Jan. 28, 1855
The Panama Railway, which carried thousands of unruly gold miners to California via the dense jungles of Central America, dispatches its first train across the Isthmus of Panama. The Panama Canal would parallel the railway 50 years later.
On Jan. 29, 1845
Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem "The Raven," beginning "Once upon a midnight dreary," is published in the New York Evening Mirror.
On Jan. 30, 1835
Andrew Jackson becomes the first American president to experience an assassination attempt. Richard Lawrence, an unemployed house painter, shot at Jackson, but his gun mis-
electric vehicle charging stations. The grant funds totaled $126,919. The CNG Dump Truck, assigned to the Street Division, has significantly contributed to efficiency due to its larger capacity for loads, allowing the Hemet
fired. A furious 67-year-old Jackson confronted his attacker, clubbing Lawrence several times with his walking cane.
Streets team to make fewer trips back and forth to the Riverside County dump site. Additionally, two new Nissan Leaf electric vehicles were assigned to the Police Records Division and the Public
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which took effect in March 1789.
On Feb. 2, 1980
On Jan. 31, 1944
Details of ABSCAM, an FBI sting operation to uncover political corruption in the government, are released to the public. Thirty-one public officials were targeted. In the operation, FBI agents posed as representatives of a fictional Arab business, offering money in exchange for special favors.
On Feb. 1, 1790
French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau publishes "The Silent World," a memoir about his time exploring the oceans. In 1950, Lord Guinness, a British patron, bought him an old British minesweeper to use for his underwater explorations. Cousteau christened it Calypso.
D-Day is postponed until June when several key leaders agreed that there would not be enough ships available by May. D-Day would later be postponed once more, by a single day due to high winds. Finally, on the morning of June 6, the long-awaited invasion of France began. The Supreme Court of the United States meets in New York City for the first time, with Chief Justice John Jay presiding. The U.S. Supreme Court was established by Article Three of the U.S. Constitution,
55 AND UP GATED COMMUNITY
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On Feb. 3, 1953