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California on the World Stage at Summit of the Americas | Page B1
Weather: 97o/58o | Volume IV | Issue XXIV
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REAL ESTATE | Page C2
Thursday, June 16 - 22, 2022
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‘The Cheech’ art museum in Riverside set to open this week
We, the American People, can Move Mountains
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B OPINION
Kim beats GOP challenger Greg Raths
TECHNOLOGY | Page D1
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Fed attacks inflation with its largest rate hike since 1994 AP NEWS | CONTRIBUTED
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he Federal Reserve on Wednesday intensified its drive to tame high inflation by raising its key interest rate by three-quarters of a point — its largest hike in nearly three decades — and signaling more large rate increases to come that would raise the risk of another recession. The move the Fed announced after its latest policy meeting will raise its benchmark short-term rate, which affects many consumer and business loans, to a range of 1.5% to 1.75%. With the additional rate hikes they foresee, the policymakers expect their key rate to reach a range of 3.25% to 3.5%
by year’s end — the highest level since 2008 — meaning that most forms of borrowing will become sharply more expensive. The central bank is ramping up its drive to tighten credit and slow growth with inflation having reached a four-decade high of 8.6%, spreading to more areas of the economy and showing no sign of slowing. Americans are also starting to expect high inflation to last longer than they had before. This sentiment could embed an inflationary psychology in the economy that would make it harder to bring inflation back to the Fed’s 2% target. The Fed’s three-quarter-point rate increase exceeds the halfpoint hike that Chair Jerome Pow-
ell had previously suggested was likely to be announced this week. The Fed’s decision to impose a rate hike as large as it did Wednesday was an acknowledgment that it’s struggling to curb the pace and persistence of inflation, which has been worsened by Russia’s war against Ukraine and its effects on energy prices. Asked at a news conference Wednesday why the Fed was announcing a more aggressive rate hike than he had earlier signaled it would, Powell replied that the latest data had shown inflation to be hotter than expected and that the public’s inflation expectations have accelerated.
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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell looks on after taking the oath of office for his second term at the helm of the central bank at the Fed's headquarters in Washington, D.C., on May 23. The Fed raised interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point on Wednesday. | Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
RIVERSIDE COUNTY
Dump truck driver accused of starting deadly fire arraigned What You Need To Know
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39-year-old dump truck driver accused of causing a deadly 1,000-acre blaze in Calimesa by intentionally dropping flaming debris from his rig in the middle of a windstorm pleaded not guilty Tuesday to felony charges. Antonio Ornelas Velazquez of Desert Hot Springs was charged last year with two counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of bur`ning an inhabited structure, with sentence-enhancing great bodily injury allegations, for the October 2019 blaze. The defendant was arraigned before Riverside County Superior Court Judge Mark Singerton, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for Aug. 15 at the Banning Justice Center. Velazquez is free on a $75,000 bond. The defendant was arrested in February 2021 following a 14-month investigation by Cal Fire
• Antonio Ornelas Velazquez was charged last year with two counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of burning an inhabited structure, with sentence-enhancing great bodily injury allegations. • Velazquez is acused of causing a deadly 1,000-acre blaze in Calimesa by intentionally dropping flaming debris from his rig in the middle of a windstorm.
Antonio Ornelas Velazquez, driver. | Contributed Photo
peace officers and Riverside County sheriff ’s detectives. “The Sandalwood Fire was caused by a burning load of trash that was dumped next to dry vegetation by the trash truck that Velazquez was operating,” according to a Cal Fire statement released at the time. At about 2 p.m. on Oct. 10, 2019, the defendant noticed smoke rising from the scoop of the CR&R
Firefighters trying to protect the surrounding homes as they battle the Sandalwood fire in the Villa Calimesa Mobile Home Park in California, in October 2019.Credit. | Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher via The Orange County Register.
truck he was driving on Sandalwood Drive, near Seventh Street, prosecutors said. Against the advice of a motorist and another truck driver who pulled up behind him and warned of the dangers of allowing burning material into the open amid high
winds, Velazquez “dumped the burning load onto the ground” directly adjacent to brush along the roadway, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
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• The blaze charred a total of 1,011 acres before it was stopped just inside San Bernardino County four days later. • He was arrested in February 2021 following a 14-month investigation by Cal Fire peace officers and Riverside County sheriff ’s detectives.
LOCAL SCHOLARSHIPS
Hemet Education Foundation Announces six "2022 Scholarship Recipients"
SUE BREYER | CONTRIBUTED
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ix local Hemet Unified School District students received the good news at their recent senior awards ceremonies that they had been awarded the Hemet Education Foundation Scholarship for their school’s graduating class. The Hemet Education Foundation awards a $5000 scholarship to one student from each of the comprehensive high schools and a $500 scholarship to a qualifying student at the alternative high schools. This year’s $5000 scholarship recipients are Jonathon Sanchez, West Valley HS; Aneth Castaneda, Hemet High School; Kai Ware, Tahquitz High School; Christopher Huerta, Western Center Academy, and Janeth Culviner, Hamilton High School. Starr Iwaszewski from
I’m ready and eager to show the world the individual I’ve become and all the skills that I can bring to the table.” CHRISTOPHER HUERTA
GRADUATE OF THE WESTERN CENTER ACADEMY
Academy of Innovation received a $500 scholarship. The Hemet Education Foundation awards these scholarships to students who truly desire a college education, who are often overlooked for other scholarships and financial awards, whose parents must pay for their education, and who has good citizenship and a GPA between 3.0 and 3.9. Each comprehensive high school provides up to three candidates for consideration and the Hemet Education Foundation Board then makes the selection. A scholar-
ship committee, principals, or counselors make the selection at the alternative schools. West Valley High School graduate Jonathon Sanchez says he “wants to pursue my dreams of being a forensic psychologist and being persistent and determined will help me achieve those dreams.” He is hoping to attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a major in psychology or criminology. Aneth Castaneda, a recent graduate of Hemet High School, has been accepted to Cal State San
Marcos for the fall semester and plans to major in visual arts, eventually becoming a professional photographer. “I have a passion for becoming a photographer. I find photography beautiful and aesthetic,” Castaneda explains. With a love of fashion and new clothing styles, Tahquitz High Schools’ Kai Ware has his eyes on a major in Fashion Design. He hopes to attend either UC Davis or Cal State Long Beach and is “more than excited to start this new chapter and take on my future and career.” Hoping for acceptance to UC San Diego, UCLA or UC Davis, Christopher Huerta of the Western Center Academy plans to major in neurobiology or biochemistry with a projected career
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