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CA Voter Guide for November 2022 Election | Page A2
Weather: 86o/58o | Volume IV | Issue XXXVI
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A new refreshing play in town: Playing Doctor | Page C2
Thursday, October 13 - 19, 2022
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STED Hosts Open House
ECONOMICS | Page D1
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Hemet City Council Drones on to successes
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Long Beach Marathon giving a needed boost See more on page D1
CALIFORNIA
Census, term limit change means big turnover for lawmakers DON THOMPSON | AP NEWS
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n unusually high number of California lawmakers will be gone after the November election due to a collision between redistricting in 2020 and changes to term limits that voters approved a decade ago. The turnover has groups cheering the opportunity to increase lawmakers’ gender and ethnic diversity. Advocacy group Close the Gap celebrated what executive director Susannah Delano called “ the Motherlode of open seats” and a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to reshape the Legislature over the next six years. A quarter of the 40-member Senate is being replaced this fall, with seven members termed out of office and three others not seeking reelection. No members of the 80-member Assembly are termed out, but 22 members who will reach their 12-year term lim-
it to serve over the next six years opted not to seek reelection this year. Half of the Senate is up for election every two years, while all Assembly members run every two years. But this year even the incumbents are running in legislative districts that were redrawn after the census. Gone due to term limits, for instance, is Sen. Bob Hertzberg, a former Assembly speaker and Senate majority leader perhaps best known recently for unsuccessfully pursuing bail reform. Assemblyman Brian Maeinschein, a fellow Democrat, is among those endangered by redistricting after just authoring a law prompted by Britney Spears’ bad experience with California’s conservatorships law. Still, Democrats’ overwhelming majorities in both chambers seem safe. Senate Republicans gave away
one seat (see below). And six Assembly members — five of them Republicans — were drawn into three districts, guaranteeing losses for three incumbents, including at least two from the GOP. Here’s a look at some of the top races: SENATE DISTRICT 4 Republicans hold just nine Senate seats. But they helped Democrats when six GOP candidates split the primary vote to replace retiring Sen. Andreas Borgeas in this rural Central Valley and Eastern Sierra district. Two Democrats prevailed under California’s primary system, which advances the top two vote-getters no matter their party affiliation. The Democratic Party is backing labor leader Tim Robertson over charter school administrator Marie Alvarado-Gil. SENATE DISTRICT 16
Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, left, of Lakewood, and Assemblyman Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, walk to a meeting of the Democratic caucus at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, May 31, 2022. Rendon said afterward that Rivas has the support of the majority of the Democratic caucus to be the next speaker into his final term. Lawmakers will sort out the issue after the new Legislature takes office Dec. 5. | Courtesy Photo of Rich Pedroncelli, File
Sen. Melissa Hurtado moved into this southern San Joaquin Valley district to avoid a primary
contest with fellow Democratic in
See CENSUS on page D4
‘Oldies but Goodies’: Longtime radio DJ Art Laboe dies at 97 CHRISTOPHER WEBER | CONTRIBUTED
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rt Laboe, the pioneering radio DJ who read heartfelt song dedications to generations of loyal listeners and was credited with helping end segregation in Southern California during an eight-decade broadcast career, has died. He was 97. Laboe died Friday night at home in Palm Springs, California, after catching pneumonia, said Joanna Morones, a spokesperson for Laboe’s production company, Dart Entertainment. His final show was produced last week and broadcast Sunday night. Laboe is credited with helping end segregation in Southern California by organizing live DJ shows at drive-in eateries that attracted white, Black and Latino listeners who danced to rock ‘n’ roll — and shocked an older generation still listening to Frank Sinatra and Big Band music. The DJ is also credited with
popularizing the phrase “oldies, but goodies.” In 1957, he started Original Sound Record, Inc. and in 1958, released the compilation album “Oldies But Goodies: Vol. 1,” which stayed on the Billboard’s Top 100 chart for 183 weeks. He later developed a strong following among Mexican Americans for hosting the syndicated “The Art Laboe Connection Show.” His baritone voice invited listeners to call in dedications and request a ’50s-era rock ‘n’ roll love ballad or a rhythm and blues tune from Alicia Keys. His radio shows gave the families of incarcerated loved ones, in particular, a platform to speak to their relatives by dedicating songs and sending heartfelt messages and updates. California and Arizona inmates would send in their own dedications and ask Laboe for updates from family. It’s a role Laboe said he felt honored to play. “I don’t judge,” Laboe said in a 2018 interview with The Asso-
ciated Press at his Palm Springs studio. “I like people.” He often told a story about a woman who came by the studio so her toddler could tell her father, who was serving time for a violent crime, “Daddy, I love you.” “It was the first time he had heard his baby’s voice,” Laboe said. “And this tough, hardnosed guy burst into tears.” Anthony Macias, a University of California, Riverside ethnic studies professor, said the music Laboe played went with the dedications, enhancing the messages. For example, songs like Little Anthony & the Imperials’ “I’m on the Outside (Looking In)” and War’s “Don’t Let No One Get You Down” spoke of perseverance and a desire to be accepted. Born Arthur Egnoian in Salt Lake City to an Armenian-American family, Laboe grew up during the Great Depression in a Mormon household run by a single mom. His sister sent him his first radio when he was 8 years old. The
LEGACY: Art Laboe’s legacy will endure as his team will continue to produce his current nightly request and dedication syndicated radio show, The Art Laboe Connection. | Courtesy Photo of Facebook voices and stories that came from it enveloped him. “And I haven’t let go since,” Laboe said. He moved to California, attended Stanford University and
served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Eventually, he landed a job as a radio announcer at KSAN in San Francisco
See LABOE on page A4
HEMET, CA
BEAUMONT, CA
Man charged with murder for Coroner IDs 2 people found disappearance, death of woman dead in Riverside County's and her unborn child Fairview Fire CNS | CONTRIBUTED
PATCH.COM | CONTRIBUTED
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convicted felon accused of killing and hiding the remains of a 27-year-old San Jacinto woman and her unborn child was charged today with two counts of first-degree murder. Angel Martine McIntire, 28, of Beaumont was arrested Friday following a nearly two-year Riverside County Sheriff 's Department investigation into the disappearance of Diana Perez Gonzalez. McIntire is also facing two special circumstance allegations of taking multiple lives in the same crime. He pleaded not guilty during an arraignment before Superior Court Judge Elaine Kiefer, who scheduled a felony settle-
A HELD WITHOUT BAIL: Angel Martine McIntire. | Courtesy Photo of RSO ment conference for Oct. 18 at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.
See FELON on page D4
Hemet Fire Department
OPEN HOUSE
father & daughter who died in last month's 28k-acre Fairview fire were officially identified Tuesday by authorities. Ian Compton, 40, & his autistic adopted daughter, Mikayla Porter, 27, were named by the Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner's Bureau. The two were declared dead at 6:05 p.m. Sept. 5 in the 42000 block of Avery Canyon Road in Hemet — the same day the brush fire broke out. The time of injury was "unknown," according to the coroner. Various media outlets reported the family attempted to flee from their home as flames surrounded their car. The family pets also perished, but Compton's wife, Tina, survived the inferno, according to the reports. A GoFundMe page raised more
A photo of the Fairview fire, Sept. 2022. | Courtesy Photo of Scott Padgett,
than $40,000 for Tina, who suffered serious burns. According to the page, the woman was still in an intensive care unit as of Oct. 3. The Fairview fire began around 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 5 near Bautista Road & Fairview Avenue in the unincorporated county area of Hemet. The fire spread quickly & forced road closures & thousands of evacuations, and burned more than 20 structures. Portions of the San Bernardino National Forest remain closed through early 2023 due to fire damage.
10am - 1pm • Fire Station 1 • 220 N Juanita St. safety trailers, hot dogs, raffle, prizes and MORE!