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Thursday, January 05 - January 11, 2023
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DEATH OF BENEDICT XVI
Some 200,000 turn out over 3 days to view Benedict’s body NICOLE WINFIELD | AP NEWS
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ope Francis praised Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s “acute and gentle thought” during a Wednesday general audience in the Vatican, as tens of thousands of admirers of the retired pontiff filed by his body lying in state in Peter’s Basilica on the final day of viewing. By the time the basilica’s doors were shut to the public on Wednesday evening, about 200,000 people had paid their respects over three days of viewing. After the closure, Vatican officials were preparing to place the 95-year-old German churchman’s body into a wooden coffin, ahead of Thursday morning’s funeral in St. Peter’s Square. Among the last viewers were a married couple from Calabria. Gaspare Guadagnuolo, 73, and Lina Proto, 62, said they remember a visit by Benedict to that southern region years ago. “I was struck by people’s partic-
ipation,” Proto said. “There was a lot of intense emotion.” At his customary weekly audience, Francis was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd in Paul VI auditorium and shouts of “Viva il papa!” or “Long live the pope.” “It is my duty to come,” said Małgorzata Nowska, a Polish resident of Rome as she paid tribute Wednesday. She said she wanted to give Benedict “a last hug, a last prayer.” Francis is due to preside over Benedict’s funeral, an event drawing heads of state and royalty despite Benedict’s requests for simplicity and Vatican efforts to keep the first funeral for an emeritus pope in modern times low-key. Only Italy and Germany were invited to send official delegations, and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Italian President Sergio Mattarella confirmed their participation. But other heads of state and government decided to take the Vatican up on its offer and come
in their “private capacity.” They included several other heads of state, at least four prime ministers and two delegations of royal representatives. All were attending in what the Vatican describes as a “private” role. And in a further sign of officialdom, the Italian government announced it was lowering all Italian and European Union flags to half-staff on public buildings across the country Thursday. Francis drew applause when he opened his remarks by giving a shout-out to all those who were outside paying tribute to Benedict, whom he called a “great master of catechesis.” “His acute and gentle thought was not self-referential, but ecclesial, because he always wanted to accompany us in the encounter with Jesus,” Francis said. Later Wednesday, Vatican officials were to place Benedict’s body in a cypress coffin — the first of three coffins —along with a brief, written summary of his historic
POPE EMERITUS BENEDICT XVI: The body of late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is lied out in state inside St. Peter's Basilica at The Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023. Pope Benedict, the German theologian who will be remembered as the first pope in 600 years to resign, has died, the Vatican announced Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. He was 95. | Courtesy Photo of Ben Curtis/AP papacy, the coins minted during his pontificate and his pallium stoles. After the funeral in the piazza, the remains will be carried back into the basilica, where the coffin
will placed inside a zinc one, and then finally into another made from oak. In keeping with Benedict’s
See BENEDICT XVI on page C4
ACLU lawsuit on county redistricting in federal court JP CRUMRINE | CONTRIBUTED
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n December 2021, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors approved a plan to redraw the boundaries of its five supervisorial districts as a result of the 2020 Federal Census. Six months later, in June, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Inland Empire United and six individuals, challenging the legality of the Riverside County redistricting plan. The suit alleges the plan is discriminatory and unrepresentative of the county’s population. The suit argues that the board should have chosen a plan that would have created two districts with a majority Latino population. By failing to make that decision, the board and county is diluting the Latino vote, and limiting the Latino population’s opportunity to equally participate in the county political process, according to the ACLU filing.
On June 14, 2022, the legal action was filed in the Riverside County Superior Court. With no delay, apparently anticipating the litigation, the county counsel filed a motion to shift the case to the to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Eastern Division. The plaintiffs filed a motion to return the case to the state Superior Court. A hearing was scheduled for Dec. 2, but the federal court decided the filings from both the ACLU and county counsel were sufficient to make the decision, which is still pending. The attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that the federal court lacked jurisdiction since their action was based solely on California election law. The state’s Fair Maps Act (FMA) is the basis for their filing. Although the Federal Voting Right Act (VRA) is referenced, that was only once. Further they argued that state law incorporates the VRA in its language. The court asked both parties to
respond to its question regarding whether the FMA establishes a cause of action against a local redistricting body for failure to properly apply the act’s mandatory ranked criteria or “adopting district boundaries for the purpose of favoring or discriminating against a political party” and whether the state constitution, independently or in conjunction with the FMA, is a basis to challenge a redistricting scheme that denies a cohesive bloc of minority voters the opportunity to elect their candidates of choice. The ACLU response stressed that its litigation was primarily based on the Fair Maps Act, which prohibits establishing boundaries that favor or discriminate against political parties. Further, both the act and State Constitution allow for challenges to protect individual’s and a class member’s right to vote and elect a candidate of choice. The county’s response stressed that the plaintiff ’s initial filing made a strong case of relying on
From left, Riverside County supervisors Jeff Hewitt (former, replaced by Supervisor Yxstian Gutierrez in Nov. 2 election), Chuck Washington, Karen Spiegel, V. Manuel Perez and Kevin Jeffries on Oct. 25, 2022.|Courtesy Photos by Joel Feingold
the VRA. “Plaintiffs included approximately forty paragraphs in their complaint tracking the language and standards of the VRA in order to allege an actionable apportionment claim, and why Plaintiffs rejected Defendants’ offer to
stipulate to a remand if Plaintiffs would amend the complaint to delete the allegations regarding the Redistricting Plan’s failure to comply with the VRA.” The ACLU’s final response
See ACLU on page A4
San Jacinto Valley students honored in December DIANE A. RHODES | CONTRIBUTED
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he Hemet/San Jacinto Student of the Month program held its most recent recognition breakfast at the newly refurbished Maze Stone at Soboba Springs Golf Course, Dec. 15. Six local high school seniors were recognized and honored for their character, love of learning and commitment to academics in addition to their involvement in school and community activities and their ability to overcome difficult life challenges. And they do this all in a setting that honors God, America, family, community and free enterprise. Students are nominated by teachers or other school personnel for making a difference in their homes, schools and communities. Program founder and event facilitator Karena Zermeno also represents one of the sponsors, Altura Credit Union. Backpacks
filled with gifts, a Student of the Month award, certificates of recognition and much more were donated by the program’s sponsors to the award recipients. Each student was invited to the podium to share their personal story, past challenges and future goals with a room full of supporters that included principals, teachers, peers and family members, as well as community and school district dignitaries. December’s students of the month from Hemet Unified School District schools are Rebekah Becerra, Issabella Castaneda, Macayla Jones and Eliana Parts Fragata. San Jacinto Unified’s honorees for December are Jonathan Bartlett and Ava Guerrero. Hemet Unified School District Rebekah Becerra was described by Principal Kimberly Romeril as “such a light at Hemet High with a magnetic personality and great smile.”
Nominated by her agriculture teacher and FFA advisor all four years, Rebekah was recognized for her strong leadership. “Younger me would never have imagined how successful I would be in FFA but younger me would also never have imagined the obstacles I’ve had to overcome to get here,” Rebekah said. Her parents divorced when she was 11 months old, and in second grade she and her brother went to live in the high desert with their dad for two years which was less than ideal. She had to overcome her intense fear of public speaking in eighth grade and in her sophomore year, she lost her twoday old sister. She also had to endure the loss of close friends moving away. She said these experiences helped her see how supportive her FFA family was. Rebekah said her teachers kept her motivated and her future goal is to attend Louisiana State University and became an “ag teacher so hopefully I can
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influence students like myself, just like they did for me.” Tahquitz High School’s Issabella Castaneda was nominated by her English teacher Molly Otis for demonstrating “incredible strength” amid many obstacles. “My family is everything to me,” Issabella said. “My greatest contribution has been to keep God in our life throughout an excruciating challenge we will never truly get over.” A year ago, she lost her mother to COVID, who was pregnant when she contracted the disease. As her health deteriorated during her hospitalization, an emergency C-section was performed to save the baby. “Losing my mom at 16 years old has been the most unfathomable feeling I’ve ever experienced,” Issabella said. After her mother’s passing and the hospitalization of her father, grandmother and baby
See STUDENTS on page D4