The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle - Febuary 9th, 2023

Do Walmart cashiers earn more than RivCo's in-home caregivers?

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A Riverside high school freshman is beaten on video. Parents ask why no one has been arrested

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A 14-year-old freshman was assaulted outside Patriot High School in Jurupa Valley just after school let out last Wednesday by at least three attackers, who can be seen in the video kicking, hitting and stomping on the teen as he lies helpless on the ground.

Despite clear video of the incident, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department has not made an arrest in the case, and the school district did not address the shocking footage until Tuesday — after KTLA published a report

on the incident.

“We’re taking it pretty hard as parents,” said Angel Payan, the father of the boy who was attacked.

shocking video of a vicious beatdown in the parking lot of a Riverside high school has not resulted in any arrests, angering the parents of the victim, who feel the episode is being swept under the rug.“To see your son in the situation he was in was very painful.”

The Times is not naming the boy because he is a minor.

Payan said the beating arose from a dispute related to his son’s ex-girlfriend, whom he had posted about on social media. Following his posts, the 14-year-old began to receive threats on Instagram from strangers who did not attend his high school, Payan said.

The day of the incident, Payan’s son received a message from someone on Instagram informing him that he was at Patriot High School, Payan said.

Video of the incident shows the trio of attackers brutalizing the teen, who is on the ground from the start of the footage. Numer-

ous bystanders watch from the side as the beating occurs. The child’s father said one of the attackers had a knife, although the boy was not cut by the knife.

Payan said he was informed the same day by the principal that his son was the victim of the attack. When he saw his child, the boy was covered in bruises all over his head.

“He had a lot of knots in his head. The knots, the impact blows all to his head. His head looked like a cranberry. His nose was all beaten,” Payan said.

Despite that, Payan said that his son did not receive medical attention on scene and that a Riverside County sheriff’s deputy shirked responsibility for the incident, saying it occurred after classes were done for the day.

Payan says he has not heard back from the Sheriff’s Department after filing a report. It took the school

six days to

Prostitution Sting Nets 31 Arrests Across Riverside County

Aseries of law enforcement operations throughout Riverside County targeting suspects seeking or engaged in illicit sexual services netted 31 arrests, authorities said Wednesday.

The county's Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force joined other agencies statewide in "Operation Reclaim & Rebuild," with the goal of cracking down on individuals allegedly involved in prostitution rings and escort services, most of them based online, as well as rescuing the victims. The effort ran Jan. 23-28 in Riverside County, with identical sweeps taking place in numerous other jurisdictions across California, according to Sgt. Jeff Hammond of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

"The operation targeted online prostitution and those whose de-

mand for these unlawful activities fuels an illicit underground economy, both locally, as well as across the state," Hammond said. "Often, individuals engaging in acts of prostitution are being forced to commit sexual acts against their will."

Arrests were made in Banning, Hemet, Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Murrieta, Perris, Riverside, San Jacinto, Temecula and Wildomar.

Most of the individuals apprehended in the county operation were booked on suspicion of solicitation of prostitution, though one was additionally taken into custody for alleged pimping.

"Various services and resources were provided and offered to seven rescued victims," the sergeant said. He did not disclose whether any of the victims were minors.

Operation Reclaim & Rebuild netted a total of 368 arrests and 131 rescues statewide, according to Hammond. "Prostitution is not a 'victim-

less crime,"' he said. "Those victimized by commercial sexual exploitation frequently have long histories of emotional, physical

Arraignment Set In Desert

Hot Springs Fatal Shooting

CITY NEWS SERVICE | CONTRIBUTED

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At the end of a preliminary hearing Monday, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Edward Forstenzer ruled there was sufficient evidence to warrant a trial for Jose Manuel Angel Arellano, 23, on the murder charge. A post-preliminary hearing arraignment was set for Feb. 16.

Arellano is accused in the slaying of David Joaquin Murrieta of Desert Hot Springs, according to Sgt. Rick Espinoza of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. According to court records, 27-year-old Gabriel "Vago" Magdaleno is also accused in the

case but was charged separately from Arellano with murder and a sentence-enhancing allegation of discharging a firearm causing great bodily injury.

a Quinta man will be arraigned next week on a murder charge stemming from the shooting death of a 20-year-old man whose body was found in the open desert of Desert Hot Springs.According to Espinoza, deputies from the Palm Desert sheriff's station investigating a missing person case discovered human remains on Jan. 21, 2021, in the area of Mission Lakes Boulevard and Little Morongo Road. Sheriff's Detective Martin Alfaro testified in Arellano's preliminary hearing Monday that Murrieta's body was found with three gunshot wounds -- one entering from the back of his head, one from the left side of his head and one from the right side of his chin -- in a shallow grave under a set of metal springs in the open desert.

Alfaro said Arellano drove from Tijuana, Mexico, to the Palm Desert sheriff's station on

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of sex trafficking." The operation was conducted as part of National Human Trafficking Awareness Month.

Cases continue to be dismissed in Riverside County over judge shortage

CINDY VON QUEDNOW & LAUREN LYSTER | CONTRIBUTORS

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In less than a week, three separate child sexual assault cases have been dismissed, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.

In one of the cases, the Riverside County Superior court announced there were no judges available to hear the trial, but later one judge dismissed the case altogether due to the court’s inability to start the trial within the timeframe required by law, officials allege.

The DA’s office says two other child abuses cases were never brought to trial for the same reason.

All three cases have since been re-filed.

riminal cases continue to be dismissed in Riverside County due to an ongoing judge shortage.Back in October, the Superior Court issued a statement breaking down how it is dealing with backlogs caused by a “chronic shortage of judges.”

As a result, 1,500 cases have been dismissed since then, according to the DA’s office.

In one example, Tabitha Davies said her family bought a custom-built manufactured home from a dealer who had allowed his license to expire. He delivered a home that was mold infested and destroyed, she told KTLA.

The dealer was criminally charged, but Davies never got her day in court. Officials told her there were not enough judges.

“I am angry,” she said, detailing the hardships the issue has

Arrests were made in Banning, Hemet, Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Murrieta, Perris, Riverside, San Jacinto, Temecula and Wildomar.

The effort ran Jan. 23-28 in Riverside County, with identical sweeps taking place in numerous other jurisdictions across California, according to Sgt. Jeff Hammond of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. | Courtesy Photo of Renee Schiavone/Patch

The 14-year-old freshman at Patriot High School was viciously beaten as he lay on the ground in the school’s parking lot. | Courtesy Photo of ANgel Payan

NEWS BRIEFS

CANNABIS 21 OWNER EARNS REPRIEVE FROM RIVERSIDE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPES

The Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved the relaxation of payment terms required by conditional use permits granted to four marijuana dispensaries under construction in different parts of Riverside County, including Winchester. The owner can now postpone satisfying a bill in excess of $1 million.

Sean St. Peter, the operator of the Cannabis 21 chain, was the subject of a brief public hearing focused on his operations in the unincorporated communities of Bermuda Dunes, Highgrove, Mead Valley and Winchester.

Following a short presentation by the county Transportation & Land Management Agency, and a word of thanks from St. Peter, the board unanimously authorized modification of the development agreements tied to each of his four outlets, which the board first approved in 2020 and 2021.

The amendments specifically strike a requirement that St. Peter satisfy all the predetermined public benefit payments to the county "prior to the first grading permit or the first building permit" being issued and instead allow him to complete the payments as a "final condition prior to occupancy" of the businesses.

The TLMA had recommended that the board accept the changes.

St. Peter owes the county a total of $444,871 under the development agreement for the Bermuda Dunes operation, $166,109 for the Highgrove location, $180,608 for the Mead Valley dispensary, and $260,454 for the one in Winchester.

The Bermuda Dunes outlet will be a

Do Walmart cashiers earn more than RivCo's in-home caregivers?

13,969-square-foot facility at 39225 Washington St.; the Highgrove business -- the first one approved -- will be a .33-acre vending site at Center Street and Stephens Avenue; the Mead Valley outlet will be on a 1.27-acre lot in the area of the Cajalco Expressway and Harvill Avenue; and the Winchester shop will be an 8,400-square-foot facility near California Avenue and Highway 74.

TLMA officials said construction and renovations are in progress at several of the locations.

St. Peter did not specify publicly why he sought the changes.

The conditional use permits and development agreements for each are valid for 10 years.

Board Chairman Kevin Jeffries complained last year that most of the dispensaries that the board had authorized in unincorporated areas were behind in construction, and one in Lakeland Village had been entirely abandoned, leaving behind a half-finished structure marred by graffiti and refuse.

Jeffries called for a halt to further permitting of cannabis outlets until the ones approved were further along in development. TLMA officials have not brought any permit proposals forward since.

The county's 2018 Marijuana Comprehensive Regulatory Framework, codified under Ordinance No. 348, provides for steps that prospective businesses must take to be eligible for permits. Safety and health safeguards are part of the regulatory stipulations.

AP Briefs

SILVER ALERT ISSUED FOR RIVERSIDE COUNTY WOMAN

The California Highway Patrol has issued a Silver Alert for a woman last seen Monday evening in Riverside County.

Florence Alipio, 78, was last seen in a dark red SUV about 6:30 p.m., the Riverside Police Department said in a news release. The driver and other occupants of the SUV are unknown.

Alipio is 4 feet 10 inches tall and weighs about 120 pounds. She has black hair and eyes and was last seen wearing a black and white beanie, pink jacket and dark pants.

Anyone with information is asked to call 951354-2007.

KTLA.COM

Unionized Riverside County employees who provide in-home care to low-income disabled and elderly residents got a tentative pay increase that puts the much-needed workers closer to a living wage — but there is still a long way to go.

The Riverside County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a tentative employment agreement with United Domestic Workers AFCSME Local 3930 for three years of wage increases for In-Home Supportive Services employees. The wage increases will push the hourly pay for IHSS providers up by $2.50 over three years — from $16 per hour to $18.50 per hour, according to Matthew Maldonado, the union's director of internal operations.

"The increase is very significant. IHSS providers will finally get in the right direction toward a living wage," Maldonado said. "For years, the county has not focused on this program. Today, the board took a different approach."

Under Tuesday's tentative agreement, the hourly wage for IHSS providers will increase to $16.75 later this year, then to $17.50 in January 2024. The final $1

hourly increase in January 2025 will bring the hourly wage to $18.50. The final $1 increase is contingent upon the state increasing the hourly cap for IHSS providers, as the state partially funds IHSS wages.

Still, the increased rate falls well below California's living wage, according to MIT's Living Wage Calculator. The Golden State's living wage is currently $21.24 an hour for a single adult with no children, the calculator shows. The living wage is higher for parents with kids at home.

Maldonado said it took the coronavirus to raise IHSS providers to the level of "essential workers" in the county. Pre-pandemic, providers were not even given personal protective equipment, he said.

Under the new agreement, PPE will be provided. Additionally, the contract includes increased contributions to a health insurance fund developed by the county and administered by UDW. The health insurance contributions will be $.71 per hour, up from $.57 per hour. Life insurance benefits will also be provided.

Currently, there are approximately 35,000 unionized IHSS providers countywide, Maldonado said.

Under the tentative agreement, the IHSS program will cost the county

more than $9.1 million this fiscal year, $17.4 million next fiscal year, and $29.1 million the following year. These figures represent the county’s costs, which account for 16 percent of the entire contract. The federal government will cover 50 percent of the costs, and the state will cover 34 percent, according to county officials.

Tuesday's tentative agreement — which still needs approval by union members and the state, as well as a final Board of Supervisors signoff — could make the difference in retaining IHSS providers, many of whom have families of their own to care for.

"They give up a lot to care for others," Maldonado said. "Their work also helps keep loved ones at home and out of institutions. But no one

is going to do this work for minimum wage. Providers will take a job at Walmart instead, which offers signing bonuses and health insurance."

California minimum wage is $15.50 an hour. A quick scan of Walmart's career portal shows part-time cashier jobs in Riverside County pay up to $18 an hour.

"In-home workers perform a critical service to help elderly and disabled residents safely stay in their homes," Board of Supervisors Chair Kevin Jeffries said in a released statement. "This tentative agreement acknowledges the difficult service these providers offer, as well as the need to attract more workers for the thousands of elderly residents currently waiting for a caregiver."

Riverside County Sheriff's deputies fatally shot a "mentally disturbed" man Monday who allegedly wielded a spiked bat, officials said.

Jesus Antonio Rodriguez, 33, was shot after deputies went to a home in the 24000 block of Filaree Avenue in Moreno Valley about 12:30 p.m. regarding a "mentally disturbed subject," the Riverside County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.

Rodriguez's mother told deputies her son was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was acting aggressively toward her while under the influence of an unknown substance, the Sheriff's Office said.

Rodriguez allegedly ran to his bedroom when officers arrived and began yelling at them. He grabbed a baseball bat "with sharp metal spikes on the end," at

which point deputies fired a stun gun at him twice, "but it was ineffective," the Sheriff's Office said.

Rodriguez allegedly walked toward deputies, and an unknown number fired on him.

The 33-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene. The Sheriff's Office did not release the names of the involved officers but said they would be placed on administrative leave per policy.

The Riverside County district attorney's office will lead the investigation into the shooting.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Riverside County deputies kill 'mentally disturbed' man who allegedly wielded spiked bat

CHRISTIAN MARTINEZ | CONTRIBUTOR

Deputies stand outside a home in Moreno Valley where officers fatally shot a man on Monday. | Courtesy Photo of OnScene.TV

CLERGY CORNER

CHURCH BRIEFS

Chronological Way Bible Study @ Hope in the Valley Baptist Church in Hemet

Please signup and join us Chronological Bible Study every Wednesday at Hope in the Valley Baptist Church in Hemet Wednesday Room #114. Hope in the Valley Baptist Church in Hemet has a bible study class in Chronological way every Wednesday. Please sign up and join us. Hosea 4:6 says "my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge."(NIV). Hope in the Valley Baptist Church 1480 N. Kirby St. Room #114, Hemet CA 92545 www. hvbchurch.com.

VBS Training 2023

Daylight Saving Time has ended, and we mark yet another end to a wonderful VBS season! We had 62 VBS programs during summer 2022 with thousands of children and families engaging in activities pointing them towards a gracious and loving Jesus! This also means that we shift our focus to VBS 2023. Our SECC VBS Training Team has already been at work on your behalf preparing for our 2023 Training Event that will take place at the La Sierra Spanish Church on February 26, 2023. This year we are happy to provide 3 tiers of registration: Early Bird Until December 31, 2022 $20/pp

Regular Registration until January 31, 2023 $30/pp

Late Registration until February 20, 2023 $50/pp

Plan on joining us February 26, 2023!

Schedule 8:00 am – Registration and continental

breakfast 8:30 am – Event Starts 1:30pm – Prize Drawing & Farewell

Building a Team for the Move of GodFebruary Edition

Come and join us and hear our guest speaker Apostle Vanisia Tapia about building a team for the move of God! Sun, Feb 26, 2023, 2:30 PM PST | Prophetic Glory Ministries 1026 S State St 1026 South State Street San Jacinto, CA 92583 United States

Rialto Church of Christ Ladies' Day!

LADIES!! JOIN US ON 2/25/23 FOR

SHOOTING

from A1

Feb. 17, 2021, to tell "his side of the story" and alleged that his friend, Magdaleno, was the one who shot Murrieta on Jan. 14, 2021.

According to Alfaro, Arellano said the trio were at Murrieta's house before they all left in the defendant's truck and drove toward Indio. At some point while Arellano was driving on Intestate 10 approaching Cook Street, Magdaleno and Murrieta began arguing, Alfaro testified.

Both men had guns in their hands during the argument, and Arellano said

SHORTAGE

Be the Valentine

A DAY OF FELLOWSHIP! *** FREE

EVENT*** Breakfast and lunch will be served!! Rialto Church of Christ 245 West Merrill Avenue Rialto, CA 92376 . Sat, February 25, 2023, 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM

It's the Riverside Dickens Festival! We can't wait to Celebrate with You!

Join us at the 30th Annual Riverside Dickens Festival Saturday, February 25th and Sunday, February 26th in Beautiful Downtown Riverside. Come to the Riverside Dickens Festival, a free, family event featuring entertainment, food and parties for all ages. Downtown Riverside 3900 Main Street Riverside, CA 92501

Black History Month Celebration

Celebrating Black History honoring our past and looking towards the future. A family and community event. By Northside Church of Christ. Civil Rights Institute Inland Southern California 3933 Mission Inn Avenue Riverside, CA 9250.

Sat, February 25, 2023, 5:00 PM – 7:30 PM

Santa Ana United Methodist Church 10 AM Service

Celebrating Black History honoring our past and looking towards the future. A family and community event. By Northside Church of Christ. Civil Rights Institute Inland Southern California 3933

Mission Inn Avenue Riverside, CA 9250.

Sat, February 25, 2023, 5:00 PM – 7:30 PM

Gateway Seminary Leadership Lunch | Spring 2023

Leadership Lunches at Gateway are unique Q&A opportunities with experienced ministry leaders. By Gateway Seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention. Gateway Seminary 3210 East Guasti Road Ontario, CA 91761. Join us for a lunch Q&A this semester! Hance Dilbeck Jr. | Thursday, February 2 Hance Dilbeck

Jr. is president and CEO of GuideStone. Bart Barber | Thursday, February 16 Bart Barber is president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of First Baptist Church, Farmersville, Texas. Stephen Rummage | Thursday, March 30. Stephen Rummage is senior pastor of Quail Springs Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Magdaleno felt disrespected, according to a declaration in support of Magdaleno's arrest warrant filed by Alfaro.

"Arellano told me that he saw Magdaleno shoot once at victim Murrieta in the back of the head and subsequently saw him shoot him two additional times after," Alfaro testified Monday.

The defendant then drove to the location where they ended up burying Murrieta with a shovel that was in the back of the truck, Alfaro said.

Arellano subsequently went to a house on Sixth Street to get rid of his clothes by burning them before driving his truck to

Gonzales offered some solutions.

Mexico, Alfaro said.

According to inmate records, Magdaleno was arrested Dec. 13, 2022, and he remains held at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside on $1 million bail. A declaration in support of his arrest was filed by Alfaro on Aug. 18, 2022, according to court records.

Arellano remains held at the Southwest Detention Center in Murrieta on $1 million bail.

Arellano does not have any documented felony convictions in Riverside County. Magdaleno pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery in 2014 in Riverside County.

BECKETT | DWELLING PLACE CITY CHURCH

Winston Churchill’s mother, Jennie Jerome, once had the delightful occasion to dine with two of England’s prime ministers on back-to-back evenings. Afterwards, someone asked her what she thought of the men. She said of William Gladstone, “When I left the dining room after sitting next to Gladstone, I thought he was the cleverest man in England. But after dining with Benjamin Disraeli, I left feeling that I was the cleverest woman in all of England.”

There’s a little secret about people that few take advantage of but one that is available to all - it’s this: the most interesting people on the planet are those who take the greatest interest in others! It’s the blessing of ‘undivided attention.’ It’s akin to that now-famous Ann Landers quote: “There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who walk into a room and say ‘Here I am’ and those who walk into a room and say, ‘There you are.’” Basically, it’s the difference between William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli.

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner - February 14th. Historically we celebrate romantic love, but these days it’s been extended to honor family members, friendships, and co-workers, etc. And why not?! How amazing it is to have a special day set aside just to esteem and celebrate other people in our lives!

When you study the history of Valentine’s Day it

gets a bit complicated as there were several ‘Valentines’ in history. Our first Valentine was a Roman priest who is said to have performed weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry. The Roman emperor needed young men for his army and believed that married soldiers didn’t make good warriors. So, young men could not marry - warrior problem solved. But our ‘Valentine’ defied the decree and performed secret weddings for the soldiers anyway. Our second ‘Valentine’ is said to have helped Christian prisoners escape Roman jails until he was captured and imprisoned. Legend has it that his last act before death was to pray for and heal the daughter of his jailer, thereby converting the family to Christianity. In some versions of this story, he was even in love with the daughter and had written the gal a last love letter and signed it, “From your Valentine.”

And just to confuse you a tad bit more, our Valentines may have been one in the same person - no one really knows for sure. But… our ‘Valentine’ is so revered that you can actually find a ‘Valentine’ skull on display in Rome - which makes sense since it’s said he was beheaded. Ohhh blimey!

And the idea of using a kiss to sign our Valentines with, also has a long history. The use of “X” came to represent Christianity, or the cross, in the Middle Ages. It was also used to sign off on documents. After marking with an X, the writer would often kiss the mark as a sign of their oath. The gesture grew and these

records were described as having been “sealed with a kiss.”

And did you know that the chalky “Sweetheart” candies passed out every Valentine’s Day started out as throat lozenges? The candy later became known as Necco Wafers and in 1866 someone came up with the idea of printing messages on the candy, with the heart shape coming about in 1901. So sweet.

And food for thought: “No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what they gave.” (Calvin Coolidge) So, if you have people who have given into your life, why not take the time to honor and celebrate them this Valentine’s Day?! Buy a bunch of those cute silly Valentine cards and hand them out. Spread love. Hug the people you care about and make sure they know you appreciate them. As Marcel Proust commented: “Let’s be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”

Bob and Susan Beckett pastor The Dwelling Place City Church at 27100 Girard Street in Hemet, CA. For more information, you may contact them at DPCitychurch.org

NEWS BRIEFS...CONTINUED

CALIFORNIA DEPUTIES SHOOT ARSON SUSPECT AFTER DESERT PURSUIT

A man suspected of arson was shot and killed by Southern California sheriff’s deputies after leading authorities on a 30-mile (48-km) vehicle pursuit in the desert over the weekend, officials said Tuesday.

Deputies responded Sunday following reports that a truck trailer was burning near Yucca Valley, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.

A man believed to have started the fire drove away from the scene, leading

deputies on a half-hour chase that lasted until he drove off a highway and his vehicle became disabled near Palm Springs, authorities said.

“A lethal force encounter occurred, and the suspect was hit by gunfire,” the department statement said. Officials didn’t say whether the man had a weapon or what prompted deputies to open fire.

The suspect was identified as Antonio Guzman, 44, of Yucca Valley.

AP Briefs

MAN CRITICALLY WOUNDED IN POSSIBLE ROAD RAGE SHOOTING IN RIVERSIDE

caused. “Having to, at one point, live in a van on our property, run off a generator in one room with all of my kids … We can’t even collect victim relief funds because we don’t have any criminal justice.”

Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzales said that not only is the amount of dismissed cases hard to accept, they are causing all kinds of problems in his department.

“It’s just causing some major issues for us, for my officers on the street,” Gonzales said. “Just by the pure nature of the dismissals. A lot of them are domestic violence cases, a lot of them are firearms cases.”

FRESHMAN from A1

from A1 send a message informing parents of what took place.

“You may have seen reports about an incident that took place after school in the parking lot at Patriot High School last week. We want to assure you that student safety is our highest priority, and we are cooperating with the Riverside

“You think of the way we lived through the pandemic, and doing Zoom hearings, getting other facilities you can have courtrooms in, or at least hear cases in, anything they could possibly do would assist us in this,” Gonzales told KTLA. “Think outside the box. Get a place where we could try these cases so we’re not letting violent people out on the street.”

Riverside County DA

Mike Hestrin is asking the court to reschedule judge trainings, which he said recently caused some courtrooms to be closed.

“I understand the need for ongoing training, however, when our courts are experiencing a crisis and

County Sheriff’s Department to fully investigate this matter,” said an email from the Jurupa Unified School District. The Sheriff’s Department said in a press release Tuesday that they were investigating the incident, but offered no more details or information about an arrest. Payan’s son returned to Patriot High School on

engaging in the mass dismissal of cases, victims of crimes deserve the right to be the priority,” Hestrin said.

He added that some of the dismissed cases are serious felonies.

In an updated statement regarding the judge shortage, Superior Court officials indicated that Senator Richard Roth has introduced a bill that would would authorize 26 new judicial positions, of which Riverside would receive five.

“Hopefully this legislation will be enacted and these positions will be authorized and funded providing the court with further judicial resources to address the legal needs of this community,” the statement read.

Tuesday for the first time since the beating.

“He is somewhat scared. He’s a very tough kid,” Payan said of his son, who is a Varsity football player.

But despite his toughness, it’s now hard for his son to be alone.

“As long as he’s with somebody, he don’t feel scared. If he’s alone he’ll start shivering and shaking,” Payan said.

A driver was hospitalized in critical condition Friday evening after he was shot in a possible road rage incident in Riverside with a woman and two children also inside the vehicle.

The shooting occurred just before 4 p.m. in front of a construction equipment company at 656 East La Cadena Drive, where the vehicle collided with a tree.

The male driver was transported to a local hospital in critical condition with

a gunshot wound, a Riverside Police spokesman said.

Video from the scene showed a woman, believed to be the victim’s girlfriend, covered in blood and speaking to officers. Two young children were being cared for by a relative nearby.

No information about the gunman was immediately available.

KTLA.COM

RIVERSIDE COUNTY WOMAN SENTENCED IN MILLION-DOLLAR UNEMPLOYMENT FRAUD SCHEME

A Riverside County woman was sentenced this week to 4½ years in prison for her role in bilking California’s unemployment insurance benefit program of more than $1.1 million, authorities said.

Catrina Gipson, 47, of Moreno Valley, was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Gipson was also ordered to pay $1,106,282 in restitution.

Gipson pleaded guilty last summer to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Prosecutors said Gipson was the ringleader of a scheme in which she and relatives drew bogus unemployment claims from fake businesses they’d registered with the California Employment Development Department.

Between 2013 and 2016, Gipson recruited friends and family to manage the fictitious businesses and their phony unemployment claims, authorities said.

They routed mail for phony retail outfits through multiple post office boxes and drew down their unemployment benefits — issued through EDD debit cards — using different banks.

Some of the claims were made in Gipson’s name, others in the names of her seven accomplices, authorities said. At least nine claims were made in the names of prison inmates, who were serving time when they were allegedly laid off, court records show. One individual had been incarcerated since 2000.

Gipson and her accomplices were arrested in 2020. Vernisha Jolivet, 30, who was named as a co-conspirator, has also pleaded guilty to a single count of wire fraud in connection with the case and was sentenced to six months in prison.

The remaining six defendants are expected to stand trial this spring.

SUSAN BECKETT | Courtesy Photo.

SUSAN

EDITORIAL & OPINION

COMMENTARY: The Biden Family Problems are Converging

See more on page B2

The Onslaught of Shootings Inspires New Bill

Santa Cruz County 18-year-old Rowan Parham is one of many killed as a result of gun violence in 2023

On Jan. 28, 18-yearold Rowan Parham was fatally shot at a party in Boulder Creek by a 16-year-old. Parham was fondly described as a loyal friend with a quick wit, a friend to many other students in the San Lorenzo area. This shooting came less than a week after a mass shooting rocked the Half Moon Bay community.

Just an hour down Highway 1 from Santa Cruz, Chunli Zhao allegedly shot and killed seven people and wounded one at a labor camp. The next day, on Jan. 24, another mass shooting in California made headlines when Hemet resident Huu Can

Tran killed 10 people and wounded 10 others in a dance studio in Monterey Park near Los Angeles.

And these shootings are just the ones in Cal-

ifornia. This year, there have already been 59 mass shootings throughout the country, in which at least four people were wounded or killed, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

The spate of ongoing gun violence ignited the attention of California Senator Anthony Portantino, who, along with Gov. Gavin Newsom and several co-authors, introduced a bill on Feb. 1 that intends to strengthen California’s already stringent concealed carry regulations.

Portantino says the legislation was also spurred by New York Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, the recent Supreme Court decision that declared unconstitutional New York’s law requiring gun owners to show good cause to carry a concealed weapon. While that decision does not affect California law, some worry the precedent could prompt gun rights

DYLAN SCOTT | CONTRIBUTOR

There are few better emblems of the failures of the US system of medical care than its inability to consistently provide insulin to Americans who need it.

The drug was discovered 100 years ago, and it provides essential and ongoing treatment for millions of people living with diabetes, one of the most common chronic diseases in the country. And yet one in six Americans with diabetes who use insulin say they ration their supply because of the cost. Some people end up spending nearly half of their disposable income on a medicine they must take to stay alive.

Though insulin generally costs less than $10 per

dose to produce, some versions of the drug have a list price above $200. This is in part because, in the US, a warped market has allowed three companies to dominate the insulin business.

But if some states have their way, that may be about to change.

With California leading the way, a handful of states are considering trying to disrupt the market for essential medications, starting with insulin. The plan would be to manufacture and sell insulin themselves for a price that is roughly equivalent to the cost of production.

Their premise: Take away the private market’s profit motive and maybe states can deliver affordable insulin as a wholly public enterprise, run by civil workers, that does

advocates to overturn other legislation.

“In the wake of the recent tragedies in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay and the continued threat of mass shootings, it’s critical that California leads on the issue of gun safety and reform,” Portantino says. “I am proud to be working with Governor Newsom, Attorney General Bonta and activists on SB 2 to strengthen our existing concealed

WORLD NEWS

Chinese balloon’s downing creates spectacle over tourism

hub

See more on page D1

POLITICAL BRIEFS

Baron & Budd Files Lawsuit on Behalf of City of Hemet Against Southern California Edison for Fairview Fire Damages

BUSINESS WIRE | CONTRIBUTED

On February 7th, the nationally recognized law firm Baron & Budd filed a lawsuit in the Los Angeles County Superior Court on behalf of the City of Hemet against Southern California Edison for damages resulting from the 2022 Fairview Fire. The lawsuit alleges that Edison’s equipment was the cause and origin of the Fairview Fire, which caused significant damages to public and natural resources in the City of Hemet.

carry laws and ensure every Californian is safe from gun violence.”

The National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action did not respond to multiple calls for comment. But on its website, it describes Senate Bill 918’s failure, a bill similar to SB 2, as a huge win for gun owners, who would not have to bear the additional costs, burdens

See NEW BILL on page B4

“The deadly Fairview Fire was devastating to the City of Hemet,” said Baron & Budd Shareholder, John Fiske. “This lawsuit seeks damages to aid the city in rebuilding after the destruction of this wildfire ravaged their

community.”

The Fairview Fire started on September 5, 2022, and burned through 28,307 acres causing at least 1,500 homes to be evacuated while more than 2,200 firefighting personnel responded to the fire. By September 6, 2022, FEMA authorized Federal Management Assistance Grants, and by September 8, Governor Newsom declared a state of emergency.

The City of Hemet is represented by outside counsel John Fiske and Torri Sherlin of Baron & Budd, and Ed Diab of Dixon Diab & Chambers.

For more information, please contact John Fiske at JFiske@baronbudd. com.

Gov. Newsom Calls for Federal Investigation of High Natural Gas Prices As California Provides Relief

REPORTERS DESK | CONTRIBUTED

Gov. Gavin Newsom took action Feb. 6 urging the federal government to investigate the recent price spike affecting the Western U.S. and highlighted the state’s action to provide relief to Californians.

In a letter to the federal agency responsible for regulating wholesale natural gas, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or FERC, the Governor requested that the agency “immediately focus its investigatory resources on assessing whether market manipulation, anticompetitive behavior, or other anomalous activities are driving these ongoing ele-

not need to make money. Because these states buy a lot of drugs too, through their Medicaid programs and the health plans for government workers, they would also reap the rewards if those drugs are cheaper.

“If we can drop the cost of insulin, we don’t have

to make money on selling it. We get the savings as a purchaser,” said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, which has been a leading advocate of the public insulin plan and provided guidance to state

vated prices in the western gas markets.”

Additionally, millions of Californians will soon see relief from high utility bills – with credits of $90 to $120 showing up on gas and electric bills as soon as next month.

On Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission or CPUC voted to accelerate the California Climate Credit to help California families with high gas bills. The CPUC and the California Energy Commission Feb. 7 will host an en banc hearing to examine the causes and impacts of the recent spike in natural gas prices.

Insulin is way too expensive. California has a solution: Make its own.

18-year-old Rowan Parham stands with his father, Bryan Parham.|

Courtesy Photo of the Parham family

The drug’s cost crisis is spurring states to pursue a public version of an essential medication.

One in six Americans with diabetes (like Laura Marston, pictured here in 2016) who use insulin say they ration their supply because of the cost.| Courtesy Photo of Jorge Ribas/Washington Post via Getty Images

DEAR ABBY ADVICE

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van

The Biden Family Problems are Converging

JOHN GREEN | CONTRIBUTED

The Biden family (as in crime family) legal problems are beginning to converge in an interesting way. It may be the formation of a perfect political storm.

Wray fixer department and have them fix it. Problem solved — until now.

DEAR ABBY: I’m 33 with a wonderful husband and amazing kids, ages 4 and 6. I have a close bond with my parents. We live in a city about 80 miles from them. It seems like we are always the ones to do the visiting, and I have to practically beg them to visit me for one overnight visit a year. My house is smaller than theirs, but we offer up our bedroom for their stay. Meanwhile, because my brother still lives at home with my parents, I sleep on an air mattress when I’m there.

Abby, I bend myself into a pretzel to make it work for them, and yet there are always excuses why they won’t visit. Mom tells me she misses the kids, but she invariably expects me to pack a bag and head that way. It’s frustrating. Sometimes our budget is so tight, I don’t have the luxury of spending an extra $70-plus in gas for a trip. My financial situation is not her burden, so I never mention it. I brought up just once in the past that she rarely visits, and she really does believe in her head that she visits at least twice a year. When I corrected her, she blew up.

I’m not sure how to feel about this. Sometimes it hurts inside like a rejection, and other times I feel like I need to tell myself to grow up. So here I am -- in the middle, with grandkids who love their grandparents, grandparents who love their grandkids and, if I don’t play the mom-taxi, how will they see each other?

- MOM-TAXI IN TENNESSEE

DEAR MOM-TAXI: They won’t. And when your mother asks why you have stopped coming, point out that fuel is costly and your budget is very tight. Then suggest that if she wants her grandchildren to remember her when she and your dad are gone, they need to make more of an effort to visit you more than once a year. If their hesitancy is because your house isn’t comfortable, suggest they stay at a nearby hotel or motel.

P.S. If your mother gets lonely between visits, she can always video chat, as countless other grandparents do today.

DEAR ABBY: I’m writing on behalf of my partner of more than 10 years. He has three daughters ages 23, 20 and 16. While he’s close to two of them, his youngest distances herself when she doesn’t get what she wants or disagrees with his point of view on something.

Eight months ago, she stopped talking to him because he badmouthed a boy band she likes. He essentially said they weren’t worth the money when she asked him to buy her a ticket to their concert. He was going to appease her, but her reaction was so strong, she didn’t give him a chance to let her know he was going to buy the ticket anyway.

Her mother doesn’t encourage the relationship or support the importance of her having her father in her life or regular visitation, although it’s court-ordered. He tried making contact with her several times when this last episode happened, but she ignored his calls and messages. Now that her birthday is coming up, however, she had her older sister send her wish list to him via a text message. Should he buy gifts for a child who has ignored him for the better part of a year?

- GIFTS OR NO GIFTS

DEAR G.O.N.G.: If your partner’s daughter wants something from Dad for her birthday, she should ask him directly and not telegraph the message through her sister. Your partner should do what he wants to do about her behavior. You and I know how we would handle this, but we are not him and we are not emotionally involved. Stay out of the line of fire.

Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

Objective observers (which excludes the MSM) recognize that the Biden clan has had some shady financial dealings. With recent events, the evidence is becoming undeniable. As criminals often do, one of the co-conspirators may need to turn on the other to cover his tail. In this case, Hunter Biden may be the one protecting himself at his partner’s expense — with Joe Biden being the partner left holding the bag.

I like those movies where a criminal mastermind pulls off an impossible heist and leaves no evidence behind. A Hunter Biden caper doesn’t look anything like that. He traveled the world selling influence and information (some of which may have been classified) provided by his father. His primary clients appear to be Ukraine and China. That would be the very Ukraine that President Asterisk made generous military gifts to, and the China that he refuses to hold accountable for anything.

Hunter then:

• loaded his laptop with evidence of the Biden family influence business;

• dropped it off at a repair shop;

• signed a contract granting ownership to the shop, should he abandon the laptop;

• went on a dope- and hooker-fueled binge; and

• abandoned the laptop — probably forgetting where he left it and what it contained.

Now an unknown number of people have copies of the laptop hard drive. Hunter Biden fulfills only half of the “criminal mastermind” moniker — and it’s not the “mastermind” half.

But for Hunter, it was no problem. His dad has always had his six. Pop could just ring up his Garland and

Now Joe’s got his own problems. He got caught doing what he said was inexcusable — if Donald Trump did it. That would be mishandling, and maybe even stealing, classified documents. The revelation has shattered the illusion of his integrity. Don’t laugh. Some people actually believed that fairy tale.

Then, just when people were starting to forget about his Afghanistan surrender debacle, the Chinese seized air superiority over America using 19th-century technology — a balloon. That also left the illusion of his competence shattered.

Now the Republican led House of Representatives is gearing up to investigate all things Biden. This time, they actually appear serious. Nobody saw that coming when Kevin McCarthy was elected speaker.

Now Joe’s looking around and not finding many friends. The Republicans want to push him out of office because he’s dangerous to the country. The Dems want to push him out of office because he’s dangerous to the party. And the MSM are suddenly doing some actual reporting because they need to regain some credibility before the 2024 propaganda season warms up. Joe has his own rock and hard place to deal with. He doesn’t have the bandwidth to help his ne’er-do-well spawn. The son who hasn’t done anything but create problems his entire life now has a big problem he has to solve by himself. That problem would be how to stay out of jail when 330 million people are aware of what he did.

Hunter Biden has decided to get aggressive with his “stay out of jail” plan and go on the offensive. He’s sent his legal team out to attack the admissibility of the evidence and the credibility of his critics.

His legal team is asserting that the dozen or so copies of Hunter’s laptop that are floating around were illegally obtained. The evidence from the laptop is the “fruit of the poisoned tree,” if you will — unusable in court. But that’s also a tacit

admission that the laptop is genuine and belonged to Hunter Biden — before he donated it to the repair shop. You can’t charge people with stealing your stuff if it’s not your stuff — it’s a legal thing. And just like that, the Russian disinformation plausible deniability went poof.

That’s a big problem for President “10 percent for the big guy.” The congressional investigators aren’t going to care much if some “Obama judge” rules the evidence inadmissible. As the Trump impeachments demonstrated, congressional investigations aren’t bound by such legal technicalities.

Hunter’s “get aggressive” strategy also includes efforts to intimidate his accusers into silence. He went straight to Herr Garland himself and asked for a favor. He asked the DoJ to initiate federally funded persecution prosecution of anybody from the right who has accessed the data on the laptop. He’s providing the names and asking Garland to use the Beria gambit to find the crime. That’s how it’s done now, isn’t it?

Hunter is also asking the IRS to pull the tax-exempt status of organizations like Marco Polo. It seems the foundation’s leader, Garrett Ziegler, dared to talk about the laptop on a radio program. I was unaware that freedom of speech had a charitable foundation exclusion. Lois Lerner was unavailable for comment.

Hunter is even threatening (but not filing) a defamation lawsuit against Fox News — as if Fox could possibly defame Hunter’s character more than Hunter has. I’m sure Tucker Carlson would welcome such a lawsuit. Just think of the opportunities afford-

ed by discovery. A deposition of Hunter Biden would probably be worth a year of prime-time monologues all by itself. I have questions. Do these threats by Hunter Biden telegraph strength or vulnerability? Is a guy (like Tucker Carlson) who has over 3 million nightly viewers worried about Hunter’s threats? Even criminal action from the DoJ would be a huge ratings bonanza with little legal risk — because of this little thing called the First Amendment to the Constitution. Are Hunter’s attacks likely to quiet his critics or convince them that there’s a big story behind the bluster?

Hunter Biden’s scorched earth strategy may or may not help him legally. It will definitely burn his father, Joe.

What Hunter is doing is putting his laptop back in the news, validating its authenticity, and juicing up interest in its contents. Even if the laptop never makes an appearance in court, it’s going to be all over the news, renewing interest in Joe Biden’s sideline business — the business that made him a rich man while his only official income was a government salary.

All of this is happening just as people are looking for ways to help Joe out of the Oval Office. The timing of Hunter’s new strategy couldn’t be worse — for dear old dad.

John Green is a political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Idaho. He has written for American Thinker and American Free News Network. He can be followed on Facebook or reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.

American Legion Post 53 in Hemet’s monthly meetings:

RUSTY STRAIT | SENIOR REPORTER

American Legion Post 53 in Hemet’s monthly meetings: February 12 at 2:00 PM Super Bowl Sunday. Potluck - open bar. Big Screen TV. Dinner every Friday Night from 5 to 7 PM. All are welcome.

Boys State

The American Legion Post 53 has been in recruitment mode for our Boys State. Robert Farris, our Second Vice Commander, has been in contact with our local schools recruiting both boys and girls.

American Legion Boys State is among the most respected and selective educational programs of government instruction for U.

S. High School Students. A participatory program in which students become part of the operation of local, county and state governments, Boys State was founded in 1935 to counter the socialism-inspired Young Pioneer Camps. The program was the idea of two Illinois Legionnaires, Hayes Kennedy and Harold Card, who organized the first Boys State at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield.

In 2022 new legislation for Boys State came down from National to include girls into Boys State, so now it is also open to girls.

Increased Number of Suicides Among Deployed Soldiers Studies indicate that combat-deployed soldiers

who were bullied or hazed are more likely to have thoughts of suicide or suffer from mental health problems.

A survey of more than 1400 soldiers, according to JAMA Psychiatry, found that one in eight soldiers reported that they were bullied or hazed during their deployments. Official sources report that few previous studies have examined such harassment among military personnel.

Bullying and hazing, unlike other stressful combat experiences, can be minimized by commanders and non-commissioned officers.

“Unit cohesion appears to mitigate the effects of deployment stressors; however this may be compro-

mised for soldiers who are targets of malicious behavior perpetrated by fellow unit members,” one study shows.

Respondents who reported bullying or hazing during deployment were younger, (a higher rate among females)), and more likely to have reported previous PTSD and suicidal ideation....and also more likely to have reported several other deployment and non-deployment stressors.”

All too often, the problems of combat veterans are overlooked by the civilian population as they praise the military heroics of our veterans but neglect to consider the emotional stresses that a combat veteran suffers. Just sayin’ rustystrait@gmail.com

Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips.

VETERANS CORNER

Courtesy Photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.

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Total Chaos

Animals! Pure and simple. That is the only word that I can use to describe the students that I came across at a local, not so prestigious middle school here in Hemet. Any other words that I am thinking of using, cannot be printed in this space. My own children went to the same middle school, so when I took the assignment to be a substitute teacher—sorry, glorified babysitter—there, I had a special sense of pride in taking the assignment. Previously, my experience was that of a parent, but now I was going to see the life from a teacher’s perspective, and see the students in a classroom setting. I was going to have a front seat to our educational system.

It was a total chaos. My first day was to assist a student-teacher, who was learning to be a teacher while juggling her life as a young, new parent. It was meant to be an introduction to the students and to the routine of the class, so I would be suitably prepared to do it all by myself the next day. Oh. My. God! I have never seen such mis-

behaved children in my entire life. I witnessed utter lack of respect for any authority figure, a complete disdain for any kind of learning, and an undeniable contempt for any sort of discipline. The student-teacher tried her best to control them, to keep them sitting in their seats, to get them to pay attention to her lessons, to get them to do any of the assigned tasks, like warm up exercises and worksheets that needed to be completed, but the students did not want to follow any of her instructions. Keeping quiet was a challenge. Their voices were louder than those of the teacher, and nothing— and I mean NOTHING— that she and I tried to keep them calm, worked. Period after period, the same scenario played out. By the end of the day, she was on the verge of tears.

I had hoped to do better the next day. It was an uphill battle. I couldn’t even take the roll properly, because their noise was louder than my voice. I tried everything to get them to at least give me a chance to read out the names. Nothing doing. Same students were in two consecutive periods. After the first pe-

riod, I had to go to each one and ask their names so I could complete the roll call. I passed their worksheets to be completed before the end of the period. Most of them put the sheets away and got busy on their computers or cell phones. I saw them playing video games. I saw some compiling song lists. I saw some doing other strange things that I thought the school would at least block them from accessing. Some were shooting videos to upload to their social media accounts. They were writing messages on blank paper and holding them up for selfies.

One group was going around pulling chairs from under unsuspecting students and filming it, again, to upload to their accounts. At that time, I had no choice but to call the front office and ask them to send security. Worksheets were blank. I couldn’t even get them to at least write their names on the papers. Some had made paper planes out of the works sheets and were having a flying race.

There were some students, mind you, who tried. But the hooligans wouldn’t let them even try to do some work. They

kept stealing their papers, their pencils, other personal belongings, and kept throwing erasers at them. I desperately tried to stop them, but most of them wouldn’t even listen. One kid was going around and rubbing cream on other students’ faces. I had to call security again and send four of them away. They were back the next period, and back to their shenanigans. At the end of my day, I was also on the verge of tears. A grown man, an experienced elderly man, was ready to cry because he failed miserably to even get the students to pay attention to the simplest of instructions. Here is the worst part, most of those horrible kids were girls. I always believed that the boys are a bigger problem. I was wrong. I asked the office manager to help me understand the chaos. She said

that ever since these kids returned from COVID lockdowns, they had become unbearable. I asked her as to how I could stop them from using their cell phones during class. She said that they couldn’t do anything because cell phones are the property of their parents and many parents have threatened to sue them if they take the cell phones away. Some of the students were ordering pizza towards the end of the day. I guess they must have some afterschool activities planned. As I walked away from the school at the end of the day, I saw police cars in the parking lot and officers, along with the school security, were chasing students, who were basically trying to show them who’s the boss. This school is not in a ghetto, like we see in the movies. This school is here, in Hemet; a nice, decent

suburban city, with mostly nice, decent families. But the kids were not nice, and they were definitely not decent. Horrible creatures, with no manners whatsoever, behaving like animals; although, now that I think of it, calling them animals is really insulting the animals. Animals at least follow a chain of command, and respect their leaders. Animals have much better discipline. Animals actually learn from one another and try to become better. In the two days that I spent in that school, zero amount of knowledge passed to the students. That’s because they were not there to learn. I came away feeling exhausted and depressed. I just hope that some parents would pay at least a tiny amount of attention and intervene. Otherwise, this chaos would only get worse with each passing semester.

NEW BILL from B1 INSULIN from B1

and restrictions that the law proposed. Newsom, who co-authored the bill, says that California’s strict gun laws have led to a 37% lower gun rate than the national average.

legislators and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office.

As his colleague Chris Noble, who has Type 1 diabetes, put it: “Just providing an actual at-cost alternative has the potential to really be disruptive for the pharmaceutical industry.”

States have become more ambitious in their policies for tackling the insulin affordability crisis because the scale of the problem continues to grow and the federal government seems capable of taking only limited action to address it. The price of some insulin had grown by 1,000 percent over the past 20 years, far outpacing inflation. And the number of Americans with diabetes is projected to grow to nearly 55 million by 2030, from the current figure of roughly 37 million.

Medicare, the federal health insurance program for seniors, is about to institute a $35 per month cap on insulin costs for its beneficiaries, a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act that Democrats passed last year. But, because of the Senate’s arcane rules, they could not establish the same cap for private insurance, which covers more than half of Americans. During his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden called for Congress to cap prices for all, but in the short term, state action seems more likely than federal.

A few states have passed their own out-of-pocket caps, but even a small cost burden, as little as $10, can discourage people from taking necessary medications. States have also sued the drug companies that currently produce insulin, asking the courts to intervene and stop the unfair market practices that they say inflate the drug’s price.

But those are half measures, chipping away at the high cost without fun-

“We’re doubling down on gun safety and strengthening our public carry law to protect it from radical Republican attacks,” he says. California already requires anyone applying for a CCW permit to justify their need by showing they are under threat. SB 2 would add to this by

damentally altering the market that has allowed a drug, which costs a few dollars to produce, to be sold at an enormous markup. A publicly produced insulin — a public option, you might call it — would be a consequential innovation. And if successful, it could open the door for more public projects to produce essential medications more cheaply than the private sector.

“I think there’s a window open now because federal action has been so limited,” Dana Brown, who has developed ideas for public pharmaceutical production in her work at the Democracy Collaborative, told me.

Why insulin is so stubbornly expensive

Insulin was discovered in 1921 by four men: Frederick Banting, James Collip, John Macleod, and Charles Best. They extracted the hormone insulin from the pancreas of a dog and gave it to another dog with diabetes, to see if it could control the second animal’s blood sugar as a substitute for the insulin it would normally make on its own. They then quickly tested the extract on a human, a young man who had Type 1 diabetes, and found that it was successful in managing blood sugar in a person too.

It was an enormous breakthrough: Before the discovery of insulin, people with Type 1 diabetes could expect to live less than three years. The inventors recognized the significance of their discovery and sold the patent for insulin to the University of Toronto for $1, with the hope of making it as easily available as possible.

“Insulin belongs to the world,” Banting reportedly said.

But those altruistic aspirations have been, over the years, eroded by private enterprise. Fledging for-profit drug companies recognized a business opportunity and quickly began developing their own

setting the minimum age for obtaining a permit to 21. It also requires stricter storage and training requirements and limits each CCW license to no more than two guns. Also, under the proposed law, applicants must undergo interviews—usually with their local sheriff’s depart -

insulin products. Longer-lasting insulins started coming on the market in the 1940s and ’50s.

Then in the 1980s, drug companies figured out how to mass-produce human insulin and then focused on developing artificial insulins that can be tweaked to make them act more quickly or last longer. As artificial insulins became the standard of care in the 1990s and 2000s, the three manufacturers that produced them gained more control over the US insulin market — and in the following decades, America’s insulin affordability crisis took off.

Most people don’t pay the list price for insulin, though depending on the kind of health insurance they have, patients can be on the hook for a lot of money. A 2017 study found that Americans with high-deductible insurance plans paid an average of $141 per month for their insulin. A young man in Minnesota with Type 1 diabetes, Alec Smith, died in 2017 because he could not afford the $1,300 outof-pocket price for his prescription once he was dropped from his parents’ health insurance when he turned 26.

The newer artificial insulins can be very valuable for people with diabetes who need to time their insulin injections with meals in mind, though it is not clear that artificial insulin is more beneficial than bioengineered human insulins for some patients, such as those with Type 2 diabetes. But, according to many academic experts, the amount of innovation in the insulin business hardly justifies the current costs for insulin products. Insulin is still, at its core, more or less the same product that debuted a century ago.

Nevertheless, pharmaceutical companies stand to make a lot of money by continually refreshing their products. Thus, the three major insulin manufacturers in the US — Eli

ments—a process that includes reference checks and a review of their social media. Portantino’s bill would also establish several “sensitive public areas” where firearms would be forbidden, such as schools, government buildings, playgrounds and places of worship.

Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi — continue to do that, and thereby maintain their control of the country’s insulin supply.

The main mechanism the US has for bringing down prescription drug prices is allowing generic drugs to compete with brand-name versions. When a company develops a new drug, it gets a period of exclusivity, 10 years or more, in which it is the only one able to make or sell that drug. But after that exclusivity period has passed, other companies can make a carbon copy and sell it at a lower price. Studies find that once several generic competitors come on the market, prices drop significantly.

But pharma companies are savvy about finding ways to extend their monopolies, with insulin and other drugs, by making minor tweaks to the chemical compound and asking for a patent extension. In the case of insulin, the companies can also modify the delivery device to protect their market share.

Each product is meant to be used with specific, company-designed injectors. Though the patents on the artificial insulin developed in the 1990s have started expiring, these companies continue to hold and extend monopolies on either their devices or other chemical compounds, making it harder for generic competitors to enter the market.

Other federal regulat ions have added to the challenge. The FDA began to treat insulin as a biologic drug in 2020 — meaning it is made with living materials instead of combining chemicals like conventional pharmaceuticals — which comes with a different set of standards for generic versions, which are known as biosimilars, as well as manufacturing challenges given the precise conditions these products must be made in. Biosimilars can cost up to $250 million to produce and take up to eight years to bring

“The Supreme Court’s reckless Bruen decision opened up the floodgates for more guns in more places—but with this bill, California once again renews its commitment to being a national leader in the fight against gun violence,” Shannon Watts says. Watts is a California resident and founder of

to the market, versus a one-year investment of as little as $1 million for conventional generics. And unless the FDA recognizes a new generic insulin as interchangeable with the products already on the market, health insurers might not want to cover it and doctors may not be willing to prescribe it.

To add one more layer of difficulty, the current manufacturers can always decide to drop their prices to crowd out new generic competitors, given the gap between the retail price and the $10 cost of production. The first biosimilar drugs have come onto the market in the past few years, but only one of them has been deemed interchangeable with the brand-name version; ultimately, in late 2021, it was priced at only $20 less than the brand-name insulin it was competing with. More competition is needed to meaningfully depress prices.

“We know why it’s happening and our government has failed to take action,” Hilary Koch, whose young son has Type 1 diabetes and who sat on Maine’s commission exploring the feasibility of the state producing its own insulin, said. “We know that there are thousands if not millions of dollars lost every year from people ending up in hospital or people having complications due to poor management of their diabetes. When we talk about improved management, that starts with access to insulin.”

Given their tight control of the market, insulin manufacturers could afford to lose a lot of their margin by cutting prices and still make a profit. That is a vulnerability that California, with its plan for the public production of insulin, is trying to exploit.

California’s plan to produce its own insulin

California’s program to produce a cheaper ge-

Moms Demand Action, part of Everytown’s grassroots network. “While the gun industry celebrated the ruling that put their profits over our safety, our grassroots army is proud to stand with our Gun Sense Champions in California to pass this critical bill and make our communities safer.”

neric insulin has already cleared the first two critical steps: authority and funding. The state legislature passed a bill creating the authority for the state to produce its own insulin and it has appropriated $100 million to support the effort.

The state is taking a two-phase approach. In the short term, California has put out a request for proposals from existing enterprises that could produce generic insulin for the state as a subcontractor in the next few years in order to try to deliver relief as soon as possible.

One possibility would be Mark Cuban’s at-cost drug company, through which the NBA owner and venture capitalist has sought to provide cheaper medications directly to patients who pay out of pocket.

Another is a relatively new nonprofit enterprise, Civica RX, which launched in 2018 as a collaboration between several hospital systems to produce cheap generic versions of essential medicines; its goal is to bring a generic insulin to the market by next year.

California’s contract is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

But in the long term, the plan is for a government factory operated by government workers producing government-owned medication. The state would have its own public production facilities, staffed by civil workers, which would sell generic insulin for the same cost needed to produce it, plus perhaps a small percentage to cover auxiliary costs for the program.

The $100 million in funding is split evenly between the short and long term. But that long-term vision will take time. Even if the state were to retrofit an existing factory for insulin production, that construction work could take years, as would hiring a workforce to oversee it.

Once production is up and running, California would

Misbehavior | Freepik Photo

VALLEY BEAT

Winter CALENDAR Top 8 Events in the Valley

Mary Poppins

PERFORMANCE RIVERSIDE

Friday, February 10, 7pm

4800 Magnolia Ave, Riverside, CA.

Visit: Visit: https://ktla.com/

Caifanes

TOYOTA ARENA

Friday, February 10, 8pm

4000 Ontario Center, Ontario, CA.

Visit: https://www.toyota-arena.com/

Soboba athlete inducted into sports Hall of Fame

Joseph Burton Jr. was recently inducted into the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame for his prowess on the basketball court. A member of the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians, Burton was raised on the reservation and continues to live there during his sport’s off season.

The North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame honors and recognizes the indigenous sport cultures of 27 countries of North America by recognizing outstanding leadership and achievement in individual and team athletics. By honoring and celebrating the empowered journey of the annually inducted individuals and teams, the hope is their stories may inspire future generations to follow their dreams in athletics and life.

Burton currently plays in the French FFBB league for Orchies NM1 Basketball. Averaging 21.8 points, 11.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists, he is ultimately highly ranked with 30+ efficiency. He is in France for 10 months out of the year with preseason, regular season and playoffs.

He is grateful that his family is able to join him in France often. Wife DaiseJanay Burton, six-yearold son Joseph Charles Lee

Burton and three-year-old daughter Loovi No$uun Burton usually stay for a half or full season.

“They’re with me right now,” he said. “But then the kids start to miss being back home and also the family misses the kids, so they return to Soboba; nothing beats the rez life.”

Burton started playing sports at the age of four, being coached and mentored by his mother Dondi Silvas, his grandfather Charles “B-Bop” Silvas, aunts and uncles. He played basketball at West Valley High School in Hemet where he was four-time MVP, four-time All Sun Belt league champion, and CIF Champion 2008. He continued on to Oregon State University with a full ride basketball scholarship, known as the first Native American in OSU history to receive a basketball scholarship.

At OSU, he was acknowledged as the first non-guard to record 1000+ points, 700+ rebounds and 300+ assists. While at OSU he visited the White House and met President Barack Obama on several occasions. He also worked closely with Coach Robinson to introduce the N7 games to OSU basketball in honor of indigenous culture, moreover, becoming an ambassador for Nike N7.

“It was a great honor that Sam McCracken, another inducted Hall of

Famer, started N7 and came to me while I was at OSU and wanted to have a game there,” Burton said. “Knowing I was Native, he thought it would be a great opportunity and I’m always there to spread awareness and honor my culture. It was great to have a game in honor of Natives.”

Upon graduating from OSU in 2013, Joseph continued his professional basketball career overseas starting in Denmark playing for Aalborg Vikings. In the past nine years Joseph has played professional basketball in the Netherlands, Japan, Finland and France. While playing in the French LNB league he has competed at Pro A and Pro B level, being awarded MVP in 2016 and runner-up in 2017.

Burton said there is no language barrier playing in other countries because they have a superb education system where students learn English in elementary school.

When he is able to return to Soboba, Burton stays busy with his Hunwut Clothing line, which he launched in 2019. Hunwut means Bear in Luiseño, his native language. He also gets involved with youth sports. Most recently, he assisted with a basketball camp at the Soboba Sports Complex.

“I would like to hold an annual basketball camp in honor of my grandpa,

Comedy Kick Off

HAVEN CITY MARKET

Saturday, February 11, 7pm

8443 Haven Ave, Rancho Cucamonga, CA.

Visit: https://www.ticketweb.com

Orange show ORANGE SHOW SPEEDWAY

Charles “B-Bop” Silvas, who was a legend in the valley,” Burton said. Silvas started coaching frosh/ soph football at San Jacinto High School, his alma mater, in 1978 and also coached boys and girls basketball and softball teams there. Silvas was one of the first inductees into the high school's Edward Hyatt Athletic Hall of Fame. He also coached women’s basketball at Mt. San Jacinto College for two years and helped coach West Valley High School boys basketball from 2006 to 2009.

When Burton took a year off from playing, he volunteered to assist West Valley High School Head Coach Kristopher Brooks with the boys basketball team. “Kris was my classmate and one of my teammates in high school,” Burton recalled. “We won the CIF title in 2008 together. He told me I could volunteer as an assistant coach because I bring a lot to the game and the coaching staff.”

Burton said that opportunity helped him see the game from the coaching standpoint which was very helpful since coaching is something he wants to do when he is done playing the game. He said some of the players he helped coach still write to him and he said it’s tough being so far away. “I still give

Saturday, February 11, 8pm

689 S E St, San Bernardino, CA.

Phone: 909-746-3296

Fast Times

THE CANYON - MONTCLAIR

Saturday, February 11, 8pm

5060 E N Montclair Plaza Ln, Montclair, CA.

Visit: https://wheremusicmeetsthesoul.com/

A John Mayer Tribute

THE BOX

Tuesday, February 14, 8pm 3635 Market Street, Riverside, CA.

Visit: https://allevents.in/

Valentine's Day Dance & Dinner

GOLDEN VILLAGE PALMS RV RESORT

Tuesday, February 14, 6pm 3600 W Florida Ave, Hemet, CA.

Visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/

David Gab

YAAMAVA' RESORT & CASINO

Friday, February 17, 5pm 777 San Manuel Blvd, Highland, CA.

Visit: https://allevents.in/

More events in the Valley

Friday, February 10 7pm: Death Lens, The Hideaway Cafe & Lounge, 3660 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside, CA. https://dice. fm/

7pm: Paint & Sip Painting Event in Downtown Riverside, CA – “Sacred Heart” at El Patron, El Patron Downtown Riverside, 3204 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside, CA. TEXT (562) 762-3420 7pm: Caifanes, Toyota

Arena, 4000 Ontario Center, Ontario, CA. https://www. toyota-arena.com/

3pm: Winter 2023: Children's Week 4, Thousand Pines Christian Camp, 359 Thousand Pines Rd, Crestline, CA. https://www. eventbrite.com/

1pm: Junior High Winter Camp, Hume SoCal, 32355 Green Valley Lake Rd, Green Valley Lake, CA. https://alSee CALENDAR on page C2

SOBOBA BAND OF LUISEÑO INDIANS | CONTRIBUTOR

Joseph Burton, who currently plays basketball in France, is inducted into the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame. | Photos courtesy of the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians

Inland Empire residents are fighting warehouse sprawl

E-commerce has created a world where we can order something with a few quick taps on our phones, then find it on the doormat within days (or even hours).

For a growing number of consumers, there’s a decent chance the contents of their packages came from a warehouse in the Inland Empire.

The region, which includes large swaths of communities in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, has become the dominion of thousands of massive warehouses, storing millions of consumer goods trucked in from coastal ports and bound for front doors and mailboxes across California and the nation.

According to one research group’s mapping data, warehouses cover more than 1.5 billion square feet of land there

(including parking lots).

An additional 170 million square feet of warehouses are planned or under construction, enough to cover the city of West Hollywood about three times over.

The resulting impacts have many residents, farmers and environmental advocates worried.

Rachel Uranga covers transportation and mobility for The Times and reported on the changing landscape in the Inland Empire. She writes: "Residents are questioning whether they want the region’s economy, health, traffic and general ambiance tied to a heavily polluting, low-wage industry that might one day pick up and leave as global trade routes shift."

Rachel told me the issue is the “perfect intersection” of business, consumer culture and transportation issues.

“E-commerce is really reshaping parts of Southern California,” she told

me. “For a lot of people, it’s out of their sight — the only way they see it is the little Amazon truck comes up and delivers your packet and leaves ... but it’s so deeply changed [the IE].”

Moving thousands of warehouses’ worth of product relies on big, diesel-burning trucks, which clog and crack local streets and freeways. They also contribute to the region’s terrible, harmful air quality.

The IE now holds the crown for smoggiest place in the U.S., according to the American Lung Assn. The constant stream of trucks rolling to and from all those warehouses “spew out a cocktail of pollutants, including particulates that lodge in human lungs,” Rachel reports.

Researchers have linked the truck pollution to serious health hazards such as asthma, decreased lung function in children and cancer.

“We know diesel exhaust

TOP 7 SERIES of the week

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2. Hannibal Explores the early relationship between renowned psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter and a young FBI criminal profiler who is haunted by his ability to empathize with serial killers.

3. Clarice

A look at the personal story of FBI agent Clarice Starling, as she returns to the field about a year after the events of The Silence of the Lambs (1991).

DOWN

is a killer,” William Barrett, national senior director of clean air advocacy for the American Lung Assn., told Rachel. “It’s one of the most damaging things that your lungs can experience.”

I) Bit for the dog bowl

Residents, advocates and environmental researchers want that to change.

2) Sound heard in a dairy herd 3) Inflatable item 4)Kind of card 5) "Make yourself_" 6) Pitches to one side

4. Dexter He's smart. He's lovable. He's Dexter Morgan, America's favorite serial killer, who spends his days solving crimes and nights committing them.

5. Tell Me What You Saw

7) Baby's nurse, in China 8) Frost-laden 9) What the unified are

A coalition of more than 60 environmental, labor, community and academic groups wrote a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, asking him to declare the region’s warehouse sprawl a “public health emergency.”

The group also called for a moratorium of up to two years on new warehouse development in the region.

The group has accused local politicians of “environmental racism,” Rachel reports, contending they’ve been “ignoring health impacts while collecting donations from developers and their allies.”

Some cities in and near the Inland Empire have

An eccentric genius profiler works with a detective with photographic memory and a police chief to go after a serial killer who was thought to be dead.

6. Mindhunter Set in the late 1970s, two FBI agents are tasked with interviewing serial killers to solve open cases.

7. Dahmer

The story of a cannibalistic serial killer named Jeffrey Dahmer A.K.A. the Milwaukee Monster.

Events in the Valley From C1

levents.in/

9am: ADVANCE Expo, Gateway Seminary, 3210 E Guasti Rd, Ontario, CA. https://www.eventbrite.com/

5pm: Drea Sheva Returns to Rock N Brews, Yaamava' Resort & Casino, 777 San Manuel Blvd, Highland, CA. http://www.toprockentertainment.com

8:30pm: Electric Feels: Indie Rock + Indie Dance Party Support, The Glass House Concert Hall, 200 W 2nd St, Pomona, CA. https:// www.eventbrite.com/

Saturday, February 11

2pm: Paint and Sip in Riverside, CA – “Lovers Paradise” at Wicks Brewing Co., Wicks Brewing, 11620 Sterling Ave Ste C, Riverside, CA. TEXT (562) 7623420

8am: Cars And Coffee At Harvest, Harvest Christian Fellowship, 6115 Arlington Ave, Riverside, CA. https:// www.idrivesocal.com/

1pm: Paint, Sip and Steam, 3726 Tibbetts St # C, Riverside, CA. https://www. eventbrite.com/

2pm: "Mary Poppins": The Hit Musical About Everyone’s Favorite Nanny, Performance Riverside, 4800 Magnolia Ave, Riverside, CA. https://ktla.com/

9am: First Time Homebuyer Workshop, Fair Housing Council of Riverside County, Inc., 3933 Mission Inn Avenue Suite 100, Riverside, CA. https:// fairhousing.net/

3pm: Moreno Valley Cruise Night, R Burgers, Alessandro Blvd, Moreno Valley, CA. https://www.idrivesocal.com/

9:30pm: Flux Capacitors Debut Rock N Brews, Yaamava' Resort & Casino, 777 San Manuel Blvd, Highland, CA. https://allevents. in/

8am: BIG WAY BASICS,

Skydive Perris, 2091 Goetz Rd, Perris, CA. https://allevents.in/

8:30pm: Paranormal Investigation, March Field Air Museum, 22550 Van Buren Boulevard, Riverside, CA. Phone: (951) 902-5123

7pm: Janet Klein & her Parlor Boys — Folk Music Center, Folk Music Center, 220 N Yale Ave, Claremont, CA. Phone: (909) 624-2928 for tickets & info

5pm: Sawyer Auguer @ Rock N Brews, Yaamava' Resort & Casino, 777 San Manuel Blvd, Highland, CA. http://www.toprockentertainment.com

6pm: Pomona Art Walk, Downtown Pomona Owners Association, 119 W 2nd St, Pomona, CA. https://culturela.org/

7pm: Sebastian Cetina, Haven City Market, 8443 Haven Ave, Rancho Cucamonga, CA. https://www. irl.com/

5:30pm: 15th Annual RITZ Gala 2023, Eisenhower High School, 1321 N Lilac Ave, Rialto, CA. https:// www.eventbrite.com/

Sunday, February 12

3pm: Big Game Watch Party!, Slater's 50/50, 3750 University Ave #125, Riverside, CA. https://www. eventbrite.com/

3pm: Paint Your Pet, The Backstreet LLC, 3735 Nelson St, Riverside, CA. https://allevents.in/

2pm: "Mary Poppins": The Hit Musical About Everyone’s Favorite Nanny, Performance Riverside, 4800 Magnolia Ave, Riverside, CA. https://ktla.com/

10am: Winter 2023: Children's Week 4, Thousand Pines Christian Camp, 359 Thousand Pines Rd, Crestline, CA. https://www. eventbrite.com/

7pm: Noir Dalis Campaign: Nite 1, dba256 Bar

& Gallery, 256 S Main St, Pomona, CA. https://www. eventbrite.com/

7pm: LifeTales–Harriet Tubman, Lifehouse Theater, 1135 Church St, Redlands, CA. https://bosd3.sbcounty. gov/

8pm: Marca Registrada –The Magic Tour, 4000 Ontario Center, Ontario, CA. https://www.toyota-arena. com/

5pm: Sip N Paint Soiree, 134 S Riverside Ave, Rialto, CA. https://www.unation. com/

Monday, February 13

3pm: Happy Hour @ All Star Drafts Sports Bar & Grill, All Star Drafts Sports Bar & Grill, 2785 Cabot Dr #110, Corona, CA. Phone: 951-638-5757

6pm: Inland Empire CA Speed Dating in Riverside Ages 35-55 at Cactus Cantina, Cactus Cantina, 151 E Alessandro Blvd, Riverside, CA. https://www.eventbrite. com/

10am: 2023 ASIAN

AMERICAN EXPO –YEAR OF THE RABBIT, The Farm at Pomona Fairplex, 2118 N White Ave, Pomona, CA. https://culturela. org/

2pm: Make Your Own Soy Candle, The Local Collective Market, 240 W 2nd St, Claremont, CA. https:// allevents.in/

Tuesday, February 14

8pm: A John Mayer Tribute, The Box, 3635 Market Street, Riverside, CA. https://allevents.in/

11am: Ontario Job Fair - Ontario Career Fair, San Manuel Recruitment Center, 1 Mills Cir Suite 115, Ontario, CA. https://allevents.in/

8pm: Jade Catta-Preta, Ontario Improv, 4555 Mills Cir, Ontario, CA. https:// www.ticketweb.com/event

RYAN FONSECA | STAFF WRITER

A coalition is calling for a moratorium of up to two years on new warehouse development in Southern California’s Inland Empire, asking Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare the region’s warehouse sprawl a “public health emergency.” | Courtesy Photo of Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times

Helping homeowners: California expands mortgage relief

Angela Morrow was only eight months into a new career as a flight attendant when she was laid off from her job due to the COVID-19 pandemic, putting her at risk of losing her three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in San Bernardino County.

Morrow, 63, said she was able to save her home in Bloomington through the $1 billion California Mortgage Relief Program, which enabled her to pay off more than $54,000 worth of mortgage debt — relief that lowered her monthly payments for the long-term.

“Receiving that grant has been a monumental blessing for me,” Morrow said. “It created a solid foundation for my kids, and their future, after I’m gone.”

Today, state officials will announce they are expanding who is eligible for the program, including some who took second mortgages.

With $300 million already given out to 10,000 homeowners, as much as $700 million worth of aid remains available for borrowers who qualify for the program, which was created in December 2021 using federal dollars from the American Rescue Act.

The expansion comes as state officials say the pandemic era housing market — characterized by an uncertain economy, high home prices and now higher mortgage interest rates — could still imperil homeownership in the Golden State, particularly for lower- and middleincome families.

Fewer than 56% of Californians live in homes they or their families own, the second lowest rate of any state and just slightly higher than New York.

“People shouldn’t be penalized, and lose something that they’ve worked so hard to obtain, and lose that opportunity for generational wealth, due to circumstances outside of their control,” said

$159,900

Rebecca Franklin, president of the California Housing Finance Agency’s Homeowner Relief Corp., which is administering the mortgage relief program. “That’s what this program is about: To catch people up, to erase that long-term financial impact that the pandemic maybe had on them.”

California foreclosures remain at one of their lowest rates over the last two decades, with only 0.12% of homes in foreclosure as of last November, the most recent monthly data available, according to housing data firm CoreLogic. That compares to a high of 3.21% of homes in November 2010, during the last housing bust. Nevertheless, California families did face financial hardship during the pandemic, the CoreLogic data shows, with 3.72% of all homes in serious delinquency in August 2022, a recent high.

The difference in the pandemic economic downturn,

$439,000 $450,000

ALEJANDRO LAZO | CONTRIBUTOR

Is there a supply problem for the Inland Empire retail?

The retail vacancy rate for the Inland Empire has dipped below 6 percent for the first time since 2008. But there is a dramatic difference between then and now. From 2006 to 2008, there was about 20 million square feet constructed, compared to only 2.8 million square feet from 2020 to 2022.

Using Costar’s data, retail rents rose 5.7 percent in the past year, which was just under the 6 percent rent growth in 2021. These are the two highest years of rent growth in the past 15 years. In my opinion, the market has regained equilibrium, which is about where we were at in 2019 before the bottom fell out the following year. The substantial development of the early 2000s required almost a decade to fully absorb. COVID then

HALL OF FAME

from

them tips and drills. You have a bond once you have been with these kids for the basketball season. It’s great to see them growing in their skills, but when I get back, it’s the summer and that’s where the work happens.”

When working with young players, Burton said the best thing they can bring to the game is to be “coachable” and stick to the basics. “They need to keep the same mindset of ‘I’m going to get better today.’ Also it’s a different type of ball now, but I still tell them they all start with basic skills,” he said.

When he was young, Burton played baseball, soccer, flag football, basketball and volleyball in high school. Although really good in baseball and basketball, it was difficult to balance travel ball for both sports so he chose to focus on basketball.

“Also, when I got hit in the side with a baseball I said ‘okay, chuck the bat and pass me a basket-

INSULIN

from B4

need to hit more targets — most importantly producing a product that the FDA says is interchangeable with existing insulin medications.

The Golden State is probably the best home for a project like this. Newsom has put a lot of political and literal capital behind it, and the state’s politics are such that Democrats are likely to remain in control for the foreseeable future. The generic insulin plan should have a long enough runway to see if it works.

If California really can produce its own generic insulin, then advocates in the state say it will be an almost can’t-lose proposition. Even if the private manufacturers were to drop their prices dramatically in response to a cheaper public option coming on the market, that is still a win for patients and for the state, which would save money on Medicaid and state employee insurance programs. There are international precedents for public drug production: Sweden adopted one in the 1970s and it continues to operate in a modified form in which the state is the only shareholder in companies that produce and sell drugs.

The one type of competition private insulin manufacturers have not had to face is a venture that doesn’t need to make a profit. I asked the current major insulin manufacturers what they thought about California’s initiative. They said they welcomed any competition and pointed to

created 1.5 million square feet of negative absorption in 2020, which has all been fully absorbed, plus another 3.3 million square feet of net absorption in 2021 and 2022.

The Inland Empire added more than 74,000 jobs in the past year, and the region’s population continues to grow despite the decline in California’s overall population. People are attracted to the employment opportunities, lower cost of living, open space, population diversity and less traffic.

On ly 1.7 million square feet of retail space was developed in the past two years, most of which was pre-leased and in projects generally under 20,000 square feet. Discount stores, coffee purveyors, restaurants, automotive uses, car washes, fuel stations, and a few grocery stores and fitness providers have led this development. Rising construction costs, exit cap rate uncer-

tainty, and entitlement and construction timing unpredictability have all reduced the development pipeline.

Lewis Retail Centers is the most active developer, and recently opened the Marketplace at Calimesa, which is anchored by Stater Bros. The firm has two additional Stater Bros.-anchored projects under construction, including the Collection in Ontario and Town Center at the Preserve in Chino. Wood Investment Companies is building the Ranch at Model Colony in south Ontario. The project is slated to include Hobby Lobby, Ross, Burlington, Five Below and Planet Fitness. Newmark Merrill is constructing the Rialto Village in Rialto, which will include Sprouts, Burlington, Ulta, Five Below and In-N-Out Burger.

The desire of high-networth, Southern California-based investors to purchase Inland Em-

pire properties has continued to push cap rates near record lows for single-tenant and high-quality multi-tenant retail properties. Rising interest rates have softened the investment sales market

already put a hold on new warehouses. A spokesperson for Newsom did not say whether the governor supported a regional moratorium, but pointed to New-

state officials and experts said, is that mortgage companies and banks were willing to work with borrowers to defer payments and create additional home loans. High home prices can also help prevent foreclosure as homeowners can often sell their properties. But with high rents, selling is often not a good option for families, said Lisa Sitkin, a senior staff attorney with the National Housing Law Project, a nonprofit that advocates for tenants and low-income households.

ball,’” he laughingly said. “But really, my family was a sports family, and the main sport was basketball, so I loved it from the very

their own efforts to provide more-affordable insulin.

But the advocates working on the efforts in California think litigation or other efforts to slow them down could begin as the state gets closer to putting a product on pharmacy shelves.

The long-term vision for public pharmaceutical production If manufacturing a cheap generic insulin proves viable for California, the consequences could be enormous and stretch far beyond insulin. California would provide proof of concept, and a fledging public marketplace for public pharmaceutical production could potentially emerge.

Advocates see an opportunity for state governments to disrupt the pharmaceutical industry. Let’s say California were to prove successful at developing its own generic insulin. Once it has the manufacturing capacity, it could sell that insulin to other states, helping lower the drug’s cost across the country.

Other states could develop and sell generic drugs of their own. Washington State and Maine are already following California’s lead, though they are not as far along. Washington has authorized, but not yet fully funded, the development of a program for the public manufacturing of generic drugs. Maine created a bipartisan commission to explore the possibilities, which is expected to deliver its final report to lawmakers soon. Lawmakers in Michigan have also expressed an interest in such a project.

If California succeeds,

first time I saw a game.”

For more information, www.naiahf.org and www. hunwutclothing.com.

it’s possible that, eventually, a state like Washington or Maine would devote its efforts to a different essential and expensive medication. Other options could include drugs experiencing a shortage, drugs with expired patents but no generic competition, or high-priced medications with inequitable access such as EpiPens or asthma drugs, Brown said. States could then over time specialize in manufacturing specific medicines and trade with one another for other critical drugs.

This may sound farfetched, but the public production of medicine is not entirely novel. Michigan used to produce its own vaccines through a state-run enterprise until the 1990s.

Massachusetts still does, through the UMass college system, with the state providing funding to those institutions to produce vaccines, which are distributed to state residents at no cost.

Long-term trends toward privatization and the declining public trust in government’s ability to accomplish major projects, along with the mighty lobbying power of the drug industry, worked to discourage public officials from ideas as ambitious as the public production of a generic insulin. But the crisis of its costs has reached the point where states are compelled to intervene.

California’s experiment will be the most important test of that concept, and it will be years before we know whether it worked. But if it does, it could prove a pivotal moment in the effort to make essential medicines more affordable for Americans.

with fourth-quarter 2022 sales volume off more than 50 percent from the record-setting fourth quarter of 2021. In 2022, we saw steadily declining sales volume with $605 million in the first quar-

som’s order that heavy-duty truck manufacturers transition to zero-emission vehicles by 2045.

In the meantime many IE residents continue to live in the shadows of warehouses, breathing harmful pollutants. One resident-turned-activist

mento nonprofit:

• Eligible homeowners who have already used the program and are in need of additional assistance can reapply, for as much as $80,000 in total grants.

• Homeowners can use the program to pay off second home loans, or loan deferrals, that they negotiated in the midst of the pandemic.

• The program will also be available to homeowners who have properties of up to four units, as long as those small landlords live on those properties.

Under the expansion of California’s mortgage relief program being unveiled today at a Sacra-

• While the program was previously only available for people who had missed at least two mortgage payments and at least one property tax payment before last summer, it will now be available to those homeowners until

ter of 2022 compared to $394 million in the fourth quarter. This further indicates a return to normalcy as the average quarterly sales volume over the past decade has been $375 million.

Rachel spoke with described children waking up “with bloody noses on their pillows.” “We have the worst air quality. We have gridlock,” the resident said. “We have streets and communities that were never built for global logistics.”

March 1.

The program includes income and wealth restrictions. People can only receive assistance if their combined household income is not more than 150% of their region’s median income. Households that have cash or other assets worth $20,000 more than the total funds they are requesting are disqualified. (For more information, there’s a help page.)

The relief program is administered nationally by the U.S. Treasury Department, which relies heavily on individual states to distribute the money. As far as California’s track record getting its funds to borrowers, the state has been “nimble,” and “responsive,” said Sitkin, of the National Housing Law Project, which is monitoring all of the states’ programs.

MORTGAGE from C3

C1

WAREHOUSE from C1

Joseph Burton has many fans who attend his games.

Soboba Tribal member Joseph Burton plays in the French FFBB league for Orchies NM1 Basketball.

Lewis Retail Centers is developing the Collection in Chino, CA. This is one of three Inland Empire projects the firm is developing that’s anchored by a Stater Bros. | Courtesy Photo of Retail Insight Network

Chinese balloon’s downing creates spectacle over tourism hub

TForhe downing of a suspected Chinese spy balloon just off South Carolina’s coast created a spectacle over one of the state’s tourism hubs and drew crowds reacting with a mixture of bewildered gazing, distress and cheers.

The balloon was struck by a missile from an F-22 fighter just off Myrtle Beach on Saturday, fascinating sky-watchers across a populous area known as the Grand Strand for its miles of beaches that draw retirees and vacationers.

Crowds gathered in neighborhoods, hotel parking lots and beaches to watch the balloon hover, with some cheering just after it went down.

The festive mood belied the seriousness of the situation, with law enforcement around the county

of 366,000 warning people not to touch any debris and to instead call dispatchers.

“Members of the US Military are coordinating to collect debris; however, fragments may make it to the coastline,” the Horry County Police Department said in a statement.

Ashlyn Preaux, 33, went out to get her mail in Forestbrook, South Carolina, just inland of Myrtle Beach when she saw her neighbors gathered outside. Curious, she went to see what they were looking at. It was easy to spot the balloon in the cloudless blue sky, and what appeared to be fighter jets circling overhead. After the strike, she could see the balloon start to come apart and fall from the sky.

“I did not anticipate waking up to be in a ‘Top Gun’ movie today,” she said.

The balloon hovered directly above the Hardy family as they checked into

their oceanfront hotel in Myrtle Beach. The family from Anderson joined several employees in the parking lot taking videos of the scene unfolding above before going up to their room ahead of the missile strike.

Logan Hardy, 12, said the moment of impact generated a “boom” that shook the building. His room’s balcony gave the middle-schooler a clear view of the debris dropping.

“It looked like stars falling down,” he said, adding: “I will never forget this day.”

Some watchers rushed to nearby beaches as the balloon approached the ocean. Travis Huffstetler, who captured photos of the balloon, said the packed Garden City Beach almost looked like summertime on the chilly winter day.

When the balloon began crossing the water, Mark Doss, 54, drove a golf cart three blocks down from

Memphis officer took, shared photos of bloodied Tyre Nichols

SAINZ, TRAVIS LOLLER AND JONATHAN MATTISE | AP NEWS

Documents released Tuesday provided a scathing account of what authorities called the “blatantly unprofessional” conduct of five officers involved in the fatal police beating of Tyre Nichols during a traffic stop last month — including new revelations about how one officer took and shared pictures of the bloodied victim.

The officer, Demetrius Haley, stood over Nichols as he lay propped against a police car and took photographs, which Haley sent to other officers and a female acquaintance, according to documents released by the Tennessee Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission.

“Your on-duty conduct was unjustly, blatantly unprofessional and unbecoming for a sworn public servant,” the Memphis Police Department wrote in requesting that Haley and the other officers be decertified.

Haley’s lawyer declined to comment, and lawyers for the other four officers either declined to com-

ment or did not respond to requests from The Associated Press.

The five officers — Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith and Emmitt Martin III — have all been fired and charged with second-degree murder. The new documents offer the most detailed account to

his home to Garden City Beach. There, Doss said he and his two teenage children spent 90 minutes watching the strike and waiting in vain for debris to wash ashore.

The sheer size of the white orb awed Doss, who said the approaching fighter jet looked like a model airplane. Doss recalled a “white puff of smoke” after the missile struck the balloon.

“That one jet made a beeline straight to it — wham!” Doss said.

Life continued uninterrupted for many others into the evening. Doss described the spectacle from a biker bar. There, Saturday night thrill seekers gathered like normal as if international tensions had not played out hours earlier 60,000 feet (18,300 meters) above them. A cover band performed while people shot pool and huddled around patio heaters.

Along the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk, nightlife staff went unbothered by the day’s events. Others waiting in line outside a club had completely missed the news.

But the severity of the growing diplomatic turmoil was not lost on Doss.

He lamented the stress the

events placed on his two teenage children, whose exposure to such sights had previously only come through the big screen.

State Sen. Greg Hembree of Horry, who represents the area in the South Car-

‘Super bloom’ swarms force California city to say no more

Mayor Natasha Johnson told a press conference where she recounted the chaos of 2019.

hiking trail located just off heavily traveled Interstate 15.

Asmall California city that was overrun by visitors four years ago when heavy winter rains produced a “super bloom” of wild poppies has a message for the public after this year’s deluge: Do not come. You could be arrested.

The poppies are beginning to bloom but so far on a small scale — and the canyon where they grow and parking areas are now completely off-limits, Lake Elsinore

“The flowers were beautiful; the scene was a nightmare,” Johnson said.

Poppies are found throughout California in spring and summer, but usually not as extensively as the blankets of gold that in 2019 covered slopes near Lake Elsinore, a city of 71,000 in Riverside County about 60 miles (96 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles.

The focus of the excessive attention was Walker Canyon, a natural area with a

“Back in 2019 numerous safety incidents occurred on the trail and on our roadways,” Johnson said. “Tens of thousands of people, as many as 100,000 in a weekend — Disneyland-sized crowds — seeking to experience nature trampled the very habitat that they placed so high in regard and sought to enjoy.”

People illegally parked their cars along the freeway

See POPPIES on page D4

date of each officer’s actions.

Another officer has also been fired and a seventh has been relieved of duty in connection with the latest police killing to prompt angry nationwide protests and an intense public conversation about

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for You

JAMES POLLARD AND JOHN RABY | CONTRIBUTED

JOHN ANTCZAK | AP NEWS

CHINESE SPY BALLOON: In this photo provided by Chad Fish, a large balloon drifts above the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of South Carolina, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. The balloon was struck by a missile from an F-22 fighter just off Myrtle Beach, fascinating sky-watchers across a populous area known as the Grand Strand for its miles of beaches that draw retirees and vacationers. | Courtesy Photo of Chad Fish via Associated Press

See TYRE NICHOLS on page D4

SUPER BLOOM People walk among wildflowers in bloom on March 18, 2019, in Lake Elsinore, Calif. A small California city that was overrun by visitors four years ago when heavy winter rains produced a spring “super bloom” of wild poppies has a message for the public after this year’s deluge: Do not come. You could be arrested. | Courtesy Photo of Gregory Bull

ENVIRONMENT Thursday, February 09 - Wednesday, February 15, 2023 www.HSJChronicle.com D4

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olina General Assembly, watched the strike from his neighbor’s backyard.

The sight was both impressive and “a little bit scary” for Hembree, who said Americans typically expect such images to come from other countries.

“It was stunning,” Hembree said. “You don’t ever think you’re going to see a live engagement with an

TYRE

NICHOLS

how police officers treat Black residents.

The newly released documents are part of a request by the Memphis Police Department that the five officers who have been charged with murder be decertified and prohibited from working in law enforcement again. Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis signed each of the five requests to decertify the officers.

Haley, who was driving an unmarked car and wore a black sweatshirt hoodie over his head, forced

POPPIES from D1

and neighborhoods were so gridlocked that parts of the city were essentially severed, affecting emergency services and the ability of residents to go to stores and work, Johnson said.

People waited for hours in queues to see the canyon and many were unprepared for the hike, resulting in injuries.

California Highway Patrol Lt. Craig Palmer said the agency has already begun saturation patrols of the area, and that freeway shoulders are only for use in emergency situations.

adversary in sort of a military context.”

The ensuing debris spread across roughly seven miles (11 kilometers) and landed in 47 feet (14 meters) of water, shallower than officials had expected.

The next day, Brady Deal set out to go fishing, but ended up capturing video of what might have been a portion of the shot-down balloon being brought to shore in South Carolina.

A Pentagon spokesperson

Nichols from his car using loud profanity, then sprayed him directly in the eyes with a chemical irritant spray, according to the statement.

“You never told the driver the purpose of the vehicle stop or that he was under arrest,” it states.

Haley did not have his body camera on when he stopped Nichols but was on a phone call with someone who overheard the encounter.

Nichols ran from the officers but was apprehended again a few blocks away. At that point, Haley kicked him in the torso as three other officers were handcuffing him. Other officers kicked Nichols in the face, punched him or struck him with a ba-

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco warned that there will be zero tolerance for parking violations and the result could be a citation, a vehicle being towed or worse.

“It is a misdemeanor infraction, and you’re subject to arrest and booking into jail,” Bianco said.

The mayor said Lake Elsinore usually welcomes visitors but the 2019 phenomenon came at a cost that was too high for residents.

“This weekend I encourage you to focus on the Super Bowl and not the super bloom that we’re not having,” she said.

asked about the footage declined to comment Sunday.

Deal said he saw Navy personnel arriving at the Johnny Causey Boat Landing in North Myrtle Beach with what appeared to be a white, deflated balloon across the bows of two different boats. A third boat appeared to have a crane and boxes on it.

“I was just in the right place at the right time and I thought it was pretty cool,” said Deal, a North Myrtle

ton. According to footage captured on a utility pole camera, one of the officers appears to quickly take a photo of Nichols on his phone as flashlights are shined on him.

“You and other officers were captured on body worn camera making multiple unprofessional comments, laughing, bragging about your involvement,” the decertification charges against Mills said.

They added, “You admitted you did not provide immediate medical aid and walked away and decontaminated yourself from chemical irritant spray,” and further accused Mills of later failing to give Nichols’ mother an accurate account of what happened.

Beach construction worker.

On Saturday, Deal posted a live video on social media when the balloon was shot down.

On Sunday, “when I went over there and I saw the Navy boats, I was like, ‘Well, I guess they’re going to bring them back in today.’ So we went back over there and we hit it at the right time.”

As a federal operation to recover the debris continued, life in the beach town

Martin claimed Nichols tried to snatch the officer’s gun from his holster after another officer forced him out of the vehicle, with Martin helping by grabbing Nichols’ wrist. However, video evidence doesn’t corroborate the gun-grab claim, the documents said.

Audio from a body camera did not capture Nichols using profanity or making violent threats — instead, he appeared calm and polite in his comments to the officers. Martin, meanwhile, cussed at Nichols and threatened to knock him out as he commanded Nichols to put his arm behind his back.

Martin also failed to disclose in a required form that he punched Nich-

largely returned to normal.

About a dozen people strolled along Surfside Beach on the rainy, foggy morning. One couple spotted a ship in the distance through binoculars. A nearby bakery brands the area as “The Family Beach.”

Locals described the town as typically quiet, save for the hullabaloo the previous day’s hullabaloo.

For Sandy and Bob Grubb, the balloon situation was not in the travel

ols in the face and kicked him multiple times, and instead added in his later statement to investigators that he gave “body blows,” the documents said. Video showed Martin kicking Nichols repeatedly and punching him in the face five times while two officers held Nichols’ arms.

Police deemed Martin’s oral and written statements deceitful, the charges said.

A hearing officer wrote of Justin Smith: “You admitted you struck an unarmed and non-violent subject with a closed fist two to three times in the face because you and your partner were unable to handcuff him. ... You sprayed the subject with your chemical irritant

itinerary. The retired couple from Lebanon, Pennsylvania has been vacationing there for over 30 years. The two said they had been joking about the prospect of washed-up debris as they collected sea shells on their Sunday morning walk. “It’s a quite peaceful place — gave us some excitement,” Sandy Grubb said, laughing. “Not the kind of excitement you need.”

spray and also held the individual’s arm while other officers kicked, punched and pepper sprayed him several times.”

In a letter from Smith included in his file, he defends his conduct, stating that Nichols was “violent and would not comply.”

Bean was accused of holding Nichols by one arm while another officer pepper sprayed and beat him with a baton. It also notes that his indifference to Nichols’ distress in the aftermath was reported by a civilian who took video of the incident.

Nichols died three days after the beating. His family attended the State of the Union address Tuesday as guests of first lady Jill Biden.

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