W e e k l y COLTON COURIER Features, Lifestyle & News You Can Use!
Vol 145, NO. 7
THIS WEEK
Gloria’s Corner and Words To Think About
CJUSD holds meeting to discuss visions for future facilities
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By Anthony Victoria
A3 & A5
LLUCH’s 24th annual Foundation Gala set Feb. 16 A6
Photo/Anthony VictoriA
colton Joint Unified school district superintendent Jerry Almendarez speaking to stakeholders during the Facilities Master Plan committee meeting at Joe Baca Middle school on Jan. 31.
olton Joint Unified School District administration, faculty, staff, and students-along with other key stakeholders--met at Joe Baca Middle School on Tuesday to discuss future plans for the development and renovation of school facilities. The Facilities Master Plan will help the school district identify the long term demographic trends of the community, as well as assess current facility conditions and develop educational program opportunities that align with student needs. Tuesday’s meeting was the first of five scheduled to gain feedback from the community on the development of key district facilities. CJUSD cont. on next page
City open to cannabis cultivation, shuts door on dispensaries, businesses
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By Anthony Victoria
Cal State student volunteers prepare food boxes, hygiene kits A12
INSIDE ONE SECTION, 16 PAGES
Gloria’s Corner Words To think About Legal Notices Opinion Sports
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he Colton City Council on Tuesday directed City Manager Bill Smith to look at the potential benefits and harms associated with marijuana cultivation and manufacturing, after sitting through a presentation discussing regulation options. “The best thing the City Council could do is not close the door on something we fully don’t know about,” said Mayor Richard De La Rosa. “That’s what we would be doing if we didn’t at least give direction to staff on which way we wanted to go.” De La Rosa and the City Council unanimously agreed to move forward with exploring options Colton could have with cannabis cultivation. However, some council members made it clear that they did not favor any presence of marijuana dispensaries, businesses, delivery, and cultivation operations in the city. Cannabis cont. on next page
Photo/AssociAted Press
canna care employee John hough waters young marijuana plants at the medical marijuana dispensary in sacramento.
IECN
.com February 2, 2017
Leyva Introduces “Clean Water in Schools Act”
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enator Connie M. Leyva (D-Chino) introduced a critical bill to ensure that K-12 students across California have access to clean drinking water at school. Specifically, SB 210 would give schools that test their water and have contamination problems priority when applying for clean water relief grants. The bill would also require schools that find significant sources of lead or other harmful contaminants in their water to cut off access to contaminated water sources, provide alternative clean water, and notify parents, staff, and students about water issues present at the school site. In 2015, NBC 4 Los Angeles aired an investigative report which found that the Los Angeles Unified School District may still have lead-tainted water at some of their schools due to old plumbing. In the Inland Empire, Chino Valley Unified School District had also identified issues with lead in their drinking water in 2013. While these individual problems have been fixed, they represent examples of what could be a larger problem that has thus far gone undetected. “Parents across the country and California—particularly in disadvantaged areas—continue to be concerned that their children might be exposed to dirty drinking water. From schools in Flint, Michigan to those in California communities, lead contaminated water has disrupted the lives and education of children,” Senator Leyva said. “It is vital that, as soon as schools find out that their water is contaminated, they close access to those water sources and be transparent about their prompt efforts to fix the problem. By incentivizing schools to test water sources and address contamination through better access to state grants, SB 210 will help to protect our kids from drinking unsafe drinking water.” Following Wednesday’s introduction, the Senate Rules Committee will soon assign SB 210 to the appropriate policy committee(s).