Wright’s arrest only latest dilemma in Adelanto’s history · 11/13/2017 Wright's arrest only latest dilemma in Adelanto's history ... mayor pro tem ...

11/13/2017 Wright's arrest only latest dilemma in Adelanto's history

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By Shea Johnson Staff Writer Posted Nov 11, 2017 at 7:39 PMUpdated Nov 11, 2017 at 7:39 PM

Less than four weeks after Wright told of his intention of“going back into obscurity,” his arrest to face federalbribery and attempted arson charges has sharply torn upthose plans and ironically thrust the mayor pro tem intothe very scandalous history he sought to skirt.

ADELANTO — Early last month, describing his reasons to retire from public lifein 2020, Mayor Pro Tem Jermaine Wright was asked to imagine his ultimatelegacy.

Pointing to the city’s sordid political past, Wright responded that while he’dwant to be tied to Adelanto’s resurgence, personally he’d rather disappear — anidea that to become forgotten must mean to eschew infamy.

It also stood as an unsolicited reminder that the recent company he shared as anelected official here was not all good.

In 2008, former Mayor Jim Nehmens and his wife were sentenced to six monthsin jail after being convicted of stealing roughly $20,000 from the local littleleague. Nehmens resigned from the dais in the face of then-allegations.

The city’s former finance director, Bill Aylward, has been ensnared since last yearin a public corruption case in Beaumont, although city officials here had declinedto investigate whether he might have engaged in any wrongdoing during hisearlier eight-year tenure in Adelanto.

Wright’s arrest only latest dilemma inAdelanto’s history

11/13/2017 Wright's arrest only latest dilemma in Adelanto's history

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Less than four weeks after Wright told of his intention of “going back into

obscurity,” his arrest to face federal bribery and attempted arson charges has

sharply torn up those plans and ironically thrust the mayor pro tem into the veryscandalous history he sought to skirt.

The federal court process doesn’t promise to be a short one, and the ongoinginvestigation “casts a very dark cloud” over the city’s government, according toDavid Dupree, a professor and chairman of Political Science at Victor ValleyCollege.

“Tough and anxious days lie ahead after Wright’s arrest,” Dupree said. “No oneknows at this point how wide this scandal may go — whether other councilmembers or any city officials will be arrested and face federal or stateprosecution.”

The scale of alleged corruption will ultimately determine whether the city’sgovernment is relegated to being “paralyzed and chaotic for a significant periodof time,” he added.

Dupree also said that retaining trust of the constituents will require a great dealof openness from city officials.

In a first step, Mayor Rich Kerr insisted Wednesday the city will fully cooperatewith the FBI probe.

“Our city has gone through so many negatives. I believe the Council is heading toa direction they want to uplift the city,” Councilman Ed Camargo said. “Rumorscan be rumors, but when that agency (FBI) comes in and (investigates), it’s like,‘Oh, my gosh, here we go again,’ and I think we’re all just trying to make our citybetter.”

Dating back decades, the city has seen gambling ventures epically fail and acharter school lambasted, received flak for its reliance on revenue from jails andenabling a scrutinized private immigration detention center to operate, and onlya few short years ago, it faced the prospect of bankruptcy.

By mid-2015, the city’s embrace of the commercial cannabis industry, however,emerged as the harbinger of an eventual economic turnaround, which sawAdelanto balance its budget in July — with a surplus — for the first time in eight

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years.

The decidedly brighter financial outlook has been accompanied by promisesfrom city officials for future residual developments including hotels, housing,shopping centers, restaurants and more.

During Wednesday’s Council meeting, regulars within council chambers spoketo a four-body Council and praised them for ushering in the new era ofeconomic development, seemingly as if to say, “don’t quit now.”

A defiant Chris Waggener, the Kerr-appointed chairman of the city’s PlanningCommission, swore to be in the city for the long haul, lauding good decision-making for Adelanto’s resurgence.

Terry Delgado, an often vocal resident, told the Council to keep up the goodwork regardless of what transpires even as he acknowledged they were in themidst of a sensitive situation.

“I know it’s a lot to endure,” he said.

Of the FBI probe, Kerr said he hoped “we can get this done and over with as fastas possible,” a signal of seeking to return to business as usual.

But the ongoing investigation, Dupree warned, “probably puts a pause orslowdown on the city’s attempt to promote the marijuana business.”

“We need to keep in mind, this is only the beginning of the legal process,” hesaid. “Convictions are not certain, and, if they do come, they may be a long waydown the road.”

Shea Johnson can be reached at 760-955-5368 or [email protected]. Follow

him on Twitter at @DP_Shea.

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11/13/2017 'Shadow of controversy' shrouds cannabis industry after Wright's arrest

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By Rene Ray De La Cruz Staff Writer Posted Nov 12, 2017 at 4:17 PMUpdated Nov 12, 2017 at 4:17 PM

Members of the cannabis industry are worried about the ramifications that maycome from the recent arrest of Adelanto Mayor Pro Tem Jermaine Wright.

Wright was arrested Tuesday and faces charges for allegedly soliciting andaccepted a bribe from an undercover FBI agent in exchange for using his politicalpower to assist and protect a supposed commercial cannabis transportationbusiness.

The 41-year-old Wright is also accused of asking an FBI informant to burndown his Fat Boyz Grill in order to collect insurance money, according to asworn affidavit obtained by the Daily Press.

Several cannabis-related business owners in Adelanto were asked about theincident surrounding Wright, but did not return multiple messages left by theDaily Press.

However, several industry leaders in the High Desert who are familiar withWright and Adelanto’s growing marijuana footprint shared their thoughts andconcerns about Wright’s arrest and the future of the industry in the city.

Rehab Delivery owner Kasha Herrington, who is working toward opening acannabis delivery business in Hesperia, told the Daily Press she was“flabbergasted” when Wright “abruptly changed his attitude” about the businessof cannabis in Adelanto.

“I met with Jermaine about two years ago when I was trying to move forwardwith my business,” Herrington said. “He told me he would never allow anycannabis retail in Adelanto, but only grows that would be outsourced for

‘Shadow of controversy’ shrouds cannabisindustry after Wright’s arrest

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research and development.”

Herrington said she saw “red flags” when Wright’s attitude went from “anti-cannabis to rezoning for certain people” that were interested in opening“recreational cannabis” based businesses.

“This is a sad day for cannabis and the industry is going to get the raw end of thedeal because of this,” Herrington said. “This situation has nothing to do withcannabis and everything to do with someone who saw green and got caught upin greed.”

As for the cannabis industry in Adelanto, Herrington said the City Councilshould move forward “wisely” as it continues to reap the financial benefits of theburgeoning industry.

“Adelanto should have done what Hesperia is doing now — taking baby steps andnot rezoning at the drop of a hat,” Herrington said.

Lisa Johnson, owner of Kushman 420 Top Shelf, told the Daily Press she was“not surprised” by Wright’s arrest and wouldn’t be “surprised” by any future FBIactivity in Adelanto.

“In my dealing with Adelanto I’ve seen a lot of shady things going on,” saidJohnson, who is working to open a business in Hesperia. “That’s why I wasn’tshocked by the FBI’s actions.”

Johnson said the arrest of Wright puts “a major damper” on future activitybetween the City of Adelanto and cannabis business owners, with a “cloud ofmistrust” hovering over city hall.

“There’s a scar on Adelanto that’s going to derail the city’s plan for being king ofcannabis in California,” Johnson said. “It’s not going their way and it’s going toget real ugly.”

Rick Casas, a board member and compliance officer for the Medical MarijuanaEducational Center, who is also working toward opening a delivery business inHesperia, told the Daily Press that Wright’s arrest may be the harbinger of moreFBI activity in the area.

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Casas said any possible “side deals going on at city hall” will soon be exposed andthe “domino effect will be devastatingly swift.” He also predicts Adelanto’s“Green Zone” may look different in six months due to more expected “fallout.”

“Adelanto is going to feel the effect of this investigation and arrest for years tocome,” Casas said. “The city has tried to eliminate the stigma of corruption onthe dais for years — only to see this issue bubble up to the surface.”

He also added that any forward progress Adelanto has made “has been stymied,”with Casas saying, “If you don’t walk a straight line, at some point it will catch upwith you.”

Frances Schauwecker, the owner of the education/cannabis-based Mary JaneUniversity, said she was “disheartened” when she heard the news of Wright’sarrest.

“Just when the cannabis industry started gaining ground and respectability, wehave this FBI arrest that has cast a dark shadow of controversy over it all,” saidSchauwecker, who lives in Barstow. “I feel bad for the new patients and thepeople in the industry who are having to deal with this.”

Schauwecker said she doesn’t know the future of the cannabis industry inAdelanto, but did remark that the arrest furthers the stigma that surrounds“anything cannabis.”

“There are cannabis patients and lawful business owners that depend on medicalmarijuana,” Schauwecker said. “This arrest just put up more barriers and wallsfor the people that want to do things the right way.”

Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227, RDeLa

[email protected], Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz and Instagram

@reneraydelacruz

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11/13/2017 Residents hear details of Temple expansion near Rancho Cucamonga – Daily Bulletin

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By LISET MARQUEZ | [email protected] | Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

PUBLISHED: November 10, 2017 at 5:51 pm | UPDATED: November 11, 2017 at 12:26 am

Limei Fang-Ling Yen Mountain Temple, has applied to develop two dozen complexes before development restrictions are placed on the mostlyunderdeveloped open space, is pictured in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017. The temple has gone to the San BernardinoCounty’s planning division to request that an exception be made in a zone designated for residential, to allow 24 building that would occupy 154,00square feet over 37 acres. (Photo by Rachel Luna, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Residents near the Limei Fang-Ling Yen Mountain Temple, in the foothills above Rancho Cucamonga, on Thursday got their rst glimpse of

plans to build a Buddhist Temple and retreat onsite.

The temple has submitted plans to San Bernardino County’s planning division for an additional two dozen buildings for worship, meeting space,

classrooms, living quarters and a dining hall.

“It will be a place of worship and people will come to visit the deity. It will be a place for monks and disciples to further their learning,” said Eric

Chen, the architect for the project, during Thursday evening’s meeting at Goldy S. Lewis Center in Rancho Cucamonga.

The temple’s plan includes a Buddha hall with a roof height of 85 feet. The next tallest building on site will be the chanting hall, which will be 60

feet tall. It will have a 56-foot-tall wing on each side. The rest of the development would be comprised of plazas, sidewalks, landscaping, gardens

and parking.

Chen revealed more details about the project during Thursday’s meeting, which was one of the rst steps in informing the public about the

scope of the project.

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Residents hear details of Temple expansion near RanchoCucamonga

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A 14-page fact sheet was available during the meeting and presentations came from the project manager, architect and a consultant that will

conduct a study to see whether the project would impact the environment.

To expand, the temple has requested that the county make an exception in a residential zone to allow 24 buildings which would occupy 154,000

square feet over 37 aces. All the development would be south of the current structure. It is also requesting that it be granted a permit to grade

the hillside because the average slope on the site is 11 percent, and be allowed to build four structures over the county’s 50 foot height limit.

During Thursday’s discussion, Chen assured residents the conceptual design of the Buddha hall would be more subdued, have a residential

style and the roof would be dark grey.

The design will “respect the neighbors and the site that it’s located on. Our design will follow the land and will be tiered, it will use neutral colors

and a lot of landscaping and courtyards to integrate the man made and natural environment,” Chen said.

The hall will have a single layer roof, with the pitch of the roof being more than half the building height, Chen told more than 50 people

gathered.

“We are not asking the height variance for spatial gain but for aesthetics and for a traditional architecture look. Still, it’s a lot to ask,” he

acknowledged. “If you put it in context, the project is located in big land mass it is a big structure but in context it will vanish.”

The closest home will be a third of a mile away, Chen said. The Buddha hall will be in the center of the development and will be surrounded by

smaller buildings.

“I think that will t more to this environment and be more respectful to the residents that surround the temple,” he said.

At build out, the temple will accommodate 50 to 60 full-time residents,  according to project manager Nancy M. Ferguson of The Altum Group.

It will be able to accommodate about 16 Buddhist events a year: eight large events, and four small and four medium events. The larger events

are projected to have about 500 visitors, Chen said.

But the ow of traf c isn’t expected to change, Ferguson said.

Unlike traditional religious gatherings, “it’s going to be staggered arrivals, and once they are there they are there for the duration of the event,

Ferguson explained. That could be several days, she added.

“The number of people going back and forth during these events isn’t going to be 500 people in and 500 people out each day,” she said.

Resident Rolf Pherigo, who’s lived in Rancho Cucamonga for 19 years, is concerned how this would impact traf c on the main thoroughfare

Wardman Bullock, a two-lane road.

“I think most residents will feel a whole lot better with the environment impact report if it holds the tenants accountable. I would be opposed to

50-passenger bus going up the hill but OK it was if it was shuttle buses,” he said. “The more it is de ned for residents than the less there will be

opposition.”

According to current traf c reports for Wardman, there are about 1,000 car trips a day and it has a capacity of 10,000 trips a day. The project

would add another 1,000 trips a day, the report stated.

Pherigo said he came to the meeting with an open mind and looking to learn more about the project. What he learned put his mind at ease.

“I didn’t have a vision of what this was going to look like, but I wasn’t so sure when someone said 80-foot building, I was thinking minarets and a

Russian temple,” he said following the two-hour gathering. “Now I see it conceptually, it looks pleasing. If there are enough layers in the trees,

and shrubbery, then most of the residents won’t be opposing it.”

But longtime resident Stanton Lewis wanted to know how the project plans to address being located within a high-risk re zone.

“How could we possibly protect our residents with our resources in Rancho Cucamonga if they have to protect such a large complex that is in

the most vulnerable part of the city,” he said.

Ferguson said she has been working with the Rancho Cucamonga Fire District to develop a fuel modi cation plan – to keep the brush clear –

and a re protection plan.

Terri Rahhal, planning director for San Bernardino County, told Lewis his questions about re safety and re hazard, and the public service that

is required to respond in an emergency, need to be addressed in the environmental report.

The temple must detail the impacts the development would have on the environment. Once a draft of that environmental report is completed,

it will be released for public review, said Natalie Patty, a consultant selected to prepare the environmental analysis report.

The comment period on that draft report will be 45 days. After the county reviews and responds to all the comments on the draft report, a nal

version will be prepared and the project will be scheduled for a public hearing by the county’s Planning Commission.

The goal is to have the county certify the report by October 2018.

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We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community.Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials thatare unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwiseobjectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. Wemight permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

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Liset MarquezLiset Marquez has covered the foothill communities of Rancho Cucamonga, Upland and Claremont since 2014. She has beenwith the Daily Bulletin since 2006.

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11/13/2017 Park district exploring acquisition of Lake Gregory Regional Park

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■ Park district exploring acquisitionof Lake Gregory Regional Park

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Park district exploring acquisition of Lake Gregory RegionalPark

Rim of the World Recreation and Park District President Lawrence Mainez who posted a letteron its website November 1 entitled, “Park District re-imagining,” revealing plans to explore

the potential acquisition of Lake Gregory Regional Park (Photo by Gail Fry)

Saturday, Nov 11, 2017

By Gail Fry

The entire community of Crestline is on edge as the County of San Bernardino works with the Stateof California to receive approval to repair the Lake Gregory dam, a decades long project, nowestimated to cost $17 million, and the County decides who will manage and operate Lake GregoryRegional Park in the future.

In an interview with The Alpenhorn News, San Bernardino County Public Information Officer DavidWert explained the $17 million price tag includes all dredging and new catch basins to collect siltbefore it enters the lake, with the completion timeline by the end of 2018.

As previously reported in The Alpenhorn News, Crestline residents became alarmed when theydiscovered Rim of the World Recreation and Park District (ROWRPD) and the San BernardinoCounty Board of Supervisors were negotiating behind closed doors on “price and terms of payment”regarding two addresses located within Lake Gregory Regional Park, which is currently managedand operated by The California Parks Company (CPC).

In an interview with The Alpenhorn News, CPC Director of Marketing Kelly Lam confirmed itscontract with San Bernardino County expires December 31, commenting, "We have had a greatpartnership with San Bernardino County and are looking forward to expanding upon thatrelationship."

With Crestline residents pushing for answers and with none forthcoming, as is the nature of closedsession items, on November 1, ROWRPD President Lawrence Mainez posted a letter entitled “ParkDistrict re-imagining” on its website, revealing their plans to explore “the potential acquisition of theCounty’s Lake Gregory Regional Park.” The letter may be viewed at: http://rim-rec.org/park-district-re-imagining/

At an October 28 meeting of the Association of Building Contractors of the San BernardinoMountains, San Bernardino County Supervisor Janice Rutherford answered questions about LakeGregory Regional Park, explaining she wants to “see the kids playing baseball” and “Rim Parks isworking on it” and that the county is “not in the parks and recreation business.”

Scott Markovich, owner of Empire Home Builders, questioned the financial liability involved with LakeGregory and the Dam, expressing concerns about ROWRPD “taking this over and managing thelake,” explaining, “there’s a lot of division on this.”

“The county’s intentions toward Lake Gregory aren’t related to liability, that’s just part of doingbusiness,” Rutherford shared, explaining, “The County wants Lake Gregory Regional to be awonderful place for families from around Southern California to come and recreate.”

Rutherford went on to say the county’s contract with CPC is expiring, so the county is havingconversations with “lots of different people” about the future operation and management of Lake

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Gregory Regional Park and with ROWRPD in the recreation business, the county is talking to them,but said, “no decision has been made.”

Markovich then asked, “Who is going to take on the dam responsibility and the lake?” Rutherfordresponded, “The only one stupid enough to take on the dam would be the county.”

“We’re going to get it done, but the dam is separate from the recreation,” Rutherford confirmed,faulting the county with taking so long to repair the dam.

Rutherford informed the audience the latest hiccup in the county obtaining approval of the project torepair the dam was that California Division of Safety of Dams was not allowing the county to uselocal fill, so the dirt that was taken out from dredging, that was being saved to use as fill, the Statehas now said is a “no go.”

“I never imagined it would take this long, I certainly didn’t imagine it would be this expensive,”Rutherford admitted, explaining, “They have indicated the organic level is simply too high and theycan’t have any organics in the fill.”

“We are trying to figure out what that means for the length of the project, to get the bad dirt away andget new dirt in, we have to figure out where to go buy new dirt,” Rutherford revealed, explaining, “Wealready know that in next years budget, we’re going to have to set aside a little more money, we’veapplied for grant funds from the office of emergency services.”

In an interview with The Alpenhorn News, California Division of Safety of Dams Senior EngineerChris Dorsey acknowledged San Bernardino County needs “our approval before they can startconstruction” for the repair of Lake Gregory Dam.

“In general the design requirements they specified out in the contract documents and in their analysisand the material that they found in their stockpiles was not meeting their requirements so they had tofind alternative sources [sic],” Dorsey explained.

“I think we are getting very close on the project, but until the letter is signed, it’s still an ongoingprocess,” Dorsey explained, adding, their primary concern is public safety.

“We talked to the county, they wanted it before the end of the year and they wanted it by the end ofNovember, we are trying to meet their schedule, but we’ll see what we can do,” Dorsey voiced,acknowledging, “Lake Gregory is an important project for us and it does get a high priority.”

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11/13/2017 550,000 homes in Southern California have the highest risk of fire damage, but they are not alone - LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-so-cal-fire-danger-20171108-htmlstory.html 1/11

550,000 homes in Southern California have thehighest risk of fire damage, but they are not alone

By Doug Smith and Nina Agrawal

NOVEMBER 13, 2017, 5:00 AM

O n a cataclysmic fall day in 2003, David Mead stood on the roof of hishouse using a garden hose to fight off an undulating river of embersthat floated down his street.

When he saw the battle was lost, he jumped off and escaped in the car he had leftrunning, just in case.

Mead’s house was one of 121 destroyed in the Del Rosa neighborhood of SanBernardino when the Old fire swept out of the mountains that day.

The decimation of that 1950s tract development at the foot of the San GabrielMountains illustrates a phenomenon that is commonplace in Southern California— neighborhoods built so close to forest and chaparral that they could fall to thekind of urban conflagration that wiped out a whole neighborhood of Santa Rosain last month’s fires.

From Ventura to San Diego, hundreds of thousands of homes — both in mountainenclaves and flatland tracts — are part of what is called the wildland/urbaninterface, where there is a higher risk of fire. That’s because homes are closeenough to wild land areas that ember from brush fires could spread to them.

For two decades state fire officials have been working to identify those vulnerableneighborhoods and tighten their defenses with fire-conscious building codes fornew houses.

11/13/2017 550,000 homes in Southern California have the highest risk of fire damage, but they are not alone - LA Times

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At least 550,000 homes vulnerable

But these programs leave existing homes more vulnerable to fires. A Timesanalysis of the state’s maps for the highest-risk fire areas in Southern Californiashows about 550,000 residences covered by the zones. If areas with a lower butstill significant fire risk were added, the number would roughly double, TheTimes analysis found.

Complicating the situation, some cities such as Los Angeles and San Diego haveexpanded the state’s fire zones to include many more homes, while others havenot.

Agoura Hills, La Canada Flintridge and four cities of the Palos Verdes Peninsuladeclared their entire areas hazard zones, said J. Lopez, assistant chief for the LosAngeles County Fire Department.

San Bernardino County adopted the state boundary unchanged, despite anobvious flaw. The boundary excludes a portion of the Del Rosa neighborhood thatburned in 2003. Replacement houses like Mead’s, built to more modern fire

Aerial view of the Springs fire burning in the Santa Monica Mountains between Malibu and Newbury Park in 2013. (Mel Melcon /Los Angeles Times)

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standards, are still outnumbered by ‘50s tract homes with features such aswooden siding and open eaves that would not be allowed today.

Only a short distance to the west, another neighborhood of about the same age isentirely inside the zone, even though it withstood both the Old fire and thePanorama fire of 1980.

The flaws in the mapping program reflect a conundrum officials face in modelingfire behavior.

Unlike floods, which flow in predictable plains, fires behave more randomly,especially in the relatively rare instances when wind-blown embers move outsidethe wild land edge into residential areas.

“When you have wind and embers, that’s super hard to map … that’s a big gap inour knowledge about how to identify the risk in a more practical way,” saidMichele Steinberg, wildfire division manager at the National Fire Protection Assn.

Hazard maps attempt to define a wildland/urban interface using algorithms thattake into account vegetation, topography and wind speed.

(Mapzen, OpenStreetMap, Cal Fire, Silvis Labs, city of San Diego)

11/13/2017 550,000 homes in Southern California have the highest risk of fire damage, but they are not alone - LA Times

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The destructive fire cycle

In urban Southern California, small differences in where the lines are drawn cancause big swings in the numbers affected.

The Times analysis found that about 450,000 housing units currently mappedoutside the zone would be included if the state used the wildland/urban interfaceboundary mapped by a Wisconsin research lab called Silvis.

The benefits from including so wide an area are also hard to calculate.Statistically, it is highly unlikely that any given neighborhood will become thenext Santa Rosa.

But the more than 100-year record of Southern California wildfires shows thatsome will, resulting in huge losses.

In 1961 a fire that began in a trash heap and was propelled by gusting Santa Anawinds destroyed nearly 500 homes in Bel-Air and Brentwood — including thoseof Hollywood stars such as Zsa Zsa Gabor and Burt Lancaster.

The Old fire swept out of the San Bernardino mountains and destroyed 121 homes in the Del Rosa neighborhood. (Gina Ferazzi /Los Angeles Times)

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Less than 10 years later, in 1970, more than 400 homes in Agoura Hills,Chatsworth and Malibu were lost in a blaze that burned in a wall from Newhall tothe ocean.

More recently, the Cedar fire in 2003 and Witch and Harris fires in 2007destroyed about 3,500 homes in total across San Diego County.

Not all of those houses were in flatland tract developments like Del Rosa. But apost-mortem of the 2007 Grass Valley fire in Lake Arrowhead concluded that themountain neighborhood burned from home to home in a pattern characteristic ofa residential fire.

“Home ignitions did not result from high intensity fire spread through vegetationthat engulfed homes,” scientists wrote in a 2008 report to the U.S. Forest Service.“The home ignitions primarily occurred … due to surface fire contacting thehome, firebrands accumulating on the home, or an adjacent burning structure.”

In trying to strike a balance between defining hazard either too narrowly or toobroadly, state law currently wavers between two standards. Areas that fall understate jurisdiction, including most rural areas, are classified in three tiers —moderate, high and very high hazard. Structures in all three zones are subject tostricter building codes.

But laws dating to the 1990s provide a less inclusive standard for areasdesignated local responsibility, primarily cities and urban counties. The state’srecommended maps show only areas where the hazard is designated as “veryhigh” severity.

Very high severity zones generally stop a short distance from mountain’s edge,even though fires do not.

Flanked by both the San Gabriel and Verdugo mountains, central La CanadaFlintridge became what Robert Stanley, director of community development,called a “doughnut hole” in the fire zone.

The city’s solution, Stanley said, was partly motivated by fairness.

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“It didn’t make sense to try to delineate who would have to comply with the firecodes or not,” Stanley said. “They said just do the whole city.”

It was also influenced by lessons of the fire that destroyed nearly 2,900 homes inBerkeley.

“In a wind-driven fire it’s not going to stop at that zone,” Stanley said. “It’s goingto drive right through.”

San Diego’s modifications were influenced by the devastation of the Cedar fire.When Cal Fire issued its recommended zone, San Diego found that the state hadmissed some areas, according to reports to the City Council at the time.

“Cal Fire’s used to dealing with big, huge forested areas, but in our city there’s alot of finger canyons … that become a risk,” said San Diego Fire-RescueDepartment Assistant Fire Marshal Eddie Villavicencio, who was a codeenforcement officer at the time.

The map that the city ultimately adopted, in 2009, added dozens of those finger-like extensions, plus a wide swath of central San Diego that included thecommunity of Scripps Ranch, a neighborhood of medium to large tract homesthat burned down in the Cedar fire.

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Making homes safer — at a price

Before the 2003 and 2007 fires, Villavicencio said, “People were just thinkingonly the houses on a canyon rim needed to be hardened or needed defensiblespace.”

“When you have these types of catastrophic disasters, you’re going to have thisdeluge of embers carried half a mile or a mile away,” he said.

New homes built in designated fire hazard severity zones must be built accordingto regulations laid out in Chapter 7A of California’s building code.

These include using non-combustible materials for roofs and wall sidings andeaves, attic vents that prevent embers from entering houses and double-pane,tempered glass windows.

Homeowners must also maintain a brush clearance zone within 100 feet of theirproperty.

(Mapzen, OpenStreetMap, Cal Fire, Silvis Labs, city of San Diego)

A house on Roscomare Road in Bel-Air burns in 1961. (Los Angeles Times)

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Even in neighborhoods demarcated as high severity hazard zones, buildingstandards apply only to new construction.

Though retrofitting has been mandated for some hazards, such as a Los Angelesordinance requiring seismic strengthening of some buildings, there has been nopush so far, either at the state or local level, to require existing houses in firezones to be upgraded.

Some critics of current fire prevention practices argue that spending money toharden communities would be more effective than the current focus oncontrolling flammable growth in the wild land.

“In terms of community protection, you want to start from the house out,” saidRichard Halsey, director of California Chaparral Institute. “Putting the moneythere is so much more efficient than maintaining fuel breaks and grinding upvegetation and doing prescribed burns. And it’s a one-time deal.”

But mandatory retrofitting programs would be difficult to implement because ofthe vague harm associated with living in an area where a natural disaster might ormight not occur, said Steinberg of the National Fire Protection Assn.

Researchers, in fact, still don’t have a firm understanding of how much upgradescost and how to weigh the cost against the benefit.

“It requires some assumptions,” said Stephen Quarles, a fire scientist with theInsurance Institute for Business & Home Safety.

A house with no close neighbors could be made safer without great expense byinstalling proper screens on attic vents, Quarles said.

But, he said, “If your neighbor is 10 feet away, the cost would be greater but thebenefit would be greater.”

Insurance companies can offer incentives, too, such as providing discounts tothose who do retrofit or refusing to insure those who lack protections.

Steinberg said that, unlike for disasters like earthquakes or floods, many of thefire retrofits do not require “engineering solutions,” such as elevating a home or

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reinforcing the foundation. Many are steps homeowners would take in the courseof owning a home, such as replacing a roof or clearing out the rain gutters.

Although the benefits may be slow coming when building codes apply only to newconstruction, the effect can be substantial over time.

A fire department report after the Bel-Air fire identified wood-shingle roofs as aleading cause of the fire’s widespread damage to homes and the difficulty incontrolling it.

Through public education as well as prohibitions in some areas, wood-shingleroofs have become rare, especially in fire-prone areas.

Fire departments in some jurisdictions ask home builders to do more than statelaw requires.

Nearly 10 years ago, Greg and Dana Carlson custom-built a house on a stunningplot of land in Cowan Heights, backing up to a wild area that has burnedrepeatedly in what is now a very high severity hazard zone.

Nick Pivaroff, Orange County Fire Authority assistant fire marshal, said hisdepartment worked closely with the Carlsons to ensure the house would be fireresistant.

The sprawling ranch-style property features metal roofing, stucco walls, andoversized timber pillars, sprinklers in the covered backyard and fire-resistantlandscaping. There is even an access path for firetrucks.

“It was one big check after another,” Dana Carlson said of the constructionprocess. “I think it was $30,000 just for the gravel” in the driveway, she said.

When the Carlsons asked for a shortened fuel modification zone, Pivaroff pushedback. The Carlsons said they ended up having to obtain an easement fromneighboring Peters Canyon Regional Park to have permission to clear vegetationin what was essentially their backyard.

“We knew it was a historical corridor,” Pivaroff explained, referring to the 1967Paseo Grande and 2007 Santiago fires. “We knew it was going to happen again.”

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Support our journalism

Earlier this month Pivaroff’s prediction became reality. When the Canyon Fire 2tore through northeastern Orange County, it stopped precisely at the fire breakthe Carlsons had drawn. Firefighters used the access route and even relied on twofire hoses the Carlsons had connected to their pool.

A week later charred hills could be seen from their backyard and red remnants offlame retardant still spattered the roof, but the house had been untouched.

“I talked to him the day after, and all he could say was ‘thank you,’” Pivaroff saidof Greg Carlson.

David Mead in front of his home in the Del Rosa neighborhood of San Bernardino. He rebuilt it after the 2003 Old fire destroyed it.(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

11/13/2017 Yucca Valley gets contract company to deal with vacation home rentals - Hi-Desert Star: News

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Yucca Valley gets contract company to deal withvacation home rentalsBy Stacy Moore, Hi-Desert Star | Posted: Friday, November 10, 2017 1:39 pm

YUCCA VALLEY — Owners of vacation home rentals will be required to get permits every two years, payhotel taxes and help the town pay a company to monitor them and field neighbors’ complaints.

The Town Council unanimously approved a $270 permit fee for owners of vacation home rentals in YuccaValley Tuesday. The permit must be renewed every two years.

Deputy Town Manager Shane Stueckle said if there have been no code enforcement violations at theproperty, the permit renewal will cost an estimated $170. If the town has taken enforcement action against aproperty owner, the renewal fee will be another $270.

The council also signed off on a contract with Host Compliance LLC, a San Francisco company thatmonitors vacation rentals for violations.

To monitor short-term vacation rentals will take software and staff services the town doesn’t have, accordingto the staff report.

The town will pay Host Compliance a maximum of $17,000 a year to take on that job and recover the costwith an $85 annual fee charged to all vacation rental owners.

The San Francisco company will use computer software and Internet data to make monthly reports on allidentifiable vacation rentals in the town and monitor them for compliance with Yucca Valley’s new rules forrentals. Host Compliance will also send letters to rental owners who are not complying to notify them oftheir violations.

The company staffs a 24-7 email and phone hotline where neighbors can report non-emergency problemswith rentals.

According to Host Compliance, neighbors can include photos, videos and sound recordings to back up theircomplaints. The incidents will be documented and the town and rental owners will be notified.

Host Compliance will provide weekly reports to town staff listing the properties where incidents have beenreported.

The Town Council approved the new fees and monitoring contract unanimously.

“I think it’s a sound system and should work well,” Councilman Robert Lombardo said. “What kind of finesdo we have for non-compliance?”

Stueckle explained that for suspected violations, Yucca Valley will go through its standard code enforcementprocess: First, the property owner gets a warning letter providing 30 days to come into compliance. If theydon’t comply, the code enforcement officer can write a citation and provide another 20 days for compliance.

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If the violations continue, he said, the town has options. “You could ultimately end up in court, you couldhave misdemeanor citations, you could have infraction citations. There’s a whole tool bag out there,”Stueckle said.

For the payment of hotel taxes, to be required of vacation rentals now, CFO Sharon Cisneros told thecouncil the town is authorized to audit properties that should be paying taxes. Property owners who don’tpay their transient occupancy tax can be charged interest, and the town can go to court to collect.

Cisneros said she has already set up a separate line item to track short-term rental taxes.

Airbnb, the online platform that many rental owners use as a booking agent, will begin collecting taxes onbehalf of the town on Dec. 1. “I would anticipate by the end of January we will start to see our first dollars,”Cisneros said.

All of the town’s new rules and requirements for vacation rentals go into effect Dec. 1. That’s when rentalowners can start picking up their permit applications, business registration forms and transient occupancytax applications from the community development department.

11/13/2017 Yucca Valley council orders marijuana impact study before vote - Hi-Desert Star: News

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Yucca Valley council orders marijuana impact studybefore voteBy Stacy Moore, Hi-Desert Star | Posted: Friday, November 10, 2017 12:22 pm

YUCCA VALLEY — The Town Council will have to call apublic election on an initiative allowing cannabis cultivationin parts of Yucca Valley, but before that, council memberswant a report on the effects of the measure.

The council voted 5-0 Tuesday to order the staff report on themeasure, which they expect to see on the Dec. 5 meeting.Once council members have that report, they must call for apublic vote, their hand forced by the number of signatures theinitiative’s backers got on their petitions: 1,737 verifiedvoters’ names.

The initiative would allow businesses that grow marijuanaand manufacture cannabis products to open in Yucca Valley’sindustrial zones off Old Woman Springs Road and YuccaTrail in Old Town. The sale or distribution of marijuanawould still be banned in town limits.

Around two hours of public comments came before the council’s final vote. Some speakers, including themeasure’s backer, Jason Elsasser, urged the council to adopt it as written without calling an election. Theysaid the town has to act now to be on the cutting edge of the cannabis industry that will bloom when itbecomes legal on Jan. 1. The council pushed back on that proposal.

“I’ve heard some people mention how imperative it is to move very quickly on this, and that rubs against mebecause this is a decision that will affect our town for decades,” Mayor Merl Abel said.

“If this truly is the golden industry that will change California, I don’t think six months’ delay will makethat much difference.”

Mayor Pro Tem Rick Denison agreed.

“Yucca Valley is not an experiment,” Denison said. “I want some hard numbers and I’ll make a decision onthat.”

The impact report will be prepared by town staff, and it may not provide the black-and-white numbers thatpeople like Denison were looking for on questions like how the cannabis industry would affect YuccaValley’s property values and crime rates.

“There are going to be many questions that will be posed that we will not have an answer to,” TownManager Curtis Yakimow cautioned the council.

Council comments

Councilman Bob Leone gives hiscomments Tuesday on a proposed ballotmeasure to allow cannabis cultivation andmanufacture in industrial zones. Leonecalled the measure an attractive initiative.

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Some questions will be simple to answer, he said. “For example, will it create tax revenue? No.” Themeasure does not set any new taxes, though a tax on marijuana could be put up for a separate vote.

“Will it increase crime?” Yakimow asked. “We do not know.”

The study will push the timeline for the public vote past what its proponents hoped for. Once the council hasthe impact report, it can adopt the ballot measure into the municipal code or call a special election to be heldby mid-March.

However, Lona Laymon, the attorney for the Town Council, said she is looking into whether the town couldavoid the costs of a special election by piggybacking onto the June 7 statewide election.

The delays are a mistake because cannabis industry investors will go elsewhere rather than waiting, Elsasserargued after the meeting. “Waiting until the middle of next year will put us at the back of the line instead ofthe front of the line,” he said.

Some of the speakers who took the microphone in public comments don’t want Yucca Valley in the line forcannabis cultivation and manufacturing at all.

“Please be aware of how close our residential neighborhoods are to those industrial zones,” Donna Daviestold the council.

“We’ve got problems right now. Why would we open the door to mass manufacturing?” Jim Jobe asked. Heread two sheriff’s calls from the Hi-Desert Star about marijuana reported in the high school and middleschool. “Think of the children and think logically,” he told the council.

Others said the measure will raise Yucca Valley’s property values and be a goldmine for real estate sales.

“This is the first opportunity this town has had for real industry — unless you call Dollar General anindustry,” William Coon said.

Sydni Doty told the council the new indoor farms and factories could provide jobs that young people need.“My husband has been forced to work out of town, leaving me to raise our two small kids basically bymyself,” she said. “People in this town need jobs. The proposed measure will bring jobs. Voting against thismeasure is voting against bringing jobs to this town.”

The ballot measure will come up before the Town Council again Dec. 5.

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By BRIAN WHITEHEAD | [email protected] | San BernardinoSunNovember 11, 2017 at 3:00 pm

An advisory committee tasked with recommending regulations for marijuana use

in San Bernardino will hold its �rst meeting at 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 13 in the

Council Chambers.

Nine people, including several city commissioners, were recently appointed to

serve on the body.

Committee members will work with hired cannabis consultants from HdL, a

Diamond Bar company with industry expertise, to develop potential regulations

for such issues as personal cannabis cultivation, consumption, and taxes and fees

on marijuana sales. HdL’s website lists several California cities, including Long

Beach, as clients.

A�er electing a chair and a vice chair, committee members will meet HdL

representatives and review such pertinent information as Measure O, which

permits cannabis dispensaries in a limited number of locations in San Bernardino

but is being challenged in court, and Proposition 64, which allows marijuana

statewide.

LOCAL NEWS

When San Bernardino’s firstmarijuana advisory committeewill be held

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Councilman John Valdivia said he’s eager to hear the committee’s

recommendations on taxing marijuana, thus generating a new revenue stream

that could be used for law enforcement, mental health and social welfare

programs and other public bene�ts.

Recommendations are due to the mayor and City Council by Dec. 20 to allow for

any recommended ordinance to be in place by January.

“We’re all here for the right reasons,” Valdivia said, “and that’s to make San

Bernardino a better place.”

All meetings are open to the public. Council Chambers is at 201 N. E St.

For information on the committee, call the Community Development Department

at 909-384-5057.

Brian WhiteheadBrian Whitehead covers San Bernardino for The Sun. Bred inGrand Terrace, he graduated from Riverside Notre Dame Highand Cal State Fullerton. For seven years, he covered high schooland college sports for The Orange County Register. Before

landing at The Sun, he was the city beat reporter for Buena Park, Fullerton andLa Palma.

Follow Brian Whitehead @bwhitehead3

Tags:  marijuana, Top Stories Sun

11/13/2017 Pushing marijuana back into the shadows with high taxes – San Bernardino Sun

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By THE EDITORIAL BOARD | [email protected] |November 11, 2017 at 7:30 pm

AP Photo/Richard VogelIn this April 23, 2017 file photo, large jars of marijuana are on display for sale at theCali Gold Genetics booth during the High Times Cannabis Cup in San Bernardino.

A global credit rating agency says taxes on recreational marijuana in California

could reach 45 percent in some places, high enough to keep the thriving black

market in business despite legalization.

OPINION

Pushing marijuana back into theshadows with high taxes

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The report by Fitch Ratings, “Local Taxes May Challenge Cannabis Legalization in

California,” warns that state and local taxes may combine to threaten the

government revenue expected from the sale of legalized cannabis and cannabis

products. The recreational use of the drug will be legal in California starting Jan. 1

under Proposition 64, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act,

passed by voters last November.

The state will levy a tax of 15 percent on the purchase of all marijuana, including

the sale of medical pot. Many local governments are still working out how best to

cash in. Voters in the city of Salinas approved a tax of up to $25 per square foot of

space used for cultivating, while further north, Humboldt County is more grower-

friendly with a the cultivation tax that tops out at $3 per square foot.

In last Tuesday’s elections, voters in Palm Springs extended the city’s 10 percent

tax on medical marijuana to cover recreational marijuana when legal sales begin

in January. Voters in Paci�ca approved a 6 percent sales tax that could rise to 10

percent in two years.

More than 60 cities and counties have now passed new taxes on marijuana

businesses with rates between 7.75 percent and 9.75 percent. Added to the state

marijuana tax, state and local sales taxes and other business taxes, the tax rate on

marijuana in California is likely to be the highest of any of the states that have

adopted a policy of legalization.

“California’s high taxes are likely to keep black market prices competitive into the

long term,” Fitch analysts wrote in September.

California growers produce an estimated 13.5 million pounds of marijuana per

year, but the state Department of Food and Agriculture estimates that only about

2.5 million pounds of it are consumed within the state’s boundaries. Roughly 11

million pounds of the crop are exported out of state annually. Because of this well-

established infrastructure for shipping illegal marijuana, it’s unlikely that

regulations and inspectors from the Bureau of Cannabis Control will be able to

halt the transportation of the drug across state lines.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has been trying for 44 years, and we

can see how well that’s worked out.

The text of Proposition 64 promised, “By legalizing marijuana, the Adult Use of

Marijuana Act will incapacitate the black market and move marijuana purchases

into a legal structure.” Exactly how that could be accomplished was not made

clear.

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Here’s a hint: Tax cuts. Fitch reports that in Colorado, Washington and Oregon, a

thriving black market a�er legalization forced state lawmakers to lower cannabis

taxes in order to be more competitive with illicit sellers.

California of�cials are projecting that marijuana sales will yield up to $1 billion in

annual tax revenue. Because of federal banking regulations that prohibit banks

from having marijuana-related businesses as customers, the state is making plans

to accept the massive tax payments in cash. Treasurer John Chiang suggested that

the money may have to be picked up by a �eet of armored cars.

Looks like everybody in government is thinking about highway robbery.

SanBernardinoSunicon/logo

The Editorial BoardThe editorial board and opinion section staff are independent ofthe news-gathering side of our organization. Through our staff-written editorials, we take positions on important issues

affecting our readership, from pension reform to protecting our region’s uniquenatural resources to transportation. The editorials are unsigned because, whilewritten by one or more members of our staff, they represent the point of view ofour news organization’s management. In order to take informed positions, wemeet frequently with government, community and business leaders onimportant issues affecting our cities, region and state. During elections, wemeet with candidates for of�ce and the proponents and opponents of ballotinitiatives and then make recommendations to voters.

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11/13/2017 Dozens rally outside Victorville’s Rancho Motor Company amid allegations of racism, credit fraud – San Bernardino Sun

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By JOE NELSON | [email protected] | San Bernardino SunPUBLISHED: November 10, 2017 at 4:02 pm | UPDATED: November 11, 2017 at 11:32am

People from Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network rallied in front of RanchoMotor Company in Victorville, Ca. on Friday, November 10, 2017. Former RanchoMotor Company employees allege a culture of racism, sexism and bank and creditcard fraud targeting minorities and low income buyers. (Sarah Alvarado for The Sun)

LOCAL NEWS

Dozens rally outside Victorville’sRancho Motor Company amidallegations of racism, creditfraud

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The National Action Network and NAACP Victor Valley Branch held a rally outside

Rancho Motor Company in Victorville on Friday in protest of racism and systemic

credit fraud alleged by former employees of the embattled auto dealership.

About 50 people marched from a nearby law of�ce to the dealership about 1 p.m.

“It’s because of the racist comments and practices that have taken place at Rancho

Motors, to those employees and patrons who have come to make purchases, as

well as the unfair predatory practices of putting people in these predatory loans,”

said the Rev. Jonathan Moseley, vice president of National Action Network Los

Angeles. “We’re not going to take this lightly and condone these practices they

seem to be allowing.”

The National Action Network was founded in 1991 by the Rev. Al Sharpton, a civil

rights activist, Baptist minister and former White House adviser under former

President Barack Obama.

Rancho Motor Company is an af�liated General Motors dealership, which sells

Cadillacs and Chevrolet vehicles.

“The district manager of GM (General Motors) has turned a deaf ear and ignored

the many complaints,” Moseley said.

General Motors Senior Manager James Cain said in an email Friday his of�ces

were closed, that he had not been updated on the situation, and therefore

declined to comment.

The nearly 50-year-old, family-owned auto dealership has been involved in

litigation in the last year with former �nance manager Christopher White, who

alleged the dealership’s racist culture and loan practices, a�er he was sued by the

dealership for breach of contract for allegedly stealing customer loan applications

before his departure. White denies the allegations, and said it was common

practice at the dealership for managers to store customers’ con�dential

information on their phones for business purposes. He said he kept the records in

question to prove his allegations of credit and bank fraud at the dealership.

Representatives of Rancho Motor Company have denied White’s allegations and

those of former employees, and have declined to go into speci�cs, citing the

ongoing litigation.

Rancho President John Wilkins issued a statement Friday saying Rancho has been

in discussions with the NAACP in recent weeks and remains “committed to

building a long-term relationship with the NAACP to further our common goals of

diversity, inclusion and respect of people of all races, religions, nationalities and

sexual orientations, both in our workplace and the community at large.”

11/13/2017 Dozens rally outside Victorville’s Rancho Motor Company amid allegations of racism, credit fraud – San Bernardino Sun

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Wilkins, however, stated he was disappointed that the NAACP chose to proceed

with the protest as planned.

“However, we understand and respect their right to free speech,” Wilkins said in

his statement. He also said “we maintain that the lawsuits are meritless and look

forward to the opportunity to prove our case in a court of law.”

Among those in attendance during Friday’s rally were the Rev. KW Tulloss and

Michael Cummings, presidents of the Los Angeles and Watts branches of National

Action Network, respectively,  NAACP Victor Valley Branch President Bill Thomas

and fellow member Cli�on Harris, and journalist Gloria Zuurveen, publisher of

the Los Angeles weekly Pace News, Moseley said.

NELSON_JOEJoe NelsonJoe Nelson is an award-winning investigative reporter who has worked for TheSun since November 1999. He started as a crime reporter and went on to cover avariety of beats including courts and the cities of Colton, Highland and GrandTerrace. He has covered San Bernardino County since 2009. Nelson is a graduateof California State University Fullerton. In 2014, he completed a fellowship atLoyola Law School's Journalist Law School program.

Follow Joe Nelson @SBCountyNow

Tags:  Echo Code, Top Stories Sun

Ex-Employee Who Pulled Gun at Rancho Cucamonga Business Taken Into CustodyPOSTED 6:15 PM, NOVEMBER 10, 2017, BY ALEX RACE, UPDATED AT 09:54PM, NOVEMBER 10, 2017

A 41-year-old man was arrested Friday hours after he confronted former co-workers and red a gunshot during an altercation at an industrial business in RanchoCucamonga Friday, of cials said.

Investigators respond to a Goodyear plant wherean ex-employee confronted former employees,

red a weapon during an altercation and then edin Rancho Cucamonga on Nov. 10, 2017. (Credit:iNLANDNEWS)

The man, Pascual Ortega, was armed as Rancho Cucamonga police of cers responded to the scene of the incident in the 9600 block of Feron Boulevard around 12p.m., San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department of cials said. Video from the scene showed of cers responding to a Goodyear plant on the block.

Ortega entered an upstairs conference room where the business was conducting a safety training and began making violent threats toward his former co-workers, of cials said.

The 41-year-old previously worked at the company and was terminated about two weeks ago, sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Marc Bracco said.

A safety coordinator at the event saw Ortega reach for a handgun in his waistband. The safety coordinator grabbed Ortega as he grabbed the gun and red a singleshot. No one was struck, Bracco said.

The safety coordinator was able to pull the gun from Ortega, who then attempted to leave the business, of cials said.

The safety coordinator chased the eeing man down a ight of stairs. During the chase, Ortega pulled pepper spray from his pocket and sprayed thesafety coordinator, who was able to keep control of the man’s rearm — a .22-caliber handgun that investigators later recovered, of cials said.

Ortega was able to ee the scene in a vehicle but was later taken into custody after of cers traced him to his brother’s residence in Baldwin Park, Bracco said.Ortega was found in the front yard and arrested.

The victim suffered minor injuries to his arm during the altercation. He was treated at the scene and did not need to go to a hospital, of cials said.

“There’s heroes in our society that we never get to see until incidents like this call upon him,” Bracco said about the victim. “He just saved anywhere from 10 to 16employees from being injured in that shooting.”

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11/13/2017 Those who served honored during annual Veterans Day parade in San Bernardino – San Bernardino Sun

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By STAFF REPORT | |November 11, 2017 at 2:30 pm

Erik and Mary Terberg, of San Bernardino, drive in a 1942 Willys Jeep during the 17thannual Veterans Day Salute and Parade along Mt Vernon Avenue in San Bernardino,CA., Saturday, November 11, 2017. The Veterans day parade honored Danny Floresan Army veteran who died in March at the age of 73, and also honored servicemenand women in the past, present and future, for their sacrifice. (Photo by JamesCarbone for the San Bernardino Sun)

LOCAL NEWS

Those who served honoredduring annual Veterans Dayparade in San Bernardino

11/13/2017 Those who served honored during annual Veterans Day parade in San Bernardino – San Bernardino Sun

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We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightfulconversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any

San Bernardino’s 17th annual Veterans Day Salute and Parade honored all who

served on Saturday, Nov. 11.

The parade began at 14th Street and Mt Vernon Avenue and concluded at La Plaza

Park, 685 N Mt Vernon Ave.

The Veterans Day event included drill teams, marching bands, military vehicles,

classic cars, �oats and veterans resources.

The ceremony included a 21 Gun Salute and Taps by VFW 6467 Honor Guard.

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11/13/2017 Trevor’s Travels: A day at San Manuel Casino can be a rewarding experience – San Bernardino Sun

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By TREVOR SUMMONS | [email protected] |PUBLISHED: November 12, 2017 at 6:22 am | UPDATED: November 12, 2017 at 2:33pm

File photo by Rachel LunaSan Manuel Casino near Highland has gaming machines, poker and blackjack tables,and restaurants, and often hosts concerts and other special events.

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Trevor’s Travels: A day at SanManuel Casino can be arewarding experience

11/13/2017 Trevor’s Travels: A day at San Manuel Casino can be a rewarding experience – San Bernardino Sun

http://www.sbsun.com/2017/11/12/trevors-travels-a-day-at-san-manuel-casino-can-be-a-rewarding-experience/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_me… 2/5

The economy must be getting better. There are several indications that this is so:

Traf�c on the roads, the number of visitors to the mountain resorts, and then

there is gambling.

I would be the �rst to admit that I’m perhaps the worst commentator on this

phenomenon of handing over large amounts of money to professional casinos as

I lack the gene entirely. However, I paid a short visit to the San Manuel Casino

recently and I have to say I was shocked.

It was about 11 a.m. on a Wednesday and the place was packed. Machines were

merrily dinging away and people were wandering around with that sort of vacant

look that is on most gamblers’ eyes as they contemplate their next huge win.

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I suspect they have a different look when they think about losing; maybe though

that is the secret to it all — and to concentrate only on the positive.

My �rst and only experience with the art of gambling came at a small racetrack

when I was about 16. A friend and I went along mostly out of curiosity and I lost

my entire pocketful of money within a very short time. It gave me no pleasure at

all and on the way back on the bus, for which I had to borrow the fare, I decided

that this was an extremely unpleasant way to spend an a�ernoon.

I was cured of that particular pastime, and I’ve always been thankful for the early

lesson.

11/13/2017 Trevor’s Travels: A day at San Manuel Casino can be a rewarding experience – San Bernardino Sun

http://www.sbsun.com/2017/11/12/trevors-travels-a-day-at-san-manuel-casino-can-be-a-rewarding-experience/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_me… 3/5

San Manuel Casino has undergone several changes since I was there last a few

years ago. The bingo hall is gone and with it the regular entertainers. I spoke to an

employee and was told that the tribe had found it more pro�table to �ll the spaces

with machines. A billboard on the 215 Freeway recently proclaimed that there

were an additional 4,700 of them.

The restaurants also are doing well, it seems. There is a lobster night each

Thursday and that brings in people from everywhere.

Walking around the ground �oor, which is large, I found that they have an actual

bus station. It was dropping people off from places far and near who had come to

enjoy the slots and the tables.

I hope that the bus company insists on payment for return fares in advance. That

lesson from years ago still burns uncomfortably in my memory.

Once off the buses, there were lines to register on various screens and then the

people were off to chance their luck.

This was the last day of the week that the casino holds its giveaways. On this day, it

was a small piece of luggage. You have to register in order to qualify, but it brings

in lots of people.

I wandered around feeling a little bit lost but noted there was a non-smoking

room. I have to give credit to San Manuel for managing to keep the noxious odor

of tobacco smoke out of the main rooms.

I spotted several people smoking, but there was no smell at all. However, for those

with extra sensitive snouts, there is this additional facility.

Having browsed the casino’s website later, I regret not visiting the Lotus 8 Palace.

It seems that this eight-sided room has digital koi swimming under the glass �oor.

Next time it’s on my list.

I don’t regret my lack of attraction to gambling, but I have to say that these places

generally are most interesting to see, and San Manuel is one of the best.

“Trevor’s Travels (in Southern California)” is available from amazon.com, Barnes& Noble and other booksellers. You can reach Trevor Summons [email protected].

San Manuel Casino

Where: 777 San Manuel Blvd., Highland

Information: 800-359-2464, sanmanuel.com

11/13/2017 Inland industrial space has a leasing hiccup, but building continues – Daily Bulletin

http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/10/inland-industrial-space-has-a-leasing-hiccup-but-building-continues/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_mediu… 1/3

By RICHARD K. DE ATLEY | [email protected] | The Press-Enterprise

November 10, 2017 at 1:27 pm

Staff photo

This January 2016 file photo shows a warehouse under construction at QVC s West Coast distribution center in Ontario. The Inland area in thethird quarter of 2017 has nearly 540 million square feet of industrial space — almost all of it distribution and fulfillment centers.

Driven by record shipments from coastal ports, Inland distribution and ful llment centers had a third-quarter vacancy rate under 5 percent,

and while leasing rates dropped steeply compared with a year ago, that direction is expected to change as under-construction projects become

available.

The expansion of e-commerce has put nearly 540 million square feet of big-box buildings in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, with

construction underway for even more. Projects in Moreno Valley, Rialto, Chino and Riverside each top 1 million square feet.

Commercial real estate companies Kidder Mathews and Jones Lang LaSalle each issued recent third-quarter assessments for the Inland area

industrial real estate market, and while numbers predictably don’t match, both reports cite robust activity at the Long Beach and Los Angeles

ports as a generator and forecast continued growth for the Inland market.

“Unrelenting e-commerce demand and the Inland Empire’s geographic advantages project sustained market stability into the remainder of the

year and into next,” the JLL report said.

BUSINESS

Inland industrial space has a leasing hiccup, but buildingcontinues

11/13/2017 Inland industrial space has a leasing hiccup, but building continues – Daily Bulletin

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Industrial space in Riverside and San Bernardino counties

“Imports through the Port of Long Beach continue to record record-high shipment quantities, contributing to the high demand in industrial

space,” the Kidder Mathews analysis said. “As a result, upward pressure on vacancy and availability in the short run remains unlikely, in spite of

new inventory being added in the coming quarters.”

The year-over-year leasing rate dropped 62 percent in the third quarter, Kidder Mathews said, but with 21.8 million square feet under

construction for the Inland area, the commercial real estate company said leasing should pick up. The availability of space rate was down about

20 percent from one year ago.

Other third-quarter numbers: Vacancy was at 4.8 percent, down from 5 percent from the same quarter in 2016; the asking square-foot lease

rate was 54 cents a square foot, up nearly 15 percent from a year earlier, when it was 47 cents.

JLL reported net absorption, a measure of leased space that deducts vacated commercial space, was at 5.2 percent year to date for warehouse

and distribution buildings. Warehouse and distribution building vacancies were 3.5 percent.

The Inland industrial space market also remains cheaper than its coastal neighbors. The asking third-quarter, square-foot lease price in Los

Angeles was 86 cents; in Orange County it was 83 cents, and in San Diego it was $1.04, Kidder Mathews reported.

Total square feet: 539,698,161

Ontario: 106 million square feet

Fontana: 60 million square feet

Chino/Chino Hills: 47.9 million square feet

Riverside: 43.9 million square feet.

Under construction:

17350 Perris Blvd. Moreno Valley: 1.1 million square feet

Monster Energy, Rialto: 1.09 million square feet

Majestic Chino Gateway Building 1: Chino, 1.02 million square feet

Columbia Business Park: Riverside, 1 million square feet.

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richard-deatley Richard K. De Atley

A journalist since 1975 for City News Service in Los Angeles, The Associated Press in Los Angeles and New York, and ThePress-Enterprise, Richard K. De Atley has been Entertainment Editor and a features writer. He has also reported on trials and breakingnews. He is currently a business reporter for The P-E. De Atley is a Cal State Long Beach graduate, a lifelong Southern Californian (exceptfor that time in New York -- which was great!) and has been in Riverside since 1992.

Follow Richard K. De Atley @RKDeAtley

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11/13/2017 Rock climber injured in 15-foot fall; rescued by SB Sheriff’s helicopter – San Bernardino Sun

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By JIM STEINBERG | [email protected] | San Bernardino SunPUBLISHED: November 11, 2017 at 9:14 pm | UPDATED: November 11, 2017 at 9:31 pm

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BIG BEAR LAKE — A San Bernardino County Sheriff’s helicopter hoisted an injured rock climber to safety a�er he fell some 15 feet

Saturday a�ernoon near the Castle Rock Trail.

Matthew Sorich, a 19-year-old resident of Santa Clara was then airli�ed to a hospital for treatment, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s

Of�ce said in a statement.

Sorich’s climbing friends reported the accident at about 2:30 p.m.

He had initially lost consciousness and received non-life-threatening injuries to this face, head, and arm, the statement said.

San Bernardino County Fire Department of�cials called for the hoist due to Sorich’s remote position in rugged terrain.

A sheriff’s medic was lowered to assist with the rescue. Sorich was secured in a rescue basket and hoisted into the helicopter. The medic

followed, the statement said.

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Rock climber injured in 15-foot fall; rescued by SBSheriff’s helicopter

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11/13/2017 Saturday: Amazon seeking on-the-spot workers for Redlands, Rialto and Moreno Valley – San Bernardino Sun

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By FIELDING BUCK | [email protected] | The Press-EnterprisePUBLISHED: November 10, 2017 at 4:34 pm | UPDATED: November 10, 2017 at 4:58 pm

APAmazon is hiring this weekend in the Inland Empire. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz, File)

Amazon has an Inland hiring push going on.

The online retail giant will be making on-the-spot job offers to Inland applicants Saturday, Nov. 11, according to its jobs

website, amazondelivers.jobs

The hiring event will take place 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at 27517 Pioneer Ave., Redlands. The listing appears on the website’s events page.

Amazon’s Inland Empire jobs page lists 10 days of hiring events in Moreno Valley.

Amazon Recruiting Of�ce (24208 San Michele Road):

9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 11-12 and Nov. 18-19;

9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 13; Thursday, Nov. 16; Friday, Nov. 17; and Nov. 20.

Moreno Valley Conference Center (14075 Frederick St.):

8 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 14-15

BUSINESS

Saturday: Amazon seeking on-the-spot workers forRedlands, Rialto and Moreno Valley

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11/13/2017 ROTWNEWS.com – Snow Valley is Making Snow

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Snow Valley is Making Snowin Community News, Entertainment, For Your Information, Informational, Local, Mountain Region, News,Subject, Ticker, Weather / by Michael P. Neufeld / on November 11, 2017 at 9:24 am /

By Susan A. Neufeld

Running Springs, CA – Celebrating their 80th year of operation Snow Valley Mountain Resort is making snow.

Last night, November, 10, they made snow on Lifts 7, 12 & 14. Snow Valley is in the unique location, wherethey get cold temperatures on the lower mountain, and can make snow when other ski areas are unable to.Ideally they want to open with top-to-bottom terrain, but when they see a window of opportunity, their snowmaking crew goes to work.

Their goal is to make snow whenever possible and open some terrain by Thanksgiving,

Stay tuned for updates and get those season passes.

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11/13/2017 Southern California bosses, facing low unemployment, hiking wages above U.S. norms – Daily Bulletin

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By JONATHAN LANSNER |

November 13, 2017 at 7:00 am

Workers prepare the Honda CenterÕs new South Entrance for the season opener inAnaheim, CA on Wednesday, October 4, 2017. The new construction connects theDucks Team Store, the South Entrance and three new food and beverage conceptswhich will be prepared by executive chef Jo-Jo Doyle. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan,Orange County Register/SCNG)

BUSINESS

Southern California bosses, facinglow unemployment, hiking wagesabove U.S. norms

11/13/2017 Southern California bosses, facing low unemployment, hiking wages above U.S. norms – Daily Bulletin

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Southern California’s labor shortage means local bosses continue to hand out above-

average raises.

One federal government pay measurement shows wages in the region rose by 3.2

percent in the past year as local bosses upped pay at a faster pace than peers

nationwide for the 12th consecutive quarter.

The third quarter’s year-long wage growth in the “employment cost index” for the

ve-county region was up from 2.7 percent in the fourth quarter but down from 3.8

percent in 2016’s third quarter.

Yes, the tight job market doesn’t help every worker. But these noteworthy pay hikes

come as the number of out-of-work locals falls to pre-recession levels.

Unemployment in Los Angeles and Orange counties has run below 5 percent for 16

consecutive months. Previously, joblessness was last below 5 percent in September

2007. In the Inland Empire, joblessness has been below 7 percent for 26 months

after running above that level since February 2008.

Or look at the worker shortfall this way: Southern California job cuts are down

dramatically. State employment gures show 690,402 claims were led for

unemployment insurance in the rst eight months of 2017 from the four-county

region. That’s down 3 percent from the same period a year ago after falling 1.6

percent in 2015. And the claim- ling pace is off an eye-catching 60 percent from

2009.

With bosses having limited options to hire, they must pay up to get and keep talent.

The employment cost index shows Southern California wage increases in the

summer quarter are high on a national scale: ranking fourth highest among 15 major

markets tracked — behind Miami, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. A year ago,

Southern California ranked No. 1.

For the entire nation, the employment cost index shows wages rose more modestly:

up at a 2.6 percent annual pace in the third quarter vs. 2.4 percent both for the

second quarter and a year ago.

Seemingly small local gains add up. During the past three years, as local pay hikes

consistently topped U.S. trends, Southern California wages rose by a total 9.9

percent vs. 7.3 percent nationally.

11/13/2017 Southern California bosses, facing low unemployment, hiking wages above U.S. norms – Daily Bulletin

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The employment cost index is an attempt to track employer’s labor costs “free from

the in uence of employment shifts among occupations and industries.” Another

paycheck yardstick — average weekly wages — also shows recent local pay hikes

topping the national trend. This benchmark — gleaned from surveys that create the

highly watched monthly jobs reports — can be swayed by outsized performances by

niche industries.

In Los Angeles and Orange counties, average weekly wages at private-sector jobs

rose at an average 3.4 percent annual pace — up from 0.8 percent a year ago and the

biggest hike in collective pay since 2014’s second quarter.

In the Inland Empire, bosses hiked weekly wages at a 3.9 percent annual rate, up

from 1.3 percent a year ago. The last time pay rose faster was 2014’s rst quarter.

Again, Southern California bosses seem more generous this year than national

peers: U.S. weekly wages rose 2.8 percent in the third quarter vs. 2.2 percent a year

ago.

These upbeat local job trends are a key reason why your commute is more

congested and your favorite shopping mall is packed.

And there’s a real price to pay for more and bigger local paychecks: Southern

California’s Consumer Price Index rose 3.1 percent in the year ended in September

— the highest local in ation rate in six years!

ICYMI: How Orange County’s wealthiest made $5 billion in a year …

… and who created these locally crafted fortunes:

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11/13/2017 Economic justice coalition urges Riverside County to spend more on mental health, other social services – Press Enterprise

http://www.pe.com/2017/11/12/economic-justice-coalition-urges-riverside-county-to-spend-more-on-mental-health-other-social-services/?utm… 1/5

By JEFF HORSEMAN | [email protected] | The Press-EnterpriseNovember 12, 2017 at 6:01 am

SCNGThe exterior of the County Administrative Center in downtown Riverside.

NEWSPOLITICS

Economic justice coalition urgesRiverside County to spend moreon mental health, other socialservices

11/13/2017 Economic justice coalition urges Riverside County to spend more on mental health, other social services – Press Enterprise

http://www.pe.com/2017/11/12/economic-justice-coalition-urges-riverside-county-to-spend-more-on-mental-health-other-social-services/?utm… 2/5

Seeking a stronger social safety net, a self-described economic justice coalition

plans to hold a news conference outside Riverside County headquarters Tuesday,

Nov. 14, to encourage more public input on the county budget.

California Partnership will hold its event at 11 a.m. outside the County

Administrative Center, 4080 Lemon St. in downtown Riverside. The American

Civil Liberties Union, United Domestic Workers and Center for Community

Action and Environmental Justice are among the groups listed on a �ier

promoting the event.

“The County of Riverside needs to hear the collective voices of our communities

to know why our safety net programs deserve budget investments,” the �ier read.

“Join us as we let our county board know that we expect to play a role in the

budget process.”

In an emailed statement, the partnership criticized the county for spending more

on criminal justice and not enough on programs, such as mental health services,

that could avoid costly interventions by police and the courts.

“The Board of Supervisors are choosing to invest as little as possible in safety net

programs,” the statement read. “The county budget should be a re�ection of the

values of the voters in Riverside County and we believe that it can be if we engage

our community in the process as the budget is being written and not wait until the

recommended budget is presented to the board.”

Deputy County Executive Of�cer Brian Nestande said public input on the budget

“is always useful.” The county gets less than other counties for social services –

$17 per person with the median per-county funding being $34 per person – due to

a state funding formula that dates back to 1991, he said.

“On top of that, we then receive fewer federal matching dollars. All told we are

shorted an estimated $60 million dollars annually,” Nestande said, adding the

county’s tax revenues still have not completely bounced back from the Great

Recession of 2007-08.

Supervisors this summer gave preliminary approval to the county’s $5.5 billion

budget for �scal 2017-18. Final approval came in September once a clear picture

of revenue emerged.

While county spending exceeds $5 billion, supervisors have direct control of less

than $1 billion of that. The rest is mostly state and federal money ticketed for

speci�c programs with limits on how it can be spent.

11/13/2017 Economic justice coalition urges Riverside County to spend more on mental health, other social services – Press Enterprise

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Currently, county �nances are under strain from a series of new, ongoing and

non-optional expenses that outpace projected revenue growth. Supervisors are

trying to rein in costs by taking a �rm stance against raises in ongoing talks with

labor unions and by hiring a consultant to overhaul county government and

encourage data-based decision making.

For years, the county’s non-public safety agencies have absorbed rising costs

without more money, and of�cials say they can’t be cut further without layoffs or

compromising public services. Supervisors now want to cap public safety

spending, leading to tension with Sheriff Stan Sniff, who warns his department

has been cut to the bone.

Jeff HorsemanJeff Horseman got into journalism because he liked to write andstunk at math. He grew up in Vermont and he honed hisinterviewing skills as a supermarket cashier by asking Bernie

Sanders “Paper or plastic?” A�er graduating from Syracuse University in 1999,Jeff began his journalistic odyssey at The Watertown Daily Times in upstate NewYork, where he impressed then-U.S. Senate candidate Hillary Clinton so muchshe called him “John” at the end of an interview. From there, he went toAnnapolis, Maryland, where he covered city, county and state government atThe Capital newspaper before love and the quest for snowless winters took himin 2007 to Southern California, where he started out covering Temecula for ThePress-Enterprise. Today, Jeff writes about Riverside County government andregional politics. Along the way, Jeff has covered wild�res, a tropical storm, 9/11and the Dec. 2 terror attack in San Bernardino. If you have a question or storyidea about politics or the inner workings of government, please let Jeff know.He’ll do his best to answer, even if it involves a little math.

Follow Jeff Horseman @JeffHorseman

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11/13/2017 How a new Riverside office plans to solve homelessness in the city – Press Enterprise

http://www.pe.com/2017/11/11/how-a-new-riverside-office-plans-to-solve-homelessness-in-the-city/ 1/3

By RYAN HAGEN | [email protected] | The Press-EnterpriseNovember 11, 2017 at 10:00 am

File photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNGPeople line up outside Riverside’s emergency homeless shelter, run by Path of Life Ministries, in December 2015. The city started an Office ofHomeless Solutions this month.

Riverside of�cials hope a restructuring at City Hall will help them toward an ambitious goal: ending homelessness.

They don’t expect to achieve that immediately, but the eventual goal is re�ected in the name of the new Of�ce of Homeless Solutions.

“The question is how do we go beyond serving the homeless to solving the issue of homelessness,” said Mayor Rusty Bailey, crediting

Pastor Jeff Wright of Madison Street Church in Riverside for the phrase and City Manager John Russo for creating the of�ce. “This makes it

a focal point … (Homelessness is) not just down the ladder of bureaucracy, it’s front and center.”

Homelessness isn’t new a new problem in the city or the nation. Nor are the city’s efforts to end it.

LOCAL NEWS

How a new Riverside office plans to solve homelessnessin the city

11/13/2017 How a new Riverside office plans to solve homelessness in the city – Press Enterprise

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Join the Conversation

That’s one message communicated by the website on the issue that the city launched along with the new of�ce,

www.riversideca.gov/homelesssolutions. The website includes sections detailing homelessness in Riverside, the city’s actions to end it and

how residents can help.

What’s new is coordinating those resources through a central of�ce. Russo made that change this month as part of a broader restructuring

of the city’s government that he outlined Tuesday, Nov. 7.

Assistant City Manager Alex Nguyen leads the newly formed “People” section of City Hall and oversees the homelessness of�ce.

“It allows us to focus, focus, focus,” Nguyen said, adding that only a few large cities, including San Francisco, have such a division.

The homelessness team consists of 13 people, including Nguyen, with the other 12 focusing only on homelessness and housing.

“You can’t solve homelessness without housing,” said Emilio Ramirez, whose title is set to change from deputy director of Community and

Economic Development to director of the Of�ce of Homeless Solutions. “It’s tied into employment, education, healthcare, but especially

the need for permanent supportive housing.”

Other aspects of the plan include “wrap-around services” tailored to each individual, job training and outreach to chronically homeless

people. Since last year, city of�cials have talked about a “housing �rst” philosophy, which focuses on �nding housing for homeless people

without �rst requiring sobriety, participation in a program or other prerequisites.

One challenge, Nguyen said, is where to put that housing.

“Even those community members who know we need affordable housing don’t want it in their neighborhood,” he said.

Residents including Connie Decker, a former North High School counselor, worry that such plans will lower property values. She believes

many programs remove the incentive for people to �nd jobs and li� themselves out of homelessness.

“As long as they have resources and a place to sleep and no one is going to throw them in jail for peeing in someone’s yard, they’re going to

keep doing it,” Decker said, emphasizing that she was speaking generally and was not familiar with the city’s newest plans.

City Councilman Mike Soubirous said many people mistake aggressive panhandlers for the homeless, when there’s little overlap. People

should consult the homelessness website to see how to help in productive ways, he said.

“We all need to be on the same page at the same time,” Soubirous said, which he said the homelessness website and of�ce will help

achieve. “If we’re all on the same page, we can be successful.”

Ryan HagenRyan Hagen covers the city of Riverside for the Southern California Newspaper Group. Since he began covering InlandEmpire governments in 2010, he's written about a city entering bankruptcy and exiting bankruptcy; politicians beingelected, recalled and arrested; crime; a terrorist attack; �res; ICE; �ghts to end homelessness; �ghts over the location ofspeed bumps; and people's best and worst moments. His greatest accomplishment is breaking a coffee addiction. His

greatest regret is any moment without coffee. Follow Ryan Hagen @rmhagen

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11/13/2017 A top secret desert assembly plant starts ramping up to build Northrop's B-21 bomber - LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-fi-northrop-bomber-20171110-htmlstory.html 1/11

A top secret desert assembly plant starts ramping upto build Northrop's B-21 bomber

By Ralph Vartabedian, W.J. Hennigan and Samantha Masunaga

NOVEMBER 10, 2017, 10:40 AM

A once-empty parking lot at Northrop Grumman Corp.’s top secret aircraft plant inPalmdale is now jammed with cars that pour in during the predawn hours.

More than a thousand new employees are working for the time being in rows oftemporary trailers, a dozen tan-colored tents and a vast assembly hangar at the desertsite near the edge of urban Los Angeles County.

It is here that Northrop is building the Air Force’s new B-21 bomber, a stealthy bat-winged jet that is being designed to slip behind any adversary’s air defense system anddeliver devastating airstrikes for decades to come. The Pentagon is aiming to buy 100 ofthe bombers by the mid-2030s for at least $80 billion, though the exact amount isclassified.

(Sources: Mapzen, OpenStreetMap)

11/13/2017 A top secret desert assembly plant starts ramping up to build Northrop's B-21 bomber - LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-fi-northrop-bomber-20171110-htmlstory.html 2/11

Northrop won the bomber contract in 2015, but the pace of activity is ramping upsharply under an Air Force budget that has reached $2 billion for this fiscal year.

Construction crews are getting ready to add 1 million square feet to the plant, a 50%increase over what is already a huge facility that is protected by razor wire-toppedfences, electronic sensors and military air space surveillance, according to interviewsand government documents.

The project marks a sharp turnaround in the fortunes of the Southern Californiaaerospace industry, which has been atrophying since the end of the Cold War. It waswidely assumed that the region would never again be home to a large aircraftmanufacturing program and now it has one of the largest in modern history. Theprogram is breathing new life into an industry that once defined the Southern Californiaeconomy.

The bomber — dubbed the “Raider” — is expected to become Northrop’s largest cashcow, which could run for two decades if it does not encounter technical or politicalsetbacks. But it will be competing with other nuclear and nonnuclear modernizationprograms for limited defense funds — a cutthroat political contest.

Northrop has 3,000 employees at the Palmdale plant and is still hiring at a rapid clip.By late 2019, the operation will have 5,200 employees at the site, Kevin Mitchell, deputyvice president of global operations, recently told a Lancaster Chamber of Commercemeeting.

Artist rendering of Air Force’s new B-21 bomber. (Northrop Gruman)

11/13/2017 A top secret desert assembly plant starts ramping up to build Northrop's B-21 bomber - LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-fi-northrop-bomber-20171110-htmlstory.html 3/11

The facility also produces Northrop’s high-altitude surveillance drones, the GlobalHawk for the Air Force and the closely related Triton for the Navy, as well as the centerfuselage for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Company officials declined tobe interviewed on the B-21, citing Defense Department restrictions.

The Palmdale factory is part of the Air Force’s massive Plant 42 operation, where someof the nation’s most secret warplanes have been built, including Northrop’s flying wingB-2 bomber.

The B-21 program is not just secret but “special access,” setting a much higher bar onwho can get a clearance and how data are stored, among much else. An executiveconference room at the plant is actually a high security windowless vault, where amassive conference table is surrounded by three dozen leather chairs and the walls areadorned with large photographs of the company’s long line of weapons. No cellphonesare allowed in the room.

Heavy bombers, particularly those capable of carrying nuclear weapons, have beenamong the most controversial military projects in U.S. history. When the B-1 bomberwas rolled out, pacifists attempted to throw themselves under its wheels. The Northrop

A Boeing C-17 Globemaster III lands at Palmdale Regional Airport during recent exercise flights. Northrop Grumman(background) was awarded the new B-21 bomber contract in 2015. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

11/13/2017 A top secret desert assembly plant starts ramping up to build Northrop's B-21 bomber - LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-fi-northrop-bomber-20171110-htmlstory.html 4/11

B-2 stealth bomber gave Congress sticker shock with its $1-billion-per-planemanufacturing cost.

By contrast, the B-21 so far is slamming through the political system with few obstacleswith a projected cost of $550 million per plane, translating to production costs alone of$55 billion, according to staff at the House Armed Services Committee. The dollaramount for research and development is highly classified, Under Secretary of the AirForce Matthew Donovan said in an in interview.

The service is committed to releasing that cost information as soon as possible,Donovan said, “but we have to balance that with protecting the capabilities of ouraircraft against potential adversaries.”

Even more highly classified are the technical details of the future bomber.

A crude drawing of the plane released by the Air Force seems to resemble the company’sB-2 bomber, but Donovan and others say the new plane is not a derivative but a “cleansheet” design. It is supposed to carry nuclear weapons, though the Air Force does notplan to certify it for such missions until two years after it first becomes operational, a

(Ally J. Levine)

11/13/2017 A top secret desert assembly plant starts ramping up to build Northrop's B-21 bomber - LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-fi-northrop-bomber-20171110-htmlstory.html 5/11

cost-saving decision that the House Armed Services Committee criticized in a 2013report.

Evading more capable future radar systems is a singular requirement. When the B-2was built, some experts claimed it looked no bigger than a hummingbird on a radarscreen. The B-21 would have to be even stealthier. The preliminary design of thebomber’s stealth characteristics was “investigated in detail against current andanticipated threats,” according to a Congressional Research Service report released inJune.

The plane will be operated either by an onboard crew or autonomously, the report said.Without a crew, the bomber could linger much longer over targets, requiring fewersorties and holding an enemy hostage much longer. Unlike the B-2, it is planned as partof a “family of systems,” implying that it would fly with other aircraft or weaponssystems, though government officials declined to say anything about it.

The B-21 will benefit from much more sophisticated, faster and cheaper computersystems, as well as software, said Don Hicks, who was Northrop’s senior vice presidentfor research during the B-2 era and later served as the Pentagon’s research and

A B-2 bomber refueling from a KC-135 Stratotanker over the Pacific Ocean. The B-21 will be designed to be even stealthier thanthe B-2. (AFP/Getty Images)

11/13/2017 A top secret desert assembly plant starts ramping up to build Northrop's B-21 bomber - LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-fi-northrop-bomber-20171110-htmlstory.html 6/11

engineering chief. He said Northrop developed crucial technology in its X-47B drone, anexperimental jet that made history in 2013 with the first autonomous landing on anaircraft carrier.

“The B-21 is much better than the B-2,” Hicks said. “It has a lot of capability built into itthat the B-2 doesn’t have.”

The B-21 is being marketed as a replacement for the Air Force’s aging bomber fleet,which dates back to the 1960s for the B-52 and the 1980s for the B-1. The Air Force sayspotential adversaries are improving their air defense systems and it has to find newcapabilities to ensure it can hold them at risk. Even if the Air Force gets all 100 bombersnow planned, it will end up with a smaller fleet than it has now.

The Pentagon fears a repeat of the B-2 bomber program, in which the nation invested$20 billion in research and development with a plan to buy 132 airplanes. The plan’scost ballooned and the Cold War ended just before production began, leaving even theDefense Department questioning why it was needed. In the end, the Air Force got only21 aircraft, which forced it to keep using the older bombers.

The B-21 also faces a tough road ahead because of competing programs. The Pentagonhas plans to update every leg of the nuclear weapons complex, including warheads,missiles and submarines, at an estimated cost of $1.2 trillion, according to aCongressional Budget Office estimate released Oct. 31.

11/13/2017 A top secret desert assembly plant starts ramping up to build Northrop's B-21 bomber - LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-fi-northrop-bomber-20171110-htmlstory.html 7/11

The B-21 is getting an early start, but some other programs are scheduled just when theB-21 would enter production in the mid-2020s and could challenge the bomber forfunding.

“They don’t have enough money,” said Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear weapons analyst with theJames Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, Calif. “Buildingeverything at once is the best way to build nothing.”

Unlike many strategic weapons systems, such as submarines or intercontinentalballistic missiles, bombers are in use daily on missions in the Middle East. More than adecade of war in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria have made clear that bombers play a bigrole in limited conventional war.

The ultimate success of the program will depend on continued government support andcost controls. The Air Force considers the bomber one of its top three priorities, alongwith the F-35 and a new aerial refueling tanker.

So far, the program has received all the money that President Obama and PresidentTrump have requested. Last year, two dozen members of the House — a colorful

(Source: U.S. Air Force)

11/13/2017 A top secret desert assembly plant starts ramping up to build Northrop's B-21 bomber - LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-fi-northrop-bomber-20171110-htmlstory.html 8/11

political mix of conservatives and liberals — sent a letter to appropriation committeeleaders asking them to maintain funding for the bomber.

The only grumbling has surfaced from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of theSenate Armed Services Committee, who has pressed for more disclosure about the costof research and development. The Air Force has resisted, arguing it would disclose thescope of the technology development underway.

To help keep Northrop on schedule, the Air Force is managing the B-21 through itsWashington, D.C.-based Rapid Capabilities Office, which is intended to cut red tape,said Donovan, the undersecretary. The Air Force is requiring that any design changes,which often slow progress and increase costs, be approved at a higher level than istypical.

Building bombers under the black budget is not unprecedented. The U.S. governmentdidn't lift the veil on the B-2 program until a decade after it had begun, revealing one ofthe largest weapons development efforts since the Manhattan Project produced theatomic bomb in the 1940s.

(Los Angeles Times)

11/13/2017 A top secret desert assembly plant starts ramping up to build Northrop's B-21 bomber - LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-fi-northrop-bomber-20171110-htmlstory.html 9/11

The Air Force and Northrop went to great lengths to conceal even the smallest detail ofthe B-2 program. Many suppliers had no idea they were making parts for the bomber.The government created dummy companies that ordered the parts, which were oftenpicked up in the middle of the night by unmarked trucks.

Northrop made a bold decision a decade ago when it decided against teaming up witheither Lockheed Martin Corp. or Boeing Co., going it alone. That led to Boeing andLockheed, the nation’s two largest defense contractors, teaming up against Northrop.When they lost that competition, it left Northrop with 100% of the prime contractprofits, not having to share it with a partner.

“I said we don’t need either of them,” said a person who was involved.

In addition to the major work in Palmdale, parts of all sizes will pour from factories inCalifornia and across the nation. The bomber, like other big-ticket aircraft programsbefore it, will probably spur new housing and commercial development. Mitchell,Northrop’s vice president, told the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce that the companyis working with local leaders to make sure employees have access to services andamenities they want.

(Sources: Mapzen, OpenStreetMap)

11/13/2017 A top secret desert assembly plant starts ramping up to build Northrop's B-21 bomber - LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-fi-northrop-bomber-20171110-htmlstory.html 10/11

The company, for example, is working with Antelope Valley College, which recentlydeveloped an eight-week training program for aircraft fabrication and assembly, saidLiz Diachun, a college spokeswoman. The vast majority of the college’s aircraftfabrication graduates go to Northrop. The college even has a bachelor’s degree programwith a course on the theory of “low observable” technologies.

Northrop’s website has 272 jobs posted for Palmdale, including flight test engineers,machinists, aircraft electricians, composite technicians and low-observables mechanics.Many postings have multiple openings.

But the B-21 will probably not have the economic power of past defense programs. Theindustry is more efficient now, with production using more robots and other automatedmachinery. In 1992 when Northrop’s B-2 bomber was near its peak, the company had9,000 workers at a now-shuttered plant in Pico Rivera and an additional 3,000 inPalmdale. The entire B-2 program employed 40,000 across the nation.

The mix is also changing. In the B-21, Palmdale already has as many workers as the B-2and is headed higher, suggesting that its role will include not only final assembly but asignificant amount of parts or process work. Although the plane is being assembled atPalmdale, the Northrop program office is located at another major company aircraftfacility in Melbourne, Fla.

Manufacturing engineering work is being planned in Palmdale, while Melbourne servesas a design center. A longtime aerospace industry veteran said Northrop has alsoopened a modest B-21 engineering office at its plant in El Segundo, because it ischallenged to find all the engineers it needs in Florida.

Mike Blades, a securities analyst with Frost & Sullivan, said he believes that about 30%to 50% of the Air Force’s $2-billion bomber budget for fiscal 2018 is flowing throughNorthrop.

“By far, it is going to be the largest source of their funding,” Blades said. “It is going tobe a big deal for a long time. You are talking $2 billion and they are just in research anddevelopment.”

Investors have taken close note. Since the company was awarded the contract inOctober 2015, Northrop shares have nearly doubled, outpacing industry rivals over thesame period.

11/13/2017 A top secret desert assembly plant starts ramping up to build Northrop's B-21 bomber - LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-fi-northrop-bomber-20171110-htmlstory.html 11/11

Copyright © 2017, Los Angeles Times

Northrop Chief Financial Officer Kenneth Bedingfield earlier this year told securitiesanalysts that the company’s restricted activities, which refer to secret contracts such asthe B-21, made up more than 20% of sales last year.

“I will tell you that it is a nicely growing part of our business,” he said.

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Twitter: @rvartabedian

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Twitter: @smasunaga

11/13/2017 Katrina Foley removed as Costa Mesa mayor in contentious, late-night meeting – Orange County Register

http://www.ocregister.com/2017/11/08/katrina-foley-removed-as-costa-mesa-mayor-in-contentious-late-night-meeting/ 1/5

Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley shown during a city council meeting in Costa Mesa on Tuesday, November 7, 2017. Foley was removed from herrole as mayor after the council voted 3-2 to elevate mayor pro-tem Sandy Genis mayor. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Katrina Foley removed as Costa Mesa mayor incontentious, late-night meeting

11/13/2017 Katrina Foley removed as Costa Mesa mayor in contentious, late-night meeting – Orange County Register

http://www.ocregister.com/2017/11/08/katrina-foley-removed-as-costa-mesa-mayor-in-contentious-late-night-meeting/ 2/5

By LOUIS CASIANO | [email protected] | Orange County RegisterPUBLISHED: November 8, 2017 at 10:34 am | UPDATED: November 8, 2017 at 5:18 pm

23 COMMENTS

COSTA MESA In the city’s latest example of political gamesmanship, Mayor Katrina Foley was stripped of her position in favor of Sandra

Genis, a political ally and until then, mayor pro tem, during a tense, late-night City Council meeting that left residents stunned and angry.

Words such as “traitor” and “turncoat” were shouted at Genis after the council voted 3-2 early Wednesday, Nov. 8, to remove Foley —

whose term as mayor was set to expire next year — from her position following more than an hour of public comments.

Foley and Councilman John Stephens dissented. Councilman Allan Mansoor was appointed mayor pro tem.

Genis’ vote about 1 a.m. came as a shock to most in the council chambers, Foley included.

“I’m truly, truly disappointed,” Foley said after the vote. “I wanted us to work together as a team and I’ve done everything … everything in

my power to help reach her and to try and make sure I’m addressing her concerns. There’s really nothing else I could do.”

“My children walked neighborhood by neighborhood to help get her elected,” Foley said. “I walked. I invested my personal funds to

support her.”

The move was made at the request of Councilman Jim Righeimer, who asked that the matter be put on Tuesday’s agenda.

He also requested that City Attorney Tom Duarte and City Manager Tom Hatch come back to the council with a report on Foley’s actions

on the council. He declined during and after the meeting to specify what actions he was referring to.

“There’s situations that the mayor’s got herself into that are going to cause a lot of problems for the city,” Righeimer said after the

meeting. “It’s put the city in a bad situation.”

He brushed off accusations of dirty politics, saying he was not running for office again. He will be termed out of his seat next year.

Foley said Wednesday there is nothing to investigate.

“He (Righeimer) just needed something to allude to, to justify his political power grab,” she said. “I confirmed with both the city manager

and city attorney that neither have any knowledge of any wrongdoing by me. It’s just politics.”

Stephens said he felt betrayed by Genis’ vote and contended the move to replace Foley violated city code.

Duarte said during the meeting that it was within the council’s purview to appoint a new mayor and mayor pro tem.

Genis has been on the council since 2012, but also served from 1988-96.

After the meeting, she said there has been tension between her and Foley, which was evident in several meetings.

“I think it’s been building for a while,” she said, adding that she did not betray Foley or her supporters.

“I didn’t feel like I in any way betrayed them because I have tried real hard to live up to my campaign promises,” she said, referring to

efforts to protect Fairview Park and her support for a voter-approved measure to limit growth in the city.

“I never made a commitment to put in anybody as mayor. It was not, by any means, an easy decision.”

During the meeting, dozens of angry residents praised Foley’s leadership and chastised Righeimer and Duarte.

Supporters held up signs that read “Power Grab,” “We Support Mayor Foley” and “Remember… we vote in 2018 & 2020.”

Foley was elected to the council in 2014, as well as 2004 and 2008. She served as a Newport-Mesa Unified School District trustee in 2010.

She was appointed mayor last year after a shift in power prompted by the failure of then-mayor Steve Mensinger’s re-election bid and the

election of Stephens, one of her supporters.

The previous majority of Mensinger, Righeimer and former councilman Gary Monahan favored running the city like a business,

outsourcing city services and ushering in large-scale developments.

Foley and Stephens supported careful planning and developments more compatible with the surrounding community. The new council

majority even changed Chief Executive Tom Hatch’s title back to city manager.

Foley stated early on that she wanted to bring civility back to a council that had been fractured for years.

XThe video could not be loaded, either because the server or

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11/13/2017 Katrina Foley removed as Costa Mesa mayor in contentious, late-night meeting – Orange County Register

http://www.ocregister.com/2017/11/08/katrina-foley-removed-as-costa-mesa-mayor-in-contentious-late-night-meeting/ 3/5

“My goal was to try and bring a more inclusive government and to try to bring civility to our council… this evening tonight is a perfect

example of what I didn’t want us to have to experience anymore,” she said after the vote.

However, soon after Foley became mayor, she initiated the removal of commissioners from three city panels, including the Planning

Commission, to “bring in more diversity of thought to the city’s decision-making process,” causing more friction with Righeimer and

Mansoor.

Genis said she took issue with the way Foley sometimes ignored the council’s consensus on certain matters, citing the commission

appointments as the first instance.

“That was my monumental screw up,” Genis said, referring to a well-publicized error she made when voting for commission candidates.

“At the same time, there was also a very blatant disregard for the procedure that we’d all agreed upon.”

Mansoor, who quarreled publicly with Foley on several occasions, said that while he doesn’t agree with Genis on some issues, he thinks

council meetings will be better run under her tenure.

“Sandy is friendly, she treats everyone fair,” he said. “Most important, she’s very respectful to everyone and those are qualities I look for

in a mayor.”

Foley’s term as mayor was slated to end next year, when the city moves to a district-election system where a mayor will be elected

separately.

She has said she will run next year.

During her remarks at the end of the long meeting, Foley was thanking her supporters when she was interrupted by Righeimer.

“Let me have some dignity,” she told him. “You’ve taken away a lot of my dignity tonight.”

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OrangeCountyRegisterreporterLouisCasiano,////////AdditionalInformationmug.123112/29/15Photo byNick Koon /StaffPhotographer.Columnmug ofOrangeCountyRegisterreporterLouisCasiano,

Louis CasianoLouis is a native New Yorker who now calls Anaheim his home. He studied journalism at the University of Houston,where he was a reporter for the Daily Cougar and interned at the Houston Chronicle covering crime and breaking news.After graduating, he interned at NBCNews.com covering news on the national desk. Most recently he worked at TheOrange County Register's breaking news and public safety beats. In 2016, he began covering the busy coastal cities ofCosta Mesa and Newport Beach.

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11/13/2017 Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, Santa Rosa City Council team up on housing, homelessness policies

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/7607424-181/sonoma-county-board-of-supervisors?artslide=0 1/4

Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, SantaRosa City Council team up on housing,homelessness policies

Sonoma County and Santa Rosa’s top elected leaders projected con�dence Tuesday in

their ability to work together on the recovery from the region’s worst natural disaster on

record, and they signaled early support for new policies they believe could address some

long-term consequences of the historic North Bay �restorm.

At a joint session of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors and the Santa Rosa City

Council — the �rst such gathering in recent memory — o�cials agreed to move forward

with a pair of ideas to advance housing development and improve the county’s vast

homeless services system.

The proposals were put in motion months ago, but both the region’s housing shortage and

its disproportionately high rate of homelessness were made even worse last month by

California’s most destructive �res on record.

“We’re facing some really tough times right now, in terms of the disaster that we all

experienced only a month ago,” said Supervisor Shirlee Zane, the board chairwoman.

“These two bodies sitting here today have a uni�ed vision. We care about rebuilding: We

want to build better, we want to build smart, we want to build fast. We want to get people

back into their lives, because when those homes burned down, it wasn’t just structures. It

was lives.”

The joint meeting was planned long ago to foster greater collaboration between the

region’s largest governments on housing development and homeless services — two of

the foremost policy challenges vexing them both.

J.D. MORRISTHE PRESS DEMOCRAT | November 7, 2017, 10:27PM

11/13/2017 Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, Santa Rosa City Council team up on housing, homelessness policies

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/7607424-181/sonoma-county-board-of-supervisors?artslide=0 2/4

Tuesday’s gathering at a city building on Stony Point Road still focused heavily on those

topics, but the conversation was inevitably altered by the deadly October wild�res, which

destroyed about 5 percent of Santa Rosa’s housing stock and fueled fears of a possible

surge in homelessness as the city’s most visible encampment nearly doubled in size.

“Of course, the �re makes this more timely, but even without that disaster, we face issues

such as housing and homelessness that don’t pay any attention to jurisdictional lines,” said

Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Coursey. “There may be e�ciencies to be gained and better

outcomes to be achieved if we can �nd ways to work together more often and better.”

City and county sta� proposed conducting a detailed analysis of potential new �nancing

districts that could promote more housing construction. The districts would encompass

speci�c physical areas where a portion of certain tax revenues, namely property taxes,

would be earmarked for major infrastructure improvements to encourage developers to

build housing projects.

“It’s one of the mechanisms that can be used to pay for some of the infrastructure

developments necessary for long-term housing recovery,” said Caroline Judy, the county’s

general services director.

Council members and supervisors were generally receptive to the idea, though they raised

some questions about how the proposal would be implemented. County and city sta�

members are planning to conduct further analysis and bring back more speci�c plans,

including locations for the �nancing districts, over the next several months.

Santa Rosa City Manager Sean McGlynn also urged supervisors and council members to

lobby state o�cials for a “rapid rehousing redevelopment district” that could be created

quickly, since he said the infrastructure �nancing districts would require voter approval to

fully implement.

“That’s a long, long road to go (down) — I do not believe that we have a long, long time to

address these issues,” McGlynn said. “This is a place where action is required. We can’t wait

for a vote.”

11/13/2017 Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, Santa Rosa City Council team up on housing, homelessness policies

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/7607424-181/sonoma-county-board-of-supervisors?artslide=0 3/4

The proposal was met with some skepticism by members of the public, including Santa

Rosa resident James Arietta, who suggested private developers could bene�t

inappropriately from the �nancing districts. He told o�cials he didn’t think they “fully

comprehend what you’re doing or what you’re signing up for.”

However, Mark Krug, business development manager with Burbank Housing, said his

company supported the concept, which he called an “important tool” for generating much-

needed home construction.

Supervisors and council members also decided to further review of a consultant’s

recommendations to streamline homeless services. Consultant Patrick Wigmore of

HomeBase said the system is hindered by a large number of service providers that could

bene�t from the creation of a centralized decision-making body.

Zane and Coursey formed a joint subcommittee of the council and county board that will

examine the plan further.

“It couldn’t come soon enough,” said Supervisor Lynda Hopkins of the centralized decision-

making process.

The housing and homeless discussions followed an initial update on �re recovery e�orts

led by Mark Ghilarducci, director of the Governor’s O�ce of Emergency Services.

More than 4,200 burned properties have been cleared of household hazardous waste by

the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and o�cials have received more than 2,000

right-of-entry forms from �re victims who want to participate in the government’s debris

removal program, Ghilarducci said. About 4,000 properties must still decide whether to

sign up for the public cleanup e�ort by the Nov. 13 deadline.

To help �re victims with their debris removal paperwork, local o�cials will host two

“resource fairs” this weekend. The �rst is on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at 35 Stony

Point Road, the same spot as Tuesday’s meeting. The second is on Sunday from 11 a.m. to

3 p.m. at the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building.

You can reach Sta� Writer J.D. Morris at 707-521-5337 or [email protected].

On Twitter @thejdmorris.

11/13/2017 Sentencings for couple related to Dec. 2, 2015, San Bernardino shooter are postponed – Daily Bulletin

http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/10/sentencings-for-couple-related-to-dec-2-2015-san-bernardino-shooter-are-postponed/?utm_source=… 1/3

By BRIAN ROKOS | [email protected] | The Press-Enterprise

November 10, 2017 at 4:48 pm

Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG

Syed Rizwan Farook and wife Tatiana stand outside U.S. District Court in Riverside in April 2016 after posting bail. Their sentencings onconvictions in a marriage-sham case have been postponed to March 19, 2018.

Sentencings for the Corona couple who pleaded guilty to participating in a marriage-fraud scheme that was discovered during the investigation

into the Dec. 2, 2015, San Bernardino terrorist attack has been postponed.

Syed Raheel Farook, older brother of the male shooter, Syed Rizwan Farook, on Jan. 10 pleaded guilty to one felony charge of conspiracy.

Raheel’s wife, Tatiana, on Feb. 9, pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to commit immigration fraud.

Both were scheduled to be sentenced in U.S. District Court in Riverside on Monday, Nov. 13. But District Judge Jesus G. Bernal granted an

extension to March 19 after the defendants said they needed more time to prepare their written sentencing positions.

The sentencing for Tatiana Farook’s sister, Maria Chernykh, who on Jan. 26 pleaded guilty to conspiracy, perjury and two counts of making false

statements, is set for Nov. 20.

Her attorney and prosecutors led a joint motion to postpone the sentencing to April 30, so Chernykh, too, could have more time to prepare

her written sentencing position.

LOCAL NEWS

Sentencings for couple related to Dec. 2, 2015, SanBernardino shooter are postponed

11/13/2017 Sentencings for couple related to Dec. 2, 2015, San Bernardino shooter are postponed – Daily Bulletin

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Bernal had not ruled on the motion, as of Friday.

Chernykh, a Russian citizen who had long overstayed her visa, along with Tatiana Farook, Raheel Farook and Riverside resident Enrique

Marquez Jr., had sought permanent U.S. residency by fraudulently claiming that she had married Marquez, federal prosecutors said.

Tatiana and Raheel Farook, and Marquez are all U.S. citizens.

Raheel Farook agreed to pay Marquez $200 per month to pretend to marry Chernykh. Raheel Farook created a false legal agreement for the

fake couple that said they lived in Corona. Marquez actually lived in Riverside, while Chernykh lived in Ontario with her boyfriend, with whom

she had a child.

Among other ruses to give the appearance of a legitimate marriage, Raheel and Tatiana Farook signed a marriage license that said they

witnessed a wedding ceremony that never happened.

With all of that planning, Marquez and Chernykh still were no-shows for their immigration hearing in late 2015, and their request to allow

Chernykh to remain in the U.S. was denied.

That hearing had been scheduled for Dec. 3, 2015, the day after Rizwan Farook and wife Tashfeen Malik — using weapons illegally purchased

by Farook’s longtime friend Marquez — killed 14 people and wounded 22 others during a San Bernardino County Division of Environmental

Health holiday party at the Inland Regional Center. Rizwan Farook and Malik were killed hours later in a shootout with police.

Tatiana and Raheel Farook, and Marquez, were not part of the Dec. 2 conspiracy, authorities say.

Marquez attended La Sierra High and Riverside City College, both in Riverside. His sentencing on charges of providing material support to

terrorists and making false statements on the rearms-purchase documents is set for Feb. 26.

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re ghting tactics and wildland re danger. He has also covered the cities of San Bernardino, Corona, Norco, Lake Elsinore,Perris, Canyon Lake and Hemet. Before that he supervised reporters and worked as a copy editor. For some reason, heenjoys movies where the Earth is threatened with extinction.

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11/9/2017 Church in Texas Shooting Will Not Reopen, Pastor Says - WSJ

https://www.wsj.com/articles/church-in-texas-shooting-will-not-reopen-pastor-says-1510243065 1/2

SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas—The south Texas church where a gunman opened fireduring a morning service Sunday, killing 26 people and injuring 20 others, won’t reopen,the pastor of the church said.

“There’s too many that do not want to go back in there,” Pastor Frank Pomeroy saidWednesday night of his decision about First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs. “Wewill probably turn it into a memorial for a while. We’re playing it day by day right now.”

But Mr. Pomeroy refuses to let his congregation be disbanded because of the actions ofthe gunman. He said that services will go on – with one scheduled for Sunday morning ata community center a couple of blocks from the church.

The service will be held a week to the day that Devin Patrick Kelley went on a rampage inthe rural church, firing hundreds of rounds and methodically executing victims,including children, according to law-enforcement officials.

The oldest killed was 77 and nine were children, according to information releasedWednesday by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Among the youngest was a 17-

DOW JONES, A NEWS CORP COMPANY

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U.S.

Church in Texas Shooting Will NotReopen, Pastor Says‘There’s too many that do not want to go back in there,’ Frank Pomeroy says

Pastor Frank Pomeroy hugging a woman Wednesday before a vigil in Floresville, Texas, following Sunday’s shootingrampage at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs. PHOTO: JONATHAN BACHMAN/REUTERS

Nov. 9, 2017 10:57 a.m. ETBy Tawnell D. Hobbs

Bullet holes scar the front door of the First Baptist Church after the shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas. PHOTO: SCOTTOLSON/GETTY IMAGES

11/9/2017 Church in Texas Shooting Will Not Reopen, Pastor Says - WSJ

https://www.wsj.com/articles/church-in-texas-shooting-will-not-reopen-pastor-says-1510243065 2/2

month old girl. Law enforcement is also counting an unborn child, dying with themother, on the list of 26 dead. Most of the victims were female.

As to whether the church building will eventually be torn down and rebuilt, Mr.Pomeroy said, “It’s too soon right now to tell. I want to get through all the funeralsbefore I do anything.”

The pastor said he didn’t know when the funerals might start. Mr. Pomeroy and his wife,out of town on the day of the shooting, lost their 14-year-old daughter in the rampage,along with about half of the congregation.

Some fundraising campaignsare being held to help thechurch and victims. OneGoFundMe page had raisedabout $93,000 as ofWednesday. When asked ifmoney from the fundraiserswould be used to help build anew church, Mr. Pomeroysaid, “The primary thing thatwe’re going to do is help thosethat have been hurt.”

The church has been a vitalpart of Sutherland Springs,drawing in the community byhosting such events as fallfestivals, church suppers, andChristmas parties. Theunincorporated town is about

35 miles south of San Antonio with a population estimated around 400 to 500.

Vice President Mike Pence commended the community for sticking together and calledthe shooter “a deranged man” during a prayer vigil Wednesday night at a high-schoolfootball stadium in nearby Floresville. Hundreds of people attended the vigil, includingabout two-dozen family members of those killed and injured.

“It was the worst mass shooting in a place of worship in American history,” Mr.Pence said.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also spoke at the vigil, acknowledging that “anguish and sorrow”hangs over the community.

“We will not be overcome by evil,” Mr. Abbott said. “Love will conquer evil. Yourcommunity saw the very face of evil.”

Law-enforcement officials won’t discuss possible motives for the rampage, but have saidthe shooter was at odds with his mother-in-law, who attended the church but wasn’tthere the day of the shooting.

Christopher Combs, FBI special agent in charge of San Antonio’s division, said earlierthis week that people should be aware that active-shooting cases are on the rise—and toprepare themselves.

“We should all be thinking about, `What are we going to do if a crisis breaks out?’ ” hesaid.

Write to Tawnell D. Hobbs at [email protected]

Copyright &copy;2017 Dow Jones &amp; Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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11/13/2017 Texas church turned into a memorial after mass shooting - CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/13/us/inside-first-baptist-church/index.html?sr=twCNN111317inside-first-baptist-church0929AMVODtopLink 1/5

Texas church turned into a memorial after massshooting

Updated 8:11 AM ET, Mon November 13, 2017By Matt Wotus and Emily Smith, CNN

Story highlights

The church was emptied and covered fromfloor to ceiling in white

There were 26 roses on 26 white chairs,representing each victim of the attack

(CNN) — The same day that the First Baptist Church ofSutherland Springs held its first service since a gunmanopened fire on parishioners last week, killing 25 people and anunborn child, residents and visitors got to see how the churchhad been turned into a memorial.

On Sunday evening, the church opened its doors and invited the public inside the sanctuary, which had beenemptied and transformed into a memorial, completely covered from floor to ceiling in white.

11/13/2017 Texas church turned into a memorial after mass shooting - CNN

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Those who visited found 26 roses on 26 white chairs, representing each of the victims who lost their lives.

A single pink rose was placed on a chair in honor of the unborn child. Crystal Holcombe, who was two monthspregnant, was killed in the attack.

11/13/2017 Texas church turned into a memorial after mass shooting - CNN

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A recording of some of the victims' voices played in the background. They were reading scripture, or praying.

11/13/2017 Texas church turned into a memorial after mass shooting - CNN

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At the front of the church, behind a wooden cross, visitors could read a poster of the scripture that was meant tobe read last Sunday.

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11/13/2017 Texas church turned into a memorial after mass shooting - CNN

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It was Psalm 100, which reads, in part, "Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanksto Him and praise His name. For Yahweh is good, and His love is eternal; His faithfulness endures through allgenerations."

CNN's Dakin Andone, Jaide Timm-Garcia and Kaylee Hartung contributed to this report

 Resurrecting an ancient Egyptian tomb 

Accounts of rape, burning children and murder

Airport odyssey reveals how rude or funny we can be

U.S. + Live TV

11/13/2017 Addressing mass shootings: Every idea on the table – San Bernardino Sun

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By CARL M. CANNON | |November 11, 2017 at 9:30 pm

AP Photo/David J. PhillipCrosses showing shooting victims names stand near the First Baptist ChurchThursday, Nov. 9, 2017, in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

OPINION

Addressing mass shootings:Every idea on the table

11/13/2017 Addressing mass shootings: Every idea on the table – San Bernardino Sun

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For some children of the ’60s, the decade’s most traumatic crimes weren’t the

assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy or the martyrdom of Martin Luther

King — or even the appalling 1963 Klan church bombing that killed four black

girls in Birmingham. It wasn’t even the rape, torture and strangulation of eight

student nurses by a psycho named Richard Speck in Chicago in mid-July of 1966.

The most terrifying violence came two weeks later when a former U.S. Marine

named Charles Whitman killed his wife and mother before taking an arsenal to

the University of Texas tower and shooting everyone he saw. By the time an Austin

cop took him out, Whitman had killed 16 people and wounded 31.

As a kid growing up the Bay Area, I viewed Stanford’s Hoover Tower and the

Campanile at UC Berkeley differently a�er that. One day, while walking by Saints

Peter and Paul Church in North Beach, my dad said that Joe DiMaggio had gotten

married there. My kid brother asked if a madman had ever used the cathedral as a

perch to shoot people below in Washington Square. Parents assured their children

with the only logic they could muster: Such crimes are rare, they said. This was

true then. It’s not true anymore — and hasn’t been for a while.

As a cub police reporter in San Diego in 1979, I was on the scene for the �rst mass

shooting at an American elementary school. The anomaly wasn’t only the choice

of target, Cleveland Elementary School, but also that the shooter was a girl, 16-

year-old Brenda Spencer.

The �rst mass shooting in a church took place the following year when a 46-year-

old atheist walked into the First Baptist Church in Dainger�eld, Texas, yelling

“This is war!” It wasn’t war, but it seemed like hell to the parishioners cowering in

the pews. Dainger�eld and the Cleveland Elementary School revealed that no

place was a sanctuary.

Since then, America has suffered through at least eight other such attacks on

places of worship, one of them a Sikh temple in Wisconsin. Three of these killers

have professed racist, homophobic or white supremacist views; another hated

Baptists. One was a Muslim angry about the killings at Temple Emanuel in

Charleston, S.C.

The litany of colleges devastated by such crimes grows yearly. Everyone

remembers the carnage at Virginia Tech, but have we forgotten the mass

shootings at Northern Illinois University, Arizona, San Diego State, Umpqua

Community College and Santa Monica College? Yes, Columbine High School and

Sandy Hook Elementary were shocks to the national psyche, but killers have

slaughtered innocents at a host of other schools, including another Cleveland

Elementary in California, this one in Stockton.

11/13/2017 Addressing mass shootings: Every idea on the table – San Bernardino Sun

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In 2012, a�er 12 movie-goers were gunned down in Aurora, Colorado, I wrote a

four-part series examining the issue. Since then, four of the �ve deadliest

shootings in U.S. history have taken place. Twenty-six dead in Newtown,

Connecticut, including 20 kids ages 6 and 7. Forty-nine at the Pulse club in

Orlando; 58 killed and more than 500 wounded in Las Vegas last month; 26 killed a

week ago at a small Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

Speaking for millions of Americans, the time for business-as-usual is over. We

need a national dialogue on this plague, followed by concrete action. It’s time to

put everything on the table, and I do mean everything. Mass shootings are not a

new phenomenon. But the death toll has become staggering, and the ripple

effects to the society potentially debilitating. The entrenched battle lines between

Democrats and Republican are killing this country. Resuscitating it will require

liberals and conservatives to put their fellow Americans ahead of stale ideologies

and mindless talking points.

In 1903 the streets of Win�eld, Kansas were turned red by Spanish-American War

veteran Gilbert Twigg. Twigg killed nine people and wounded many more at an

outdoor concert before turning a revolver on himself. “The boys around town had

referred to him as ‘Crazy’ Twigg,” the local paper reported later, “but no one

thought he was dangerous.”

Today, we all know that mentally ill men with a pro�ciency with �rearms, no job

and a seething anger toward society are quite dangerous. So why such easy access

to �rearms? One reason is that our laws are too deferential to the rights of the

mentally ill.

Charles Whitman suspected, correctly, that he had brain damage. He told his

shrink he fantasized about shooting people from a tower. His therapist told no

one. Aurora multiplex killer James Holmes told his psychiatrist that he had

“homicidal thoughts” three or four times a day and that it was getting worse. She

told no one. Jared Loughner, the Tucson shooter who wounded Congresswoman

Gabrielle Gifford and 13 others while killing six, acted so oddly that some students

and teachers refused to be in the same class with him. But he could buy guns.

Let’s change that.

Here are other steps to consider:

11/13/2017 Addressing mass shootings: Every idea on the table – San Bernardino Sun

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• You don’t like how Donald Trump speaks about Muslim immigrants? I don’t,

either. But let’s not pretend we don’t know who attacked the Pulse nightclub, Fort

Hood, two Chattanooga military bases, the Inland Regional Center in San

Bernardino, or who drove the deadly truck in New York City. The answer is

Muslim immigrants or �rst-generation Muslims radicalized by Islamic extremist

groups. The Trump administration wants stricter vetting of such people? Isn’t that

an obvious need?

• You like the Second Amendment? I once did, too. But the arsenal Stephen

Paddock took to the 32nd �oor of the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas included

weapons for a battle�eld. If the National Ri�e Association keeps defending the

unlimited right of Americans to hoard such weapons, millennial generation

voters already �ocking to liberal candidates and causes will eventually repeal it.

Take heed, NRA.

• What about existing gun laws — why aren’t they enforced? How was a dangerous

convict like Devin Patrick Kelley able to purchase his guns a�er being cashiered

from the U.S. Air Force and serving time for beating his wife and stepson? Slipped

through the cracks, did he? We should have laws making such negligence a

criminal offense.

• The Second Amendment isn’t the only constitutional hurdle we must confront.

I’m a journalist who relies on the First Amendment for my livelihood. But is it

time to set limits? Social scientists have known for 50 years that Americans’

unfettered access to violent programming contributes to aggressive behavior and

copy-cat crimes. The Aurora shooter attended a midnight showing of “The Dark

Knight Rises” with dyed hair and guns, having le� chemical booby traps back in

his apartment adorned with Batman posters. He told cops he was the Joker. So far,

lawsuits targeting studios — and video game manufacturers — have not dented the

production of such nihilistic fare. Plaintiff lawyers must keep trying. Remember,

it took a while to bag Big Tobacco, too.

• Finally, what about the wall-to-wall news coverage of such events? It’s become

clear to criminal justice experts that some sort of grim competition exists with

these killers. Covering their crimes — covering the news — is not the same thing

as producing mindlessly violent video games and is certainly protected by the

First Amendment. Yet not everything that the news media can do is something it

should do. Food for thought, colleagues.

Carl M. Cannon is executive editor and Washington Bureau chief ofRealClearPolitics.

11/13/2017 A Bible and a gun? How churches, temples, mosques are rethinking security – San Bernardino Sun

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By DEEPA BHARATH | [email protected] | Orange County RegisterPUBLISHED: November 11, 2017 at 9:08 pm | UPDATED: November 11, 2017 at 11:18 pm

Law enforcement officials work at the scene of the First Baptist Church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday, Nov. 5. (NickWagner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

Pastor Mark Whitlock heard the news when he was in his of�ce, surrounded by a security team, as he prepared to deliver his Sunday

service.

There was another mass shooting, he heard. And it happened at a church — again.

“We began to weep,” said Whitlock, pastor of Christ Our Redeemer African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Irvine. “It shook us to our

very core.”

The shooting Whitlock referenced was at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. On Nov. 5, a man with a gun walked into the

church, methodically scanned the pews for victims, and opened �re. He killed 26 people, including eight children.

“This was beyond shocking,” Whitlock said.

Except, statistically at least, it wasn’t. Mass shootings have become routine in the United States, with 358 such attacks since mid-2006,

depending on how you de�ne “mass” and “shooting,” according to statistics from USA Today. And mass shootings at places of worship are

hardly outliers.

Two months before the church shooting in Texas another man with a gun went to the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in Antioch,

Tennessee, near Nashville, killing one woman and wounding six others.

NEWS

A Bible and a gun? How churches, temples, mosques arerethinking security

11/13/2017 A Bible and a gun? How churches, temples, mosques are rethinking security – San Bernardino Sun

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That wasn’t particularly unusual, either. At Catholic churches and Mormon temples, at synagogues and mosques, at Unitarian churches

and spiritual retreats, at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin — over the past decade or so, places of worship routinely have been active crime

scenes for mass murderers.

The horror in Texas last week even prompted a telling moniker: It was described on CNN and other news outlets as the “deadliest shooting

at a house of worship” in American history.

For spiritual leaders, the trend offers a dilemma. Welcoming strangers is a key tenet of many religions. But that ideal also makes houses of

worship, in the parlance of the modern world, “so� targets.”

“The truth is, this is a different day,” Whitlock said.

Whitlock knows this well. On June 15, 2015, a self-proclaimed white supremacist walked into the Bible study group at the AME Church in

Charleston, S.C., and murdered nine people. Since then, Whitlock’s AME church in Irvine has been protected by professional security.

“We are a welcoming church,” Whitlock said. “But we need a security plan, a team of professionals and volunteers who will keep

congregants safe.”

The shootings can change congregations and, in some ways, how they practice their faith.

A Sikh tradition is that a temple should keep open doors that face north, south, east and west. It’s a symbol of how the religion is open to

people from all places and all walks of life.

That tradition is no longer followed at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, in Oak Creek, Wis. That’s where, on Aug. 5, 2012, an admitted neo-

Nazi entered through one of those open doors and opened �re, killing six and severely injuring four others.

Since then, when people gather to worship, the doors have been locked.

“The need to protect human lives overrides everything else,” said Pardeep Singh Kaleka, whose father, Satwant Singh Kaleka, was among

the victims in 2012.

“This is the new reality.”

Now, at the temple, a security guard watches the parking lot as members pray. Surveillance cameras grace every corner of the campus; the

windows are �tted with shatter-proof glass.

But such measures don’t necessarily make people feel safe.

When an entire community comes under attack, as Kaleka’s did, the healing process can be complex. Kaleka said it took about a year a�er

the shootings for congregants at his temple to even begin to feel some sense of security.

“As people of faith, the �rst question you tend to ask is: ‘Where was God that day?’ ” Kaleka said.

“You also realize that you can either be de�ned by what happened to you or by what you did about it.”

A�er the shooting, Kaleka’s family started Serve2Unite, a nonpro�t that trains student leaders to build compassionate, inclusive and

nonviolent communities.

Kaleka sees a number of similarities between Sutherland Springs and the shooting at his temple. In both cases, the shooter was someone

who slipped through legal and social networks prior to taking innocent lives.

“Both were individuals who shouldn’t have had guns,” he said. “Both cased the perimeter before they started shooting … Both took their

own lives.”

Violence has erupted at houses of worship o�en enough that at least one security agency, LionHeart International, in Florida, specializes

in protecting such venues.

Tim Miller, a former Secret Service agent and security expert, advocates arming and training members of congregations. Miller points out

that in the two most recent church massacres — in Sutherland Springs and Antioch, Tenn. — the shooters were stopped by armed

defenders, albeit a�er more than 50 people total had been killed or wounded.

“I’m not for randomly putting guns in people’s hands,” Miller said. “That would be counterproductive. We need to arm the right people who

have the right kind of training.”

Miller believes religious leaders need to reevaluate some ideals, and to value safety over unconditional access.

“They need to have armed law enforcement of�cials as part of events,” Miller said. “They need to provide training for staff members and

volunteers. They need to have a plan for how to act in a crisis situation.”

Sutherland Springs didn’t come as a shock to Miller.

“What took me by surprise? In that church, in rural Texas, not one person had a gun.”

11/13/2017 A Bible and a gun? How churches, temples, mosques are rethinking security – San Bernardino Sun

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Miller says he has been deluged with calls for help from churches a�er the Texas massacre.  He hopes the incident motivates churches

around the country to put security measures in place.

For many houses of worship — particularly synagogues and mosques — the goals of modern security have outpaced ancient ideals for

some time.

Rabbi Susan Goldberg said synagogues in Southern California became acutely aware of the need for security a�er a white supremacist

walked into the lobby of North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills on Aug. 10, 1999, and opened �re, injuring �ve and

killing a mail carrier outside the building.

“That incident was a game changer for us,” said Goldberg, who leads the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, a Los Angeles landmark and the city’s

oldest synagogue.

“We’ve had robust security for many years … We need to.”

The temple has received several bomb threats, including one over the summer. Goldberg said there are two schools on campus as well,

boosting the need for security.

“We check people’s IDs when they come on campus,” she said. “We have security personnel and cameras.”

Last year, the Islamic Center of Los Angeles received phone threats from a man who said he planned to kill Muslims. Police later arrested

Mark Lucian Feigin, 40, in connection with the threats. They found nine guns, modi�ed high-capacity magazines and 250 rounds of

ammunition in his home.

A�er that threat at the Islamic Center, Goldberg’s synagogue placed a call to their Muslim friends. The rabbi said her synagogue’s security

director did a walk-through at the mosque and offered suggestions to the organization’s leaders.

Mosques around the country, which have been the target of threats and hate crimes nationwide, have learned from the Jewish community

how to protect themselves, said Corey Saylor, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Saylor recently worked with a security consultant to write a booklet aimed at helping mosques improve security. A�er the shooting in

Texas, CAIR has offered this booklet to churches and other houses of worship.

Several Southern California police departments work with mosques and other houses of worship to offer extra protection, particularly

during big events such as Ramadan prayers and festivities. The Islamic Society of Orange County in Garden Grove, the largest mosque on

the West Coast, gets regular police patrols. The mosque also houses a school on campus.

For congregations struggling �nancially, the Department of Homeland Security offers grants to secure places of worship, Saylor said.

“It might be time-consuming, but it’s worth the effort,” he said.

Still, when asked about guns in religious sanctuaries, Saylor expressed mixed feelings.

“I’d leave it to local communities based on the law and their own ethical leanings,” he said. “Congregations may have strong feelings about

having �rearms in a place that is supposed to be a sanctuary for peace.”

Council Nedd, the bishop and rector at St. Alban’s Anglican Church in Pine Grove Mills, Pennsylvania, says he is considering taking his gun

to church Sundays. Nedd’s position is unique because he’s both a clergyman and a law enforcement of�cer.

“My fundamental view is church is a sacred space and you don’t de�ne it with weapons,” he said. “But the fact is, we live in a world where

people don’t value this sacred space any more.”

Other types of security measures, Nedd added, are cost-prohibitive for a small church such as his 50-member congregation.

Chineta Goodjoin, who heads New Hope Presbyterian Church in Orange, struggles with the idea of arming her congregants or volunteers,

let alone bringing a gun to church.

“I’m not prepared to go there yet,” she said. “Where are we going as a community when we start guarding ourselves with weapons in

church?”

That said, Goodjoin believes a security team is indispensable for her church. Her best friend, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, was one of the

nine parishioners who died two years ago during the AME church shooting in Charleston, S.C.

“Situations like Charleston and Texas give us pause,” she said.

“We do watch who is coming in and out of our church … We have security during choir practice and Bible studies.”

In Irvine, AME Pastor Whitlock said he’s heard from congregants who expressed fear about attending church since the Charleston

massacre and other incidents. He told them to come anyway.

“We cannot let fear hold us hostage at home on Sunday morning,” he said.

The church’s primary objective should be to protect its congregants, Whitlock said.

11/13/2017 A Bible and a gun? How churches, temples, mosques are rethinking security – San Bernardino Sun

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“We believe God will protect us,” he said.

“But God also gives us the tools we need to protect ourselves. And we need to start using them.”

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deepa-bharath Deepa Bharath

Deepa Bharath covers religion for The Orange County Register and the Southern California Newspaper Group. Her workis focused on how religion, race and ethnicity shape our understanding of what it is to be American and how religion in particular helpsin�uence public policies, laws and a region's culture. Deepa also writes about race, cultures and social justice issues. She has covered anumber of other beats ranging from city government to breaking news for the Register since May 2006. She has received fellowshipsfrom the International Women's Media Foundation and the International Center for Journalists to report stories about reconciliation,counter-extremism and peace-building efforts around the world. When she is not working, she loves listening to Indian classical musicand traveling with her husband and son.

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11/13/2017 Sandy Hook Lawsuit Against Gunmaker Heads to Connecticut’s Top Court - WSJ

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Nearly five years after a shooter killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy HookElementary School, a lawsuit brought against a gunmaker by families of those killed isslated to be heard Tuesday in Connecticut’s highest court.

The case will be a test on the federal protections that firearms manufacturers haveagainst liability claims.

In their 2014 lawsuit, attorneys for the victims’ families said civilians shouldn’t beallowed to own high-powered rifles. The defendants have maintained they are exemptfrom legal claims holding them responsible for crimes committed with their productsunder a 2005 federal law called the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.

In the Newtown, Conn. shooting, 20-year-old Adam Lanza used a Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle, manufactured by the Remington Arms Co. Gunmen in recent mass shootingsin Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs, Texas, also had AR-15-style rifles at the time of thedeadly attacks, authorities said.

Connecticut Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis dismissed the Sandy Hook case inOctober, saying the families failed to prove that the gun manufacturer could havepredicted misuse of the weapon. Now, the Connecticut Supreme Court will rule onwhether the families’ claim can proceed.

James Vogts, an attorney for Remington, declined to comment. Josh Koskoff, a lawyerrepresenting the nine families of victims and one survivor of the school shooting, wasn’tavailable to comment.

Legal claims against the gun industry have had little success since the passage of the2005 federal law. Courts have allowed lawsuits against gun sellers who knowingly sell

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Sandy Hook Lawsuit AgainstGunmaker Heads to Connecticut’s TopCourtThe case in the 2012 deadly school shooting will test federal protections that firearmsmanufacturers have against liability claims

Dozens of people attended a vigil in Newtown, Conn., remembering those killed in a Las Vegas shooting last month andcalling for action against guns. PHOTO: SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES

Nov. 13, 2017 5:30 a.m. ETBy Joseph De Avila

11/13/2017 Sandy Hook Lawsuit Against Gunmaker Heads to Connecticut’s Top Court - WSJ

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their weapons to individuals barred from purchasing them. But gunmakers have beenexempted from most claims, except those involving allegations of faulty products.

Attorneys for Remington said in court papers that the federal law intended “to protectfirearm manufacturers and sellers from having to defend themselves against claimsexactly like those made here.”

The federal law allows some legal claims to move forward. One such exemption, whichthe families are pursuing, is a claim of “negligent entrustment” where a seller of productknows, or should know, that the buyer likely would misuse that product.

The “defendants ignored myriad risks associated with the mechanical power of theweapon, the porous environment into which it was sold, and mounting evidence that theAR-15 had become the weapon of choice for lone shooters looking to inflict maximumcasualties,” attorneys for the families said in court papers.

The families also alleged the gunmaker violated the Connecticut Unfair TradePractices Act, a consumer-protection law. The lower court ruled that the families

lacked the commercial or consumer relationship with the gun company required tomake such a claim.

Connecticut’s Attorney General’s office submitted an amicus brief supporting thefamilies’ consumer-protection claim. The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, theBrady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and other groups seeking stronger gun laws alsofiled court documents backing the families’ claims.

The National Rifle Association, the National Shooting Sports Foundation and theConnecticut Citizens Defense League have submitted briefs in support of thedefendants.

Write to Joseph De Avila at [email protected]

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Adam Lanza used a Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle, manufactured by the Remington Arms Co., in the 2012 Newtown, Conn.,shooting that left 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. PHOTO: CONNECTICUT STATE POLICE

11/13/2017 CalPERS urges law to notify at-risk pensioners | The Sacramento Bee

http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article184235683.html 1/6

Capitol AlertThe go-to source for news on California policy and politics

CAPITOL ALERT

CalPERS wants broke cities to deliver bad news to out-of-luck pensioners

BY ADAM [email protected]

NOVEMBER 13, 2017 6:00 AM

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System would like someone else to deliver the bad news when local governments quit paying their billsand put a retiree’s pension in jeopardy.

CalPERS at a three-day meeting that begins today plans to propose a new law that would compel public agencies to notify their employees andretirees when a local government decides to separate from the $343 billion fund.

The proposal aims to clear up a process that left more than 200 public workers and retirees from the tiny Sierra County town of Loyalton and a LosAngeles County organization in the dark for months after their former employers stopped paying their CalPERS bills.

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11/13/2017 CalPERS urges law to notify at-risk pensioners | The Sacramento Bee

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Those workers from Loyalton and the East San Gabriel Valley Human Services Consortium became the first CalPERS members to lose a share of theirpensions because of their employers’ failure to keep up with bills.

In both cases, retirees blamed CalPERS for the benefit cuts at public meetings. CalPERS leaders pointed back to the local governments and arguedthat they could not let the agencies off the hook without weakening the overall fund.

“Here are prime examples of local elected officials setting up organizations that aren’t paying what they’re obligated to pay CalPERS,” board memberRichard Costigan said at a February meeting.

The legislation CalPERS wants to sponsor in the Legislature’s next session would require local governments to tell employees and retirees of theemployer’s intent to separate from the pension fund within seven days of deciding to quit.

By contrast, it took 19 months for CalPERS to inform former employees of the Los Angeles County organization that their employer had stoppedpaying its bills. CalPERS during those months tried to negotiate with representatives of the defunct organization, but neither side reached out to theformer workers.

“The employees weren’t advised of this impending disaster for their pensions,” Al Darby, vice president of the Retired Public Employees’ Associationof California, said in March when CalPERS voted to cut pensions by up to 63 percent for former employees of the East San Gabriel Valley HumanServices Consortium.

CalPERS now contacts retirees from delinquent organizations within 60 days, which gives them more time to lobby their organizations to either stayin the fund or make large exit payments that would protect pensions.

The pension fund’s proposed bill has a couple of other features that would shorten the separation process for agencies that choose to quit CalPERSand compel local governments to tell their employees if they’re considering breaking with the fund.

The CalPERS Board of Administration is scheduled to take up the proposal during a busy round of meetings that will also feature a discussion of howmuch the agency pays in private equity fees and a workshop on how the pension fund should divvy up its assets among stocks, private equity andother investments.

Welcome to the AM Alert, your morning rundown on California policy and politics. To receive it regularly, please sign up here

BofA at BOE with $$$ on the line: The Board of Equalization begins a three-day, marathon meeting in Culver City on Tuesday that will mark itspenultimate session as California’s top tax court. The Legislature stripped the agency of most of its powers in June, including the authority to overrulethe tax collectors at the Franchise Tax Board.

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The meeting kicks off with a question over how much money in taxes Bank of America owes on the $581.6 million it earned in dividends from itsstake in the China Construction Bank Corporation in 2008. Come January, Bank of America would have to take a decision like that to professional taxjudges in the not-yet-functioning Office of Tax Appeals.

For its part, the BOE gets one more crack at settling tax disputes next month.

MUST READ: Second woman alleges misconduct by state Sen. Tony Mendoza

WORTH REPEATING: “I wish we could have no pollution, but we have to have our automobiles.” – Gov. Jerry Brown, as anti-fracking protestorsheckled him in Germany.

The road to 2018: The batch of four Democrats vying to unseat Republican Rep. Tom McClintock from his solid red congressional district is gatheringThursday in South Lake Tahoe for a debate sponsored by the El Dorado County Democratic Party. They’ll face off at 6 p.m. Thursday at Lake TahoeCommunity College.

In Modesto, Sue Zwahlen, one of the eight Democratic challengers to Republican Rep. Jeff Denham, is holding a fundraiser on Wednesday hosted byformer Democratic Congressman Tony Coelho and former Assemblyman Sal Cannella. Zwahlen, a Modesto City Schools Board of Educationmember, is trying to catch up to fundraising leaders Josh Harder and T.J. Cox for the Democratic primary in the 10th Congressional District.

Happy birthday to Sen. Andy Vidak, R-Hanford. He’s 52 today.

Adam Ashton: 916-321-1063, @Adam_Ashton

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11/13/2017 How climate change affects California | The Sacramento Bee

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Capitol AlertThe go-to source for news on California policy and politics

CAPITOL ALERT

Will we be ‘wiped out?’ How climate change is affecting California

BONN, GERMANY —

BY CHRISTOPHER [email protected]

NOVEMBER 13, 2017 12:01 AM

California could one day be uninhabitable. Fire. Heat. Floods. Infestation. Disease. Suffering.

Scientists have for years warned about the ravaging consequences of a warming planet. Decamping for the 23rd session of the Conference of theParties to the U.N. Convention on Climate Change, California academics and political leaders were mulling how to better deploy the distressingprojections to give unwary citizens a better understanding of what’s at stake and compel them to see the wisdom of embracing sustainability.

“This is bad stuff. It doesn’t get any worse,” Gov. Jerry Brown lamented to scientists, religious and political leaders in Europe ahead of theconference. “The threat is profound. It will alter human civilization. It’s not decades away. It’s closer than you think,” the Democratic governor addedlater.

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Rising temperatures reaching a tipping point would cause massive destruction, exacerbating inequality, poverty and migration patterns. The warningsare embedded in the speeches and calls to action by Americans at the conference in Germany. Brown, who has made climate change the centralmission of his current stint as governor after serving before from 1975 to 1983, told European leaders that the recent fires in California, stoked byhigh winds and low humidity, were the latest sign of a planet in the throes of immense changes.

The state used to have a fire season of a few summer months, he said. “Now, we are fighting fires virtually the entire year.”

“The science is getting clearer and the extreme weather events are getting more frequent. All of that leads to more understanding, more clarity andthen more action,” Brown said on a panel in Bonn. “The only question is will human beings be able to react in time, or will we have to get such anextreme event that we get wiped out?”

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11/13/2017 How climate change affects California | The Sacramento Bee

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World needs to get off coal, Jerry Brown says

California Gov. Jerry Brown, during an interview at his hotel in Bonn, Germany, on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017, speaks about climate change and needto reduce coal consumption.

Christopher Cadelago - [email protected]

Assembled scientists said lessening public health impacts must be central to policies that stabilize the temperature change below dangerous levels.

“That message affects everyone everywhere,” said Dr. Maria Neira, director of public health and the environment at the World Health Organization.

Experts believe the health impacts of climate change will continue to be a focus across the Central Valley of California, where by the end of thecentury, annual summer temperature averages in the Sacramento region are projected to increase between nearly 4 degrees and 7 degrees Fahrenheit.

The area also is expected to experience an intense urban heat-island effect – which could make it seem 10 degrees hotter in urban areas than rurallocales.

The number of extreme heat days, in which temperatures reach 101 degrees or more, is expected to increase from four days per year to 17 days bythe middle of the century to 45 days by the end of the century, said Kathleen Ave, who heads up a local climate readiness collaborative. She believesthat disseminating more information as it becomes available will give people a better sense of the various costs.

“Our summers will feel like Tucson if we don’t make changes” like reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Ave said.

The six-county Capitol region already exceeds the state average in heat-related illnesses and deaths, according to the California Department of PublicHealth. For vulnerable populations – those with chronic diseases – the elevated heat levels put additional stress on the body.

Rising temperatures also affect air quality because chemical reactions that cause deterioration in air quality are temperature sensitive.

In Los Angeles, University of California scientists anticipate the number of days registering at 95 degrees or higher will increase to 22 by 2050, thento 54 by 2100. In the San Gabriel Valley, extreme heat days could go from 32 to 74 by 2050, and 117 by 2100.

Across the U.S., deaths from extreme heat and heat waves could double by 2050 in 21 cities.

California’s climate of the future will still be Mediterranean: Rain in winter, heat in the summers. But the summers will be hotter, intensifying thesummer drought and creating fuels more primed to burn.

Precipitation is coming more frequently as rain rather than snow, experts say. The snow that does fall is melting sooner, and will continue to shrinkdramatically by the end of the century. This will have major implications for a state that relies on snowpack for water.

When the snow disappears, California will lose what for decades has acted as a natural storage system. Alex Hall, a UCLA professor whose researchfocuses on reducing uncertainties associated with climate change, said there is mounting evidence that the pattern of long droughts followed by bigwet years will become more exaggerated.

“The past few years are a harbinger of what is to come,” he said. “We had a blockbuster last year, by some measures the most precipitation in thehistorical record. And we had before that this very deep drought with unprecedented tree mortality.”

The tree mortality crisis in the Southern Sierra is moving north; caused by warming and different invasive and noninvasive pine beetles.

OUR SUMMERS WILL FEEL LIKE TUCSON IF WE DON’T MAKE CHANGES.

Kathleen Ave

“

11/13/2017 How climate change affects California | The Sacramento Bee

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As temperatures warm, there are fewer freeze days, which were nature’s way of managing the beetle populations. Tree species that have developed tobe drought-tolerant can shut down their photosynthesis process to manage the shortage and then open back up the next year when the drought haspassed. But because the droughts have become longer, trees lack the necessary water, and die. Forests can also become a tinderbox for larger, hotterfires that sterilize the soil rather than the kinds of blazes that promote regeneration.

The fossil record indicates that species move when the climate undergoes dramatic changes. David Ackerly, a biologist at UC Berkeley, said a bigchallenge of 21st-century climate change is how rapidly the changes are taking place – faster than what scientists have ever seen.

“In broad strokes, we know that a lot of species can’t move fast enough to keep up with projections, but what we know less about is what happens tothem,” Ackerly said. A warm spring can cause plants to leaf out early or flower early; then a late frost makes them more vulnerable.

Diversity is essential to the functioning of an ecosystem and can makes it more resilient in the face of adversities like drought. Ackerly contends thereis something deeper at stake for the public.

“It’s an ethical, aesthetic and even personal sense of loss that could be felt across society when we are no longer be able to hang onto a place,” hesaid.

See how sea-level rise could affect the San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area is one of the most vulnerable parts of California to sea level rise. See how the bay would expand during high tide underdifferent scenarios.

Nathaniel Levine - The Sacramento Bee

California is expected to see greater sea-level rise than the world average because of melting ice sheets.

In Mendocino, the rise is projected at between five and 24 inches by 2050, rising to between 17 and 66 inches by 2100. The melting ice inAntarctica will become a larger contributor to the rise than warming waters and melting mountain glaciers, one study found.

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There are direct economic costs as well. UC Berkeley scientists released another study this summer that found the state’s economy will lose billions ofdollars a year to climate change. It concluded that warming will widen income gaps between rich and poor areas of the country because hotter places,where incomes are generally less, will suffer the worst consequences.

Brown believes it will take “big thinking” to reverse the climate impacts.

The warming temperatures are exposing the ways in which society is not planning sustainably, said Hall, the UCLA scientist.

Hall said adapting to the new reality could be more difficult for people in expansive California.

“We could just keep growing and keep developing and keep prospering,” he said. “I certainly hope we can keep prospering, but I think we’re going tohave to think carefully about doing that in a sustainable way.”

Christopher Cadelago: @ccadelago

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