Sam Champion, the weather reporter for ABC-TV's "Good Morning America," will broadcast live Friday from Riverside's Mission Inn from 4 to 6 a.m.
The broadcast will be shown taped in the Pacific time zone starting at 7 a.m.
The show will celebrate the Inn's 15th annual Festival of Lights and will be part of the weeklong series "Good Morning America Lights Up the Holidays."
The show broadcasts to about 7.5 million viewers every day. The anchors in New York will break away occasionally throughout the two hours to come back to Riverside for Champion's weather updates and stories on the city, including a live lighting of the festival lights.
Mission Inn Avenue, between Main and Orange streets, will be closed off during the pre-dawn broadcast hours.
Free regular coffee will be given out by the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf from 3:30 to 6 a.m., and the city will provide cinnamon rolls and reusable "green bags" to the first 200 to arrive.
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Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
UPDATE
UPDATE: Man wanted in hit-and-run of pedestrian
Authorities are searching for the driver of a grey pickup who intentionally tried to run over a pedestrian and then fled the scene in Glen Avlon, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Paramedics are treating the victim for what appear to be major injuries, the CHP reported.
The incident occurred at Bellegrade and Union avenues.
Authorities are searching for the driver of a grey pickup who intentionally tried to run over a pedestrian and then fled the scene in Glen Avlon, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Paramedics are treating the victim for what appear to be major injuries, the CHP reported.
The incident occurred at Bellegrade and Union avenues.
Pedestrian hit by truck in Glen Avon
JUST IN: Pedestrian hit by truck in Glen Avon
A pedestrian was hit by a pickup truck this afternoon in Glen Avon, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The pedestrian was walking at Union Street and Bellegrave Avenue when they were struck by a grey Chevrolet pickup at about 1 p.m.
There is no word on the extent of any injuries.
CHP and paramedics are still responding to the scene.
A pedestrian was hit by a pickup truck this afternoon in Glen Avon, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The pedestrian was walking at Union Street and Bellegrave Avenue when they were struck by a grey Chevrolet pickup at about 1 p.m.
There is no word on the extent of any injuries.
CHP and paramedics are still responding to the scene.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Good News For Crackheads ?
Lowered crack terms could free 20,000 early
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Sentencing Commission is considering retroactive changes that could mean shortened sentences for nearly 20,000 federal prisoners convicted of crack cocaine related offenses.
The commission heard Tuesday from a federal judge and advocacy groups who favor making the change retroactive, and from the Justice Department and others who oppose it.
Guidelines that went into effect November 1 already have reduced the disparity between sentences for crack possession convictions and convictions for possessing cocaine in powder form.
Before the changes, a criminal found guilty of having one gram of crack cocaine would receive the same penalty as someone with 100 grams of the powder version.
Advocates for the sentencing change long have argued that disparity especially hurts African-Americans. Depending on various factors, the new guidelines will shorten sentences for crack cocaine by about 25 percent. Watch the both sides make impassioned pleas »
Making the change retroactive would affect an estimated 19,500 prisoners. If the commission approves it soon, about 2,500 prisoners could go free within a year.
So far the commission has received about 33,000 written comments regarding its proposal. There is no set timetable for action.
If the proposal is approved, a judge would examine each eligible prisoner's case. The judge would decide -- based on factors such as the defendant's history and the circumstances of the arrest -- whether to cut the sentence and by how much.
"To those in our society who sometimes believe that our society really doesn't care about them, I think it's important that we send a message that we do," U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton said in his testimony. "While we're not going to tolerate aberrant behavior on the part of anybody ... we're going to treat everybody who comes into our court of law equally."
He added, "I do think that fundamental fairness in the end has to control the decision and should dictate whether this becomes retroactive or not."
The Justice Department argued that releasing that many prisoners years earlier than planned could have a dramatic impact on society, especially at a time when rates of violent crime have risen in many parts of the nation.
"I am concerned that if indeed you make the penalties retroactive with regard to the changes in guidelines, that we are going to see an influx of the very people who are most likely to re-offend and are most likely to upset these fragile neighborhoods," said Gretchen Shappert, U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
She told the commission that the impact on communities would be "swift" and "sudden" if the changes were made retroactively.
Commissioner Ruben Castillo responded that judges would be expected to use their discretion and to take into account such factors as a defendant's violent history when deciding how to proceed.
Attending the session were at least a dozen families whose relatives could be released early if the commission votes for the proposal.
Karen Garrison, whose twin sons are serving sentences of more than 15 years for crack cocaine possession, told CNN she is hopeful the commission will act.
"I try not to be frustrated because I can't concentrate," she said. "I won't be able to hear the things I need to hear to understand what is going on," she added. "And if I get frustrated it goes into being anxious, maybe even a little bit angry and I can't give in to those things."
Her sons, who have continually vowed they are not guilty, could see their sentences reduced by several years.
"I don't feel anything at this point," Garrison said. "It is like waiting and see. I have been doing that for almost 10 years, just waiting and see."
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Sentencing Commission is considering retroactive changes that could mean shortened sentences for nearly 20,000 federal prisoners convicted of crack cocaine related offenses.
The commission heard Tuesday from a federal judge and advocacy groups who favor making the change retroactive, and from the Justice Department and others who oppose it.
Guidelines that went into effect November 1 already have reduced the disparity between sentences for crack possession convictions and convictions for possessing cocaine in powder form.
Before the changes, a criminal found guilty of having one gram of crack cocaine would receive the same penalty as someone with 100 grams of the powder version.
Advocates for the sentencing change long have argued that disparity especially hurts African-Americans. Depending on various factors, the new guidelines will shorten sentences for crack cocaine by about 25 percent. Watch the both sides make impassioned pleas »
Making the change retroactive would affect an estimated 19,500 prisoners. If the commission approves it soon, about 2,500 prisoners could go free within a year.
So far the commission has received about 33,000 written comments regarding its proposal. There is no set timetable for action.
If the proposal is approved, a judge would examine each eligible prisoner's case. The judge would decide -- based on factors such as the defendant's history and the circumstances of the arrest -- whether to cut the sentence and by how much.
"To those in our society who sometimes believe that our society really doesn't care about them, I think it's important that we send a message that we do," U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton said in his testimony. "While we're not going to tolerate aberrant behavior on the part of anybody ... we're going to treat everybody who comes into our court of law equally."
He added, "I do think that fundamental fairness in the end has to control the decision and should dictate whether this becomes retroactive or not."
The Justice Department argued that releasing that many prisoners years earlier than planned could have a dramatic impact on society, especially at a time when rates of violent crime have risen in many parts of the nation.
"I am concerned that if indeed you make the penalties retroactive with regard to the changes in guidelines, that we are going to see an influx of the very people who are most likely to re-offend and are most likely to upset these fragile neighborhoods," said Gretchen Shappert, U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
She told the commission that the impact on communities would be "swift" and "sudden" if the changes were made retroactively.
Commissioner Ruben Castillo responded that judges would be expected to use their discretion and to take into account such factors as a defendant's violent history when deciding how to proceed.
Attending the session were at least a dozen families whose relatives could be released early if the commission votes for the proposal.
Karen Garrison, whose twin sons are serving sentences of more than 15 years for crack cocaine possession, told CNN she is hopeful the commission will act.
"I try not to be frustrated because I can't concentrate," she said. "I won't be able to hear the things I need to hear to understand what is going on," she added. "And if I get frustrated it goes into being anxious, maybe even a little bit angry and I can't give in to those things."
Her sons, who have continually vowed they are not guilty, could see their sentences reduced by several years.
"I don't feel anything at this point," Garrison said. "It is like waiting and see. I have been doing that for almost 10 years, just waiting and see."
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Mira Loma residents against warehouses (and jobs)
Mira Loma residents against warehouses
Community feels ignored
By Andrea Bennett, Staff Writer
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MIRA LOMA -- Members of a small, mostly Latino community in Mira Loma, who say they are tired of being ignored by Riverside County officials, unveiled two banners Wednesday to present their statement loud and clear: No more warehouses.
Already amid heavy diesel truck traffic and polluted air, the 101-home community objected to six more warehouses proposed next to a neighborhood already saturated with such facilities. When a petition presented to the Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission on June 27 and later a letter requesting a response from the county went ignored, residents attempted to voice their opposition in a visual way.
Residents placed the banners on two of the houses at the entrance to the neighborhood just east of Etiwanda Avenue and north of the 60 Freeway.
"The community hopes to finally get some response from the county," said Claudia Mendez of the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, which helped the residents organize. "To express concern and get absolutely no response is really insulting, and the county should realize this is important to them and they are not to be ignored."
Residents, who thought they had squashed plans for the development after a protest in October, expressed frustration at being poorly informed of the proposal's return. The county mailed notices of the proposal to homes in the Mira
Loma Village. As most residents predominantly speak only Spanish, few residents were aware the project was still pending when advocates from the CCAEJ came knocking on their doors four months ago.
"The majority of residents told us they were already fed up with the pollution and traffic," Mendez said. "Four out of the six are megawarehouses and the other two are smaller commercial buildings, and they will be abutting the houses with just a brick wall between the homes and the warehouses. There's no buffer zone. They're right up against the homes."
The organization found, in recent research from a USC Asthma Study, that more than 800 trucks pass along major streets adjacent to the neighborhood each hour, Mendez said. Pollution levels at the location were measured at up to 156,000 particles per cubic centimeter, according to a CCAEJ press release.
"The particulate pollution increases the rate of asthma, lung and respiratory illnesses, and even mental health issues when small children or pregnant mothers are breathing it," Mendez said. "Etiwanda (Avenue) is already inundated with trucks, the traffic is ridiculous and the homes are already surrounded a sea of warehouses." Edgar Rojas, community organizer with CCAEJ, said the community is already suffering the effects of such pollution, though no official study was conducted.
"We know of several families who have kids with asthma and children with their lungs damaged. In the future, we are going to conduct a survey," Rojas said. "The level of pollution in our community does not correspond with the level of pollution where the supervisors live. They live in very clean areas."
Laura Borrayo said her two daughters, ages 3 and 5, have been impacted the pollution. "My girls don't grow up playing in the backyard like other little kids because every day there is black soot in my yard from diesel emissions," she said through a translator. "My older daughter has twice been diagnosed with the beginnings of asthma and they provided her with a breathing machine, and she is only 5."
Borrayo said she is convinced that her daughter's developmental disability, that of two children next door to her, and other children on her street, are linked to the pollution surrounding her home of seven years.
Charles Lanathoua said more warehouses will mean more trucks and more pollution for his home of 32 years.
"The pollution is terrible here from the trucks and the smoke, and many kids and elderly people are living here," he said. "We even have to clean the clotheslines before we can put clothes to dry here."
Six block leaders representing the entire community on June 27 presented a 176-signature petition to the county requesting that officials not move forward with the proposal to build the warehouses, Mendez said.
Mendez said the petition, letters and phone calls have gone unanswered for months.
Second District Supervisor John Tavaglione's office said the supervisor was out of town and unable to comment on the concerns of Mira Loma Village residents.
Rojas said the banners, for which many residents donated $1 to $20 to make, will likely be followed other actions of protest until the community receives some indication that their voices are heard from county officials and representatives. "When they don't respond, it is as if they are saying we are not important," Rojas said. "We will probably protest at other levels of government because we are not happy with no response."
Community feels ignored
By Andrea Bennett, Staff Writer
var requestedWidth = 0;
MIRA LOMA -- Members of a small, mostly Latino community in Mira Loma, who say they are tired of being ignored by Riverside County officials, unveiled two banners Wednesday to present their statement loud and clear: No more warehouses.
Already amid heavy diesel truck traffic and polluted air, the 101-home community objected to six more warehouses proposed next to a neighborhood already saturated with such facilities. When a petition presented to the Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission on June 27 and later a letter requesting a response from the county went ignored, residents attempted to voice their opposition in a visual way.
Residents placed the banners on two of the houses at the entrance to the neighborhood just east of Etiwanda Avenue and north of the 60 Freeway.
"The community hopes to finally get some response from the county," said Claudia Mendez of the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, which helped the residents organize. "To express concern and get absolutely no response is really insulting, and the county should realize this is important to them and they are not to be ignored."
Residents, who thought they had squashed plans for the development after a protest in October, expressed frustration at being poorly informed of the proposal's return. The county mailed notices of the proposal to homes in the Mira
Loma Village. As most residents predominantly speak only Spanish, few residents were aware the project was still pending when advocates from the CCAEJ came knocking on their doors four months ago.
"The majority of residents told us they were already fed up with the pollution and traffic," Mendez said. "Four out of the six are megawarehouses and the other two are smaller commercial buildings, and they will be abutting the houses with just a brick wall between the homes and the warehouses. There's no buffer zone. They're right up against the homes."
The organization found, in recent research from a USC Asthma Study, that more than 800 trucks pass along major streets adjacent to the neighborhood each hour, Mendez said. Pollution levels at the location were measured at up to 156,000 particles per cubic centimeter, according to a CCAEJ press release.
"The particulate pollution increases the rate of asthma, lung and respiratory illnesses, and even mental health issues when small children or pregnant mothers are breathing it," Mendez said. "Etiwanda (Avenue) is already inundated with trucks, the traffic is ridiculous and the homes are already surrounded a sea of warehouses." Edgar Rojas, community organizer with CCAEJ, said the community is already suffering the effects of such pollution, though no official study was conducted.
"We know of several families who have kids with asthma and children with their lungs damaged. In the future, we are going to conduct a survey," Rojas said. "The level of pollution in our community does not correspond with the level of pollution where the supervisors live. They live in very clean areas."
Laura Borrayo said her two daughters, ages 3 and 5, have been impacted the pollution. "My girls don't grow up playing in the backyard like other little kids because every day there is black soot in my yard from diesel emissions," she said through a translator. "My older daughter has twice been diagnosed with the beginnings of asthma and they provided her with a breathing machine, and she is only 5."
Borrayo said she is convinced that her daughter's developmental disability, that of two children next door to her, and other children on her street, are linked to the pollution surrounding her home of seven years.
Charles Lanathoua said more warehouses will mean more trucks and more pollution for his home of 32 years.
"The pollution is terrible here from the trucks and the smoke, and many kids and elderly people are living here," he said. "We even have to clean the clotheslines before we can put clothes to dry here."
Six block leaders representing the entire community on June 27 presented a 176-signature petition to the county requesting that officials not move forward with the proposal to build the warehouses, Mendez said.
Mendez said the petition, letters and phone calls have gone unanswered for months.
Second District Supervisor John Tavaglione's office said the supervisor was out of town and unable to comment on the concerns of Mira Loma Village residents.
Rojas said the banners, for which many residents donated $1 to $20 to make, will likely be followed other actions of protest until the community receives some indication that their voices are heard from county officials and representatives. "When they don't respond, it is as if they are saying we are not important," Rojas said. "We will probably protest at other levels of government because we are not happy with no response."
Your Local Tax Dollars At Work
Jurupa services district plans lavish galas amid $5 million shortfall
11:32 PM PST on Monday, November 12, 2007
By SANDRA STOKLEYThe Press-Enterprise
MIRA LOMA - The Jurupa Community Services District board of directors is poised to approve $21,000 for parties, including a $10,000 fete at a Jurupa-area country club for retiring directors Paul Hamrick and James Huber.
Tonight's expected action comes in the wake of news that the district is faced with a $5 million shortfall in its 2007-08 fiscal year budget.
Last month, in an effort to stave off future deficits, board members voted a substantial rate increase that will more than double customers' water bills over the next four years.
In addition to the retirement celebration, the district plans to spend $3,500 to buy Thanksgiving turkeys for its 86 employees -- $40 apiece -- and $7,500 for a holiday party for employees and spouses, also at a local country club.
At a local Stater Bros., a 20-pound turkey could be bought for $7.80 to $19.80.
The district provides water and sewer service to residents of Eastvale, Pedley, Glen Avon, Sunnyslope and parts of Mira Loma. All are unincorporated communities in western Riverside County.
Eldon Horst, the district's general manager, said he is sympathetic to concerns, but he added that the turkey giveaway and holiday party are district traditions and the retirement party would honor Huber's and Hamrick's decades of service to the district.
"Mr. Hamrick and Mr. Huber have a long career of service, and recognition for them seems appropriate," Horst said.
Board member R.M. "Cook" Barela called the proposed expenditures "irresponsible" in light of the budget deficit and rate increase.
"How will a 65- or 67-year-old on a fixed income feel about all this when they are facing a rate increase?" Barela asked.
Huber declined to comment.
Board President Kenneth McLaughlin, director Jack Smith and Hamrick did not return messages seeking comment.
Incoming director Kathryn Bogart said it is not the district's responsibility throw a retirement party for Huber and Hamrick because they are elected officials.
"I have no problem with them having a party, but not at the district's expense," Bogart said.
11:32 PM PST on Monday, November 12, 2007
By SANDRA STOKLEYThe Press-Enterprise
MIRA LOMA - The Jurupa Community Services District board of directors is poised to approve $21,000 for parties, including a $10,000 fete at a Jurupa-area country club for retiring directors Paul Hamrick and James Huber.
Tonight's expected action comes in the wake of news that the district is faced with a $5 million shortfall in its 2007-08 fiscal year budget.
Last month, in an effort to stave off future deficits, board members voted a substantial rate increase that will more than double customers' water bills over the next four years.
In addition to the retirement celebration, the district plans to spend $3,500 to buy Thanksgiving turkeys for its 86 employees -- $40 apiece -- and $7,500 for a holiday party for employees and spouses, also at a local country club.
At a local Stater Bros., a 20-pound turkey could be bought for $7.80 to $19.80.
The district provides water and sewer service to residents of Eastvale, Pedley, Glen Avon, Sunnyslope and parts of Mira Loma. All are unincorporated communities in western Riverside County.
Eldon Horst, the district's general manager, said he is sympathetic to concerns, but he added that the turkey giveaway and holiday party are district traditions and the retirement party would honor Huber's and Hamrick's decades of service to the district.
"Mr. Hamrick and Mr. Huber have a long career of service, and recognition for them seems appropriate," Horst said.
Board member R.M. "Cook" Barela called the proposed expenditures "irresponsible" in light of the budget deficit and rate increase.
"How will a 65- or 67-year-old on a fixed income feel about all this when they are facing a rate increase?" Barela asked.
Huber declined to comment.
Board President Kenneth McLaughlin, director Jack Smith and Hamrick did not return messages seeking comment.
Incoming director Kathryn Bogart said it is not the district's responsibility throw a retirement party for Huber and Hamrick because they are elected officials.
"I have no problem with them having a party, but not at the district's expense," Bogart said.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Seven arrested in illegal CD raid in Mira Loma
Seven people were arrested Sunday at a warehouse in Mira Loma in one of the biggest illegal CD busts in Riverside County history, according to the district attorney's office.
Investigators from the Riverside County district attorney's office and the Recording Industry Association of America raided the warehouse stacked with more than 100,000 pirated CDs worth about $1.4 million, said Senior Investigator Scott Michaels, of the district attorney's office.
Rodolfo Reyes and Javier Mora, both of Fontana, Miguel Robles, Javier Flores, Ruben Gonzalez and Felipe Olivares, all of Bell Gardens, and Gerardo Ibanez, of Los Angeles, face five years in prison on charges of possessing more than 100 illegal CDs for sale. Most were Latin music titles.
The defendants would package the CDs at the warehouse at 10427 San Sevaine Way and sell them to vendors for street fairs and markets in Southern California for $7 to $20, Michaels said.
The investigator said the illegal CDs look similar to legal CDs, but some have extra music.
Michaels said more arrests will be made in relation to this organization.
"This group is definitely part of a larger organized crime organization," Michaels said.
Similar to illegal drugs, Michaels said the production and sale of pirated CDs is part of a web of other crimes including street-level gang members who may force a tax on the sellers.
Brad Buckles, the executive vice president against piracy for the Recording Industry Association of America, said in a news release that these arrests "help protect the economic health of local music retailers and the continuing flow of important tax revenue."
Anyone with information about other counterfeit merchandise can call Michaels at 951-955-5430.
Investigators from the Riverside County district attorney's office and the Recording Industry Association of America raided the warehouse stacked with more than 100,000 pirated CDs worth about $1.4 million, said Senior Investigator Scott Michaels, of the district attorney's office.
Rodolfo Reyes and Javier Mora, both of Fontana, Miguel Robles, Javier Flores, Ruben Gonzalez and Felipe Olivares, all of Bell Gardens, and Gerardo Ibanez, of Los Angeles, face five years in prison on charges of possessing more than 100 illegal CDs for sale. Most were Latin music titles.
The defendants would package the CDs at the warehouse at 10427 San Sevaine Way and sell them to vendors for street fairs and markets in Southern California for $7 to $20, Michaels said.
The investigator said the illegal CDs look similar to legal CDs, but some have extra music.
Michaels said more arrests will be made in relation to this organization.
"This group is definitely part of a larger organized crime organization," Michaels said.
Similar to illegal drugs, Michaels said the production and sale of pirated CDs is part of a web of other crimes including street-level gang members who may force a tax on the sellers.
Brad Buckles, the executive vice president against piracy for the Recording Industry Association of America, said in a news release that these arrests "help protect the economic health of local music retailers and the continuing flow of important tax revenue."
Anyone with information about other counterfeit merchandise can call Michaels at 951-955-5430.
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