http://www.tmz.com/2017/11/06/marilyn-manson-points-gun-concert-san-bernardino-shooting/
TMZ MARILYN MANSON POINTS FAKE RIFLE
At San Bernardino Concert Crowd
11/6/2017 6:52 AM PST Marilyn Manson Points Fake Rifle at San Bernardino Concert Crowd
Marilyn Manson showed a shocking lack of empathy Sunday night as he pretended to spray the crowd with bullets from a fake semi-automatic weapon ... in a county that is still reeling from a mass shooting.
Marilyn --- in a wheelchair after a September injury that crushed his leg -- was performing at the Glen Helen Amphitheater in San Bernardino ... the city where a terrorist killed 14 people in December 2015.
Perhaps with that in mind -- and a penchant for controversial headlines -- Marilyn pulled out the fake rifle while performing "We Know Where You F****** Live."
A mic is attached to the scope of the rifle.
Disturbing as hell. 11/6/2017 Marilyn Manson goes for a shock while Rob Zombie, Stone Sour rock at Knotfest 2017 – Press Enterprise
THINGS TO DOMUSIC + CONCERTS Marilyn Manson goes for a shock while Rob Zombie, Stone Sour rock at Knotfest 2017
Marilyn Manson performs during day two of Ozzfest Meets Knotfest at Glen Helen Amphitheater Sunday in Devore, CA. November 5, 2017. (TERRY PIERSON,THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE/SCNG)
By KELLI SKYE FADROSKI | [email protected] | Orange County Register PUBLISHED: November 6, 2017 at 12:21 am | UPDATED: November 6, 2017 at 6:14 am
http://www.pe.com/2017/11/06/marilyn-manson-goes-for-a-shock-while-rob-zombie-stone-sour-rock-at-knotfest-2017/?utm_source=dlvr.it&ut… 1/7 11/6/2017 Marilyn Manson goes for a shock while Rob Zombie, Stone Sour rock at Knotfest 2017 – Press Enterprise Though the weather was cold, the ground was muddy and the sun was lost all day in the clouds, it didn’t stop thousands of die-hard heavy metal and hard rock fans from descending upon Glen Helen Amphitheater in Devore on Sunday, Nov. 5, for Knotfest. The second half of the Ozzfest Meets Knotfest weekend was just as crowded — if not more packed than — Ozzfest the day before.
Knotfest, curated by beloved metal band Slipknot, featured sets by Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor’s Stone Sour, Orange County’s Eighteen Visions, San Diego electronic rock duo Prayers, Testament, The Black Dahlia Murder and more.
In the 12-hours of hard rocking chaos we came up with the most memorable moments from Knotfest 2017.
Shock vs. rock
While out on tour in early October, shock rocker Marilyn Manson was injured when his he y double pistol stage prop fell and crushed him, breaking his right leg in two places. Despite his very obvious medical walking boot, Manson made his return to the stage at Knotfest, rst in a rig that was half wheelchair, half Segway that allowed him both to stand and sit and maneuver 360 degrees.
He addressed his injuries in between “Revelation #12” and “Disposable Teens,” telling the crowd, “I am broken, but you can’t break me.” He performed in front of the same props that had crushed him earlier in the year, though this time they were probably more secure. The ow of the set was a bit awkward and momentum was de nitely lost between tracks as two men in scrubs and surgical masks would come out on stage and aid Manson into his next getup. “I don’t have to detail how much this sucks,” he said at one point. “I’ve got a broken ankle, but I’m still here. I’ve got one more foot to kick someone’s (expletive).”
The band breezed through “Dope Show” and the newer cut, “Deep Six.” Manson donned a hospital gown and hopped up on a gurney for his famous cover of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).” Following that cut he was wheeled out in an actual wheelchair by one of the men in scrubs, only this time he was wielding an obviously fake semi automatic shotgun with a bright orange cap on the tip. His microphone was also rigged to the gun and he sang into it as the band launched into “We Know Where You (Expletive) Live” off of his new album, “Heaven Upside Down.” As he delivered the song, he pointed the gun at the audience, letting the drums serve as the rapid re.
http://www.pe.com/2017/11/06/marilyn-manson-goes-for-a-shock-while-rob-zombie-stone-sour-rock-at-knotfest-2017/?utm_source=dlvr.it&ut… 2/7 11/6/2017 Marilyn Manson goes for a shock while Rob Zombie, Stone Sour rock at Knotfest 2017 – Press Enterprise Coming on the eve of a mass shooting at a church in Texas, Manson could have had a bit more tact, but it’s Manson. He has always aimed for the shock value or to be provocative and though some that were in the crowd thought it was “lame,” the stunt didn’t seem to truly bother anyone else, especially with the handful of San Bernardino Sheriffs standing on either side of the stage.
Where Manson was clearly out for the shock value, headliner Rob Zombie just wanted to party and rock. And he did both.
Amid all the ashiness of the horror-themed stage set up complete with skeletons, monsters and more, Zombie and his mighty band — guitarist John 5, bassist Piggy D and drummer Ginger Fish — came out fast and hard with “Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown.” They kept pace into “Superbeast,” “In the Age of the Consecrated Vampire We All Get High” and Zombie pumped up the crowd and encouraged the ladies to hop on the men’s shoulders for “Living Dead Girl.”
He’s literally the coolest guy out there sporting glittery bell bottoms, a cowboy hat and a fringe jacket.
Slipknot’s presence
Though the festival namesake and curator, Slipknot, did not headline Knotfest this year, its presence was still very much felt. Lots of fans donned Slipknot T-shirts, full-on costumes and grotesque replica masks from their favorite players in the masked metal band. Much like the rst year of the fest, the band members themselves could have walked around in their full get up unnoticed since the fans are pretty good at copying their stage costumes.
Those same fans also went wild during Stone Sour’s turn on the main stage. The band is Slipknot vocalist Corey Taylor’s successful and more melodic side band, one in which he performs unmasked. The guys ripped through tracks like “30, 30- 150,” “Made of Scars” and “Absolute Zero,” while Taylor slowed things down a bit and jumped on guitar for “Through the Glass.”
Someone in the crowd obviously disapproved as in that moment they launched either a cup or bottle of liquid at the frontman. They missed, prompting Taylor to retort, “Aw, did you miss? I remember my rst beer, too. Make sure to tell your mom I said ‘hi’.”
Musical meet and greets
http://www.pe.com/2017/11/06/marilyn-manson-goes-for-a-shock-while-rob-zombie-stone-sour-rock-at-knotfest-2017/?utm_source=dlvr.it&ut… 3/7 11/6/2017 Marilyn Manson goes for a shock while Rob Zombie, Stone Sour rock at Knotfest 2017 – Press Enterprise Record store FYE set up a small pop-up record shop on site where fans could purchase CDs and vinyl releases from Ozzfest Meets Knotfest artists for $12-$20. The store also hosted two signing booths and early day performers, including Prayers, Warbringer, Goatwhore, Upon a Burning Body, Exhumed and Stitched Up Heart, logged autograph time.
Fans were stoked to be able to meet and greet with the artists, lining up early to ensure a handshake, a quick hello and possibly a photo.
Kilts everywhere
Even with the chillier temperatures, fans were wearing far more kilts on Sunday at Knotfest than they were during Ozzfest on Saturday. Patrons checked out on- site vendor PD Kilts and snagged brand new ones to wear throughout the day. Despite the mud and mugginess of the early evening, they wore them proudly, however by nightfall, a few admitted that pants may have actually been the way to go.
Metal in the Dark
Since Knotfest happened to fall on the rst day a er daylight saving time ended, things got darker earlier. That fact may have slipped the mind of festival organizers, since the side stages didn’t seem rigged for much lighting, which meant that thrash metal band Testament was playing in darkness by the time it took the stage at 5:40 p.m. It also didn’t help that it was an extremely overcast a ernoon and the clouds began to hang lower and lower as evening approached. The fans didn’t seem to mind the metal blackout, however, as the band was slightly uplit from the stage, adding to the edginess of the performance.
Knotfest
When: Sunday, Nov. 5
Where: Glen Helen Amphitheater, Devore
Tags: concerts, Top Stories IVDB, Top Stories OCR, Top Stories PE, Top Stories RDF, Top Stories Sun
http://www.pe.com/2017/11/06/marilyn-manson-goes-for-a-shock-while-rob-zombie-stone-sour-rock-at-knotfest-2017/?utm_source=dlvr.it&ut… 4/7 11/6/2017 This temple in foothills above Rancho Cucamonga could expand in the next 15 years – Daily Bulletin
LOCAL NEWS This temple in foothills above Rancho Cucamonga could expand in the next 15 years
Limei Fang-Ling Yen Mountain Temple, which applied to build two dozen complexes before development restrictions are placed on the mostly underdeveloped open space, is pictured in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017. The temple has gone to the San Bernardino County’s planning division to request that an exception be made in a zoned designate for residential, to allow 24 building that would occupy 154,00 square feet over 37 acres. (Photo by Rachel Luna, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
By LISET MARQUEZ | [email protected] | Inland Valley Daily Bulletin PUBLISHED: November 4, 2017 at 2:00 pm | UPDATED: November 5, 2017 at 2:24 pm
http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/04/this-rancho-cucamonga-temple-could-be-growing-in-the-next-15-years/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_me… 1/5 11/6/2017 This temple in foothills above Rancho Cucamonga could expand in the next 15 years – Daily Bulletin The Limei Fang-Ling Yen Mountain Temple in the foothills above Rancho Cucamonga wants to grow.
The temple has submitted plans to San Bernardino County’s planning division for an additional two dozen buildings.
At build out, “it is anticipated that the Temple will accommodate 50 to 60 full-time residents and they hope to increase membership and the related retreat visits ve- fold (potentially 500 members),” David Wert, spokesman for San Bernardino County, wrote in an email.
The temple’s plan includes an 85-foot height Buddha hall and four buildings taller than 50 feet. And has requested an exception be made in a residential zone to allow 24 buildings which would occupy 154,000 square feet over 37 aces.
According to the county’s Land Use department, the temple has proposed a long- term master plan for expansion over a buildout period of 10 to 15 years.
“This will provide new buildings to house additional monks and nuns, as well as guests and additional buildings for religious ceremonies, teaching, chanting and religious studies,” Wert said via email.
The current application was submitted in 2014. The application was accepted as complete on Oct. 17, and a notice of preparation of an Environmental Impact Report was issued on Oct. 23, according to Wert.
Project Manager Nancy M. Ferguson of The Altum Group declined to answer questions, and referred to a fact sheet with information regarding the Temple’s Master Plan.
The county is planning a public meeting at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 9 at the Goldy S. Lewis Community Center where details of the project will be presented, Ferguson said.
The timing of the application comes as Rancho Cucamonga is moving forward with a project to annex more than 4,000 acres into its borders. Of that, the city’s proposal would designate 2,915 acres of conservation space, which includes temple property.
Rancho Cucamonga resident Ray Grose is worried the project is being rushed.
Grose lives about a mile away, on Sagewood Drive, but never received any public notices. He said he learned about it through the social media site Nextdoor.
“I’m not against development just as long as it’s being done in a reasonable way,” he said.
His biggest concern is the impact this project could have to city streets since Wardman Bullock Road is the lone street that leads to the temple. http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/04/this-rancho-cucamonga-temple-could-be-growing-in-the-next-15-years/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_me… 2/5 11/6/2017 This temple in foothills above Rancho Cucamonga could expand in the next 15 years – Daily Bulletin Grose said he’s heard mixed reactions from neighbors, some are opposed to the idea while other believe the project will increase the value of property prices.
Rancho Cucamonga Planning director Candyce Burnett said the city only learned about the application when it received notices Oct. 25 and Oct. 26. Projects in unincorporated San Bernardino County do not have to come with advance warning to the city.
“This is one of the reasons the city would like to get local control,” she said. “These are the types of projects that could continue to come through under county control.”
Under the city’s vision, high development projects in the foothills would be limited because of re danger, and the high-cost to provide re services.
Burnett said the city does not have an of cial public stance on the project because the response is still being drafted. Typically, the city will respond to any proposal and request that it be kept informed and be allowed to view documents.
In reviewing the documents that are available, Burnett said it appears an 85 foot high, or eight stories, Buddha Hall is part of the proposal.
Wert said 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, he said.
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 County is receiving public comments on environmental concerns that should be addressed in the environmental report until Nov. 27.
The comment period on the noti cation for the project proposal ended Friday, Nov. 3.
Tags: development, Top Stories IVDB, Top Stories Sun
SCNG reporter Liset Marquez Liset Liset Marquez has covered the foothill communities of Rancho Marquez Cucamonga, Upland and Claremont since 2014. She has been with http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/04/this-rancho-cucamonga-temple-could-be-growing-in-the-next-15-years/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_me… 3/5 11/6/2017 KCDZ 107.7 FM - COUNTY PLANNERS MEET FOR JOSHUA TREE, HOMESTEAD VALLEY, MORONGO VALLEY
« MOTORCYCLE RIDER INJURED IN YUCCA VALLEY CRASH SUNDAY FIREFIGHTERS RESPOND TO FIRES IN JOSHUA TREE AND YUCCA VALLEY SATURDAY »
COUNTY PLANNERS MEET FOR JOSHUA TREE, HOMESTEAD VALLEY, MORONGO VALLEY By Z107.7 News, on November 6th, 2017
County planners return to the Morongo Basin tonight to talk with residents of Joshua Tree, Homestead Valley, Pioneertown and Morongo Valley. It is the last such meeting related to an Environmental Impact Report, or EIR, on the coming Countywide Plan. Reporter Mike Lipsitz has more… The 2017 Countywide Plan is an update of the 2007 Community Plans. This update will govern every aspect of development in unincorporated areas for years to come. Tonight’s meeting is a follow up to last month’s Countywide Plan EIR scoping meeting. County planners hope to bring residents of the Basin’s unincorporated areas together to help assure essential areas will be studied in the Countywide Plan’s EIR. Residents of Joshua Tree, Homestead Valley, Pioneertown and Morongo Valley will want to bring questions and visions for their communities. The comment period closes November 20. Tonight’s meeting begins at 5 p.m. at the Joshua Tree Community Center located behind the Sportsman’s Club on Sunburst Street in Joshua Tree.
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November 6th, 2017 | Tags: joshua tree, joshua tree community center, morongo basin, san bernardino county, san bernardino county planning commission | Category: Local News, Top Story
http://z1077fm.com/county-planners-meet-for-joshua-tree-homestead-valley-morongo-valley/ 1/1 11/6/2017 California slapping high taxes on marijuana, causing sticker shock for some - LA Times
California slapping high taxes on marijuana, causing sticker shock for some
California slapping high taxes on marijuana, causing sticker shock for some users (Los Angeles Times)
By Associated Press
NOVEMBER 5, 2017, 3:50 PM
alifornia’s legal marijuana marketplace is coming with a kaleidoscope of new taxes and fees that could influence where it’s grown, how pot C cookies and other munchies are produced and the price tag on just about everything. Be ready for sticker shock.
RELATED: Will high taxes allow black market in pot to thrive?
On a retail level, it costs about $35 to buy a small bag of good quality medical marijuana in Los Angeles, enough to roll five or six joints.
But in 2018, when recreational sales take hold and additional taxes kick in, the cost of that same purchase in the new market is expected to increase at the retail counter to $50 or $60.
At the high end, that’s about a 70% jump.
RELATED: Veteran pot growers see the end of a way of life
Medical pot purchases are expected to rise in cost too, but not as steeply, industry experts say.
Or consider cannabis leaves, a sort of bottom-shelf product that comes from trimming prized plant buds. The loose, snipped leaves are typically gathered up and processed for use in cannabis-laced foods, ointments, concentrates and candies.
Growers sell a trash bag stuffed with clippings to manufacturers for about $50. But come January, the state will tax those leaves at $44 a pound.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-pot-tax-20171105-story.html 1/2 11/6/2017 California slapping high taxes on marijuana, causing sticker shock for some - LA Times
That means the tax payment on a bag holding 7 or 8 pounds would exceed the current market price by five or six times, forcing a huge price hike or, more likely, rendering it essentially valueless.
“All it would become is compost,” predicted Ryan Jennemann of THC Design in Los Angeles, whose company has used the leaves to manufacture concentrated oils.
Governments struggling to keep up with the cost of everything from worker pensions to paving streets are eager for the cascade of new tax money from commercial pot sales that could eventually top $1 billion statewide.
But higher taxes for businesses and consumers give the state’s thriving illicit market a built-in advantage. Operators in the legal market have been urging regulators to be aggressive about shutting down rogue operators.
Donnie Anderson, a Los Angeles medical cultivator and retailer, predicted the higher level of state taxation next year is “just going to help the illicit market thrive.” He said more needs to be done to cut the cost, especially for medical users, many of whom won’t be able to absorb a price jump.
The increased tax rates are just one part of California’s sprawling plan to transform its long-standing medical and illegal markets into a multibillion-dollar regulated economy, the nation’s largest legal pot shop. The reshaping of such an expansive illegal economy into a legal one hasn’t been witnessed since the end of Prohibition in 1933.
The change has come haltingly. Many cities are unlikely to be ready by Jan. 1 to issue business licenses, which are needed to operate in the new market, while big gaps remain in the system intended to move cannabis from the field to distribution centers, then to testing labs and eventually retail shops.
The path to legalization began last year when voters approved Proposition 64, which opened the way for recreational pot sales to adults. Medical marijuana has been legal in California for about two decades.
Come January, state taxes will include a 15% levy on purchases of all cannabis and cannabis products, including medical pot.
Local governments are free to slap on taxes on sales and growing too, and that has created a confusing patchwork of rates that vary city to city, county to county.
In the agricultural hub of Salinas, southeast of San Francisco, voters approved a tax that will eventually rise to $25 a square foot for space used to cultivate the leafy plants, a rate that’s equivalent to about $1 million an acre.
But farther north, in the pot-growing mecca of Humboldt County, rates will be a comparative bargain, ranging from $1 to $3 for a square foot for cultivation space.
By some estimates Humboldt County has up to 15,000 unregulated pot grows, and Supervisor Ryan Sundberg said he was eager to fashion a tax scheme that would encourage cultivators to come into the legal system and adhere to environmental regulations.
Copyright © 2017, Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-pot-tax-20171105-story.html 2/2 11/6/2017 Daly’s cynical bill shows why public-sector abuses are rampant – San Bernardino Sun
OPINION Daly’s cynical bill shows why public-sector abuses are rampant
Photo by David Becker/Getty Images Orange County Sheriff deputies Brandon Mundy (left) and Garrett Eggert (on the ground) assist Las Vegas police officers on the street outside the Route 91 Harvest country music festival grounds after an active shooter was reported around the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on October 1, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
By STEVEN GREENHUT | | November 5, 2017 at 6:39 pm
SACRAMENTO – Whenever I write about some of the absurd bene ts and gamesmanship that ourish within California’s public sector, people write back in disbelief. They have no idea the many special payments and protections afforded to the state’s government employees – the types of things that virtually no one in the private sector would expect to receive.
I’m not referring to the generous retirement plans, which allow “public safety” workers to retire at age 50 with 90 percent or more of their nal three years’ pay and many miscellaneous employees to retire at age 57 with 82 percent of their pay. Or the Cadillac-style medical bene ts.
Many people know about those things, especially given the state’s growing pension debt and the “crowding out” of public services caused by these unsustainably costly programs. But what about the bizarre stuff that somehow has become law?
For instance, newspapers used the term “chief’s disease,” which refers to the way high-ranking California police of cials o en retire with a disability – thus protecting half of their income from taxes. Disabilities have become another entitlement, whereby some normal ailments that af ict our aging bodies can become a drain on the public till.
http://www.sbsun.com/2017/11/05/dalys-cynical-bill-shows-why-public-sector-abuses-are-rampant/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter 1/3 11/6/2017 Daly’s cynical bill shows why public-sector abuses are rampant – San Bernardino Sun
Then there are the so-called “presumptions.” If, say, a er an aged retired re ghter is diagnosed with cancer it’s presumed to be caused by the job, thus opening up a storehouse of publicly funded bene ts. There are “donning and dof ng” rules, whereby law-enforcement of cials may be paid for their time putting on and taking off their uniforms. Did you know that the state’s billboard inspectors were added in 2002 to the category of public-safety of cials, thus enabling them to retire with the most generous pension packages?
There are myriad – and perfectly legal – pension-spiking gimmicks that, say, provide special “management pay” for managers, or give librarians extra pay for helping library patrons, or government-employed gardeners salary boosts for working on sprinkler systems. These are the normal part of their job descriptions, but thanks to various little-known laws these employees get to in ate their nal salary and boost their lifelong pensions.
News reports are lled with stories of public employees who receive massive payouts thanks to “Deferred Retirement Option Plans” and overtime pay, and public agencies that are forced to rehire employees (o en with back pay and sometimes settlements) who were accused of behaving in a less-than-honorable manner.
How on Earth do these deals get perpetrated? Why can’t California of cials get control of costs and waste that undermine the effectiveness of the state’s bureaucracies?
Those are the usual questions. The simple answer is that the state’s politically powerful public-sector unions are like rust. They never sleep. They continually push for new bene ts – and oppose reforms to old ones – in the state Legislature and within city councils. Most of these are approved quietly, with little media coverage and even less opposition. No one wants to go on record opposing police of cers, teachers or other public servants. No sane politician wants to incur their unions’ wrath come Election Day. It’s easier to give in.
But examples always are illustrative. Two weeks ago, I wrote about four Orange County deputies who had attended the Jason Aldean concert in Las Vegas on their personal time. When the gunman began ring on the crowd, the of cers behaved the way many people behaved that day. They used their policing skills to help out fellow concert-goers. Good for them.
But unlike other people who did what they could with their own training and skills, these of cers – and some others in different Southern California agencies – led workers’ compensation claims with their home counties to receive additional leave and medical bene ts because of injuries they sustained during that horri c event. Indeed, Tom Dominguez, president of the Orange County deputies union, told the Orange County Register that he traveled to Las Vegas a er the shooting and while there he encouraged deputies who helped others to le claims.
“If they deny the claims, then the message that they’re sending to their peace of cers is not to take action when it is certainly warranted,” Dominguez told the newspaper. That struck this columnist as a cynical statement, and something that could undermine the very concept of public service.
Assemblyman Tom Daly, D-Anaheim, has since proven that cynicism isn’t reserved for union of cials. He told the Register this week that he plans to introduce legislation to require such compensation for off-duty of cers involved in out-of-state crimes a er the Orange County Board of Supervisors denied the deputies’ claims. If passed, it would apply retroactively.
The county obviously did the right thing given that these of cers were not on duty and were in Nevada, not California. But there’s little doubt his measure will move through the Legislature as union-friendly Democrats and law-and-order Republicans trip over themselves to prove their generosity with taxpayers’ funds.
And that is a primer on how these things happen. It’s time to suspend disbelief.
Steven Greenhut is Western region director for the R Street Institute. He was a Register editorial writer from 1998 to 2009. Write to him at [email protected].
Tags: Guest Commentary
Steven Greenhut
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By Congressman Paul Cook
In April of this year, something happened over Lake Arrowhead that should have never happened: a commercial aircraft flew over the lake. Unfortunately, this was the first of many flights, and for almost all of Lake Arrowhead residents, this was their first “notification” of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) project called Metroplex. I strongly believe the lack of community notification and opportunity for public involvement in the Metroplex process invalidates the FAA findings and requires them to move the flight path either back to its original track or to a track that the community accepts.
The FAA Metroplex project was meant to update and maximize all the terminal flight routes into and out of all the Los Angeles area airports, including Ontario International Airport. The goals included improved safety, fuel conservation, and decreased flight times. Planning began as early as 2011 and was supposed to include community engagement along the way. Unfortunately, the FAA proved ineffective – intentionally or otherwise – in their efforts with Lake Arrowhead residents. I’ve asked the FAA to provide me all documents, correspondence, and notifications that went out to our region to figure out why they considered “community engagement” accomplished. Thus far, I have seen no evidence that the FAA reached out directly to residents around Lake Arrowhead. Critical to my office, I want to know why a federal agency didn’t coordinate with me, the elected representative to the federal government, on an issue of high significance to my constituents.
http://rotwnews.com/2017/11/04/congressman-paul-cook-discusses-arrowhead-flight-path/ 1/7 11/6/2017 ROTWNEWS.com – Congressman Paul Cook Discusses Arrowhead Flight Path We need to get to the bottom of this problem. I recently wrote a Request for Information (RFI) to the current head of the FAA and bluntly stated, “the residents of the unincorporated region around Lake Arrowhead were not given adequate notification that the Metroplex changes could affect airspace over their community.” It’s obvious by the community reaction that no one would have ignored the community engagement process if they had truly been informed of the potential impact. I also stated my concerns over the lack of outreach by the FAA to local, state, and federal elected officials on this issue.
Moving forward, my primary goal is to get the flight paths moved away from Lake Arrowhead and to a location with less impact. The longer this new flight route exists, the greater the impact to our residents and the critical tourism industry. I recently held a personal meeting with senior FAA officials to voice my displeasure and was told the FAA is currently working on a solution. The subsequent RFI sent to the FAA encourages them to reverse the flight routes. While I’m encouraged by these actions, I also know we’re a long way from victory. I have also reached out to lawmakers on the Congressional House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the organization that authorizes funding for the FAA, to look at further options in case a resolution were the first to bring the issue to my attention, and they’ve done a great job keeping me up to date and pressuring the FAA to find a solution. Community involvement like theirs will be essential as we move forward to fix this problem.
No one should ever have their lives and livelihoods affected by a government process that they weren’t able to participate in or contribute to before a decision was made. I’ll continue to push the FAA to correct this problem, and I’ll work to ensure our residents never get left out of the decision process again.
does not present itself soon [sic].
Critical to this whole effort has been the actions of the Quiet Skies Lake Arrowhead group. They were the first to bring the issue to my attention, and they’ve done a great job keeping me up to date and pressuring the FAA to find a solution. Community involvement like theirs will be essential as we move forward to fix this problem.
No one should ever have their lives and livelihoods affected by a government process that they weren’t able to participate in or contribute to before a decision was made. I’ll continue to push the FAA to correct this problem, and I’ll work to ensure our residents never get left out of the decision process again.
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By Susan A. Neufeld
Crestline, CA – The Crest Forest Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) will meet Tuesday, November 7, 2017, at 6:30 p.m., at the Crestline Sanitation District Office, 24516 Lake Drive, Crestline, CA 92325.
A Special Presentation will be given by Bruce Daniels regarding tourism/recreation implementation strategy.
Rick Dinon, Chair, Lake Gregory Improvement Committee will give an update on Lake Gregory.
The next MAC meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 5, 2017, 6:30 p.m., at the Crestline Sanitation District Board Room.
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Comments are closed. http://rotwnews.com/2017/11/04/crest-forest-municipal-advisory-meeting-tuesday-november-7/ 1/6 11/6/2017 New details emerge for Redlands food hall project – San Bernardino Sun
LOCAL NEWS New details emerge for Redlands food hall project
By SANDRA EMERSON | [email protected] | Redlands Daily Facts November 4, 2017 at 8:00 am
Nearly a year a er the city approved a plan to transform the Mutual Orange Distributors Packinghouse into a modern food hall, new details emerged this week on the design of the project.
Micro restaurants, outdoor dining experiences, a renovated 1904 trolley and a non-functioning water tower entryway are just a few of the highlights in the developer’s plans.
The Historic and Scenic Preservation Commission reviewed those plans Thursday, Nov. 2, with Jerry Tessier, president of Arteco Partners Inc., the force behind the project.
The Pomona-based rm’s desire to build a food hall goes back more than a decade, Tessier said, and draws inspiration from places like the Ferry Building Marketplace in San Francisco and Pike Place Market in Seattle.
“This proposal is very much in keeping with those historical sites,” Tessier told the commission. “They’ve become something of a trend in the last couple of years.”
http://www.sbsun.com/2017/11/04/new-details-emerge-for-redlands-food-hall-project/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter 1/5 11/6/2017 New details emerge for Redlands food hall project – San Bernardino Sun
Rendering of the proposed Redlands Packing Plant project by Arteco Partners Inc. (Courtesy)
In December 2016, the City Council, serving as the successor agency to the former Redevelopment Agency, approved the sale of the century-old packing house at 330 N. Third St. to Arteco Partners.
This project would be Arteco’s third packing house project, a follow-up to The Claremont Packing House and the Pomona Packing Plant.The rm is currently working on the Riverside Food Lab in downtown Riverside.
While the commissioners did not take any action on the project, unof cially called the Redlands Packing Plant, they offered feedback on the preliminary plans.
“I’ve been watching this building for almost 20 years and I have no qualms about anything you’re proposing,” Commissioner Nathan Gonzales told Tessier. “I think it will be an outstanding addition to downtown Redlands.”
Here are some key takeaways from the presentation:
http://www.sbsun.com/2017/11/04/new-details-emerge-for-redlands-food-hall-project/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter 2/5 11/6/2017 New details emerge for Redlands food hall project – San Bernardino Sun
The project will include spaces for micro restaurants, bars and food operators. Spaces will range from 300 to 1,000 square feet, with the average space being around 500-square-feet. The basement will be used for storage for the upstairs businesses as well as public restrooms. Visitors can dine in the common dining space inside the food hall, or they can take their meals outdoors where they can enjoy an educational garden, a living green wall, murals as well as a smudge pot water fountain and replace. Diners can also eat and drink inside a renovated 1904 trolley in the outdoor patio. The common dining area would also include a demonstration kitchen and be used for educational classes. Drivers and passers-by will see exposed brick, a roo op sign, painted wall signs, and an elevated wooden boardwalk wrapping around the building, similar to the Claremont Packing House. The main entry is proposed for the corner of Third Street and Shoppers Lane, where visitors will walk up a wooden staircase to the boardwalk. The rm has salvaged several historical pieces they plan on incorporating into the project, including iron railroad bridge pieces, street lights and an in- ground scale.
A 35-foot-tall non-functioning water tower will serve as an entry monument, a new element Tessier unveiled Thursday.
Commissioner Shan McNaughton questioned the inclusion of the water tower, but Tessier said the addition was spurred by comments from city of cials. While a water tower was not previously on the historic site, there would have been one nearby.
Meanwhile, though the project will feature on-street parking, Arteco hopes to take advantage of shared parking lots downtown.
“We feel like enough of a destination where, as Redlands develops even more, people are going to walk a block, two blocks or three blocks,” Tessier said.
The food hall, which is directly south of the Santa Fe Depot, would be within walking distance of the anticipated train station parking lot.
“We do have a need for more parking within a few blocks,” Tessier said. “We are hoping with the development of the shared municipal parking lot for the transit center and pedestrian crossing across the train tracks, that that would be available for our project usage.”
http://www.sbsun.com/2017/11/04/new-details-emerge-for-redlands-food-hall-project/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter 3/5 11/6/2017 Redlands community celebrates Day of the Dead at Olive Avenue Market – San Bernardino Sun
LOCAL NEWS Redlands community celebrates Day of the Dead at Olive Avenue Market
Ryleigh Brown, 5, of Redlands, gets her face painted as Olive Avenue Market holds its 8th annual Dia de Los Muertos celebration in Redlands, CA., Sunday, November 5, 2017. (Staff photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher/The Facts/SCNG)
By KRISTINA HERNANDEZ | [email protected] | Redlands Daily Facts November 5, 2017 at 4:04 pm
http://www.sbsun.com/2017/11/05/redlands-community-celebrates-day-of-the-dead-at-olive-avenue-market/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_mediu… 1/3 11/6/2017 Redlands community celebrates Day of the Dead at Olive Avenue Market – San Bernardino Sun Olive Avenue Market ushered in its 8th annual Dia de los Muertos celebration with music, dancing, food and laughter.
Held Sunday, Dia de los Muertos – or Day of the Dead – is a celebration that “serves to waken memories and encourage gratefulness of the knowledge shared before (one’s) departure,” according to news release.
The displaying of altars honors deceased loved ones and were constructed by members of the Redlands community, the released continued. Those attending Sunday’s event were welcome to display photographs of their ancestors or others on an altar built during the festivities.
Tags: Top Stories PE, Top Stories RDF, Top Stories Sun
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http://www.sbsun.com/2017/11/05/redlands-community-celebrates-day-of-the-dead-at-olive-avenue-market/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_mediu… 2/3 11/6/2017 Victorville's Measure K: What to know
Victorville’s Measure K: What to know By Shea Johnson Staff Writer Posted at 8:08 AM Updated at 8:09 AM The tax would begin being collected April 1. It amounts to $100 in taxes for every $20,000 spent on taxable items.
VICTORVILLE — Voters on Tuesday will head to the polls to decide on the city’s Measure K.
Here’s what you need to know:
What is it?
A half-percent sales tax (technically a transactions and use tax) that will raise the city’s current sales tax rate from 7.75 to 8.25 percent. Certain necessities of life, including food and medicine, are exempt.
The tax would begin being collected April 1. It amounts to an extra $100 in taxes for every $20,000 spent on taxable items.
How does it pass?
A two-thirds majority vote is required.
What will it do?
According to city officials, it’s projected to raise $8.5 million yearly in revenue to supplement General Fund dollars, and it will be earmarked specifically for public safety services.
The city, bound by law, vows to hire 15 San Bernardino County firefighters/paramedics, at least 10 San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies and open Fire Station 315 near Sunset Ridge Park, while acquiring new equipment,
http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/20171106/victorvilles-measure-k-what-to-know 1/4 11/6/2017 Victorville's Measure K: What to know
training and support and setting aside funds for public safety reserves.
Why is it needed?
City officials say current tax revenues can’t keep pace with rising contract costs — largely attributed to Victorville’s agreement with the Sheriff’s Department — and that fire equipment is in need of upgrades or replacement.
Who’s for it?
The vast majority of senior city officials are behind it. The Victor Valley Chamber of Commerce also announced its support. The pro-campaign is being funded largely by developer groups.
Sheriff John McMahon said the department “would welcome the additional funding.”
Who’s against it?
Councilwoman Blanca Gomez has declared her aversion to taxes. The County Fire union has stated it’s not sold that law enforcement won’t receive the majority of funding and it also can’t support a plan without a stronger commitment from the city.
Victorville is currently mulling options for fire services, including re-launching a city Fire Department and re-upping a contract with County Fire after the department’s 10-year contract expires June 30.
The anti-campaign is organized by the Inland Empire Taxpayers Association, which has opposed the sales tax for its effect on vulnerable populations including the elderly and economically disadvantaged.
Who’s staying out of it?
The sheriff’s union, the Safety Employees Benefit Association, is not actively supporting the measure, worried that it would appear self-serving.
County Fire Assistant Fire Chief Dan Mejia, who heads Victorville operations, has declined to offer support or opposition, but has extolled the virtues of a permanent, non-contractual agreement between the city and County Fire, http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/20171106/victorvilles-measure-k-what-to-know 2/4 11/6/2017 Victorville's Measure K: What to know
known as annexation.
What happens if Measure K fails?
City officials say they’ll almost certainly have to annex into County Fire’s Service Zone FP-5. Such a move would be accompanied by a $153 yearly parcel tax on nearly 38,000 parcels in the city.
The parcel tax is subjected to a yearly 3 percent cost-of-living increase, which has equated to $36 in extra tax since 2008 when it was only $117.
Parcel tax revenue would be collected by County Fire, which would also assume assets and liabilities from the city including fire apparatus and facilities, as well as be responsible for capital improvements and service expansions.
Is their voter choice in annexation?
The Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) would oversee the process, and registered voter recourse is retroactive. Fifty percent or more voters subsequently protesting would kill the annexation, while at least 25 percent of voters protesting would trigger a simple majority-vote election.
If less than 25 percent of voters protest, the annexation is approved.
What’s the argument for annexation?
Mejia, the County Fire assistant chief, says it enables the department to plan long-term versus on a 10-year basis, and affords firefighters the ability to rely on resources elsewhere under the County Fire umbrella to drive costs down.
An example of this regional approach includes cohabiting fire stations.
In January, a city staff report said that annexation would result in a $3.4 million net benefit to the city and, that by retaining more of its property tax dollars, the city could re-focus funds to law enforcement expenses and more.
What’s the argument against annexation?
http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/20171106/victorvilles-measure-k-what-to-know 3/4 11/6/2017 Victorville's Measure K: What to know
Mayor Pro Tem Jim Cox is adamant about not giving up local control, which effectively the city would permanently do under annexation. City officials also say that Measure K is more fair than burdening only property owners — who could raise rents — because it spreads the tax to out-of-town motorists who stop in the city, essentially requiring them to help pay for services they also use.
Missed any Daily Press coverage on Measure K? Get caught up:
Victorville voters will decide half-percent sales tax for public safety
Victorville’s Measure K may mean choosing between two taxes
County Fire union backs opposition to Victorville’s public safety tax
Measure K sparked by rising costs, strained Victorville budget
Measure K mailers counter established anti-effort in Victorville
On Victorville’s future fire services, loss of local control a key deal- breaker
As campaigns fly, officials hope public discourse on Measure K gets off ground
In last-ditch effort, officials seek to underscore accountability solid on Measure K
Measure K: Revewing campaign spending and fact checking claims
Shea Johnson can be reached at 760-955-5368 or . Follow him on Twitter at .
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http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/20171106/victorvilles-measure-k-what-to-know 4/4 11/6/2017 2 dead in head-on crash on Twentynine Palms Highway in Yucca Valley – San Bernardino Sun
LOCAL NEWS 2 dead in head-on crash on Twentynine Palms Highway in Yucca Valley
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By BEAU YARBROUGH | [email protected] | Inland Valley Daily Bulletin PUBLISHED: November 4, 2017 at 11:26 am | UPDATED: November 4, 2017 at 7:19 pm
http://www.sbsun.com/2017/11/04/2-dead-in-head-on-crash-on-twentynine-palms-highway-in-yucca-valley/?utm_content=bufferc5612&utm_… 1/4 11/6/2017 2 dead in head-on crash on Twentynine Palms Highway in Yucca Valley – San Bernardino Sun Two people are dead a er a head-on crash Friday on Twentynine Palms Highway in Yucca Valley.
According to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, the collision occurred shortly before 2:07 p.m. near Twentynine Palms Highway and La Honda Way.
According to investigators, a silver Toyota Corolla traveling eastbound along Twentynine Palms sideswiped a Chevrolet pickup truck driving the same direction. The Corolla then shi ed into the turn lane as a Lincoln MKZ, traveling westbound along Twentynine Palms, also entered the turn lane, and the Corolla struck the MKZ head-on.
Both the Corolla’s driver, Doreen Hollingsworth, 83, of Yucca Valley, and the Corolla’s passenger, an Duane Grif n, 83, of Morongo Valley, died at the scene, according to the San Bernardino County Coroner’s Of ce.
The occupants of the MKZ were taken to a local hospital for treatment.
The driver of the pickup truck was not injured.
The Morongo Basin Major Investigation Team is still investigating the cause of the collision
Anyone with information is asked to call the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Morongo Basin Station at 760-366-4175. Callers wishing to remain anonymous can contact We Tip by calling 1-800-78 CRIME (1-800-782-7463) or by visiting WeTip.com online.
Tags: crash, Top Stories Sun
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NEWSCRIME 2 juveniles arrested following burglary of Needles house
By STEPHEN RAMIREZ | [email protected] | Inland Valley Daily Bulletin PUBLISHED: November 5, 2017 at 2:08 pm | UPDATED: November 5, 2017 at 2:11 pm
Two juveniles were taken into custody Saturday a er being accused of a burglarizing a Needles home, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said.
Deputies were alerted to a burglary in progress in the 300 block of Fairmont Street Saturday morning, a sheriff’s news release said. Deputies found an open window at a residence, but the suspects had already le the scene.
The victim provided deputies with video surveillance, which identi ed two juveniles as suspects, the release said. Deputies interviewed both suspects and both were arrested.
One juvenile was on probation for residential burglary and was taken to Juvenile Hall in Apple Valley, according to the release.
The investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Department at 760-326-9200. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call 1-800-78-CRIME or go to www.wetip.com.
http://www.sbsun.com/2017/11/05/2-juveniles-arrested-following-burglary-of-needles-house/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter 1/3 11/6/2017 Body of Arizona man pulled from Colorado River near Needles, sheriff’s detectives investigating – San Bernardino Sun
LOCAL NEWS Body of Arizona man pulled from Colorado River near Needles, sheriff’s detectives investigating
By BEATRIZ E. VALENZUELA | November 6, 2017 at 6:48 am
The body of a 46-year-old Arizona man was pulled from the Colorado River near Needles Sunday a ernoon and San Bernardino County Sheriff’s detectives are investigating the death, according to the San Bernardino County Coroner’s of ce.
Just before 4:30 p.m., deputies found the body of Chad Elkins oating in the river about a mile south of Coors Island near Needles, according to the coroner’s website.
Few details have been released in the case and a cause of death has not been announced.
This story is developing. Check back for updates.
Tags: Top Stories PE, Top Stories Sun
Beatriz E. Valenzuela
http://www.sbsun.com/2017/11/06/body-of-arizona-man-pulled-from-colorado-river-near-needles-sheriffs-detectives-investigating/?utm_sourc… 1/2 11/6/2017 Accident forces evacuation of Lake Arrowhead Village
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This Week's Highlights Front Page ■ Accident forces evacuation of Lake Arrowhead Village ■ Directors and long-term employees leaving the new ALA ■ Drive Extra Safely on Halloween ■ Halloween happenings this weekend ■ Homeless woman dies in cave-in ■ Rotary to hold annual auction at Lake Arrowhead Resort & Spa Top Stories ■ CHP traffic safety campaign underway ■ ALA members could be in legal jeopardy Actor Christopher McDonald’s booking photo from his single car accident last Saturday night My Town at Lake Arrowhead Village. ■ Lake Gregory cleanup slated Sunday, Nov 05, 2017 Saturday ■ STOP, DROP, & ROLL Hollywood actor’s Porsche crashes into gas meter, ruptures gas line ■ Measure W projects discussed at ROWUSD meeting By Rhea-Frances Tetley ■ County urges residents to sign up Just after nine p.m. on Saturday, Oct 28, a silver Porsche veered off of Highway 189 and plummeted for emergency alerts down an embankment and into a gas meter adjacent to Stater Brothers Market in Lake Arrowhead ■ Plan ahead for evacuation – Part Village. This sheared off the shut-off gas valve, resulting the smelly natural gas spewing into the air Two for over an hour before a gas company representative could arrive to shut off the flow of gas. ■ In Loving Memory What's up! Many in the vicinity at the time claimed they were suffering headaches from the flumes of mercaptan, ■ Alpen Calendar of Events – the odorant added to the gas to help detect gas leaks. The strong smell comes from the added sulfur November 2 – November 9 and, although it smells bad, like rotten eggs, is claimed by the gas company to be toxin free. Since Spotlight the gas was flowing into open air, there was less chance of an explosion, The Alpenhorn News has ■ Zen Spirations for essential oils learned, but the village was ordered evacuated anyway. The gas flowed, unfettered, for over an hour and more before the first gas company worker arrived and ordered a repair crew to arrive. Portrait Behind the wheel of the classic Porsche was well-known Lake Arrowhead resident, actor Christopher ■ Bill Priest: Retirement not as McDonald, whom after a field sobriety exam was conducted was taken into custody for driving under planned, but better the influence (DUI). McDonald remained at the scene after he exited his vehicle, although he did try Movie Reviews to impress the responding CHP officers by telling them he starred as the character Shooter McGavin ■ Stranger Things: Season 2 in “Happy Gilmore,” which did not sway the officers in their duties. He was taken to the local jail In The Kitchen with Cathy where he was held until he sobered up and then was released, without bail, according the TMZ ■ reports. So Much to be Thankful For ■ Devilishly Delicious Desserts for The entire section of State Highway 189 from the Lake Arrowhead Resort and Spa to the intersection Halloween with Hwy 173 was closed to traffic for several hours. Stater Bros Market and all the businesses at the Uncle Mott upper village were evacuated and closed. Fortunately, it wasn’t long before closing time for the ■ Against The Wind market and most of the other businesses were about to close for the evening. Employees were Keeping it Real anxious to leave the area due to the smell and the resulting headaches. ■ The Power of Tears McDonald is known for his roles in movies such as “Thelma and Louise” and “Happy Gilmore” and he A View from the Right has over 175 other film and television credits. He has resided in the Lake Arrowhead area for years, ■ PART I: THE POWER OF BEING UNOFFENDABLE http://alpenhornnews.com/accident-forces-evacuation-of-lake-arrowhead-village-p8445-155.htm# 1/2 11/6/2017 Accident forces evacuation of Lake Arrowhead Village
and his children attended Rim schools. Kool Kids ■ According to reports, McDonald has been known to frequent the Blue Jay Sports Bar over the years, Boys and Girls Club of the Mountain Communities although it has not been verified at press time if he had been there on Saturday evening. His ■ spokesperson, Andrew Freedman, released a statement saying, “We’re looking into this situation as Boys and Girls Club of the Mountain Communities it appears that there is a great deal of misinformation swirling.” Earlier this year, McDonald offered golfer Tiger Woods support when he was arrested on a DUI charge, encouraging him that he will surely land on his feet after he seeks professional help. McDonald had a previous DUI arrest in Wilmington, North Carolina in 2013, where his test results of .15 were twice the legal limit.
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http://alpenhornnews.com/accident-forces-evacuation-of-lake-arrowhead-village-p8445-155.htm# 2/2 11/6/2017 Women found with dozens of pieces of mail, personal information arrested in Highland – San Bernardino Sun
NEWSCRIME Women found with dozens of pieces of mail, personal information arrested in Highland
By BEATRIZ E. VALENZUELA | PUBLISHED: November 6, 2017 at 9:20 am | UPDATED: November 6, 2017 at 9:22 am
Sheriff’s deputies tracked down and arrested two San Bernardino women early Monday morning a er they were found in possession of dozens of pieces of mail, social security numbers and other personal information that belonged to other people, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s of cials said.
Consuelo Delayo, 37, and Elma Rosa Alvarez, 36, both of San Bernardino were arrested just a er 1 a.m. on suspicion of possession of a stolen vehicle, possession of stolen property, possession of stolen mail, identity the and false personation, according to a Highland station press release.
Around 10 p.m. Sunday, deputies from the Highland sheriff’s station were in the area of Palm Avenue and the 210 Freeway when they spotted a stolen vehicle parked in the driveway of a home in the 1900 block of North Palm Avenue on the border of San Bernardino and Highland, according to a press release.
Deputies watched the vehicle for a short time but when no one returned to the vehicle, deputies went to speak to the people inside the home, the statement said.
“As they entered the yard, they observed another vehicle, a white Mercedes Benz R350 station wagon, that matched the description of a vehicle that had been observed on surveillance video in East Highlands breaking into community mailboxes,” the statement said.
Deputies spoke to Delayo and Alvarez and and found a large Ziploc bag containing mail addressed to people in East Highland, of cials said.
Through an investigation, it was determined Delayo was on community supervision probation through Assembly Bill 109.
A er obtaining a warrant, investigators found several boxes of stolen mail, counterfeit credit cards, laptop computers, social security cards, checks and identi cations cards, of cials said. They also found the women stolen information to fraudulently take out credit cards, cable television and cell phone accounts in other people’s names.
Authorities also found stolen U.S. Postal Service mailbox keys and a stolen postal route report for the addresses in East Highland, sheriff’s of cials said.
Detective determined it was Alvarez who used one victim’s information to created credit and cell phone accounts, as well as fraudulent tax returns, of cials said. She had also recently signed rental agreements for the Palm Avenue home in the victim’s name.
Deputies are attempting to track down the victims and ask anyone who may have had their mail stolen in Highland and are the victim of identity the , to call Detective Chris Morsch at the Highland station at 909-387-8313.
Tags: Mail theft, Top Stories PE, Top Stories Sun
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NEWSCRIME Rancho Cucamonga man accused of threatening runners with replica ri e prior to Azusa marathon
An Azusa police SWAT team arrested a Rancho Cucamonga man shortly after he allegedly threatened a group of runners preparing for the Canyon City Marathon & Half Marathon in Azusa with what turned out to be a replica rifle on Saturday, Sept. 4, 2017. The replica weapons pictured in this photo were seized from the suspect’s truck. (Courtesy, Azusa Police Department)
By BRIAN DAY | [email protected] | San Gabriel Valley Tribune PUBLISHED: November 4, 2017 at 1:28 pm | UPDATED: November 4, 2017 at 2:08 pm
A SWAT team arrested a Rancho Cucamonga man and seized a cache of replica rearms after police say he threatened a group of runners preparing for the Canyon City Marathon & Half Marathon in Azusa with what turned out to be a BB gun early Saturday. http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/04/rancho-cucamonga-man-accused-of-threatening-runners-with-replica-rifle-prior-to-azusa-marathon/?… 1/4 11/6/2017 Rancho Cucamonga man accused of threatening runners with replica rifle prior to Azusa marathon – Daily Bulletin Joseph Key Fierro, 51, was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon following the incident, which unfolded about 4:45 a.m. at Citrus and Alosta avenues, just outside of Azusa Paci c University, according to Azusa police of cials and Los Angeles County booking records.
Witnesses reported a man in a truck had threatened 10 to 15 runners who were gathered in advance of the race, Of cer Mike Bires said.
“The male appeared to be holding a ri e while circling the victims in his vehicle,” police said in a written statement. “He stopped and exited his vehicle, and pointed the ri e directly at the victims while making some threats,” police said in a written statement.
The man then returned to his black, raised GMC pickup truck and sped away east on Alosta Avenue, police said. The truck had a green toolbox, aluminum wheels and a passenger-side window taped up with plastic.
Several neighboring police agencies who happened to be on-hand to assist Azusa police with the marathon sprung into action and coordinated resources, Bires said. Investigators soon traced the suspect’s truck to his home in the area of Church Street and Vineyard Avenue in Rancho Cucamonga.
An Azusa police SWAT team responded to the scene and found Fierro near his truck, police said. He was taken into custody without a struggle.
Inside his truck, police found four realistic-looking guns designed to shoot plastic BBs, including two ri es and two handguns, along with accessories such as BBs, magazines and ashlights, Bires said. His motive remained unclear.
The Canyon City Marathon & Half Marathon went on without any further issues, he added.
According to county booking records, Fierro was being held in lieu of $50,000 bail pending his initial court appearance, scheduled Tuesday in the West Covina branch of Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Police are seeking any additional victims who may have had suspicious encounters with the suspect. Anyone with information is urged to contact Azusa police at 626- 812-3200.
Tags: Assault and Battery, Top Stories IVDB, Top Stories SGVT http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/04/rancho-cucamonga-man-accused-of-threatening-runners-with-replica-rifle-prior-to-azusa-marathon/?… 2/4 11/6/2017 San Bernardino probationer arrested after deputies reportedly find loaded gun, ammunition – San Bernardino Sun
NEWSCRIME San Bernardino probationer arrested after deputies reportedly find loaded gun, ammunition
Courtesy photo
By STEPHEN RAMIREZ | [email protected] | Inland Valley Daily Bulletin PUBLISHED: November 5, 2017 at 3:27 pm | UPDATED: November 5, 2017 at 3:28 http://www.sbsun.com/2017/11/05/san-bernardino-probationer-arrested-after-deputies-reportedly-find-loaded-gun-ammunition/?utm_source=… 1/4 11/6/2017 San Bernardino probationer arrested after deputies reportedly find loaded gun, ammunition – San Bernardino Sun pm
A San Bernardino man, on probation for felony gun possession, was taken into custody early Saturday a er deputies reportedly found him with a loaded gun, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said.
Diangelo Marquice Sandy, 21, was noticed by deputies near Lynwood Drive and Ironwood Street in an unincorporated area of San Bernardino just before 4 a.m. on Saturday, a sheriff’s news release said. He was sitting on a curb. While checking to see if he needed assistance, deputies found a semi-automatic pistol holstered in the Sandy’s waistband. Deputies also found him with extra ammunition, the release said.
Sandy initially gave deputies a false name, but his identity was con rmed through ngerprints and he was taken into custody, of cials said.
Sandy was arrested on suspicion of felony rearm possession and receiving known stolen property. He was booked at the Central Detention Center in Rialto with bail set at $100,000, according to jail records.
Anyone with information on this incident are asked to call 909-387-3545. Those wishing to report anonymously can call 1-800-78-CRIME or go to www.wetip.com.
Tags: Top Stories PE, Top Stories Sun
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Yeah, me too. If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can seek help by calling the National... http://www.sbsun.com/2017/11/05/san-bernardino-probationer-arrested-after-deputies-reportedly-find-loaded-gun-ammunition/?utm_source=… 2/4 11/6/2017 Help sought in shooting death of 30-year-old San Bernardino man – San Bernardino Sun
NEWSCRIME Help sought in shooting death of 30-year-old San Bernardino man
San Bernardino resident Gary Anthony Delgado, 30, was shot and killed on Mountain View Avenue in San Bernardino on Friday. Via Facebook
By BEAU YARBROUGH | [email protected] | Inland Valley Daily Bulletin PUBLISHED: November 4, 2017 at 2:02 pm | UPDATED: November 5, 2017 at 9:22 pm
http://www.sbsun.com/2017/11/04/help-sought-in-shooting-death-of-30-year-old-san-bernardino-man/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter 1/4 11/6/2017 Help sought in shooting death of 30-year-old San Bernardino man – San Bernardino Sun Police are looking for more information in the shooting death of a 30-year-old San Bernardino man on Friday.
Gary Anthony Delgado was shot and killed shortly a er 3 p.m. Friday in the the 900 block of North Mountain View Avenue in San Bernardino, according to the San Bernardino Police Department.
Of cers responding to reports of shots being red discovered Delgado in a parking lot behind the apartment building. He was transported to a hospital, where he died.
Investigators believe Delgado was the intended victim of the shooting.
Police ask anyone with information to call homicide unit Detective Flesher at 909- 384-5655 or Sgt. Mahan at 909-388-4955.
Callers wishing to remain anonymous can contact We Tip by calling 1-800-78 CRIME (1-800-782-7463) or by visiting WeTip.com online.
Tags: shooting, Top Stories PE, Top Stories Sun
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YARBROUGH_BEAUBeau Yarbrough Beau Yarbrough wrote his rst newspaper article taking on an authority gure (his middle school principal) when he was in 7th grade. He’s been a professional journalist since 1992, working in Virginia, Egypt and California. In that time, he’s covered community news, features, politics, local government, education, the comic book industry and more. He’s covered the war in Bosnia, interviewed presidential candidates, written theatrical reviews, attended a seance, ridden in
http://www.sbsun.com/2017/11/04/help-sought-in-shooting-death-of-30-year-old-san-bernardino-man/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter 2/4 11/6/2017 KCDZ 107.7 FM - FIREFIGHTERS RESPOND TO FIRES IN JOSHUA TREE AND YUCCA VALLEY SATURDAY
« COUNTY PLANNERS MEET FOR JOSHUA TREE, HOMESTEAD VALLEY, JOSHUA TREE WOMAN SCAMMED OUT OF $9,700 » MORONGO VALLEY
FIREFIGHTERS RESPOND TO FIRES IN JOSHUA TREE AND YUCCA VALLEY SATURDAY By Z107.7 News, on November 6th, 2017
Area firefighters responded to two fires called in at the same time Saturday morning. According to County Fire Battalion Chief Mike Snow, at 11:04 a.m., firefighters from Joshua Tree, Yucca Valley, and Yucca Mesa were called to a house fire in the 61900 block of Golden Street in Joshua Tree. When firefighters arrived, they found heavy black smoke and flames visible from the living room area of the home, extending into the patio area, and the homeowner’s 67-year-old son trying unsuccessfully to put out the flames with a garden hose. Fire crews immediately began an aggressive exterior attack on the fire, and had the fire under control in about 15 minutes. The home’s main living area received extensive damage, with a fire loss estimated at more than $100,000.
While at the scene, county fire paramedics learned that the homeowner’s son suffered burns and smoke inhalation from his efforts to put out the flames. The man was resistant to being taken to a hospital for further care and observation, but finally after about 45 minutes Morongo Basin Ambulance took him to Arrowhead Medical Center. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
And in Yucca Valley, firefighters were also called at 11:04 to a possible vegetation fire near Barron Drive and Avalon Avenue. Firefighters from Twentynine Palms, CalFire, and the Combat Center responded and found a single off-road vehicle fully involved in flames. An aggressive attack had the fire quickly put out, but the vehicle is a total loss. The fire had not spread into the surrounding vegetation. Fire crews determined that the owner had recently completed some mechanical repairs on the vehicle, which was a homemade sand rail. While testing the repairs, the vehicle started on fire. The occupants were unharmed.
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RELATED JOSHUA TREE MOBILE HOME CALLED A FIRE DESTROYS HOME IN NORTH SUNDAY FIRE DESTROYS A NORTH TOTAL LOSS AFTER FIRE THURSDAY JOSHUA TREE EARLY SUNDAY MORNING JOSHUA TREE HOME May 5, 2017 May 29, 2017 May 30, 2017 In "Featured" In "Local News" In "Local News"
November 6th, 2017 | Tags: brush fire, calfire, fire, house fire, joshua tree, morongo basin, san bernardino county, san bernardino county fire department, yucca valley | Category: Local News, Top Story
http://z1077fm.com/firefighters-respond-to-fires-in-joshua-tree-and-yucca-valley-saturday/ 1/1 11/6/2017 Man accused of breaking into ex-wife’s Upland home, kidnapping her – Daily Bulletin
NEWSCRIME Man accused of breaking into ex- wife’s Upland home, kidnapping her
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By BEAU YARBROUGH | [email protected] | Inland Valley Daily Bulletin PUBLISHED: November 4, 2017 at 5:24 pm | UPDATED: November 5, 2017 at 9:34 pm
A 39-year-old man is accused of breaking into his ex-wife’s Upland home early Saturday and forcing her into his car, triggering a ve-hour, multi-city manhunt, police said.
http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/04/man-accused-of-breaking-into-ex-wifes-upland-home-kidnapping-her/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medi… 1/3 11/6/2017 Man accused of breaking into ex-wife’s Upland home, kidnapping her – Daily Bulletin The Upland Police Department responded to a disturbance call at 5:08 a.m. in the 400 block of North 10th Avenue in Upland, according to an Upland police news release.
Police say that after Juan Carlos Villagomez-Gonzalez, 39, forced his ex-wife into the car, he left — leaving the woman’s children alone in the house.
After about ve hours, police located the victim and, soon thereafter, Villagomez- Gonzalez, who was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping.
Tags: Echo Code, Top Stories IVDB, Top Stories PE, Top Stories Sun
Beau Yarbrough Beau Yarbrough wrote his rst newspaper article taking on an authority gure (his middle school principal) when he was in 7th grade. He’s been a professional journalist since 1992, working in Virginia, Egypt and California. In that time, he’s covered community news, features, politics, local government, education, the comic book industry and more. He’s covered the war in Bosnia, interviewed presidential candidates, written theatrical reviews, attended a seance, ridden in a blimp and interviewed both Batman and Wonder Woman (Adam West and Lynda Carter). He also cooks a mean pot of chili. Follow Beau Yarbrough @LBY3
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LOCAL NEWS Motorcycle officer struck on 215 Freeway near Corona
By BEATRIZ E. VALENZUELA | PUBLISHED: November 6, 2017 at 8:20 am | UPDATED: November 6, 2017 at 8:29 am
A motorcycle of cer from an unknown department was struck by a vehicle on the southbound lanes of the 215 Freeway near Washington Street near Corona Monday morning.
The crash was rst reported just before 8 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol of cials.
Three lanes, including the HOV lane, are blocked due to the crash, said CHP Of cer Devon Boatman.
Ambulances and rescue personnel are on scene. The extent of the of cer’s injuries are unknown. Initial CHP reports shows a driver stopped to help the of cer.
Authorities have issued a SigAlert for the crash.
This story is developing. Check back later for further information.
http://www.sbsun.com/2017/11/06/motorcycle-officer-struck-on-215-freeway-near-grand-terrace/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter 1/2 11/6/2017 Development near San Jacinto Wildlife Area could be a benefit, if ...
Development near San Jacinto Wildlife Area could be a bene t, if ... By JIM MATTHEWS Posted Nov 5, 2017 at 12:01 AM Updated Nov 5, 2017 at 10:03 PM The state Department of Fish and Wildlife has one final chance.
The Riverside County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to make a final determination on whether or not to allow Lewis Homes to proceed with The Villages of Lakeview development on 2,883 acres immediately south of the San Jacinto Wildlife Area. The board’s Planning Commission approved the development Oct. 14 after the plan was modified in an attempt to address concerns about the massive project.
Final approval of the 3,000-plus home development plan, which will be home to around 25,000 people at full build-out, is likely at the 1:30 p.m., Nov. 14 meeting of the Board of Supervisors.
Early in the process, the DFW could have won some major concessions from the developer and county staff. The biggest and simplest one was funding for reclaimed water through Home Owners Association (HOA) annual fees mandated as part of each home or business sold within the development.
Water is the life-blood of the wildlife area, but its management staff never advanced this one simple proposal to the developer or county that would have solved the wildlife area’s biggest single problem today (and an ever-increasing problem in the future): funding for a consistent, affordable water supply.
Instead the DFW staff brought up piddley concerns easily addressed or dismissed, all the while knowing that the development was going to happen. After 15 years of planning and millions of dollars spent on land acquisitions, the development was a foregone conclusion.
http://www.vvdailypress.com/sports/20171105/development-near-san-jacinto-wildlife-area-could-be-benefit-if- 1/3 11/6/2017 Development near San Jacinto Wildlife Area could be a benefit, if ...
Getting valuable mitigation that will benefit the wildlife area and enhance its value for wildlife and users was the big question mark.
So the DFW has one final chance to advance the water solution on Nov. 14 to the Board of Supervisors.
As background, San Jacinto’s lifeblood is reclaimed water from the Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD) in Perris. In 1987, the Department of Fish and Wildlife negotiated a deal “for the life of the project” (which means as long as San Jacinto exists as a wildlife area) for 4,500-acre feet of reclaimed water per year. Over the past decade the wildlife area has only used about 2,200-acre feet per year, and the value of reclaimed water has skyrocketed. The DFW is foolishly renegotiating the original deal, abiding by one-year extensions since 2015 that allowed the use of no more than 3,100-acre feet of reclaimed water. It has essentially already given away 1,400-acre feet of water.
Even with recent expansions to the wildlife area, the reality is that San Jacinto has stopped expanding its wetlands and ponded areas because of a lack of water. This is because of DFW contract bungling. Loss of a permanent water supply because of DFW’s inability to force the EMWD abide by the original 4,500-acre feet per year contract is an ongoing disaster.
DFW incompetence is a far bigger threat to the wildlife area’s future than development.
So this is an important fact: At full buildout, the Lewis Homes’ development will create 1,900 more acre feet of reclaimed water processed by the EMWD each year. Earmarking that reclaimed water for the San Jacinto Wildlife Area would be a simple and creative way for the developers, county, and DFW to take credit for a creative solution to help maintain and enhance the water supply for San Jacinto.
Imagine if the DFW actually had its original allotment of 4,500 acre feet of water, and that a big chunk of its purchase was funded locally through HOA fees.
The DFW has one final chance to make this dream happen.
Volunteers have until Tuesday to sign-up for
http://www.vvdailypress.com/sports/20171105/development-near-san-jacinto-wildlife-area-could-be-benefit-if- 2/3 11/6/2017 Development near San Jacinto Wildlife Area could be a benefit, if ...
new bighorn sheep drinker project Nov. 17-21
The Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep has to forward its list of volunteers to the Twentynine Palms Marine Corp Base by Tuesday, Nov. 7 for the Nov. 18-21 project to install a new bighorn sheep drinker or guzzler, according to Steve Marschke with the sheep group.
The project will create a new, permanent water source in the Bullion Range on base property, and it should help establish a permanent herd of desert sheep in those mountain along with adding connectivity to existing sheep populations in the Newberry, Sheephole, and Bristol mountain ranges.
This will be the eighth system installed inside the base since 2012.
Volunteers must RSVP no later the morning of Nov. 7 for the project to get security clearance from the military. The group will be camping at the OMYA mine near Amboy at Old Route 66 and Kelbaker Road (which is off the base) during the duration of the project. There will be trips into the site daily via four- wheel drive.
Volunteers should contact Steve Marschke at 310-543-1862 or at [email protected] or John Roy at 562-697-7232 or at [email protected] for more information and details. For those of you who have never attending a work project before, the Department of Fish and Wildlife did a video on a previous sheep society, and it is available at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=msD0r_lkYPw&feature=youtu.be.
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http://www.vvdailypress.com/sports/20171105/development-near-san-jacinto-wildlife-area-could-be-benefit-if- 3/3 11/6/2017 Affordable Care Act has helped the Inland Empire – Inland Empire Business News
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Home > Economy > A ordable Care Act has helped the Inland Empire A ordable Care Act has helped the Inland Empire
By IE Business Daily on November 6, 2017
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That was the consensus reached at a symposium at Claremont Graduate University, although participants agreed the federal health care program – better known as Obamacare – is far from perfect.
The Affordable Care Act has been a boon to the LATEST NEWS POPULAR COMMENTS Inland Empire by getting more people health care insurance while giving the region an A ordable Care Act Has economic boost, according to one of the region’s Helped The Inland Empire leading health care officials. That was the consensus reached at a symposium at... Since it went into effect in 2010, 124,000 people November 6, 2017 0 in both counties have gotten medical insurance through Covered California, the state-run exchange that manages the program in New Art Exhibit Comes To California, said Dr. Bradley Gilbert, chief Shopping Mall executive officer of the Inland Empire Health Montclair Place will welcome Plan. another art exhibit, this time... November 6, 2017 0 Gilbert spoke at a recent panel discussion at Claremont Graduate University that examined the impact the Affordable Care Act has had on Riverside and San Bernardino counties. San Bernardino County “It’s had an economic impact, but the main thing it’s done is it has gotten more people health Names CEO insurance,” Gilbert said. “More people with chronic health problems, like diabetes or cardiovascular Gary McBride has been named San Bernardino County’s chief... disease, can get treatment. I think that’s the most important thing.” November 5, 2017 0 The Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, has had a huge impact on Medicaid, the federal and state health care insurance program for low- income families and individuals, Gilbert said.
In California, the Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid eligibility from 100 percent of the federal poverty rate to 138 percent of the federal poverty rate. Regulations were also expanded so that low- income adults without children would be eligible.
In California, 3.7 million people have been added to Medi-Cal – as Medicaid is known in the state – because of the Affordable Care Act’s eligibility expansion.
Roughly 400,000 more Inland residents are insured by Medi-Cal than were insured before the Affordable Care Act went into law, and another 240,000 Inland residents signed up for Medi-Cal under the old guidelines during that time, Gilbert said.
http://iebusinessdaily.com/affordable-care-act-has-helped-the-inland-empire/ 1/3 11/6/2017 Affordable Care Act has helped the Inland Empire – Inland Empire Business News Gilbert has first-hand knowledge of the increase in Medi-Cal enrollees. The not-for-profit Inland Empire Health Plan, which began in 1996 and today serves about 1.2 million members, helps Inland residents secure the best Medi-Cal plan available to them.
“Before the ACA we had one of the highest uninsured rates in the country, about 20 percent,” Gilbert said. “Now it’s down to seven or eight percent.”
The Affordable Care Act has also created between 40,000 and 50,000 jobs in the Inland Empire, said Deborah Freund, professor of economic sciences at Claremont Graduate University and the moderator of the panel discussion.
The landmark federal program is pumping about $1 billion a year into the local economy five years after it became law, according to a study the Inland Empire Health Plan published in July.
That has led to roughly $2.5 billion a year in economic activity – the so-called multiplier effect – in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, according to Gilbert.
“The ACA has created an economic engine for the entire Inland region,” Gilbert said. “I think it would be accurate to say that it’s had a major impact on the local economy.”
Park Tree Community Health Center, a medical home that assists underserved patients on the west side of the Inland Empire, has gone from 14 to 80 employees during the past three years because of the Affordable Care Act, said Ellen R. Silver, a former nurse practitioner and the organization’s chief executive officer.
Those jobs are mostly medical technicians and assistants that pay about $11 an hour, Silver said during the discussion.
“These jobs are a very good way to get into the workplace,” she said.Certainly the Affordable Care Act, which President Trump has vowed to eliminate, has had it share of problems since it became law.
It sustained a terrible rollout, with repeated glitches to its website, and President Obama’s pledge that no one would lose their existing care involuntarily because of the Affordable Care Act turned out to not be true.
While it has reduced the number of uninsured people in every state, the price of health plans in new markets has gone up while the number of plan options is declining in a lot of places, according to reports.
So far, all attempts by the current Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act have failed by a handful of votes in the Senate. Should it ever go away it would be a major blow to the Inland Empire, but one panel member said he’s doesn’t believe that will happen.
Taking health care away from people, especially those undergoing treatment, would not be smart politics, said Richard Pitts, medical director of the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton.
“I’m going to make a prediction and say that, despite all the talk you hear, Obamacare isn’t going away,” Pitts said. “It will be tweaked but it’s not going away. I think word has gotten out that getting rid of it would not be a good idea.”
Since the Affordable Care Act passed, Arrowhead Regional has seen its emergency room visits drop from 120,000 to 90,000 a year, the result of more people in the Inland Empire being insured, Pitts said.
Still, Pitts admitted the program is far from perfect and that its critics are not without merit in some instances.
“Some people might argue that Medicaid never had anything to do with adults who don’t have children,” Pitts said.
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http://iebusinessdaily.com/affordable-care-act-has-helped-the-inland-empire/ 2/3 11/6/2017 An LA County forecast sees 1 million more people. But is there enough housing? – Daily Bulletin
NEWS An LA County forecast sees 1 million more people. But is there enough housing?
Political and business leaders say a population-growth forecast for Los Angeles County shows the need for more housing construction like this in Riverside in June. (File photo)
By KEVIN MODESTI | [email protected] | Daily News November 3, 2017 at 6:58 pm
A new forecast that Los Angeles County’s population will grow by 1 million people in the next two decades underscores the need to encourage housing construction. http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/03/an-%e2%80%8bla-county-forecast-sees-1-million-more-people-but-is-there-enough-housing/?utm_s… 1/5 11/6/2017 An LA County forecast sees 1 million more people. But is there enough housing? – Daily Bulletin That was the takeaway for many business and government leaders meeting at UCLA on Friday to the release of a preliminary forecast by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG).
“L.A. County’s population will grow from its current level of 10.2 million residents to nearly 11.2 million residents by 2035,” Hasan Ikhrata, executive director of SCAG, said in a news release. “What we cherish the most — our region’s quality of life — is at stake if we cannot build more housing or building and maintain the transportation infrastructure necessary to accommodate this growth.”
RELATED STORY: This affordable housing bill signed by Gov. Brown could be a NIMBY-killer in LA
The population growth projection of about 9 percent over the next 18 years is in line with the pace of growth in the past 18 years.
But that presents a “formidable” challenge for policymakers because the county is already behind the needed pace of home construction, said Mary Leslie, president of the Los Angeles Business Council (LABC), in a phone interview.
The forecast, released at the 16th annual Mayoral Housing, Transportation and Jobs Summit, hosted by the LABC on the UCLA campus, was only the latest over recent years to highlight the region’s and state’s housing shortage.
What seemed different this time, Leslie said, was the consensus among summit attendees about how to respond to the shortage, which leads to higher home prices and rents, contributes to homelessness, makes it harder for job-seekers nd housing near work, and puts more commuters on the freeways.
RELATED STORY: More affordable housing? California could try these 9 wild ideas
In years past, many expected solutions to come from federal, state and local governments, Leslie said. Now, with federal grants dried up and California’s Community Redevelopment Associations eliminated, there’s general agreement that government must allow house and apartment builders to do their work and increase the housing supply, she said.
Friday’s summit felt like a “victory lap,” Leslie said, after a series of positive steps: voter approval of L.A. County Measure H (homeless services) and Measure M (transportation) and L.A. city Measure HHH (homelessness housing), the California Legislature’s passage of 15 housing bills, including Senate Bill 35, which streamlines cities’ development approval process under some circumstances; Mayor Eric Garcetti’s commitment to the city constructing more than 100,000 new residential units by 2021, and Garcetti’s call for for a new Cityside General Plan and updates in the city’s 35 community plans to revise project size and density limits. http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/03/an-%e2%80%8bla-county-forecast-sees-1-million-more-people-but-is-there-enough-housing/?utm_s… 2/5 11/6/2017 An LA County forecast sees 1 million more people. But is there enough housing? – Daily Bulletin “The momentum is there right now,” Leslie said.
Garcetti told summit attendees that “L.A. is making it easier to nance and build the housing we need.”
But Garcetti would get an argument about that point.
“We’re in the middle of a crisis, and nobody is doing anything to help it,” Stuart Waldman, president of the (San Fernando) Valley Industry and Commerce Association, said in an interview after he read about the SCAG forecast. “They’re making it harder to build.
“Between NIMBYs (“not in my backyard”), and the process of going through [the] Planning [Department], going through the neighborhood councils, going through Building and Safety, going through hearing administrators, and the labor costs because of Measure JJJ, it’s made it unaffordable to build in Los Angeles anymore.”
Waldman added: “I am frustrated that it takes study after study to tell people what common sense should tell them, that the more options you have, the cheaper it will be.”
Leslie said her L.A. business advocacy group has not taken a position for or against the plan in L.A. City Hall to charge developers a “linkage fee” to raise money for affordable-housing projects. Most business groups are against.
At the UCLA conference, keynote speaker Clyde Holland, CEO and chairman of Holland Partner Group, called for the public and private sectors to team up to nd ways to reduce developers’ costs.
“Current regulations are actually worsening the crisis by discouraging the production of enough housing to meet the growing demand,” Holland said.
He said cities should increase the amount of pre-approved, “by-right” development, among other steps.
Tags: housing, Top Stories LADN
Kevin Modesti
http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/03/an-%e2%80%8bla-county-forecast-sees-1-million-more-people-but-is-there-enough-housing/?utm_s… 3/5 11/6/2017 Southern California commuting ranked as nation’s most stressful – San Bernardino Sun
BUSINESS Southern California commuting ranked as nation’s most stressful
Staff file photo by Frank Bellino. Commuters make their way along the westbound 91 freeway during the Canyon fire Sept. 26, 2017. FRANK BELLINO, THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE/SCNG
By JONATHAN LANSNER | PUBLISHED: November 6, 2017 at 6:45 am | UPDATED: November 6, 2017 at 8:11 am
You’re not crazy, Southern California commuters: Your trip to work ranks poorly on a national and global scale.
The only good news? Employers nally might be taking notice.
http://www.sbsun.com/2017/11/06/southern-california-commuting-ranked-as-nations-most-stressful/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter 1/5 11/6/2017 Southern California commuting ranked as nation’s most stressful – San Bernardino Sun The Robert Half employment agency studied what major U.S. metro areas have the longest commutes and the most anxiety-inducing trips to work to see how their clients could deal with this challenge.
It probably doesn’t surprise many Southern Californians that we endure the most stressful commutes among 27 U.S. markets studied, according to a Half survey of commuters. And that’s from the region with just the eighth-longest average trip — 53.7 minutes — in the nation.
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“Probably not the list you want to be No. 1 on,” said Brett Good, Half’s senior district president for Southern California and Arizona.
This isn’t simply about congestion between home and work. The study suggests extensive mass transit options in a region can lower the anxiety created by this travel.
“When you’re doing all the work, it only adds to the stress of commuting,” Good says of those driving to their job.
For example, Washington, D.C. — known for its extensive mass transit network — had the longest commute at 60.4 minutes but was only eighth-most stressful. San Francisco ranked No. 2 for time (59.2 minutes), but its BART system helped lower the city to No. 5 for stress. And subway-loving New York was No. 4 in lengthy commutes (57.9 minutes) but only ninth-most stressful.
http://www.sbsun.com/2017/11/06/southern-california-commuting-ranked-as-nations-most-stressful/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter 2/5 11/6/2017 Southern California commuting ranked as nation’s most stressful – San Bernardino Sun Globally, Southern California also ranked poorly in a study of commutation costs — for workers, society and the environment — by Arcadis, a Dutch engineering consultancy. Among 100 big cities around the globe, New York was the nation’s best — but only ranked No. 23 in the world. San Francisco was 26th; D.C. was 42nd; San Diego 65th and Los Angeles 72nd.
“Traf c congestion is one of the biggest day-to-day challenges for Los Angeles’s residents, with the average person spending 104 hours stuck in traf c each year,” Arcadis noted.
Bad commutes are bad for business. A recently released study of British workers found a stunning cost of a longer trip to the workplace: Adding 20 minutes of daily commuting hit job satisfaction as hard as a 19 percent cut in a worker’s pay.
Local bosses are noticing commutation’s pain, Half’s Good says. And a good bit of that awareness can be tied to Southern California’s tight market for talent. Unemployment is low. Job openings are at record highs. Workers have choices.
“The vibrancy of the job market means employees may think ‘I can nd something closer,’ ” Good says.
As a result, bosses are eyeing commutes within efforts to attract and retain workers, he says. That includes being more open to exible work schedules and telecommuting alternatives.
And it’s not just changing work habits to lower commutation stress. Good says certain employers are becoming leery of potential workers who’ll require a long trip to work, fearing burnout from the commutation.
“Flexibility is something that can separate your organization and gain an employment edge to attract the best and brightest,” Good says.
Please note, this is not just a coastal challenge nationwide. For example, the Half study showed two Texas markets — Austin and Dallas — with long, stressful commutes for their workers, too.
One of the best cures for the commutation blues is walking or bicycling to work, the British study found. But if relocation looks like your best solution, consider Des Moines: Half’s study shows that’s where commutes are the least stressful and second-shortest — 41 minutes — among the 27 U.S. metros tracked!
Iowa is probably an easier move than nding a job in the world’s most economically sensible cities for transportation, according to Arcadis. Think Hong Kong, Zurich or Paris.
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POSTED BY : VOICE OF SAN DIEGO NOVEMBER 3, 2017 SIGN UP FOR OUR DAILY State Sen. Ben Hueso claimed San Diego County is holding onto more than $100 million in state NEWSLETTER! funds that could be used on mental health services. By Lisa Halverstadt. Name: Name...
Statement: “The county of San Diego is holding over $100 million in unspent Mental Health Services Email: Email Address... Act funds,” state Sen. Ben Hueso said at an Oct. 12 press conference where Democrats and labor Submit leaders called on county supervisors to spend more to combat the region’s homelessness and hepatitis A crises.
Determination: True
Analysis: Democrats and homeless advocates have long called on the county to invest more of its ample cash in programs to aid San Diegans struggling with homelessness and mental illness.
State Sen. Ben Hueso is one Democratic leader ratcheting up those pleas in the wake of a deadly hepatitis A outbreak that’s highlighted the region’s homelessness crisis. Hueso claimed at an October press conference that the county’s got plenty of cash to throw at the problem. He zeroed in on money the county gets from Prop. 63, a voter-approved 1 percent tax on millionaires meant to bankroll mental health services.
http://www.publicceo.com/2017/11/fact-check-more-than-100m-for-mental-health-is-sitting-in-san-diego-countys-bank/ 1/4 11/6/2017 Fact Check: More than $100M for Mental Health Is Sitting in San Diego County’s Bank | PublicCEO
“They’re sitting on over $100 million with a $42 million reserve for who knows what reason,” Hueso said.
We decided to fact check Hueso’s claims given the growing calls on the county to spend more, particularly as campaigns to replace two long-sitting county supervisors ramp up.
So is the county sitting on more than $100 million, plus a $42 million reserve? Yes.
A county spokesman said the county has nearly $166 million sitting unspent in its Mental Health Services Act account. That includes a $42 million reserve meant to shield the county from year-to-year fluctuations in revenue from the tax.
This is cash the county receives to serve and house San Diegans with serious mental illnesses, provide early interventions for those with less acute mental health issues, test innovative programs and more. FOLLOW PUBLICCEO
This is separate from the county’s $2 billion reserve account, which leaders including Hueso have also called on the county to dip into. 3,354 0 Subscribe County bureaucrats say they’re working to reduce their large unspent balance and expect it to fall to Followers Fans Rss about $128 million – including a $42 million reserve – by the end of the end of this fiscal year.
Last month, county supervisors approved a plan to spend nearly $570 million in Mental Health Services Act funds over the next three years. This year, the county plans to spend $197.5 million, an increase from last year.
Here’s a look at the county’s annual Mental Health Services Act spending and receipts over the last decade. This includes amounts the county’s already expended plus estimates on what it spent and received last year, and what it’s expecting to spend this year. San Diego County Prop. 63 Receipts and Spending
San Diego County Mental Health Services Act Spending Infogram This chart shows the county’s upped its Prop. 63 spending the past couple years.
A significant share of that new cash has gone to the county’s Project One for All initiative, which aims to house 1,250 homeless San Diegans with serious mental illnesses by the end of next year.
The county reports it’s housed about 445 people with supportive services since it kicked off the program in February 2016.
County Supervisors Greg Cox and Ron Roberts proposed the initiative in early 2016 after years of criticism that the county wasn’t aggressively tackling the region’s homelessness problem.
Their proposal followed a 2015 Union-Tribune investigation that revealed the county had amassed $172 million in unspent mental health funds despite increasing community need. It also found the county’s ample pot of unspent mental health money wasn’t unusual in the state.
That remains true. A Voice of San Diego analysis of data from four other California counties revealed most also had substantial unspent cash in their Mental Health Services accounts as of earlier this year.
http://www.publicceo.com/2017/11/fact-check-more-than-100m-for-mental-health-is-sitting-in-san-diego-countys-bank/ 2/4 11/6/2017 Fact Check: More than $100M for Mental Health Is Sitting in San Diego County’s Bank | PublicCEO
For example, Riverside had about $142 million in late June. Los Angeles County, which receives more Search Search than double what San Diego’s gotten from Prop. 63, had $968 million in the bank in March while San Diego County had an estimated $149 million.
County officials and health experts in the state say those figures reflect the volatility of Prop. 63 money, and requirements to spend on specific types of programs and to get state sign-off on some initiatives. Officials in San Diego County and elsewhere have debated how much counties should keep in their accounts to protect them from having to cut back programs in a recession.
Rusty Selix, a lobbyist for nonprofit mental-health providers and a co-author of Prop. 63, said some counties have been “considerably more conservative than they should be” about spending that cash as a result. He said he could not specifically speak to San Diego County’s spending patterns.
Maggie Merritt, who leads the Sacramento-based Steinberg Institute founded by Prop. 63 co-author and former state Sen. Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, said the state deserves at least some of the blame for large stockpiles of unspent funds.
Merritt, whose organization lobbies on mental-health issues, said the state should be giving counties more guidance on how much they should be holding in those accounts.
“Counties can’t do something if they don’t have the guidance and clarity on how to do it,” Merritt said. “(The state Department of Health Care Services) is responsible for providing that, and they’re not.”
In the absence of guidance, concerns about counties’ slow Prop. 63 spending helped fuel state legislation to dedicate a $2 billion bond for supportive housing. The state’s set to use some of counties’ annual Prop. 63 proceeds to pay back the bond. This year’s state budget also included language that aimed to bolster the Department of Health Care Services’ oversight of unspent cash.
Unspent Prop. 63 cash is getting more scrutiny in other counties too.
Toby Ewing, who leads the state Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission, was recently invited to speak at a Sacramento Board of Supervisors meeting amid concerns about that community’s unspent mental health money.
In an interview with VOSD, Ewing would not comment on San Diego County’s spending but noted more leaders and residents are watching, particularly in communities where homelessness crises are raging.
“We’re at a turning point where it will be important that counties begin to spend these dollars or policymakers may elect to reprioritize them for the very obvious unmet needs that we’re seeing in our communities,” Ewing said.
Originally posted at Voice of San Diego.
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http://www.publicceo.com/2017/11/fact-check-more-than-100m-for-mental-health-is-sitting-in-san-diego-countys-bank/ 3/4 11/6/2017 LA County’s new approach to homeless who are severely mentally ill – Daily Bulletin
LOCAL NEWS LA County’s new approach to homeless who are severely mentally ill
Richard Ross, a Veteran with his newly adopted dog discussing health issues. Santiago Reyes, Team Leader, Pasadena Housing Works, makes friends with the puppy at T Bailey Apartments in Eagle Rock Friday, Nov. 3, 2017. LA County leaders have passed a flurry of motions and raised many discussions on how to improve care among people with mental illnesses, especially the most vulnerable. (Photo by Walt Mancini/Pasadena Star-News/SCNG) http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/06/la-county-leaders-fuel-new-drive-reaching-out-to-homeless-with-severe-mental-illnesses/?utm_sourc… 1/9 11/6/2017 LA County’s new approach to homeless who are severely mentally ill – Daily Bulletin By SUSAN ABRAM | [email protected] | Daily News PUBLISHED: November 6, 2017 at 7:00 am | UPDATED: November 6, 2017 at 8:58 am
An occasional series focusing on Los Angeles County public agencies’ response to the growing tide of mental-health issues.
The homeless man was naked when Santiago Reyes found him lying on a Pasadena street.
He had fallen off his wheelchair in the rain as Reyes, an outreach worker who knew the man’s mental-health history, called everyone he could for help. 9-1-1. The county. The city. Cop friends.
“The paramedics wouldn’t consider him gravely disabled,” Reyes said, recalling how dif cult it was that day to nd help, to connect the man to services.
In Reyes’ line of work, such days are common.
A knot of red tape and other challenges has blocked law enforcement, healthcare providers and outreach workers such as Reyes from providing immediate help to homeless people diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia or other mental illnesses. Civil-liberty laws, an inconsistent network within Los Angeles County’s courts and health systems and lack of beds in psychiatric units have become roadblocks.
http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/06/la-county-leaders-fuel-new-drive-reaching-out-to-homeless-with-severe-mental-illnesses/?utm_sourc… 2/9 11/6/2017 LA County’s new approach to homeless who are severely mentally ill – Daily Bulletin But providers and those who engage in outreach say they are seeing the knot start to loosen. In recent months, a urry of actions and discussions by LA County leaders has pushed caring for people diagnosed with severe mental illnesses into sharper focus.
Since August, Los Angeles County supervisors have approved:
Improving the current conservatorship process to ensure those who cannot care for themselves are referred to the Of ce of Public Guardian. Providing additional funding to the Sheriff Department’s Mental Evaluation Teams from 15 to 23. Supporting recommendations that include expanding the psychiatric mobile response teams to provide on scene services. Using space at the Los Angeles County-USC medical center to create a restorative care village for the county’s most mentally and physically vulnerable residents.
Providers say this focus grew out of social-justice concerns that could no longer be ignored. At least 30 percent of inmates are diagnosed with mental illnesses at Los Angeles County’s Twin Towers Correctional Facility, known as the largest de facto mental institution in the nation.
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Richard Ross, an Army veteran, likes his apartment at T Bailey Apartments in Eagle Rock. LA County leaders have passed a urry of motions and raised discussions on how to improve care among people with mental illnesses, especially the most vulnerable. Such actions may make it easier for social workers, law enforcement and health care providers who want to help, but can’t because of limited resources or what has been a weak network of care. Nov. 3, 2017. (Photo by Walt Mancini/Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Also, a report by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority found that 17,000 of the county’s 58,000 homeless people say they have been diagnosed with a mental illness.
“I think the homelessness issue and the jail issue drove the county, and made it impossible to maintain the status quo,” said Brittney Weissman, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Los Angeles County Council.
Weissman credits Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey for her top goal of diverting people with diagnosed mental illnesses out of the jails. Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and Sheila Kuehl also established the Of ce of Diversion and Reentry in 2015. The program sends low-risk offenders with serious mental illness and substance abuse disorders into treatment, rather than jail, “while preserving public safety.” according to the supervisors.
“That emphasis on treatment, recovery and diversion,” Weissman said, “that shift has really become part of the county’s ethos.” She thinks it is likely to continue.
“The leadership is in place and they’re all rowing in the same direction,” Weissman said.
http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/06/la-county-leaders-fuel-new-drive-reaching-out-to-homeless-with-severe-mental-illnesses/?utm_sourc… 4/9 11/6/2017 LA County’s new approach to homeless who are severely mentally ill – Daily Bulletin But there are deeper discussions that still need to take place, too, Weissman and others noted.
Last month, the board approved 12 of 13 recommendations focused on how to improve the network of care delivered by the Department of Mental Health. The board backed away from approving one recommendation that would seek state legislation to expand the criteria for those deemed “gravely disabled.”
State law de nes “gravely disabled” as “a condition in which a person, as a result of a mental disorder, is unable to provide for his or her basic personal needs for food, clothing, or shelter.” Other criteria need to apply before an individual may be taken for a 72 hour involuntary evaluation and treatment at a psychiatric facility.
A week later, the Board voted 4 to 1 to move forward with the effort. Supervisor Kuehl disagreed with the motion, however, maintaining that a county-sponsored bill could start out one way when it is introduced in Sacramento but later be reshaped into a different piece of legislation that could hurt people and thwart local lawmakers’ initial intentions.
“You don’t want to be stuck with a bad bill,” said Kuehl, who once served as chair of the state Senate’s Health and Human Services Committee. Kuehl also said she was concerned about how an expanded de nition of “gravely disabled” could be interpreted.
Weissman said NAMI is on the side of broadening the de nition but commended Kuehl for raising those concerns.
think the homelessness issue and the jail issue drove the county, and “I made it impossible to maintain the status quo.” — Brittney Weissman, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Los Angeles County Council.
The discussion is what Dr. Jonathan Sherin, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, called a lightning-rod topic because it involves nding balance between defending a person’s autonomy and societal paternalism.
http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/06/la-county-leaders-fuel-new-drive-reaching-out-to-homeless-with-severe-mental-illnesses/?utm_sourc… 5/9 11/6/2017 LA County’s new approach to homeless who are severely mentally ill – Daily Bulletin Such discussions have to take place, he added.
“We have a lot of disagreement among multiple stake-holders about the de nition of grave disability as it exists not only on how that legal de nition can be modi ed,” Sherin said. “We are going to explore this arena with great detail and from various viewpoints. We all have to come together and identify our shared interest in providing humane care.”
RELATED STORY: How LA County’s new mental health director hopes to help heal troubled minds
Sherin, appointed to his position late last year, said he is encouraged by the board’s actions to help him lead his department to expand the quantity and quality of ongoing outreach efforts. He called the recent actions a once-in-a-generation opportunity. Challenges remain, he acknowledged, such as an enduring stigma in some communities about mental illness.
“With the current climate with this board, the District Attorney’s of ce and law enforcement, we have a rare opportunity to advance this eld right now,” Sherin said.
Lt. John Gannon, who oversees the sheriff department’s mental-evaluation teams, agreed.
“We’ve noticed it and I’m encouraged (the Board of Supervisors) are looking at (mental health) in a comprehensive way,” Gannon said. “Even in law enforcement, we all realize there’s got to be a different way we deal with these folks.”
Reyes — a team member with Housing Works, an organization that provides supportive social services —said despite the roadblocks he encounters, more people are getting help. He’s happy, he said, to be part of the efforts. On a recent day, he visited with residents at T. Bailey Manor, a 56-unit supportive-housing complex in Eagle Rock for formerly homeless veterans with severe mental illness.
RELATED STORY: Housing is just a start in tackling LA County’s homelessness
One resident, 57-year-old U.S Army veteran Richard Ross, was found living on the streets six months ago, his hip broken in three places. He suffered from pneumonia and a heart condition— and had been diagnosed with PTSD.
“I would have called him gravely disabled,” Reyes said.
http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/06/la-county-leaders-fuel-new-drive-reaching-out-to-homeless-with-severe-mental-illnesses/?utm_sourc… 6/9 11/6/2017 LA County’s new approach to homeless who are severely mentally ill – Daily Bulletin
Residents outside of T. Bailey Manor, a 56-unit supportive-housing complex in Eagle Rock for formerly homeless veterans with severe mental illness. LA County leaders have passed a urry of motions and raised many discussions on how to improve care among people with mental illnesses, especially the most vulnerable. Such actions may make it easier for social workers, law enforcement and health care providers who want to help, but can’t because of limited resources or what has been a weak network of care. (Photo by Walt Mancini/Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Celina Alvarez, executive director of Housing Works, said places like T. Bailey Manor are the end result of hard work and pushing barriers aside. She too is encouraged by the momentum she sees among county of cials, and wants conversations to continue, long after the most vulnerable people are housed.
“It is a change for the good,” she added. “It leaves us very hopeful.”
Tags: homeless, LA County Board of Supervisors, San Fernando Valley, Top Stories Breeze, Top Stories IVDB, Top Stories LADN, Top Stories LBPT, Top Stories PSN, Top Stories SGVT, Top Stories WDN, Veterans
susan- abram Susan Abram Susan Abram covers public health and county government for the Los Angeles Daily News and the Southern California Follow News Susan Group. Abram @sabramLA http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/06/la-county-leaders-fuel-new-drive-reaching-out-to-homeless-with-severe-mental-illnesses/?utm_sourc… 7/9 11/6/2017 Sonora Local News, Sports, Weather, and Lifestyle
Union Democrat (www.uniondemocrat.com) Nov 6, 12:19 AM EST Homeless explosion on West Coast pushing cities to the brink
By GILLIAN FLACCUS and GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press
SEATTLE (AP) -- In a park in the middle of a leafy, bohemian neighborhood where homes list for close to $1 million, a
tractor's massive claw scooped up the refuse of the homeless - mattresses, tents, wooden frames, a wicker chair, an outdoor
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren propane heater. Workers in masks and steel-shanked boots plucked used needles and mounds of waste from the underbrush.
Just a day before, this corner of Ravenna Park was an illegal home for the down and out, one of 400 such encampments that have popped up in Seattle's parks, under bridges, on freeway medians and along busy sidewalks. Now, as police and social workers approached, some of the dispossessed scurried away, vanishing into a metropolis that is struggling to cope with an enormous wave of homelessness.
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That struggle is not Seattle's alone. A homeless Multimedia crisis of unprecedented proportions is rocking the Miami Lotus House helps troubled West Coast, and its victims are being left behind women get o the streets by the very things that mark the region's success: Case workers try to get homeless people o Atlanta streets soaring housing costs, rock-bottom vacancy rates Camp gives hope to homeless kids and a roaring economy that waits for no one. All along the coast, elected officials are scrambling for Baltimore church o ers sanctuary to solutions. homeless
Related Stories "I've got economically zero unemployment in my AP PHOTOS: Homeless crisis thrusts hardship city, and I've got thousands of homeless people into the open that actually are working and just can't afford Tech, housing boom creates homeless crisis on West Coast housing," said Seattle City Councilman Mike O'Brien. "There's nowhere for these folks to move Sorrow, heartache, hope: Eyes of homeless o er hint of life to. Every time we open up a new place, it fills up."
Homeless explosion on West Coast pushing The rising numbers of homeless people have cities to the brink pushed abject poverty into the open like never Homeless victim of assault found dead in before and have overwhelmed cities and North Carolina nonprofits. The surge in people living on the streets has put public health at risk, led several cities to declare states of emergency and forced cities and counties to spend millions - in some cases billions - in a search for solutions.
San Diego now scrubs its sidewalks with bleach to counter a deadly hepatitis A outbreak that has spread to other cities and forced California to declare a state of emergency last month. In Anaheim, home to Disneyland, 400 people sleep along a bike path in the shadow of Angel Stadium. Organizers in Portland lit incense at a recent outdoor food festival to cover up the stench of urine in a parking lot where vendors set up shop.
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Homelessness is not new on the West Coast. But interviews with local officials and those who serve the homeless in California, Oregon and Washington - coupled with an Associated Press review of preliminary homeless data - confirm it's getting worse. People who were once able to get by, even if they suffered a setback, are now pushed to the streets because housing has become so expensive.
All it takes is a prolonged illness, a lost job, a broken limb, a family crisis. What was once a blip in fortunes now seems a life sentence.
"Most homeless people I know aren't homeless because they're addicts," said Tammy Stephen, 54, who lives at a homeless encampment in Seattle. "Most people are homeless because they can't afford a place to live."
Among the AP's findings:
- Official counts taken earlier this year in California, Oregon and Washington show 168,000 homeless people in the three states, according to an AP tally of every jurisdiction in those states that reports homeless numbers to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. That is 19,000 more than were counted two years ago, although the numbers may not be directly comparable because of factors ranging from the weather to new counting methods.
- During the same period, the number of unsheltered people in the three states - defined as someone sleeping outside, in a bus or train station, abandoned building or vehicle - has climbed 18 percent to 105,000.
- Rising rents are the main culprit. The median one-bedroom apartment in the San Francisco Bay Area is significantly more expensive than it is in the New York City metro area, and apartments in San Francisco are listed at a higher price than those in Manhattan.
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- Since 2015, at least 10 cities or municipal regions in California, Oregon and Washington - and Honolulu, as well - have declared states of emergency due to the rise of homelessness, a designation usually reserved for natural disasters.
"What do we want as a city to look like? That's what the citizens here need to decide," said Gordon Walker, head of the regional task force for the homeless in San Diego, where the unsheltered homeless population has spiked by 18 percent in the past year. "What are we going to allow? Are we willing to have people die on the streets?"
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With alarming frequency, the West Coast's newly homeless are people who were able to survive on the margins - until those margins moved.
For years, Stanley Timmings, 62, and his 61-year-old girlfriend, Linda Catlin, were able to rent a room in a friend's house on their combined disability payments.
Last spring, that friend died of colon cancer and the couple was thrust on Seattle's streets.
Timmings used their last savings to buy a used RV for $300 and spent another $300 to register it. They bought a car from a junk yard for $275.
Now, the couple parks the RV near a small regional airport and uses the car to get around.
They have no running water and no propane for the cook stove. They go to the bathroom in a bucket and dump it behind a nearby business. They shower and do laundry at a nonprofit and buy water at a grocery depot. After four months, the stench of human waste inside the RV is overwhelming. Every inch of space is crammed with
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/APFN_US_HOMELESS_CRISIS_ON_THE_COAST?SITE=CASON&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DE… 4/13 11/6/2017 Sonora Local News, Sports, Weather, and Lifestyle their belongings: jugs of laundry detergent, stacks of clothes, pots and pans, and tattered paperback novels. They are exhausted, scared and defeated, with no solution in sight.
"Between the two of us a month, we get $1,440 in disability. We can't find a place for that," he said. "Our income is (about) $17,000 ... a year. That puts us way out of the ballpark, not even close. It might have been enough but anymore, no. It's not."
A new study funded by the real estate information firm Zillow and conducted by the University of Washington found a strong link between rising housing prices and rising homelessness numbers. A 5 percent rent increase in Los Angeles, for example, would mean about 2,000 more homeless people there, the authors said.
Nationally, homelessness has been trending down, partly because governments and nonprofit groups have gotten better at moving people into housing. That's true in many West Coast cities, too, but the flow the other direction is even faster. And on the West Coast, shelter systems are smaller.
"If you have a disability income, you make about $9,000 a year and renting a studio in Seattle is about $1,800 a month and so that's twice your income," said Margaret King, director of housing programs for DESC, a nonprofit that works with Seattle's homeless.
"So everybody who was just hanging on because they had cheap rent, they're losing that ... and they wind up outside. It's just exploded."
Nowhere is that more evident than California's Silicon Valley, where high salaries and a tight housing market have pushed rent out of reach for thousands. In ever-shifting communities of the homeless, RVs and cars cluster by the dozens in the city where Google built its global headquarters and just blocks from Stanford University.
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Ellen Tara James-Penney, a lecturer at San Jose State University, has been sleeping out of a car for about a decade, ever since she lost her housing while an undergraduate at the school where she now teaches four English courses, a job that pays $28,000 a year. Home is an old Volvo.
"I've basically been homeless since 2007, and I'm really tired," she said. "Really tired."
She actually got her start in the high tech industry, before being laid off during the tech meltdown of the early 2000s. Like many who couldn't find work, she went to college, accumulating tens of thousands of dollars in student debt along the way.
Now 54, she grades papers and prepares lesson plans in her car. Among her few belongings is a pair of her grandmother's fancy stiletto pumps, a reminder to herself that "it's not going to be like this forever."
Increased housing costs aren't just sweeping up low-income workers: The numbers of homeless youth also is rising.
A recent count in Los Angeles, for example, found that those ages 18 to 24 were the fastest-growing homeless group by age, up 64 percent, followed by those under 18. Los Angeles and other cities have made a concerted effort to improve their tallies of homeless youth, which likely accounts for some of the increase.
One of the reasons is the combined cost of housing and tuition, said Will Lehman, policy supervisor at Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. A recent study by the University of Wisconsin found that one in five Los Angeles Community College District students is homeless, he said.
"They can pay for books, for classes but just can't afford an apartment. They're choosing to prioritize going to school," Lehman said. "They don't choose their situation."
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Michael Madigan opened a new wine bar in Portland a few years ago overlooking a ribbon of parks not far from the city's trendy Pearl District.
Business was good until, almost overnight, dozens of homeless people showed up on the sidewalk. A large encampment on the other side of the city had been shut down, and its residents moved to the park at his doorstep.
"We literally turned the corner one day . and there were 48 tents set up on this one block that hadn't been there the day before," he said.
Madigan's business dropped 50 percent in four months and he closed his bar. There are fewer homeless people there now, but the campers have moved to a bike path that winds through residential neighborhoods in east Portland, prompting hundreds of complaints about trash, noise, drug use and illegal camping.
Rachel Sterry, a naturopathic doctor, lives near that path and sometimes doesn't feel safe when she's commuting by bike with her 1-year-old son. Dogs have rolled in human feces in a local park; recent improvements she's made to her small home are overshadowed by the line of tents and tarps a few dozen yards from her front door, she said.
"I have to stop and get off my bike to ask people to move their card game or their lounge chairs or their trash out of the way when I'm just trying to get from point A to point B," she said. "If I were to scream or get hurt, nobody would know."
For Seattle resident Elisabeth James, the reality check came when a homeless man forced his way into a glass-enclosed ATM lobby with her after she swiped her card to open the door for after-hours access. After a few nerve-wracking minutes, the man left the lobby but stayed outside, banging on the glass. Police were too busy to respond so James called her husband, who scared the man away and walked her home. The man, she believes, just wanted to get out of the rain.
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A neighborhood pocket park has become a flashpoint, too: When James took her 2- year-old grandchild there, she saw people injecting heroin.
"I'm not a NIMBY person, but I just think that we can do so much more," said James, who founded an activist group called Speak Out Seattle last year. "I wanted to do something that was effective, that brought frustrated people together to find solutions. We're spending a lot of money to house people and we're getting a bigger problem."
The crisis is not limited to large metropolises. In Oregon City, a suburban, working- class town of 36,000 people, the police department this summer added a full-time position for a homeless outreach officer after roughly half the calls concerned trash, trespassing, human waste and illegal encampments.
The city has no overnight shelters and never had a significant homeless population until about three years ago.
On a recent fall day, officer Mike Day tromped into a greenbelt across from a strip mall to check on a man he recently connected with a counselor, calmed an intoxicated man and arranged emergency care for a man who was suicidal.
"How many social workers have you met that go into the woods to follow up with the homeless population and to help with mental health? This is a bit of a hybrid position, certainly, and maybe it's not exactly the role of a police officer - but it's a creative approach to find a solution to the problem," he said.
The question was, "What can we do differently? Because right now, it's not working."
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All along the West Coast, local governments are scrambling to answer that question - and taxpayers are footing the bill.
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Voters have approved more than $8 billion in spending since 2015 on affordable housing and other anti-homelessness programs, mostly as tax increases. Los Angeles voters, for example, approved $1.2 billion to build 10,000 units of affordable housing over a decade to address a ballooning homeless population that's reached 34,000 people within city limits.
Seattle spent $61 million on homeless-related issues last year, and a recent budget proposal would increase that to $63 million. Four years ago, the city spent $39 million on homelessness. Sacramento has set a goal of moving 2,000 people off the streets in the next three years and may place a housing bond before voters in 2018.
Appeals for money have angered residents who see tent encampments growing in their cities despite more spending.
"Those are like whack-a-mole because they just sprout up and then they disappear and then they sprout up somewhere else," said Gretchen Taylor, who helped found the Neighborhood Safety Alliance of Seattle in 2016.
Seattle is initiating competitive bidding among nonprofit organizations for city dollars going toward homelessness programs. It's also pouring money into "rapid rehousing," a strategy that houses people quickly and then provides rental assistance for up to 18 months.
Like San Francisco, Seattle has started opening 24-hour, "low-barrier" shelters that offer beds even if people are abusing drugs, have a pet or want to sleep together as a couple. But the city's first 24-hour shelter has only 75 beds, and turnover is extremely low.
A team of specially trained police officers and social workers has also been visiting homeless camps to try to place people in shelter. After repeated visits - and with 72 hours of notice - the city cleans out the camps and hauls away abandoned belongings.
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These efforts are starting to yield results, although the overall number of homeless people continues to swell.
Nearly 740 families moved into some type of shelter between October 2016 and August 2017, and 39 percent of the people contacted by the new police teams wind up sheltered, according a recent city homeless report. That's an improvement from a 5 percent shelter rate 18 months ago, said Sgt. Eric Zerr, who leads that effort.
But the approach has its detractors. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit alleging the sweeps violate the constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure. And a debate is raging about whether the sweeps are necessary "tough love" or a cruel policy that criminalizes poverty in a city with a reputation for liberalism.
"When a city can't offer housing, they should not be able to sweep that spot unless it's posing some sort of significant health and safety issue," said Sara Rankin, a professor with the Homeless Rights Advocacy Project at the Seattle University School of Law.
"If someone doesn't have a place to go, you can't just continue to chase them from place to place."
---
Above all, the West Coast lacks long-term, low-income housing for people like Ashley Dibble and her 3-year-old daughter.
Dibble, 29, says she has been homeless off and on for about a year, after her ex- boyfriend squandered money on his car and didn't pay the rent for three months. Evicted, Dibble says she lived in the back of a moving truck and with several different friends around Seattle before winding up on the streets. She sent her toddler to live with the girl's paternal grandparents in Florida.
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She and her new boyfriend were sleeping under tarps near Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners, when an outreach team referred them to a new shelter. Now, Dibble talks to her daughter daily by phone and is trying to find a way back into housing so she can bring her home.
With an eviction on her record and little income, no one will rent to her.
"I've had so many doors slammed in my face, it's ridiculous," Dibble said, wiping away tears.
Seattle's DESC operates 1,200 so-called "permanent supportive housing units" -housing for the mentally ill or severely addicted who can't stay housed without constant help from case managers, counselors and rehabilitation programs. The nonprofit completes a new building every 18 months and they immediately fill; at any given time, there are only about eight to 10 units free in the whole city - but 1,600 people qualify.
Among this population, "almost nobody's going to get housing because there isn't any," DESC's Margaret King said. "It doesn't really matter."
There is so little housing, and so much despair. Nonprofit workers with decades of experience are shocked by the surge in homeless people and in the banality of the ways they wound up on the streets.
"It's a sea of humanity crashing against services, and services at this point are overwhelmed, literally overwhelmed. It's catastrophic," said Jeremy Lemoine, an outreach case manager with REACH, a Seattle homeless-assistance program. "It's a refugee crisis right here in the States, right here under our noses."
"I don't mean to sound hopeless. I generate hope for a living for people - that there is a future for them - but we need to address it now."
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Associated Press writers Janie Har in San Francisco, Julie Watson in San Diego and Chris Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report. AP photographers Jae Hong in Los Angeles and Ted Warren in Seattle, and AP videographer Manuel Valdes in Seattle also contributed.
---
Follow Gillian Flaccus at https://twitter.com/gflaccus and Mulvihill at https://twitter.com/geoffmulvihill
Part of an ongoing examination of the homeless crisis along the West Coast.
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http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/APFN_US_HOMELESS_CRISIS_ON_THE_COAST?SITE=CASON&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=D… 12/13 11/6/2017 San Diego focusing on homeless camps along river following hepatitis A outbreak - LA Times
San Diego focusing on homeless camps along river following hepatitis A outbreak
The San Diego River Foundation claims that homeless have fled to the watershed amid city crackdowns in the East Village.
By Joshua Emerson Smith
NOVEMBER 5, 2017, 2:00 PM | REPORTING FROM SAN DIEGO
ity officials have recently turned their attention to the homeless encampments along the San Diego C River in combating the ongoing hepatitis A outbreak that has killed 20 people and afflicted 536. Health official have said the contagious liver disease is being passed from person to person through fecal contamination, and that homeless people and illicit drug users have been those primarily impacted.
Following a law enforcement crackdown in September on those living on the streets in the East Village, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s office announced efforts to clean up debris from homeless encampments along the river.
City officials said two clean-up efforts have taken place around Qualcomm Stadium, with more to come. The police department’s homeless outreach teams have also focused their efforts in recent months along the river, offering hepatitis vaccinations and access to shelter services.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-san-diego-hepatitis-outbreak-20171105-story.html 1/3 11/6/2017 San Diego focusing on homeless camps along river following hepatitis A outbreak - LA Times “Our crews will continue to make progress cleaning the city’s portion of the San Diego Riverbed,” said Mario Sierra, director of the environmental services department. “Many areas are challenging because of topography, vegetation and access, but we must do what we can to ensure the river is as free from debris and trash as possible.”
Last week, Mike McCraken, 62, gathered up his possessions, preparing to move his four-month-old encampment. He was among those who recently received notices to vacate the area.
He said a park ranger had posted the notice, giving him and his friends 72 hours to move or have their belongs confiscated.
“You move, and then they’ll come and tag your tent again,” he said. “I asked [a police officer] for advice about where I should go since I’m homeless and stuff, and he said, ‘out of sight, out of mind.’”
Another man living on the river who identified himself only as “Rabbit” said that people have flocked to the area because of the crackdown on the homeless in downtown San Diego.
“We’re getting over populated down here,” he said. But the 27-year-old added that evicting people won’t solve the larger problem.
“It makes no sense trying to move everyone around,” he said. “All it does is stir the pot.”
The San Diego River Park Foundation found that camps along the river nearly doubled in the past year.
The small nonprofit, which is dedicated to restoring the river, counted 116 encampments in October, up from 61 in the same month in 2016. This year’s total was by far the highest since the group started keeping records nearly a decade ago.
“Right now, there’s just a Band-Aid on the situation,” said Tiffany Swiderski, a staff member with the foundation. “It takes more of a coordinated effort and more of a partnership between us and the city and the land managers and all the different stakeholders in the area. You can’t just do one thing and walk away from it.”
Swiderski and others with the foundation, including a handful of volunteers, were out last week conducting their regular assessment of trash along the river. The group surveys the watershed from the ocean all the way to Santee.
Walking along a series of trails behind the YMCA in Mission Valley, foundation employee Benjamin Downing documented the precise location of trash and encampments using GPS.
“Ultimately, we’re hoping to have a system of trails that span from the mountains to the ocean,” he said of the foundation’s long-term vision. “As we start to develop this system of trails and open spaces, it will encourage people to use them and the presence of people will mitigate some of the problems.”
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-san-diego-hepatitis-outbreak-20171105-story.html 2/3 11/6/2017 San Diego focusing on homeless camps along river following hepatitis A outbreak - LA Times A homeless woman pulling a cart walked by Downing and the group. The trolley rumbled overhead on elevated tracks. Needles and bottles of oxycodone were scattered on the ground, as were old clothes, coolers, plastic jars and boxes of dog biscuits.
In response to the hepatitis outbreak, the foundation has scaled back its larger clean-up efforts, but it still conducts weekly abatement activities with staff and a core group of vaccinated volunteers.
Downing will share his data with the Metropolitan Transit System, which owns this particular section of land and routinely conducts its own debris clearing operations. The foundation has a cooperative agreement with the agency allowing its members to operate in the area.
San Diego City Council members Lorie Zapf and David Alvarez on Monday plan to propose using the former San Diego Chargers training facility on Murphy Canyon Road as a temporary housing for the homeless people living on the river. In addition to other environmental and safety issues, there is concern about the rising river and flooding of homeless encampments with the rainy season approaching.
Despite all the challenges, the river park foundation has made a significant difference on certain sections of the river, Swiderski said.
“A long time ago, Mission Valley Preserve was awful,” she said. “So much trash, just the stuff of legends. Then over time through a coordinated effort of working on enforcement and cleaning the area up, Mission Valley Preserve overall is looking great now.”
Minutes later, she ducked through a tunnel of bushes to find 69-year-old Daniel Potet sleeping on a dirty blanket under a beach umbrella. His small dog barked at her approach and the homeless man, frazzled, slowly pulled on his pants.
It’s a common encounter for foundation staff, who say they do their best to make friends with the homeless living on the river.
Potet said he found the spot about a week ago after being chased by police out of another camp near the river. “I travel up and down the river.” [email protected]
Copyright © 2017, Los Angeles Times
This article is related to: Hepatitis, Mission Valley, East Village, Qualcomm Stadium
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-san-diego-hepatitis-outbreak-20171105-story.html 3/3 Local Perspective She flipped off President Trump — and got fired from her government contracting job
By Petula Dvorak Columnist November 6 at 9:20 AM
It was the middle-finger salute seen around the world.
Juli Briskman’s protest aimed at the presidential motorcade that roared past her while she was on her usual cycling path in Northern Virginia last month became an instantly viral photo.
Turns out it has now cost the 50-year-old marketing executive her job.
On Halloween, after Briskman gave her bosses at Akima LLC, a government contracting firm, a heads-up that she was the unidentified cyclist in the photo, they took her into a room and fired her, she said, escorting her out of the building with a box of her things.
“I wasn’t even at work when I did that,” Briskman said. “But they told me I violated the code of conduct policy.”
Her bosses at Akima, who have not returned emails and calls requesting comment, showed her the blue-highlighted section 4.3 of their social media policy when they canned her.
“Covered Social Media Activity that contains discriminatory, obscene malicious or threatening content, is knowingly false, create [sic] a hostile work environment, or similar inappropriate or unlawful conduct will not be tolerated and will be subject to discipline up to an [sic] including termination of employment.”
But Briskman wasn’t wearing anything that connected her to the company when she was on her ride, nor is there anything on her personal social media accounts — where she wordlessly posted the photo without identifying herself — to link her to the firm. She identifies herself as an Akima employee on her LinkedIn account but makes no mention of the middle-finger photo there.
Wait. It gets even more obscene.
Because Briskman was in charge of the firm’s social media presence during her six-month tenure there, she recently flagged something that did link her company to some pretty ugly stuff.
As she was monitoring Facebook this summer, she found a public comment by a senior director at the company in an otherwise civil discussion by one of his employees about Black Lives Matter.
“You’re a f------Libtard a------,” the director injected, using his profile that clearly and repeatedly identifies himself as an employee of the firm.
In fact, the person he aimed that comment at was so offended by the intrusion into the conversation and the coarse nature of it that he challenged the director on representing Akima that way.
So Briskman flagged the exchange to senior management.
Did the man, a middle-aged executive who had been with the company for seven years, get the old “section 4.3” boot?
Nope. He cleaned up the comment, spit-shined his public profile and kept on trucking at work.
But the single mother of two teens who made an impulsive gesture while on her bike, on her day off?
Adios, amiga.
Briskman is not a strident activist.
In fact, after years of working all over the world as part of the nation’s diplomatic corps, she’s usually pretty reserved.
“I think I gave money for clean water once,” she said.
During the Women’s March the day after Trump’s inauguration, she couldn’t make it into D.C. Instead, she said, she stood in somber protest outside the CIA with a sign that read, “Not My President.”
That day on her bike, she wasn’t planning to make a statement.
She was feeling much like many other Americans who are frustrated with Trump’s behavior and the way he has performed as president. “Here’s what was going through my head that day: ‘Really? You’re golfing again?’ ” Briskman said.
She had been pounding out her daily exercise, a little shorter than usual because she was still recovering from running the Marine Corps Marathon, when the phalanx of black cars passed her.
She’d been chewing on the state of the nation during her ride — imagining the devastation in Puerto Rico, furious that young immigrants brought to the United States as children could be deported, despondent over the deaths and devastation in Las Vegas, concerned about her friends in the diplomatic corps who said their daily job is now being the laughingstock of the world — when the presidential golfing procession interrupted her meditation.
“I was thinking about all this, tooling along, when I see the black cars come and I remember, oh, yeah, he was back on the golf course,” she said.
So she did what millions of Americans do on the road every day.
Hail to the chief, RESIST-style.
But she couldn’t just ride off. Or watch it whoosh away. The motorcade stopped, bisecting her usual route. She knew it wouldn’t be wise to cut between the cars. And she didn’t want to stay with her routine and look like she was stalking the motorcade when it turned where she usually turned. So she decided to change her route, and punctuated the final insult with another one-fingered salute.
She had no idea the sentiment had been snapped by photographer Brendan Smialowski for Agence France-Presse and Getty Images. And that night, it started popping up all over.
A few of her friends thought they recognized her, tagged her on the photo and asked.
“I said ‘Yeah, that’s me. Isn’t it funny?’ ” she said. Ha ha. And she posted it as her Facebook cover photo and her Twitter profile picture, so now her 24 Twitter followers could guess that it was her.
The next few days, though, it started getting nasty at the yoga studio, where she is a part-time instructor — something she does mention on Facebook. Some threatening emails came, Briskman said.
“They told the owner of the studio she should fire me,” she said. So Briskman quickly removed mention of the studio and it was all back to ommm at the yoga place and in her life. She wasn’t a celebrity. Only the back of her head and her hand were.
But knowing that connection had been made, Briskman wanted to make her bosses at Akima aware of the situation.
“It was just a heads-up,” she said. It didn’t take long for her head to roll.
And now, heads are shaking.
Briskman has contacted the American Civil Liberties Union about the case.
Her bosses told her they do support her First Amendment rights. But they wanted her to “be professional,” she said.
Does Briskman regret that middle finger, that reflexive moment that wasn’t all pussy hat and protest signs, that wasn’t calculated resistance but rather a totally relatable, plain-old, working woman, living-my-life, what-the-heck-is-going-on-in- our-world reaction?
Nope. “I’d do it again,” she said.
Resist, sister.
Twitter: @petulad
Read more Petula Dvorak:
An alleged rape at a Georgetown party is still being investigated after a year. What’s taking so long?
She bought 26 Lady Gaga tickets to celebrate beating cancer. She never made it to the concert.
This Marine told families when a loved one was killed. It was harder than combat.
The IRS seized $59,000 from a gas station owner. They still refuse to give it back.
A black man charged in his own beating, and Charlottesville’s lasting hatred
2622 Comments
Petula is a columnist for The Washington Post's local team who writes about homeless shelters, gun control, high heels, high school choirs, the politics of parenting, jails, abortion clinics, mayors, modern families, strip clubs and gas prices, among other things. Follow @petulad 11/6/2017 26 dead in Texas church shooting, with children among the victims - LA Times
26 dead in Texas church shooting, with children among the victims
Two officials — one a U.S. official and one in law enforcement — who were briefed on the investigation identified the shooter as Devin Kelley, 26, who lived in a San Antonio suburb and doesn't appear to be linked to organized terrorist groups. (Nov. 5, 2017)
By Matt Pearce and John Savage
NOVEMBER 5, 2017, 8:55 PM | REPORTING FROM SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, TEXAS
orshipers had filed in for their weekly song and prayer service at First Baptist Church Sunday when a man clad in black, wearing a tactical vest and carrying an AR-15-style assault rifle, pulled into the parking lot, got out and opened fire. Soon the man made his way inside, and W kept shooting, and shooting, and shooting. But this was Texas. As the gunman exited the church, a neighbor with a gun opened fire on him, forcing the attacker to drop his weapon and flee in his SUV. The neighbor and another bystander in a truck followed in hot pursuit until the gunman drove off the side of the road, mortally wounded — perhaps by one of the neighbor’s bullets, or perhaps by his own.
It was too late. Back in Sutherland Springs, a rural suburb 35 miles southeast of San Antonio, 26 churchgoers were dead and 20 more were wounded in the deadliest mass shooting in the modern history of Texas.
The victims included women and children who were targeted without remorse, including the daughter of the church’s preacher. The victims’ ages ranged from 5 to 72 years old.
The gunman was identified as Devin P. Kelley, 26, a resident of Comal County, Texas, with a history of domestic violence but no other immediate sign of a possible motive.
“I’ve been talking to some community members. They think there was a relative there. It was not random,” said U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), who was briefed by investigators. “There’s going to be some sort of nexus between the shooter and this small community.… Somebody in that church will help us find answers.”
The attack reopened the emotional wounds of a nation only five weeks removed from the Las Vegas massacre of Oct. 1 that left 58 dead, with the two tragedies seemingly showing that there’s no city too big or too small to become a potential target.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-texas-church-shooting-20171105-story.html 1/4 11/6/2017 26 dead in Texas church shooting, with children among the victims - LA Times
The death toll in Sunday’s shooting surpassed Texas’ previous deadliest, a 1991 massacre in Killeen that left 23 dead. The top five deadliest shootings in modern American history have now all come in the last 10 years.
President Trump, who was briefed on the attack on his trip to Asia, called it a “horrific shooting” in a “place of sacred worship.”
In a time of crisis, he said, "Americans will do what we do best: We pull together and join hands and lock arms, and through the tears and sadness we stand strong."
Wilson County Sheriff Joe D. Tackitt was more blunt. “We need your support,” he said at a news conference. “And media, don’t blow it out there that it should have never happened, because it does happen. And we sincerely feel sorry for all the people who are involved.”
According to a sketchy police account of the incident, two people were killed outside the church, 23 people were killed inside and one person died after being taken to the hospital.
The deaths were a devastating shock to a community with only a few hundred residents. “I know at least five people who were killed,” said Chris Taylor, 59, who owns a gas station near the church.
“I lost a niece who was pregnant and three of her babies,” said 60-year-old George Hill, who lives in nearby Floresville.
Hill said his niece’s oldest son was spared because he was sick and stayed home from church. “This is evil, but all things work for good for those who love the Lord,” Hill said. “We’ll pull together, this community will pull together.”
Kelley was in the U.S. Air Force from 2010 to 2014 but left with a “bad conduct” discharge and was sentenced to 12 months’ confinement after he was convicted of assaulting his wife and their child, according to an Air Force representative.
A Facebook profile under the gunman's name featured a photo of an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle. In recent months, Kelley was adding strangers as friends on Facebook from "within 20 minutes" of the Sutherland Springs area and starting Facebook fights with them, according to area resident Johnathan Castillo.
Castillo accepted Kelley's friend request a couple of months ago, thinking that maybe he or his friends had met Kelley but hadn't remembered him. But Kelley soon proved to be troublesome.
“A lot of people were deleting him” for “starting drama” on Facebook, including sending insulting Facebook messages, Castillo said.
“It’s like he went looking for it, you know what I mean?” Castillo said. “You can tell people who are defending their opinions versus someone who’s looking to start something.”
Castillo said he was angry with the gunman, noting the picture of the rifle on Kelley’s Facebook page, “making the rest of us who actually hunt look bad.”
A typo-riddled LinkedIn profile under Kelley's name featured Kelley in a photo with a baby and said that he was a “management consulting professional” from the San Antonio area who was in the Air Force. “I am a hard working dedicated person,” the profile said. “I live by the core values on which the Air Force go by.”
The profile said Kelley taught “children ages 4-6 at vocational [vacation] bible schools helping their minds grow and prosper” at the Kingsville First Baptist Church.
His interests on LinkedIn included “Animal Welfare,” “Children,” “Civil Rights and Social Action” and “Human Rights.”
Investigators have not given any possible motive for the attack.
“The details of this horrific act are still under investigation,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement before he headed to join local, state and federal officials at the scene. “I want to thank law enforcement for their response and ask that all Texans pray for the Sutherland Springs community during this time of mourning and loss.”
Those killed in the shootings included the daughter of the church’s pastor, Frank Pomeroy, who was in Oklahoma when the shooting happened. Annabelle Renee Pomeroy was “one very beautiful, special child,” Pomeroy told ABC News, adding that the dead were all close friends of his.
At least 10 victims, including four children, were being treated at the University Health System in nearby San Antonio, the hospital said in a tweet.
Four members of one family were injured. Joann Ward and her three children were hurt, according to a family friend, Gracie Crews, of nearby Stockdale, Texas, who was at the hospital with the family. http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-texas-church-shooting-20171105-story.html 2/4 11/6/2017 26 dead in Texas church shooting, with children among the victims - LA Times
Ward was unconscious when officials responded to the scene, and two of the children had to be flown by helicopter to a hospital, Crews said in a telephone interview. Crews estimated the children were between the ages of 5 and 8, and said that Saturday was Ward and her husband’s anniversary.
“We got a call once we heard everything that went down. We rushed to the hospital immediately,” Crews said.
Other community members also hurried to help as news of the shooting spread by telephone, social media, “everything,” she said. “The community really rushed out.”
Eight patients with gunshot wounds were taken to Connally Memorial Medical Center in Floresville, according to spokeswoman Megan Posey.
Four of the eight patients, including one in critical condition, were subsequently transferred to University Hospital, a major trauma center in San Antonio. Three were discharged, and one was listed as stable.
Families gathered outside the church and held hands as they cried and waited for news about the injured and the dead.
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) called the reports of the shooting “devastating.”
“The people of Sutherland Springs need our prayers right now,” he said in a tweet.
The small church posted its Sunday services regularly on YouTube, and last Sunday’s was built around a chapter from the Book of Proverbs and the theme, “You don’t need training wheels, you need Christ!”
The service consisted of songs backed by an electric guitar and bass, and a long sermon by Pastor Pomeroy. As the service began, congregants milled about, hugging one another and shaking hands. They were a mix of ages, and it appeared clear they were close. As they greeted one another, the three- person band sang: “God is good, all the time, through the darkest night his light will shine.… If you’re walking through the valley, and there are shadows all around, do not fear, he will guide you, he will keep you safe and sound.”
The church is small, and on this Sunday, was dominated by Pomeroy’s Harley-Davidson motorcycle, parked in front of the pulpit. Pomeroy explained that it was there to illustrate his sermon, which was about “leaning into God” the way a biker leans into a curve, trusting that he won’t fall. Pomeroy described recent rides with his daughter, Annabelle, who died in the shooting.
“It’s been neat lately ... Annabelle’s been wanting to ride with me, and going with me here and there,” he said.
He described going out for a ride that morning, when it was 34 degrees out. “She was a trouper; she did not complain.… She rode, and we had a good time coming in; it was a beautiful ride. Yes, it was a little chilly, but ... the sun was just coming up as we were riding down [County Road] 467 and we saw the sun starting to break over — that is a beautiful time to be on a motorcycle.… We had a good ride.”
Times staff writer Pearce reported from Los Angeles and special correspondent Savage from Sutherland Springs. Times staff writers Molly Hennessy-Fiske in Cairo, Mitchell Landsberg in Los Angeles, David Cloud in Washington and special correspondent Jenny Jarvie in Atlanta contributed to this report. [email protected]
UPDATES:
8:40 p.m.: The story was recast for clarity.
7:05 p.m.: The story was updated with information about the suspect's discharge from the U.S. Air Force in connection with a domestic violence charge.
5:25 p.m.: The story was updated with interviews with residents of Sutherland Springs, as well as comments from President Trump.
3:55 p.m.: The story was updated with additional details of the incident, based on a police press conference.
3:40 p.m. The story was updated with an official death toll of 26.
3:15 p.m.: The story was updated with the identification of the gunman.
2:35 p.m.: The story was updated with an interview about several injuries in one family.
1:15 p.m.: The story was updated with a county commissioner’s report that more than 20 people are dead.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-texas-church-shooting-20171105-story.html 3/4 Morning Mix Death sweeps across 3 generations of a single family gathered at church
By Samantha Schmidt November 6 at 6:58 AM
Houses of worship are among the few places left where families regularly gather, sometimes extended and sometimes across many generations. The First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Tex., is no different. And within those walls on Sunday morning, together as always, were three generations of the Holcombe family.
Bryan Holcombe was walking up to the pulpit, preparing to lead the congregation in worship, when a gunman identified by officials as Devin Kelley began to spray bullets at the worshipers.
Holcombe, an associate pastor for the church, was killed in the gunfire, his parents, Joe and Claryce Holcombe, said in an interview with The Washington Post.
Karla Holcombe, Bryan Holcombe’s wife of about four decades, was killed, too, Joe Holcombe said.
Bryan and Karla Holcombe’s son Marc Daniel Holcombe, 36, also was killed, Joe Holcombe said.
Marc Daniel had an infant daughter, Noah Holcombe, who, was a year old, Joe Holcombe said. She is dead, too.
Another son of Bryan and Karla, John Holcombe, survived, but his wife, Crystal Holcombe, who was pregnant, did not.
Crystal had five children. Three of them, Emily, Megan and Greg, died. The two others survived.
That’s eight members of the extended Holcombe family dead, in addition to the unborn baby.
All at once, Joe and Claryce Holcombe lost children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and a future great-grandchild.
The act of violence that claimed lives from generations of their loved ones took place in the space that mattered to them most: their church. The Holcombes were among the 26 people authorities say were killed in Sunday’s mass shooting, described by Gov. Greg Abbott as the worst in Texas history.
As the morning stretched to afternoon and evening, friends and family members in South Texas posted on Facebook, asking whether anyone had heard from their loved ones.
Joe and Claryce Holcombe first heard about the shooting an hour after it happened, from a phone call from a member of the church they attend, a different Baptist church in nearby Floresville, Tex.
“He said there was a big shooting and he didn’t say much more than that,” said Joe Holcombe, 86.
Then, in a conversation with the church’s head pastor, they started to hear the wrenching news.
“Bryan and Karla?” Joe Holcombe asked.
“They’re both in heaven,” the pastor responded. As the day went on, they would learn of the others.
John Holcombe, who teaches Sunday school and runs the audio for Sunday services at First Baptist Church, was struck with shrapnel in his leg, he told his parents by phone later that day. His daughter remained hospitalized Sunday night, mostly for observation, Joe Holcombe said. She was injured when someone fell on her, Claryce Holcombe said.
Their grandparents described the couple as “fantastic” parents, and a “happy family.”
Crystal Holcombe home-schooled her five children and was heavily involved in the church, like the rest of the family. On Facebook, she reported proudly of the children’s successes in competitions for their local 4-H club, and wrote about a recent bake sale in which the girls participated, benefiting families affected by Hurricane Harvey.
John Holcombe posts frequently about his lesson plans for Sunday school. For this week, he planned to focus on Exodus 16, he wrote in a Facebook post. It describes how God provided the Israelites with food as they traveled for 40 years in the desert, “Manna from Heaven.”
Bryan Holcombe was filling in Sunday for the church’s lead pastor, who was out of town.
And according to his parents, the associate pastor has been involved in church work since he was young.
“We knew when he was born, that he was going to be a preacher,” Joe Holcombe told The Post. “His first word was ‘God.’ ”
His first sentence? “See the light.” On his Facebook page, Bryan Holcombe is shown hoisting his grandchildren on his shoulders, dressing up in costumes for church events and playing his ukulele. He would often play the instrument and sing for prison inmates, a relative told the Associated Press.
“Grandkids, it doesn’t get any better!” Bryan Holcombe wrote on Facebook on one photo of his many grandchildren. “I’ll wake up at night and, in prayer, thank God for each of them . . . it takes a while:-)”
He and Karla lived near his parents, between Floresville and Sutherland Springs. He ran a business on his parents’ farm, making tarps for cattle trailers, Joe Holcombe said.
Bryan and Karla Holcombe were high school sweethearts. One day, their high school was selling roses, offering to deliver them to the classrooms. So Bryan Holcombe delivered a rose to each of Karla’s classes that day.
“He thought she was cute, and she was,” Joe Holcombe said.
Karla Holcombe had the “gift of hospitality,” her mother-in-law said. She had planned to host the family’s Thanksgiving gathering.
Joe and Claryce Holcombe, who are retired teachers, hosted a group of nearby pastors and churchgoers at their home on Sunday as they waited for details about the deceased. They prayed together.
“It’s of course going to be difficult,” Joe Holcombe said.
But, he said, “we are Christians, we have read the book. We know the ending, and it’s good.”
“They’re in heaven,” he added. “And they’re a lot better off than we are.”
The shooting at First Baptist Church shattered scores of other families in this rural, tight-knit community.
Frank Pomeroy, the pastor of First Baptist Church, told ABC News that he did not attend the church service but that his teenage daughter, Annabelle Pomeroy, 14, was killed.
“She was very quiet, shy, always smiling, and helpful to all,” Cynthia Rangel, 50, a resident of Stockdale, said of Annabelle Pomeroy. Rangel, a local emergency medical technician, said she knew three people who were hospitalized after the shooting and were undergoing surgery. “This just all seems like it’s not real.”
As Michael Ward pulled wounded congregants out of the church, he searched for his nephew, three nieces and his sister-in- law, the San Antonio Express-News reported.
“My nephew was outside with four bullets in him,” he said of Rylind Ward, 5. “And Rhianna, the bullet broke her glasses, and broke ’em off, and she said she hid underneath the pew and didn’t get hit,” he said of his 9-year-old niece.
Sandy Ward told MSNBC that her 5-year-old grandson was in surgery, and her 7-year-old granddaughter was killed.
She waited at the hospital Sunday with her son.
“He’s a wreck, of course, as you can imagine,” Ward told MSNBC. “I’m just in shock.”
“I’m numb,” she added. “My whole body’s just numb.”
Joe and Claryce Holcombe said they’re still coming to terms with what happened. The shooter, Joe Holcombe said, is “being rewarded right now for what he did, and for all of eternity.”
But, Claryce added, “we need to pray for his family, because they’re going through a terrible time, too.”
“God will see us through,” Joe Holcombe said. “We’ll all be together soon.”
Eva Ruth Moravec in Sutherland Springs, contributed to this report.
More on the Texas shooting:
Who is Devin Patrick Kelley, the gunman officials say killed churchgoers in Sutherland Springs?
An unlikely hero describes gun battle and 95 mph chase with Texas shooting suspect
At least 26 dead in South Texas church shooting, officials say
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Samantha Schmidt is a reporter for The Washington Post's Morning Mix team. She previously worked as a reporting fellow for the New York Times. Follow @schmidtsam7 REPORTING FROM SACRAMENTO California's teachers pension fund will consider divesting from gun retailers following mass shootings
(Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)
California's teachers pension fund will consider canceling its investments in national retail companies selling guns and ammunition banned in the state after Treasurer John Chiang argued for action following last month's mass shooting in Las Vegas.
"Neither taxpayer funds, nor the pension contributions of any of the teachers we represent, including the three California teachers slain in Las Vegas, should be invested in the purveyors of banned military-style assault weapons," Chiang said during an investment committee meeting of the California State Teachers' Retirement System, or CalSTRS, on Wednesday.
Chiang, who sits on the board of both of California's major public pension funds, brought with him the brother of a woman killed during the Oct. 1 mass shooting at the outdoor concert in Las Vegas where 58 people were killed.
"I saw with my own eyes and felt with my hands the carnage these weapons inflict," said Jason Irvine, the brother of 42-year-old Jennifer Topaz Irvine. Irvine spoke about having to identify his sister's body for authorities. CalSTRS staff was asked to review investments the board of directors may want to remove from the fund's $215.3-billion portfolio. After the mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school in 2012, CalSTRS sold stock and security investments in gun manufacturers. Chiang's request could spark a much larger divestment, as it focuses on retail companies that sell the weapons and ammunition.
Harry Keiley, the chairman of CalSTRS' investment committee, endorsed the review of gun-retailer investments.
"This is an issue that we alone cannot solve," he said. "At the same time, I don't think we should sit by idly."
Chiang, who is running for governor in 2018, told pension fund officials that selling off those kinds of assets would be consistent with CalSTRS' efforts to minimize involvement with companies whose business efforts are a risk to public health and safety.
"It would be difficult to argue that battlefield assault weapons and aftermarket accessories designed to rain down bullets don’t fall into this category," he said.