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Civic
Land use, public finance, housing, public safety, elections — the governance of California's Inland corridor.
From the Long Read
What happened at the meeting you skipped.
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Civic Archives
Vista Norte charter wins city OK to keep running in Casa Blanca, grows to 450 students
The Raincross Gazette: A conditional use permit legalizes a campus that has run without city approval since 2015, and caps enrollment at 450.
Flock cameras are spreading across the IE, and no one's telling residents who put them up
Citrus Belt Review: Residents across the corridor keep spotting new license plate readers — on city streets, county roads, and inside their own gated neighborhoods. What they can't find is a straight answer about who installed them or why.
Riverside moves to interviews for its first inspector general
The Raincross Gazette: The watchdog post pays $161,000 to $217,000 and reports to the mayor and council — the structure critics say undercuts its independence.
Redlands pays $475,000 to settle another police harassment lawsuit
Community Forward Redlands: Settlement pushes the city's payouts tied to allegations involving former Deputy Chief Michael Reiss to about $4.25 million across four cases.
Coachella halts data centers, drops Stronghold Power deal
NBC Palm Springs: Council approves a 45-day moratorium — extendable to two years — and terminates the utility agreement behind a massive eastern-corridor project, accepting a high risk of litigation.
San Bernardino County opens $125.6 million emergency dispatch hub
San Bernardino County: Federal American Rescue Plan money covered $106 million of the cost; the facility puts county emergency management, Sheriff dispatch and CONFIRE under one roof.
Redlands Unified holds budget and LCAP hearings June 9
Community Forward Redlands: Trustees open the 2026-27 budget for public comment, plus a $906K YMCA afterschool deal and a Beattie Middle School safety upgrade.
Dicus wins outright, Binks and Vara head to runoff in San Bernardino County races
Community Forward Redlands: One countywide incumbent cruised, one lost outright: Sheriff Dicus took 65.6% while Auditor-Controller Ensen Mason fell to challenger Ryan Hutchison.
All three Riverside council races head toward November runoffs
The Riverside Record: No candidate in Wards 2, 4 or 6 cleared 50% in early returns; an estimated 270,000 county ballots remain uncounted.
Riverside County supervisors file De Luz election canvass over citizen group's objections
Riverside Record: The group's own audit reconciled after a missing ballot log surfaced; county counsel said the board had no discretion to delay or order a recount.
Riverside County floats a $10.3B budget as a first deficit year looms
County of Riverside: The recommended FY26/27 plan tops $10.3B, but departments asked for $700M more in discretionary money than the county has — the gap that makes this a deficit budget.
Riverside voters reject Measure Z fire tax; three council seats head to runoffs
The Raincross Gazette: Voters turned down the fire-funding sales tax 59-41 in early returns — a no on the same revenue the city's own budget says it needs to cover a $27M general-fund gap.
The IE's warehouse-emissions rule is mostly working — and the IE is paying most of the freight
Citrus Belt Review: Four years into the nation's first warehouse-emissions rule, the surprise isn't the $55 million in fees — it's that fees are only 5% of it. Operators are mostly buying electric yard trucks and chargers, not writing checks. And the two IE counties carry most of the bill.
San Bernardino's Tran wins a second term outright; Valdivia comeback fails
Community Forward Redlands: Mayor Helen Tran cleared 54.6% against five challengers, avoiding a runoff — and former mayor John Valdivia finished last at 7.1%.
Binks and Vara head to November for San Bernardino County schools chief
Community Forward Redlands: Two educators advanced for county superintendent; Sheriff Dicus and the new auditor-controller won outright, and AD-50's Garcia drew a November challenger.
California turns on its first smart freeway on I-15 in Temecula
RCTC: A $33M pilot meters three on-ramps and posts real-time speeds on 8 miles of northbound I-15 — no new lanes, two years to prove it works.
San Bernardino supervisor moves to censure elected auditor Ensen Mason
IE Community News: Rowe wants a censure or removal vote days before Mason faces the ballot — and the board has already denied him county funds to defend himself in an open investigation.
Newsom signs Cervantes ballot-security bill last week
The Riverside Record: SB 73 lands days after Sheriff Chad Bianco seized more than 600,000 Riverside County ballots — and both Newsom and its author say it would have made that harder.
Murrieta Valley voters fill a trustee seat Tuesday after a fight over how
The Riverside Record: A community petition forced the June 2 special election after the board appointed someone last October instead. The winner serves through 2028.