Privacy Policy

The Citrus Belt ReviewEffective Date: May 28, 2026Last Updated: May 28, 2026

1. Introduction

The Citrus Belt Review ("Citrus Belt Review," "we," "us," or "our") is a publication of Optim Recruiting LLC, a California limited liability company. We operate a regional business and civic news publication serving the Inland Empire. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, and protect information when you visit our website at citrusbeltreview.com (the "Site"), subscribe to our newsletter, send us a tip, contact us about sponsorship, or otherwise interact with our service (the "Service").

We are based in California and operate primarily under California and U.S. federal privacy law. This Policy applies to information we collect about individuals in connection with the Service. It does not apply to information collected by third parties we link to or whose services we use; those third parties have their own privacy policies.

By using the Service, you agree to the practices described in this Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.

2. Information We Collect

We collect information in the categories below.

Information you provide directly

  • Newsletter subscription information. When you subscribe, we collect your email address. We may also ask, optionally, for your name, role, industry, employer, or city to help us understand our audience and tailor coverage. You can subscribe without providing optional information.

  • Tips and reader correspondence. When you send a tip, ask a question, submit a correction, or otherwise contact us, we receive your email address and whatever you choose to include in your message. This often includes your name, employer, and information about other people or organizations.

  • Sponsor inquiries. When you reach out about sponsorship, advertising, partnerships, or events, we collect your name, company, role, contact information, and the substance of our conversations. Sponsors and prospective sponsors are tracked in our customer relationship records.

  • Event and survey participation. If we run events, surveys, or reader research, we may collect information you submit in connection with those activities.

  • Payments. If you purchase a sponsorship, paid subscription, classified listing, or other paid offering, payment information is collected and processed by our payment processor. We do not store full payment card numbers on our systems.

Information collected automatically

  • Email engagement data. Like most publishers, we use industry-standard tracking pixels and link wrapping to measure whether emails are opened and which links are clicked. This helps us understand engagement, refine coverage, and report performance to sponsors in aggregate.

  • Site usage data. When you visit the Site or read a web post, our systems and our analytics providers automatically log information such as your IP address, approximate location, device type, operating system, browser, referring page, pages viewed, time on page, and similar technical data.

  • Cookies and similar technologies. We and our service providers use cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies to operate the Site, remember your preferences, measure traffic, and understand how readers engage with our continuously updated web content. See Section 6 below.

Information from other sources

  • Sourcing for editorial purposes. As a curator of regional news, we routinely gather information about businesses, executives, civic figures, and public events from public sources, including news outlets, press releases, social media, public records, professional databases, and reader tips. We may publish this information in connection with our editorial work, subject to applicable law and our own editorial standards.

  • Service provider data. We may receive analytics, deliverability, and engagement data from the platforms that host our website, deliver our email, and process our payments.

3. How We Use Information

We use the information described above to:

  • Deliver the newsletter, publish web content, and otherwise operate the Service.

  • Understand our audience and improve our editorial coverage.

  • Communicate with subscribers about the publication, including occasional administrative or transactional messages.

  • Sell, deliver, and report on sponsorships, including providing sponsors with aggregate audience and engagement statistics. We do not share individual subscribers' personal information with sponsors.

  • Respond to tips, questions, corrections, and other reader correspondence, and follow up with sources during verification.

  • Conduct editorial work, including research, fact-checking, and publication of news about businesses, executives, civic matters, and public figures in the Inland Empire.

  • Process payments and manage commercial relationships.

  • Protect the security of the Service, prevent fraud and abuse, and enforce our Terms of Service.

  • Comply with legal obligations and respond to lawful requests.

4. How We Share Information

We share information in the following limited ways.

Service providers

We rely on third-party service providers that process information on our behalf. Current providers include:

  • Website and email platform. Hosts the Site and/or delivers our newsletter and processes subscriber data and email engagement metrics on our behalf.

  • Analytics. We use analytics providers (such as Google Analytics) to understand Site traffic.

  • Payments.

  • Productivity and storage.

  • Marketing and outreach tools. We may use tools for newsletter cross-promotion, social scheduling, or sponsor outreach.

These providers process information only as needed to provide their services to us and are bound by their own privacy and security obligations.

Affiliated properties

Optim Recruiting LLC operates other properties in addition to The Citrus Belt Review, including OptimCareers, Vegtotable and Margin. From time to time, we may cross-promote between properties — for example, by including a Citrus Belt Review signup module on an affiliated property, or by mentioning an affiliated property in our newsletter. These cross-promotions are editorial or marketing references; they do not, by themselves, involve sharing your personal information between properties.

We maintain separate subscriber lists and customer records for each property.

Legal and safety

We may disclose information when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to (a) comply with applicable law, subpoena, court order, or other legal process; (b) protect the rights, property, or safety of The Citrus Belt Review, our readers, sources, or others; (c) investigate or prevent fraud, abuse, or violations of our Terms of Service; or (d) cooperate with law enforcement when legally required. Where lawful and consistent with our editorial commitments, we may challenge or narrow such requests.

Business transfers

If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, or sale of assets, information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will give reasonable notice through the Service before personal information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

Aggregate and de-identified data

We may share aggregated, de-identified, or otherwise non-identifying information — including audience profiles, engagement statistics, and trend data — with sponsors, partners, and the public. This information cannot reasonably be used to identify you.

What we do not do

We do not sell your personal information for money. We do not share our newsletter list with advertisers, sponsors, data brokers, or other third parties for their independent marketing. Reporting to sponsors is in aggregate form only.

5. Tipster Privacy

We take the privacy of news tipsters seriously. Our standard practice:

  • We will not publish your identity in connection with editorial work without your permission.

  • We will not share your identity with sponsors, advertisers, or any third party for commercial purposes.

  • Our tips inbox is reviewed by editorial staff; access is limited to those who need it to do editorial work.

  • We do not store unnecessary identifying information about tipsters.

We cannot, however, promise absolute legal confidentiality. California's reporter shield law has limits, and we may be compelled by court order or subpoena to disclose information in certain circumstances. In addition, when we verify a tip with other sources, our reporting work may surface a tipster's identity to the subject of a story even if we never publish it.

If you are sending a sensitive tip, please consider these practical limits before deciding what to share and how.

6. Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:

  • Essential. To operate the Site, remember your preferences, and keep you signed in if you create an account.

  • Analytics. To measure traffic, understand how readers engage with our continuously updated web content, and improve the Service.

  • Email engagement. Tracking pixels in our newsletter and link wrappers measure open and click rates in aggregate.

Most browsers let you control or block cookies through their settings. Blocking cookies may affect Site functionality. We do not currently respond to Do Not Track browser signals, but we honor opt-out preference signals from California residents as required by law (see Section 8).

7. Children's Privacy

The Service is intended for adults and is not directed to children under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us at editor@thecitrusbeltreview.com and we will delete it.

8. California Privacy Rights (CCPA/CPRA)

If you are a California resident, you have specific rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (together, "CCPA").

Categories of personal information we collect

In the 12 months preceding the effective date of this Policy, we may have collected the following categories of personal information from California residents, as defined under the CCPA: identifiers (such as name, email, and IP address); customer records information; commercial information; internet or other electronic network activity information; geolocation information (approximate); professional or employment-related information; and inferences drawn from the above. We collect this information from the sources described in Section 2 and use it for the purposes described in Section 3.

Categories we disclose for a business purpose

We disclose the categories above to the service providers described in Section 4 for the business purposes described in this Policy.

Sale or sharing of personal information

We do not sell personal information for monetary consideration. We do not knowingly "share" personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising as defined by the CCPA. If our practices change, we will update this Policy and provide the disclosures and opt-out mechanism the CCPA requires.

Sensitive personal information

We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information beyond the purposes permitted by the CCPA without further notice and opt-in consent.

Your rights

Subject to verification and exceptions provided by law, California residents have the right to:

  • Know the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, the sources of that information, the purposes for collecting it, and the categories of third parties with whom we share it.

  • Delete personal information we have collected about you, subject to legal exceptions (including exceptions for journalism, free speech, and ordinary business needs).

  • Correct inaccurate personal information.

  • Opt out of any sale or sharing of personal information (we do not currently engage in either).

  • Limit the use and disclosure of sensitive personal information (we do not currently use it beyond permitted purposes).

  • Non-discrimination in service or pricing for exercising your rights.

To exercise these rights, contact us at [privacy email] or [mailing address]. We will respond within the time required by law. We may need to verify your identity before responding. You may use an authorized agent, who must provide proof of authorization.

Journalism and the First Amendment

Some CCPA rights and obligations do not apply to information we collect, hold, use, or publish in connection with newsgathering, journalism, and the publication of news. We rely on those exceptions where applicable.

9. Other U.S. State Privacy Rights

Residents of other U.S. states with comprehensive privacy laws may have similar rights to access, delete, or correct their personal information, or to opt out of certain uses. To exercise any rights you may have under your state's law, contact us at editor@thecitrusbeltreview.com.

10. Data Security

We use commercially reasonable technical, administrative, and physical safeguards to protect personal information. No system is perfectly secure, however, and we cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted to or stored on the Service.

11. Data Retention

We retain personal information for as long as we have a legitimate need to do so, which depends on the type of information and the purpose for which it was collected:

  • Newsletter subscriber records are retained for as long as you remain subscribed, plus a reasonable period afterward for record-keeping, deliverability, and dispute resolution.

  • Tips and reader correspondence are retained for editorial reference, including for the publication of future related items.

  • Sponsor records are retained for the duration of the commercial relationship plus the period required by tax, accounting, and contractual obligations.

  • Analytics data is retained in line with the defaults of the analytics providers we use.

When we no longer need personal information, we delete or de-identify it.

12. International Users

The Service is operated from the United States. If you access the Service from outside the United States, you understand that your information will be transferred to, stored in, and processed in the United States. The Service is not directed to users in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or other jurisdictions whose data protection laws differ materially from those of the United States.

13. Links to Other Sites

The Service links extensively to third-party websites as part of our curatorial practice. Those sites have their own privacy policies and practices, and we are not responsible for them. Please review the privacy policy of any third-party site you visit.

14. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time. The "Last Updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision. Your continued use of the Service after the changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Policy.

15. Contact

For privacy questions, requests, or complaints, contact: editor@thecitrusbeltreview.com

For news tips and editorial correspondence: tips@thecitrusbeltreview.com