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.
The work rule lands hardest where the work is least steady
Citrus Belt Review: New CalFresh work requirements took effect June 1, and the corridor carries more exposure than anywhere in Southern California — about 723,000 recipients across the two counties, in a region whose signature jobs don't reliably clear the threshold the rule sets.
Homelessness moves indoors across the Inland Empire as shelter capacity grows
The Citrus Belt Review: San Bernardino County's count fell for a second straight year while Riverside's most recent full count rose 7% — but underneath the opposite headlines, both counties show the same shift: more people in shelters, fewer on the street.
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.
Temecula wine and tourism groups fight SDG&E's Powerlink route
Valley News: Visit Temecula Valley and the Winegrowers Association jointly oppose a 500-kV line routed through wine country, citing tourism damage and wildfire risk in high-severity fire zones.
Riverside County turns on the I-15 smart freeway in Temecula
Redlands council takes up its two-year budget Tuesday
Citrus Belt Review: The city manager's proposed budget for fiscal 2027 and 2028 goes before council June 2 — the spending plan that sets Redlands' fiscal posture for two years.
Riverside launches a business-attraction website
City of Riverside: New site riversidebusiness.org, announced at the May 21 Economic Development Committee meeting, is pitched as a tool to attract investment and support local business.
Both IE counties open early voting ahead of June 2 primary
Riverside County Registrar of Voters: 152 vote centers open across Riverside County starting May 30, plus 107 ballot drop-off sites; San Bernardino County has opened its own countywide early-voting locations through June 1.
Why IE cities are building their own affordable-housing funds — and why they can't copy Texas
Citrus Belt Review: The national story is that cities and states are putting their own money into affordable housing to close financing gaps. In the Inland Empire it's true — but it takes a California shape, and the tax-abatement lever doing the work elsewhere isn't available here.
SDG&E floats a 144-mile transmission line through Temecula
NBC Los Angeles: The Golden Pacific Powerlink would run extra-high-voltage lines from Temecula through Anza-Borrego and into San Diego County — a route that puts a major utility build squarely in southwest Riverside County's path.
Redlands moves its Saturday market to 7 a.m. and looks for the exit
Redlands Community News: Council shifted the Downtown Morning Market to 7–11 a.m. and told staff to find a new site and a third-party operator — a move driven by parking complaints and a market that runs at a loss.
Riverside council candidates raised nearly $500K for three seats — and one race ran on $5,000
The Riverside Record: Ten candidates for three Ward seats pulled in almost half a million combined, but the spread runs from Gracie Torres' near-$100K to Jessica Qattawi's roughly $5K — a gap that tests whether money buys a council seat in a city with no contribution limits.
Mission Inn's missing artifacts hinge on a question nobody settled in 1992
The Raincross Gazette: Two paintings came off the wall May 20, and the fight over who owns them rests on a good-faith handshake from the Christmas Eve closing that the city never put in writing.
Redlands Unified cuts 24 more teaching staff, 43 this month
Community Forward Redlands: 17 of the 24 cuts are counselors; the district started the year planning to eliminate 91 positions before vacancies and attrition pared it down.
Riverside's VMT mitigation bank wins a SCAG sustainability award
The Raincross Gazette: SCAG recognized the city's first-in-county program that lets developers offset traffic impacts under CEQA at $98 per VMT reduced — the lowest known statewide rate — and routes the money to local transportation projects.
Montclair tells HCD it's now compliant after state housing violation notice
City of Montclair: The city was the only IE jurisdiction on the state's March 24 noncompliance list. An urgency ordinance adopted April 20 — three days before the state deadline — is the city's answer.
Coachella council faces 1,000-resident revolt against Stronghold data center
NBC Palm Springs: Meeting ran more than five hours. Security removed Stronghold executives at one point. Water and environmental concerns drove the opposition, and council members signaled they may slow the project down.
Redlands Police drone deploys on e-bike chase, mental health call, armed standoff
Community Forward Redlands: The "Drone as First Responder" program — also called "Mav-1" — launched earlier this year. The department logged three deployments in the week of May 13.