Terms of Service
The Citrus Belt ReviewEffective Date: May 28, 2026Last Updated: May 28, 2026
1. About these Terms
Welcome to The Citrus Belt Review. These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of our website at citrusbeltreview.com (the "Site"), our twice-weekly email newsletter, our continuously updated web posts, our social media channels, our tips inbox, and any other products, features, or services we offer (together, the "Service").
The Service is operated by Optim Recruiting LLC, a California limited liability company ("Citrus Belt Review," "we," "us," or "our"). The Citrus Belt Review is a publication of Optim Recruiting LLC. By accessing or using the Service in any way — including by subscribing to our newsletter, visiting the Site, submitting a tip, or following us on social media — you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated here by reference. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.
We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make changes, we will revise the "Last Updated" date above. Your continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.
2. The Service
The Citrus Belt Review is a regional business and civic news publication covering the Inland Empire. The Service includes:
A free email newsletter delivered throughout the week to subscribers who opt in.
A continuously updated web layer at citrusbeltreview.com, where shorter posts, breaking items, and curated coverage are published between scheduled newsletter issues.
An archive of past newsletter issues and web posts.
A tips submission channel.
Social media accounts operated under the Citrus Belt Review brand.
Any future products we may add, including events, sponsored features, classifieds, or paid offerings.
The Citrus Belt Review primarily curates, synthesizes, and analyzes news originally reported by other publications and public sources. We credit and link to those sources as part of our editorial practice. We also publish original analysis, original reporting where appropriate, and reader-sourced items.
3. Eligibility
You must be at least 18 years old to use the Service. By using the Service, you represent that you meet this requirement and that you have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms. The Service is intended for users located in the United States.
4. Accounts and Subscriptions
You do not need to create an account to read most of our content. To receive the email newsletter, you provide your email address (and optionally, additional information such as your name, role, or industry). You are responsible for keeping your contact information accurate and for the security of any credentials associated with your subscription.
You may unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any issue or by contacting us at editor@thecitrusbeltreview.com. Unsubscribing ends future deliveries; it does not delete data already collected, which is handled as described in our Privacy Policy.
5. Acceptable Use
When using the Service, you agree not to:
Use the Service in any way that violates applicable law or regulation.
Impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity.
Submit content you know to be false, defamatory, or intended to harass a third party.
Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any part of the Service, our systems, or other users' accounts.
Interfere with, disrupt, or place an unreasonable load on the Service.
Scrape, harvest, or systematically extract data from the Service, including subscriber lists, comments, or contact information, except as permitted by our robots.txt or with our written consent.
Use the Service to send unsolicited commercial messages, including to our editorial or tips addresses.
Reproduce, redistribute, or republish substantial portions of our content without permission, except as permitted under Section 8 below.
We may suspend or terminate access to the Service at our discretion for any violation of these Terms.
6. Submissions and Tips
We invite readers to send news tips, story leads, corrections, and feedback to our tips inbox or through other channels we make available. These are "Submissions."
By sending us a Submission, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable license to use, reproduce, edit, publish, and distribute the Submission in any media, in whole or in part, in connection with the Service. You represent that you have the right to grant this license and that your Submission does not infringe the rights of any third party or violate any law.
We treat tipster identity with practical care. Our standard practice is described in our Privacy Policy: we do not publish your identity in connection with editorial work or share it with third parties for commercial purposes without your permission. We cannot, however, promise absolute legal confidentiality. California's shield law has limits, and our verification work may reveal a tipster's identity to the subject of a story even if not to the public. Submissions involving alleged wrongdoing should account for this practical reality.
We are not obligated to publish, respond to, or compensate you for any Submission. We may file Submissions for future use or discard them at our discretion. We do not accept unsolicited drafts, opinion pieces, or freelance pitches except through channels we explicitly designate for that purpose.
7. Editorial Independence
The Citrus Belt Review is supported primarily by sponsorships. Sponsors pay for clearly marked placements adjacent to our editorial content. Sponsors do not review, approve, modify, or influence our editorial content, including coverage of their own industry, competitors, or business activities. Editorial decisions, including which items to cover, which sources to credit, and how to frame analysis, are made independently of commercial considerations.
Sponsored content, paid placements, partner messages, and any other commercial content will be clearly identified as such. If you believe any piece of content is improperly labeled or appears to compromise editorial independence, please contact us.
8. Intellectual Property
Our content
Original content created by The Citrus Belt Review — including editorial copy, analysis, original reporting, the section taxonomy, the Citrus Belt Review name and marks, and the visual identity of the Service — is owned by us or our licensors and is protected by U.S. and international copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws.
You may read, share, link to, and quote brief excerpts from our content for personal, non-commercial use, with appropriate attribution to The Citrus Belt Review. You may not republish full issues, full web posts, or substantial portions of our content; create derivative aggregations of our content; or use our content to train machine learning models, except with our prior written permission. For licensing or republication inquiries, contact editor@thecitrusbeltreview.com.
Third-party content
The Citrus Belt Review credits and links to other publishers as a deliberate editorial practice. We do not claim ownership of, and we do not grant any license in, content originated by third parties that we cite, summarize, or link to. Rights to that content remain with the original publishers, who set their own terms of use.
Trademarks
"The Citrus Belt Review," the Citrus Belt Review logo, and related marks are our trademarks. Other names, logos, and marks referenced in the Service are the property of their respective owners.
9. Sponsorships and Sponsored Content
Sponsors who purchase placements on the Service are subject to separate written agreements with us. Those agreements govern sponsor obligations, payment, creative review, category exclusivity, and similar matters. Sponsors are responsible for the accuracy and lawfulness of their sponsored content, including any claims, offers, or terms they include.
We reserve the right to decline, modify, or remove sponsor content that conflicts with our editorial standards, applicable law, or the sponsor agreement. Acceptance of sponsorship does not constitute endorsement of the sponsor's products, services, or business practices.
10. Third-Party Links and Services
The Service contains links to third-party websites, services, and content. We provide these links for convenience and as part of our curatorial practice. We do not control, endorse, or assume responsibility for third-party sites or their content, terms, or privacy practices. Your use of any linked third-party site is at your own risk and subject to the terms and policies of that site.
The Service relies on third-party providers for hosting, email delivery, analytics, payment processing, and other functions. Use of those providers is described in our Privacy Policy.
11. Corrections
We aim to be accurate, and we correct mistakes promptly when they are brought to our attention. If you spot an error, please contact us at editor@thecitrusbeltreview.com. Material corrections will be acknowledged in the next applicable issue or on the affected web post.
12. Disclaimers
The Service is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, accuracy, completeness, and uninterrupted availability.
The Citrus Belt Review reports on business, economic, civic, real estate, legal, financial, and similar matters. Nothing in the Service constitutes legal, financial, investment, tax, accounting, real estate, or other professional advice. Reliance on any information in the Service is at your own risk. Always consult a qualified professional for advice specific to your situation.
We do not guarantee that any third-party link, source, or sponsor offer referenced in the Service will be available, accurate, or current.
13. Limitation of Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, in no event will The Citrus Belt Review, our affiliates, or our respective officers, directors, employees, contributors, or agents be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, including lost profits, lost data, business interruption, or loss of goodwill, arising out of or relating to your use of, or inability to use, the Service, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.
Our aggregate liability for any claim arising out of or relating to the Service will not exceed the greater of (a) one hundred U.S. dollars ($100) or (b) the amount you have paid to us, if any, in the twelve months preceding the event giving rise to the claim. Some jurisdictions do not allow the limitation or exclusion of certain damages, so some of the above limitations may not apply to you.
14. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless The Citrus Belt Review and its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising out of or related to (a) your use of the Service, (b) your Submissions, (c) your violation of these Terms, or (d) your violation of any third-party right, including intellectual property and privacy rights.
15. Termination
We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time, with or without notice, for any reason, including violation of these Terms. You may stop using the Service at any time. Provisions of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination — including intellectual property, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnification, and dispute resolution — will survive.
16. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution
These Terms and any dispute arising out of or relating to them or to the Service are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles.
Any dispute will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Riverside County, California, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts. You and we each waive any right to a jury trial.
You and we agree that any dispute will be resolved on an individual basis only. Class actions and class-wide arbitration are not permitted.
17. Miscellaneous
These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any other terms we expressly incorporate, constitute the entire agreement between you and The Citrus Belt Review regarding the Service. If any provision of these Terms is held to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full effect. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of our right to do so later. You may not assign or transfer these Terms; we may.
18. Contact
Questions about these Terms can be sent to: editor@thecitrusbeltreview.com