By clicking on the blue portal below, you can download a PDF of the May 4 edition of the San Bernardino County Sentinel.

By Mark Gutglueck
This month marks the ten-year anniversary of Dr. Raymond W. Wolfe’s accession to the position of executive director of San Bernardino County’s transportation agency.
The approach of that milestone in the past several months has occasioned some discussion with regard to the prospect of his remaining in that position beyond 2023, at which point the completion of the 10 Freeway toll lanes in San Bernardino County will be achieved. Among a significant cross section of knowledgeable people in the habit of observing governance in San Bernardino County are a good number who say the advent of road use charges will ultimately push Wolfe into a voluntary or forced departure.
All the same, there are others who insist that Wolfe’s management of a key element of local collective Continue reading →

Less than a year after Harry “Doc” Ervin assumed the position of San Bernardino City Unified School District superintendent, he was forced to depart this week after a series of intense backroom clashes with no fewer than two of the school board’s members relating to nepotism, cronyism and favoritism involving district officials, which were exacerbated by Ervin’s personality conflict with another board member.
According to well-placed sources in and around the district, Ervin’s agenda to concentrate district personnel and resources toward improving academic performance of the district’s students ran into stiff headwinds when he undertook a review of whether a multitude of existing contracts with educational specialists and specialized service providers fit those educational goals. Some of those contract holders Continue reading →

Reports have drifted in to the Sentinel suggesting former West Valley Water District Assistant General Manager Ricardo Pacheco has provided federal investigators with a window on multiple layers of corruption at the West Valley Water District backed with substantial evidence outlining specifics within that narrative.
At issue now, the Sentinel is told, is whether the U.S. Attorney’s Office will act in a timely enough manner to ensure all of the issues uncovered through that investigation and attendant probes are included in Continue reading →

Two developers and a civil engineering and land surveying specialist who in 2020 ran for a position on the San Bernardino City Council have raised the concern of dozens of Wonder Valley residents with a proposal to develop a 106-room hotel, to include an all-night restaurant, spa/wellness center, conference hall and event center to be located at the southeast corner of Amboy Road and Gammel Road in the sparsely populated desert community roughly 10 miles east of Twentynine Palms. The resort would Continue reading →

Sam Spagnolo, a member of the Rancho Cucamonga City Council for more than 17 years, died this week.
“It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our beloved Rancho Cucamonga City Council/Fire Board Member, Sam Spagnolo,” a posting to the City of Rancho Cucamonga website states. “Council Member Spagnolo dedicated his life to public service.”
After a stint in the Navy, Spagnolo attended Chaffey College, at which point he was a volunteer with the Alta Loma Fire Department. In 1968, at the age of 27, he obtained a position as a firefighter with the Continue reading →