The prospect that American Medical Response can hang on to the virtual monopoly it has enjoyed as the dominant provider of ambulance service in geographically expansive San Bernardino County over the last two decades has narrowed significantly in the last several months. Indeed, it appears that the company may soon be driven out of business in this neck of the woods entirely.
The powers that be in the regional, county and municipal governmental structure were once so enamored with American Medical Response that they conferred favored status upon the company, which is known by the initialism AMR. Those fickle politicians, however, have now taken up with a consortium of governmental agencies and its selected corporate partner to create a quasi-public, quasi-private emergency medical transportation program that is being touted as the wave of the future.
More than a year-and-a-half ago, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors moved vigorously to end AMR’s ambulance service franchise. AMR’s corporate officers felt the county had done so a little too spiritedly and responded by suing San Bernardino County in both state and federal court.
Rulings made this year in the federal court case and the reaction to those rulings by the judge hearing the matter in state court do not bode well for American Medical Response, as those in the know and interested parties now appear to be preparing for AMR’s near-monopoly to be handed over to the consortium.
Somewhat ironically, despite American Medical Response having previously enjoyed a near-monopoly in San Bernardino County by virtue of having secured exclusive operating franchises across a wide swath of the region, its lawyers had argued that the county governmental structure controlling those franchises was illegally endorsing a monopolistic system. Judge Kenly Kato, who is hearing the matter in federal court, ruled the anti-trust principle cited by the law firm representing American Medical Response in the federal suit is inapplicable. Earlier this year a panel of three judges with the U.S, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals – consisting of Justices Consuelo Callahan, Roopali Desai, and Ana De Alba – upheld Judge Kato. As a result, the legal challenge to San Bernardino County’s December 2023 decision to confer a franchise for emergency medical response throughout most of the county’s desert region on Consolidated Fire Agencies – otherwise known as CONFIRE – resides now in San Bernardino County Superior Court under the scrutiny of Superior Court Judge Jay Robinson. Continue reading →

By Carlos Avalos and Mark Gutglueck
San Bernardino County Board of Education Member Ryan McEachron’s vitriolic reaction to county residents’ public records requests has triggered alarm among his constituents and a complaint to the district attorney’s office, as citizen efforts to monitor spending priorities by regional education officials continue, spurred on by curiosity over the basis of McEachron’s animus.
At two separate points during the September 8, 2025 meeting of the San Bernardino County Board of Education, McEachron took exception to the intensive examination members of the public have in recent weeks and months been making of the decision-making engaged in by the county board of education, San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools Ted Alejandre and school boards of several districts throughout the county.
At issue in multiple instances is how elected educational officials, including Alejandre, have created or otherwise participated in arrangements involving the expenditure of educational program funds that have profited their friends, business or political associates, family members or themselves personally. In the same timeframe, there have been associated revelations demonstrating the political interconnections between the county’s elected educational officials, consisting primarily of school board members and Alejandre himself making donations to one anothers’ electioneering funds.
McEachron found himself provoked in the early stage of the meeting, after the preliminary and ceremonial items were dealt with and the board was hearing public comments. A former instructor with the Etiwanda School District, Antoinette Jensen, made some critical observations with regard to the county’s educational establishment, including the assertion that the county superintendent of schools office had engaged in “pay-to-play” practices with regard to contracting, a nepotistic arrangement in which Alejandre’s wife had been provided with a contract exceeding $200,000 per year and other conflict-of-interest entanglements. Jensen referenced the funneling of campaign money to and between elected educational position candidates with whom Alejandre or board members are aligned and concerted efforts to remove individuals in office who are not in line policy-wise or politically with the prime movers in the county’s educational establishment. “Independent voices get in the way of your power,” Jensen asserted. Continue reading →

By John Berry
Never in my two decades in the newspaper business have I ever seen elected officials so viciously attacked as three members of the Redlands school board.
I don’t say that lightly. In my reporting days in Florida and California, I’ve covered multiple levels of elected officials, from fire and community college district trustees to county commissioners and state legislators.
A group calling itself Together For Redlands spearheads vicious and vile attacks on Redlands Unified School District board members Candy Olson, Jeannette Wilson, and Michele Rendler. At meetings, needlessly lasting past midnight, numerous Together For Redlands supporters would typically call the trio “Nazis,” “fascists” and “white Christian nationalists.”
And that’s just for starters. Often, attackers – including current and former Redlands students – would flip middle fingers and drop F-bombs as well as scream primal profanity at the board. Police escorted the worst out of the meeting. The protesters were undaunted. They picketed and leafleted Rendler at her church.
Further, the Ark Church in Redlands – the members of which and pastor actively support Olson and Wilson – was singled out for vitriol.
Violence and vandalism targeting the church and its members are nothing new. The latest attack took place in April when, after a particularly contentious school board meeting, swastikas suddenly appeared on Ark Church signage. Local, regional and state media covered the crime, and the FBI questioned suspects. No arrests were made, but vandalism has since ceased. Continue reading →

In a rare demonstration of division between two of California’s otherwise closely-aligned Democrats, Governor Gavin Newsom on October 1 vetoed State Senator Sabrina Cervantes’ bill aimed at limiting the use and retention of information gleaned by license plate readers.
A license plate reader, variously known as an automated license plate recognition system and their respective acronyms LPR and ALPR, consists of a camera and accompanying software used to automatically capture photos of vehicle license plates. The accompanying software system, which is coordinated to link up with various data storage and processing banks utilized by law enforcement and other agencies, converts the images to electronic text, which then can be compared with or matched to license plate numbers registered with the California Department of Motor Vehicles or the vehicle registrations gleaned from other states’ information banks.
The readers, mounted on poles along roadsides or at intersections, generally make a recording of the plate number, date, time, and location of the vehicle bearing the plate.
Police agencies have applied the information in multiple contexts to identify stolen vehicles or track the whereabouts of individuals known or suspected to have engaged in criminal activity.
While the devices have proven of substantial value in documenting certain crimes, locating suspects and stolen vehicles, providing evidence that has been used in obtaining convictions, the data collected by an ALPR is routinely stored and provides a comprehensive record of vehicle movements and the whereabouts of the state’s citizens, the vast majority of whom are not involved in criminal activity. Continue reading →

A governmental decision made halfway around the globe yesterday has brightened immeasurably the prospects that a San Bernardino County mining operation will recapture its former glory.
The unincorporated community of Mountain Pass in San Bernardino County’s extreme northeast corner is host to what was in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s the world’s most productive rare earth element mine. Rare earth metals, also referred to as lanthanides, are a set of 17 minerals – specifically scandium, yttrium, lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, gadolinium, europium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, lutetium and ytterbium. They serve as niche ingredients in the components of high-tech devices, including mercury-vapor lamps, high-temperature superconductors, lasers, microwave filters, high refractive index glass, electrical vehicles, flint products, battery-electrodes, camera lenses, carbon arc lighting, didymium glass used in welding goggles, ceramic capacitors, nuclear batteries, specialized magnets, semi-conductors, red and blue phosphors, x-ray machines, infrared lasers and computer chips.
The mine was closed down in the 1990s because of environmental concerns. During its hiatus, the Chinese leapt into the breach and became the owners and operators of mines producing in excess of 80 percent of the world’s rare earth elements. In the same timeframe, over the last three decades, with scientific advancements, rare earths became more and more crucial to the economy as modern products increasingly utilized components containing lanthanides. Continue reading →

Some leading members of the progressive contingent within the Redlands community, a number of whom have been characterized by Candy Olson’s and Jeannette Wilson’s supporters as vicious, vile and vulgar in propounding their beliefs and being as or even more dogmatic and rigid in their collective mindset than the conservatives they detest, insist they are engaged in an advocacy that is enlightened, humane and kind-spirited. While tacitly acknowledging that their passion has sometimes been articulated profanely, they insist that theirs is a position of rectitude and compassion.
“Please be clear, while we may criticize elected officials for their actions and the policies they promote, accusing us of intimidation or threatening behavior is inaccurate and possibly libelous,” the progressive values group Together For Redlands stated in a communication with the Sentinel this week. “We never target friends, families, or associates of elected officials. Nor do we engage in intimidation of anyone. We publicize and criticize actions and policies we disagree with in an attempt to keep the public informed and engaged.”
Conservative forces in Redlands assert that Together for Redlands and other liberals in the community were not able to prevent a traditional values coalition from taking control of the school board as a result of the 2024 election. The reality is, the traditionalists maintain, that those promoting transgenderism among students, those calling for the presence of gay pride flags on campus and in classrooms, those in favor of indoctrinating students with liberal political ideas, exposing students to radical ideologies and sexually explicit reading material and texts are a minority and a small minority at that, despite being so vocal. Outnumbered and beaten at the ballot box, the progressives, according to the community’s conservatives, have turned to bullying and intimidation to get their way.
That is not the case, the progressives counter.
“Characterizing our tactics as bullying without the political muscle to accomplish is wholly inaccurate,” Together For Redlands in a group communique told the Sentinel. “In fact, California law is on our side as demonstrated by both the Chino and Temecula [school district] flag bans being overturned based on California Public Employment Relations Board litigation. In addition, California law prohibits book bans targeting marginalized communities which is documented as the intent of the Redlands book review policy.”
As the district has enacted policy after policy that has not been to the liking of Redlands’ progressive contingent over the ten months since Olson and Wilson were sworn into positions on the school board following their November 2024 election victories, members of the city’s conservative set have openly remarked at how politically tone deaf the Redlands liberals are. Instead of courting Michelle Rendler, the swing vote on the school board, the traditionalists point out, the progressives have offended and insulted her with their pointed verbal abuse, personal attacks, profanity and departures from decorum that have plunged the board meetings into chaos. Rendler, as the school board president throughout that time, has labored in vain to officiate over orderly and dignified proceedings. The manner in which the liberal forces have alienated Rendler, those on the now-prevailing establishment’s side say, is as much of a factor in the direction the district is now taking as anything else.
Together For Redlands disputed that size-up, saying Rendler was never on a trajectory to see eye-to-eye with its group’s members or the other left-leaning residents in the city.
“It is implied that Ms. Rendler is solely reacting to the tactics used by Together For Redlands,” the group told the Sentinel. “In fact, Ms. Rendler had previously voiced support for banning books and banning flags during previous school boards, but lacked support for such positions until Ms. Olson and Ms. Rendler were elected.”
Those taking issue with Together For Redlands’ political fundraising efforts are on the wrong track, the group said in its statement to the Sentinel, claiming it was permitted to collect money through an adjunct political action committee it has set up, and those  which could be expended on electioneering efforts or advocacy with regard to political matters.
“If there are questions about the status of Together For Redlands, we would appreciate the opportunity to hear these questions so that we may provide accurate responses,” the group stated. “Together For Redlands has filed as a 501(c)4 and has established a PAC [political action committee]. This enables us to promote the common good and general welfare of the community as well as engage in political activities. Together For Redlands follows all laws and regulations.”
Under tax code regulations, Section 501(c)(3) organizations are not able to make contributions or pass money through to political organizations such as candidate committees, political party committees or political action committees.
According to Together For Redlands, it is not a section 501(c)(3) organization but rather a nonprofit entity organized under section 501(c)4, which puts it at liberty to make contributions to political organizations described in section 527, to include a candidate committee, political party committee or a political action committee, as long as long as doing so is not the group’s primary activity.
To those in Redlands on the right side of the political spectrum, Together For Redlands is involved in politics – underhanded and cutthroat politics – up to the level of its members’ eyeballs.
It is not the liberals in Redlands running afoul of fundraising regulations, according to the statement by Together For Redlands, but the community’s reactionaries. The group referenced complaints made to the California Fair Political Practices Commission with regard to Olson’s campaign funding and spending.
The Sentinel found two such complaints from 2024. One of those was closed out with no action taken and the other showed no movement or processing of it by the Fair Political Practices Commission’s staff since it was filed on November 12, 2024, one week after the November 5, 2024 election in which Olson was victorious.
The greater balance of Together For Redlands’ collective hostility is focused upon Candy Olson, but it has engaged in personal and sharp ad hominem attacks on Wilson as well. According to Together For Redlands, Wilson “doesn’t think Nazi flags are hate symbols,” she is a religious bigot who “is threatened by other people’s religion,” she “doesn’t believe in gay marriage” and she is doubly bigoted in that she “doesn’t want to follow state law on minority rights.”
The group’s animosity toward Olson runs deeper. She is, the group blithely claims, an out-and-out Nazi.
Olson crossed the line, they maintain, through what were either her own postings or repostings of photos, doctored images, cartoons and the like which, according to the group, reveal her intolerance, her infatuation with totalitarian regimes and put her authoritarian mindset on display for all the world to see.
“As for the characterization of Ms. Olson, in particular, community members are responding to her documented social media activity,” Together For Redlands stated. “She has posted (not liked, but posted) support for the KKK, Nazis, and memes that are anti-LGBTQ and promote violence. This is in addition to the more hateful memes she ‘liked.’”
Despite disavowing the use of bullying or intimidation tactics against officeholders and denying that it or its members had targeted the friends, families, or associates of elected officials, in its statement to the Sentinel, Together For Redlands acknowledged that one of Wilson’s and Olson’s supporters had gone to court to get a restraining order against Keeling, the group’s executive director, and Easley, who last year was a major Together For Redlands hanger-on and one of Keeling’s closest associates.
“The fact that you are referencing a restraining order that was not granted demonstrates we are not the ones attempting to mislead people,” Together For Redlands stated.
Keeling conveyed to the Sentinel that particular contretemps involved not hers but Easley’s animus toward the woman who sought the restraining order and that at this point she wanted to move herself and Together For Redlands beyond that chapter.
“Look, what that woman [who sought the restraining order] was portraying… I didn’t want to know her. I didn’t wish to know her. I don’t want to be involved. I want nothing to do with Amber, either. I have no relationship with Amber Easley anymore.”
The Sentinel’s email to Easley in an effort to get her version of events went unreturned.
Keeling said that a narrative which casts Olson, Wilson and Rendler as the virtuous trio while castigating those who oppose them as the embodiment of evil does not reflect reality. Nor did she and the rest of the progressive forces in Redlands cast the first stone, she maintained.
At this point, according to Keeling, Together For Redlands and the other liberals in town are merely replicating the tactics that Olson engaged in before she was elected and which succeeded in bringing her into office.
“Look at what Candy Olson put the former [liberal/progressive] board members through over the last three or four years,” Keeling said. “They were doxed and couldn’t turn around without her coming after them.”
-Mark Gutglueck

FBN20250008588
The following entity is doing business primarily in San Bernardino County as
MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLE BY NC 1101 S. MILLIKEN AVE. STE. E ONTARIO, CA 91761: ANA G. NAVARRO CERROS [and] RAUL E NAVARRO AMAYA
Business Mailing Address: 6865 SHELTON CT. RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA 91701
The business is conducted by: A MARRIED COUPLE
The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on: May 20, 2025
By signing, I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime (B&P Code 179130). I am also aware that all information on this statement becomes Public Record upon filing.
/s/ ANA G. NAVARRO CERROS
Statement filed with the County Clerk of San Bernardino on: 09/11/2025
I hereby certify that this copy is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office San Bernardino County Clerk By:/Deputy A5235
Notice-This fictitious name statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the office of the county clerk. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before that time. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see Section 14400 et seq., Business and Professions Code).
Published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel on September 19, & 26 and October 3 & 10, 2025.

FBN20250008195
The following entity is doing business primarily in San Bernardino County as
BLEEPS EVENTS 10166 TAMARISK AVE HESPERIA, CA 92345: ANTONIO GARCIA SR.
Business Mailing Address: 10166 TAMARISK AVE HESPERIA, CA 92345
The business is conducted by: AN INDIVIDUAL
The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on: August 28, 2025
By signing, I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime (B&P Code 179130). I am also aware that all information on this statement becomes Public Record upon filing.
/s/ ANTONIO M GARCIA SR., Owner
Statement filed with the County Clerk of San Bernardino on: 09/02/2025
I hereby certify that this copy is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office San Bernardino County Clerk By:/Deputy J4646
Notice-This fictitious name statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the office of the county clerk. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before that time. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see Section 14400 et seq., Business and Professions Code).
Published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel on September 19, & 26 and October 3 & 10, 2025.

Continue reading →

(September 26)–Rialto Unified School District Nutrition Services Director Rausat Rahman-Davies has entered into an agreement to resign from that post effective as of May of next year while the school breakfast and lunch program she headed is dogged by yet-to-be-fully-proven allegations of financial misfeasance and malfeasance.
On Wednesday, September 24, in the absence of two members of the school board, Edgar Montes and Evelyn Dominguez, who formerly appeared inclined to give Rahman-Davies the benefit of the doubt as indications mounted that the district had defrauded the state and federal government to obtain school lunch program subsidies it was not entitled to through the submission of inaccurate documentation, the three other members of the school board accepted Rahman-Davies resignation and voted to approve her departure contract.
That contract will allow her to continue to collect her current total yearly compensation of $293,589.41, consisting of her present annual $221,977.41 salary and $71,612. benefits until January 1, whereupon her annual salary rate will increase to $228,636.73. Upon retirement, she will be eligible for a $141,754.77 pension at age 60 in 2028 ,and the district will continue to provide her and her spouse with medical coverage until she reaches the age of 65 in 2033. Continue reading →

Justin Wayne Halstenberg, who was convicted in May of having set the Line Fire in Highland on September 5, 2024, after which charred 43,978-acre acres in its infernal progression north and eastward up into the San Bernardino Mountains wreaking more than $100 million in destruction and damage for more than a month, was sentenced to 16 years to life in state prison on Wednesday, October 1.
Using self-styled incendiary devices, Halstenberg made three attempts at starting fires in the area of east Highland on September 5, 2025, according to prosecutors. Two of those fires failed to take hold, one when it burned out after burning less than ten square feet of vegetation that was not dry enough to fully ignite because it was irrigated regularly and another because a passerby good Samaritan stomped it out before it could spread. The last of the fires that arson investigators testified Halstenberg lit, however, grew into a major conflagration.
Almost miraculously, despite wending a fiery path through 68.71 square miles including within and very near to populated areas, no lives were lost and a mere six structures and a water conveyance pipeline destroyed, in large measure due to the massive response of firefighters to the periphery of the blaze. Six of those firefighters were injured during operations. Continue reading →