By Anthony Serrano & Mark Gutglueck
After discussions that have gone on for more than four years, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, now known as the Yuhaaviatam Nation, is on the brink of swapping seven parcels consisting of 1,533.92 acres it owns in the San Bernardino National Forest at various altitudes ranging from approximately 5,200 feet to 7,000 feet in the San Bernardino Mountains for two parcels of federal land consisting of 1,475.90 acres located near the Arrowhead Springs Hotel at the approximate 2,000 foot elevation in the San Bernardino Mountain foothills.
The land the tribe will acquire under the agreement lies at a crucial juncture in the foothills above the San Bernardino and Highland city limits, from which it could divert to its own use much of the Inland Region’s water resources.
According to Dave Anderson, the special uses and lands program manager for the San Bernardino National Forest, “The tribe initially approached the forest with a proposal for the land exchange. At some time before 2019 the tribe was advised by the Forest Service to first acquire (or acquire the option to purchase) properties that had previously been identified by the United States Forest Service as high-value parcels with respect to location and resources within our congressional boundary. The tribe did so and returned to the forest with a more complete proposal.” Continue reading →

On a 4-to-1 vote this week, the board of the embattled Inland Empire Utilities Agency gave its general manager a salary increase of more than 9 percent, raising the ire and concern of a large cross section of the community and public served by the regional service entity.

As a result of the action, Shivaji Deshmukh will see his salary jump from $311,428 to $340,000, and his total annual compensation, when his annual cost of living adjustment is factored in, go from $420,853.80 to $462,908.57.

At issue in the board’s favorable treatment of Deshmukh is not only pointed disagreements within the community about his performance and the direction of the Inland Empire Utilities Agency, but growing public dismay over the reflexive granting of raises to public employees in general and the management echelon among public employees specifically, creating a widening gulf between the remuneration levels of public and private sector workers. Continue reading →

The City of Needles is updating its general plan that has been in place for nearly 37 years.
San Bernardino County’s easternmost city and smallest municipality population-wise with 5,225 residents, the town has been in existence since 1883, when it was selected as the California side of the bridge constructed by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to bring the railroad across the Colorado River from Arizona.
The seventh city in San Bernardino County to incorporate in 1913, Needles from the 1920s through the 1960s was a major stop on Route 66, what was then the primary highway from Chicago to Los Angeles. From the 1970s until quite recently, Needles’ population was in decline, reaching its nadir within the last decade. In 2014, the city’s last supermarket, Bashas, a chain store run by an Arizona company, was shuttered. Virtually all of the commercial establishments that once existed in the city, its dime stores, 1920s- and 1930s- and 1940s- and 1950s and 1960s-era hotels and motels, its Chinese laundry, drug stores, furniture stores, jeweler, newsstand, restaurants, several general stores, and at least nine saloons or taverns including a Prohibition speakeasy are gone, many having fallen victim to fires, including arsons. Continue reading →

WEST END, February 17, 2023 –The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department late today identified the grandson of George and Sonia Ramirez as their likely killer.
George Ramirez, 72, his wife, Sonia Ramirez, 68, and their son, David Renteria, 43, were found dead in the home they lived in on an otherwise usually quiet cul-de-sac in the unincorporated San Bernardino County West End district shortly after 9 p.m. on January 30.
George, a retired carpenter, woodworker and furniture maker, and Sonia were the progenitors of a large family and had lived for some time in the 1,350-square foot, two-story three-bedroom house located at 4804 Ramona Place in the unincorporated county area north of Chino, south of Montclair, west of Ontario and east of Pomona and the Los Angeles County line. Continue reading →

A resort project proposed for development on just over 21 acres at the corner of Amboy Road and Gammel Road in Wonder Valley is to be augmented with a residential component on the surrounding 138.78 acres, one of the principals in the undertaking told the Sentinel this week.
In November 2021, Alan Greenberg and Jason Landver applied for a conditional use permit, including a rezoning request, for the majority of 21.22 acres on the corner lot site in the remote desert community which are currently zoned for low density housing. The 3.18 acres closest to the two roads is already zoned for commercial service use, while the remaining 18.4 acres bear the county’s RL-5 zoning designation. The request is to designate all 21.22 acres as suitable for commercial service use, or CS in the county’s zoning parlance. The current RL-5 designation allows single family homes on lots no smaller than five acres. Greenberg and Landver have acquired 160 acres at the Amboy/Gammel corner location. Continue reading →