Short-term rental units have drawn substantial regulatory attention in places around San Bernardino County traditionally considered suitable for weekend and vacation getaways in recent years, months and weeks. This week, even though the City of Chino is not thought of as a magnet for city slickers elsewhere looking for a place to get away from the stress of civilization, municipal officials there have signaled their intent to declare the proliferation of so-called Airbnb properties in that 103,416-population locale public nuisances.
In a move that some said raised constitutional concerns, the Chino City Council assigned city staff the task of drafting an ordinance which will likely be inserted into the municipal code at a later date that would potentially ban short-term rentals in the city.
Some of the impacts of homes rented out on a temporary basis are so onerous, some residents and city officials have said, that the city would be justified in action that eliminates them from certain residential neighborhoods or the city altogether. Continue reading →

The California Fish and Game Commission last month postponed at least until October a decision on whether to list the western Joshua tree as a threatened or endangered species under the California Endangered Species Act.
The four-fifths strength commission heard testimony from 222 people, including some politicians who advocated against providing the tree with the protection that environmentalists, botanists and other members of the scientific community say the species will need to survive.
The commission took up the issue after the federal government declined to list the western Joshua tree as a protected species and the Center for Biological Diversity in October 2019 petitioned the California Department of Fish & Wildlife to list the Western Joshua tree as a threatened species under the California Endangered Species Act. Continue reading →

Two Department of Homeland Security agents were involved in the effort to harass and discredit sculptor Weiming Chen and destroy his artwork, the U.S. Justice Department revealed this week.
The involvement of Chinese Government operatives in the effort was previously publicly known. Unrecognized until now, at least publicly, was that those foreign agents had managed to penetrate a U.S. federal government operation intended to protect the nation from foreign intrigue and hostile action and turned a current and former employee of the U.S. Government to assist them in carrying out their effort to foreclose the exercising of free speech that was critical of China, its policies and its political leaders.
Indicted in June were Craig Miller, a 15-year Department of Homeland Security employee, and Derrick Taylor, a retired Homeland Security agent working as a private investigator. Miller and Taylor are accused in the indictment of accessing information about Chinese activists living in the United States from a restricted government database and then providing that information to two other individuals working on behalf of the Chinese Government who then used the data to target the victims. Continue reading →

By Mark Gutglueck
What goes around has come around as Waste Management, Inc., the unexpected sweepstakes winner last January in the competition for 78,665-population Chino Hills’ trash hauling franchise when the previous franchisee was beset with labor challenges, finds itself facing a potential walkout of the workers manning its trucks and employed at its Chino and Corona facilities.
The unrest among the company’s sanitation workers comes at a crucial juncture, just as Waste Management is moving to solidify its hold on the trash handling duties in the southwest corner of the county.
Waste Management, the largest garbage hauler in the United States, once had a stronger presence in San Bernardino County, but for two decades found itself outhustled and outmaneuvered by smaller and hungrier competitors. For more than 40 years, the company has had the refuse handling franchise in Continue reading →

Died on duty May 23, 1959

NOTICE OF SALE OF VESSEL
Notice is hereby given the undersigned will sell the following vessel and trailer at lien sale at said address below on: 07/22/2022 9:00 am
VESSEL
U615557, 76 APOLLO ABMP0051M75K, CA
TRAILER
520129 75 EZLD 4136UZ7
DATE OF SALE- 07/22/2022
TIME OF SALE-09:00 AM
LOCATION OF SALE-14038 SEA SHELL ST FONTANA CA 92335
To be sold by PATRIC HENDY 14038 SEA SHELL ST FONTANA CA 92335
Said sale is for the purpose of satisfying lien for together with costs of advertising and expenses of sale.

NOTICE OF SALE OF VEHICLE
Notice is hereby given pursuant to Sections 3071 of the Civil Code of the State of California the undersigned will sell the following vehicle(s) at lien sale at said address below on: 07/22/2022 09:00 AM
Year of Car / Make of Car / Vehicle ID No. / License No. (State)
2010 FORD 2FMGK5CC8ABA79151 8APH448 CA
To be sold byHI TECH AUTO REPAIR 393N EAST END AVE POMONA CA 91767
Said sale is for the purpose of satisfying lien for together with costs of advertising and expenses of sale.

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME
CASE NUMBER CIV SB 2211806
TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioner: JAVIER PEREZ filed with this court for a decree changing names as follows:
JAVIER PEREZ to JAVIER ESTRADA Continue reading →

By Mark Gutglueck
Measure K, the initiative passed by two-thirds of the county’s voters in November 2020 calling for a drastic overhaul of county government by reducing the total compensation of county supervisors and limiting them to a single four-year term, must be implemented, the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District has tentatively ruled.
The primary upshot of the ruling, barring an unlikely change of heart on the part of the appellate court, is that the members of the board of supervisors will see their total annual compensation reduced from what at present is approximately $270,000 to $60,000.
The Court of Appeal has yet to set a date for final oral arguments as to whether it should finalize its reversal of a decision made by San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Donald Alvarez in October 2021 that neither of the key provisions in the reform measure – the pay reduction as well as the single term limit – could be put into place.
Alvarez took up the matter after the board of supervisors sued its own employee, San Bernardino County Clerk of the Board of Supervisors Lynna Monell to prevent her from effectuating the passage of Measure K, which had been sponsored by the Red Brennan Group and then-Fifth Supervisorial District Candidate Nadia Renner.
According to a legal analysis of the appellate court’s tentative ruling, the five current members of the board of supervisors will continue to receive their current average annual total compensation of $263,466.95 – consisting of $174,884.83 in salary, $20,461.61 in other pay and $68,120.51 in benefits – for the remainder of their current terms. Continue reading →

By Mark Gutglueck
It appears that Superintendent Randal Bassett is on the outs with the Fontana Unified School District and its board after nearly five-and-a-half years in the district’s top administrative spot.
Officially, the district is maintaining that Bassett is yet in place. But Bassett, who normally occupied a prominent spot on the board dais during public meetings and served as the host and face of the district under normal circumstances, was absent from a marathon board meeting that began on Wednesday night but stretched into the wee hours of Thursday morning as the board deliberated in an extended closed session with regard to the termination of an undisclosed district employee. Upon the board adjourning back into open session after the executive session that was conducted outside the sight or hearing of the public, Bassett had been replaced by the district’s superintendent of business services, Ryan DiGiulio. Continue reading →