During the forum held on Tuesday, September 27 for the five competing candidates for the Upland City Council in the upcoming November 8 election, four of those sought to outdo each other only by seeing who could render himself or herself indistinguishable from his or her opponents. One cut, or sought to cut, an independent path.
This year, District 3 Councilman Carlos Garcia drew no opponent. Rudy Zuniga, the incumbent in District 4, is being opposed by Darwin Cruz and Chris Seward. District 2 Councilwoman Janice Elliott is being challenged by James Breitling.
Elliott is the dean of the council, having first been elected at-large in 2016. She astutely ran to represent District 2 when the city moved to district elections in 2018, rather than serving out her original term, as it ended in 2020, at which point it was mid-term for the District 2 representative. Thus, if she did not transition into explicitly representing District 2, she would have been obliged to leave office in 2020, with her only option of remaining politically viable in Upland being to run in that year’s mayoral race. Continue reading →

The heirs of Bill Brehm have sold the four newspapers he and his wife, Mona, acquired in San Bernardino County to Gold Mountain News Media, which runs newspapers in the United States and Canada.
Gold Mountain California News Media has picked up the Hi-Desert Star Newspaper in Yucca Valley, the Desert Trail Newspaper in Twentynine Palms, the Big Bear Grizzly in Big Bear Lake and the Mountain News in Lake Arrowhead. All four are weeklies printed out of the Brehm Communications Inc. printing plant in Yucca Valley.
All told, Mountain California News Media Inc. is acquiring 11 newspapers in total from Brehm Communications. In addition to the Hi-Desert Star, the Desert Trail, the Grizzly and the Mountain News, the company will purchase the Desert Mobile Home News, which serves the Coachella Valley, along with the Auburn Journal, the Folsom Telegraph, the Roseville Press-Tribune, the Placer Herald, the Loomis News and the Lincoln News Messenger in Northern California. Continue reading →

A homicidal maniac’s rampage that began in Fontana and remanifested a day later in Barstow to continue across a swathe of the High Desert put local law enforcement agencies into a no-win position on Monday and Tuesday, ending in the gunman’s death and creating a situation in which his 16-year-old daughter was extinguished in the violent miasma that consumed her mother and father.
The entire incident involved both as it was ongoing and in its aftermath, confusion as to fact and circumstance, an element that lent itself to the fatal outcome.

More than two months after Greg Marquez was given indication he was to be bounced off the Chino Community Services Commission based on what at least some community members thought was an excess of political ambition, he was reappointed to the post this week.
In July, after Marquez officially filed as a candidate for the District 2 city council slot in the November election and a question was raised as to whether Marquez’s position on the commission conferred upon him an advantage in the election, a subcommittee of the commission, which included Linda Takeuchi, Neal Jerry, and Brenda Strong, were tasked with considering if allowing Marquez to maintain his status as a commissioner compromised either the integrity of the commission or the electoral process in Chino. Ultimately, the trio felt it would be best for Marquez’s post to be declared vacant and the city to seek applicants to replace him. Marquez’s term had ended on June 30, but Mayor Eunice Ulloa had not appointed a replacement, and his time on the commission had been rolled over. Takeuchi, Jerry and Strong informed Marquez that he would be allowed to remain on the commission only until such time as his replacement was chosen. Continue reading →

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME CASE NUMBER CIVMB 2200115
TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioner SHANNAN ELLY GOLDSMITH filed with this court for a decree changing names as follows:
SHANNAN ELLY GOLDSMITH to SHANAN ELLY GOLDSMITH
THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.
Notice of Hearing
Date: October 21, 2022
Time: 8:30 AM
Department: M4
The address of the court is Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino,
Joshua Tree District
6527 White Feather Road
Joshua Tree, CA 92252
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a copy of this order be published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel in San Bernardino County California, once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing of the petition.
Dated: 08/12/2022
Judge of the Superior Court: JOHN W. BURDICK
Published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel on 09/09/2022, 09/16/2022, 09/23/2022 & 09/30/2022

Continue reading →

By Mark Gutglueck
Some nine months after the Barstow City Council censored Mayor Paul Anthony Courtney and authorized what was termed a “third-party” investigation into what some of its members characterized as “unauthorized” action in his official capacity, that investigation is nearing completion or has been concluded.
The secrecy around the investigation itself and what appear to be selective leaks of its contents have brought into question both the motive and validity of the probe, to say nothing of its conclusions, which have yet to be made public.
The city in pursuing the matter has made a few questionable calls along the way. One consideration is the transparency of the undertaking. So far, the city has refused to disclose who is carrying out the inquiry, or how much has been paid to that contractor for the work, in itself an irregular and questionable circumstance. While it is standard practice to maintain confidentiality with regard to the matters being covered and the individuals being interviewed or interrogated in such internal investigations, preventing disclosure of the company, individual, law firm or entity doing the investigating is unusual. Insofar as the vote to hire the investigator took place in a closed session and was not disclosed, a violation of the Brown Act, California’s open public meeting law may have occurred. No one, however, has contested that action legally, including Courtney, who perhaps has reason to do so, nor any citizens or open government advocates. Continue reading →

Roughly a month-and-a-half into the 2022-23 academic year, the San Bernardino City Unified School District is experiencing a variable degree of success in keeping under wraps reports of faculty members abusing students.
On September 7 the district officials found themselves in the unenviable position of having national attention drawn to the fashion in which students at Arrowview Middle School were subjected to having to sit on scorching hot pavement during the unforgiving heat wave that had descended on Southern California over the week commencing on September 4.
That day, television reporter Christine Gonzales with Fox News 11 in Los Angeles came to San Bernardino, summoned by calls from parents and reports on social media indicating that students at Arrowview, dressed out for physical education class in attire that included gym shorts, were made to sit on asphalt while their P.E. teachers were taking roll and that they had been forced to remain seated on the asphalt because some among them were talking and the instructors wanted them to be silent. While she was in San Bernardino on that assignment, Gonzales learned that at Arrowview Middle School, the students were not being allowed to use the restrooms. Continue reading →