Free Republic

Wow. University of California Riverside’s “Pretendian Professor” Andrea Smith gets a whole year to resign after getting exposed in another typical ivory tower academia, fake diversity fraud scandal. She also keeps her retirement and the honorary title of emeritus too. What a sweet liars’ deal. No wonder college tuition continues to soar, even at rates higher than inflation. Not to worry … this bad penny will surely turn up again. Perhaps “Professor” Smith ought to toss in her hat for the California U.S. Senate race. As California seems lost in a left-wing progressive doom loop race to the bottom with...

A Temecula mother has complained that her 15-year-old daughter was made to read a sexually explicit play in drama class and is calling for a policy to prevent such instances in the future. Tracy Nolasco said her daughter, a Temecula Valley High School sophomore, had to read “Angels in America,” a Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Tony Kushner. The play, set in New York City in 1985, explores the AIDS epidemic as well as religion, race, politics, and homosexuality. Nolasco on Tuesday night, May 16, told the Temecula Valley school board that the drama describes sexual activity, sexual...

A California man was recently found guilty of killing three teenage boys who played ding-dong ditch at his house in 2020. Riverside County resident Anurag Chandra was found guilty of three counts of attempted murder and three counts of first-degree murder on Friday. The charges stemmed from a January 19, 2020 incident where a group of teenage boys rang Chandra’s bell on a dare. Chandra said that one of the teens flashed his buttocks before running away.

Inflation is impacting the entire United States population as prices continue to be a burden for families, but certain California cities are feeling the impact more than others. In a new study from WalletHub, cities were ranked on how much inflation is rising. The study pointed to the year-over-year inflation rate of 8.2% last month, but noted that some cities are feeling costs increase more than others. In the report, 23 Metropolitan Statistical Areas were examined. The site looked at the Consumer Price Index information available for the most recent month and compared it to two months ago and one...

Fortunately, no one was hurt. The crash-landing happened at 12:31 p.m. in the eastbound lanes of the freeway near Lincoln Avenue, according to the California Highway Patrol. Dramatic video obtained by KTLA shows the single-engine Piper Cherokee dropping from the sky, hitting the freeway, and then leaving a trail of burning fuel as it slides toward the sound barrier. The plane also hit a truck carrying three people. Incredibly, both the pilot and passenger on the plane and all three occupants in the truck escaped unharmed.

A California judge on Thursday denied an appeal for qualified immunity from a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department sergeant who is accused of shooting and killing a man with excessive force. Nearly every key detail of the years-long case against the sergeant and the county is disputed, including whether the man was retreating from the property at the time of the shooting; whether he was holding a baseball bat in an upright position or with its tip pointed down; and whether he posed a threat to bystanders. Sgt. Dan Ponder contends that the man, Clemente Najera-Aguirre, stood facing him as he...

...Just days after 13 American flags were vandalized in Riverside County, more than two dozen more have now gone missing....The community is now fighting back by buying more flags. ... a local resident had hung 13 American flags honoring the sacrifice of the 13 US service members who were killed last month during the withdrawal from Afghanistan. There was also a US Marine Corps flag, but all of them were vandalized over Labor Day weekend. In response, another family replaced the 13 American flags, which inspired others to place 13 more flags on the fence across Ivy Street. But just...

A California physician delivered a passionate speech condemning the coronavirus lockdowns imposed across America, calling them 'tyrannical.'Dr. Jeffrey Barke, who cited the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, received praised after he spoke during a protest rally in Riverside County.Barke addressed the crowd protesting against the shutdowns in his community and across the US.

The Riverside County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 on Friday to rescind and amend a series of local public health orders stricter than California's statewide pandemic mandates. The unanimous decision moves the county a step closer to reopening. It rescinds Riverside County Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser's orders that limited vacation rentals and golf and mandated face-coverings in public throughout the county. The motion ultimately voted on amends Kaiser's school closure order, mandating most schools throughout the county remain closed until mid-June, but exempting vocational and higher education institutions. . . .

Riverside County, Calif. Sheriff Chad Bianco said Friday that he refuses to make criminals out of law-abiding business owners exercising their constitutional rights and providing for their families. A video of Bianco pleading his case before his county's Board of Supervisors, stating he would not enforce local coronavirus lockdown protocol, went viral on Tuesday. Appearing on "Fox & Friends" with host Steve Doocy, Bianco explained that the "situation" in Riverside County under state orders is "nothing like they told us it was going to be in the beginning."

Over the past three weeks, more than 1,000 small earthquakes have hit Southern California — mostly in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Some are calling the region’s increased seismic activity “swarmageddon,” but seismologist Lucy Jones told the Los Angeles Times that the small quakes don’t mean the big one is more or less likely. According to Jones, there’s only a 5% chance that any single quake will be followed by a larger one.

...The Holy Fire, which had exploded from 75 to 700 acres within an hour Monday afternoon, was threatening recreation structures in the area of Trabuco Creek and Holy Jim Canyon roads, according to the United State Forest Service. It had consumed more than 1,200 acres by 5:40 p.m., with zero percent containment. At 8:19 p.m., the Cleveland National Forest's official Twitter account said the Holy Fire had grown to 4,000 acres with zero percent containment, meaning the blaze had more than tripled in size in fewer than three hours.

Cancel any upcoming flights to the moon, because living in Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack home is a great reason to stay on Earth. Named "Villa Maggio," Sinatra's hideaway from Hollywood is on the market for $3.9 million. The Palm Desert, California home was a spot where Sinatra and fellow Rat Pack members Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop would hang out and get some R&R from their fans in a private location.

JURUPA VALLEY (CBSLA.com) — Parents and students in Jurupa Valley could be dealing with a rare disease from the Middle Ages. Scared parents were demanding more information Tuesday after letters were sent went home to parents saying two students at Indian Hills Elementary in Jurupa Valley “might” be sick with leprosy. School officials say the letter was sent Friday out of what they called, an abundance of caution. Some parents refused to send their children to school Tuesday after receiving the warning from the Jurupa Unified School District. It was unclear whether the students are related to each other. Barbara...

A dozen agents with the FBI and Riverside County District Attorney executed search warrants at Palm Springs City Hall on Tuesday morning, shutting the building down, sending employees home and removing evidence for an investigation. About half a dozen law enforcement officials are also at an apartment that Mayor Steve Pougnet listed as his home address in county voter registration records. Pougnet lives part of the year with his husband and two children in Colorado. Laura Eimiller, a public information officer with the FBI, said the warrants are sealed so she can't comment on their nature. But she did confirm...

Newly released California Highway Patrol dashcam video shows an impaired California State Senator Ben Hueso undergoing sobriety tests and answering questions before his August arrest. In the footage, the San Diego senator is seen driving the wrong way onto a one-way street in Sacramento on Aug. 22. He quickly U-turns, but a CHP officer is quickly on his tail, pulling him over at a nearby gas station. Hueso gets out of his car and is asked to do field sobriety tests. At the officer’s request, he walks back and forth in a straight line. He is then asked to do...

Jurors decided the fate of a 41-year-old man Friday who murdered and lit his former girlfriend on fire in front of her children. According to the Riverside County District Attorney's Office, jurors decided Tyrone Harts, of Riverside, will be sentenced to death early next year ... At the time of the murder, the children ranged in ages from six to 15-years-old. On Feb. 21, 2011, Harts shot his former girlfriend, Brandi Morales, inside of her Moreno Valley home she shared with her six children ...

JURUPA VALLEY (CBSLA.com) — A toddler was severely injured Wednesday morning when the family’s pit bull attacked him, ripping off the child’s ear. The incident happened shortly before 7:45 a.m. in the backyard of a home on Pontiac Avenue in Jurupa Valley, the Riverside Department of Animal Services said. The child, who is about 1.5 years old, was being babysat by his grandmother and was supposed to be taking a nap when the attack occurred. “Somehow the boy ended up outside in the backyard with the dog and that’s when the grandmother heard the boy screaming,” Fuller said. The dog,...

RIVERSIDE COUNTY: Democratic chairman apologizes for comment The chairman of the Riverside County Democratic Central Committee is apologizing for making a reference to Vaudeville-era character “Stepin Fetchit,” who some consider racially insensitive. Howard Katz made the statement during a gathering of central committee membership in Moreno Valley on Monday, June 10. “It was a stupid statement,” said Katz, a retired IBM manager who lives in Temecula, during a phone interview Thursday morning. The incident has promoted calls for Katz’s resignation, but Basil Kimbrew, chairman of the California Friends of the African American Caucus, said that as far as he’s concerned...

The city councils of Hemet and Lake Elsinore, both in Riverside County, approved proclamations Tuesday in support of Arizona’s controversial anti-illegal immigration law. The Yorba Linda City Council in Orange County approved a similar resolution earlier this month, countering actions taken by leaders in cities such as Los Angeles, who voted to boycott doing business with Arizona companies in protest of the law. The law tells police officers to check the immigration status of people they have stopped for another reason and reasonably suspect are in the U.S. illegally. The Hemet City Council unanimously approved the measure, proposed by Mayor...