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DAVID BAUMAN / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: TEMESCAL CANYON HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION STORY: Graduates seize day
Special to The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Riverside's Fox Theater SPECIAL SECTION: Riverside Renaissance
Kurt Miller / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Loma Linda University School of Medicine commencement 
David Bauman / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Deaf Riverside girl prepares for performance in 'Nobody's Perfect' 
ED CRISOSTOMO / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: San Bernardino Valley College's 2009 Commencement Story: Aunt, nephew turn their lives around 
KURT MILLER / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Story: Lakers let Game 2 get away 
DAVID BAUMAN / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Story: Classic car collection in Corona keeps family close 
Terry Pierson/ The Press-Enterprise Mark Zaleski/ The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: TOUR BUS CRASHES NEAR PERRIS 
COLLEEN HELF/Special to The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Williamsport, home of Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart Story: Town mourns life cut short 
RODRIGO PENA / Special to The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: 2009 Stagecoach Day 2: Gallery One | Gallery Two | Gallery Three 
RODRIGO PENA / Special to The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: 2009 Stagecoach Day 1: Gallery One | Gallery Two | Gallery Three 
WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: FIREFIGHTERS EMBARK ON BIKING EXPEDITION Story: Two firefighters midway through a nine-day, 940-mile journey 
TERRY PIERSON / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: AVP / Crocs Riverside Open pro beach volleyball tournament Story: Top seeds show their grit  RODRIGO PEñA and TOM BRAY / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERIES: 2009 Coachella - Day 3: Gallery One | Story: Coachella Fest's last day has sizzle to it Special Section: 2009 Coachella Music & Arts Festival  RODRIGO PEñA and TOM BRAY / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERIES: 2009 Coachella - Day 2: Gallery One | Gallery Two Story: Artists shine at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Special Section: 2009 Coachella Music & Arts Festival 
TERRY PIERSON / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: AVP / Crocs Riverside Open pro beach volleyball tournament Story: Sand, not surf, brings out volleyball fans  RODRIGO PEñA / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERIES: 2009 Coachella - Day 1: Gallery One | Gallery Two | Gallery Three Story: Coachella: It's all about Paul Special Section: 2009 Coachella Music & Arts Festival  TERRY PIERSON / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Halloween Again!!! A Cycledelics Bike Club Ride in Riverside Story: Fun-loving Cycledelics bike club parades through Riverside
California is a resilient state blessed with a diverse economy, and that will help it rebound from the recession quicker than most, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told Inland business leaders Wednesday. That came as welcome news, because the governor spoke after several economists talked about the effects of the downturn and the likelihood that there won't be much improvement, if any, until 2011. Story: 20 years after booting spring breakers, Palm Springs beckons them back Video: Spring break 2009 in Palm Springs
 WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: RIVERSIDE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY'S 'MESSIER MARATHON'
 TERRY PIERSON / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: BASEBALL FIELD AT NUNEZ PARK READY FOR GUADALUPE LITTLE LEAGUE
 KURT MILLER / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: EASTER SUNRISE SERVICE CHOIR PRACTICE IN RIVERSIDE
 DAVID BAUMAN / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: YOUTH ACTION PROJECT CLEANS UP SECCOMBE PARK TO HONOR CESAR CHAVEZ
 KURT MILLER / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: 8TH ANNUAL CESAR E. CHAVEZ 5K RUN/WALK IN RIVERSIDE  STAN LIM / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Dr. Dev GnanaDev - Medical Director at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center Story: Advocate for access Vietnamese CaoDai worshippers' Inland temple is shelved, devotion is not A mound of earth on a lot just south of Highway 60 is the only visible sign that Mira Loma was once envisioned as one of the most important centers for CaoDai worship in the United States. Followers of the syncretic faith, the third-largest religion in Vietnam, have all but given up trying to raise the $5 million needed to build a temple on the 5-acre site. Instead, Inland followers continue to worship in two converted houses in San Bernardino and a small former church in Pomona, and to hope that one day they will have the money to construct a more elaborate temple.
 MARK ZALESKI / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: TRUCK CRASHES INTO FAST FOOD RESTAURANT IN RIVERSIDE
 ED CRISOSTOMO / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: 13TH ANNUAL SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TOURING TEARS GATHERING  Terry Pierson / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Miles and Miles of Pennies at the Auto Club Speedway STORY: For students in at-risk program, change comes in form of pennies  KURT MILLER / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: JURY RECOMMENDS DEATH FOR RAYMOND LEE OYLER
Duncan Lively knew what changes KVCR radio needed when he became station manager last May. The former general manager of KAZU-FM in Monterey/Salinas wanted to provide listeners with a more predictable schedule and build up the station's Inland news presence, including traffic and weather reports. His ideas worked. Ratings are up 24.5 percent since June in the San Bernardino/Riverside market, reports Arbitron, which tracks radio ratings. KVCR-FM (91.9) has grown from 62,500 listeners a week to nearly 80,000. CONTINUE: Inland station KVCR-FM format is local news  STAN LIM / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Second annual Stater Bros. Charities Dave Stockton Heroes Challenge in Riverside RIVERSIDE - It was all about good times at the second Dave Stockton Heroes Challenge, which was expected to raise even more than the $427,000 that last year's inaugural tournament did. Several local charities will benefit from Monday's event at the Victoria Club, which brought together a full, 128-player field, dressed entirely in festive, patriotic garb. They took in tips and teed off with several golfing greats, including Stockton, the honorary tournament chairman who's a San Bernardino native and 10-time PGA Tour winner. "We're going to have a great time out there," said Jack H. Brown, chairman and CEO of Stater Bros. Markets. "Last year we raised about $500,000, and this year we hope to break that record." CONTINUE: Stockton's charity tourney a success  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Big Horn sheep census in the San Gabriel Mountains Volunteers who hiked up Cucamonga Canyon on Sunday might not believe it, but preliminary results from a count of the San Gabriel Mountains bighorn sheep that day seem to indicate the population continues to rebound from a low point in 2000. The 20-member group of counters that trekked 2 miles up a steep forest service road in the early morning spent two hours perched on a ridge overlooking the canyon, scanning the nearby crags and sluices with spotting scopes and binoculars. They saw plenty of rocks and trees. They saw a distant waterfall and even some lizards and birds. But no sheep. CONTINUE: Bighorn sheep census count shows signs of the species' improvement CALIMESA - Dorothy Gale was deathly ill about a year ago and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. "I stayed there 23 days and came home and I was still sick. I just couldn't get better," said Gale, 78, of Calimesa. Her friend and neighbor, Judy Allsopp, would have people over on a regular basis to sing with a karaoke machine. Allsopp, 70, encouraged Gale to attend. CONTINUE: Calimesa Senior Songbirds use singing to have fun, feel young Virniecia Green Jordan Davis waved from the horse-drawn carriage that carried her along the parade route in Perris on Saturday. Davis, a longtime trustee on the Perris Elementary School District board, was the grand marshal of Perris' Black History Parade. Entries in the parade included drill teams, church groups, equestrian units and members of the St. James Masonic Lodge in Mead Valley. CONTINUE: Perris' Black History Parade brings together wide range of participants  TERRY PIERSON / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Sweeney Todd rehearsal at the Lewis Family Playhouse in Rancho Cucamonga Rancho Cucamonga's professional theater company, Broadway at the Gardens, is kicking off its debut production with a bloody bang. Stephen Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd" opened last weekend and will be staged again Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Lewis Family Playhouse at Victoria Gardens Cultural Center. CONTINUE: Rancho Cucamonga venue to debut with 'Sweeney Todd'  FRANK BELLINO / The Press-Enterprise
The Press Enterprise's DAY IN PHOTOGRAPHY for February 26, 2009  GREG VOJTKO / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Plea agreement denied in 2007 biker bar murder case SAN BERNARDINO - In an unexpected ruling, a San Bernardino County Superior Court judge on Thursday rejected a plea agreement he had signed last month in a fatal brawl at a Yucaipa bar. After listening to emotional statements from the victim's mother and several friends, Judge Bryan Foster announced that he would not approve a Jan. 8 plea agreement that would have sentenced James Robert Hiles and Adrien Joseph Sotomayor, both 22, to prison for three years for voluntary manslaughter. "The sentence that was agreed to is insufficient (for) the loss of the individual," he said. CONTINUE: Judge tosses plea agreement in Yucaipa biker bar death You don't have to go all the way to Nashville to visit the Opry thanks to Temecula's live country music review, Country at the Merc. In the tradition of the Grand Ole Opry, house band The Ranch Rockers showcases singers in two shows every Saturday night at the Old Town Community Theater in Temecula. Auditions are between shows. Those who pass perform two songs with the house band. Most of the songs are covers, except for the occasional "Songwriters Night" that features performers who write and sing their own songs. CONTINUE: Old Town Temecula Community Theater adds amateur opry offerings  GREG VOJTKO / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Ash Wednesday mass at Aquinas High School in San Bernardino About 350 students at Aquinas High School lined up in the school gymnasium on Ash Wednesday to receive an anointment of ashes on their foreheads. "(It's) preparing for the coming of the Lord," said Fran Herdlein, principal at Aquinas High School. Catholics and Christians of other denominations attended Ash Wednesday events throughout the Inland area, marking the first day of the season of Lent, which concludes with Easter. CONTINUE: Inland Christians celebrate Ash Wednesday, start of Lent  TERRY PIERSON / The Press-Enterprise
The Press Enterprise's DAY IN PHOTOGRAPHY for February 24, 2009 It's been feast or famine this winter for mountain resorts, with some months bringing heavy snowfall and others mostly dry. Taken as a whole, the alternating weather patterns have produced an average season for businesses dependent on winter recreation. It's a welcomed result given concerns about the economic recession, business owners and resorts officials said. CONTINUE: Sporadic bursts of snow enough to make up for a slow start to season Craig Canepa, 13, of Hemet, did not hesitate when asked Saturday to find the approximate latitude and longitude of Afghanistan on a map. "My mom is in Afghanistan. I know exactly where it is," Craig said. Craig is among about 45 youths ages 10-14 who make up Point Divide Division's Navy League Cadet Corps. CONTINUE: Cadet Corps comeback proves 1-to-dozens story During a recent show of the Modjeska Mavericks gymkhana club of Norco, Monica Michaels admitted to being a bit nervous at the start of her run on the quadrangle event. "I needed a 19.9," said Michaels, 22, of Lake Elsinore. Her time, 20.4 seconds, was good but not what she was looking to achieve. Michaels, however, was not trying to beat another rider. She was only competing against her own time as she pursues the title of Race of Champions Hall of Fame. She was one of 71 club members from around Southern California who turned out on Valentine's Day at Ingalls Equestrian Events Center in Norco. CONTINUE: Norco gymkhana club gets strong participation for monthly shows  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: House renovation in the Wood Streets of Riverside RIVERSIDE - Where the Kawa Market once stood at Magnolia and Bandini avenues in the Wood Streets, an old house is undergoing renovation for sale to a moderate-income family. The city Redevelopment Agency recently moved the 1908 California bungalow from University Avenue near Park Avenue. Riverside-based Exclusive Construction is renovating the house, which is raised above ground so workers can install plumbing and electrical wiring and do other below-the-floor work, partner Richard Klein said. CONTINUE: House renovation under way on old Kawa Market site in Riverside Suspects in a car that was reported stolen led Riverside and San Bernardino sheriff's deputies on a wild chase through Calimesa and Yucaipa last month, but in the end, Inga and Raki teamed up to nab two suspects. Inga and Raki do their jobs on four legs with their Riverside County sheriff's deputy partners. CONTINUE: Riverside County's four-legged crime fighters join forces  ED CRISOSTOMO / The Press-Enterprise
The Press Enterprise's DAY IN PHOTOGRAPHY for February 19, 2009 Caught between a budget deficit costing San Bernardino City Hall $50,000 per day and fears that a key element to the proposed solution could trigger a damaging lawsuit, City Council members sought to take a middle course Tuesday. Council members voted 4-1, with Esther Estrada absent and Wendy McCammack dissenting, to approve most of Interim City Manager Mark Weinberg's plan to erase a $9 million budget shortfall on the city's $150 million General Fund by the end of June. CONTINUE: San Bernardino Council approves most of budget plan A strong winter storm brought heavy snow to the Inland mountains on Monday and closed Interstate 15 in the Cajon Pass until about noon, but weather forecasters said skies should begin clearing today. For the second time in two weeks, avalanches buried a stretch of Highway 18 between Snow Valley and the Big Bear Dam in the San Bernardino Mountains. CONTINUE: Worst is over, weatherman says A strong winter storm brought heavy snow to the Inland mountains on Monday and closed Interstate 15 in the Cajon Pass until about noon, but weather forecasters said skies should begin clearing today. For the second time in two weeks, avalanches buried a stretch of Highway 18 between Snow Valley and the Big Bear Dam in the San Bernardino Mountains. CONTINUE: Worst is over, weatherman says Cody Unser has spent about half of her study time the past four years in classrooms at the University of Redlands. The other half has been on the road, lobbying Congress and state legislators in her native New Mexico, and raising funds for her nonprofit foundation. As a biopolitics major at the university's progressive Johnson Center for Integrative Studies, where students craft their own fields of study, she visited the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach last month. CONTINUE: Another Unser driven to succeed, this time at University of Redlands  TERRY PIERSON / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Families enjoy recent snow in the San Bernardino Mountains Travel today could be hampered by a storm that is expected to hit in the early morning, bringing with it more than an inch of rain and up to 3 feet of snow, the National Weather Service said Sunday. Starting at 4 a.m. today, a winter storm warning was in effect for the mountains of San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Forecasters warned of reduced visibility caused by blowing and drifting snow; winds are expected to reach 45 mph. CONTINUE: Winter storm could bring inch of rain Monday From his desk at the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park visitor's center, Michael Rodriques jokes about an old saying: Anyone who tries predicts when wildflowers will bloom is a fool. The park interpreter and center manager then smiles and makes his prediction -- this season's wildflower bloom should peak in the 630,000-acre park in about a month. "The valley bloom, it's getting ready to go," said Rodriques (pronounced liked Rodricks). CONTINUE: Blooms a winter bounty in desert Wearing a tight, thigh-high green dress, the 15-year-old girl from San Bernardino started her shift on Holt Boulevard in Ontario at 11 a.m. Five hours later, on that hot and windy afternoon last August, she had turned seven "tricks." That night, her pimp drove her to a truck stop a few miles away. As he fetched her an ecstasy pill, she walked the aisles of trucks. She spotted a security guard. To get out of his sight, she turned a corner. She took five steps and saw a police officer. CONTINUE: Girl prostitute tells of Inland's dark underside  FRANK BELLINO / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: The 30th annual Black History Parade & Expo in Riverside RIVERSIDE - Ethan Quintana jumped up and down and blew his horn as he watched the parade entries pass by. The 3-year-old Riverside resident came to the parade to watch his sister, Kristina, and cousin, Maribel Galarza, both 9, perform with other members of Riverside's Reid Park Cheerleaders. But he was most excited to see the horses, he said. CONTINUE: Riverside's Black History Parade gives spectators a chance to play favorites Librarian/karate teacher Will Hunt wants all his students to get a kick out of reading. In fact, he demands it. So he started a martial arts program, "Reading for Kicks." It's free, with a catch. Each student must read and turn in a written book report to Hunt every two weeks. There are no assignments, no grades and no discussions. He figures reading is its own reward. CONTINUE: Karate instructor's syllabus has one requirement: reading SAN BERNARDINO - It wasn't unusual for San Bernardino police to blanket the courtyard at 2995 Mountain Ave., given the prevalence of drug and gangs. This time, though, no one had called them. "Man, you guys own this place," Roderick Williams said incredulously, surrounded by six officers on a recent night as he received a citation for possessing a glass pipe. "We don't own it," replied Sgt. Ron Maass. "We just want the residents to enjoy it." CONTINUE: Fiscal crisis threatens San Bernardino police crime-fighting tactics  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise
After a few tentative steps and some snuffling at the ground, an unbroken 4-year-old mare stumbled out of Bridget Powell's trailer and into her first lessons as a domesticated horse on Friday. Powell and 35 other trainers will spend the next 90 days trying to turn wild mustangs into docile animals before converging in Norco in May to compete for $10,000 in prize money. The first-of-its-kind competition, called the "Norco Extreme Mustang Trail Challenge," is sponsored by the Mustang Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit group that supports adoption of wild horses and burros. CONTINUE: Norco trainers vie to tame wild Mustangs INDIO - Mideast meets Midwest at the Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival. The 10-day event combines "Arabian Nights" with Future Farmers of America, all the usual kicks of a county fair and its own quirks. Traditions include camel and ostrich races, a musical pageant and a blessing for the date crop and its workers, which took place Friday morning before the gates opened. CONTINUE: Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival starts today  RODRIGO PEÑA / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Billy Joel debuts The Show at Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa in Rancho Mirage RANCHO MIRAGE - Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa rolled out the red carpet Thursday night to open its 2,001-seat showroom with a high-wattage performance by Billy Joel. The concert, packed with VIP guests, was the first at the casino's showroom, The Show. The $76 million showroom is the final component of a $400 million project to expand the complex. A hotel opened at the site in 2008. CONTINUE: Piano man Billy Joel plays The Show REVIEW: Vanessa Franco's review  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Robotics class at North Ridge Elementary School in Moreno Valley Adam Johnson and Jarod Kerr built a robotic vehicle, then got down on the floor to see if it moved the way they had programmed it to. The Moreno Valley residents, fifth-graders at North Ridge Elementary School in the Moreno Valley Unified School District, said they enjoy building the motorized rovers in the school's after-school robotics club. "Robotics is fun and it makes us think outside the box," Jarod said. A pet German shepherd that could surf was killed Monday morning in a fire that gutted a Wildomar house, authorities said. The owner, Lee Wilson, 36, was not home when the fire broke out. "I'm in shock from what's happened," Wilson said Monday afternoon, standing in drizzling rain at the end of the dirt road leading to his burned-out home. Wilson said losing his house was nothing compared to losing his longtime pet dog Brook. CONTINUE: Surfing dog dies in Wildomar house fire The tail end of a winter storm is making its way through the Inland region, flooding streets and closing mountain highways with blankets of snow. Though part of the storm may be easing, with signs of sunlight breaking through, rain and snow continues to pelt Inland roadways. CONTINUE: Rain, snow continue to pelt Inland region A San Bernardino County open-pit mine with a troubled environmental history is poised to expand under new owners hoping to capitalize on the nation's push for green energy. The 57-year-old Mountain Pass Mine off Interstate 15 near the Nevada border has one of the world's few ready supplies of elements known as rare earths, used in manufacturing wind turbines, hybrid cars, fluorescent light bulbs, computer hard drives, DVD players, small electric motors and hundreds of other products. CONTINUE: Expansion in works for mine with troubled environmental past  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Burrtec Agua Mansa Transfer Station in Riverside One person's trash is another's treasure. But there is less of both these days. Landfill officials and waste processors say the declining economy is impacting their operations. Amounts of trash going into local landfills are down, as is the flow of material into recycling programs. "People are just buying less," said Richard Nino, director of municipal services for Burrtec Waste Management, "and with that, there's less packaging being thrown away. It's pretty much across the board." CONTINUE: There's even less trash in this economy  MARK ZALESKI / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: 40th annual Black History Parade and Exposition in San Bernardino SAN BERNARDINO - Gray clouds were no match for the black pride that was on full display as thousands gathered in downtown San Bernardino Saturday for the 40th annual Black History Parade and Exposition. As if on cue, the clouds parted just as the first of the more than 100 entries marched down E Street to cheers from large crowds gathered along the parade route. The parade featured everything from law-enforcement officials on horseback, to cheerleaders, from a group of young men doing hip-hop steps to several marching bands. CONTINUE: Black pride, interracial unity on display at San Bernardino parade Wet weather did not deter Charles Dickens fans who came Saturday to celebrate the 19th century British writer in downtown Riverside. Some people carried umbrellas or wore raincoats as they listened to music, watched jugglers and nibbled on scones at the Dickens Festival. Christopher Banschbach, 7, of Riverside, watched in awe as Dennis Forel, of Torrance, twisted balloons into small animals that resembled a horse, bunny and mouse. CONTINUE: Rain doesn't dampen Dickens delight in downtown Riverside Nine-year-old Lucas Rosales was born without most of a left arm. The disability, however, hasn't hampered his love of -- or skill at -- playing soccer. Missing a limb can affect a player's balance and coordination on the soccer field, but that hasn't stopped this eastern Coachella Valley boy from developing into one of the Inland desert region's strongest players for his age group. Lucas plays for the recreational Coachella Valley Desert Soccer League, where he has held the title of scoring champion for four years running, as well as for the elite Mission Viejo Pateadores club team. CONTINUE: Star athlete, 9, has one goal: to play soccer 'every single day' Chances are not good for a lot of action on the Pomona track today. Rain will probably keep the dragsters in the garage at the NHRA Winternationals. But while crews and drivers hunker down under the canopies of their temporary city next to the race track, Nicky Morse will be as busy as ever. After all, the people at Team Jegs still have to eat. Morse, 43, who calls himself the Racing Chef, will be cloistered in his kitchen, mincing, chopping, sautéing and talking to a parade of people who regularly venture into the converted race-car trailer in which he works. CONTINUE: Chef always on track to feed crew Some Corona High School students now know about the city's water and wastewater systems from finish to start. Araceli Anguiano, environmental science teacher for Advanced Placement students, took her classes on what she called the "Rolling Bus of Water Knowledge" recently to see the water system and wastewater system. CONTINUE: Corona High students learn value of water on field trip Susan Anton says she's a little bit like Scarlett O'Hara. "Because I really do know where I'm from. I really do know." The entertainer doesn't just have Inland roots. She has very deep roots. And she is nourishing them during a two-month stint headlining "The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies." CONTINUE:'Palm Springs Follies' bring Susan Anton back to her roots  PAUL ALVAREZ / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Riders and their horses are welcome at Norco Christian Church The Rev. Alton Vance's 8:30 a.m. Sunday worship service is punctuated with the sound of snorting, the odor of manure and the sight of congregants decked out in cowboy hats and spurs. The outdoor "cowboy service" at Norco Christian Church is not for those who prefer button-downed services in a hushed sanctuary, but it fits well into the lifestyle of many residents of the city that calls itself "Horsetown USA." CONTINUE: Norco church lets worshippers bring their horse to service A Rubidoux man fatally shot by Chino police during a robbery Sunday night turned out to be an innocent bystander, police said. Daniel Baledran, 21, was near the Papa John's Pizza restaurant in the 12600 block of Central Avenue during a robbery that turned into a gunfight between police and armed robbers, according to a news release. CONTINUE: Rubidoux man fatally shot by Chino police called innocent bystander On Feb. 15, Plymouth Tower was supposed to be shuttered for good. Its frail residents scrambled to find new homes. Then, on Jan. 16, a new owner bought and saved the iconic seven-story retirement home in downtown Riverside. But the upheaval was a blow. It upset, stunned and frightened the residents, whose average age is 85. All expected Plymouth Tower, 3401 Lemon St., to be their final home. CONTINUE: For seniors at Plymouth Tower in Riverside, home is bittersweet  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Palentologists study Ice Age tusk found in Perris With knives, screwdrivers, trowels and the occasional paintbrush, a team of paleontologists from the San Bernardino County Museum spent Monday carefully chiseling away dirt from what they believe are two Ice Age mastodon tusks, along with ancient bison and turtle fossils. The scientists were tipped off to what they are calling an "amazing find" by a part-time plumber who stumbled upon the fossils last week while scanning for gold in the flood channel behind his Perris home. CONTINUE: Paleontologists carefully dig out ancient finds in Perris Ryan Friedlinghaus wants global domination. There's no sinister plan involved, just a love of customizing cars that has taken his Corona-based company West Coast Customs to expansions in locales such as Dubai, Malaysia, Mexico City and Berlin. In season two of "Street Customs," viewers will see West Coast Customs soup up rides for NBA superstar Shaquille O'Neal; former Riverside resident, television personality and motorcycle builder Jesse James; and SoCal Mexican food chain Chronic Tacos. The show debuts at 9 p.m. Feb. 5 on TLC. Friedlinghaus says he's nostalgic for the shop's pre-fame days. CONTINUE: New season of 'Street Customs' to include celebrity rides SAN BERNARDINO - Rialto residents Alvin and Michelle Waterhouse traveled into cyberspace to find the route to acquiring a dog for their family. Alvin punched "dog show" into a search engine. The first item that appeared was The Orange Classic, a dog show put on by the Orange Empire Dog Club on the Orange Show fairgrounds in San Bernardino. The Waterhouses, including their children, Adrian, 7, and Alexa, 4, on Saturday saw dogs being groomed as if they were in a beauty shop and watched them perform for judges. The family also met the breeders. CONTINUE: In market for a dog, Rialto family gets close look via club's annual dog show  KURT MILLER / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Riverside Youth Theatre's High School Musical 2 auditions Pre-teens and teens waited, nervous and excited, outside the audition room for the upcoming production of Riverside Youth Theatre's "High School Musical 2." Students from sixth-grade to 20 years attended a casting call on Wednesday. A panel of three judges waited on the other side of the door. Each potential performer was given the opportunity to sing one song with taped backup music during the short audition. CONTINUE: Young performers: The emotional rigors of the audition  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise
The Press Enterprise's DAY IN PHOTOGRAPHY for January 23, 2009 BEAUMONT - A second-grade class at Tournament Hills Elementary School welcomed some special visitors on Friday: a group of teenagers from China. They're in America for 21 days. Originally from Beijing, they're staying with families in the High Desert. "First, we like America," 16-year-old He Xu said. CONTINUE: Beaumont 2nd-graders get visit from Chinese teens Hundreds of volunteers trudged through muddy fields, searched vacant houses and chatted with transients pushing shopping carts early Friday in an effort to count people living on the streets and in shelters across San Bernardino County. The San Bernardino County Office of Homeless Services began conducting a biennial census Thursday night and continued into Friday morning. Operating from 13 deployment centers, more than 700 volunteers canvassed block after block, mile after mile, counting homeless people and interviewing many of them about their circumstances. CONTINUE: San Bernardino residents help count homeless Students at schools around the Inland area watched history in the making in their classrooms and auditoriums Tuesday, as the nation's first African-American president took office. At a high school in Riverside, students listened quietly to President Barack Obama's inaugural speech and considered whether he laid out a plan for his presidency or offered comfort to a nation shaken by an economic crisis. CONTINUE: Students watch history unfold as the day's lesson RELATED: Inland residents travel to D.C. to celebrate a new presidency RELATED: Inland blacks who fought racism hail Obama triumph RELATED: Senior citizens happy to witness a new era SPECIAL SECTION: 2009 Inauguration  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Dora Nelson African American Art and History Museum in Perris Visitors stopped by a worn but well-loved 1920s-era house on East Seventh Street in Perris on Monday to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday and ring in what some were calling "a new era." As James Kearney planted pansies in the yard in front of the Dora Nelson African American Art & History Museum, visitors inside perused relics of African-American history, some of them painful reminders of bygone segregation and discrimination. An audiotape of King's legendary "I Have a Dream" speech played in the background. CONTINUE:King's struggle, people's hope celebrated at Perris museum RELATED: Martin Luther King Day walkers celebrate being 'step closer to a dream coming true' RELATED: Hope alive on rights leader's day SPECIAL SECTION: 2009 Inauguration The inauguration of Barack Obama as the nation's first African-American president today brings the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a step closer, the president of the Riverside African American Historical Society said Monday. The society sponsored the 16th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Walk-A-Thon with T-shirts and brochures featuring both leaders. Organizers said 750 walked. Many of the participants Monday said they were excited about the new president's inauguration and motivated to participate in the holiday event. CONTINUE: Martin Luther King Day walkers celebrate being 'step closer to a dream coming true' RELATED: King's struggle, people's hope celebrated at Perris museum RELATED: Hope alive on rights leader's day SPECIAL SECTION: 2009 Inauguration  MARK ZALESKI / The Press-Enterprise
Edna B. Milan fell in her garage last year and suffered a concussion. Now, she can't remember some details about her life, and often hollers to her son for friendly reminders. But there are certain things the 77-year-old says she won't ever forget. She won't forget attending all-black schools while growing up in the segregated South. Or joining Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. served as co-pastor with his father. And the times he came to her family's home. CONTINUE: King's legacy viewed as providing foundation for Obama's triumph SPECIAL SECTION: 2009 Inauguration  PAUL ALVAREZ / The Press-Enterprise
RIVERSIDE - A chandelier in the rear of the Park Avenue Baptist Church swayed as 700 voices celebrating the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and the election of Barack Obama threatened to raise the roof at a special celebration Sunday. Song, dance, sermons and talks by parishioners and Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge honored the life of King, the late civil rights leader, recalled the discrimination faced by African-Americans after the Civil War, and expressed elation over Tuesday's inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama. CONTINUE: Joy over Obama resounds at Riverside King celebration SPECIAL SECTION: 2009 Inauguration  PAUL ALVAREZ / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Dogs walk the red carpet to bring awareness to dog rescue in Temecula Local agencies and county and city governments are stepping up bus and train offerings in the Inland area, which some suggest is a signal Riverside and San Bernardino county commuters will embrace public transit in the future. "It is kind of hard to put your finger on when that happened or why that's happening, but it is happening," said John Standiford, deputy director of the Riverside County Transportation Commission. "Public transit is something that's growing." Although the Inland price of a gallon of gasoline has fallen below $2 for the first time since 2005, ridership on Riverside Transit Agency and San Bernardino County's Omnitrans buses remains higher than in previous years. CONTINUE: Despite relatively low gas prices, people still using public transit  FRANK BELLINO / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: "Into The Woods" at the Old Town Temecula Community Theater Despite budget cuts that have trimmed field trips and arts programs from their schools, thousands of Temecula students are getting a chance to see live theater, music and dance performances at the Old Town Temecula Community Theater. Exposing students to the arts through live performances is the mission of ArtsConnection, a collaboration of the city of Temecula, the Temecula Valley Unified School District and the Theater Foundation. The Theater Foundation pays performance costs, the city provides the theater and its staff, and schools pay for busing of students. He's an aerobatic pilot but Martin Kennedy doesn't think of himself as batty in the least. "I'm in control," he said. "I feel like the airplane and I are linked and I'm free in gravity, like a bird." The sky is, indeed, the limit for Kennedy. After fewer than three years of practice, he performed this weekend in his first air show, which concludes today at Cable Airport in Upland. Spectators can catch the 44-year-old Kennedy performing 17 stunts in less than 10 minutes, including cartwheels, spins, boomerangs, loops, rolls and somersaults. Gates are scheduled to open at 8 a.m. CONTINUE: Professor of aerobatic flight WRIGHTWOOD - Jackson Lake doesn't look like much. A thin stretch of water next to Big Pines Highway a few miles northwest of Wrightwood, it is hardly more than a big pond. But over the years, when winter covers it with ice, visitors to the Angeles National Forest have been lured onto its surface, sometimes with fatal results. Last year, Claro Claridad, of Victorville, tried to help two boys who had fallen through the lake's ice during a Christmas Day outing. The boys eventually made it out of the water, but Claridad sank beneath the surface and died. What's cold, wet and makes great snow angels? That's right, it's snow season. Big Bear, nestled in the San Bernardino Mountains, is a winter destination to which visitors travel from miles around. With ski and snowboarding resorts, tubing parks, 5-star lodging, shopping and snowshoeing, there's plenty to do. Lodging choices range from full-service hotels and charming bed and breakfasts to private homes, cozy condos and rustic cabins, said Dan McKernan, manager of marketing and public relations for Big Bear Lake Resort Association. CONTINUE: Snow season in Big Bear draws 'boarders and skiers More from this week's The Guide After moving from Mexico to Southern California at the age of 17 to chase her dream of singing professionally, Jackie Gonzalez appears to be getting her big break south of the border. The raven-haired 23-year-old left her Perris home six months ago and returned just before Christmas to find herself a local celebrity of sorts after singing her way to the top six of "La Academia," a program broadcast throughout Latin and North America by TV Azteca. CONTINUE: Perris singer's success on TV show in Mexico has her looking at possible record deals  RODRIGO PEÑA / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Palm Springs International Film Festival red carpet PALM SPRINGS - With screams from fans cheering for stars such as Clint Eastwood, Dustin Hoffman and Leonardo DiCaprio, the 20th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival started off with a celebrity-studded awards gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on Tuesday night. The film festival, which runs through Jan. 19, kicks off a string of high profile events in the Coachella Valley that attract people from around the country and the world to the desert. "We come here for a month in January just for this," said Joan Halverson, who is staying in Palm Springs on a vacation from her Wisconsin home. CONTINUE: Fans cheer Hollywood luminaries who walk the red carpet at Palm Springs Film Festival SPECIAL SECTION: Palm Springs International Film Festival ONTARIO - The Neil Diamond faithful came in droves to Sunday night's show at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario. "I love him," said Gabriela Scaliese, of Montclair. She wanted to see Diamond for a long time and was happy he was coming so close. Diamond, 67, played to a packed house of about 10,000 concertgoers, nearly a sold-out crowd, arena officials said. CONTINUE: Neil Diamond delivers gem of a show in Ontario Dr. Leonard Bailey's curriculum vitae, a 64-page document, includes his participation in 22 research projects, more than 250 academic reports and at least 210 lectures in all but one continent, Antarctica. Yet, there's little mention by name of the newborn patient who he is most well-known for treating, Baby Fae, the 1984 recipient of a transplanted baboon heart. "The day we got her was going to be her last day on Earth," said Bailey, who extended Baby Fae's life almost 21 days. Inland Region Riverside / Corona /Norco San Bernardino County Southwest Riverside County San Jacinto Valley / Moreno Valley / Desert Special Report: 2008 Inland Year in Review Long before dawn in the remote desert south of Barstow, the only light for miles around is a faint glow from a triple-wide trailer. Inside, several monks chant in Vietnamese. Then there is silence. The trailer is home to the first cloistered Catholic monastery in the Inland area. The white-robed monks pray and chant together seven times a day and silently meditate twice. Here in Lucerne Valley, off a dirt road and at the foot of barren mountains, there is little to disturb them. Civic and religious leaders marking the 10-year anniversary of the shooting death of Tyisha Miller by Riverside police urged the public Sunday to reignite the fight for law enforcement oversight and independent citizen review of all officer-involved deaths. About 150 people attended a memorial service at the Kansas Avenue Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Riverside to discuss changes since Miller was fired on by four officers while sitting semiconscious in her idling car. CONTINUE: 10 years after shooting death of Tyisha Miller, call for change endures Special Report: Tyisha Miller: Ten Years After  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [4:04] Tyisha Miller shooting - Ten years later Ten years after one of the most controversial shootings in Inland history, Riverside Police Department officials say the changes that followed have transformed the agency. But some people in the community say the changes haven't gone far enough, and they worry that it could happen again. The Dec. 28, 1998, shooting of Tyisha Miller, a black 19-year-old woman, stirred protests and a near-riot that thrust the city into the international media spotlight. Sitting in her car at a Riverside gas station, she was shot 12 times. Officers said they believed she reached for a gun. Special Report: Tyisha Miller: Ten Years After An Iraqi insurgent bursts from his hiding place in an alley and races down the unpaved street firing his AK-47 seemingly indiscriminately toward a platoon of U.S. Marines and some Iraqi policemen. Civilians in neighboring houses cry out at the gunfire. Before he has covered more than 20 yards, the insurgent jerks and falls to the ground. CONTINUE: Marines train in mock Iraqi village at Twentynine Palms combat center Tamica Washington-Miller has been all over Southern California this month, from dance concerts in Santa Monica, Baldwin Hills and Beverly Hills to her home in Redlands. She wraps up December close to home with a performance at the Lewis Family Playhouse in Rancho Cucamonga. Washington-Miller is associate director in the Lula Washington Dance Theatre, her parents' troupe, as well as a choreographer and dancer. She collaborates with husband drummer Marcus Miller of the Freedom Jazz Movement. And she works with kids. CONTINUE: Keeping a legacy in step  DAVID BAUMAN / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Christmas weather in the Inland Empire A storm that had been predicted to bring heavy rain and more than a foot of fresh snow instead just brushed through the Inland region on Christmas Day. Scattered showers moved over the area during the day and by afternoon, chains were required for snow on Highway 18 at Snow Valley, above Running Springs, and on Highway 330 at the upper passing lane. Also in the afternoon, a high wind warning was issued for the mountains and deserts. The California Highway Patrol issued a wind advisory for Interstate 15 from Summit Avenue to Oak Hill Road, through the Cajon Pass. Winds were expected to be 25 to 35 mph, with gusts to 60 mph, the National Weather Service reported. CONTINUE: Holiday storm brushes by region Football stadium lights reflected off a circle of 70 trumpets, mellophones, trombones and tubas as the Riverside City College marching band warmed up last week. Gary Locke, the band's 59-year-old director, walked into the center of the circle between the goalposts and scoreboard. The students converged around him. "I'm scared," Locke said in his monotone but intense voice, breath visible on the 45-degree night. "The stuff you're playing now sounds bad. If you want to do that at the Rose Parade, that's fine." CONTINUE: RCC Marching Tigers will make fourth Rose Parade appearance  TERRY PIERSON / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Jeff Willmitt's 1/8-scale steam engine train Kalikimaka in Loma Linda Jeff Willmitt, a 49-year-old semi-retired Loma Linda entrepreneur, has been hooked on trains since age 5, when he made a Mother's Day card for his mom with a picture of a train on it. A year later he got his first model train, a six-car set that wove its way around the family Christmas tree. "I don't know what kid hasn't leaned down by his Lionel set, looked at it go by and wished he could ride on that thing," Willmitt said. "This was always an ambition of mine, to get my own train." CONTINUE: Tiny train takes special needs tots for a trip in Loma Linda When Joseth Alexandre was a kid, Christmas Eve dinner always meant tamales, pozolé and other traditional holiday food from his native Mexico. The tamales and pozolé remain part of the Alexandre family's Christmas tradition. But now there are also American-style Christmas favorites such as ham, roast beef and mashed potatoes. "It's become part of our tradition," said Alexandre, of Fontana. "We don't even think about it." CONTINUE: Honoring the tamale tradition Hanukkah celebrates the victory nearly 2,200 years ago of a small group of Jewish farmers over a Syrian-Greek king who tried to eradicate Judaism in what is now Israel. As the first Hanukkah candle was lit at the county courthouse in downtown Riverside after sundown Sunday, it shined a few steps above a photo of two Jews who were murdered in Mumbai on Nov. 27 after terrorists singled out their Jewish center for attack. CONTINUE: Mumbai victims mourned, importance of hope stressed at Hanukkah festival in Riverside  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise
The Press Enterprise's DAY IN PHOTOGRAPHY for December 20, 2008 The ceremony dates back a half-millennium, to the founding of the first Roman Catholic missions in Mexico. Mary and Joseph trudge from door to door, seeking shelter. Time after time, they're turned away. For the faithful who gathered Saturday in San Bernardino, those symbolic rejections in the Las Posadas procession bore a timely message. "The parallel is very clear," said Jose Daniel Guzman, one of the organizers of the Diocese of San Bernardino event. CONTINUE: Re-enacting journey to Jesus' birth Families struggling to provide a happy Christmas for their children found some assistance Saturday at a Christmas party at the Western Eagle Foundation food bank in Temecula. The party for 280 children and their families included pictures with Santa, holiday face painting, a petting zoo, lunch and treats. Parents also took home bags of gifts so their children would have presents on Christmas morning. CONTINUE: Temecula food bank revives holiday party as it sees community needs increase  SILVIA FLORES / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Inland Empire storm aftermath - late edition Sunny skies will shine down on the snow-covered mountains of San Bernardino and Riverside counties this weekend and dry out the rain-soaked valleys, the National Weather Service forecast. More rain and snow could start falling Monday just days after snow snarled traffic on local roads and caused an avalanche, the National Weather Service forecast. CONTINUE: Storm to give way to sunny weekend  STAN LIM / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Inland Empire storm aftermath Sunny skies will shine down on the snow-covered mountains of San Bernardino and Riverside counties this weekend and dry out the rain-soaked valleys, the National Weather Service forecast. More rain and snow could start falling Monday just days after snow snarled traffic on local roads and caused an avalanche, the National Weather Service forecast. CONTINUE: Storm to give way to sunny weekend  MARK ZALESKI / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Weather around the Inland Empire A second cold-weather storm hit the Inland area Wednesday, bringing more rain and snow while creating traffic problems throughout the region. For the second time this week, heavy snowfall shut down the Cajon Pass. Interstate 15 through the pass closed in the morning and remained closed through the day, with Caltrans officials unsure when it would reopen. CONTINUE: Storm unleashes snow, strands commuters  MARK ZALESKI / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Snow in the San Bernardino Mountains A second cold-weather storm hit the Inland area Wednesday, bringing more rain and snow while creating traffic problems throughout the region. For the second time this week, heavy snowfall shut down the Cajon Pass. Interstate 15 through the pass closed in the morning and remained closed through the day, with Caltrans officials unsure when it would reopen. CONTINUE: Storm unleashes snow, strands commuters  DAVID SHEA / The Press-Enterprise
VIDEOGRAPHY [1:06] Snow continues in the San Gabriel Mountains as Wrightwood residents dig out The second cold-weather storm is hitting the Inland area today, bringing more rain, snow and commuting challenges to the region. The morning commute got off to a sketchy start in the San Gorgonio Pass and the nearby San Jacinto Mountains. Heavy rain made driving dicey in the Banning-Beaumont area about 6 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol Web site. CONTINUE: More rain and snow causing traffic woes  GREG VOJTKO / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Inland Empire's first storm of the season The first big storm of the season snarled traffic throughout the Inland area, shutting down the Cajon Pass for most of Monday morning and leaving some motorists stranded for hours in the San Bernardino Mountains. Interstate 15 north of Kenwood Avenue in Devore was closed around 6 a.m. Travel was halted in both directions until about 11 a.m. Heavy fog, snow and black ice on the freeway in the Cajon Pass prompted the California Highway Patrol to close the heavily traveled route. CONTINUE: Season's first major storm strands drivers  DAVID SHEA / The Press-Enterprise
VIDEOGRAPHY [1:07] Snow blankets Wrightwood in the San Gabriel Mountains Rain and snow created traffic woes on Inland roadways this morning in addition to triggering a flash flood warning. Heavy snow shut down Interstate 15 through the Cajon Pass, causing long traffic backups in the High Desert, officials say. "All of our dayshift dispatchers live up there. And all the dispatchers who are on duty now and ready to go home live up there," said Dispatch Supervisor Sue Hood from the San Bernardino County Fire Department command center in Rialto. "Traffic is backed up to about Bear Valley (Road) in Victorville."  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Sunday weather A weak storm system that moved through the Inland Empire on Saturday was a teaser for skiers and those awaiting the first significant rain and snow of the season, which was due to hit the Southland this morning. Up to 1 ½ inches of rain and nearly 3 feet of snow are predicted to fall before today is over. Showers are expected to taper off as the week progresses. Stefanie Sullivan is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in San Diego. She said the storm is typical of those that come out of the Gulf of Alaska this time of year. CONTINUE: Skiers, resorts welcoming expected rain, snow of approaching storm Here's something you don't hear everyday: A drug-addicted mother thanks the investigator who arrested her and who took her children away. But Amy Rampenthal, 27, did exactly that after completing a residential drug treatment program earlier this year. And she routinely calls San Bernardino County sheriff's Detective Sherry Eversole with updates on her progress. Eversole was so moved by Rampenthal's calls -- most of the people she arrests usually "hate" her, she said -- she persuaded the San Bernardino County Safety Employees Benefit Association to include Rampenthal's four children in the association's annual Shop With a Cop event for underprivileged children. CONTINUE: Arrest of meth addict, a mother of four, proves new start, not sad ending MORE: Shop with a Hero. Beaumont, Banning police pick up children's holiday shopping bill  TERRY PIERSON / The Press-Enterprise
The Press Enterprise's DAY IN PHOTOGRAPHY for December 13, 2008 BEAUMONT - Christmas came early for 42 children from Banning and Beaumont. The Beaumont Police Department and Banning Police Activities League took the children on a shopping spree Saturday at the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Beaumont. Each child was given $100 to spend. CONTINUE: Beaumont, Banning police pick up children's holiday shopping bill  GREG VOJTKO / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: SAN BERNARDINO - The wintry rains have begun, Christmas is looming and the crew of a 2-story-tall water-dropping helicopter is ending another season of itinerant firefighting. "I pack up my suitcase every day and take it with us, because you can get reassigned at any time," co-pilot Jose Navarro says of the vagabond lifestyle of a helitanker crewman. "You do laundry whenever you have a chance." And there are still times when he has to wear a shirt two or three days -- or buy a new one.  SILVIA FLORES / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Docents decorate Riverside Metropolitan Museum's Heritage House for Sunday's Victorian Christmas Open House from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The historic home is decorated each year as it would have been in the 1890s. "They use all fresh-cut greenery and real poinsettias," said Danielle Leland, associate curator of education at the museum. "It's a volunteer committee that decorates each year." The celebration is family-friendly with a visit from Father Christmas, music from carolers, autoharps, dulcimers, bagpipes and a barbershop quartet, as well as home-baked goodies and hot apple cider. CONTINUE: Heritage House in Riverside is dressed up for Christmas And to think that they saw it on Mulberry Street. Wilma and Tony Burton bought a derelict, ramshackle Victorian-era home at 3209 Mulberry and Second Street in Riverside. Now, four years after the couple's meticulous restoration, the candy-colored cottage could indeed have jumped from the pages of Dr. Seuss's fanciful book about a child's visions on Mulberry Street. The Burtons' polished gem will soon appear in a different kind of publication, featured as a cover story with an eight-page spread in the February issue of Victorian Homes. CONTINUE: Victorian home in Riverside shows its true colors The most influential heavy metal band of the last 25 years kicked off its string of Southern California dates in Ontario on Friday night to the largest attendance the new arena has seen since opening in October. Hours before Metallica hit the stage at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, fans filled the parking lot, sporting T-shirts of the band's album cover art and blasting blistering heavy metal tracks from the band's 27-year career. "I'm not a new Metallica fan; I'm an old Metallica fan," said Melissa Adams of Corona, who has seen the band multiple times. CONTINUE: Metallica rocks new Ontario arena It's Friday night, and a young man reeking of booze and handcuffed to a bench at the Perris sheriff's station goes into an expletive-filled tirade against the deputy who arrested him. Deputy Angel Gasparini, who moments earlier had to wrestle the man to the ground on a freeway onramp, is not bothered by the taunts. He's taken another suspected impaired driver -- or "deuce" in cop lingo -- off the street. CONTINUE: Drunk? He's looking for you  SILVIA FLORES / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Festival of Lights outdoor ice skating rink in Riverside RIVERSIDE - Eight-year-old Mia Creswell began her first encounter with the ice by clinging to the hand of her father, Vernon. She pronounced the experience scary and a good reason: "You fall." But despite a few tumbles, the girl from Moreno Valley went from holding her father's hand to gripping the ice rink's railing to skating without assistance. And with more time on the ice, she was skating more skillfully and farther and farther from the railing. CONTINUE: Young ice skaters first cling, then glide BANNING - Seventh- and eighth-grade students at Nicolet Middle School in Banning are getting their hands dirty one afternoon a week. They're taking an after-school ceramics class. Twelve-year-old Yoatzin Hernandez doesn't mind getting messy, " 'cause we're just having fun," she said. CONTINUE: Nicolet Middle School's ceramics class teaches responsibility, teamwork and patience A story with the message of hope is the source material for an original holiday season play to be staged by Christian Arts and Theater in Corona. "Star of Wonder: The Civil War Christmas Play" will be staged tonight and continue through Sunday at the Corona Civic Theater. Set on Christmas Eve in 1862, a wounded Union soldier on the brink of death finds his way to an Irish widow's home where she saves him and sets off a chain of events that changes their lives. CONTINUE: 'Star of Wonder' restores hope in midst of war A Covina contracting company is seeking more than $1.5 million from the city of Moreno Valley for extra costs incurred during the installation of artificial-turf soccer fields and other improvements at Moreno Valley Community Park. Los Angeles Engineering alleges that city officials failed to provide timely responses, and changed or gave conflicting construction specifications, according to a claim filed last month by Brenda Maldonado, the company's project manager. CONTINUE: Company wants Moreno Valley to cover extra costs in park project BANNING - Haiti's ambassador to the United States paid a visit Saturday to Banning to participate in the 5K Unity Walk and Celebration. Raymond Alcide Joseph spoke to the crowd at the event intended to help fight poverty. "I'm challenging you today, here, to come together and do great things," Joseph said. "We have seen what that has done even recently in the election of the United States. CONTINUE: Haitian ambassador lauds Inland effort to aid his country  FRANK BELLINO / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Temecula's 16th annual Santa's Electric Light Parade Making good on a yearly Christmas tradition, hundreds of families lined Jefferson Avenue on Friday night to watch and cheer on Temecula's 16th annual Santa's Electric Light Parade. Ninety-four community groups participated, marching, dancing, but mostly rolling down the road in homespun floats reflecting the 2008 parade theme of "Christmas Around the World." Spectators started claiming prime grass space near well-lit areas on the parade stretch between Del Rio Road and Overland Drive as early as 5 p.m. The Ellis family staked out their spot at 5:30 p.m. and enjoyed a dinner of KFC chicken as they waited. CONTINUE: Holiday tradition renewed in Temecula  SILVIA FLORES / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles' annual convention RIVERSIDE - The leader of the Episcopal Church said Friday that a new conservative breakaway Anglican denomination should not be recognized by the worldwide Anglican Communion. On Wednesday, theological conservatives upset by what they consider overly liberal views of the 2.4 million-member Episcopal Church formed a rival regional grouping, or province. In an interview before the annual meeting of the Los Angeles Diocese, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said there cannot be more than one officially recognized Anglican church in the United States. CONTINUE: Episcopal leader decries breakaway conservative province  TERRY PIERSON / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Dress Rehearsal: Inland Dance Theatre's 33rd annual production of "The Nutcracker" The Inland Dance Theater's annual production of "The Nutcracker" will be presented Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the California Theatre of Performing Arts in San Bernardino. The San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Frank Fetta will accompany the ballet. CONTINUE: 'Nutcracker' returns to San Bernardino theater  RODRIGO PEÑA / The Press-Enterprise
A successful high school musical requires more than talent. It takes a lot of work. Students in high schools throughout the Inland region demonstrate this dedication every year in the preparation of school musicals, both in the fall and more commonly in the spring. Hours spent in rehearsal and performance are long, pushing everything else -- homework and outside activities alike -- aside. While the work is grueling, it's a beloved ritual of high school life for many. CONTINUE: In Hemet and across the Inland area, teens present high school musicals  KURT MILLER / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Rhythm assembly at E. Hal Curran Elementary School in Murrieta A cacophony reverberated across the E. Hale Curran Elementary School campus in Murrieta on Wednesday as hundreds of students shook tambourines and banged on drums during an interactive assembly on rhythm and percussion. "The overall message is celebrating the rhythm of life," said Peter Ellison, whose company, One World Rhythm, put on the event. "A lot of kids have never been exposed to music before this, especially because of budget cuts in schools." CONTINUE: PTA pitches in to provide interactive assemblies at schools Centennial High School science teachers credit effective tutoring by Advanced Placement students and a cohesive faculty for their department's winning ways. The school will receive an award for Science Excellence from the California School Boards Association at the 29th annual Golden Bell Awards during the state awards ceremony Saturday. CONTINUE: Success found in Centennial High's approach to science The statue of Quan Âm rises from the desert near Adelanto, a 24-foot-high marble tribute to a Buddhist goddess and a symbol of the dogged determination of the Venerable Thich Dang Phap to promote his message of happiness and serenity. In a doublewide trailer in the shadow of the statue, the Buddhist monk meditates, prays and plans the fulfillment of the rest of his dream: A monastery, temple and meditation center that would draw Buddhists and others from across the nation to this rural San Bernardino County outpost. CONTINUE: Outside Adelanto sits a shrine in the desert Bargain hunters scrambled from a Palm Desert Toys "R" Us on Friday after two men were shot and killed on one of the nation's busiest shopping days. Riverside County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez said the men were involved in a nonshopping-related disagreement near the checkout stand of the busy store. "This confrontation was not over a toy," Gutierrez said. CONTINUE: Two men dead after shots fired at Palm Desert toy store  DAVID BAUMAN / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: 16th Annual Festival of Lights at the Mission Inn People, music and Christmas lights flooded the corner of Orange Street and Mission Inn Avenue in Riverside on Friday for the 16th annual Festival of Lights ceremony. Roughly 3.5 million decorative lights sparkled on and around the historic Mission Inn that plays host to the ever-growing tradition. Before leading the crowd of thousands in a countdown, hotel owner Duane Roberts said the early celebrations used to use only 500,000 lights. CONTINUE: Riverside's Festival of Lights kicks off in all its glory Tough economy or not, thousands of Inland shoppers rose before dawn this morning to take advantage of retailers' Black Friday deep discounts, some standing in long lines for a full night of post-Thanksgiving bargain-hunting. "We didn't sleep last night," said Doreen Ramirez of Fontana, who with husband Carlos hit the road just after midnight, starting out at Ontario Mills. She and husband Carlos braved fog-covered highways and congested mall parking lots at several stops, arriving at Galleria at Tyler in Riverside just after 6 a.m. CONTINUE: Inland shoppers off to a strong start  GREG VOJTKO / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Native American Heritage Day celebration at Crafton Hills College It's Native American Heritage Day. A bill introduced by Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto, and signed into law by President George W. Bush on Oct. 8 encourages public schools to teach students about the history, achievements and contributions of American Indians. These contributions have largely been ignored in history books and they're something parents need to know, Baca said in a phone interview. CONTINUE: Inland influence in day honoring Native Americans  FRANK BELLINO / The Press-Enterprise
The Press Enterprise's DAY IN PHOTOGRAPHY for November 26, 2008  DAVID BAUMAN / The Press-Enterprise
VIDEOGRAPHY [1:48] San Bernardino County Museum's Wildlife Art Festival The 26th annual Wildlife Art Festival was held this past weekend at the San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands. The event featured the work of 25 artists. Displays included paintings, sculptures, photographs, wood carvings and drawings that were offered for sale to the public. Riverside mom Jaci Hasemeyer has a lot on her plate -- but that doesn't stop her from filling the plates of her 11 children with healthy meals every day. And that's what earned her the title of chief health officer in the national Got Milk? contest. Milk officials created the contest to recognize moms who go above and beyond to provide their families with a healthy diet and lifestyle. From May through the end of September, the Milk Mustache Mobile toured 75 cities. In June, it visited Riverside, where contest officials got to meet some of the Hasemeyer children. CONTINUE: Riverside mother, family winners of national Got Milk? contest Hasemeyer family's winning Got Milk? jingle CALIMESA - Joyce Serianni was on patrol in Calimesa once when she spotted a black Jeep that had overturned on the street. The driver was a young man "who reminded me so much of my grandson," Serianni recalled. "He was sitting on the curb shaking." She hugged him as her partner radioed in the accident. Serianni, 74, of Calimesa, is not a sworn police officer. She's a law enforcement volunteer, a member of Calimesa Citizens On Patrol. CONTINUE: Calimesa's citizen patrol provides extra eyes and ears Minor behavioral and academic problems during a student's elementary school years could lead to violent behavior by the teen years, according to a Duke University study published in the November/December issue of the journal Child Development. Researchers called this behavioral pattern the "cascading effect." Despite evidence that early childhood experiences influence later behavior patterns, most conflict resolution programs focus on middle and high school students rather than preschool and elementary age children. CONTINUE: Inland schools rethink strategy to check teen violence Five people suffered apparently minor injuries in a sideswipe collision between an eastbound Metrolink train and a westbound freight train just west of Lilac Avenue in Rialto about 11:30 a.m. today. The Metrolink train lost some side panels in the crash. There were no reports of hazardous materials being spilled, a city spokeswoman said from the scene. Both trains remained upright. "They're all minor injuries," Angela Perry said by cell phone shortly after 12:30 p.m. "They're in the process of taking them to the hospitals as we speak." CONTINUE: Five suffer minor injuries when Metrolink train hits a freight train in Rialto John and Judy Preciado were excited Wednesday to adopt their 4-year-old granddaughter, Jordann, during a ceremony at the Ontario Convention Center. The Preciados, who live in Redlands, were among 56 families welcoming 84 children into their households at the 11th annual Adoption Finalization Event. The ceremony was sponsored by San Bernardino County's Department of Children's Services and the Juvenile Dependency Court.  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise
The Press Enterprise's DAY IN PHOTOGRAPHY for November 18, 2008 To anyone who knows Dave Armstrong, he always has seemed larger than life. A big, strapping man, Armstrong could bench press 500 pounds. He loved to hunt. He drove racecars. And he could cook a mean spaghetti dinner. By his own admission, he was aggressive. Armstrong, 33, wasn't one to shy away from a fight. In fact, he had broken his right hand 12 times. Six years ago, he lost that same hand in a shooting accident. As only the fourth recipient of a hand transplant in the United States, Armstrong now is a medical miracle. But to say he is physically whole again is just scratching the surface of what the new hand has given him. CONTINUE: Hand transplant praised as medical miracle  MARK ZALESKI / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Triangle Complex fire Day 2: Corona and Yorba Linda Firefighters were heavily engaged with fires in Telegraph Canyon and Tonner Canyon, south of Diamond Bar, early this afternoon as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger met with officials at the Triangle Complex Fire command post in Irvine. An arsenal of helicopters and air tankers are bombarding flames encroaching on homes in Diamond Bar. CONTINUE: Diamond Bar now focus of Triangle Complex Fire effort  MARK ZALESKI / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Triangle Complex fire: Yorba Linda and Brea Firefighters were heavily engaged with fires in Telegraph Canyon and Tonner Canyon, south of Diamond Bar, early this afternoon as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger met with officials at the Triangle Complex Fire command post in Irvine. An arsenal of helicopters and air tankers are bombarding flames encroaching on homes in Diamond Bar. CONTINUE: Diamond Bar now focus of Triangle Complex Fire effort  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise
The Freeway Complex Fire, which broke out along Highway 91 at 9:01 a.m. today, has burned more than 100 homes and led to the evacuation of more than 30,000 people in communities including Corona, Yorba Linda, Anaheim and Brea, authorites said this evening. The fire shut down Highway 91 from Corona to Highway 55 - both east- and westbound lanes - throughout the day and has no signs of reopening anytime soon, CalFire Riverside County Fire Capt. Julie Hutchinson said. Other area freeways have been affected as well. Some 2,000 acres have burned from Corona into Chino Hills, Yorba Linda, Brea and the Anaheim Hills area of the city of Anaheim. CONTINUE: 100 homes burn in Freeway Complex Fire  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Freeway Complex fire in Corona and Yorba Linda The Freeway Complex Fire, which broke out along Highway 91 at 9:01 a.m. today, has burned more than 100 homes and led to the evacuation of more than 30,000 people in communities including Corona, Yorba Linda, Anaheim and Brea, authorites said this evening. The fire shut down Highway 91 from Corona to Highway 55 - both east- and westbound lanes - throughout the day and has no signs of reopening anytime soon, CalFire Riverside County Fire Capt. Julie Hutchinson said. Other area freeways have been affected as well. Some 2,000 acres have burned from Corona into Chino Hills, Yorba Linda, Brea and the Anaheim Hills area of the city of Anaheim. CONTINUE: 100 homes burn in Freeway Complex Fire  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Freeway Complex fire in Corona and Yorba Linda The Freeway Complex Fire, which broke out along Highway 91 at 9:01 a.m. today, has burned more than 100 homes and led to the evacuation of more than 30,000 people in communities including Corona, Yorba Linda, Anaheim and Brea, authorites said this evening. The fire shut down Highway 91 from Corona to Highway 55 - both east- and westbound lanes - throughout the day and has no signs of reopening anytime soon, CalFire Riverside County Fire Capt. Julie Hutchinson said. Other area freeways have been affected as well. Some 2,000 acres have burned from Corona into Chino Hills, Yorba Linda, Brea and the Anaheim Hills area of the city of Anaheim. CONTINUE: 100 homes burn in Freeway Complex Fire  KURT MILLER / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Calf selection for California Pro Rodeo Circuit Finals The three-day California Pro Rodeo Circuit Finals in Norco opened Friday night, but not before some of the competitors got a look at the arena and a feel for the grounds. It was not the cowboys that got the look but calves that will be used in a roping event at the Ingalls Equestrian Events Center. Cowboys will compete in seven events -- bareback bronc riding, tie-down roping, steer wrestling, saddle bronc riding, team roping, women's barrel racing and bull riding -- with a chance to move onto the National Circuit Finals Rodeo in 2009 in Idaho. CONTINUE: Rodeo calves get lay of arena at Ingalls Equestrian center Warning: Photo Gallery contains graphic images of simulated injuries and may not be suitable for children Tommy Barrios was falling apart. A chunk of latex skin had come loose from his fake injury -- a broken femur protruding from his skin just above his kneecap -- and tumbled to the floor. The woman sitting next to him, Tara Mendoza, admonished his carelessness. "Pick up your wound and hold onto it," said Mendoza, 22, of Riverside, who was sporting gashes in her face and on her arm. A cosmetic bruise on her abdomen was to be a key that she might have internal injuries. CONTINUE: 5 million join Great Southern California ShakeOut to prepare for earthquake  FRANK BELLINO / The Press-Enterprise
The Press Enterprise's DAY IN PHOTOGRAPHY for November 13, 2008 RIVERSIDE - A little more than two years into Riverside Renaissance, the city expects to scale back the program of public improvements by about $200 million. City Manager Brad Hudson said the five-year program is moving ahead on many fronts but will probably cost $1.6 billion instead of $1.8 billion. A formal list of projects to drop has not been assembled yet for the City Council to consider. CONTINUE: Riverside looks to trim Renaissance projects RUBIDOUX - In 2003, an ambitious project to take kids at risk of falling into the gang lifestyle and turn them into entrepreneurs took flight at Flabob Airport. West Side Aviation, a joint project of the Jurupa Unified School District and the Wathen Foundation, which owns Flabob Airport, was an aircraft re-covering business owned by four Rubidoux High School students. Five years later, West Side Aviation is defunct. But one of the four owners, 21-year-old Hualdo Mendoza, is still employed in an aircraft-related business at Flabob Airport. CONTINUE: Alumni of years-ago Flabob airport project sprout entrepreneurial wings of their own  FRANK BELLINO / The Press-Enterprise The Press Enterprise's DAY IN PHOTOGRAPHY for November 12, 2008 They waved flags. They saluted. They listened to military music. And they realized how much the Riverside National Cemetery has grown since it opened Nov. 11, 1978, with the reburial of Riverside Medal of Honor winner Ysmael "Smiley" Villegas. On the 30th anniversary of the cemetery's dedication, about 2,500 people, including eight members of Villegas' family, attended the Veterans Day ceremony Tuesday. CONTINUE: Dearest at rest on sacred soil They waved flags. They saluted. They listened to military music. And they realized how much the Riverside National Cemetery has grown since it opened Nov. 11, 1978, with the reburial of Riverside Medal of Honor winner Ysmael "Smiley" Villegas. On the 30th anniversary of the cemetery's dedication, about 2,500 people, including eight members of Villegas' family, attended the Veterans Day ceremony Tuesday. CONTINUE: Dearest at rest on sacred soil Sometimes the best things in life really are free. And high on the list is the weekly Baby Story Time at the Riverside Public Library, a group of parents say. "I love the way the kids interact in a controlled setting," said one mother, Nicole Pape, 35. CONTINUE: Riverside Library drawing crowds with Baby Story Time  SILVIA FLORES / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Carrie Underwood at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario When Carrie Underwood emerged from an elevated platform to the stage at Ontario's Citizens Business Bank Arena on Sunday, the 7,500 fans in attendance went bonkers with screams and cheers, officially ushering in the arena as a concert destination for Inland Southern California. The show was the first for the new arena, which cost $150 million to build and opened in late October to a slate of events, including a Lakers preseason game, TNA Wrestling and games of minor league hockey team the Ontario Reign. Sunday night's show was the first time many concertgoers had a chance to see the venue. CONTINUE: With Carrie Underwood concert, music takes stage at new Ontario arena BLOGGING ABOUT CARRIE on PE.com Special Report: Citizens Business Bank arena in Ontario Several thousand people ran, walked or cheered Sunday at the 31st annual Mission Inn Run in downtown Riverside. The event, which featured a 10K run, a 5K run and walk, a one-mile run and 1K and half-K runs for kids, is a fundraiser for the nonprofit Mission Inn Foundation. The run brings in more than $50,000 annually, said John Worden, the foundation's executive director. CONTINUE: Runners, walkers suit up for Mission Inn Run in downtown Riverside Some drove a few miles while others crossed state lines to behold the smiling, blue-faced train better known as Thomas the Tank Engine, a cartoon celebrity normally seen on TV who is visiting the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris. About 7,000 visitors turned out for the first day of the museum's five-day "Day Out with Thomas 2008: The Great Discovery Tour" at 2201 South "A" St. The rail festival dedicated to the Scottish-born storybook train will continue today, Tuesday and next Saturday and Sunday. Parents, many pushing strollers with toddler-aged children, came from all over Southern California, with a few traveling from Arizona, Nevada and Washington. CONTINUE: No ride too long for Thomas' fans MORENO VALLEY - Get ready for "CSI: Moreno Valley." The Moreno Valley Police Department has hired its first forensic technicians to help collect evidence and process crime scenes more quickly. Moreno Valley is the first city in the county that contracts with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department to have its own dedicated forensic technicians. CONTINUE: Two CSIs join Moreno Valley Police Department This weekend, Nov. 8 & 9, is the final weekend for San Bernardino's 28th annual Harvest Fair. Three stages of entertainment on Saturday and Sunday will be filled with old west shows, live country music, square dancers, folklorico dancers, cloggers, Native American music, a Mariachi Band and Old West living history groups. INLAND: Michelle DeArmond on politics SACRAMENTO: Jim Miller on politics WASHINGTON: Ben Goad on politics
BERNSTEIN: Take the 2008 Election Quiz INLAND: Michelle DeArmond on politics SACRAMENTO: Jim Miller on politics WASHINGTON: Ben Goad on politics  GREG VOJTKO / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Early voting in the Inland Empire Voters are lining up in Riverside and San Bernardino counties today in hopes of avoiding Tuesday's Election Day rush. In San Bernardino County, where voters can go to 777 E. Rialto Ave. to cast an early ballot, Registrar Kari Verjil said lines ranged from 30 to 90 minutes. Verjil said no problems were reported, and county officials expect to smash their last record for voters in San Bernardino County. In 2004, they set a record with 737,000 registered voters. This year, they have 829,000. "We're seeing a lot of excitement," Verjil said. "Whichever candidate wins, it will be a historic election." CONTINUE: Inland voters flock to vote early BERNSTEIN: Take the 2008 Election Quiz INLAND: Michelle DeArmond on politics SACRAMENTO: Jim Miller on politics WASHINGTON: Ben Goad on politics Hearse owners and a jazz band leading a New Orleans-style funeral procession were among the living who danced and made merry amid the dead Saturday night at Riverside's Evergreen Memorial Park. They gathered to raise money for restoration of the cemetery's 8-acre historic section, which does not have an endowment to pay for its upkeep, as the rest of the cemetery does. CONTINUE: Cemetery supporters liven up fundraiser Jordan Barnes rises at 4:30 a.m. to get ready for school and catch his bus to Citrus Hill High. But the 14-year-old isn't riding a school bus to the campus on the edge of unincorporated Glen Valley and Mead Valley, about 10 miles from his Moreno Valley home. Jordan spends at least an hour riding two public buses one way. The journey is long because he has to change buses at a stop in downtown Perris. Some affected Citrus Hill parents say the stop at 4th Street and Wilkerson Avenue is unsafe for their children because they believe the area is frequented by prostitutes, drug dealers, gangs and transients. CONTINUE: Better bus ride sought for some Val Verde District students  KURT MILLER / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Galway Downs International Three-Day Event Every fall, a tucked-away part of Temecula Wine Country becomes a proving ground. Hundreds of horses and riders from across the globe gather at the Southern California Equestrian Center this weekend to jump, trot and gallop their way to greater glory during the Galway Downs International Three-Day Event. This year marks the event's 10th anniversary. More than 300 horses are expected to take part. In the sport of eventing, Galway Downs boasts the longest-running two-star competition in North America. CONTINUE: Galway Downs equestrian competition marks 10th anniversary this weekend in Temecula  MATT BRABANT / The Press-Enterprise
PHOTO GALLERY: Escape artist Curtis Lovell at Halloween Haunt in Grand Terrace Last Halloween the folks in Grand Terrace pulled a rabbit out of a hat. This Halloween they pulled an escape artist out of a coffin. At least they were prepared to. Paramedics stood by as Long Beach escape artist Curtis Lovell managed to wriggle free from handcuffs and leg shackles, squirm out of a coffin and push his way through 200 pounds of dirt -- all on an outdoor stage in Pico Park during Grand Terrace's annual Halloween Haunt on Friday. CONTINUE: Magician Curtis Lovell performs escape for Grand Terrace Halloween party The premise for the Toxic Terrors Haunted Stadium in Lake Elsinore, open through Nov. 2, is enough to scare anyone away. So the story goes, a meteorite hits The Diamond stadium during a baseball game, burning players and spectators alive and unleashing a radioactive virus that mutates survivors into man-eating monsters and threatens to wipe out the human race. Mercifully, it's not nearly as heinous as it sounds. The dozens of volunteer monsters are mostly local teens, and the Toxic Terrors mastermind is 24-year-old Willie May, of Temecula, who hopes to use the production as a launching pad for a nonprofit youth theater group. CONTINUE: Monsters play ball at Lake Elsinore haunted house  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise
Ishwar Patel recalled how the brilliant light from hundreds of oil lamps would illuminate the darkness each Diwali outside large Hindu temples in his native India. The small cone-shaped tangles of colored electric lights at each side of the entrance to Shri Lakshmi Narayan Mandir in Riverside didn't quite have the same effect. But Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights and the beginning of the new year for many Indians, didn't lose its allure for Patel. CONTINUE: Inland Hindus ring in new year with Diwali festivities Some Sunnymead Middle School students arrive at school an hour early so they can learn traditional Mexican dance steps before class. Ballet folklorico dancing gives students a chance to exercise, make friends and learn about Mexican culture. It also gives some students a reason to come to school, said Sunnymead counselor Graciela Ramos. CONTINUE: State budget woes threaten dance program at Moreno Valley schools  SILVIA FLORES / The Press-Enterprise
VIDEOGRAPHY [2:24] Graphic artist John Narcomey Jr. of High Tower Comics Family legend has it Corona-born John Narcomey Jr. began his drawing career at age 3. Of course back then it was on the walls, the backs of grocery bags, etc. It wasn't until years later that his talent translated to comic book illustration. Now his company, High Tower Comics, is set to release the first books in two new series, "Jungle Jive" and "Ghost Face." High Tower Comics will begin shipping pre-orders Nov. 7. With a staff of local talent, including writer Justin Fox and illustrator Jacob Crippen, the team of three hopes to become the first comic book publishing house in the Inland region. CONTINUE: Local talent draws up new comic book series Environmental awareness has joined reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic in some schools, with growing participation in clubs at Corona and Santiago high schools. The Environmental Care Organization, called ECO, at Corona High promotes environmental awareness with sidewalk-chalk messages giving green tips to other students and campus staff. Last year, ECO raised money to buy 250 trees to plant after wildfires, said club adviser Elaine Garcia, who teaches English at Corona High. CONTINUE: Environment clubs' projects raise interest, awareness RIALTO - Like Wild West gunslingers competing for fastest draw, a group of masons faced down their fellow contestants Saturday in a fierce battle for supremacy. Fully armed with mortar-laden hand tools, they valiantly competed for the title of Fastest Trowel on the Block. The event, held at E-Z Mix Inc. in Rialto, was the Southern California regional to determine which journeyman, apprentice, and up-and-coming masons would advance to the national competition in Las Vegas in early 2009. CONTINUE: Rialto contest separates top trowels from mere mortars  SILVIA FLORES / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Ghost Walk rehearsal in the Mission Inn catacombs RIVERSIDE - The farther they go, the darker it gets. Narrow passages between concrete walls, low ceilings and inky blackness will envelop a handful of visitors allowed into the Mission Inn's catacombs this weekend. "It's very easy to bring myself to tears in here because it's creepy -- very, very creepy," said Makenna Gettinger, one of the actors in the Ghostwalk Riverside's catacombs tour. CONTINUE: A peek into the Mission Inn catacombs RIALTO - Emma Melton had only lived in her North Willow Avenue condominium in Rialto three days in 2002 when a gunfight broke out on the street in front of her. "It was terrible," she said. "There was violence, drug dealing, killing. I could hear the popping gunshots." The only popping she could hear Thursday night was balloons at a block party as city, county and federal officials heralded the grand opening of Citrus Grove of Rialto, a 152-unit affordable apartment complex that stands in what was once a slum-ridden neighborhood so infested with crime that police opened a substation nearby. CONTINUE: It's home sweet home at apartment complex  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: St. Frances X. Cabrini Church Dedication Mass When St. Frances X. Cabrini Catholic Church opened in 1948, its 250-seat sanctuary was considered so big for then-rural Yucaipa that the bishop wondered how parishioners could ever fill it. By the late 1990s, rapid population growth in Yucaipa and in the nearby Riverside County city of Calimesa led to overflowing crowds at Masses that forced the parish to move all but one service out of the old brick-and-wood church into the parish hall. On Saturday, Bishop Gerald Barnes inaugurated a new church that is nearly seven times as big as the old one. RIVERSIDE - Linda Taylor, manager of the Orange Terrace branch library, can say something no other branch manager in the city can say: "Our collection is brand new." That's because the library she will run is the city's newest. Its grand opening and first day of operation is Saturday. The $7 million library from the outside looks like a 21st-century version of a California mission church -- stucco and stonework rather than adobe -- but it's also an environmentally friendly building. For example, it uses a combination of natural lighting and energy-efficient electric lights. CONTINUE: Riverside's new Orange Terrace Library to open Saturday Elementary school is the foundation for middle school and high school, so it's important to prepare her students for college, Phillip M. Stokoe Elementary School Principal Katherine W. Rizzo said. "We know this is the only place it's going to happen," she said Wednesday after the Riverside school kicked off its No Excuses University program with an assembly. All the fifth-graders in Michelle Vines' class raised their hands to say they know what career they want after college. CONTINUE: Stokoe Elementary kicks off No Excuses University  MARK ZALESKI / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: The historic San Timoteo schoolhouse in Calimesa Beginning this time next year, students could have the opportunity to learn firsthand what it was like to go to school in the 19th century. County officials hope to reopen the San Timoteo Canyon Schoolhouse by the fall of 2009 as a place where current-day students and the public can learn what it was like to attend the school, which first opened in 1882. The one-room schoolhouse is located in the canyon between Beaumont and Redlands. CONTINUE: Plans call for restored San Timoteo Canyon Schoolhouse to open next year Their sunglasses and handbags weren't vintage American Colonial, but five women who visited Corona's Sunnyslope Cemetery on Tuesday otherwise wore the garb of more than two centuries ago. They arrived in their ruffled mob caps and floor-length dresses to commemorate three women who had belonged, like them, to the local chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution. CONTINUE: Corona Daughters of the American Revolution mark graves of past members [Eds note: Friday preview story] A show called "Caffeinated Cabaret!" brings professional actors to the Coffee Depot in downtown Riverside for an evening of song once a month. This month's show is Sunday and it will feature Danny Blaylock (who appeared in Performance Riverside's recent "South Pacific"), Aleks Pevec (Los Angeles productions of "Wicked," "The Who's Tommy"), Jolene Purdy (Fox TV's "Do Not Disturb," the 2001 movie "Donnie Darko"), Morgan Reynolds, Kathy Risinger and Heather Nichole White. CONTINUE: Singing during your supper at 'Caffeinated Cabaret!' On a hillside overlooking Grass Valley Lake near the Lake Arrowhead County Club, the steady beat of hammers echoes on a clear sunny morning. A year after the devastating Grass Valley Fire swept through the neighborhood, the wooden frames of several homes in various stages of construction stick out above the lake as homeowners race to rebuild before winter starts. "It's rebirth," said Dave Stuart, executive director of Rebuilding Mountain Hearts & Lives, with a smile. "It's new life." More than 500 homes were destroyed or damaged in the Slide and Grass Valley fires that started Oct. 22, 2007. Of those, about 100 homeowners have received permits to rebuild, said Stuart, whose nonprofit organization assists fire victims. At least 15 families already are back in their homes, he said. CONTINUE: Fire survivors still rebuilding on one year later While most athletes compete for gold, silver or bronze, nearly 11,000 participants in Sunday's 10th annual Komen Inland Empire Race for the Cure were there for the pink. A morning of hope and support started with a parade of hundreds of pink T-shirt clad breast cancer survivors at The Promenade in Temecula. They were honored for their courage and their continued commitment to the cause. Since the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation was established 25 years ago, more than $1 billion has been raised for research and education. CONTINUE: 11,000 turn out for Race for the Cure anti-breast cancer event Students at Creekside Elementary School in Moreno Valley Friday learned what it is like to be a judge, architect, painter and computer technician. Guest speakers from Riverside and Moreno Valley talked about career choices, said Creekside counselor, Alison Feeken, who organized the event. Adreanna Cardenas, 10, sat in the tiller box, the rear steering compartment, of a Moreno Valley fire engine as Cal Fire Engineer Paul Heitzmann talked to Adreanna and her fifth-grade classmates about his job. CONTINUE: Moreno Valley students get career lessons 
PHOTO GALLERY: Mop up in San Bernardino SAN BERNARDINO - The city's top firefighter blamed neglected freeway landscaping for fueling a destructive blaze Monday that burned downtown businesses, stopped trains and sent motorists fleeing from their cars on Interstate 215. Pointing to dying brush and trees along the freeway, San Bernardino City Fire Chief Mike Conrad said Tuesday that high winds blowing through a tangle of dead oleanders, palm fronds and eucalyptus branches made the fires more fierce. "They have a lot of dead material inside them," Conrad said, noting that some of the trees and shrubs were planted 50 years ago. "We have always had a problem with those palm tree fires, even when the median was being irrigated and cared for. We still had fire in those doggone palm trees because it gets in the palm fronds up high." CONTINUE: Parched plants fed I-215 blazes 
PHOTO GALLERY: Little Mountain fire in San Bernardino SAN BERNARDINO - City fire crews are mopping up several blazes after a busy night and morning that saw at least four buildings burn and hundreds more threatened. Embers from an earlier, wind-whipped brush fire ignited the most damaging fire, a blaze that destroyed or damaged at least four buildings along Interstate-215 late Monday, closing the freeway during the height of the evening commute and sending residents and motorists scrambling from the flames. CONTINUE: Fires keep San Bernardino crews busy  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: San Bernardino fire VIDEOGRAPHY [0:38] San Bernardino fire VIDEOGRAPHY [1:05] San Bernardino fire SAN BERNARDINO - Embers from a wind-whipped brush fire ignited as many as 10 buildings along Interstate 215 late Monday, closing the freeway during the height of the evening commute and sending residents and motorists scrambling from the flames. Two of the buildings were major commercial structures, city officials said. A storage building at Base Line and H Street and a plastics plant on I Street were fully engulfed in flames, city officials said. The 5:15 p.m. blaze along I-215 in downtown San Bernardino was the most serious of three fires Monday. CONTINUE: I-215 erupts into fiery corridor  FRANK BELLINO / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Svetlana's Dance Academy Svetlana's Dance Academy & Inland Valley Classical Ballet Theatre is raising the bar in terms of quality of instruction in the Temecula area. The arrival of Vitaliy Nechay in July is important for a couple of reasons, Svetlana Waisman, the academy's owner, said in a telephone interview. "I'm just very, very excited, first of all to have a male dancer and somebody of that caliber at my studio. ... And just for my students to be exposed to the same style but with a different flair, you know, it's just awesome." CONTINUE: Arrival of new instructor raises bar at ballet studio  FRANK BELLINO / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Temecula Fall Rod Run TEMECULA - Old Town Front Street, the main strip in Old Town Temecula, was transformed Saturday into a ribbon of hot wheels, steel and polished chrome. Thousands were expected to visit Old Town, as 625 classic automobiles and vintage sports cars lined the street and side streets of Temecula's historic quarter. The parked cars were on display for the second and final day of the Temecula Fall Rod Run 2008. CONTINUE: Participants, business owners report lower turnout at Fall Rod Run in Old Town Temecula  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Citizens Business Bank arena in Ontario Special Report: Citizens Business Bank arena in Ontario  TERRY PIERSON / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: San Manual Band of Mission Indians Pow Wow Two-year-old Tashpa Trujillo, wearing a traditional Kupa dress, danced with the women as her father led the men in a traditional bird song at the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians annual powwow Saturday. Bird songs, one of the oldest forms of singing in California, are sung to the beat of shaking gourds and tell stories or teach lessons about creation, animals and places. Tashpa is a descendant of Mohave and Kupa (also known as Cupeño) tribes in Southern California. CONTINUE: San Manuel band hosts powwow of Indians from across U.S.  RODRIGO PEÑA / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Restoration of Estudillo mansion SAN JACINTO - They wear multiple hats as appointed committee members and volunteers but their more than 15-year-old mission to save the 1885 Estudillo Mansion is reaching success, most recently with the San Jacinto City Council awarding a contract for interior restoration. "It's finally looking like it is going to work out," said Madenia Freitas, a member of the city's Estudillo Mansion advisory committee and of the Estudillo Restoration Association, a volunteer group that operates under auspices of the nonprofit San Jacinto Valley Museum Association. CONTINUE: Restoring historic San Jacinto house progresses  DAVID BAUMAN / The Press-Enterprise VIDEOGRAPHY [1:30] Dog Gone Beautiful Mobile Pet Salon Juli Hensley of Riverside owns and operates Dog Gone Beautiful Mobile Pet Salon. Fully assessorized, Hensley's trailer allows her to offer western Inland Southern California pet owners services such as grooming and doggie spa treatments right outside their front door.  RODRIGO PEÑA / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: The Show at Agua Caliente Casino Resort and Spa VIDEO [2:03] The Show at Agua Caliente Casino Resort and spa With a $76 million price tag, officials at Rancho Mirage's Agua Caliente Casino Resort and Spa see their new entertainment venue as a key component of completing the resort and for driving business to the casino. "It's essential to have a showroom and it's essential to do it right," said David Fendrick, chief operating officer for the Agua Caliente band of Cahuilla Indians. CONTINUE: Agua Caliente joins desert casinos with its own entertainment venue  CARRIE ROSEMA / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: San Bernardino County Sheriff's Rodeo When it comes to charity, every nibble counts in these uncertain times. Probably no one appreciates that more than Carol and John Carpenter. They recently staged a wedding in a dog park for their Chihuahuas as a fundraiser for the Riverside Humane Society. The Moreno Valley couple collected $334 from a money tree set up next to the canine carob cakes. CONTINUE: Hoping to prevent drop in donations, some charities get creative  PAUL ALVAREZ / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Memorial tribute to conductor Patrick Flynn The community paid a heartfelt tribute Sunday to Patrick Flynn, longtime music director of the Riverside County Philharmonic. Several hundred people gathered at Riverside Municipal Auditorium to hear music that Flynn loved and some short speeches. "They'll get a new conductor, but they'll never replace Patrick Flynn," George Pope, of Riverside, a longtime concertgoer, said before the proceedings started. CONTINUE: Memorial held in Riverside for Patrick Flynn, longtime music director of philharmonic  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Southern California Fair in Perris Music, laughter and the aroma of barbecued meat filled Saturday's opening of the Southern California Fair. As Jesse Pinales, of Hemet, pushed the stroller through the front gates, his 1-year-old niece, Merina Cortes, looked up at the rides and wiggled to the beat of the music playing in the games area. "I'm going to try to win her a stuffed animal," said her father, Mario Cortes, 23. The fair continues through Oct. 12 at the Lake Perris Fairgrounds, on the corner of Lake Perris Drive and the Ramona Expressway. CONTINUE: Lake Perris fair features ribs, thrills  GREG VOJTKO / The Press-Enterprise VIDEOGRAPHY [3:16] Riverside City Hall shooting: Oct. 6, 1998 Special Report: Riverside City Hall Shooting - 10 Years Later  GREG VOJTKO / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: 'Speak on it' tapes at Cal State San Bernardino At 18, Travis Robinson is looking forward to voting in his first presidential election -- even if he can't yet decide which ticket to support. The Cajon High School student said he knows his vote matters, and he takes this decision very seriously. In fact, Robinson said all of his voting-age friends do, regardless of party affiliation. "It's a special time for me, but neither one of my options are really impressing me," Robinson said after watching the vice presidential debate Thursday evening while at a San Bernardino pizza parlor. "I don't want to go with the wrong guy." CONTINUE: Young Inland voters eager to cast their ballots  ED CRISOSTOMO / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Billiards at the OLDlympics in Hemet Millie Turnure, 92, of Hemet, placed her neatly manicured fingers on the green felt as she tapped the cue ball with her titanium cue. It bumped the 8-ball, which dropped into the pocket, giving her a third win for the day. "I've always been competitive," Turnure said between games. "When I was younger, I played a lot of softball. I was a pitcher." Turnure was among seven women who competed for a chance to win a gold medal in a special billiards tournament in Hemet on Friday. CONTINUE: Woman, 92, places second in Oldlympics competition in Hemet  SILVIA FLORES / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Anti-Bully play at Foothill Elementary Bullies aren't cool and have few friends except other bullies. The student council is conveying that message, with music, to the student body at Foothill Elementary School in Corona by presenting a play, "Bullies Anonymous," to each of the four tracks at the year-round school. The final performance for the student body will be today, but the group hopes to raise money to take the show to other elementary schools in the Corona-Norco Unified School District, said Julia Buchheim, a sixth-grade teacher who advises the student council with fellow sixth-grade teacher Jennifer Skelskey. CONTINUE: Corona school's play says bullies aren't cool  SILVIA FLORES / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Field trip to The Pumpkin Patch YUCAIPA - For first-grader Justen Barron, rambling through a pumpkin patch, navigating a 1-acre maze carved from a field of tall corn and eyeing rows of spooky decorations were lessons in the wonders of Halloween. He and classmates from Samuel W. Simpson Elementary in Rialto mimicked the "baaahs" of scruffy goats at the petting zoo and cringed at the sight of grayish-green, heavily warted Marino Di Chioggia squash during a field trip this week to The Pumpkin Patch at the Live Oak Canyon Christmas Tree Farm in Yucaipa.
 GREG VOJTKO / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Horse safety in Horse Town USA Citing complaints from riders, sheriff's Norco station deputies conducted an equestrian crosswalk operation Wednesday aimed at making the roads safe for horses and their human companions. "We have a lot of horseback riders," Norco station Cpl. Scott Shafer said. "We have complaints from time to time from horseback riders in reference to a violation of right-of-way for them while they're on their horses in the intersections." Deputies set up at two intersections along Sixth Street from California Avenue to Interstate 15 and at one along Corydon Avenue where signs were posted indicating the areas are equestrian crossings. CONTINUE: Norco deputies give drivers a lesson in giving horses the right-of-way  TERRY PIERSON / The Press-Enterprise The Press Enterprise's DAY IN PHOTOGRAPHY for September 30, 2008  RODRIGO PEÑA / The Press-Enterprise VIDEOGRAPHY [1:54] Bob Davis' 1914 unrestored Ford Model T When Glen Chaffin first laid eyes on his favorite car, its sides were splayed out and nearly collapsed. The rear deck lid was almost completely flattened. And it had no passenger door. He liked what he saw. Chaffin handed $1,000 to the owners and brought the 1913 Model T coupe to his home in Corona in 1973. He fitted things back together, pounded the rear deck (trunk) lid back into usable shape and found a replacement door. He rebuilt the original engine and has been driving the car in parades and club tours ever since. CONTINUE: 100th Anniversary: Ford Model T  DAVID BAUMAN / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Corona PD's John Marshall prepares for Ethiopia trip John Marshall has spent much of his life helping others. As a police motorcycle sergeant, Marshall said, his motivation has been to protect and serve. Today, the Corona Police Department officer leaves for Ethiopia to spend 12 days on a journey to help and to minister to villagers in the northern part of the country. "For me, it's more of a humanitarian and spiritual effort to reach out to people in need," Marshall said. CONTINUE: Corona officer to respond abroad -- helping Ethiopian villagers  SILVIA FLORES / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Cal State San Bernardino goin' green From solar panels mounted on roofs to paper recycling baskets tucked under desks, Inland colleges are going green. Some campuses are getting creative in the push to recycle waste, reduce energy consumption and clean up their carbon footprints. At UC Riverside, the campus dining menu includes eggs collected from chickens raised on campus for research projects. CONTINUE: Inland colleges work to recycle, decrease energy usage  TERRY PIERSON / The Press-Enterprise The Press Enterprise's DAY IN PHOTOGRAPHY for September 27, 2008  RODRIGO PEÑA / The Press-Enterprise VIDEOGRAPHY [1:29] Gilman Ranch museum adds interactivity BANNING - Major renovations designed to increase the number of visitors and to preserve artifacts at historic Gilman Ranch are under way. The entrance on Wilson Street will be moved west, across from 19th Street, so when visitors arrive they are greeted with a view of the yellow, two-story Gilman house. At the current entrance, visitors driving up a dirt road see a steel building. New entrance signs will be erected as well, said park interpreter Jim Bowden. The Gilman Ranch dates to 1854. Pioneer James Marshall Gilman purchased the property 15 years later. It opened as a museum in 1991. CONTINUE: Historic Gilman Ranch undergoes renovations  KURT MILLER / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Trails at 10 program in Redlands REDLANDS - Zookeeper Summer McElroy held up Cosmo, a great horned owl, Saturday morning and explained to a group of wide-eyed children how he'd been shot and rescued eight years ago. "Owls can't move their eyes like humans" so they must be able to move their necks a full 270 degrees in order to see in all directions, explained McElroy, who shared stories about Cosmo, a fox named Penelope and other animals from the nearly 50-year-old Moonridge Animal Park at Big Bear Lake. CONTINUE: Conservancy promotes Redlands' trails  GREG VOJTKO / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Blue Mass in Beaumont They remember Rialto police officer Sergio Carrera Jr. They remember Murrieta fire Capt. Matt Moore, Union Pacific Special Agent Aaron Garcia and San Bernardino County fire Capt. Vance Tomaselli. Dozens of Inland law enforcement officers and firefighters prayed for these fallen public safety officials in a Catholic Blue Mass in Beaumont on Thursday. CONTINUE: Catholic Blue Mass honors fallen safety heroes  CARRIE ROSEMA / The Press-Enterprise The Press Enterprise's DAY IN PHOTOGRAPHY for September 24, 2008  TERRY PIERSON / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Jurupa Valley Boxing Club RUBIDOUX - The tattoos on Ray Gonzales' head, arms and torso tell the story of a gang life lived on the uncompromising streets of East Los Angeles, where fists were used for self-defense or to beat an adversary into submission. These days, Gonzales, 62, uses his tattoos and prosthetic eye, which replaced the eye he lost in a drug fight, as teaching moments while wrapping the hands of fledgling boxers at the Jurupa Valley Boxing Club, where he volunteers. His is a message of redemption -- mostly his own -- delivered with equal amounts of regret and hope. CONTINUE: Corona resident, 62, is proof young men can overcome a hard-knocks life  TERRY PIERSON / The Press-Enterprise The Press Enterprise's DAY IN PHOTOGRAPHY for September 22, 2008  CARRIE ROSEMA / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Route 66 Rendezvous - Sunday SAN BERNARDINO - For more than a decade, a group of car enthusiasts has used the final Sunday morning of the Stater Bros. Route 66 Rendezvous to share the word of God. Christian Rods and Customs held a nondenominational church service Sunday and more than 50 people attended. As cars rumbled by and spectators started to arrive for the final day of the 19th annual car show, praise music rang out from a stage at Court and E streets in downtown San Bernardino. CONTINUE: Faith celebrated on final day of Route 66 Rendezvous  PAUL ALVAREZ / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Lake Elsinore Community Center dance class Inland-area residents feeling the pinch of the economic downturn kept their children out of city-run summer camps and programs, opting for more economical diversions, local parks and recreation officials said. In some cities, people canceled long-held facility reservations for receptions and birthday parties, another byproduct of the sour economy. For cities, lower revenues from registration fees will mean potential cuts in the classes they can offer, officials said. Fewer offerings mean fewer opportunities for area youth. CONTINUE: Some cities say enrollment in summer programs suffered 'big hit'  FRANK BELLINO / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Motorcycle safety training in Corona It appears a simple, even logical trend has developed on Inland roadways. With gas prices flirting around $4 a gallon, some people have traded in their trucks or purchased a motorcycle to commute. "I bought my first commuter bike this year," said Justin Jones, who works at a Harley-Davidson dealership in Temecula. "I ride it rain or shine. It pays for itself in what it saves in gas." CONTINUE: New motorcyclists trying to avoid gas crunch  PAUL ALVAREZ / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: 12th Annual Intertribal Pow Wow at Soboba Casino SOBOBA INDIAN RESERVATION - Steps have been taken to assure safety and security during the 12th annual Soboba Powwow this weekend, tribal officials say. The assurances came after officials from San Jacinto School District declined to send elementary school students to the powwow's traditional pre-opening visit hosted by the tribe. The reasons for San Jacinto's absence from the event are unclear. Tribal officials say they received word from San Jacinto district officials that the students were not coming because of safety concerns. San Jacinto schools Superintendent Shari Fox and other district officials could not be reached for comment Friday. CONTINUE: Schools pass on Soboba powwow; tribe says attendees should feel safe  KURT MILLER / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Route 66 Rendezvous - Saturday It was a car show within a car show. On the third day of the 19th annual Stater Bros. Route 66 Rendezvous, thousands of spectators lined the sidewalks Saturday and watched as classic pre-1970s automobiles cruised the downtown streets. Inside the Carousel Mall, nearly 200 carefully crafted model cars were displayed and children lined up for a chance to make their own model Corvette and take it home. "The hobby has really grown over the years," said Anthony Rios, 40, of Industry, who has made models since he was 5 years old. CONTINUE: Model-car makers shine at Route 66 Rendezvous  GREG VOJTKO / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Route 66 Rendezvous - Friday SAN BERNARDINO - Day 2 of the Stater Bros. Route 66 Rendezvous was a chance for car owners to shine. There were no contests or prizes to vie for during the Cruisin' and Show-N-Shine event Friday night. Just a chance for ogling eyes to peruse the classic Fords, Chevrolets and Pontiacs on display and an opportunity for the owners to show off the work they'd put into their cars and trucks. CONTINUE: A day for show at Route 66 Rendezvous  RODRIGO PEÑA / The Press-Enterprise VIDEOGRAPHY [1:58] Route 66 Rendezvous - Friday SAN BERNARDINO - Day 2 of the Stater Bros. Route 66 Rendezvous was a chance for car owners to shine. There were no contests or prizes to vie for during the Cruisin' and Show-N-Shine event Friday night. Just a chance for ogling eyes to peruse the classic Fords, Chevrolets and Pontiacs on display and an opportunity for the owners to show off the work they'd put into their cars and trucks. CONTINUE: A day for show at Route 66 Rendezvous  CARRIE ROSEMA / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Orange Terrace Community Center Residents of Riverside's Orangecrest neighborhood will no longer have to trek down Van Buren Boulevard to take community classes or pick up a book from the library. The Orange Terrace Community Center opened Sept. 13, offering programming for all ages, including dance and martial arts. The $11 million Mission-style center at Orange Terrace Park features a gymnasium, banquet hall that can accommodate as many as 350 people, kitchen and catering area, a multipurpose room for preschool-age classes, and a dance room. A library adjacent to the 28,000-square-foot center will open Oct. 25. CONTINUE: New Orangecrest center brings activity closer to home  RAMON MENA OWENS / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Rancho Carrillo Residents who moved to remote Rancho Carrillo on the western edge of Riverside County sacrificed mail service and public roads for country life with horse corrals, close-knit neighbors and mountain vistas. But the outside world is intruding on their Shangri-la deep in the Cleveland National Forest, and residents have come out of their wilderness seclusion to fight it. Riverside County wants to build a 100-foot emergency communications tower on a hillside in Rancho Carrillo, which is reached by means of a gated, winding private road off Highway 74. Residents say the tower will loom over them, and will interfere with their tranquility and neighboring wildlife. CONTINUE: Community fights for seclusion  SILVIA FLORES / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: National Park(ing) Day in Riverside RIVERSIDE - Ross Knazs and Andy Steen whacked a badminton shuttlecock back and forth over a small net Friday, in a spot on University Avenue near Main Street that cars normally occupy. It was National Park(ing) Day, and they and their boss, landscape architect Tim Maloney, converted two parking spaces into temporary miniature parks. "We're just creating awareness of the need for more parks and more open space," said Maloney, president of Community Works Design Group. CONTINUE: Temporary parks spring up in downtown Riverside parking stalls  SILVIA FLORES / The Press-Enterprise The Press Enterprise's DAY IN PHOTOGRAPHY for September 18, 2008  MARK ZALESKI / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Route 66 Rendezvous - Thursday Chris Hernandez had a little bit of bad luck at last year's Neon Light cruise and contest during the Stater Bros. Route 66 Rendezvous. He couldn't drive his 1964 Chevrolet Malibu. "I had some problems with my carburetor and it wouldn't start," said Hernandez, 40, of San Bernardino. In 2006, Hernandez planned to enter the competition but waited too long to register. CONTINUE: '53 Ford takes neon honors at Route 66 Rendezvous  SILVIA FLORES / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Jefferson Elementary making progress Administrators, teachers, staff, students and parents at Corona's Jefferson Elementary School are planning a schoolwide celebration for meeting federal benchmarks for the second year in a row and exiting a federal program for failing schools. The five-year effort to turn the school around required hard work and wholesale changes in the school's culture, said Janie K. Rhoades, who was Jefferson's principal throughout the process. Among her toughest tasks was getting everyone to believe they could do it, said Rhoades, who accepted a job this summer at Riverside Unified, where she works with struggling schools. "I would go into classrooms and say, 'Who's smart in here?' and nobody raised their hand," she said. "Now they all raise their hands. They want to succeed." CONTINUE: Corona's Jefferson Elementary celebrates exit from program improvement  SILVIA FLORES / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: On patrol with the Palos Verdes Estates marine patrol The sun is just starting to poke its rays between the beachfront houses in south Redondo Beach as Rick Anderson steers his boat out of King Harbor. Gray morning clouds paw at the hillsides and cliffs of the Palos Verdes Peninsula to the south, where a standing paddle boarder slowly strokes away from the shoreline. Only a handful of boats and kayaks bob within view. Anderson, 60, of Lake Mathews, has been plying these waters for 11 years as a reserve officer for the Palos Verdes Estates Police Department. He heads up California's only ocean-going patrol run by a police department. CONTINUE: Lake Mathews man hits high seas to patrol beat  TERRY PIERSON / The Press-Enterprise The Press Enterprise's DAY IN PHOTOGRAPHY for September 17, 2008  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Alan Meyer's 1965 Pontiac GTO For Alan Meyer of Riverside, there is something about the Pontiac GTO. But the 1965 GTO he will be driving to the 19th annual Stater Bros. Route 66 Rendezvous in San Bernardino is extra special. It's the car he stripped down to the frame and rebuilt with a new engine, transmission and yellow paint job. It's the car he spent six months meticulously researching. It's the car once driven by automotive icon John DeLorean, who designed the GTO and later his own gull-winged DeLorean sports car. Rendezvous events today include a cruise through downtown by some of the 1,600 pre-1970 cars registered for the four-day event and a neon light contest in which owners of cars decked out with elaborate illumination show them off at 8 p.m. in Meadowbrook Park. CONTINUE: Quest for GTO to restore ends with car with a history  STAN LIM / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Mall fire in Grand Terrace GRAND TERRACE - A three-alarm fire destroyed four businesses and slightly injured one firefighter this morning in a Grand Terrace strip mall, fire officials said. "The strip mall is a complete loss. The entire roof has collapsed," said Tracey Martinez, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Fire Department. About 60 firefighters battled the 2:58 a.m. blaze along Barton Road near La Crosse Avenue. It took them about an hour to knock down the flames. CONTINUE: Grand Terrace strip mall burns, business owners stunned  PAUL ALVAREZ / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: North Rubidoux Women's Club RUBIDOUX - More than 50 years ago, a small group of women met in community leader Eddie Dee Smith's living room with a shared mission: to go into the community and offer help where needed. The North Rubidoux Women's Club lost its spiritual godmother in June when Smith passed away. But on the morning of Sept. 13, club members gathered in the meeting room of the Rubidoux library for their first meeting of the year, which runs from September to June. CONTINUE: Its leader gone, North Rubidoux Women's Club moves on  KURT MILLER / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Fox Theatre renovation continues RIVERSIDE - The historic Fox Theatre is a hive of activity a year after the initial demolition work took place and a year before it reopens as the Fox Performing Arts Center. The $30 million restoration project is part of efforts to make Riverside the "City of Arts and Culture" and it's a cornerstone of Riverside Renaissance, a $1.8 billion program of public improvements meant to boost the quality of life in the city. The work is on time and on budget, said project manager Robert Wise of the city Development Department. CONTINUE: Fox Theatre restoration going according to plan, Riverside project manager says  MARK ZALESKI / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Roseanne returns to Inland radio Roseanne Barr returned to Inland airwaves this afternoon, sharpening her sword for the election season, lambasting the media, religion in politics and the current administration on her radio show with partner Johnny Argent from a studio in El Segundo. Barr and Argent will be on the air from 4 to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday on KCAA 1050 AM, which has its studios in San Bernardino's Carousel Mall. CONTINUE: Roseanne Barr back on the air  CARRIE ROSEMA / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:30] Friendly Stars talent show It's a safe place to gather with friends for a night of fun, music and activities. The Friendly Stars program brings together mentally disabled adults for weekly themed nights of socialization activities. The program has been active for about 30 years, with help from volunteers and charity organizations. The Friendly Stars program is one of the best programs the city of Riverside conducts, said Jerry Hurley, recreation supervisor. CONTINUE: Friendly Stars bring out the best  DAVID BAUMAN / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Ron Paiz' 1968 Ford Mustang Wayne Austin is revved up over falling gas prices. The president and chief executive officer of the San Bernardino Convention & Visitors Bureau held his breath in July when a sagging economy and gas prices over $4.50 a gallon threatened to put a dent in attendance at this week's Stater Bros. Route 66 Rendezvous in downtown San Bernardino. "In light of the economy, most of the fairs and most of the exhibitions are experiencing a little downturn," he said. "I would be remiss to expect that we wouldn't experience a little downturn, too." Not that the 19th annual rendezvous ever was in danger of being canceled. CONTINUE: Slight drop in attendance expected at Route 66 Rendezvous in San Bernardino  SILVIA FLORES / The Press-Enterprise The Press Enterprise's DAY IN PHOTOGRAPHY for September 15, 2008  GREG VOJTKO / The Press-Enterprise VIDEOGRAPHY [0:43] Brush fire in Redlands area San Bernardino County Fire Department crews are fighting a vegetation fire in the Redlands area north of the Citrus Plaza shopping center. The fire was reported about 12:25 p.m. and drew an initial response of three engines and a chief officer. The fire is north of Interstate 10 and west of Highway 210, authorities said. The blaze is burning 10 to 15 acres of empty fields and is not threatening any businesses or homes, officials said. The fire is burning in a northerly direction, officials said.  CARRIE ROSEMA / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Shofar making in Riverside RIVERSIDE - After sawing and drilling, dozens of young children huffed and puffed and gave their best effort Sunday at making music from animal horns. The shofar, a traditional Jewish instrument typically made from a ram's horn, is blown in synagogues during the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. And on Sunday, children and parents alike crowded into the Chabad Jewish Community Center in Riverside to learn how to craft the ancient instruments. CONTINUE: Riverside workshop teaches families about traditional Jewish instrument  ED CRISOSTOMO / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Brianna Cadman Memorial Kids Walk LOMA LINDA - Hundreds of parents and children chanted, waved and laughed Sunday morning during a mile-and-a-half trek in support of kids who've survived cancer -- and in loving memory of those who lost their battle. Many who took part in Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation's ninth annual Brianna Cadman Memorial Kids' Walk toted balloons or held up posters. Others wore T-shirts bearing names of Inland kids, such as Raymond Carter, "Sonny" Sandoval and Raquel Ramirez, who bravely fought cancer and leukemia. CONTINUE: In Loma Linda, hundreds of walkers support children with cancer  CARRIE ROSEMA / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Riverside Pride celebration Hundreds gathered Saturday in White Park for Riverside Pride, the city's first celebration of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community in several years. "We are so happy, we are elated," said Rob McMurray, vice president of the Jeffery Owens Community Center, which organized the daylong event. The center opened 16 months ago in a two-story Victorian home on 10th Street in Downtown. CONTINUE: Hundreds celebrate gay pride in Riverside  RODRIGO PEÑA / The Press-Enterprise VIDEOGRAPHY [1:56]: Edward-Dean Museum & Gardens CHERRY VALLEY - One of the Inland area's treasure troves of art is upgrading security for its collection and will close its doors next year for six to nine months while repairing water and mold damage. Edward-Dean Museum & Gardens includes a collection of European decorative arts spanning the 16th through 19th centuries. It boasts a library with books dating to the 1700s written in Latin, German, French and Spanish that cover topics such as architecture, art and gardening. The grounds and facilities at Edward-Dean, including the Kay Ceniceros building, a covered pavilion and a gazebo, will remain open for weddings and other special events. CONTINUE: Cherry Valley art museum on verge of extensive renovation  RAMON MENA OWENS / The Press-Enterprise The Press Enterprise's DAY IN PHOTOGRAPHY for September 13, 2008  TERRY PIERSON / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:55] Swim safety for tots Summer may be ending soon, but some Riverside families are satisfied with having accomplished something important for their young children -- teaching water safety. Each summer Riverside City Community College offers eight weeks of swim classes, including those for infants and toddlers. The classes can be found through the Community Education program. Director of the colleges swim programs, David Almquist, organizes the summer swim classes. CONTINUE: Teaching water safety at young age  MARK ZALESKI / The Press-Enterprise The Press Enterprise's DAY IN PHOTOGRAPHY for September 11, 2008  JOEY ANCHONDO / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: 9/11 commemoration in Riverside RIVERSIDE - The city found a unique way Thursday to commemorate the 9/11 terrorist attacks and to honor the 29 Riverside firefighters who participated in the rescue efforts. The city rededicated a sculpture called "Tripod" on the front lawn of Fire Station 5, near Riverside Municipal Airport. More than 100 people attended. The sculpture -- almost the same color red as fire engines -- once stood on the downtown pedestrian mall near City Hall but was removed in May 2006 for the reopening of Ninth Street and the mall renovation. It has been stored at the city yard ever since. CONTINUE: At ceremony, Riverside commemorates 9/11, rededicates 'Tripod' sculpture  STAN LIM / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: 9/11 remembrances in Redlands and San Bernardino Cities, school campuses and universities hosted events Thursday to remember the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and honor those who died. The day marked the seventh anniversary of the attacks that resulted in the collapse of the World Trade Center in New York, damaged the Pentagon, and claimed the lives of more than 3,000 in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. At the University of Redlands, community members, faculty and students gathered for a candlelight vigil at 5:45 a.m., the moment in Pacific Standard Time that the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center. CONTINUE: Inland ceremonies commemorate 9/11 anniversary  SILVIA FLORES / The Press-Enterprise The Press Enterprise's DAY IN PHOTOGRAPHY for September 9, 2008  CARRIE ROSEMA / The Press-Enterprise The Press Enterprise's DAY IN PHOTOGRAPHY for September 8, 2008  STAN LIM / The Press-Enterprise PHOTO GALLERY: Fatal accident in San Bernardino SAN BERNARDINO - A first-grader in a crosswalk was fatally injured this morning when he was struck by a driver who apparently was blinded by the glare of the rising sun, San Bernardino police say. "He was headed to school with his dad and small sister," Lt. Scott Paterson said of 6-year-old victim Axel Quiroz. "Apparently, he stepped off the curb ... first. Witnesses told investigators that the family was walking with the green light." The accident happened at 7:12 a.m. at Fifth Street and Cabrerra Avenue. CONTINUE: San Bernardino first grader killed while walking to school  TERRY PIERSON / The Press-Enterprise SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:45] Tourism in Lake Arrowhead Mary Willett spent Aug. 24 with her family, vacationing at Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernardino Mountains, a bit closer to her Arcadia home this year. Compared with past vacations in Hawaii and San Diego, Lake Arrowhead isn't that far, but a getaway is a getaway no matter where you go, said Willett, 68. "This is a great place," she said as her granddaughter Elizabeth, 9, bobbed close to the dock in the lake after water skiing. Many Southern Californians are staying in-state for vacations this year for a variety of reasons, including concern over the state's 7 percent unemployment rate and its effect on the economy, and whether they can risk taking time off work. Also, gasoline prices are still above $3.75 per gallon. CONTINUE: Vacationers keep their getaways closer to home  RAMON MENA OWENS / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:31] Extreme fitness As the first streak of dawn smudges the darkness, Paul Castaneda is whipping Eastvale residents into shape in the dirt yard behind his home. Make no mistake about it, this is boot camp. As Castaneda barks out commands, eight exercise buffs perform a succession of lunges, bear crawls, squats, mountain climbers, calf raises, pushups and jumping jacks. "I like the abuse," cracked Leslie Lightner, a nurse who's a regular in Castaneda's 6 a.m. class. "The gym hasn't worked for me." Castaneda, a 27-year-old former Navy technician, launched his backyard Extreme Fitness program in May 2007 with help from Craigslist and MySpace Web sites. CONTINUE: In an Eastvale backyard, devotees of a brute-force workout grow stronger and more fit  TERRY PIERSON / The Press-Enterprise SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:45] Route 66 Crusin' Hall of Fame inductees In his teenage years, Steve Portias' van was everything. "We could turn them into our hot rod, our cruiser, sometimes our home," said the 59-year-old president of Inland Vans Berdoo. "It's just a cool thing to have." And now it will carry his 69-member San Bernardino-area car club into the Cruisin' Hall of Fame. CONTINUE: Van craze gets its due at Rendezvous  AMANDA LUCIDON / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:28] Wii Bowling Bowling leagues are getting a new lease on life. There's no need for a ball and the shoes aren't necessary -- unless it's strictly for fashion. The Wii video game bowling sensation has struck gold at senior centers, marked by friendly competition, fun and a new social scene. Four Coachella Valley senior centers have embarked on nearly three months of Wii bowling tournaments, which will culminate in a Wii Bowling Championship on Sept. 11. CONTINUE: Coachella Valley seniors to Wii bowl for championship  DAVID SHEA / The Press-Enterprise VIDEOGRAPHY [2:51] Sam Murray visits his mother in nursing home Sam Murray lives alone in a one-bedroom apartment off Magnolia Avenue in Riverside. He catches a city bus to and from work each weekday, cooks and cleans for himself, keeps up with the bills, does the laundry and the dishes and other household chores. Not exactly major accomplishments for the average 34-year-old, but for Murray, who is mentally handicapped and speech impaired, moving out on his own has been a major accomplishment. CONTINUE: One man shows Ability Counts  RAMON MENA OWENS / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:29] Thursday Morning Hikes program PALM DESERT - At 6 a.m., a half-dozen people gather at the Santa Rosa & San Jacinto Mountains National Monument before heading into the craggy mountains overlooking the Coachella Valley. The Thursday Morning Hikes program attracts the adventurous and the fitness-minded. They rise early for three- or four-mile hikes -- even in the dead of summer. The program runs year-round so those who can't stand the heat can take the many winter hikes. The scenic national-monument area becomes the backdrop for exploring the desert. The federally designated lands cover 272,000 acres, from the floor of the Coachella Valley to the surrounding mountains, including forests at more than 10,500 feet. CONTINUE: Hikers keep standing date with Coachella Valley's desert  STAN LIM / The Press-Enterprise SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:45] Troops deploy to Iraq SAN BERNARDINO - Their first stop is an Army base in Wisconsin, but the heavy hearts Friday among troops in desert camouflage and hundreds of civilians had nothing to do with the pending dispatch to the Midwest. The collective pit-in-the-stomach feeling among citizen-soldiers and their family members was due to the California National Guard unit's deployment to the Middle East. Members of the 1st Battalion, 185th Armored Regiment, spent the day with loved ones at the National Orange Show, sharing meals, hearing dignitaries' farewell speeches, and girding themselves for a yearlong tour in Iraq. CONTINUE: National Guard unit headed for Iraq says goodbyes at San Bernardino's National Orange Show  PAUL ALVAREZ / The Press-Enterprise SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:45] Norco Mounted Posse PRCA rodeo NORCO - Gary Krall wore an American flag shirt. Kathy Azevedo carried the Norco flag. Neal Arave waved a yellow flag. Krall is an Eastvale resident who joined about 3,500 attending the opening night of the 24th annual Norco Mounted Posse PRCA Rodeo at the George Ingalls Equestrian Events Center. The rodeo continues tonight at 7:30 and concludes Sunday at 6:30 p.m. Krall said he wore the red, white and blue shirt decorated with some of the words of the Declaration of Independence because rodeo is intertwined with Americana. He added, "I like to get involved in the Corona-Norco stuff. We really like the tradition. We really miss the cows (of Eastvale). All the cows got moved out for our homes. ... We're just trying to support the Norco rodeo and Norco horses. We don't want to see them go." CONTINUE: Norco rodeo draws 3,500 on opening night  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:17] Cobbler Carlos Navarrete RIVERSIDE - Beyond the racks of shoe polish, the shelves stacked with worn work boots and wingtips, the whirring grinders and purring polishers and the heady smell of glue, Tom's Shoe Repair is a place built on promises. "Give me a couple days," cobbler Carlos Navarrete, a trim 65-year-old with blackened fingernails and a warm grin, tells customers. The work will be done. Navarrete took over Tom's from a dying friend 1 ½ years ago -- along with a promise. CONTINUE: Man of his word keeps Riverside shop, shoes going  RODRIGO PEÑA / The Press-Enterprise VIDEOGRAPHY [1:58] Idyllwild Arts Academy IDYLLWILD - The music of jazz headliners Lee Ritenour, Dave Koz and other artists wafting through the pines this weekend will raise more than $100,000 in scholarship money for young artists studying theatre, dance, creative writing and other disciplines at Idyllwild Arts. The 15th annual Idyllwild Jazz in the Pines event to be held on Saturday and Sunday is a fundraiser for the Idyllwild Arts Academy and the Idyllwild Arts Summer Program. The music fest takes place on the Idyllwild Arts' 205-acre campus in the San Jacinto Mountains. CONTINUE: Jazz festival to help raise scholarships for students  KURT MILLER / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:19] Olga's 105th birthday bash REDLANDS - Olga Lykkegaard wanted a luau for her birthday. She got it. The Asistencia Villa nursing home turned out in force Monday, with many of its staff members wearing leis and three dozen fellow residents swaying to the tropical tunes of the Loma Linda Strummers ukulele band. Lykkegaard capped the event by cutting a giant birthday cake inscribed with a declaration: "105 years young." "How would you imagine I feel?" she asked as well-wishers pressed close. "I have never had a big party like this before." CONTINUE: Luau helps 105-year-old celebrate her birthday at Redlands nursing home  JOEY ANCHONDO / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:15] Indonesian Independence celebrated Inland Indonesian Catholics on Sunday celebrated their native country's independence day with a special Mass, traditional games and plenty of Indonesian food. About 125 Indonesians sat in St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in Loma Linda as the red and white Indonesian flag was brought to the altar to stand near the U.S. and Vatican flags. Later, five young girls approached the altar with red and white streamers. San Bernardino County has one of the largest Indonesian communities in the country, said Anwar Agusti, consul for information at the Indonesian Consulate in Los Angeles. CONTINUE: Indonesians celebrate Independence Day with Mass  AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:19] Lake Gregory dragon boat races CRESTLINE - You needed an abacus, a slide rule or maybe even a computer to crunch the numbers Saturday at the second annual Dragon Boat Races at Lake Gregory Regional Park in Crestline. At the start there were 10 teams with 12 rowers each. The rowers ranged in age from Tanner Recendez, 8, of San Bernardino, to Aloa Agostino, 81, a former merchant mariner from Corona del Mar whose blood pressure is 120 over 80. Each boat had a drummer to beat a tempo for the oarsmen and a coxswain to steer. The rowers came from as far away as Arizona and as near as Crestline. CONTINUE: Teams test mettle in Dragon Boat Races  GREG VOJTKO / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [3:34] Steve Oliver and his synth guitar On stages around the world, Steve Oliver takes audiences on a magical mystery tour through his world of music on a guitar, making the six strings sing like a doo-wop group or play like an orchestra. But at home in Banning, Oliver spends time with his wife of more than 10 years, Gisela, their two West Highland White Terriers, and the couple's garden out back with vegetables and roses -- when he's not working on new music, that is. With six albums under his belt, Oliver has garnered success in the contemporary jazz genre, with songs such as "High Noon" climbing the charts and getting airplay around the world. His 2002 album "Positive Energy" made the top 25 of Billboard's contemporary jazz charts. CONTINUE: Banning jazz guitarist lives, breathes for music  AMANDA LUCIDON / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:32] Girl Scouts take on Suicide Rock Attached to a rope on a 60-foot granite face of Suicide Rock in Idyllwild recently, Sky Elise looked down and spoke to a dozen Girl Scouts strapped into harnesses and wearing rock climbing shoes. He told them how to properly use their hands and feet when climbing. He told them, in many ways, girls are more suited to climb rocks than boys. He told them that most injuries occur, not while climbing, but while hiking to, or rappelling down, rocks. "It's good to be nervous, because that keeps you thinking and moving," said Elise, a guide for Uprising Adventure Guides, a Joshua Tree rock climbing school. "But don't be scared." CONTINUE: Girls Scouts, leadership challenged by rock climbing - on and off the ropes  RAMON MENA OWENS / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:55] Flabob Aviation Academy The junior aviators who recently finished a weeklong academy in Riverside learned how airplanes fly, were introduced to pioneer aviators such as the Wright brothers and fashioned small hot-air balloons. Building rockets was neat, too. But firing the hand-made missiles, well, that was a real blast. While their peers counted down, "5, 4, 3, 2, 1," each rocketeer prepared to hit the switch that fired the projectile. When the count reached zero, eager fingers pressed the start button, touching off the tiny gunpowder charge and catapulting the cardboard-and-plastic foot-long rockets skyward, 80, 100, 120 feet into the sky before gravity took over, contrails of white smoke following their descent. CONTINUE: Inland students learn about aviation at Flabob Air Academy  GREG VOJTKO / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:02] SOAR Charter Academy SAN BERNARDINO - The students at SOAR Charter Academy weren't the only ones feeling those first-day-of-school butterflies on Monday. Second-grade teacher Tammi Fort asked for a show of hands of the students who felt nervous. She read her students a book titled "First Day Jitters," all about a teacher who feels on shaky ground at the start. "It's OK to be nervous," Fort said. "I was nervous this morning because this is my first day, too." CONTINUE: Teachers realize dream by opening SOAR Charter Academy in San Bernardino  CARRIE ROSEMA / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:20] Falconry at March Air Reserve Base MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE - For almost a century, good weather and flat, open spaces have drawn pilots and other aviators to March Air Reserve Base, one of the oldest installations for bombers, fighters and cargo planes in the U.S. The same fair climate and good training ground have brought another sort of aerial contingent to March. Stuart Rossell's 13 live falcons, in what is believed to be the only program of its kind in the country, are undergoing flight training for eventual deployment to military bases, civilian airports, landfills and vineyards in California, New York and New Jersey. CONTINUE: March Air base trains falcons to help prevent bird-related aircraft accidents  SILVIA FLORES / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:58] Inland Idol CORONA - Winners in the first Inland Idol youth singing competition were crowned Saturday after the final two rounds at Crossroads Church in Corona. They were Selena Brills, 8, of Blaine, Minn.; Langdon Langard, 12, of Corona; and Emily Yates, 18, of Apple Valley. In the final round Saturday night, 30 youngsters sang to recorded instrumental accompaniment in front of a large screen on which live video images of themselves were projected. CONTINUE: Inland youths claim two of three Idol-style singing victories  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:42] Million Father March SAN BERNARDINO - The center of a wrestling ring might have been an unusual place to rally fathers to do better by their children, but it proved fitting for what Terry Boykins described as the battle of "fatherhood vs. fatherless." More than 150 people joined Boykins on Saturday in the fight at the Million Father March. "We need to knock out fatherless in America," he said. "We need to raise fatherhood as a champion today." CONTINUE: Worth fight, men urged  JOEY ANCHONDO / The Press-Enterprise SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:30] Rock the Bells Rock the Bells is more than just a concert for hip-hop fans. The annual festival, which stops at San Manuel Amphitheater in Devore on Saturday, is a bright beacon of the hip-hop community, bringing together old school and new school, giant crews and solo acts to celebrate the diversity of the art form. READ PREVIEW: Rock the Bells rap festival is coming Saturday to Devore  JOEY ANCHONDO / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:06] Japanese students visit Harada Elementary Schools, shopping centers and even the pizza slices seem large to 15-year-old Takuya Tsuno and four of his peers from Gotsu, Japan, who are visiting the Corona area as part of an educational exchange program. "Everything is bigger," said Takuya, 15, Wednesday during a visit to Harada Elementary School in Eastvale. While at the school, Takuya and the other Japanese students, ages 12 to 15, pushed kindergartners on swings, learned how to play tetherball and taught origami to Harada students. The contingent of Japanese visitors is the 10th group from Gotsu to visit the Corona area as part of the exchange program, which began in 1989. CONTINUE: Young visitors from Japan give Corona students new way to view their city  JOEY ANCHONDO / The Press-Enterprise SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:44] Riverside National Cemetery internments They served honorably in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, fighting on the land and sea and in the air. Toward the end of their lives, the nine military veterans donated their bodies to medical science to further knowledge and treatment of disease. But for whatever reason, their remains ended up in storage at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona after their contributions to medicine were completed. For more than a decade, they appeared forgotten, their military and medical contributions lost with the passage of time. CONTINUE: Nine forgotten veterans laid to rest at Riverside National Cemetery  DAVID BAUMAN / The Press-Enterprise VIDEOGRAPHY [2:45] Red light cameras in Riverside Corona is poised to become the latest Inland city to install red-light cameras at some of its busiest intersections. Negotiations are under way between a vendor and the city to install the cameras, and the City Council still must approve the contract, said Corona police Lt. Brent Coleman, head of the department's Special Enforcement Bureau. "Our plan is to start with five cameras," Coleman said. "After about three months, we hope to start a second phase and go with another five." The cameras catch drivers running red lights, and through a computer, relay video and still images to police departments, which examine them and mail out citations. READ: In Inland area, more accident-reducing red-light cameras on the way  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:37] Arson Dogs After firefighters extinguish a burning house or car, a dog is frequently the first investigator on the scene. This week, arson dogs came from across the western United States for the first time to Riverside's firefighter training grounds for required annual certification. Across California, the dogs are used to quickly determine whether a chemical was used to start a blaze. Several local police and fire agencies have them, including Rialto, San Bernardino and the Riverside City Arson Task Force. READ: Arson dogs come to Riverside to test their skills  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:02] San Bernardino Arabic Christian Church Before Samirah El-Betjali discovered San Bernardino Arabic Christian Church last year, the Jordanian immigrant struggled through English-language church services, understanding only bits and pieces. "I didn't enjoy it," El-Betjali said in Arabic, her 18-year-old son, Marrwan, translating. Now the San Bernardino woman can worship in her own language. READ: Inland Arab Christians find a home at San Bernardino church  RAMON MENA OWENS / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:53] Rubber Stamp and Scrapbooking Expo Despite scrapbooking being a multibillion-dollar industry with nearly 30 percent of U.S. households taking part, independent stores essential to the craft across the U.S. are going out of business at an alarming rate. The national trend has not skipped the Inland area. In June, Scrapbooks and More in Canyon Lake closed its doors, and The Loft Scrapbooks went out of business last week. Stores have also closed in Hemet, Corona and Temecula. READ: Economy cuts into scrapbooking  PAUL ALVAREZ / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:45] Habitat for Humanity builds green home RIVERSIDE - A longtime dream to become homeowners came true on Tuesday when the Suarez family got the keys to their first home: Habitat for Humanity Riverside's first energy-efficient "green" home built in the city. "I never thought this day would happen," said Stephanie Suarez, 28, before entering her five-bedroom Eastside neighborhood house. "We're living paycheck to paycheck now." Drought-tolerant landscaping will save water, LED lights will use one-tenth of the energy of incandescent lights, and recycled water will irrigate the yard. READ: Habitat for Humanity Riverside gives first green house in the city  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:38] Scooter daredevil takes flight MURRIETA - The face of a new extreme sport movement could be riding daily at the Murrieta Skate Park. He is Raymond Warner. Teens speak his name as if he were skateboarding legend Tony Hawk. They seek out his approval as if he were extreme game sports star Shaun White. They mimic his moves like BMX legend Dave Mirra. Except the 16-year-old Murrieta Valley High School student does not ride bikes or skateboards. His ride of choice -- those metal Razor Scooters that took the nation by storm in 2000. READ: Murrieta scooter enthusiast riding high  SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:45] Riverside shooting A botched home-invasion robbery Thursday left one gunman dead, another on the loose and several other people injured in a Riverside neighborhood just north of UCR, police said. Two men with guns entered a home in the 3200 block of Celeste Drive and began shooting at the four people inside, Riverside police spokesman Steven Frasher said. Police received a call of shots fired about 3:30 p.m. All four in the home were injured; two were shot, one showed signs he was pistol whipped, and one person broke a finger during a fight with one of the gunmen, Frasher said. The wounded men were taken to Riverside-area hospitals. READ: Gunman shot to death, second escapes after attack that wounds four near UCR  TERRY PIERSON / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:14] Vacation destination: Big Bear You've decided against $500 per family member to jet away to some exotic locale, and a lengthy road trip at $5 a gallon is also off the table. What to do? Not only does Southern California have diverse getaways within short range, there are summer specials and freebies that can soften the financial blow. Wild horses couldn't drag you to Palm Springs in summer? Perhaps discounted hotels, gas cards and free activities in air-conditioned comfort will. Or you can go for the natural air conditioning of a mile-high village or ocean-cooled island. READ: Getting away from it all (on the cheap)  DAVID BAUMAN / The Press-Enterprise VIDEOGRAPHY [2:45] Monothon at the Riverside Art Museum Riverside Art Museum hosted their 14th Monothon on July 18-20 where workshop attendees learned how to produce monotypes under the direction of guest artists, including print master Ron Pokrasso, mixed-media artist from Santa Fe, New Mexico.  KURT MILLER / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:50] California Dreamin' About 2,500 local youth stepped right, stepped left, twirled twice and waved their arms in the air Saturday rehearsing for their upcoming dance recital. The boys and girls, members of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stakes throughout the Inland area, will take part in the California Dreamin' dance festival next week at the University of Redlands. In the Mormon church, a stake is "a group of congregations or wards, generally about 3,000 to 5,000 members in five to 10 congregations," the church's Web site says. READ: 2,500 Mormon youth to dance at University of Redlands  STAN LIM / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:25] The Rev. Eduardo Aguirre in the parish AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:41] Inland diocese ordained six new priests in May On May 31, Eduardo Aguirre, a 62-year-old former mailman who was married and has a son, added a new title: priest. A month later, the Rev. Aguirre started at Our Lady of Hope Church in San Bernardino. Since then, the 5-foot-1-inch Aguirre and the church's 5,000 parishioners -- including Sister Mary Evangela -- have been getting to know each other. "Good things come in little packages," said Evangela, a librarian at nearby Aquinas High School, after one of Aguirre's morning Masses last week. READ: Widower, father adds new title: Priest in San Bernardino  STAN LIM / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [3:33] Musical workshop at University of Redlands Rachel Koh is spending part of her summer creating music with her older brother Dylan Koh at a University of Redlands summer music workshop. The 11-year-old cellist has enjoyed friendly competition with her 13-year-old violinist brother ever since she started to show an interest in music. "Since my brother was playing the violin, I was kind of jealous and I wanted to get something bigger than him," Rachel said. READ: Young musicians fine-tune skills at University of Redlands' summer workshop  KURT MILLER / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:43] Peppermint Ridge equestrians NORCO - Ten men and a woman brought out the best in the horses they rode Saturday at the Warmuth Ranch in Norco, and the horses evoked the best in their riders. The riders, residents of the Peppermint Ridge home for the developmentally disabled in Corona, took part in the Quantum Therapeutic Riding Program horse show. The 11 participants seemed to form a special bond with the horses that captured the attention of observers, the animals' owners, trainers and employees of Peppermint Ridge. READ: Horses, riders create therapeutic bond at Norco ranch  JOEY ANCHONDO / The Press-Enterprise SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:45] Gymkhana in Murrieta Morgan Brennan kicked the pony's side with her heels and pulled its reins to one side and then the other, but Luna refused to cooperate. It was Luna's first time in a gymkhana, a series of timed horsemanship events. Morgan, 8, of Murrieta, did not give up. Instead, she exchanged Luna for another pony named Snickerdoodles. She had no problem steering the brown and white pony around the three barrels in the arena. About 35 children competed in the Hilltop Horse Riding Academy's western gymkhana, on Saturday, in the unincorporated area of La Cresta near Murrieta. READ: Riding academy competition near Murrieta allows kids to put giddyap skills to the test
 KURT MILLER / The Press-Enterprise SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:15] Church services in ASL for the deaf As many as 2,000 Jehovah's Witnesses are expected to attend the first day of an American Sign Language Bible convention today in Norco, a sign of expanding efforts by religious denominations to reach out to the deaf and hard-of-hearing. An increasing number of congregations offer worship services that are either fully in sign language or are interpreted for deaf people. The Jehovah's Witnesses, which began ASL interpretations of spoken services in the 1940s, has been one of the leaders in deaf outreach in recent decades. Deaf churches have been around since the late 1800s. READ: Bible convention for deaf, starting today in Norco, a sign of growing outreach  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:02] With Honor: Dustin K. Burnett On a holiday dominated by red, white and blue, Debbie Nuchols was dressed in black so she could bury her son. Hospitalman Dustin K. Burnett, 19, was killed June 20 when a roadside bomb hit his vehicle in Farah Province in Afghanistan. From childhood, family remembered, he was a devout believer in the military and the need to preserve freedom. He was buried Friday at Riverside National Cemetery with military honors. READ: Former Inland resident laid to rest at Riverside National Cemetery in Fourth of July ceremony  ED CRISOSTOMO / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:57] San Jacinto wildlife survey Crouched in a darkened canyon near the top of an Inland mountain, Drew Stokes waits beneath a canopy of stars and oak trees for a certain nocturnal creature to swoop in so he can get a closer look. The bait is a nearby water-filled trough. A net resembling those used in volleyball games is suspended above. "Bats use echolocation so they can sense the net," Stokes said. "They might so badly need a drink of water, they may risk it." Soon, several bats are seen flying overhead, and it's not long before a few get caught in the net. Stokes gingerly unravels them, grabbing their tails and working to free the wings. READ: Scientists retrace steps of 1908 wildlife survey in San Jacinto Mountains  SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:45] The Legendary Mustangs In 1965, a gritty guitar riff courtesy of Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones changed the life of a young Riverside garage band called the Mustangs. The band entered a studio in Glendale to emulate the fuzzed-out sound on its own song "That's For Sure," a romp about a girl doing a guy wrong. "It was just a snotty teenage attitude song," said the drummer and co-writer Terry Wade. READ: Reunited '60s band rocks Inland  TERRY PIERSON / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:04] Murals for Lake Elsinore The arts community in Lake Elsinore hopes murals will beautify and become an economic force for the city. The mural movement will start small, with the unveiling of downtown's first of two public art displays Saturday during Lake Elsinore's 120th anniversary celebration. Two more murals will likely follow. Art aficionados hope to eventually transform blank walls throughout the city into a veritable street gallery that attracts tourists and prompts people to take pride in their property. "We plan to paint the town, literally," said Kris Hertz, president of the Lake Elsinore Historical Downtown Merchants Association. READ: Public art supporters cite benefits of painting the town  KURT MILLER / The Press-Enterprise SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:00] Ham radio National Field Day Vi Hallacy wore earphones as she spoke into her ham radio handset. The Mile High Radio Club member wasn't the only amateur radio operator using airwave bandwidth Saturday. Radio club members across the U.S. set up portable radio stations to take part in National Field Day, a 24-hour event highlighting the communication capabilities of amateur ham radio operators. The event continues through 11 a.m. today. Members of the Moreno Valley Amateur Radio Association set up communications in Moreno Valley Community Park. READ: Inland ham radio clubs join in national event  ED CRISOSTOMO / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:02] Victress Bower school graduation When Jesus De la Torre, Angel Santos and Jeffrey Lopez Jr. marched through their school cafeteria to the strains of Pomp and Circumstance on Tuesday, they reached a milestone their parents and teachers weren't always sure would be possible. The three boys, all preschoolers at Corona-Norco Unified's Victress Bower School, were promoted to kindergarten and will attend their neighborhood schools next year, despite significant medical issues. "That's a huge milestone we don't always get," Principal John Aldrian said. "Those three boys we're especially proud of because they have come so far." READ: Corona-Norco district students make big gains at Victress Bower School  CARRIE ROSEMA / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:08] Children's Forest in SB mountains Summer vacation means sleeping in, playing with friends and no homework. But parents should beware. Those long, lazy days of summer can have a negative side effect -- boredom. And, as most parents know, boredom is dangerous for kids and their moms and dads. But, fear not. This dilemma has a solution and it lies among the mountain pine needles. The San Bernardino National Forest Association has a host of programs, events and classes for kids throughout the summer. READ: Local mountains offer children's programs all summer  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:10] Redlands Bowl music director Frank Fetta Frank Fetta will be a very busy man during this summer's Redlands Bowl season, which opens Friday. And, as far as he is concerned, that's a good thing. He is used to being busy. In addition to being conductor and music adviser of the Redlands Bowl Summer Music Festival, he serves as music director/conductor for the Culver City, Torrance and Marina del Rey Summer symphonies. He is also principal conductor of the Nevada Opera Theatre in Las Vegas and is much in demand as a guest conductor, having taken the podium with such ensembles as the Honolulu, San Diego and Pasadena symphonies and the Toledo Opera. READ: Redlands Bowl conductor busy on many podiums  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:30] Lake Elsinore PRCA rodeo There were front row seats for nearly everyone who came to watch professional cowboys ride, rope and wrestle steer in Lake Elsinore on Saturday. About 125 sat in the mostly empty seating area at the Western Rodeo and Festival when Jason Martin, 37, of Norco, was thrown from his horse and kicked in the head. The three-day rodeo at the Lake Elsinore Motocross Park, continues today at 4 p.m. There will be musical entertainment from 3 to 6:45 p.m. Tickets are $20. Martin's wife, Melissa, stood nearby as medical workers strapped her husband to a backboard and took him away in an ambulance. "He was at around six or seven seconds. He was probably on his way to winning it (the bareback riding competition)," Melissa Martin said.  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:52] Mission Inn jazz man Henry "Skipper" Franklin The Mission Inn is full of hidden treasures, little surprises tucked away in the nooks of its elaborate architecture, historical nuggets that surface repeatedly in its rooms and hallways. Just inside the hotel's east entrance is the Presidential Lounge, the site where President William Howard Taft slept during his visit to Riverside and where, many years later, Richard and Pat Nixon were married. These days, the room holds a musical treasure. Five nights a week, Henry Franklin plucks the strings of his stand-up bass, accompanying one of three local jazz pianists, depending on which night it is. Franklin, 67, lives in Perris, but he has played bass all over the world, with some of the biggest names in the business. READ: Bassist Henry Franklin jazzes up Mission Inn lounge  SILVIA FLORES / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:52] Home Americana O say, can you see? Truth is, you can't miss Tom Barboza's freshly painted house at the corner of Mission Inn Avenue and Pine Street in Riverside. From the dawn's early light to the twilight's last gleaming, the exterior of his 101-year-old abode radiates red, white and blue. Just in time for the Fourth of July. "Now my house is so easy to identify from the top of Mount Rubidoux," Barboza said. Barboza, who bought the three-story fixer-upper 14 years ago for $179,000, considers the uber-patriotric paint job the latest in a series of home improvements tied to his fierce loyalty to this country. READ: Red, white and blue Riverside house is 'bright,' say neighbors, family  AMANDA LUCIDON / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:10] Riverside firefighters prep for fire season A prescribed fire Thursday in Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Park trained city firefighters, cleared fire fuel and spruced up the habitat for the endangered Stephens kangaroo rat. About 20 Riverside city firefighters donned fire-retardant suits, cloth over their face and neck, goggles and helmets on one of the hottest days of the year to practice fighting wildfires. They test their skills on structures several times a year, but this was the first time in a few years they trained on live wildfires. "With the hot weather upon us, we want to prepare ourselves mentally and physically that there could be a grass fire," said Battalion Chief John Martinez. READ: Prescribed burn benefits firefighters, endangered animal in Sycamore Canyon  STAN LIM / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:04] NASA and state to conduct air pollution research A NASA mission to explore the mysteries of the foul air we breathe took to the skies this week. A DC-8 jet converted into a flying laboratory is making several low passes over Southern California to collect hundreds of air samples this week and next. The collaboration between NASA and the California Air Resources Board is expected to give scientists new understanding about the pollutants we pump into the air, how they react with one another and the role played by naturally occurring emissions from the ocean, said Eileen McCauley, who manages atmospheric research for the state air board. READ:  FRANK BELLINO / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:35] Elsinore High Peer Buddy prom Like many students, Allyson Ford spent her first years at Elsinore High blending in. Then she stepped into Stan Crippen's advanced psychology class and blossomed into a leader as a Peer Buddy. The program pairs psychology students with students in a half-dozen special-education classes on campus. "Allyson is the perfect example of what this program can do," Crippen said. "These students in my class just want to feel wanted. When they start helping out those in the special-education classes, it opens them up." READ: Given chance to help others, Elsinore High Peer Buddies blossom  SILVIA FLORES / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:45] Gary and Harvey get married In ceremonies that ranged from intimate to festive, same-sex couples across the Inland region and the state on Tuesday breathlessly intoned the two words that until then had been reserved for heterosexual couples: "I do." Some couples lined up outside county buildings as early as 7 a.m. to get their marriage licenses and be part of history. "We are no longer second-class citizens," Harvey Soldan said, moments after he exchanged vows with his partner of seven years, Gary Holt, in downtown Riverside. "We have the rights of everyone else." By day's end Tuesday, county clerks throughout the state had handed out hundreds of licenses to same-sex couples. Few protests were reported. READ: 'I do' rings out from gay couples  SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:15] Same-sex marriages in the Inland Empire READ: Inland gays, lesbians exchange vows  RAMON MENA OWENS / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:27] Herb Jeffries - The Bronze Buckaroo There's a jewel in the hills of Idyllwild. In a place where creative minds and souls are drawn, one resident found the home he had been searching for. When vocalist and silver screen legend Herb Jeffries came across Idyllwild about 36 years ago, he thought, "My God, this is a magic place." At 94 years vintage (Jeffries says vintage, not old), he has led a multitude of lives. He's a silver screen legend, a powerful vocalist and a civil rights activist. He's been married to five very different women (and now found his soul mate), survived a plane crash and through intense study with the Yogi Paramahansa Yogananda, found a way to heal himself inside and out.  SILVIA FLORES / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:53] Innovative cow cleats When dairyman Darin Ferreira talks about cow cleats, his fellow farmers smile suspiciously and accuse him of trying to pull something over on them. But it's Ferreira who's laughing, all the way to the bank. He figures his invention -- wooden blocks fitted with metal screws and then glued to cows' hooves to keep them from slipping -- has saved 40 cows from euthanasia and saved him more than $90,000 over the past year. Cows that fall and can't get up again have no value to a farmer. READ: Nuevo dairyman's invention gets traction on problem of downed cows  DAVID BAUMAN / The Press-Enterprise SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:00] La Sierra University 2008 commencement RIVERSIDE - Eleven of Noelia Orellana's friends and family waited Sunday to cheer her on and celebrate her graduation from La Sierra University. They spent hours the day before creating T-shirts to spell out their appreciation. Standing in a line, the pink shirts with white lettering spelled "We Luv U Herbs," a nickname for Orellana because of her love of all things organic. After receiving her degree in psychology, Orellana, 27, said she was pleasantly shocked to see her friends in their pink shirts. READ: La Sierra University graduates more than 300  SILVIA FLORES / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:05] Riverside National Cemetery Riverside National Cemetery, already America's busiest military burial ground, is on pace to perform a record number of interments this year, reflecting a trend across the country's 125 cemeteries dedicated to soldiers, sailors, Air Force personnel and Marines. The 950-acre cemetery across the freeway from March Air Reserve Base expects to inter 8,600 veterans and spouses in 2008, assistant director Ken Rolene Jr. said. That's about 350 more than last year, 550 more than in 2005 and 1,500 more than 10 years ago. Rolene attributed the increase to a public relations campaign to inform veterans of their rights to burial in a national cemetery and the Inland region's large number of former servicemen and women. About 600,000 live in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, including many World War II and Korean War veterans in their 80s and 90s. Many Vietnam veterans are in their 60s and 70s. READ: Riverside National Cemetery on track for record number of burials  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:00] ROCstock XXXVII in Lucerne Valley LUCERNE VALLEY - The launch was perfect, straight up into the blue sky. Then, the parachute deployed early and ripped apart in midair. Without a parachute, Kurt Gugisberg's $1,000 homemade rocket crashed to the ground on Saturday, the second day of ROCstock XXVII in the Lucerne Valley. "The electronics were totally destroyed, about $500 worth," said Gugisberg, 59, of Rolling Hills Estates. ROCstock is a three-day, semi-annual event where amateur rocketeers test the speed and strength of their kit or home-designed rockets. READ: Rocket hobbyists gather for desert launches  AMANDA LUCIDON / The Press-Enterprise SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:00] Cal State San Bernardino 2008 Graduation SAN BERNARDINO - More than 2,000 students received college degrees Saturday at three commencement ceremonies on the campus of Cal State San Bernardino. Vendhana Devi, 23, of San Bernardino, got one of them, a bachelor's degree in sociology. "It's special because I actually made it through a university," she said as members of her family draped a lei around her neck before the morning graduation ceremony for the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. READ: Cal State San Bernardino graduations bestow degrees of perseverance  KURT MILLER / The Press-Enterprise SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:15] U.C. Riverside 2008 Commencement Congratulations had to be extended to more than just the graduates Saturday morning at UC Riverside's commencement for its schools of engineering and natural and agricultural sciences. Keynote speaker Pedram Salimpour, himself a UCR biology graduate in 1990, followed up his address to the crowd with an important question to a non-graduate in the audience. "Stacy," he said, "will you marry me?" After a few moments of surprised confusion in the second row, Stacy Weiss emerged. With the crowd chanting, "Stacy! Stacy!" READ: UCR graduation speaker demonstrates way to think big - with marriage proposal  RODRIGO PEÑA / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:48] Cherry Valley harvest It's raining fruit at Guldseth Cherry Orchard. "This season is the second-biggest crop since we've been open," said John Guldseth, who started the Cherry Valley business with wife Sue in 1972. "It's at a point where the limbs are so heavy ... some branches have broken from the weight of the cherries." At area orchards such as Guldseth, U-pick season has begun, and in June there are cherries, strawberries and blueberries for covetous visitors. READ: Cherries and berries ripe for the picking  WILLIAM WILSON LEWIS III / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:31] SoCal Cutting Horse Association NORCO - Norco may publicize itself as Horsetown USA, but now that the equestrian sport of cutting has found a home here, cows are giving some horses a run for their money. Led by veteran trainer Heinz Balk, a few cutting enthusiasts formed a club early last year to bring the sport to Norco. The club now numbers about 145 members and holds monthly training clinics and competitions with prize money from May through November. Cutting as a sport evolved from the way cowboys used horses to separate a cow from the herd to be branded, castrated or get medical treatment. In competitions, riders have 2 ½ minutes to separate two or three cows. Judges give or take away points for the technique of both horse and rider. READ: Norco-based club building hands-on following for equestrian sport cutting  GREG VOJTKO / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [3:00] San Bernardino Valley College forklift training Daniel Zipper put the forklift in gear and steered the vehicle toward a set of orange safety cones, where he was to deposit his load of metal racks. Zipper, who was driving the forklift for the very first time, didn't get close enough to the cones. "It's not a car. It's a forklift. You have to come further," instructor Mark Hedges told Zipper. "You can turn on a dime."  GREG VOJTKO / The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:45] Loma Linda Fire Department LOMA LINDA - Just seven months ago, the Loma Linda Fire Department looked like it was going down in flames. One stressed-out fire chief had stepped down and his replacement had quit. A third of the 27-member force was in the final stages of applying for jobs in other departments. Turnover averaged six firefighters a year. The Loma Linda City Council, uncertain what to do with the rudderless force, appointed a two-member committee to talk to firefighters. READ: Loma Linda Fire Department rises from ashes under new chief
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:53] Saint Paul's 150th anniversary celebration SAN BERNARDINO - Bishop Mary Ann Swenson released a white dove into the skies above St. Paul's United Methodist Church on Sunday as a symbol of the church's prayer of peace. The dove, quickly followed by 20 others, marked the unveiling of the church's Peace Pole with the words "May Peace Prevail on Earth" inscribed in 16 languages. The morning outdoor ceremony, attended by more than 100, helped mark the church's 150th anniversary in San Bernardino and a renewed call by the congregation for peace, not only in a city still struggling with violent crime, but across the world. READ: San Bernardino church puts up pole in call for peace
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:48] Mike Hough follows his dream Once he tightens his helmet and gets in the saddle, all Mike Hough can hope for is that the 2,000-plus pound bull he just mounted bucks "real hard." "The way the judges score you, 50 points go to the rider and 50 points go to the bull. The harder he bucks, the higher the score," explained Hough, an 18-year-old rodeo regular who aspires to someday get paid to ride bulls. Hough, of Quail Valley, has dreamed of making it into the elite world of paid bull riders since he first started riding calves at age 8 on Tom Fuhrman's Wooden Nickel Ranch in Menifee. Hough said he got hooked on ranch life even before he started riding in the Friday night rodeos that Fuhrman hosted from 1997 to 2003.
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:46] Christopher McNeill and nursing homes Christopher McNeill remembers the audible snap when nursing home employees lifted him into a van while his foot was entangled in a seat. Someone made a crack about his creaky bones, he recalls. A paraplegic, McNeill didn't feel any pain. But the next day, when he saw the swelling and bruising in his left leg, he knew something was wrong. Still, the 45-year-old former construction worker waited a week to ask for help, because he was afraid of getting kicked out of the San Bernardino nursing home where he had lived for two years. SPECIAL REPORT: Casualties of Care
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:41] Juneteenth in Riverside Recreational and educational, this year's Juneteenth Celebration in Riverside will boast a wealth of activities for the family. "We encourage people to have their family reunions at the celebration because it has a picnic-type atmosphere," said Delores Armour, a member of the Riverside Juneteenth Celebration Committee.
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:45] Fontana Days The first Fontana Days Festival originated in an attempt to raise money for the city and show off the city's merchants. Now in its 95th year, Fontana Days still supports the city's community fund with the help of the Exchange Club, which took over running the festival about 35 years ago.
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:00] Temecula Valley Balloon and Wine Festival Marco McGuire, of Redlands, and his wife, Iliana, were nervous as they stepped into the wicker basket under the hot-air balloon on Saturday. But after the balloon launched and they were floating in the breeze, they relaxed and enjoyed the scenery. "It's very quiet and it's amazing to see so many balloons around you," Marco McGuire said. "I was very impressed with the landing because it was so smooth." The McGuires were among an estimated 38,000 people expected to attend the 25th annual Temecula Valley Balloon and Wine Festival at Lake Skinner Recreation Area in Winchester this weekend. The festivities began Friday evening and will continue today. READ: Temecula Valley festival maximizes music, wine balloon rides
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:52] Victress Bower & Santiago High football NORCO - The final score was 7-6, Sheagles over Barks , but both teams came up winners in a special game of touch football Friday afternoon at Victress Bower School in Norco. The Beagles of Bower, a Corona-Norco Unified school for seriously or profoundly disabled students ages 3 to 22, got a chance to scrimmage with the help of members of the Santiago High School football team, the Sharks. It was the first game of its kind for Bower. Adaptive physical education instructor Valerie Rodholm wanted the Bower students to experience typical sports. READ: Football squad from Corona plays a game with disabled students
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:57] Needles and secession Needles residents talk about their desert city in contradictory terms. They decry high gasoline and electricity prices, the crumbling houses in half-deserted neighborhoods and the sleepy downtown. In the next breath, they express fierce loyalty and a desire to live nowhere else. "It's a strange thing," said Bernice Morris, who has lived in Needles almost 65 years. "We complain about it and we curse the City Council, but we love Needles." Those dueling impulses have been on display this spring, as city officials threatened in April to break away from California and divorce what they have called an unsupportive San Bernardino County government. READ: Many in Needles say it's time to secede from California
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:33] Sam J. Racadio Library learning center The Highland Sam J. Racadio Library and Environmental Learning Center lives up to its title. Environmental conservation and education are at the forefront of the 30,000-square-foot library, which will open Saturday.The grand-opening event is set for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.Children can gain hands-on recycling experience with an interactive trash truck and get close-up looks at iguanas, snakes and Madagascar hissing cockroaches inside glass displays. READ: New Highland library puts focus on environment
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:42] San Bernardino Diocese's ordination More than 2,000 people attended the San Bernardino Diocese's ordination of six men to the priesthood Saturday at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Chino Hills, filling the pews and causing ushers to repeatedly ask hundreds left standing to clear pathways in the aisles. "This is the largest church we have in the diocese," said Bishop Gerald R. Barnes during the three-hour Mass and ordination rite filled with standing ovations, hymns and prayers. "We're sorry we can't accommodate everybody with seats." That's a welcome problem for the diocese. The six priests ordained Saturday is the most the diocese has ordained at a single time in its 30-year history. In the past 10 years, the diocese ordained just seven priests, reflecting the nationwide priest shortage. READ: Inland diocese ordains six new priests, largest number in its history
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:00] Menifee Paloma Valley graduation Under an azure morning sky Paloma Valley High School's graduating seniors celebrated the end of their high school careers with a commencement at The Diamond stadium in Lake Elsinore on Saturday. A crowd of approximately 6,000 turned out to cheer on 750 graduates -- 95 percent of whom plan to pursue some form of higher education whether that is vocational school, community college or four-year universities, according to Principal Brian Morris. READ: Paloma Valley High School's Class of 2008 high on academics
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:26] Salvation Mountain VIDEOGRAPHY [1:42] Salvation Mountain Leonard Knight has appeared in a Hollywood movie, prestigious art magazines, The New York Times and his own book. Yet the second Knight spots someone who has ventured deep into the desert east of the Salton Sea to visit the monumental artwork that made him famous, he leaps into the air, exclaims, "Welcome," and waves his hands to beckon the guest toward him. There's only one thing more important to Knight than his art: making sure as many people as possible see it. READ: Salvation Mountain near Niland moving many drawn by its 'Into the Wild' cameo
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:52] Riverview School Accelerator Reader Assembly Riverview Elementary School Principal Russ Marsh climbed into the basket of a hot-air balloon Friday and floated 90 feet above his Norco school as a reward for his students, who read more than 50,000 books to bring the balloon to campus. The school's reading theme this year was "Moving on Up." Marsh figured the hot-air balloon would be a great addition to the school's end-of-year reading celebration. His offer to take the ride also provided some incentive for students to keep cracking the books. READ: Principal at Riverview Elementary in Norco takes balloon ride to reward students
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:57] Helping Hands service monkey Minnie's tiny hands changed Craig Cooks' life as a quadriplegic. He considers peanut butter a small price to pay for her help. A car accident left Cook, 42, paralyzed. With no control of his legs and limited mobility of his arms, Cook was forced to make lifestyle changes. He lost his job because he was unable to perform his duties as an engineer. He sold his two-story home, wave runners, jet skis, boat and vacation home because of mobility issues. Nearly two years later, his fiance left him taking her son, who Cook thought of as his own child. READ: Helping Hands delves into monkey business
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:15] Student Success Academy LOS ANGELES - Except for the black brush of his Mohawk cut, fringed by a mat of black hair on his scalp, Manuel Najar emerged onto Hollywood Boulevard a transformed young man. The 19-year-old from Perris had just walked out of Suit City of Hollywood, a Tinseltown clothing store. He wore a rayon and polyester black suit with red pinstripes and a pair of red-topped black shoes. Earrings still hung from his earlobes, but the sleeves of his new suit concealed the star-shaped tattoos on his forearms. "That whole look is a higher class look," Najar had said earlier in the day when he was picking out his suit. "It's a look I'm not used to." READ: Val Verde school benefactors treat graduating students to new suits, dresses
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:46] Freedom is not free. That was the oft-repeated message at Riverside National Cemetery's Memorial Day ceremony, where thousands gathered under hazy skies to pay tribute to the country's servicemen and women and recognize those who made the ultimate sacrifice. The cemetery, the nation's busiest military burial ground, has the largest Memorial Day ceremony west of the Mississippi, drawing a crowd of about 10,000 people each year, said event organizer Mike Warren, a member of the cemetery's support committee, which has put on the event since 1979. READ: Tributes to servicemen, women ring out
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:30] Memorial Day tribute in Rialto Freedom is not free. That was the oft-repeated message at Riverside National Cemetery's Memorial Day ceremony, where thousands gathered under hazy skies to pay tribute to the country's servicemen and women and recognize those who made the ultimate sacrifice. READ: Tributes to servicemen, women ring out
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [4:06] U.S. Vets program supports homeless veterans One of the few requirements for admission into the U.S. Vets homeless recovery program is an honorable discharge from military service. That piece of paper, program managers and caseworkers say, reminds all the clients that at one time they had dignity, self-respect, the ability to follow orders and see a task through to its conclusion -- qualities that drug and alcohol dependency, criminal activity, broken marriages, unemployment and bad luck may have stolen from them. READ: Homeless, beleaguered veterans re-up on life in U.S. Vets' March Air Base program
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [4:06] U.S. Vets client Mike Del Bono One of the few requirements for admission into the U.S. Vets homeless recovery program is an honorable discharge from military service. READ: Homeless, beleaguered veterans re-up on life in U.S. Vets' March Air Base program
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [4:06] Homeless vets share their thoughts One of the few requirements for admission into the U.S. Vets homeless recovery program is an honorable discharge from military service. READ: Homeless, beleaguered veterans re-up on life in U.S. Vets' March Air Base program
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:30] Three alarm fire in Riverside A Sunday afternoon fire severely damaged a building operated by K&N Engineering, a longtime Riverside car filter manufacturer. Steve Williams, K&N's vice president for product development and engineering, said none of the 40-year-old company's 600 employees would be affected by the blaze, which shot through the roof of one of the company's five buildings and sent a cloud of black smoke billowing in the air. "This really won't affect K&N's operation," said Williams, who was working when the fire started. "Everybody comes to work on Tuesday." READ: Riverside fire damages building
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:00] LOMA LINDA - Tanya Nino comes from a large family that values education. As she received her medical degree Sunday from Loma Linda University, Nino's relatives showed up in force to loudly cheer her on. "We've been waiting for this for a long time," said Mona Farraj, a Tustin lawyer and Nino's cousin. "That's why we are so loud." READ: 180 graduate from Loma Linda University School of Medicine
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:45] University of Redlands Commencement REDLANDS - Donning black caps and gowns, about 600 graduates of the University of Redlands' College of Arts and Sciences celebrated the university's 99th commencement ceremonies at the Greek Theatre Saturday. About 530 graduates from the School of Business celebrated graduation later in the afternoon. The school has almost 4,200 students. For the graduates of the small liberal-arts university, marking the end of their studies was bittersweet. "It is exciting and it's a lot of different things," said Patricia Lomax, 22, of Las Vegas, who graduated with a degree in sociology and anthropology. "It's exciting but also sad because I will miss all the people here." READ: U of R School of Business celebrates graduation
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:15] 1983 US Festival Searing heat. Shivering cold. Traffic nightmares. Pollution. The music and the technology. The US Festival 25 years ago this Memorial Day weekend at Glen Helen Regional Park in Devore was about all of that, and much, much more. The 1983 festival, which was the more newsworthy followup to the first US Festival eight months earlier, seems to carry a certain magic appeal to it to this day. READ: The 1983 US Festival left lasting impressions READ: Rockin' the moments of US Fest
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:15] Snow and tornadoes wreck havoc Two tornadoes barreled across Interstate 215 south of March Air Reserve Base on Thursday afternoon, knocking over a tractor trailer and several box cars in a freak storm that also dumped snow in the mountains, triggered lightning, hail storms and mudslides, and flooded Inland roadways and homes. Cold, unstable ocean air collided with warm Southern California air, creating a volatile and unusual weather pattern that could continue to produce thunderstorms and chilly weather through Saturday, experts said. "It's not just unusual, it's extremely unusual," said Bill Patzert, a climatologist with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. "You would expect this in January, February or March, but not in May." READ: Freak storm unleashes tornadoes, floods, snow, more across Inland area
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:29] Operation Recognition Sacrifice recognized, goals achieved. That was the theme Wednesday as Riverside County educators bestowed high school diplomas on 53 men who left the classroom for the battlefields of World War II, Korea and Vietnam. The ceremony marked the second Operation Recognition, to honor the military members who Riverside County Superintendent of Schools Kenn Young said "not only learned history but made it." Young called the county's Operation Recognition tribute the largest in California and one of the largest in the U.S. READ: Operation Recognition honors Inland veterans with high school diplomas
VIDEOGRAPHY [1:27] Staff Photographer David Bauman An interview with Music Director Carlo Ponti of the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:00] Staff Photographer Amanda Lucidon Richard Pacheco, of San Bernardino, held a magazine from 1962 with Sophia Loren on the cover. Sister Evangela, librarian at Aquinas High School in San Bernardino, had a biography of Loren in her hand. Juan Perez, of Fontana, brought a poem he'd written for the movie legend. They all hoped to speak to her, perhaps get an autograph when she attended the season finale Saturday of the San Bernardino Symphony. Her son Carlo Ponti is conductor and music director. Jungwon Jin, wearing a brilliant red gown, received a standing ovation for a stirring performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4. People jumped to their feet and shouted "Bravo" for Ponti and the orchestra, as well, when the evening built to a crescendo with Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 3. READ: Stirring Evening for Ponti (and Mom)
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:48] Staff Photographer Ed Crisostomo OREM, UTAH - Officer Terry Sparks says he feels like he was beaten with a sledgehammer. The pounding headache was bad enough, but the surging nausea made it almost unbearable. He gathered his energy and once again entered the nondescript clinic in this rural community south of Salt Lake City. The side effects of his treatment there are a price he is willing to pay to purge his body of toxins he believes have built up in his system after years of exposure to meth labs laden with poisonous chemicals and fumes. THE POLICE: Many blame health problems on years of busting meth labs
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:18] Staff Photographer Ed Crisostomo SAN YSIDRO, CA - The black Jeep Cherokee was 30 yards from the row of inspection booths that line the United States-Mexico border, but the vehicle and the female driver had already gotten the attention of U.S. federal officers weaving through the sea of cars and trucks waiting to make the crossing. The officers spent a few minutes speaking to the driver, and then decided to take a closer look at the vehicle. THE BORDER: Customs officers on lookout for meth entering U.S.
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:02] Staff Photographer Ed Crisostomo Meth production may have plummeted in the Inland region, but its relative low cost and easy access still make it the area's drug of choice, say drug counselors, authorities and recovering addicts. Once the domain of white men, the drug's use has spread to more women, gay men, young people and minorities. "It is being made elsewhere, but unfortunately meth is still a very big problem out here," said Brian Sussman, a Riverside County supervising deputy district attorney, who oversees the agency's drug division. "Instead of cooking it here, they are using it here in big numbers." THE USERS: One recovering addict's struggle to stay clean illustrates the challenges
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:42] Staff Photographer David Bauman The auditorium is dark. A female Pharaoh stands still as a statue on the stage, while music flows through the shadows. Backstage at the Wallace Theatre on the campus of California Baptist University in Riverside, other cast members, some in full costume dress and makeup, stand quietly, waiting. READ: Children's theater teaches lessons, leaders say
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:18] Straight-up, genuine and real. That's what the guy in the sequined sweatshirt was singing about being as he stood in the middle of an elaborate light show on the closing night of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival. Tim McGraw, with his megahits and his mixture of glitz and humility, was a good choice to wrap up the three-day event that boasted acts such as Carrie Underwood, Big & Rich and Rascal Flatts. READ: McGraw's mix of glitz and humilty serves as fitting Stagecoach finale
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:36] Wynonna and Naomi Judd have taken the stage together for the first time in seven years. Naomi pranced onto the stage as the pair opened with the rollicking "Girls Night Out." While Naomi danced and twirled, Wynonna stayed pretty stoic, strumming her guitar in her black, glittered fringe glory. READ: With a dance and twirl, The Judds reunite at Stagecoach
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:30] Staff Photographer Ed Crisostomo The roar of jet engines and plumes of white smoke filled the air over March Field Air Reserve Base Saturday as fighter jets, biplanes and military carrier jets took part in the 2008 Thunder Over the Empire air show. About 170,000 people, up from 150,000 last year, came to watch the show that included demonstrations by the Army's Golden Knights precision parachute team, the F-22 Raptor and the Air Force Thunderbirds. The air show continues today. Gates open at 8 a.m. READ: Eyes on the skies as Thunder Over the Empire air show draws an estimated 170,000
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:26] After coming on 25 minutes late, the Eagles took the stage to cap the first night of the second annual Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Field in Indio and started playing songs off 2007's "Long Road Out of Eden." The crowd responded politely as Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Timothy B. Schmit and Joe Walsh each took a turn singing lead on songs such as "How Long," "Busy Being Fabulous," "I Don't Want to Hear Anymore" and 'Guilty of the Crime," all off the new disc. READ: Eagles slowly build to hits to close Day 1 of Stagecoach
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:54] Staff Photographer Greg Vojtko FONTANA - For those whose loved ones perished, and those who returned from battle broken in body or spirit, the Vietnam War holds an unrelenting grip on their psyches, even four decades later. Some will find The Moving Wall-- a traveling exhibit that opened Thursday in downtown Fontana -- a raw, bitter reminder of lost youth and the nightmare of combat. Others may feel a sense of catharsis or comfort from the display, a half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Through Monday, The Moving Wall is open around the clock for public viewing in Miller Park, 17004 Arrow Blvd., just east of Sierra Avenue. READ: Replica of Vietnam veterans wall erected in Fontana
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:42] Staff Photographer Paul Alvarez Amanda Thuch blinked away tears as she gazed at the field of small white flags planted in front of old Corona City Hall on Thursday to represent genocide victims in Cambodia. The flags were just a few of the 3,400 flags planted by Corona-Norco high school students in commemoration of Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, marked worldwide today. "Looking at all these flags is pretty emotional," said Thuch, a 16-year-old sophomore at Orange Grove High School. "I prayed for them." READ: Tribute to genocide victims is personal for some Corona-Norco students
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:00] Staff Photographer Stan Lim ONTARIO - Leaving the Ontario homeless encampment, a trespassing citation in her hand, Sonia Smith was matter-of-fact as to where she would go next. "'I need to find a place to shower and change clothes. ... I have to sell myself," Smith, 51, said. "What else am I going to do?" Smith was among about two dozen people cited Wednesday for continuing to live near Ontario's homeless encampment, even though they don't have city-issued ID cards. READ: Homeless without city-issued IDs agonize over being told they must leave Ontario camp
VIDEOGRAPHY [1:37] Staff Photographer Rodrigo Peña Pigs do fly -- at least in the desert. Police thought it was hogwash when they first got reports that a giant inflatable pig had floated away from a music festival Sunday. But now that pieces of vinyl pigskin have been found in La Quinta, they're investigating how the balloon got free. A spray-painted two-story-tall pig rose from beside the main stage as Roger Waters, former lead singer of the rock supergroup Pink Floyd, sang the 1977 song "Pigs" on the last night of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio. READ: Coachella Festival's escaped pig balloon found in pieces in La Quinta
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:35] The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is known for its moments -- those fleeting periods of magic that last for mere minutes shared by only those who make the musical pilgrimage to the Empire Polo Field in Indio. While one of the most talked-about moments came on Saturday night when Prince covered Radiohead's "Creep," perhaps the most appropriate one was when a giant inflatable pig floated above the crowd and drifted into the air over the Coachella Valley, signaling the end of the first half of Roger Waters' set and the beginning of the end of this year's edition of Coachella. READ: Roger Waters concludes Coachella with stunning set
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:51] When Prince stepped onto the stage, everyone in the packed audience at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival knew they were witnessing Coachella history, and the crowd erupted into applause and cheers accordingly. The stage was filled with fog as he took it, about 25 minutes late, dressed in a flowing white suit. READ: Cheers erupt as Prince takes Coachella stage
VIDEOGRAPHY [2:19] Staff Photographer Greg Vojtko RIALTO - The two Rialto police officers outside Wal-Mart didn't turn heads. It was a quiet Sunday morning, and officers Shaun Mooney and Mike Morales were ticketing a car illegally parked in a handicapped space. There wasn't a patrol car in sight -- and that was exactly the point. "People aren't expecting police on bikes," Morales said. He and his partner are on the department's bicycle patrol, one of several details recently revived by Chief Mark Kling after disappearing under tumultuous past administrations. READ: Rialto police reintroduce bicycle patrols, anti-gang unit, mobile command
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:07] Staff Photographer Silvia Flores A subchapter of the Sierra Club is giving Temecula Valley nature lovers and environmentalists a meeting place and an outlet for activism close to home. The Santa Margarita Group of the club's San Gorgonio Chapter, which covers Riverside and San Bernardino counties, is in the final stages of forming and should become official within a month, said group leader Jim Mitchell, of Temecula. The group has met several times at Rancho California Water District headquarters in Temecula. Club members previously had to travel to Riverside to meet. READ: Sierra Club subchapter provides a boost for Temecula Valley
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:56] At last year's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Rage Against the Machine fans wore their love for the band on shirts and tattoos in the days leading up to their heralded reunion performance. This year, fans of Day 2 headliner Prince, a late addition, were understated on the surface but nonetheless excited for what the pop music icon would bring to the stage Saturday night. Even those who repeated the familiar phrase, "I'm not a huge Prince fan, but ..." were anticipating a performance to remember. READ: Prince, a late addition, is the talk of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:37] Staff Photographer Kurt Miller Dozens of elementary and middle students squeaked, blared and fiddled their way through a makeshift musical laboratory in Menifee Valley Middle School's auditorium Tuesday night, taking the opportunity to try out the array of musical instruments that Menifee schools teach. The two-hour "instrument petting zoo" was just one aspect of an elementary music program that district officials spared from the chopping block when they slashed $10 million from budgets through the 2009-10 school year because of the state's fiscal crisis. Cutting the elementary music program would have saved the district $600,000. Though it is difficult to pin down all the benefits of learning to play an instrument, music teachers said they have observed how it builds students' confidence and allows them a creative experience amid an increasingly test-heavy school environment. READ: Menifee Union spares music program from budget cuts
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:48] Staff Photographer Ramon Mena Owens After hours in the heat and bright sunshine at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, Jack Johnson brought the first day of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival to a mellow close. Johnson appeared on stage with an acoustic guitar and his backing band. The laid-back tunes from Johnson and his cohorts didn't pack the field in front of the stage, but the beer garden and VIP areas were full. READ: Jack Johnson closes Day 1 of Coachella on a mellow note
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:45] Staff Photographer Mark Zaleski ONTARIO - Cars and motorcycles of the 21st century have moved so far past those of the 1900s that you could not see the past in the rearview mirror. But you might be able to look back through the cameras that serve as the outside mirrors of a Lexus Project concept car. The black stain pearl car that makes you think of the military's stealth fighter jet was one of more than 200 vehicles on display at the second Inland Empire Auto Show at the Ontario Convention Center. READ: Exhibits at Inland Empire Auto Show display progress
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:09] Staff Photographer Rodrigo Peña The massive Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is more than music. For some, it's background music while they mingle with strangers. For others, it's an education in what the kids are in to. For companies, it's a launching pad of consumer technology for the savvy. In its ninth year, the Coachella festival has maintained its familiar imprint on the Empire Polo Field in the Coachella Valley, attracting thousands of concert-goers -- 60,000 a day in years past, almost doubling Indio's population in one day. READ: Coachella music fest doubles as consumer technology expo
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:21] Staff Photographer Amanda Lucidon Since its inception in 1999, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has gained worldwide fame among music fans and spawned a host of imitators, all from a field in Indio. This year, more than a dozen multiday festivals similar to Coachella, which opens today at the Empire Polo Field, will take place around the country. Multiday events, including the Mile High Music Festival in Denver, Outside Lands in San Francisco and Rothbury in Michigan, will launch this summer. In addition, other festivals have started within the past five years, such as the Virgin Mobile Festival in Baltimore and the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago. "There's no question that Coachella was the father of all of them," said Steve Baltin, a contributing editor for the AOL music site Spinner.com. READ: Coachella festival sets the standard for host of imitators
VIDEOGRAPHY Staff Photographer Rodrigo Peña Phil Weliky's night blindness caught up with him during stateside military maneuvers where he was being taught to elude the Viet Cong. At 57, Weliky has lost all peripheral vision and has only 1 or 2 percent of his sight left -- something he likens to "looking through a couple of straws." Standing on a curb or walking through a parking lot, Weliky, accompanied by his guide dog, is on high alert just like decades ago. READ: UCR research shows dangers of hybrid cars to visually-impaired pedestrians
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:24] Staff Photographer Silvia Flores 'Ramona', California's official outdoor drama opened its 85th season this weekend with Debradawn Shockey making her debut in the title role and pageant veteran Vincent Whipple playing opposite her in the adaptation of Helen Hunt Jackson's famous tale of star-crossed lovers and racial intolerance. Several returning cast members have new parts this season, including four-year member Leila Redmond as the rancho flirt, Margarita, and Serveriano Eric Cervantes, a 12-year pageant veteran who appears for the first time as Sheriff Merrill. READ: Hemet resident debuts in title role of 'Ramona'
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:33] Staff Photographer Rodrigo Peña Sometimes it's good to be small. As the largest school districts in Riverside and San Bernardino counties brace themselves for an unprecedented shortfall in state education dollars and are mass-mailing pink slips, the Inland area's tiniest school district by enrollment expects to emerge from the state's budget crisis relatively unscathed. The isolated Desert Center Unified School District is an oddity in California's public-school financing system. Located in the community of Eagle Mountain, it has an enrollment of 18 students. District officials are confident that they won't have to let any of the 10 employees go in 2008-09. That's partly because it is one of 87 California school districts classified as "basic aid" districts, according to the state Department of Education. READ: Desert Center, the Inland area's tiniest school district, largely immune to state budget cuts
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:22] Staff Photographer Greg Vojtko FONTANA - The downtown library that will open Saturday will be the biggest, most lavish branch ever built in Fontana. But as any old-timer can say, it won't be the first. Or the second. Or even the third. The two-story library at 8437 Sierra Ave. is believed to be the seventh library in Fontana's history. The previous six probably could all fit inside its 93,000 square feet. On Saturday, the city and the San Bernardino County Library system plan to celebrate the grand opening of the Lewis Library & Technology Center with festivities and speeches starting at 10 a.m. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is set for 11 a.m. READ STORY by MARY BENDER/The Press-Enterprise
VIDEOGRAPHY [2:33] Staff Photographer David Bauman A visit to the ceramics department at Riverside Community College.
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:37] Staff Photographer Kurt Miller You're spending the morning in the usual way, jogging on the treadmill in your gym. The guy next to you looks like he's running in sand. Suddenly, he clutches his chest and drops. Would you know what to do? The American Heart Association wants to ensure that the answer is yes -- and that you'll do it. In a major change geared toward the average person, the association has set new standards for lifesaving methods. Hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation -- quick, deep compressions on the center of the chest -- works just fine for adults in cardiac arrest until help arrives. This is a radical switch from the commonly known CPR that includes mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. READ STORY by CINDY MARTINEZ RHODES/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:22] Staff Photographer Carrie Rosema Like a kaleidoscope filled with glitter, jewels and parrot feathers, every turn down the runway brought a new combination of colors and textures at the 50th annual Ebony Fashion Fair's Glam Odyssey. The fashion show was presented Thursday in Moreno Valley and was to be repeated Friday in San Bernardino. Fox fur, feathers and sequins, sequins, sequins were paraded under the lights -- and those were just the hats, some of which even had spikes like the Statue of Liberty's crown. READ STORY by JENNIFER WHITAKER/The Press-Enterprise
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:00] Staff Photographer Silvia Flores As high-performance stock cars shot around the Auto Club Speedway at 170 mph Friday, 17-year-old Thomas McCauley III, of Corona, wedged himself into the cockpit of a tiny, half-electric-, half-solar-powered vehicle, hoping he could average precisely 15 mph. The race cars were practicing. McCauley was competing. His car: "The Blur." The prize: $10,000 for the coffers at Centennial High School. READ STORY by DARRELL R. SANTSCHI/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:06] Staff Photographer Ramon Mena Owens The bagpipe, that Rodney Dangerfield of the woodwinds, is finally getting some respect. Since UC Riverside inaugurated its degree programs in bagpipes and Scottish drums last fall, the spindly, awkward, noisy instrument and its Highland cousin have been elevated to the highest academic status possible alongside the piano, cello and clarinet within its music department. Three pipers and one drummer have enrolled in what may be the only program of its kind in the world where students can major in pipes or drums. That's a long way to come for an instrument that few appreciate and even fewer can play well. Ian Whitelaw, arguably the best piper in the Western Hemisphere, wants to change that. READ STORY by ELAINE REGUS/The Press-Enterprise AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:54] Staff Photographer Paul Alvarez More than 25 years ago, New Zealand native Mike Tomas toured North America on an Indian motorcycle and settled in Southern California. Now his Riverside motorcycle shop attracts a cadre of celebrities including two late-night talk show hosts, a couple rock stars and a cast member of "Lost." Tomas, 47, prides himself on building motorcycles mostly from scratch. Formerly an author of instruction manuals that dissect the often confusing parts universe of the Indian brand of motorcycles, Tomas has built and serviced the vintage vehicles for Jay Leno, David Letterman, Dee Snider, Billy Joel and Matthew Fox. READ STORY by KIMBERLY PIERCEALL/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [3:17] Staff Photographer Stan Lim CHINO - To the pilots, radio operators, gunners and bombardiers who flew them, life aboard B-17 "Flying Fortress" was anything but glamorous. The strategic bomber that rained destruction over Occupied Europe during World War II was, as former pilot Harry Selling says, "a killing machine." "We were all about dropping bombs and wrecking places," the 88-year-old said from Chino Airport, where a restored B-17 will take the public aloft today. "There were no creature comforts inside. It was noisy, it was cold, there was no bathroom and the enemy spent every day trying to destroy us. Even though, we accepted it as state-of-the-art flying." READ STORY by JOE VARGO/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:42] Staff Photographer Paul Alvarez When a decomposed body was found Sunday near the Palm Springs Museum, it set off a complex process to identify the person through his bones that could take days -- or months. By examining skeletal remains for certain characteristics or DNA, anthropologists and forensic experts can determine the gender, age and identity of a missing person. Authorities must treat the probe as a criminal investigation, scanning the scene for suspicious elements and examining the remains for wounds, said Riverside County coroner's investigator Cpl. Deborah Gray, a forensic anthropologist and archaeologist. READ STORY by JOHN ASBURY/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:14] Staff Photographer Amanda Lucidon Her crisp jumps and graceful glides set 10-year-old Alana Smith apart as one of better ballerinas in her dance class. If it weren't for her hearing aids, no one would guess that she hears only some of the music. She cannot hear her teacher at all. Many hearing people struggle to match their movements to the music when dancing, but not Alana, who was born deaf. She dances skillfully. The Riverside girl finds weekly inspiration and a role model in Marlee Matlin, the deaf actress who has wowed television audiences this season with her moves on "Dancing With the Stars." Smith and other students at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside are rooting for Matlin to win. READ STORY by JULIA GLICK/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:52] Staff Photographer Carrie Rosema Each morning for the next five to six weeks, Steven Christiansen will mount his bicycle and ride into a long-anticipated dream: hour after hour of relentless pedaling, up mountains and down, through savannahs and deserts, living on dehydrated food, pedaling steadily until time to set up camp under the stars. Some people spend their vacations on the living room couch. Some save to pay for fleeting luxury at a resort. Christiansen's vacation, which started Sunday, is more strenuous: a solo bicycle trek from San Diego to Austin, Texas. "Sometimes people act a little surprised when I tell them what I do for fun," he said. "For me, there's nothing like it." READ STORY by CHRIS RICHARD/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:09] Staff Photographer Ramon Mena Owens INDIO - It's face-lift time for Shields Date Garden. The garden's long-running, campy 1950s film "The Romance & Sex Life of the Date" was recently updated with some new color footage and narration. By summer, a $100,000 improvement project will be completed. For decades, the date garden has been an iconic tourist draw, pulling people off Highway 111 for thick, sweet date shakes and a sampling of date varieties, such as deep amber Deglet Noors, rare, giant Medjools and soft Barhis with a hint of persimmon. After almost 85 years, Shields is a reminder of a bygone era when date palm groves sprouted everywhere -- especially along Highway 111, which runs through the heart of the Coachella Valley. READ STORY by STEVE MOORE/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:24] Staff Photographer Frank Bellino Nestled in the shade of Highway 60 in Moreno Valley, underneath a dilapidated "Costal Plaza" sign with peeling facsimiles of palm trees, between a medical-supply store, Caley's Rubber Stamps and a food bank, is a one-room barbershop and a welcoming old face named Ed. How old? "Oh, let's just tell them I'm 67," he laughed. Ed Spruell, proprietor of Mr. Ed's Barber Studio, has been cutting hair for the better part of 40 years, most of it in the Inland region since he arrived on a bus from New Jersey in 1969, first at March Air Force Base for about seven years, and later in his own shops in Riverside and later in Moreno Valley. READ STORY by JEFF GIROD/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [4:00] Staff Photographer Silvia Flores PERRIS - Robert Mac Pherson and his "China Crew" from the Student Success Academy in Perris are on their way to Beijing. Five students in his bicycle motocross and skateboard program have earned a spring break trip to China. They're being rewarded for turning their school careers around and making the academy's honor roll through hard work, good grades, regular attendance and community service. Students Tico Gomez, 16, Micky Pineda, 18, Anthony Prunty, 17, Diego Vasquez, 18, and Luis Villa, 17, come from Perris, Moreno Valley and Mead Valley, the three corners of Val Verde Unified School District. READ STORY by IMRAN VITTACHI/The Press-Enterprise
VIDEOGRAPHY [2:00] Staff Photographer David Bauman Things to Do: Antelope Valley California Poppy Peserve
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:17] Staff Photographer Carrie Rosema Food without herbs is bland, boring and downright blah. Imagine spaghetti sauce without oregano, a summer salad without just-picked basil, or a baked potato without chives. Or, heaven forbid, Thanksgiving dressing without sage. The world wouldn't stop spinning if we didn't have these and dozens of other herbs, of course, but life without them would be a poorer place for our palates as well as our senses of smell and sight. But you don't have to rely upon farmers markets, organic grocery stores or supermarkets to provide fresh or dried herbs for your favorite recipes. You can grow them yourself. READ STORY by OWEN SHEERAN/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:30] Staff Photographer Terry Pierson RIVERSIDE - The Riverside Airshow '08 was a bittersweet homecoming for Air Force Reserve Capt. Terri Rae Torres, a 1989 graduate of Riverside Poly High. Torres, 36, piloted a C-130 four-engine transport plane from her base at Point Mugu to the Riverside Municipal Airport. The gray plane, parked at the west end of the airport, was one of about 200 on display on the ground and in the air. Men, women and children, part of a record crowd of more than 92,000, waited in line at the lowered tailgate of the C-130 to tour the cargo area and see the cockpit. Torres, who has flown missions to Iraq, stood in the cockpit, chatting with visitors. READ STORY by JERRY SOIFER/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:14] Staff Photographer William Wilson Lewis III PICO RIVERA - The 1,300-pound steers are led into a 2-foot-wide concrete chute. They make little noise. Some stick their heads out, like dogs looking over a fence. The chute narrows. A gate closes behind the animal. The steer is in the knocking box. A slaughterhouse worker -- the knocker -- waits with a stun gun. He cocks. He fires. Propelled by a blank round, a retractable rod penetrates the steer's skull and brain. A revolving gate opens. The body hits the kill floor -- lifeless. READ STORY by SEAN NEALON/The Press-Enterprise CHINO BEEF FUROR Special Report
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:06] Staff Photographer Greg Vojtko REDLANDS - Charissa Plymesser says parents and kids can take some simple steps to avoid childhood obesity: eat healthier meals, find a physical activity that's fun and spend less time immersed in computer games. "For most children, play means sitting down with your PlayStation or hanging out in front of the television," said Plymesser, director of the Redlands Family YMCA's Healthy Lifestyles program. Plymesser is among almost 40 people so far who have launched Healthy Redlands, a citywide initiative to promote nutrition, physical activity and the notion of embracing healthy lifestyles. READ STORY by MICHAEL PERRAULT/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:54] Staff Photograper Carrie Rosema For four hours Thursday, Applebee's Neighborhood Bar and Grill was the safest place to be in Riverside. A team of police officers and sheriff's deputies waited tables -- but they were out to take patrons' money. A fundraiser for the Special Olympics called "Tip-a-Cop" was repeated at Applebee's all over the Inland Empire from 5 to 9 p.m. "They're really cute being social butterflies," Angie Townsend, manager of the Temecula restaurant, said of the 12 officers on platter patrol. Beaumont police Cpl. John Combado didn't spill anything on his Applebee's beat. By 7 p.m., he and two CHP officers had raked in $650, including $150 from one customer. "I'm just being myself," he said. "A jokester." READ STORY by LAURIE LUCAS/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:28] Staff Photographer Silvia Flores As the pulsing beat of Twisted Sister's "I Wanna Rock" heats up the room, the fingers of Carlos Sanchez and Gabriel Rosas fly over guitar-shape controllers. They're engrossed in a music video game called "Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the '80s." Eyes clapped on an overhead 42-inch plasma screen, hands clutching the controllers, the boys compete to see who can better simulate playing a sequence of 1980s hits. "I'm a little bit good," Carlos, 13, said modestly, when he, in fact, did really well against Gabriel, 17. READ STORY by LAURIE LUCAS/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:30] Staff Photographer Ramon Mena Owens Bishop Gerald Barnes on Easter Sunday told residents of the troubled Desert Mobile Home Park that, just like those gathered around the tomb of Jesus 2,000 years ago, they must maintain hope and persevere. Barnes spent almost three hours amid the ramshackle collection of trailers near the Salton Sea, arriving under a rain of confetti from well-wishers and leaving to applause after touching the foreheads of a stream of people who sought his blessing. READ STORY by DAVID OLSON/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:15] Staff Photographer Carrie Rosema REDLANDS - Flashing through a cloudless sky, kids too young to drive gazed down at the Earth on Saturday from small airplanes -- and some saw their future. "Best thing ever!" beamed 12-year-old Caleb Hill, of Fontana. "I flew it, kinda turned it, and (made it go) up and down. That's so fun! I'm gonna go get my pilot's license." Caleb was among 62 youngsters who spent the morning taking free 20-minute plane rides -- some kids got to steer -- and listening to veteran pilots discuss the thrills, pleasures and careers of aviation. READ STORY by RICHARD BROOKS/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:38] Staff Photographer William Wilson Lewis III Gina Broitman-Maduro spends more time with 5-year-old daughter, Rena, than her husband, Morris Maduro, does. But Morris bathes Rena, reads to her and plays computer games with her. Gina cooks, cleans and washes the clothes. Morris vacuums, does the dishes and folds the laundry. Both work full time at UC Riverside where Morris, 38, is a senior assistant professor of biology and Gina, 33, manages his lab. "When we come home, I don't feel Morris or I should be doing all of this alone," Gina said. "We have an equitable marriage." READ STORY by LAURIE LUCAS/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:36] Staff Photographer Amanda Lucidon In a humble attempt to mark the passion of Christ's pain and suffering, more than 300 people walked the streets of San Bernardino on Good Friday to observe the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. Together, children and the elderly, families, clergy, the infirm and other faithful traversed the downtown streets for the eighth annual Passion Walk. They stopped for song and prayer, in English and Spanish, as they honored four stations of the cross -- condemnation, arrest, assistance and finally, crucifixion and death on the cross. READ STORY by CINDY MARTINEZ RHODES/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:27] Staff Photographer Amanda Lucidon Long before windmills festooned the San Gorgonio Pass, before Interstate 10 barreled through it and before homes and strips malls sprouted, animals rambled freely between the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains searching for food, mates and shelter. They still do, although they have to maneuver around some obstacles. The Pass and some of its mountain canyons are among the 15 wildlife linkages between the southern Sierra Nevada and the Mexican border that are considered key to keeping native species thriving and preventing their extinction, according to a report released Wednesday by South Coast Wildlands, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization that focuses on connecting wildlife habitat. READ STORY by JENNIFER BOWLES/The Press-Enterprise
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:00] Staff Photographer Amanda Lucidon Trails and Trailhead Locations from the Bureau of Land Management.
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:31] Staff Photographer Kurt Miller The grave was marked only by a splintered wooden cross jutting from the weedy grass of Colton's Agua Mansa Pioneer Cemetery. No name, no headstone. Just two lengths of weathered wood bound by a bolt. "No one knows your name," K.D. Foreman said from the graveside on a recent morning. "Is there anything you'd like to say?" There was no reply from that resting place, nor from a dozen others throughout the cemetery. But that's sometimes the case for Foreman and the other members of the Inland Empire Paranormal Investigators. READ STORY by GREGOR McGAVIN/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:00] Staff Photographer Silvia Flores The new Riverside City College Quad Art Gallery is opening with the work of a renowned artist that sets the stage for more high-caliber exhibitions. "Don Reitz is one of the icons of American ceramics. In my mind, he is the most well-known ceramic artist working in the United States today," said John Hopkins, who teaches ceramics at the college. "He's shown all over the world, and his work is in the Smithsonian. He is in anyone's major collection of ceramics." A miniretrospective of about 50 sculptural objects and wall hangings by Reitz is in the 2,000-square-foot gallery in the renovated A.G. Paul Quadrangle on campus. The art is on loan from the American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona. READ STORY by PAT O'BRIEN/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:37] Staff Photographer Carrie Rosema Chief Fama chanted as she stood on a straw mat in a bamboo-walled room behind her home near San Bernardino. The priestess sprinkled water in a white ceramic pot containing a single sacred kola nut and then prayed to God for peace, longevity, protection and good health. Her husband, Chief Ifabowale Sohma Somadhi, shook an "iroke," a long wooden object filled with metal pieces used to communicate with a spirit of Orisa devotion. Across the world on Saturday, millions were participating in similar ceremonies. READ STORY by DAVID OLSON/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:42] Staff Photographer William Wilson Lewis III Many of them have long and loyal followings. But these days independent bookstores also face a host of economic challenges, not only from big-chain superstores but also from other kinds of retailers offering cut-rate prices on bestsellers. "There's a Ralphs across the way -- they sell 'Harry Potter' for 20 percent off," said Jennifer Christensen, co-owner of Imagine That!, a Riverside children's bookstore that's been in business for 30 years. "Costco is a huge seller of books -- they'll stock books sometimes for 40 percent off the retail price," Christensen added. "It's getting very hard to compete with that." READ STORY by LOU HIRSH/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:42] Staff Photographer Terry Pierson COLTON - As more of Colton's children join city athletic leagues, a competition no one anticipated is taking place -- the battle for space to play. Colton's young families are its backbone. The city's 50,000 residents have a median age of 28 years, and 36 percent are 18 and younger, Councilman John Mitchell said. "Right now, we have something going on every night of the week at our parks," recreation commission member Pilar Tabera said. "Sometimes, we have to double up. The city does a pretty good job of giving leagues the fields and dividing them up equally. There's just not enough fields." READ STORY by CINDY MARTINEZ RHODES/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:27] Staff Photographer Silvia Flores ROMOLAND - Since September, teacher Isabel Soliz has tried to get through to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. As part of Harvest Valley Elementary School's No Excuses University program, each teacher adopted a college or university for the classroom. For Soliz, it was personal. Her son is a pilot in the Navy. Like her colleagues, she was mainly interested in getting some knick-knacks for her students at the Romoland campus. "My goal was to get pencils and stickers," she said, but she got the academy's touring Women's Glee Club. "Not only did I get them, they're here to promote post-secondary education," Soliz said. READ STORY by CLAUDIA BUSTAMANTE
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:15] Staff Photographer Amanda Lucidon The trains will continue to run on schedule at Hunter Park. The city of Riverside is modifying its plans for Hunter Park to better accommodate the surrounding business community and the Riverside Live Steamers, a group of hobbyists who operate miniature steam-engine trains at the park. Changes might include one less field to allow for more open space, and shifting the planned fields south so a portion of the train tracks can remain open during the renovation. READ STORY by AMANDA STRINDBERG
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:07] Staff Photographer Paul Alvarez An avid Lakeland Village bird feeder wants a large retail chain to reimburse him the cost to dispose of 50 birds he says died on his property from eating spoiled feed he bought from one of the retailer's local stores. Lloyd Shook, 71, who neighbors call "the birdman of Elsinore," said Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has refused his claim for the $550 he says it cost him to clean up the dead birds. Wal-Mart spokeswoman Jami Lamontagne wrote in an e-mail, "This is the only customer that has claimed to have had an issue with this product. And our records reflect he continues to purchase the same bird seed since this alleged incident." READ STORY by AARON BURGIN
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:43] Staff Photographer Carrie Rosema Randal Wisbey's grin worked overtime Thursday during his inauguration as the third president of Riverside's La Sierra University since it became independent in 1990. Members of the campus community, the Seventh-day Adventist community and the larger community of college and business leaders gathered in the La Sierra University Church to honor him. Speakers talked of Wisbey's passion for getting to know young people, his wisdom, optimism, idealism and energy. READ STORY by ELAINE REGUS
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:14] Staff Photographer William Wilson Lewis III The guys who flew her in Vietnam swear the Huey helicopter could do it all. From blasting enemy soldiers with rockets and machine guns, to dropping off special forces on classified missions, to delivering ammunition, food and fuel to isolated outposts, to pulling shot-up troops out of harm's way, no job was too tough. Now, volunteers at the Wings and Rotors Air Museum in French Valley are working feverishly to get three Hueys ready for another type of mission. This cross-country journey will celebrate the service of those who fought the war, acknowledge the pain many still feel and remember the 58,000 who never came home from Vietnam. READ STORY by JOE VARGO
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:31] Staff Photographers Ed Crisostomo and Amanda Lucidon INLAND - Winds gusting up to 70 mph raked the Inland area on Sunday, bowling over big-rig trucks, blasting blinding dust across roads, tearing trees out by their roots, causing power outages and grounding a helicopter meant to search for a missing hiker on Mount Baldy. A high-wind warning was expected to continue through 4 p.m. today for the midsection of the Inland area, with gusts up to 60 mph below canyons and passes possible in Ontario, Chino, San Bernardino, Riverside, Beaumont, Temecula and Hemet. READ STORY by RICHARD K. DE ATLEY and LEEZEL TANGLAO
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:30] Staff Photographer Ramon Mena Owens LOMA LINDA - They say they are not heroes. The six Medal of Honor recipients who visited the Inland area Sunday scoff at that word and even dismiss the notion that they are particularly tough or gung-ho. They are just ordinary guys forced by dangerous and desperate circumstances to take charge and put themselves in harm's way, for which they received the nation's highest combat award for bravery. READ STORY by JOE VARGO
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:30] Staff Photographer Ramon Mena Owens FONTANA - The weekend chores and errands can wait. The rest of the family can sleep in. The sun is just barely up, and it's time to lace up the running shoes and go to Exercise Boot Camp. The four-week class, part of the Healthy Fontana campaign, meets every Saturday at Dr. Charles Koehler Park in the city's north end. Katherine Davis, who leads the one-hour workouts, said she set the 7 a.m. start time so participants could get their morning off to an energizing start before the rest of the day's obligations swallow them up. READ STORY by MARY BENDER
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:00] Staff Photographer Rodrigo Peña CHIRIACO SUMMIT - Margit Chiriaco Rusche still remembers gathering up armfuls of purple lupine during a big bloom of wildflowers. Now, decades later, with acres of wildflowers in full bloom in nearby Joshua Tree National Park, Rusche, 69, hopes people won't miss nature's show as they zip along the freeway in a far corner of the Inland area. "It's God's paintbrush out there," she said. "This is a bounty of blooms. READ STORY BY STEVE MOORE
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:30] Staff Photographer Terry Pierson RIVERSIDE - Three people were killed when a plane heading toward Riverside Municipal Airport crashed onto a residential street at 10:10 p.m. Wednesday, sending flames at least 20 feet into the air. All three people killed were on the plane. No one on the ground was injured, Riverside fire officials who responded to the crash said. The plane just missed hitting the houses lining Pembroke Avenue near the intersection of Talley Court, less than a quarter-mile from the airport. The plane smashed into a parked car on the ground. READ STORY by JESSICA LOGAN
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:45] Staff Photographer William Wilson Lewis III Riverside Unified is working on a plan to introduce every child in the school district -- especially at a very young age -- to the fundamentals of art and music. "So many of our kids are getting to middle school without any kind of exposure," said school board member Kathy Allavie, formerly an elementary art teacher at a private school in Riverside. The growing emphasis on testing and proficiency in the core areas of the state curriculum has pushed art and music instruction to the margins -- if not outside them -- especially at elementary schools. READ STORY by IMRAN VITTACHI
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:45] Staff Photographer Mark Zaleski In a police interview earlier this month, Daniel Ugarte Navarro at first denied abusing downed cows at a Chino slaughterhouse. But when an investigator played undercover video showing Navarro shooting water from a high-pressure hose up the nostrils of a downed cow -- and continuing to do so after the cow had been shot in the head with a bolt gun -- the former pen manager sunk his head. "Tonterias," he said in a hushed voice. Foolishness. READ STORY by DOUGLAS QUAN and JULIA GLICK
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [3:24] Staff Photographer Stan Lim Yadira Ihmud has been to 30 summer and winter camps over 12 years, from California to Georgia, in search of emotional healing from the third-degree burns she suffered in a kitchen fire in her Corona home at age 3. "It's about the people," she said during a break in last weekend's four-day Camp Beyond the Scars in Big Bear Lake. "I just love coming and talking with everybody. All the girls in my group have been coming a long time. They are my sisters, my friends. We can relate on many levels." READ STORY by DARRELL R. SANTSCHI
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:35] Staff Photographer Carrie Rosema Skywalker had his work cut out for him Saturday morning at Noble Creek Park in Beaumont. The 2½-year-old border collie had to weave through poles, climb up and over an A-frame and make triple jumps on a challenging obstacle course during the Palm Springs Kennel Club's dog agility competition. Skywalker, named after the "Star Wars" character, made his owner and handler Marvin Tablizo proud. READ STORY by JULIE FARREN
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:13] Staff Photographer Carrie Rosema With a "Hee-yah!" and a wave of his baseball cap, Kim Terry shooed the eight burros from a holding pen into a chute next to a corral on his Reche Canyon property. Once the burros were safely contained, Terry climbed the railing and carefully looped collars of nylon and reflective tape around the burros' necks, fixing them into place with Velcro fasteners. READ STORY by DAN LEE
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:58] Staff Photographer Ramon Mena Owens For most Americans, the recent unrest in Kenya, touched off by disputes over a presidential election in December, is something that pops up only occasionally, if at all, in the news these days. But for native Kenyans living in Southern California, the violence and the anguish their families are going through back home has been a constant concern. Martin Okoth, 46, of Chino Hills, worries about his sister whose city has seen businesses burned in tribal clashes. One of his brothers was forced from his home in Nairobi. Another brother, a well-known soccer player in the country, was forced to pay a ransom before his kidnapped son was safely returned. READ STORY by MARK MUCKENFUSS
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:48] Staff Photographer William Wilson Lewis III History came to life Saturday in Redlands as Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln rode through town in a horse-drawn carriage and Civil War soldiers marched with rifles resting against their shoulders. The re-enactors were part of the city's 69th annual Lincoln Pilgrimage. The event, which featured hundreds of participants, kicked off with a walk from Redlands High School through downtown to the Redlands Bowl. READ STORY by MELANIE C. JOHNSON
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:31] Staff Photographer Carrie Rosema At the beginning of class, teacher Annette Tarnowski told her students to tune up. Immediately, a cacophony of sounds erupted. The softness of the flutes was overrun by the saxophones. Some trumpeters and clarinetists blew tunes. And then, they played -- "Merrily We Roll Along." READ STORY by CLAUDIA BUSTAMANTE
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:28] Staff Photographer Amanda Lucidon Jasmine Starr danced on the parade sidelines as she watched drummers and drill teams perform for the judges Saturday. Jasmine, 2, and her mother, Deborah Peterson, of Riverside, were among the hundreds of people who came to watch the 29th annual Black History Parade in downtown Riverside. READ STORY by MELISSA EISELEIN
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:45] Staff Photographer Kurt Miller Harlem Globetrotters "Sweet" Lou Dunbar and Eugene "Wildkat" Edgerson showed off their basketball moves Friday at a Riverside middle school. They also gave the students tips to help them be successful in school and in life. "Today myself and Sweet Lou are going share with you a simple formula for success," Edgerson said. READ STORY by MELISSA EISELEIN
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:08] Staff Photographer Rodrigo Peña Folks hoping to hear Bill Cosby's trademark wit and storytelling weren't disappointed Thursday when the actor, comedian and activist talked to parents and students at Rialto's Carter High School. They heard mention of his wife Camille, tales about his upbringing in Philadelphia, and one-liners about the perils of raising children, even when they're in their 40s. But they also heard the frank talk he has become known for of late about how students and parents need to do better. READ STORY by MELANIE C. JOHNSON
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:57] Staff Photographer Silvia Flores It took W. Scott Stinson almost 17 years to find the perfect leg. He finally got it from a shop that makes race cars. Stinson, 54, of Hemet, lost his left leg in March 1991 when he was living in Hawaii. He was riding his motorcycle when he was hit by a car. Stinson's leg was amputated at the shin. The medical costs and his prosthetic leg cost $117,000. READ STORY by ERICA SHEN
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:00] Staff Photographer Amanda Lucidon Almost 10 years ago, a 2-year-old child came into Loma Linda University Medical Center dead on arrival. The drowned toddler's death so moved Susan Knauff that it inspired her to take action. Now, Knauff is program director of CPR2U, an organization that teaches CPR to people in Inland Southern California. Founded in 1999 by emergency-room physician Dr. Tom Sherwin, the bilingual, nonprofit organization, has taught more than 6,500 area residents cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and first aid. READ STORY by DAVID ZINK
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [3:45] Staff Photographer Mark Zaleski The boos and catcalls begin the second Sean Thompson struts toward the wrestling ring. Even before a voice announces that Thompson's wrestling character -- Sgt. Stryker, also known as "la migra," Spanish slang for border-patrol agent -- has arrived, the heavily Mexican audience starts getting riled up. "Go home," the Riverside man screams at the Mexican faces as he runs around the ring waving a U.S. flag. "Mexico, Mexico," many of the 75 people in the crowd chant, as others hurl English-language profanities at Thompson. READ STORY by DAVID OLSON
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:38] Staff Photographer Kurt Miller Mama Gore is drinking blood. "It's mint flavored," she says as she tips the pint-size bottle of stage blood to her lips, dark red remnants trailing down the sides of her mouth. At 49, Sheryl Smith, the real name behind the grim persona, figures she needs every edge she can get on the roller derby track. Besides the gore dripping down her face, she takes warm-up laps swinging a bloody severed head by the hair. It never hurts to intimidate the competition before you knock them down. Smith is one of a growing number of dedicated skaters determined to revive and reinvent the sport of roller derby. READ STORY by MARK MUCKENFUSS
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:00] Staff Photographer Mark Zaleski The two-story barn wobbled when the Bobcat hit it. After a few more strikes, it leaned and dropped with a thud. "Really, really insane," said Dave Corson, whose father built the barn and the house next to it in the 1920s and '30s. He and brother Paul watched Wednesday as demolition workers tore down both in the concluding phase of a multi-year effort by the city of Norco to clean up the 5.5-acre property. Nine months ago, crews began hauling out tons of scrap metal, computer parts and rotting food. Mental health professionals describe the extreme collecting of such materials as hoarding disorder. READ STORY by SONJA BJELLAND
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:28] Staff Photographer Greg Vojtko A teen in a sports jersey slumps into a chair in front of guidance counselor Suzan Krieger at San Gorgonio High School in San Bernardino. Krieger fires off her standard questions: "What will you be doing in 10 years?" and "You're behind on credits. What are you going to do about that?" READ STORY by JANET ZIMMERMAN
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:22] Staff Photographer Terry Pierson How's that resolution to get fit working for you? Have you given up already? If you're like most people, your intentions for getting in shape in honor of the new year far outreach your ability to stay motivated. To avoid failing in your quest to be fit, ditch your old gym routine and strap on some boxing gloves. READ STORY by SUSAN GILL
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:00] Staff Photographer David Bauman Every year, the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala attracts stars, their fans and plenty of screams. Last year, the attention was on movie superstar Brad Pitt, but on Saturday evening the endless ear-shattering screams surrounding the Palm Springs Convention Center were for "Hairspray" and "High School Musical" star Zac Efron. "It sounds like animals being slaughtered," actor Emile Hirsch, on hand to receive a Rising Star Award, remarked between interviews on the red carpet. READ STORY by VANESSA FRANKO and PAT O'BRIEN
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:50] Staff Photographer Terry Pierson Forty-nine miles down, 400 to go. Gary Cherms and his son, Nicholas, huddled in a sleeping bag in subfreezing weather Friday night after completing the first day of his hike to the State Capitol. They slept behind a sheriff's car before setting out again Saturday in hopes of persuading Gov. Schwarzenegger to order POW/MIA flags flown year-round at all state buildings. The 58-year-old former Marine, inspired by the return of another son, Michael, from his third tour of duty in Iraq, has been campaigning on behalf of flying the flag at several cities in San Bernardino County. READ STORY by DARRELL R. SANTSCHI
REGIONAL SLIDESHOW GALLERY [3:00] DESERT SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:00] HEMET & SAN JACINTO SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:00] SOUTHWEST RIVERSIDE COUNTY SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:00] CORONA & NORCO SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:00] SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY & THE PASS SLIDESHOW GALLERY [2:00] RIVERSIDE & MORENO VALLEY SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:00] READ STORIES From the Region.
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:07] Staff Photographer Ed Crisostomo Army infantry Sgt. Wally Fanene's sister calls him "the face of who came back from the Iraq war," a reminder of the savagery confronting American troops daily. Fanene, while on foot patrol in Kirkuk in September, stepped on a fist-size land mine, heard a pinging noise and temporarily went deaf from an explosion that tore off his right arm and leg and seriously injured his remaining limbs. The 25-year-old Temecula man's fight today is to rebuild himself as completely as possible, regain as much as he can -- to surf, pick a nickel out of his pocket, change his daughter's diaper, resume his Army career as a weapons instructor. READ STORY by JOE VARGO
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:30] Staff Photographer Amanda Lucidon Lt. Larry Aaron, a correctional officer at the California Institution for Women, will spend this New Year's Eve the way he has spent the last 20, kneeling to pray during a watch service. But when he rises to his feet just after midnight, he does not plan to return to work at the Chino prison. Instead, he will start the new year as a full-time minister. "I expect to see a lot of great things because I really believe God has directed me on this path," Aaron said Friday, his last official work day at the prison before his Dec. 31 retirement. READ STORY by ALICIA ROBINSON
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:01] Staff Photographer Kurt Miller Sandy Hooper lives in Rancho Palos Verdes and has been staying part time in her Big Bear Lake cabin for the last 18 months. She likes the outdoor activities available in the San Bernardino Mountains town, and on Sunday she tried something new: snowshoeing. "I thought it was wonderful," said Hooper, 46. She was turning in her 18-inch-long plastic snowshoes at the Big Bear Discovery Center near Fawnskin after a three-hour excursion on the mountainside Town Trail above the lake. READ STORY by DARRELL R. SANTSCHI
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:30] Staff Photographer Terry Pierson Wes Crary hopes his long, blond hair will make another child happy. Wes, a 10-year-old from Riverside, plans to donate the blond locks sheared from his head Wednesday to Locks of Love, a nonprofit agency that provides natural hair wigs to ill children who lose their hair. READ STORY by MELISSA EISELEIN
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:19] Staff Photographer Ed Crisostomo It's called The Schoolhouse, and it's where some of the toughest, baddest, no-nonsense career Marines learn the drill-sergeant drill. In this 1921 building at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, where legendary drill instructors from decades ago are memorialized in photos and citations, Marine Corps sergeants such as Inland residents Erick Guzman and Zachary Mott cultivate the walk and voice and steel-eyed stare they'll use to cajole, encourage and, in some cases, terrify the young recruits they'll guide through boot camp just across the street. READ STORY by JOE VARGO
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:55] Staff Photographer Greg Vojtko A sound long absent from the city's bustling core returned this week, a melodic counterpart to the hum of traffic on Sierra Avenue, the wail of fire engine sirens from Station 71, the boisterous jabber of kids pouring through the gates of Fontana Middle School each afternoon. The sound is just three notes, ringing alternately, randomly, in no discernible tune for about a minute, followed by a succession of solitary tones announcing the hour. The Bells of St. Joseph are ringing again, just in time for Christmas. READ STORY by MARY BENDER
With five ex-military drill instructors bellowing in their ears, the 46 raw recruits stood at rigid attention in a Big Bear Lake parking lot, practicing close-order drill and answering to the numbers engraved on dog tags hanging around their necks. "Sir, yes sir," they shouted as the DIs scurried up and down their ranks, finding fault with nearly everything they tried. The close-order drill was followed by push-ups, a two-mile run, more drill and the distribution of their food for the next 24 hours: one freeze-dried meal ready to eat, or MRE, as the troops call it. READ STORY by DARRELL R. SANTSCHI
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:52] Staff Photographer Rodrigo Peña For 15 years, Eván Ortíz's father has been coordinating the traditional dances held each year in the small Mexican indigenous town of Ocumicho to honor the Virgin of Guadalupe. Just after dusk Tuesday, the eve of Our Lady of Guadalupe's feast day, Ortíz proudly led several dozen dancers through the streets of Mecca, helping preserve his town's traditions in the Inland area. "Right now, I'm in Ocumicho," Ortíz said between shouting instructions to dancers in Spanish and his indigenous Purépecha language. "I feel like I'm in my pueblo." READ STORY by DAVID OLSON
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:00] Staff Photographer Caitlin M. Kelly Some chanted, "Viva la Virgin de Guadalupe!" Others danced, banged on drums, sang songs or played musical instruments as they marched through downtown Riverside. Cold, damp weather and cloud-filled skies did not deter about 2,500 faithful from taking part in the ninth-annual Our Lady of Guadalupe event that included a 2 1/2 -mile trek from the Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine in East Riverside to the top of Mount Rubidoux. At the top, the faithful attended Mass. READ STORY by MELISSA EISELEIN
VIDEOGRAPHY [4:33] Staff Photographer David Bauman Nine women huddled around a table in a modest home in northwestern Riverside County launch into a weekly ritual aimed at learning more about toxic threats in their homes and community, and how they can change things for the better. READ STORY by JENNIFER BOWLES
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:45] Staff Photographer Caitlin M. Kelly To the blare of classic car Klaxons, the tooting of high-school bands, the tramp of high school military cadets, and the syncopated drumbeat of a Westside marching corps, San Bernardino held its 30th annual Christmas Parade under wintry skies Saturday. READ STORY By CHRIS RICHARDS
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:41] Staff Photographer Frank Bellino When Lake Elsinore city leaders want to impress guests at luncheons and formal dinners, they don't turn to highly reviewed restaurants or caterers. Their cooks of choice have a little experience and no high school diploma. Lakeside High School's culinary-arts program made 7,000 meals in its first two years. The students have cooked for their peers during athletic banquets, wedding guests, business leaders during Chamber of Commerce luncheons, community leaders during the annual Mayor's Breakfast and even state Assemblyman John J. Benoit. READ STORY by CLAUDIA BUSTAMANTE
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:45] Staff Photographer Greg Vojtko A mountain lion perched in a backyard tree near Redlands was tranquilized by authorities this morning, three hours after it was spotted. California Department of Fish and Game officials took away the sleeping cat as a cluster of police officers, neighbors and journalists watched. A second big cat spotted in the tree earlier ran away and was being tracked by authorities. READ STORY by ERIN WALDNER
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:50] Staff Photographer Rodrigo Peña The barriers and closed signs will soon come down at the Cactus City rest area on Interstate 10 about 15 miles east of Indio. By Saturday, an $866,000 improvement project should be finished, said Caltrans spokesperson Ivy Estrada. The stop-off provides a respite for millions of travelers each year -- especially truckers and boaters -- heading through the Inland area for Phoenix and the Colorado River. READ STORY by STEVE MOORE
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:30] Staff Photographer Terry Pierson Gerald Winston's job on Saturday was to keep children playing in their age-appropriate snow piles. Winston, normally the district security supervisor for the Palm Springs Unified School District, worked as a security guard Saturday as thousands milled through the fourth annual "Snowtacular" at the Tri-City Shopping Center in Redlands. READ STORY by JOHN F. BERRY
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:50] Staff Photographer Amanda Lucidon As boys and girls tossed a ball back and forth Friday, Pa Moua, watching from a distance, explained that in Hmong culture, the scene is a tradition at festivals that celebrate a new year. It's a way, she said, to introduce boys and girls. "That's part of the meet and greet," said Moua, 22, who grew up in Banning and now lives in Beaumont. READ STORY by ERIN WALDNER
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:33] Staff Photographer Kurt Miller left-o-ver Noun: Food that remains uneaten at the end of a meal, and saved for later use. Adjective: What's not used; uneaten: leftover turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberries, stuffing, mashed potatoes READ STORY by OWEN SHEERAN
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:55] Staff Photographer Amanda Lucidon Twin sisters Nikita and Narissa Williams bubbled with personality and never left each other's sides. They could get into a little mischief, too. Their mother, Naomi Grangroth, was a project manager for an engineering and construction management company. The twins considered her their best friend. READ STORY by DOUGLAS QUAN
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [3:24] Staff Photographer Rodrigo Peña Anti-aircraft fire raked pilot Keith Yoakum's Apache helicopter, crippling most of his weapons and making the prudent move a retreat to a safe landing spot to await rescue. But pulling back would have exposed Yoakum's wingman, flying another chopper near Baghdad, to mortal danger from the well-concealed insurgent nests dug into irrigation canals and ditches. READ STORY by JOE VARGO
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:43] Staff Photographer Frank Bellino As the roar and whine of motorcycle engines echoed across the Lake Elsinore Motocross Park on Saturday, thousands of fans and enthusiasts gave the new course a thumbs-up. Weeks earlier, racers thought the city's annual grand prix, which took riders on city streets, was over after the promoter broke off negotiations with the city. READ STORY by ROCKY SALMON
VIDEOGRAPHY [1:00] Staff Photographer Greg Vojtko VIDEOGRAPHY [0:50] Staff Photographer Greg Vojtko INLAND WILDFIRES SECTION Photo Galleries
MULTIMEDIA PACKAGE Staff Photographers Caitlin M. Kelly (four audio slideshows) and Rodrigo Peña (profile video) At St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Riverside, help for the homeless comes in the form of a hot meal and a hug. No questions asked. At the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission in Indio, the homeless can share a room for up to a year, but they have to work for it. Life-skills classes, Bible study and a 5:30 a.m. wake-up call are mandatory. In the city of Ontario, die-hards who don't want to get off the street can pitch a tent on a big dirt lot near the airport. The city even chipped in for a water spigot, picnic tables and three portable toilets. For years, public agencies and nonprofit organizations have provided a hodgepodge of services to try to help the Inland region's homeless population -- about 12,000 people on any given day.
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:50] Staff Photographers Silvia Flores and Carrie Rosema The two bands -- Mariachi Juvenil de St. Anthony, of San Bernardino, and High Desert Mariachi Juvenil, of Hesperia -- auditioned for the chance to open for Mariachi Sol de Mexico today during La Prensa's 10th annual Fiesta de la Familia in San Bernardino. READ STORY by JULIE FARREN
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:56] Staff Photographer Greg Vojtko Why it happened is the subject of heated debate in the small San Bernardino Mountains community of Angelus Oaks, but The Country Store is no more. READ STORY by DARRELL R. SANTSCHI AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:30] Staff Photographer William Wilson Lewis III Miss Anne had an easy trek last weekend, loaded down with brush loppers, jackets and sack lunches for a trail maintenance and scouting trip along the Pacific Crest Trail in the San Jacinto Mountains. READ STORY by GAIL WESSON SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:00] Staff Photographer Terry Pierson Acrobatics coach Youri Vorobyev lost his job when a Riverside gymnasium abruptly closed last December. Now, with the support of his students and their parents, Vorobyev is coaching again -- and he's the owner of a new gym in Moreno Valley. READ STORY by MELISSA EISELEIN
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:43] Staff Photographer Ed Crisostomo There were lots of yellow ribbons signifying support for the troops but no red tape Saturday as U.S. Army Spc. Saul Martinez, who lost both legs in the Iraq war, was honored by family, friends and community leaders at his home in Bloomington. READ STORY by JERRY SOIFER
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:02] Staff Photographer Carrie Rosema Every weekday at 5:15 p.m., a joyful noise rocks the last car of eastbound Metrolink train 706. Between the West Corona and the La Sierra stations, a nanosecond before a yellow building with blue stripes slides by, rider Rob Honeycutt counts down: "3, 2, 1." READ STORY by LAURIE LUCAS AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:07] Staff Photographer Rodrigo Peña The body went unseen under a punishing desert sun for three weeks, decomposing so badly that detectives initially couldn't determine its sex. Dumped last June in a remote roadside ditch off Interstate 40 outside Barstow, the remains a few years ago would have had coroner's examiners scratching their heads. READ STORY by PAUL LAROCCO
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:34] Staff Photographer Silvia Flores The long-haired gray and brown cat arrived recently on the Riverside Humane Society's doorstep. READ STORY by DAN LEE
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:44] Staff Photographer William Wilson Lewis III Cody LaGue's career goal is to become a firefighter. So competing Sunday in the annual San Bernardino City Firefighters Muster fits right in for the 18-year-old from Colton. LaGue and his teammates raced down Third Street pulling an old-fashioned, two-wheeled hose cart, attached a nozzle to the hose and knocked a cone off a bucket with a jet of water. READ STORY by DUANE W. GANG
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:30] Staff Photographers Paul Alvarez, Ed Crisostomo, Ramon Mena Owens, Mark Zaleski SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:00] Staff Photographers Paul Alvarez, Ed Crisostomo, Ramon Mena Owens, Mark Zaleski
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [0:50] Staff Photographer Silvia Flores Classic muscle cars, customized SUVs and in-your-face beaters lined up in downtown San Bernardino on Saturday for the Open Header contest, a highlight event for the annual Route 66 Rendezvous. "If you can get the engine loud enough that you can see windows vibrating in buildings as you pass, you know you're doing it right," said Carol Lieby, of Apple Valley, waiting for her turn to rev the motor of a shiny yellow Toyota Land Cruiser. READ STORY by CHRIS RICHARDS
SLIDESHOW GALLERY [1:00] Staff Photographer Terry Pierson To the roars of V-8 engines and the strains of classic rock 'n' roll, the 18th annual Stater Bros. Route 66 Rendezvous swept into its second day Friday, the first full day of a car show that organizers expect will bring about a half-million visitors to downtown San Bernardino. READ STORY by CHRIS RICHARDS AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:52] Staff Photographer Rodrigo Peña For Perry Scanlon, a world of art, hiking and photography has come together in both real life and on the Internet. READ STORY by MATT BAMBERG AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:03] Staff Photographer Terry Pierson Indian remains lie buried beneath shopping complexes in La Quinta and Temecula. In Big Bear Valley, a sewage treatment plant stands in the lakebed where the Serrano people believe their creator died and was cremated. For decades, developers' bulldozers obliterated and obscured Indian gravesites, ancient villages and other pieces of California's early history, and descendents of those civilizations had little say in the process. AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:28] Staff Photographer Ed Crisostomo It was a calm, clear day when Army Spc. Saul Martinez arrived at the Naval Medical Center San Diego. His wife, Sarah, rolled the wheelchair up a metal ramp to the physical therapy building. Martinez, a 2003 Bloomington High School graduate, had dreamed of this day for three months and worked tirelessly to ensure it went as smoothly as possible. READ STORY by MICHEAL BECKER
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:49] Staff Photographer Carrie Rosema Don't let the capri pants, sandals and giggle fool you. Heather Perry, 24, doesn't joke about her java. Perry ranks first in the nation and second in the world when it comes to making coffee. "It's what I love, it's what I know," said Perry, who makes her brew in the Inland area. READ STORY by AMANDA STRINDBERG
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [3:10] Staff Photographer Kurt Miller Wander into the basement of Riverside's Back to the Grind coffeehouse on the first Sunday afternoon of each month and you'll be met with almost a dozen musicians playing tunes ranging from Disney to Dylan -- on the ukulele. READ STORY by MELISSA HARRISON AUDIO SLIDESHOW [2:32] Staff Photographer Kurt Miller spent time with rodeo bullfighter Dwayne Hargo at the Jurupa Rodeo. AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:00] Staff Photographer William Wilson Lewis III They came eager to pull opportunity out of the wreckage of the Inland region's housing market. About 1,500 people converged at the Ontario Convention Center on Sunday to attend an all-day auction of homes repossessed by lenders. READ STORY by LESLIE BERKMAN
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [0:58] Staff Photographer Caitlin M. Kelly Loch Ness has its monster. And now Lake Gregory has its dragons, complete with heads, tails, scales - and 20 seats. READ STORY by RICHARD BROOKS AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:48] Staff Photographer Rodrigo Peña When Bruce and Penny Tappeiner saw what had been done to one of their favorite places in the desert, they were horrified. Vandals had attacked the remains of an old stamp mill in a canyon not far from Desert Center, pelting the historic stone structure with beer-bottle Molotov cocktails and turning its window and door frames into charred wood and ash.
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:14] Staff Photographer Rodrigo Peña There's something about meerkats. Just ask Animal Planet, whose reality series about the lives of the foot-tall creatures, "Meerkat Manor," scored the network its highest ratings ever last season. With season three debuting tonight, Inland habitats are getting ready for the next wave of meerkat mania. "Since the show first aired, we've had a tremendous surge in visitors and interest," said Pam Bennett-Wallberg, director of Fellow Earthlings Wildlife Center in Morongo Valley. READ STORY by MELISSA HARRISON AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:14] Staff Photographer Ramon Mena Owens At 15 years of age, Dulce Montiel is flying high. Every Thursday afternoon, she climbs into a four-passenger Cessna and, for one hour, practices her piloting skills. Montiel is one of 14 students participating in the Reach for the Stars teen aviation program sponsored by the Boys and Girls Club of Coachella Valley. Flight instructors spend 12 hours with the teens before they are qualified to fly solo. READ STORY by SANDRA BALTAZAR MARTÍNEZ AUDIO SLIDESHOW [4:18] Staff Photographer David Bauman On a balmy summer night at California's most notorious prison, a killer is on the run. No alarm sounds, though he's plainly visible. No guards give chase or draw their guns. Inmates in knit skullcaps and prison-issued blue denim shirts peer through a chain-link fence at him as he streaks across the rock-hard dirt and ... crosses home plate with the San Quentin baseball team's first run. READ STORY by JEFF EISENBERG. AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:02] Staff Photographer Ramon Mena Owens U.S. Border Patrol agents in inland California are catching more and more drugs welded into gas tanks, secreted under upholstery or stacked brazenly in car trunks and driven across the desert. READ STORY by JULIA GLICK AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:13] Staff Photographer Stan Lim The large, booming instrument intrigued Frederick Swann as a 6-year-old piano student. He stared at the organ with its vast sets of lights, knobs and sounds. "I wanted to play it, but my legs were too short," Swann recalled. Nearly 70 years later, Swann has played more than 3,000 organs, and his fascination with the instrument remains keen. READ STORY by MARISA AGHA.
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [4:25] Staff Photographer Ed Crisostomo looks at gang culture as part of a multimedia package...
Riverside had the Magnolia, San Bernardino the Mount Vernon. Banning sported the Cherry Pass, while Rialto and Fontana had the Foothill and Bel-Air, respectively. Even Big Bear Lake, like most Inland Empire communities, had its own drive-in theater. But it and the others are now gone. READ STORY by MARK MUCKENFUSS. VIDEOGRAPHY [ ] Staff Photographer Silvia Flores looks at commuting as part of a multimedia package.
MULTIMEDIA PACKAGE Staff Photographer Greg Vojtko contributed three videos and two audio slideshows to the Future Energy project.
The starkness and the rows upon rows of names stenciled on reflective black aluminum panels stir an overwhelming sense of grief for lives lost too soon. Visitors to The Moving Wall say the simplicity of the traveling Vietnam War memorial attracts them, causes them to leave flowers and notes to the dead, prompts tears, physically drains them, salves raw emotions and, for some, promotes healing. READ STORY by JOE VARGO
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [3:29] Staff Photographer Mark Zaleski Jada Pointer's tummy ache was cured with a smile. It was the perfect smile: her mom's. The 9-year-old from Perris hadn't seen that comforting smile in more than a year. Jada was one of hundreds of children who took the healing journey Friday to visit their mothers in prisons around California. For Jada and five busloads of children from San Bernardino and Riverside counties, the trip meant a 51/2-hour bus ride to Valley State Prison and the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla. The trip was part of the annual Get On The Bus Mother's Day event sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph Ministerial Services. It's a day when volunteers work to spoil and entertain children who often have learned to do without. They get special blankets, teddy bears and letters from their mothers. READ STORY by PAIGE AUSTIN/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:53] Staff Photographer Ramon Mena Owens COACHELLA - When 11-year-old Angel Gallegos Guerrero stepped into his new sixth-grade classroom in September, some 23 days after classes began, he entered a new world. "I was afraid because it was a new school and I didn't know English," Angel said in Spanish. Angel's family obtained legal U.S. residency and left their native Mexicali, Mexico, to join relatives in Coachella, a growing city east of Palm Springs and about 100 miles from home. Angel found himself in public school, sitting in an English-immersion class at Coral Mountain Academy. READ STORY by SANDRA BALTAZAR MARTÍNEZ/The Press-Enterprise
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:03] Staff Photographer Stan Lim San Bernardino County felled the symbolic one-millionth dead tree from the local mountains Wednesday and shifted focus to removing live trees and brush in a continued effort to reduce the threat of a major wildfire. READ STORY by DUANE W. GANG
AUDIO SLIDESHOW [1:25] Staff Photographer Carrie Rosema When Cesar Martinez runs, the hot kiss of the sun and cool breath of the wind on his face will guide him. Familiar voices, recognized footfalls and the tap-tap of white canes will orient him. The vibrations of the Japanese Taiko drummers, the smells of Chinatown and the music of Latino musicians will pique his senses along the 26.2 mile journey. READ STORY by LAURIE LUCAS MULTIMEDIA PACKAGE Staff Photographer Silvia Flores created an english and spanish version of an audio slideshow and photographed video for this project. READ STORY by MARTHA SARABIA VIDEOGRAPHY [] Staff Photographer Rodrigo Peña Halloween parties have already started for some Inland residents. Larry Morris, left, and Dennis Ptak are the minds behind Scary Larry's Halloween Bash. They have spent at least 600 hours working on wooden headstones, a mausoleum, and a two-story haunted house. For Larry Morris and co-worker Dennis Ptak, Halloween began the day after last year's Halloween bash in Palm Desert.
The sun is just rising when Fontana kindergarten teacher Kay Gruber arrives in class to arrange clay, puzzles and art supplies on pint-sized tables. Every day, she opens her classroom 25 minutes early so her students have time for such activities, once a staple in kindergarten classrooms. READ STORY by JANET ZIMMERMAN
Elizabeth Ureña's father gave her a choice as her 15th birthday neared. She could have a car and cell phone, a trip or a quinceañera. Elizabeth didn't hesitate. READ STORY by BETTYE WELLS MILLER
Six yards of saffron-yellow silk with hand-embroidered aqua designs. This was Shanta Hareesh's first sari, the traditional garb of Indian women. READ STORY by BETTYE WELLS MILLER
Audrey: Staying Strong It's a stifling afternoon at Central City Lutheran Mission, where walls are emblazoned with bright murals that stand out in an otherwise dreary landscape. Signs of poverty and abandonment -- broken windows, discarded beer cans, graffiti -- are difficult to ignore in this neighborhood east of Interstate 215. READ STORY by BEN GOAD and LISA O'NEILL HILL AUDIO SLIDESHOW [3:20] Staff Photographer Stan Lim As the smog-filtered sun melts behind the buildings of downtown San Bernardino, Jahtwon is still on the basketball court. He has been there for four hours. He probably would stay hours longer, but the dusty column of sunlight from the window above the scuffed gym floor is waning. The Rudy C. Hernandez Center will soon close for the night. READ STORY by Lisa O'Neill Hill and Ben Goad
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