MONDAY, JUNE 16, 2014 - JUNE 22, 2014
riversideindependent.com
Safety crisis near UC Riverside: one woman kidnapped, two others attempted, others profiled In the last two months, UC Riverside students have received numerous email alerts from John Freese, a representative from the UC Police Department, about three instances of kidnappings of young women on or near campus. The latest incident happened on Sunday, June 8, 2014, at about 4:15 PM inside the University Towers parking garage at the corner of Iowa Avenue and University. A Caucasian man grabbed the student and threw her into his car. The harrowing ordeal lasted about thirty minutes. According to police, the suspect is a white male in his late twenties to early thirties with medium length, dirty blond hair. His car is described as a 2009 or newer charcoal grey four-door Nissan Sentra. A sketch of the kidnapper was released today and can be seen at this link. The Press Enterprise reported that the young woman is a psychology major at UCR. Cobb said he believes that lessons the student learned in class saved her from further injury. The woman talked to the kidnapper for the half hour he drove them around and convinced him to return her. Cobb
site over another was revealed in 2007, when Comcast, the US’ largest ISP, had interfered with file sharing services offered on BitTorrent. Comcast clients reported difficulties, delays, or Please see page 4
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when a woman noticed a silver car with tinted windows parked next to a pathway to Lothian Residence Hall at UCR. The woman was followed by a man who held up a blue bandana Please see page 2
Net Neutrality: How Internet service providers want to gain more control over our lives by jennifer schlueter How would you feel if your favorite website loaded very slowly, or not at all, because your Internet service provider (ISP) disagrees with its content or wants you to use their favored website instead? Yes, you could switch providers, but
most people in the US do not have a choice between more than one or two providers. And what if the other providers block another website that you like? The most famous case of an ISP favoring a certain web-
All graduates from first Riverside County Education Academy headed to college, military The Riverside County Education Academy (RCEA) was founded as a non-profit organization in 2010 by the Riverside County Superintendent of Schools, Kenneth Young. Seven graduating students represent the inaugural class that was celebrated in a ceremony held on Tuesday, June 3, 2014, at the Moreno Valley Regional Learning Center. Graduates received their diploma and best wishes from the RCEA Board of Directors, Administrative Advisory Board, and the Riverside County Board of Education in a ceremony held in the school’s multipurpose room. RCEA's combination of high quality learning opportunities and the rigorous regimen of a military learning environment have contributed to the success of each graduate by providing a strong foundation for future achievement. RCEA strives to inspire honor and pride leading to ethical behavior and responsible citizenship. Cadets learn and behave in a way that demonstrates the core values of integrity, service before self, excellence, respect, personal courage, loyalty, education, health, and duty. “You may not remember the history, science or algebra
Police sketch of kidnapper-Courtesy Photo
also said she was able to free her hands and remove the head covering while she talked to the suspect. As of Wednesday, the man had not been caught. On April 12, two similar incidents were reported. The first happened at 6:30 p.m.,
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State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson reports significant drop in number of districts in financial jeopardy A new report shows that the number of California school districts in financial jeopardy has been slashed by more than two-thirds over the past year, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced. This year’s Second Interim Status Report, FY 201314 shows a total of 30 local educational agencies (LEAs) are either in negative or qualified financial status. This is down significantly from the last report—in March 2014— that showed 49 LEAs with this status. This is also down even more significantly from the same report a year ago. In the Second Interim Status report of 2013, there were 92 LEAs in financial jeopardy. See Table 1. “A combination of factors over the past few years has given schools the tools they need
to take control of their own future again,” Torlakson said. “Although we won’t be finished until every school is on stable ground, this is welcome news that school funding is moving in the right direction.” Twice a year, the California Department of Education receives Notice of Interim Certifications on the financial status of the state’s 1,038 LEAs, comprising school districts, county offices of education, and joint powers agencies. The certifications are classified as positive, qualified, or negative. A positive certification means the LEA will meet its financial obligations for the current and two following fiscal years. A qualified certification is assigned when the LEA may not meet its financial obligations for the current or two following fiscal years. This
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certification allows the LEA’s county office of education to provide assistance to the district. A negative certification— the most serious of the classifications—is assigned when the LEA will be unable to meet its financial obligations for the remainder of the current year or for the subsequent fiscal year. This certification means the LEA’s county office of education may intervene in the district’s finances. The assistance or intervention by the county office of education may include assigning external consultants, requiring a district fiscal recovery plan, or disallowing certain district expenditures. Of the current 30 LEAs on the list, seven have a negative certification, down one from the last report in March 2014. The remaining 23 LEAs have
a qualified certification, down from 41 reported in March 2014. See Table 2. This new list is a compilation of the certifications by LEAs that were due April 16, 2014, and cover the financial and budgetary status of the districts for the period ending January 31, 2014. The certifications reflect whether the LEAs are able to meet their financial obligations for the remainder of the current fiscal year and subsequent two fiscal years, based on projections at that point in time. These certifications also predate the Governor’s May Revision to the proposed 2014-15 state budget. Because these Interim Status Reports are snapshots in time, the LEAs’ financial status may have changed since these certifications were collected.
Kidnapping series at UCR Continued from page 1
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as if he was going to use it as a blindfold. She threw a drink at him and ran away. That suspect was described as an Asian man in his mid-20s, 5’10’’ with a medium build and short blond hair. Just an hour later at 7:30 p.m., another woman walked on Big Springs Road approaching the same residence hall, when she saw a four-door sedan blocking the sidewalk ahead of her. A man got out of the car and ran toward her but she was able to get away. The suspect was described as 20 to 30 years old, about 5’5” with black hair, and an oval face. He was wearing a white T-shirt and glasses, but no additional description was given on the man or the car. The descriptions of the man from the Sunday incident and one of the suspects from April are similar but the po-
lice do not consider it an exact match. Following the incident, security in the Towers has been overzealous in their efforts. A student spoke to this paper and reported that security profiled and followed a UCR PhD student and her guest in the Towers parking lot. Instead of feeling safer, this action sends the wrong message to the surrounding community. Students who live at University Towers called the security escort hotline for accompaniment from the parking garage to the apartment building, but got unclear information about when the service would be available. If you have any information on any of these incidents, please contact Detective Rick Wheeler at (951) 353-7134 or Detective Rick Cobb at (951) 353-7135.
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California credit unions show positive gain By SHEL segal Loan growth at California credit unions for the first quarter 2014 grew at 2.2 percent, marking the first time since 2009 that first-quarter loan growth showed a positive gain, according to a report released recently by the California Credit Union League. In the San Gabriel Valley, total loan growth for the first three months in 2014 was even better at 3.4 percent. Overall, credit unions in the state saw broad growth in their loan portfolios from first quarter 2013 to first quarter 2014. Auto loans led the way with new and used vehicle loan balances growing by 5.8 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively, according to the report. Meanwhile, first mortgages saw a gain of 2.4 percent, second mortgages grew 1.4 percent, and business loans gained 2.6 percent in the first three months of 2014, according to the report. Among San Gabriel Valley credit unions, the picture was rosier with new and used vehicle loan balances growing by 22.5 percent and 14.6 percent, respectively. First mortgages saw a gain of 2.6 percent while business loans grew 3.9 percent, according to the report. In addition to taking out more loans, credit union members in the
state are also saving. Credit union savings balances grew 3.3 percent in the first quarter of 2014 and by 3.5 percent in the year ending March 2014, according to the report. With little change in terms of the historically low interest-rate environment, consumers again remained focused on short-term liquid accounts. In the first quarter, credit union checking account balances grew by 7.7 percent, while regular savings grew by 5.6 percent, money market accounts increased by 2.0 percent, and certificate accounts posted a modest gain of 0.1 percent, according to the report. In the San Gabriel Valley, credit union checking account balances posted a modest 0.1 percent gain however; regular savings grew by 5.9 percent. And money market accounts increased by 5.2 percent, according to the report.
“Since the beginning of 2012, the state has added almost one million new nonfarm payroll jobs. The impact of those jobs really started to show up in 2013,” said Dwight Johnston, chief economist for the league. “Since mid-2013, California credit unions – including those in the San Gabriel Valley area – have seen loan demand jump as more consumers are back on their feet. We are seeing that especially in the auto loans area particularly. The first-quarter gain this year was particularly noteworthy as the first quarter of any year is typically slow.” In addition, the increase in business loans show demand is increasing in this arena as well, Johnston said. (Shel Segal can be reached at ssegal@beaconmedianews.com. He can be followed via Twitter @ segallanded.)
RCEA graduation Continued from page 1
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facts, but if you just simply apply the life lesson facts you have been taught, you can make it, you can be successful, and you can make a difference,” said Senior Drill Instructor Captain Joe Vines as he challenged graduates at the ceremony. The RCEA Rifle Drill Team performed a special tribute to the class of 2014 and each graduating student received special recognition before thanking their family, friends, and RCEA staff through multimedia presentations. All graduates are attending college or entering military service.
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Net neutrality Continued from page 1
complete inability to up- and/or download from BitTorrent. The concept of Net Neutrality would prohibit actions like Comcast’s. We as Internet users would be able to use any website at the speed we pay for with whatever information we choose to read. ISPs would not be able to restrict (political) content that their representatives disagree with. Net Neutrality stands for an open Internet, one which protects and enables our right of free speech. However, in January 2014, court ruled that ISPs can now legally discriminate against websites and applications. ISPs can delay or block content, favor certain websites and corporations, and charge Internet companies various fees. The freepress campaign Save the Internet provides a comparison: “Just as your phone company cannot decide who you could call and what you say on that call, your ISP should not be concerned with what content you view or post online.” The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reclassified broadband from “common carriers” or “telecommunications services” to “information services.” The court decided that due to this reclassification, the FCC lacks authority to enforce rules over network owners. Save the Internet informs that, ”freed from any legal re-
straints, ISPs can monitor everything you do and say online — and sell the information to the highest bidder. ISPs have something that companies like Facebook and Google don’t: direct control over your connections to the Internet and the devices you use to connect to it.” Furthermore, the campaign states that AT&T, Verizon and other ISPs “have been caught enabling unchecked spying and surveillance by the NSA and other government agencies.” Net Neutrality is important for small business owners and entrepreneurs who use the Internet to promote their products. Without Net Neutrality, their opportunity to grow would be taken from larger companies with more money, who would simply pay ISPs to interfere, delay, or completely block websites from their emerging competitors. On May 15, the FCC proposed to make such actions legal. The Save the Internet campaign along with the American Civil Liberties Union, Common Cause, Slate, and others urge the public to demand a reclassification of ISPs. By signing online petitions directed at FCC chairman Tom Wheeler, whose plans go against Net Neutrality, we can demand our right for an open Internet, where free speech prevails and where our privacy is legally valued.
California Fish and Game Commission votes to add gray wolf to state endangered list
Wolf track in snow. -Photo by Linda Hay. Photo courtesy of CA Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The California Fish and Game Commission has voted to move forward with listing the gray wolf as an endangered species under California law. The vote took place at the regularly scheduled Commission meeting in Fortuna on June 4. Commissioners Richard Rogers, Jack Baylis and Michael Sutton voted for listing, while Commissioner Jacque Hostler-Carmesin voted no. Commissioner Jim Kellogg was not present. “No land animal is more iconic in the American West than the Gray Wolf,” said Sutton, who is also president of the Commission. “Wolves deserve our protection as they begin to disperse from Oregon to their historic range in California.” The new regulatory language will take several months to complete and approve. However, today’s decision provides permanent protection for the gray wolf, and immediate protection under the California Endangered Species Act. That protection will remain in place throughout the required regulatory process. The gray wolf is already federally listed as an endangered
species and is therefore protected by the federal Endangered Species Act in California. The federal Endangered Species Act makes it unlawful to take any listed wildlife unless permitted by regulation. The term “take” means to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, collect or attempt to engage in any such conduct. The protection provided under federal law overlaps, but does not supersede, protection provided by listing under California law. At this time, there are no gray wolves known to be in California. A male wolf that originated in northeastern Oregon – known as OR7 – has crossed the Oregon/ California state line several times since December 2011. At this time, OR7 is in southwestern Oregon, where he has found a mate. On Monday, June 3, biologists from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife captured photographs of two wolf pups in the vicinity. For more information about gray wolves, including OR7’s travels in California, please visit www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/nongame/ wolf/FAQ.html.