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Riverside Independent_11/9/2023

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Airport Veterans Day event planned Saturday in Jurupa Valley

PS man convicted of murdering girlfriend during rage over breakup

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Riverside County board seeks changes, defers vote on short-term rental law By Paul J. Young, City News Service

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ollowing a lengthy and sometimes emotional hearing on proposed amendments to Riverside County's short-term rental ordinance, the Board of Supervisors Tuesday directed staff to return with a series of proposed adjustments before taking a final vote on the revised regulatory system later this month. Tuesday's hearing on proposed alterations to Ordinance No. 927 spanned roughly five hours, with upwards of 60 speakers addressing the board to express their concerns or satisfaction with what Transportation and Land Management Agency staff had brought forward regarding limitations on short-term rental permits in Idyllwild-Pine Cove and the Temecula Valley Wine Country. A moratorium on the issuance of short-term rental permits in those areas

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The Supreme Court will decide if domestic abuse orders can bar people from having guns. Lives could be at stake. By Paige Pfleger, WPLN/Nashville Public Radio, ProPublica

predawn hours of Feb. 2, 2020, there were confrontations, including one involving Jared Zesk and several other people, resulting in Zesk taking a few thumps before he was pushed out the door. Beecham said Darren Zesk was infuriated over his cousin's treatment, and before leaving the premises, he openly vowed to "come back and shoot up the party." "He went and got guns for

This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Series: Under the Gun:How Gun Violence Is Impacting the Nation s America emerged from the pandemic, communities continued to experience a rising tide of gun violence. School shootings and the rate of children and teens killed by gunfire both reached all-time highs since at least 1999. ProPublica’s coverage of gun violence reveals how first responders, policymakers and those directly affected are coping with the bloodshed. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments next week in a pivotal firearms case that could have profound implications for how police and courts deal with domestic violence. The question: Should people who are placed under domestic violence protection orders also lose access to their guns? For many victim advocates, the answer is obvious. Women are five times more likely to be killed in a domestic violence incident when the abuser has access to a gun. Advocates argue that the gun restrictions tied to such orders are among the most powerful tools for domestic violence victims and that without them, more people will die. For gun rights groups and their most ardent supporters, that is beside the point. They contend that people subject to protection orders haven’t been convicted of a crime and that taking their firearms away violates the Second Amendment. If the government can disarm them, they ask, who could the government disarm next? Earlier this year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit sided with gun rights supporters, invalidating a federal law passed by Congress in 1994 that bars people under domestic violence orders from having firearms. If the Supreme Court upholds that decision and rules that gun restrictions tied to restraining orders are unconstitutional, states would have fewer options to stop domestic abusers from possessing, and using, guns. And in conservative states, the aggressive rollback of gun control laws means that it is already easier for people to get guns to begin with. This year, WPLN and ProPublica have been reporting on the issue at the heart of the Supreme Court case: the difficulty of separating domestic abusers from their guns. The court’s ruling could have immense ramifications in Tennessee, where weak enforcement of gun laws has allowed

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was first implemented in September 2022, then again last August, providing the Planning Commission time to consider targeted modifications to the Short-Term Rental Ordinance, which were approved by the commission in a 4-0 vote. That action at the end of August resulted in the matter going before the board for final consideration. The proposed modified ordinance will be reviewed again by the board on Nov. 28.

"When (a short-term rental permitting process) is working, it's a benefit to the community," Adam Hendricks, a property owner in Idyllwild, told the board. "We welcome regulations that increase safety and quality of life. But imposing an ordinance that arbitrarily removes people from participating ... makes everything really difficult." David Hunt, a longtime

Idyllwild resident, told the board that limitations on short-term rentals address "major public health and safety concerns" in the mountain community. "Every STR that comes to Idyllwild and Pine Cove impacts our sewer and water," he said. "There needs to be a maximum cap." Laura Stern, a Temecula Valley property manager, said

See Rental law Page 16

Young man receives life in prison for murdering partygoer in MoVal young man who gunned down an 18-year-old partygoer in an ambush at a Moreno Valley home where the defendant lured the victim into the street on the pretext of fighting him was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole. A Riverside jury in May convicted 22-year-old Darren Peter Zesk of the 2020 killing of Massai Jevon Cole of Inglewood. Jurors found Zesk guilty of

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By City News Service first-degree murder, a specialcircumstance allegation of lying in wait and sentenceenhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations. They came back hung on a special-circumstance allegation of perpetrating a hate crime, and that count was dismissed. During a hearing Friday at the Riverside Hall of Justice, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Bernard Schwartz imposed the sentence required by law.

Deputy District Attorney Kevin Beecham said that when Zesk "lured" Cole out of the house at 16512 Century St., he intended to "ambush" the victim, "fulfilling a promise" that he'd made to his cousin, 21-year-old Jared Lee Zesk, to get back at those who had roughed him up at the party house. According to testimony, the defendant and his cousin joined dozens of others at the location, and as the excitement continued into the

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