Court commissioner, prosecutor contend for judicial seat
Vote centers open in Riverside County for general election
Pg 32
Pg 15
VISIT HEYSOCAL.COM
Thursday, October 31-November 06, 2024
Local. Relevant. Trusted.
VOL. 8,
NO. 195
US reps say regulators should delay vote on price-rising fuel rules By Joe Taglieri joet@beaconmedianews.com
H
ouse Republicans called for California air-quality regulators to postpone an upcoming vote on more stringent emissions standards that could significantly increase fuel prices, U.S. Rep. Michelle Steel announced Friday. Steel, whose district is in northeastern Orange County, and Rep. Rand David Valadao, R-Visalia, co-wrote a letter signed by all House Republicans from California asking the Air Resources Board to delay a vote set for Nov. 8 on changes to the state's Low Carbon Fuel Standard. "Once the proposed amendments are implemented in 2024, they are projected to potentially increase the price of gasoline by an average of
| Photos by donut3771 and Mike Shots/Envato Elements
$0.37 per gallon, potentially increase the price of diesel by an average of $0.47 per gallon, and fossil jet fuel $0.35 per gallon based on the average change in estimated annual LCFS credit price and annual deficits ...
through 2030," according to a California Air Resources Board analysis released in September 2023. The same analysis, which the reps' letter references, also provided a table showing 2025 pump prices
could rise by $0.47 per gallon for gasoline, $0.59 for diesel and $0.44 for jet fuel. The congressional members' letter to the board also included an estimate from the state's Independent Emissions Market
Advisory Committee that the "current policy trajectory could singlehandedly raise gas prices by 85 cents by 2030." The lawmakers urged board members to immediately assess costs to
consumers before making policy changes that will raise gas prices, adding that high gas prices "disproportionately affect working class Californians, who’ve already weathered significant cost of living increases in recent years." Co-signers of the letter were Reps. Ken Calvert, John Duarte, Vince Fong, Mike Garcia, Darrell Issa, Kevin Kiley, Young Kim, Doug LaMalfa, Tom McClintock and Jay Obernolte. “Governor Newsom’s bureaucracy in Sacramento continues to make life unaffordable for Californians without considering input from affected citizens. State agencies should not be enacting new regulations See Emissions Page 31
Man sentenced for killing former schoolmate, whose body has not been found
Court clerk admits mishandling confidential docs
By City News Service
By City News Service
A
man who killed a 16-year-old Moreno Valley girl because she got him expelled from school, hiding her body somewhere in the San Bernardino Mountains, was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole. A Riverside jury in August deliberated barely a day before convicting 23-year-old Owen Skyler Shover of Hesperia of first-degree murder and a special-circumstance alle-
gation of lying in wait for the death of Aranda Briones in 2019. During a hearing at the Riverside Hall of Justice Friday, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Timothy Hollenhorst imposed the sentence required by law. "The victim didn't deserve this. She was just a kid," District Attorney Mike Hestrin told City News Service. "She had her whole life ahead of her. This was a tremendous loss — all because of one person's
choice. It's truly heartbreaking." Hestrin chose to handle the prosecution himself not because the case posed particularly unique challenges, but because "it's good for the elected D.A. to do a trial once in a while." "It keeps me connected to the work that we do in the courts, and it's a good reminder to me of how difficult the work is, day in and day out," he said. See Murder Page 32
O
ne of two former Riverside County Superior Court clerks indicted for mishandling privileged information connected to a criminal case pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy to commit a crime. Michelle Valdez, 59, of Thousand Palms admitted the felony count in a plea agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney's Office. No charges were dismissed. The admission was made during a pretrial hearing
Monday before Superior Court Judge Joshlyn Pulliam at the Riverside Hall of Justice. Valdez's plea comes just over a week after her co-defendant and ex-colleague, 48-year-old Angela Franz of Thousand Palms, admitted the same charge before Pulliam. The judge scheduled a sentencing hearing for Franz on Dec. 2, while Valdez is slated for sentencing on Jan. 22. Both women are expected to receive proba-
tion. Each is free on bond. According to the District Attorney's Office, the two were assigned to the Larson Justice Center in Indio when the offense occurred in January 2020. Prosecutors said that a law enforcement officer submitted a search warrant request and asked that the documents remain under seal due to confidentiality concerns and to prevent the investigation from being See Court Page 15