Health officials: Potentially deadly bird flu found in more pet food
Sheriff: Public's help needed to solve 2020 Murders at Aguanga marijuana grow
Pg 03
Pg 02
VISIT HEYSOCAL.COM
Local. Relevant. Trusted.
Thursday, January 09-January 15, 2025
Biden in SoCal to announce new Chuckwalla National Monument By Joe Taglieri
VOL. 9,
NO. 205
Cal Fire bolsters resources throughout region during windstorm By City News Service
I
n the face of an intense Santa Ana windstorm, additional firefighting resources are deployed Wednesday throughout Riverside County for the remainder of the week. Cal Fire released a statement Monday indicating engine and hand crews are transferring from stations in Northern California to the Inland Empire, as well as Orange, San Diego and neighboring counties. The specific count was 45 additional engines for deployment in Southern California, along with six more hand crews. Cal Fire stated Riverside County "will staff additional firefighting resources above normal levels, including fire engines, hand crews, bulldozers, water tenders and supervisory personnel 24/7." "As we experienced in Ventura County in November with the Mountain Fire, and again in December with the Franklin Fire in Malibu, wildfire is a year-round threat," Cal Fire Director Joe Tyler said. "Please be vigilant and don't be the cause of the next wildfire in your community." Tyler offered the following precautionary measures for
joet@beaconmedianews.com
Wildflowers bloom in early spring in the proposed Chuckwalla National Monument. | Photo courtesy of Bob Wick/Protect Chuckwalla
See Cal Fire Page 24
National Monument
A
historically fierce windstorm Tuesday in Southern California that has caused destructive wildfires prompted President Joe Biden to cancel a trip from Los Angeles to the Coachella Valley, where he was to announce two national monuments in the state, including Chuckwalla in Riverside County. The president and first lady Jill Biden arrived at LA International Airport aboard Air Force One on Monday morning from New Orleans, where they met with families and community members affected by the New Year's Day terror attack on Bourbon Street that left 15 people dead and dozens injured, according to the White House. Biden had been scheduled to travel to Thermal
in Riverside County early Tuesday afternoon to officially announce the Chuckwalla National Monument near just south of Joshua Tree National Park and also the Sáttítla National Monument in Northern California. The two monuments will protect 848,000 acres of land that are of "scientific, cultural, ecological and historical importance," according to the White House. After considering having Biden make the monument announcement from the LA area, White House officials said later that the event would take place next week "so that key stakeholders can attend." Details of the rescheduled event were not immediately available. Biden, who had already gotten into a vehicle in a motorcade in the West
LA/Santa Monica area for the trip to Thermal, later returned to his hotel, according to published reports. It was unclear when he would plan to leave Southern California. The Chuckwalla National Monument will preserve more than 624,000 acres of public land and is Biden's "capstone action to create the largest corridor of protected lands in the continental United States, covering nearly 18 million acres stretching approximately 600 miles," according to the White House. "This new Moab to Mojave Conservation Corridor protects wildlife habitat and a wide range of natural and cultural resources along the Colorado River, across the Colorado Plateau, and into the deserts of California. It is a vitally
important cultural and spiritual landscape that has been inhabited and traveled by Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples since time immemorial." Biden was also set to officially announce Tuesday the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument in Northern California, which will encompass more than 224,000 acres of varied habitat that includes areas of the Modoc, ShastaTrinity and Klamath national forests. The Moab to Mojave Conservation Corridor stretches from Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southwestern Utah, to which Biden restored protections in 2021, through Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni See Chuckwalla Page 12
Construction to start on Riverside's Agricultural Innovation Center By City News Service
O
fficials from the city of Riverside will join residents of the Northside neighborhood and others Thursday to celebrate the start of construction on an agricultural facility intended to highlight the positives of using green technology to grow food. The groundbreaking ceremony for the Northside Agriculture Innovation Center was slated for 9:30 a.m. at 900 Clark St. "Riverside has a deep agricultural history as the birthplace of the citrus industry," Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson said. "The NAIC is an opportunity to show the same level of leadership on ag issues into the coming century." The center will be constructed in space long impacted by blight and will serve as both an educational facility and community garden, according to officials. "Northside residents have played a key role in developing the NAIC from concept into reality," City Councilman See Agricultural Center Page 11