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MONDAY, APRIL 29- MAY 05, 2024
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NO. 169
VOL. 8,
Thousands of campers flock to Stagecoach Country Music Festival By City News Service
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housands of campers made their way to the Empire Polo Club on Thursday in advance of the 2024 Stagecoach Country Music Festival, which was headlined by Eric Church, Miranda Lambert and Morgan Wallen. The annual three-day festival was held Friday to Sunday at the Empire Polo Club, 81800 51st Ave. Church headlined the first night of the festival Friday. Other acts that performed included Jelly Roll, Elle King, Dwight Yoakam, Carin Leon and Paul Cauthen. Lambert headlined Saturday, when other performers included Post Malone, Willie Nelson, Leon Bridges, Ernest and Charley Crockett. Wallen was Sunday night’s headliner, following other performers including Hardy, Bailey Zimmerman, The Beach Boys, Megan Moroney and Clint Black. Festival attendees also had the opportunity to attend late-night performances on the Palomino stage, which included Nickelback, Diplo and Wiz Khalifa, according
to festival organizers. The venue also featured a Ferris wheel, the Compton Cowboys, Guy Fieri’s Stagecoach Smokehouse and a Honkytonk Dance Hall. More information is available at stagecoachfestival.com/set-times/. Non-campers were allowed to start finding parking spots in the general parking area as early as 9 a.m. Friday to Sunday before the venue opened at noon each day. Shuttle services will began to depart from local hotels at 11:30 p.m. each day. Festival attendees also had the opportunity to attend late-night performances on the Palomino stage, which included Nickelback, Diplo and Wiz Khalifa, according to festival organizers. The venue also featured a Ferris wheel, the Compton Cowboys, Guy Fieri’s Stagecoach Smokehouse and a Honkytonk Dance Hall. Campers checked in as early at 9 a.m. and have to check out by 10 a.m. Monday when the event concludes, according to festival officials. Non-campers were
allowed to start finding parking spots in the general parking area as early as 9 a.m. Friday to Sunday before the venue opened at noon each day. Shuttle services began to depart from local hotels at 11:30 a.m. each day. From 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. Thursday, Avenue 52 was closed between Monroe Street and Madison Street to accommodate the arrival of campers. Avenue 50 between Monroe Street and Madison Avenue will be closed through May 6 “to protect the safety of workers, residents, and commuters,” according to city officials, who expected significant traffic on Avenue 48, Highway 111, Interstate 10 and Jefferson, Washington and Monroe streets. Road closures near the venue — on Avenue 49, Avenue 50, Hjorth Street, and Madison Street — were in place from Friday to Monday. Additionally, delays were expected Monday on streets surrounding the festival site and on Interstate 10 as 40,000 campers were expected to leave the area, according to city officials.
An aerial nighttime view of the Stagecoach festival. | Photo courtesy of Goldenvoice
Motorists were encouraged to take alternate routes if traveling near the affected areas. An Uber location will be located on the southwest corner of Avenue 49 and Monroe Street while friend,
family and taxi drop-off and pick-ups are expected to be on the northeast corner of Avenue 52 and Madison Street. Golf carts are not allowed at any of the affected streets near the festival.
To help ease the traffic conditions, approximately 40,000 guests will be shuttled to and from the concert venue from varying locations throughout the Coachella Valley, according to city officials.
Riverside council OKs program to help prevent seniors from becoming homeless
Police: Illicit drugs seized, more than dozen arrested in cartel crackdown
By Staff
By City News Service
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he Riverside City Council last week approved a pilot program designed to provide financial assistance to elderly residents struggling to pay rent. The council’s unanimous vote Tuesday to launch the program is an effort to help some of Riverside’s most vulnerable residents who may find themselves at risk of becoming homeless, according to a statement by city spokesman Phil Pitchford. “The Supplemental Rental Assistance Program for Seniors will provide Riverside residents ages 70 and up with as much as $600 of supplemental rental assistance payments while they wait for a Section 8 voucher to be issued or for an affordable senior housing unit to become available,” Pitchford wrote. Rental assistance payments can continue up to a year. Funding for the program totaling $900,000 is through the federal American Rescue Plan Act, which initially provided fiscal aid to local governments dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our seniors on fixed incomes are especially vulnerable to the housing crisis in CaliSee Pilot program Page 28
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iverside police Chief Larry Gonzalez said Wednesday a yearlong joint local-federal law enforcement investigation that interdicted the trafficking of fentanyl and other potentially deadly narcotics in the metropolitan area was aimed at “safeguarding the community,” netting 15 arrests and the seizure of large quantities of illicit drugs. “We will continue leveraging every available resource to disrupt drug distribution trying to make its way into our Riverside neighborhoods,” Gonzalez said of “Operation Hotline Bling,” which involved a crackdown on members of the Sinaloa drug trafficking network out of Mexico. Riverside Police Department personnel joined U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents and Postal Service inspectors to carry out the operation, which began in the winter of 2023. “Our collaboration with the DEA is not just about enforcement; it’s about safeguarding the future of our community and ensuring that Riverside remains a safe and thriving place See Drugs Page 27