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VOL. 8,
Voters recall Temecula Valley Unified School District board president By Staff and City News Service
Smart & Final warehouse workers go on strike By City News Service
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ver 600 workers at two Smart & Final warehouses in Southern California — including one in Riverside — went on strike Wednesday and planned to walk picket lines Thursday, protesting what they call mass layoffs and other alleged unfair labor practices, their union said. The workers are represented by Teamsters Local 630, which says the grocery store chain — owned by Commercebased Chedraui USA — plans to close unionized Smart & Final warehouses in Commerce and Riverside. They added that workers are being forced to reapply for employment at $10 to $12 less per hour at a new warehouse in Rancho Cucamonga. “The clock is ticking for Chedraui/Smart & Final to make things right,” Teamsters Local 630 Secretary-Treasurer Lou Villalvazo said. “The company is continuing to commit unfair labor practices without any regard for its workers. With the busy summer months approaching, the company faces not just a moral but a logistical crisis. They need to act now to guarantee our members their jobs, decent wages, respect and a fair contract. We will not stand by and watch these workers be exploited.” In a statement, the company said, “The Teamsters’ claims are simply not true. We are currently integrating five outdated and capacity-strained facilities that are
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controversial Temecula school board president has been successfully recalled and Friday he was considering running for election again in November. Temecula Valley Unified School District board President Joseph Komrosky, a conservative Christian who supported removing what he called critical race theory from classroom curriculum and policies allowing teachers to inform parents of children who identify as transgender, was narrowly recalled in results released Thursday. The recall election was June 4. The results of the election, available at the Riverside County Registrar of Voters office and website, show 51.09% voted to recall Komrosky and 48.91% voted against the recall. There was a 45.01% turnout with just under 10,000 votes cast. In an email from Komrosky published in the Riverside Press Enterprise, he said he would consider running for a school board seat in November and thanked his supporters. It echoed statements he made at a school board meeting on June 11. “If I am recalled as a trustee from TVUSD, given the narrow margin, I will likely run again in the November 2024 General Election,” Komrosky wrote. “If not, it has been an honor to serve the Temecula community, and I am proud to have fulfilled all of my campaign promises as an elected official. My commitment to protecting the innocence of our children in Temecula schools remains unwavering.” Whether Komrosky, who represents Trustee Area 4 in the school district, can run again for school board is under consideration by the Riverside County Registrar of Voters. The school board
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| Photo courtesy of the Temecula Valley Unified School District
can have a special election or appoint a new board member to fill Komrosky’s seat. Komrosky was elected to the school board in November 2022. He, with the support of other conservative board members, successfully passed policies banning critical race theory and requiring parents to be informed if their child identified as transgender. Last year the TVUSD board drew fire from Gov. Gavin Newsom who clashed with board members opposed to a state-recommended social studies curriculum that included content on Harvey Milk, the first openly gay politician in California. Newsom referred to board members opposed to the book as part of “cancel culture,” a phrase popularly reserved for the rampaging mobs involved in destruction and desecration of statues on college campuses and elsewhere in the 2010s. “Radicalized zealots on
the school board rejected a textbook used by hundreds of thousands of students, and now children will begin the school year without the tools they need to learn,” Newsom said in a July 2023 statement. “If the school board won’t do its job by its next board meeting to ensure kids start the school year with basic materials, the state will deliver the book into the hands of children and their parents — and we’ll send the district the bill and fine them.” Komrosky, along with board trustees Danny Gonzalez and Jennifer Wiersma, voted against adoption of “Social Studies Alive” for the K-5 curriculum based in part on its celebration of gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, whom Komrosky referred to as a “pedophile” for his documented interactions with a teenage boy from another state when Milk was in his 30s. “My remarks about Mr.
Milk are not based upon being a homosexual,” Komrosky said publicly last month. “But rather, based upon an adult having a sexual relationship with a minor. I’ll ask you one simple question, governor: Do you approve of any 33-year-old person, regardless of their gender identity or sexual preference, having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old?” Two months after rejecting the curriculum, the board approved it July 21, 2023. Trustee Area 4 includes locations between Temecula Parkway and Rancho California Road and extends into Temecula Valley Wine Country. The last day to request a recount is Tuesday by 5 p.m. The seat for Trustee Area 2 is also vacant since Gonzalez resigned in December, citing a work-related move to Texas as his reason for leaving the five-member school board, according to published reports.
AG won’t prosecute Riverside County officers for fatal shooting By Joe Taglieri joet@beaconmedianews.com
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iverside County sheriff’s deputies who shot and killed an alleged fentanyl dealer in Hemet will not face criminal charges, state Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Thursday. Joseph Thomas Tracy IV, 20, was killed Jan. 18, 2022, after he fled from authorities who were surveilling him for allegedly selling large amounts of fentanyl out of a motel in the 2600 block of West Florida Avenue. According to a report by Bonta’s office detailing the deputy-involved shooting investigation, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office Gang Impact Team “conducted surveillance on Mr. Tracy at a hotel in the City of Hemet. The team had information that Mr. Tracy was selling large quantities of fentanyl, was armed with a P80 handgun with a high-capacity magazine, and was staying at the hotel with an underage female. After attempts to lure Mr. Tracy out of the hotel room, Mr. Tracy saw the officers and fled.” During the chase Detective Christopher Porrazzo, Deputy Joshua Smith, Detective Richard Kerr and Sgt. See AG-OIS Page 28