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MONDAY, AUGUST 12- AUGUST 18, 2024
VOL. 8,
NO. 184
San Bernardino board OKs foster youth ambassadors, zoo shades, public art
Massive fuel spill closes freeway lanes in Banning
By Staff
By City News Service
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urrent and former foster youth will soon lend their perspectives to child welfare policies, programs and practices in San Bernardino County following approval Tuesday from the Board of Supervisors. The board approved an agreement with the nonprofit Child and Family Policy Institute of California, or CFPIC, to participate in the Youth Engagement Project. The initiative connects current and former participants in county child welfare system — youth ambassadors — with local child welfare leaders. The goal of the program “is to utilize the lived experience of current and former foster youth for local projects designed to improve child welfare systems,” according to a county statement. San Bernardino County Children and Family Services will oversee the program. “Services are provided in the least intrusive manner with a family-centered focus,” county officials said. “This mission is accomplished in collaboration with the family, a wide variety of public and private agencies, and members of the community.” CFPIC’s task will be to recruit youth ambassadors and match them with counties based on factors that include the young person’s skill set, project details and county need, officials said. “(Children and Family Services) will be responsible for designating a project that would benefit from a youth ambassador’s perspective, as well as providing guidance and support to the youth ambassador while engaged in the project,” according to the county. Youth ambassadors might assist in reviewing and providing feedback on county policies that directly impact young people in the county’s care, help improve a website
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| Photo courtesy of San Bernardino County Children and Family Services
for current and former foster youth or take part in Independent Learning Program meetings to help develop and expand the program. Through collaboration with Youth Engagement Project, “CFS will have the opportunity to engage a subsection of the community with direct experience in the child welfare system and utilize their perspective to identify areas where CFS can develop and improve programs and practices in alignment with its mission,” officials said. Zoo shade structures The board approved $1 million in county funding for shade structures at the Big Bear Alpine Zoo. The nonprofit Friends of the Big Bear Alpine Zoo started a fundraising campaign in 2022 for the shades and will contribute $256,100. “The shade structures will improve animal welfare and would offer a more comfortable experience for guests as hotter days become more frequent,” according to a
county statement. The new shade structures will be able to withstand the storms and high winds that are typical for the Big Bear Lake area and provide protection from weather elements for zoo animals. The shelters will be integrated into the zoo’s main buildings and animal enclosures. “Hosting grizzly bears, mountain lions, snow leopards, wolves, eagles, bobcats and more, the Big Bear Alpine Zoo is a rehabilitation facility offering injured, orphaned and imprinted wild animals a second chance,” county officials said. “The vast majority of animals brought to the zoo for rehabilitation are successfully released back into their native environment. Those that remain are either too injured or have been imprinted by humans and cannot be released back into the wild to care for themselves.” Public art Supervisors OK’d a proposal by 2nd District
Supervisor Jesse Armendarez to provide up to $1.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars to Rancho Cucamonga for the Art Program Integration Project. The project supports public art and promotes local and regional artists through expanded access for disadvantaged communities and youth, officials said. The funding is for building the city’s Victoria Gardens Civic Plaza project, which takes “a primarily passive, outdoor space with little shade and seating” and reshapes the area “to encourage greater pedestrian access and use and facilitate live entertainment.” ARPA has a $350 billion Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund to distribute resources to state and local governments. The county’s ARPA Team reviews all proposed county projects to determine eligibility for ARPA funding and whether the project complies with the board-approved spending plan, officials said.
massive diesel fuel spill of approximately 2,500 gallons resulting from a collision between two commercial big rigs closed two lanes of traffic on the San Bernardino (10) Freeway Thursday in Banning. Firefighters responded at 1:35 a.m. Thursday to the eastbound freeway near Hargrave Street, where they found downed power lines and the two big rigs, with one on its side leaking diesel fuel from its saddle tanks and the other transporting several thousand gallons of gasoline, according to the Riverside County Fire Department. Union Pacific Railroad authorities temporarily stopped all train traffic in both directions before reopening at a reduced speed. Two lanes
of the eastbound freeway remained closed as of approximately 8:15 a.m. The drivers were being evaluated at the scene by paramedics, the fire department reported. A hazardous materials Team was called to mitigate the fuel leak, and Banning Electric was contacted to de-energize the downed power lines, fire department officials said. Crews continued to work to recover some of the spilled diesel gas. Shortly before 9 a.m., the scene was turned over to Riverside County Environmental Health, with all RCFD equipment being released from the incident, according to an update from the fire department.
Felon charged with fatally stabbing Walmart employee in Elsinore By City News Service
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parolee accused of fatally stabbing a 65-year-old sales clerk at a Lake Elsinore Walmart was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder and other offenses. Lonnie Will Hinton III of Wildomar was arrested Monday after he allegedly killed Jessica Morales of Menifee. Along with murder, Hinton is charged with a special circumstance allegation of lying in wait, a sentence-enhancing allegation of using a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony and parole violations. He had been slated for arraignment Wednesday afternoon, but Riverside County Superior Court Judge Jeff Zimel postponed the hearing to Thursday morning at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta. The defendant is being held without bail at the Byrd Detention Center. According to Sgt. Jarred Bishop of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, just before 7 a.m. Monday, Hinton was inside the Supercenter at 29260 Central Ave., just east See Walmart murder Page 32