https://www.highlandnews.net/news/public_safety/county-monitoring-new-coronavirus-reports-no-local-cases/article_92eee162-41f3-11ea-95fa-b71496b6c793.html

BREAKING

Country report

County monitoring new coronavirus; reports no local casesJan 28, 2020

The San Bernardino County Department of Public Health (DPH) is working with the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH)

to respond to recent reports of a novel coronavirus. No cases have been reported in San

Bernardino County.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that circulate mostly among animals, including

camels, cats and bats. Common symptoms in an infected human include a fever, cough and

shortness of breath or di�culty breathing. Common symptoms in an infected person include a

fever, cough and shortness of breath or di�culty breathing.

“There have been no con�rmed coronavirus cases in San Bernardino County to date,” stated

Dr. Erin Gustafson, San Bernardino County Assistant Health O�cer. “DPH will keep citizens

informed as more information about the coronavirus is made available. At this time, we urge

the public to remain calm, as it is very unlikely to be at risk of contracting the virus.”

As with any virus, especially during the �u season, there are a number of steps you can take to

protect your health and those around you:

• Washing hands with soap and water.

• Avoiding touching eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands.

• Avoiding close contact with people who are sick are all ways to reduce the risk of infection

with a number of di�erent viruses.

• If someone does become sick with respiratory symptoms like fever and cough, they should

stay away from work, school or other people to avoid spreading illness.

Since December 2019, Chinese authorities have identi�ed hundreds of cases associated with

this new coronavirus in an outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China.

CDPH has been informed that one individual in Los Angeles County and one individual in

Orange County have tested positive for novel coronavirus, which has been con�rmed by Los

Angeles County Department of Public Health (LADPH), the Orange County Health Care Agency

(OCHCA) and CDC.

The CDC con�rmed the �rst case in the U.S. on Jan. 21, a Washington State man who had

returned to the U.S from Wuhan on Jan. 15. On Jan. 24, the CDC con�rmed a second U.S. case

in a traveler who returned to Chicago from Wuhan on Jan. 13.

While there is no cure for this virus, our hospital partners and clinical providers will be able to

test and care for ill travelers e�ectively to minimize transmission and severe illness. DPH will

continue to provide updates and work with local healthcare providers as the situation evolves.

DPH urges individuals who have recently traveled to Wuhan City and who develop fever or

respiratory symptoms, to contact their healthcare provider by phone. DPH requests that

healthcare providers treating patients with respiratory symptoms ask these patients about

their travel history to Wuhan, China and to report suspected novel coronavirus infections to

DPH.

Additional questions about the screening process should be directed to the CDC. Additional

information can be found though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or

California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Internet pages. Information is available in

English and Chinese.

WORLD & NATION

Fear, tears, anger among Americans in Chinese city besieged bydeadly virus

A Boeing 747 on a charter flight from Wuhan, China, arrives Wednesday at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County.(Ringo H.W. Chiu / Associated Press)

By CINDY CHANGSTAFF WRITER

JAN. 29, 202012 PM

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BEIJING — The plane was the only way out of the besieged Chinese city, and Americans clamored

for seats.

A couple with a 7-year-old daughter did not receive the coveted call. A 65-year-old man’s phone

rang, but he gave up his spot because others needed it more.

There seemed to be no rhyme or reason as to who was tapped by U.S. officials to board the flight

early Wednesday, whisking them away from Wuhan, the center of a respiratory virus outbreak that

has killed more than 130 people in the last two months.

For a week, Wuhan has been under lockdown, with no transportation out of the city, as Chinese

officials desperately try to keep the new coronavirus from spreading.

The inland city of 11 million, a university and business hub often called the Chicago of China, has

become a cauldron of fear, stress and boredom, with overwhelmed hospitals, empty streets and

isolated residents afraid to be in the same room with close friends.

It is unclear how deadly the virus is or how easily it spreads. Most reported cases have occurred in

Wuhan and surrounding Hubei province, and most patients elsewhere had recently traveled there.

But the tally of fatalities and confirmed cases, as well as the virus’ geographic reach, has increased

daily, prompting the U.S. State Department to recommend that Americans avoid traveling to

China. Some airlines have begun restricting flights out of the entire country, not just Wuhan.

For expatriates in Wuhan, many of whom teach English at universities and language institutes, the

crisis is especially disorienting.

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Many are not fluent in Chinese and worry about communicating if they go to the hospital. They

share anxieties and questions with each other on WeChat and Facebook forums. On Wednesday,

one man posted that he lost his temper at a Walmart cashier who rummaged through a quilt he had

just bought, potentially spreading germs.

Americans still stuck in Wuhan have received no word about any future government-sponsored

flights. Some are angry at U.S. officials for not doing more to help.

“The American people should know that there are enormous efforts underway by the United States

government to make sure that we do everything we can to protect the American people and to

reduce the risk all around the globe,” said Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo in a statement. “So

we’re confident the World Health Organization, supported by the United States and other

organizations that have the capacity, will help the Chinese government push back against this real

risk. We’ll take all the resources we can manage to do that.”

Asked if the State Department was considering a ban on travel to China, Pompeo said he would not

get ahead of any decisions or internal deliberations on the matter.

“The State Department constantly evaluates the risk to traveler,” Pompeo said. “We’ve raised the

level to Level Four inside of Wuhan and we will evaluate it on a continuous basis, literally hour by

hour, whether that’s the appropriate level in Wuhan and whether we get it right in other places.

That includes travel advisories, a wide range of things, including banning travel, all the things we

constantly have under consideration. We want to make sure we get it right. At the same time, we

don’t want to overreact either. We don’t want to react in a way that actually has the potential to

make things worse and not better.”

Jacob Wilson, a 33-year-old Louisiana native who runs a tech startup in Wuhan, said he’s “anxious,

to put it lightly”.

“There’s a mixture of fear and anger,” he said. “It’s not like I’m trying to drag the embassy through

the mud, but people are dying in Wuhan and getting sick.”

In addition to consular officials being evacuated by the State Department, the plane that took off

Wednesday had room for a number of others, for a total of more than 200 passengers. It stopped

for refueling in Alaska before heading to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County. The

passengers were isolated from the crew through the entire flight, officials said. According to

officials, everyone aboard passed a health screening in Anchorage.

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Officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sought to reassure Americans

that passengers on the flight would not pose any danger. The Wuhan returnees were screened for

symptoms of the virus before boarding, in Alaska, during the flight and would again be screened at

the air base, the CDC said in a news release. They will also be monitored post-arrival and initially

housed in California.

A photograph from the air base showed rows of cots apparently ready for people undergoing

medical evaluations.

Wilson, the startup owner, did not get a seat on the plane. But unlike many expatriates, he owns a

car. He spread the word on social media that he was available for rides to the airport.

His first passenger was a young woman with special medical needs apart from the virus. They

stopped to pick up another woman and her 8-year-old daughter.

The lockdown includes restrictions on private cars in the city. Wilson hoped his license plate

number had been logged with authorities as a car taking Americans to the airport.

The “Today” show broadcast a video of the girl in a surgical mask saying from the backseat of

Wilson’s car: “We’re going to the U.S.”

An 8-year-old American rides in a car on her way to Wuhan Tianhe International Airport for a U.S. evacuation flightTuesday. (Priscilla Dickey)

Her mother, Priscilla Dickey, said, “Yeah, to see your Nanna and your Poppa.”

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Wilson said he later returned to the airport to take the mother and daughter back home. The girl’s

passport was with her father in another city, and she was not allowed to board the plane, according

to Wilson, who moderates a Wuhan American expat group on WeChat with about 180 members.

Some other children booked on the flight were also turned away because of issues with travel

documents, Wilson said. He planned to make another run to the airport soon to get a British

citizen out of the country.

Wilson broke down in tears as he described an elderly woman barred from entering a Walmart

because an employee determined she had a fever. He worried that she would starve.

Christopher Suzanne is one of the lucky Americans who escaped Wuhan. He had already booked a

Jan. 22 flight for his infant son to be baptized in Albany, N.Y.

In the weeks before the trip, the baby was hospitalized in Wuhan for a serious illness that included

fever and respiratory problems. When Suzanne asked if his son had the coronavirus, the doctor

pretended she did not speak English, he said.

The boy recovered, and the family left on one of the last flights out of the city.

“I feel almost guilty that I’m not in Wuhan,” Suzanne said. “All my friends that I lived with and

worked with, I’m watching them panic.”

John McGory, 65, said he gave up his seat on the government flight because he could survive the

siege better than families with children. He suspects he was offered a place because he had been

interviewed by U.S. media outlets.

McGory moved to Wuhan six years ago to teach English and experience life in another country. He

was just about to return home to Ohio and was busy with goodbye dinners and packing when the

city went on lockdown.

Now he does not know when he will leave. His university housing is free, and he hopes he has

enough money for food for the long haul.

He takes daily walks on the deserted campus, blogs about the experience and is adding a chapter

about the quarantine to a book he is writing, after recently publishing a book about learning

English as a second language.

With widespread paranoia in Wuhan about face-to-face contact, McGory’s social life is mostly

limited to social media. People have been sharing videos of pastimes, including a man attempting

to hook a fish from an indoor fish tank and women playing mah-jongg with plastic bags covering

their entire faces.

When McGory invited a friend over for a drink, joking that scotch kills all germs, the friend’s wife

nixed the plan.

He plans to get some charcoal from Walmart and have a cookout, with guests wearing surgical

masks and keeping a safe distance from one another. But he fears no one will show up.

“They’ll probably hide in their rooms and think the worst thoughts,” McGory said. “You can’t live

like that forever.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

WORLD & NATION

Must-read stories from the L.A. Times

CALIFORNIA

Coronavirus outbreak: Americans returning from China beingheld at California air base

A Boeing 747 on a charter flight from Wuhan, China, arrives Wednesday at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County.(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

By PRISCELLA VEGA, CINDY CHANG, ALEX WIGGLESWORTH

JAN. 29, 20202:36 PM

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Two hundred and one Americans, including a month-old baby and teenagers, will be held for three

days at the March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County and monitored by federal, state and county

health officials after fleeing from a coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China.

Passengers arrived at the base Wednesday morning after the U.S. State Department chartered a

private plane to evacuate diplomats stationed at the Wuhan consulate and their families. The plane

— which was the only way out of the locked down city — was large enough that other Americans

were also able to flee from the epicenter, where more than a thousand cases have been reported.

The passengers aren’t under an official quarantine, but Dr. Chris Braden of the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention told reporters during a news conference later in the day that all seemed to

cooperate with the three-day hold.

At the time of boarding, said Rear Adm. Nancy Knight with the CDC, none of the passengers were

deemed “high risk.”

“We try and balance how to protect these people, how to respect their rights, how to be the least

restrictive as possible and still be very careful about evaluation they go under so that everybody is

safe,” said Braden. “This is a balance. If we can do that without a federal quarantine order that

restricts people and takes away their rights, that’s what we’ll do.”

During the hold, passengers will be housed in a cordoned area at the base, where they’ll undergo

lab work and have their temperature monitored every 12 hours. Officials said lab work results

could be turned around in less than 72 hours.

A mobile healthcare unit will also be near the site for any injuries.

Passengers are encouraged to remain at the base for another 14 days, the duration of the

incubation period. However, if passengers decide to return to their home states, area public

officials will continue to monitor them for the same time frame.

If a passenger is deemed a danger to the community, Braden said they would issue a quarantine for

that person. Local county officials would likely take similar action, he added.

Officials dressed in white protective suits were seen Wednesday morning loading passengers’

luggage onto three buses. Those buses were later driven to the side of the plane where passengers

were gathered and then taken inside the base.

The chartered plane was initially bound for Ontario International Airport before higher-ups

diverted the aircraft to the base, which has facilities capable of housing passengers for roughly two

weeks, Braden said.

Passengers were screened before boarding the flight by Chinese and U.S. officials, again when the

plane stopped in Anchorage to refuel, and again when they arrived in Riverside County, Knight

said.

The new strain of coronavirus, known as 2019-nCoV, can cause respiratory illness and pneumonia.

It was originally thought to be spreading only from animals to people in central China, but there

are now indications it is also spreading among people.

It is unclear how deadly the virus is or how easily it spreads. Most reported cases have occurred in

Wuhan and surrounding Hubei province, and most patients elsewhere had recently traveled there.

But the tally of fatalities and confirmed cases, as well as the virus’ geographic reach, has increased

daily, prompting the U.S. State Department to recommend that Americans avoid traveling to

China. Some airlines have begun restricting flights out of the entire country, not just Wuhan.

Asked if he was considering a ban on travel to China, Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo said he

did not want to get ahead of any decisions or talk about internal deliberations on the matter.

ADVERTISEMENT

“But the American people should know that there are enormous efforts underway by the United

States government to make sure that we do everything we can to protect the American people and

to reduce the risk all around the globe,” he said. “So we’re confident the World Health

Organization, supported by the United States and other organizations that have the capacity, will

help the Chinese government push back against this real risk. We’ll take all the resources we can

manage to do that.”

So far only five cases have been diagnosed in the United States, one each in Los Angeles and

Orange counties, Arizona, Washington state and Chicago.

Braden described the new virus as part of a family of viruses primarily responsible for the common

cold. He cited other similar respiratory viruses such as SARS and MERS that emerged in the past.

Severe cases of illnesses caused by those coronaviruses were extreme because the infected person

already had severe illnesses, he said.

“We need to understand more about milder illnesses,” Braden said. “We need to know more about

when people become infectious. Those are things we don’t know.”

CALIFORNIA

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Priscella Vega

Priscella Vega is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. She previously covered city government and

education for the Daily Pilot. She received a first place award from the Los Angeles Press Club in

2019 for her reporting on whether the city of Huntington Beach had overcome the racist episodes

of its past following the arrest of four members of a local white supremacist group. Before joining

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Coronavirus evacuees will spend at least 3 days at Riverside County air base – Daily Bulletin

https://www.dailybulletin.com/...utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_content=tw-ivdailybulletin&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com[1/29/2020 4:05:03 PM]

By SANDRA EMERSON | semerson@scng.com |PUBLISHED: January 29, 2020 at 6:21 am | UPDATED: January 29, 2020 at 3:46 pm

NEWS

Coronavirus evacuees will spend at least 3 daysat Riverside County air basePlane carrying 201 passengers arrived at March Air Reserve base earlyWednesday

Coronavirus evacuees will spend at least 3 days at Riverside County air base – Daily Bulletin

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A group of Americans, including children, evacuated from the Wuhan region of China, the epicenter ofthe fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak, will remain at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside Countyfor at least three days, officials said Wednesday.

In a news conference Wednesday morning, Chris Braden, a deputy director at the Centers forDisease Control and Prevention, said the 201 passengers who arrived at the base shortly after 8 a.m.will be evaluated over the course of three days before they may go on to their next destination. Somepassengers, he said, may choose to stay for the full, two-week incubation period. Those who chooseto leave after three days will be monitored by their local and state health officials for the remainingtwo-week period, he added.

While the passengers are not under a federal quarantine, Braden said, the passengers haveexpressed their willingness to stay on base for the 72-hour observation period.

“I can just tell you they were very happy to be here and there was no indication they wanted to leaveright away,” Braden told reporters Wednesday. “They wanted to know their status.”

1 of 11A charter flight from Wuhan, China, carrying approximately 200 U.S. citizens, taxis to a stop at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, Calif.,Wednesday morning Jan. 29, 2020. The flight originated from the area where the coronavirus outbreak started. All the passengers will be held inquarantine for an unknown duration. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

M

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Coronavirus evacuees will spend at least 3 days at Riverside County air base – Daily Bulletin

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The U.S. government-chartered flight touched down in Riverside County at 8:11 a.m., following a briefstop for refueling in Anchorage, Alaska. Originally bound for Ontario International Airport, the flightwas redirected late Tuesday.

Officials in Alaska said all 201 passengers passed health screenings. One person with a fever inWuhan did not board the plane for the U.S., Braden said.

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Coronavirus evacuees will spend at least 3 days at Riverside County air base – Daily Bulletin

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The State Department originally said 240 passengers would be airlifted out of Wuhan. The planecould fit up to 240 passengers, but there were fewer diplomats and their families. The flight was opento other American citizens and their families, according to Rear Admiral Dr. Nancy Knight, director ofthe Division of Global Health Protection at the CDC.

MAP: Tracking the coronavirus in real time

Passengers, including children whose ages ranged from 1 month to teens, went through twoscreenings in China and were monitored during the flight, officials said. They were screened again inAlaska during the fueling stop and approved to continue to March ARB.

Minutes after the plane landed at the base Wednesday morning, three buses approached and about10 people wearing white biohazard suits funneled out near the nose of the plane. Passengers couldbe seen getting off the plane around 9:30 a.m.

An airplane, background, carrying U.S. citizens being evacuated from Wuhan, China, makes a refueling stop at the north terminal atTed Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Anchorage, Alaska Tuesday evening, Jan. 28, 2020. (Bill Roth/Anchorage Daily Newsvia AP)

Coronavirus evacuees will spend at least 3 days at Riverside County air base – Daily Bulletin

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At the news conference, Knight said the passengers were checked at the base for signs ofcoronavirus, including fever, cough and other respiratory symptoms. Passengers also were asked ifthey had been in close contact with anyone with the virus in China.

A CDC team will continue to check passengers for symptoms, including temperature, every 12 hoursover the next three days, Knight said. Meanwhile, the Riverside University Health System medicalcenter in Moreno Valley has provided a mobile health care unit on-site, near the facility where theindividuals are being housed, should passengers show symptoms of the virus. The mobile unit alsowould be available for other medical needs, Knight said.

In an attempt to assuage concerns that the passengers may leave before the end of the observationperiod, Braden said officials could quarantine an individual if they are at risk of spreading the illness.

“If we think it’s risky then we have tools to protect the public and we will use them,” he said.

In a statement early Wednesday, Rep. Mark Takano, D-Riverside, said he had received a full briefingfrom the CDC and federal Department of Health and Human Services about the Wuhan flight andplans for repatriating the passengers in Riverside County.

“The information I was given made it clear that everyone on board is being closely monitored bymedical personnel and receiving medical screenings to ensure their safety and the safety of others,”Takano said.

“Members of our community should be aware that strict precautions are being taken to protect publichealth and to ensure that passengers traveling from China and service members and employees atMarch Air Reserve Base are safe,” he added.

Riverside County officials, meanwhile, worked to put the public’s mind at ease.

“The risk to the public remains low and we plan to keep it that way,” said Cameron Kaiser, countypublic health officer.

In the hours of coordination and calls Tuesday evening preparing for the landing, Kaiser said onething became clear: “We’ve got a good perimeter out there to make sure that public and thoseindividuals stay safe. We have an appropriate plan in place for dealing with the situation that we haveat hand and we have good people on the ground actually implementing that plan.”

In an interview after the news conference, Kaiser said health officials established the 14-dayincubation period based on what they know about treating coronaviruses in general.

Coronavirus evacuees will spend at least 3 days at Riverside County air base – Daily Bulletin

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Flight from epicenter of coronavirusoutbreak redirected to March Air ReserveBase in Riverside County

Here’s a map tracking the coronavirus inreal time

Plans and outreach efforts overcoronavirus concerns in place, healthofficials say

Threat of a coronavirus outbreak inSouthern California? Here’s what youneed to know

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“We believe if we use 14 days as an upward bound, that will safely catch anybody who is likely tomanifest symptoms during that time,” he said. “We have no reliable evidence that suggests thatpeople who are asymptomatic can spread the disease.”

By midday, the county’s Emergency Management Department set up a dedicated phone line toanswer questions about coronavirus: 951-358-5134.

Throughout the day Tuesday, San Bernardino County health officials and ONT had been preparing forthe flight’s arrival there. Passengers were to be screened and observed at the airport, which is adesignated repatriation center. Late in the evening, however, San Bernardino County officialsannounced the plane would be diverted to March ARB.

Braden said the situation has been rapidly changing, but the passengers’ comfort was the mostimportant factor when deciding to redirect the flight to Riverside County.

“They could be at the base for up to two weeks, so we think that the base is probably the mostcomfortable accommodation we could find for them,” he said.

The U.S. government chartered the plane to fly Americans from the U.S. Consulate in Wuhan. TheChinese government has cut off access to Wuhan and 16 other cities in Hubei province to preventpeople from leaving and spreading the virus further. In addition to the United States, countriesincluding Japan and South Korea have also planned evacuations.

The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Chinahas jumped to 5,974, according to the government there. Atleast 130 people have died from the respiratory illness —which belongs to the same family as the virus that causessevere acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.

There have been no deaths outside of China, but morethan 80 cases of infection have been reported in othercountries, including five in the U.S., including one each inLos Angeles and Orange counties. Chinese authoritieshave quarantined major cities in the province, includingWuhan, where the virus emerged in December, to try tostop the spread, affecting some 56 million people.

The virus is believed to have come from a wholesalemarket where vendors legally sold live animals from stalls

Coronavirus evacuees will spend at least 3 days at Riverside County air base – Daily Bulletin

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Angeles and Orange countiesin close quarters with hundreds of others. Nearly twodecades ago, SARS had a similar origin story, jumpingfrom bats to Asian palm civets, and then to humansinvolved in the wildlife trade.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that circulate mostly among animals, including camels,cats and bats. Common symptoms in an infected human include a fever, cough and shortness ofbreath or difficulty breathing. Common symptoms in an infected person include a fever, cough andshortness of breath or difficulty breathing.

“If you get sick right now it is far more likely to be the flu than the coronavirus, even if you have beento China,” Kaiser said, adding that the region is in the middle of one of the worst flu seasons in thepast several years.

“Do everything that you normally would to protect yourself,” he said. “Stay home if you’re sick. Don’tbe around people who are sick. Wash your hands. Get your flu shot so I don’t have to worry aboutyou. That would put you in good stead for dealing with this. If have symptoms like this, but haven’tbeen to China you don’t have the coronavirus.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

HEALTH TIPS

Though the U.S. has confirmed only a handful of coronavirus cases, local and federal health officialssay there are a number of steps one can take to protect one’s health, as with any virus, especiallyduring flu season:

• Wash hands with soap and water.• Avoid touching eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands.•Avoid close contact with anyone who is sick.

Anyone exhibiting respiratory symptoms like fever and cough should stay away from work and school,and other people in general, to avoid spreading illness.

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Coronavirus Outbreak: U.S. Evacuees From Wuhan to BeQuarantined After Landing at Air Base Near RiversidePOSTED 4:18 AM, JANUARY 29, 2020, BY CNN WIRE AND ERIN MYERS, UPDATED AT 03:40PM, JANUARY 29, 2020

 

US health of�cials will not institute a blanket quarantine for about 200 Americans who landed at aCalifornia military base Wednesday after being evacuated from Wuhan, the epicenter of thedeadly coronavirus outbreak in China.

Several passengers said they would stay at the base voluntarily, said Dr. Chris Braden, deputy director forthe National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at the US Centers for Disease Controland Prevention.

Posted by Posted by KTLA 5 NewsKTLA 5 News217,004 Views217,004 Views

Dr. Cameron Kaiser

Want to track the virus in real time?

“They wanted to know their own status. They wanted to know the status of their children. They wanted toprotect their family, They wanted to protect others,” he said.

The plan is to hold the passengers for three days, monitoring them for fever and other symptoms at leasttwice daily, Braden said.

Then if health of�cials determine they don’t pose a danger, they can go home but will need to be monitoredby local of�cials for the 14-day incubation period, he said. The patients staying at March Air Reserve Basenear Riverside, California, might also choose to remain there for the 14 days.

Should anyone demand to go home before they’re cleared, an individual quarantine is an option, Bradensaid.

“If anyone demands to leave right now, that is where all of the partners … would come together and talkabout what needs to be done,” said Dr. Nancy Knight, the CDC’s director of the division of global healthprotection, noting that US marshals are on hand to ensure everyone’s safety.

Touching down in CaliforniaThe �ight — operated by Kalitta Air out of Ypsilanti Township, Michigan — landed shortly after 8 a.m. (11a.m. ET). Several law enforcement vehicles greeted it on the tarmac, their lights �ashing.

Chartered by the US State Department, the plane left Wuhan and touched down late Tuesday night at TedStevens Anchorage International Airport in Alaska.

After refueling and passenger screenings, it left for the March Air Reserve Base. There, local of�cials beganworking with the CDC to thoroughly screen each passenger, who already underwent screenings byAmerican and Chinese health of�cials in Wuhan.

The CDC cleared all passengers, most of whom are American diplomatic corps or their families, to continueon to California, Alaska of�cials said.

@Ri C DQuestions about #coronoavirus can be directed to our public information line: 951.358.5134. And more information can be found at rivcoph.org/coronavirus.as… #rivconow

10 11:48 AM - Jan 29, 2020

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Passengers were screened in an isolated area of the Anchorage airport’s north terminal, which handlesinternational �ights, and had no impact on general travel, airport manager Jim Szczesniak said.

The CDC will work with airport of�cials to clean the terminal, and there are no international �ightsscheduled at the airport until May, he said.

The US Defense Department and US Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the CDC,arranged housing at the military base, Defense Department spokeswoman Alyssa Fara said. If any of thepassengers fall ill, they will be treated at a local civilian hospital, she said.

‘The whole plane erupted’Passenger Scott Allis told CNN they received a hot meal in Anchorage, while Darby Siebels said passengershad a chance to charge their phones before getting back on the plane after 1 a.m. (5 a.m. ET).

“For many of us directly involved, this has been a moving and uplifting experience,” said Dr. Anne Zink,Alaska’s chief medical of�cer. “The whole plane erupted in cheers when the crew said, ‘Welcome home tothe United States.'”

The fast-moving coronavirus has killed 132 people and infected nearly 6,000 others in China, most of themin the hardest-hit city of Wuhan. Ninety-one cases have been con�rmed outside of mainland China,including �ve in the United States. The CDC has investigated 165 potential cases in 36 states. Of those, 68tested negative, while 92 remain pending.

The evacuation �ight was originally slated to land at the Ontario International Airport, a civilian facilityabout 35 miles from Los Angeles.

It’s not immediately clear why the itinerary was changed Tuesday from the civilian airport to March AirReserve Base.

A battery of screeningsOf�cials were prepared to take 240 passengers, the plane’s capacity, but the �ight left with 201 peopleafter some intended passengers failed to get to the airport or through screenings and other processes, Zinksaid. One passenger had a fever and was prohibited from boarding, health of�cials said.

Included among the passengers are children ranging in age from 1-month-old to their teens, of�cials said.

Precautions were taken to separate the crew on the plane’s upper level from the passengers on the plane’slower level, she said, and the crew did not disembark in China.

“These individuals will be screened before they take off; monitored during the duration of the �ight bymedical personnel on board; screened again on landing to refuel in Anchorage, Alaska; monitored on thelast leg of the �ight by medical personnel on board; evaluated upon arrival at March Air Reserve Base …and then monitored for symptoms post-arrival,” the CDC said.

Priority was given to US citizens at riskThe passengers include US diplomats and their families. The State Department said other US citizens couldboard on a reimbursable basis if space was available.

While there are about 1,000 Americans living in Wuhan, priority was given to US citizens who are “most atrisk for contracting coronavirus” if they stay in the city, the State Department said.

The department said it was unable to accommodate everyone due to space limitations, but it is working toidentify alternative routes for US citizens to depart Wuhan by land.

The State Department issued a Level 4 advisory for Wuhan, meaning Americans should not travel to thecity while the virus has an impact, Vice President Mike Pence said. It ordered personnel working at the USConsulate in Wuhan to depart for the United States.

Other countries including South Korea and Japan are sending charters to evacuate citizens from theepicenter of the outbreak. The European Commission said it was sending two aircraft to evacuateEuropean Union citizens from Wuhan.

U.S. Evacuees From Wuhan to Be Quarantined After Landing at Air Base Near Riverside

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China counts 170 coronavirus deaths, as new countries find infections

People line up to buy face masks Jan. 29 in Nanning, China. (Associated Press)

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

JAN. 30, 20203:53 AM

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BEIJING — China counted 170 deaths from a new virus Thursday and more countries reported infections, including some spread

locally, as foreign evacuees from China’s worst-hit region returned home to medical observation and even isolation.

India and the Philippines reported their first cases, in a traveler and a student who had both been in Wuhan, the central Chinese

city where the new type of coronavirus first surfaced in December. South Korea confirmed a case that was locally spread, in a man

who had contact with a patient diagnosed earlier.

Locally spread cases outside China have been a worrying concern among global health officials, as potential signs of the virus

spreading more easily and the difficulty of containing it. The World Health Organization is reconvening experts on Thursday to

assess whether the outbreak should be declared a global emergency.

The new virus has now infected more people in China than were sickened there during the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak.

Thursday’s figures for mainland China cover the previous 24 hours and represent an increase of 38 deaths and 1,737 cases for a

total of 7,711. Of the new deaths, 37 were in the epicenter of the outbreak in Hubei province and one in the southwestern province of

Sichuan.

Three of Japan’s confirmed cases were among a group of evacuees who returned on a government-chartered flight from Wuhan on

Wednesday. Japan’s foreign ministry said a second flight carrying 210 Japanese evacuees landed Thursday at Tokyo’s Haneda

airport. Reports said nine of those aboard the flight showed signs of cough and fever.

New coronavirus spreads as readily as 1918 Spanish flu and probably originated in bats

India’s health ministry said a student in Kerala state who had been studying in Wuhan was confirmed to have the virus after

returning home during the Lunar New Year break. Philippine health officials say a woman who traveled to the country from Wuhan

via Hong Kong had tested positive.

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A flight arranged between the European Union and China departed Portugal en route to China to bring back 350 Europeans from

the affected area. The U.S. said additional flights were being planned for around Monday, after it evacuated 195 Americans from

Wuhan on Wednesday. They are being tested and monitored at at a Southern California military base.

New Zealand, Australia, India, Singapore and other countries are also trying to get their citizens out. Taiwan, the self-governing

republic China considers its own territory, has also asked to be able to repatriate its passport holders from Wuhan, but it and the

United Kingdom said they were awaiting approval from Beijing.

Israel’s El Al, Spain’s Iberia and Korean Air joined the growing list of airlines suspending or reducing service to China.

In South Korea, residents in two cities where quarantine facilities are being prepared threw eggs and water bottles at government

officials to protest plans to evacuate 700 South Koreans from China and isolate them in the neighborhood.

Amid reports of shortages in food and daily necessities in hot-spot areas, Chinese authorities are “stepping up efforts to ensure

continuous supply and stable prices,” the official New China News Agency reported.

It cited Ministry of Commerce data showing current reserves in Wuhan can ensure a secure supply of rice and cooking oil for more

than 15 days, pork and eggs for more than 10 days and vegetables for about five days.

China’s highly developed online shopping and home delivery businesses were important in ensuring those confined to home by

choice or by order could get food and other essentials.

“I’d just like to ask that folks don’t order anything other than the daily necessities,” Hou Yanbo, deputy director of market

supervision from the National Post Administration, told reporters at a daily briefing.

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China extended its Lunar New Year holiday to Sunday to try to contain the virus, but the wave of returning travelers could

potentially cause the virus to further spread.

Coronavirus: Five burning questions scientists want to answer about the outbreak

Transportation ministry spokesman Wu Chungeng outlined a series of rigorous temperature checks and other “severe measures” to

detect possibly infectious passengers. Travel restrictions such as those isolating Wuhan and suspending inter-provincial bus

services would remain in place, Wu said.

“It’s definitely very challenging, but we’re confident we can exert effective control,” Wu told reporters at the briefing.

The WHO emergencies chief, Michael Ryan, spoke in Geneva after returning from Beijing. He said China was taking “extraordinary

measures in the face of an extraordinary challenge” posed by the outbreak.

To date, about 99% of the cases are in China. Ryan estimated the death rate of the new virus at 2%, but said the figure was very

preliminary. With fluctuating numbers of cases and deaths, scientists are only able to produce a rough estimate of the fatality rate

and it’s likely many milder cases of the virus are being missed.

In comparison, the SARS virus killed about 10% of people who caught it. The new virus is from the coronavirus family, which

includes those that can cause the common cold as well as more serious illnesses such as SARS and MERS.

Scientists say there are many questions to be answered about the new virus, including just how easily it spreads and how severe it

is.

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Chinese authorities have demanded anyone who traveled from or through Wuhan report to health authorities and self-quarantine

themselves for 14 days, the maximum incubation period during which patients can be infectious even if they don’t show symptoms.

China has been largely praised for a swift and effective response to the outbreak, although questions have been raised about the

police suppression of what were early on considered mere rumors — a reflection of the one-party Communist state’s determination

to maintain a monopoly on information in spite of smartphones and social media.

That still stands in stark contrast to the initial response to SARS, when medical reports were hidden as state secrets. The delayed

response was blamed for allowing the disease to spread worldwide, killing around 800 people.

This time, in addition to working with WHO, China’s health minister Ma Xiaowei has been in touch with foreign colleagues,

including U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar.

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A brown bat is seen in this undated �le photo.(Credit: iStock / Getty Images Plus)

Bats Could Be the Source of Wuhan Coronavirus,Experts SayPOSTED 4:33 PM, JANUARY 29, 2020, BY CNN WIRE

Scientists have said that a type of snake may be theoriginal source of the Wuhan coronavirus. However,other infectious disease experts say the ultimate culpritis more likely to be the bat.

“When you look at the genetic sequence of the virus, andyou match it up with every known coronavirus, theclosest relatives are from bats,” said Dr. Peter Daszak,president of EcoHealth Alliance, an environmental healthnon-pro�t.

Professor Guizhen Wu of the Chinese Center for DiseaseControl and Prevention said in a study released by theLancet medical journal on Wednesday that the data they had so far was consistent with the virus beinginitially hosted by bats.

The bat has long been seen as a biological super villain.

The winged mammal has been the reservoir for several different deadly viruses like Marburg, Nipah andHendra, which have caused disease in humans and outbreaks in Uganda, Malaysia, Bangladesh andAustralia. Bats are thought to be the natural host of the Ebola virus, rabies, SARS and MERS, with the lattertwo both coronaviruses similar to the one that’s now emerged in Wuhan.

Often, there’s an intermediary involved as was the case with SARS in 2003 — the civet cat — and MERS,which emerged later in the 2000s and was carried by camels.

Scientists call these viruses zoonotic because they are transmitted from animals to humans.

In the case of Nipah virus, which can cause a range of symptoms including fatal encephalitis (in�ammationof the brain), infections were traced back to juice made from the sap of a date palm tree that had beencontaminated by bat urine or saliva. Bats had been roosting in the trees where locals set up spigots tocollect the tasty sap.

The fact this new coronavirus has been linked to bats “comes as no surprise to virologists working on bat-borne viruses,” said Dr Stathis Giotis, a virologist at the Department of Infectious Disease at ImperialCollege in London. “Bats are recognized as important reservoirs for emerging and re-emerging viruses withzoonotic potential.”

Giotis said that it was possible that the Chinese horseshoe bat, a common bat species in China, wasresponsible.

Why are bats so adept at harboring and spreadingviruses?Bats are a diverse group, with more than 1,300 species, are second only to rodents in mammal diversity.They are geographically diverse, living on every continent except Antarctica. Compared with terrestrialanimals, they have a longer lifespan and many roost densely with millions of others in caves, meaning theypotentially come into contact with more viruses and they circulate easily between them.

While bats are known to carry several high-pro�le viruses, they don’t seem to suffer from them — with theexception of rabies.

One theory posits that �ight, which is shared by all bats but no other mammals, has allowed bats to evolvemechanisms that protect them from viruses. Flying elevates the bat’s metabolism and body temperature —similar to a fever in humans and other mammals — and scientists say this, on an evolutionary scale, couldboost a bat’s immune system and make it more tolerant of viruses.

“The current hypothesis among scientists is that the bat immune system has been adapted over centuriesof evolution due to their �ying ability,” said Giotis.

Scientists have found some promising leads in the animal’s genetic make-up to back up this hypothesis.

“Key antiviral immunity components are conserved in bats, but some genes that activate in�ammation orspecialized-antiviral defense mechanisms are either missing or have altered function,” said Giotis,explaining why they don’t have a typical immune response to viruses.

Of course, bats aren’t the only animals that carry disease that spills over into humans. The plague wascarried by rodents and HIV spilled over from chimpanzees.

Scientists in a 2017 paper did �nd that bats harbored more dangerous viruses than other species. A teamof scientists including Daszak looked at 188 known zoonotic viruses and found that bats hosted a“signi�cantly higher” proportion of these than other mammals.

However, some scientists say that bats have been more extensively sampled for viruses in the wake of the2003 SARS outbreak and that other animals may have a similar diversity of viruses if scientists lookedmore robustly.

But deforestation and urbanization, especially in densely populated places like China, are putting humansinto closer contact with bats and other animals, which allows the spillover of viruses, Giotis said.

Did the Wuhan virus spill over from bats?Scientists in China have actively been studying bats carefully given that they’ve long been thought to havethe potential to be the starting point of the next pandemic.

In a paper published last year, scientists from the Wuhan Institute of Virology made an eerily prescientobservation: “It is generally believed that bat-borne CoVs (coronaviruses) will re-emerge to cause the nextdisease outbreak,” they said. “In this regard, China is a likely hotspot. The challenge is to predict when andwhere, so that we can try our best to prevent such outbreaks.”

Daszak said that scientists have found about 50 SARS-related coronaviruses in bats all across China andthe SARS coronavirus had been found in people in the southwestern province of Yunnan who lived nearcaves where the virus had been found in bats — although they showed no symptoms of respiratory illnessduring sampling.

“These viruses are a really high risk for pandemic emergence. They’re in bats, they’re across SoutheastAsia, people are exposed to them regularly, and they’re actually getting infected,” Daszak said.

It’s too early to say for sure whether the Wuhan coronavirus originated in bats and whether anintermediary played a role. The outbreak was initially traced to a seafood market that sold live animals inWuhan and scientists are working hard to trace the source both in the lab and in the �eld.

Wu at the Chinese Center for Disease Control said the data was pointing toward the virus going from batsto another, unknown wild animal, and then to humans. She said no bats were sold or found at the seafoodmarket and the outbreak was �rst reported in late December when most bat species in Wuhan arehibernating.

“There are initial, although contested, reports that the virus has already been detected in both bats andsnakes and the strains in both bats and snakes are similar to each other and to the strains from humancases,” Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, told the Science Media Centrein London.

“All the work around this new outbreak is new and ongoing which can explain why there are differingthoughts on what the source may be.”

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A new U.S. task force led by Health and Human Services chief Alex Azar is the latest effort by officials toprepare for additional cases of the novel coronavirus in the U.S.

President Donald Trump announced the formation of the task force on Thursday.

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Five U.S. residents, all of whom had recently traveled to Wuhan City, China, the city where the virus wasfirst identified, have been diagnosed, and 165 are under investigation. The Centers for Disease Control andPrevention said Wednesday that 195 U.S. citizens who were flown back from Wuhan were being voluntarilyisolated at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, California. None have tested positive for thecoronavirus. The State Department said Wednesday it is planning for additional evacuation flights for privateU.S. citizens around Feb. 3.

Read: Stocks under pressure at open as coronavirus fears overshadow upbeat earnings

The case tally in China continues to rise. The latest figures from China’s National Health Commission saythere are 7,711 cases and at least 170 people have died. There are 68 confirmed cases outside of China,according to the World Health Organization.

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Companies prepare investors for virus impact: The brunt of the coronavirus slowdown continues to hitretailers, travel operators and companies with a large manufacturing presence in China. Unilever PLCULVR, +2.01% told investors to expect a commercial impact. “About a fifth of our business in China isprofessional food service, and that’s likely to be significantly impacted by a drop in out-of-homeconsumption,” Unilever CEO Alan Jope said during an earnings call. Tesla Inc. TSLA, +10.21% toldinvestors to expect a seven-to-10 day delay on the ramp of the Model 3, which is manufactured in Shanghai,while Las Vegas Sands Corp. LVS, +0.68% said visits to Macau were down 80% as a result of thecoronavirus outbreak. Macau’s operations make up 64% of the company’s total revenues. “Every segment isin decline for every property,” Las Vegas Sands president and COO Robert Goldstein said during anearnings call.

Life sciences companies disclose additional details about virus treatment plans: Illumina IncILMN, -3.01%, which makes sequencing equipment, said it is working with the Chinese CDC to developnext-generation sequencing (NGS) testing protocols for the Wuhan virus and expects to share thoseprotocols with its customers. Illumina CEO Francis DeSouza told investors the company believes first-linetesting of patients will be done using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), but hebelieves that next-generation sequencing will be used to confirm the strain, detect mutations, and testpatients with inconclusive results. “When a patient presents with suspicious symptoms, but the RT-PCRtests are negative for coronaviruses and also for other viruses with similar symptoms like influenza, then weexpect an NGS test to be used,” he said. George Scangos, CEO of Vir Biotechnology Inc. VIR, +4.09% andformer chief executive of BIIB, -1.70%, said Vir is testing its current antibodies are effective treatmentsagainst the virus within the next few months. The company is also in discussions with regulators andmanufacturers.

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WORLD & NATION

How prepared is the U.S. health system for a major coronavirus outbreak?

Passengers wear protective masks as they arrive at Los Angeles International Airport amid a growing outbreak of a new strain of coronavirus. (Mark Ralston /AFP/Getty Images)

By JENNY JARVIEATLANTA BUREAU CHIEF

JAN. 30, 20205 AM

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ATLANTA — As a deadly new strain of coronavirus spreads beyond China, public health experts are confident in the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention’s capacity to monitor the virus and lead the effort to contain it.

“The CDC is the best of the best,” said Rebecca Katz, the director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at

Georgetown University.

But with President Trump at the helm of a chaotic administration — one that in 2018 disbanded the National Security Council’s

global health security team — such faith in U.S. government expertise also comes with questions about local, state and national

resources and coordination.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar takes a reporter’s question at a news conference Tuesday about the federal government’s response to thecoronavirus outbreak. (Patrick Semansky / Associated Press)

Will Trump, a self-described germophobe who criticized the CDC in 2014 during the Ebola outbreak, remain on board with federal

health experts’ messages? How readily will Congress approve extra emergency funds? How prepared are local and state officials?

“Looking at the CDC is really only looking at half of the picture,” said Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious

Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “The front line for this is going to be in hospital emergency rooms, in

workplace settings, in public spaces like theaters — and these are areas that the CDC doesn’t have a lot of jurisdiction over.”

Local, state and federal public health departments, he stressed, have long suffered from budget cuts.

“When this hits us with any real punch, public health will be the fireman, the policeman, the EMS, the National Guard, all wrapped

in one,” Osterholm said. “And yet, when you look at what we invest in public health overall, unfortunately it is often on a shoestring

budget.”

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So far, more than 7,780 cases of coronavirus and 170 deaths have been confirmed across the globe. Five people in the United States

have tested positive — two in California, and one each in Washington, Illinois and Arizona — and a total of 110 people in 26 states

are being monitored for possible infection, a number that is expected to rise.

Workers spray antiseptic solution at Incheon International Airport in South Korea. (Suh Myung-geon / Associated Press)

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As the geographic footprint of the coronavirus expands, federal officials have struck a balance: warning the American public of the

potential gravity of the situation while stressing that there is no need for panic.

Alex Azar, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, which houses the CDC, said Tuesday at a news briefing

that experts were working to ascertain the speed of spread of the virus, its severity and the length of the incubation period. At the

same time, public health departments and healthcare providers, working with the CDC, were following an established playbook for

responding to an infectious disease.

The department’s emergency response arm was also assessing the level of preparedness with the Strategic National Stockpile, which

includes pharmaceuticals and other necessary medical supplies, Azar said.

Though many public health experts praise the CDC for communicating a thoughtful, nuanced approach, some believe the agency

should communicate a more urgent message to hospitals, schools and workplaces.

“I fear that they’re kind of getting set up to say, ‘Don’t worry, you know, Americans are safe,’” said Osterholm, the author of

“Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs,” published in 2017. “Stopping an influenza-like transmission in a community is

like stopping the wind. Go into any major emergency room in this country and they’re crowded as can be. The chance of having

more transmission at a hospital or medical clinic is absolutely real.”

Technicians wearing protective suits spray disinfectant on passenger seats aboard a Thai Airways aircraft in Samut Prakan province, Thailand. (Rungroj Yongrit /European Pressphoto Agency)

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With flu season already well underway, emergency room doctors in Atlanta and Los Angeles are complaining of a shortage of N95

masks, Osterholm said. Due to shortages in funds, he said, hospitals have virtually no surplus or stockpiling of masks, Tyvek suits

and gloves — everything health workers need in an environment with an infectious disease.

Part of the problem is timing, said Dr. Howard Markel, professor of the history of medicine at the University of Michigan.

“Very often we don’t know how deadly the virus is until many days or weeks after you should have acted,” he said. “So knocking out

a home run — not too early so that you jump the gun too early, and not too late because people will die — is a hard call to make with

a great paucity of data.”

Such challenges are compounded by long-standing budget cuts in local, state and federal public health.

The CDC’s funding, with inflation factored in, is about 10% lower than it was a decade ago, said John Auerbach, president and chief

executive of Trust for America’s Health, an advocacy group.

After the 2007-09 recession, he said, state and local public health lost more than 50,000 jobs, many of which were not restored. At

the same time, public health emergency preparedness grants have been cut by a third and hospital preparedness grants have been

cut by 50%.

As a result, Auerbach said, the CDC has sometimes struggled to obtain necessary resources. During the Zika outbreak, for example,

Congress did not make funds available immediately to respond, so the center had to pull back and redirect some of its emergency

preparedness money to combat the virus.

For now, the CDC is asking clinical labs to send it samples for testing to ensure that the results are as accurate as possible. But soon

it will roll out a system for more localized testing: The center announced Monday it is developing the diagnostic test for coronavirus

into a kit format, which it plans to distribute to state health departments and public health labs in the coming weeks.

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“Right now, the CDC has been able to manage, but that’s clearly not going to be a long-term solution, and the CDC knows this,” said

Jennifer Nuzzo, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Though a system of localized testing would be necessary as the virus spread, Nuzzo said, it is expensive work, and she was

concerned about states’ abilities and resources.

“Anytime we’ve called on states to respond to an emerging situation like this, where they likely get a surge of tests that they need to

do,” she said, “we’ve given emergency supplemental funding to make sure that they have the resources to protect the nation.”

Thomas J. Bollyky, the director of the global health program at the Council on Foreign Relations, said he worried about interagency

coordination.

It was not clear, he said, that if the outbreak escalated Trump would appoint a special “coronavirus czar” as President Obama did

for Ebola.

While the interagency response is being coordinated by deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger, who Bollyky said is very

well regarded, Pottinger is also responsible for all matters for China, as well as everything that falls in his portfolio as deputy

national security advisor.

“That’s not an ideal circumstance,” Bollyky said. “You would like to see someone senior who has this job full time.”

Bollyky also said he was concerned about Trump’s previous expressed calls for visa bans, travel restrictions and quarantines —

counterproductive measures, he said, that would make people less likely to report diseases and are not consistent with the nation’s

international obligations.

“One would like to think that we won’t see a return to that type of rhetoric,” he said. “We’ll see.”

Times staff writer Emily Baumgaertner in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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60 apartments with rents as low as $400 coming to Fontana – San Bernardino Sun

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60 apartments with rents as low as $400 comingto Fontana

60 apartments with rents as low as $400 coming to Fontana – San Bernardino Sun

https://www.sbsun.com/...ing-to-fontana/?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_campaign=socialflow[1/29/2020 3:59:51 PM]

By BRIAN WHITEHEAD | bwhitehead@scng.com | San Bernardino SunPUBLISHED: January 29, 2020 at 3:51 pm | UPDATED: January 29, 2020 at 3:51 pm

A $23 million affordable housing development in Fontana will offer 60 apartments for as low as $400 amonth.

City leaders and representatives with Irvine-based developer Jamboree Housing Corporation brokeground Wednesday, Jan. 29, on the Ramona Avenue lot.

Since 2001, Jamboree has raised more than 350 affordable apartments in Fontana.

The nonprofit’s seventh and latest project in the city will transform a 4.31-acre blighted lot once ownedby the San Gabriel Water Company into 60 affordable one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments forfamilies earning between 30% and 60% of the area median income, which was $71,000 in 2018,according to the US Census Bureau.

Jamboree CEO Laura Archuleta, right, joins Fontana leaders in breaking ground on a 60-unit affordable housing complex on SierraAvenue on Wednesday, Jan. 29. (Photo by Brian Whitehead, The Sun/SCNG)

M

60 apartments with rents as low as $400 coming to Fontana – San Bernardino Sun

https://www.sbsun.com/...ing-to-fontana/?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_campaign=socialflow[1/29/2020 3:59:51 PM]

Construction is expected to conclude in April 2021.

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California’s economy gets nation’s No 2 immigration

60 apartments with rents as low as $400 coming to Fontana – San Bernardino Sun

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“We believe that housing is the platform for all community change and for everything else that ripplesthrough,” Jamboree President and CEO Laura Archuleta said Wednesday. “Having high-qualityaffordable housing allows your kids to go to school and not worry about where they’re going to do theirhomework. It allows their parents to go to work and know they have a place to come home to. It allowsthem to have money to buy healthy food.

“All these rippling effects come out of high-quality affordable housing.”

In addition to housing and outdoor amenities, the Sierra Avenue Apartments complex will have anearly 5,000-square-foot community building with recreation space, management offices, kitchenfacilities and a computer lab for residents.

A 3,000-square-foot health and wellness clinic, to be operated by the Cucamonga Valley MedicalGroup, also is planned for the site. There, residents and community members will have access tohealth education classes, flu shots, immunization services and sick childcare services.

An artist’s rendering of the Sierra Avenue Apartments bound for Fontana shows the architectural style coming to town. City leadersbroke ground on the site Wednesday, Jan. 29. (Photo by Brian Whitehead, The Sun/SCNG)

60 apartments with rents as low as $400 coming to Fontana – San Bernardino Sun

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Why Riverside, Anaheim rank amongnation’s strongest housing markets

Funds for cold-weather shelters will waitas Redlands committee exploreshomelessness solutions

Services must come before housing,homelessness chief tells San BernardinoCounty

Measure G advocates plan Redlandssummit ahead of March election

Developer plans houses for historicRedlands orange grove at Heeney estate

RELATED ARTICLESThe apartment complex will border Juniper ElementarySchool and be near City Hall.

Rents are expected to range from $400 to $1,120 a month,depending on the family size and income level.

“We’re serious about providing housing, and we’re battlingto be able to do this kind of housing,” Mayor AcquanettaWarren said. “We’re looking at any option where we canhave diverse housing for everyone. People get worked upwhen you say ‘affordable.’ This is attainable, where familiescan actually be transformed.

“We have families waiting, and we don’t want our familiesbeing homeless. We’ve got to provide housing.”

Sierra Avenue Apartments will be at 16839 Ramona Ave. inFontana.

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Tags: development, Housing, Top Stories Sun

https://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/news/a�ordable-housing-units-for-families-will-be-built-in-fontana/article_18ead57a-42e2-11ea-99�-6f62bad4a198.html

A�ordable housing units for 60 families will be built in FontanaBy RUSSELL INGOLDJan 29, 2020

Members of the Fontana City Council and o�cials with Jamboree Housing Corporation participated in agroundbreaking ceremony for the Sierra Avenue Apartments on Jan. 29.  (Herald News photo by Russell Ingold)

A�ordable housing units for 60 families will be opening in Fontana next year, thanks to a

collaboration between the City of Fontana and Jamboree Housing Corporation.

The city held a groundbreaking ceremony on Jan. 29 for the Sierra Avenue Apartments, a $23

million development that will be built at 16839 Ramona Avenue in the northern area of

Fontana.

O�cials said the project is signi�cant not only because it helps further the city's goal to

promote more a�ordable housing, but also because it will include a comprehensive health

clinic for local residents.

"This is a testament to how we can do things in Fontana, and do them well," said City

Councilmember Jesse Armendarez, who spoke during the ceremony while strong winds rattled

the tent that had been set up on an empty lot for the occasion.

Jamboree has partnered with the Fontana Housing Authority for 15 years to create more than

350 units of a�ordable housing.

“The City of Fontana is dedicated to providing our residents with attainable homes of the

highest quality," said Mayor Acquanetta Warren. "With amenities such as a computer lab,

community garden, free resident services, and an onsite health and wellness clinic, Sierra

Avenue is a true testament of our commitment to excellence.”

When completed in the spring of 2021, the complex will o�er one-, two-, and three-bedroom

apartments that border Juniper Elementary School to the west and Sierra Avenue to the east.

Residents will pay about $400 to $1,120 in monthly rent, depending on family size and income

level, Jamboree o�cials said.

Armendarez said the complex will have "top-notch amenities," including an approximately

5,000-square-foot community building that will house �exible recreational space, onsite

management o�ces, kitchen facilities, and a computer lab where free onsite resident services

will be provided.

Sierra Avenue Apartments will feature a 3,000-square-foot health and wellness clinic onsite as

part of Jamboree’s new partnership with Cucamonga Valley Medical Group. The clinic will o�er

residents and community members access to health education classes, �u shots, immunization

services, and sick childcare services, o�cials said.

Redlands museum’s permit, design approved, but money is still needed – San Bernardino Sun

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LOCAL NEWS

Redlands museum’s permit, design approved, butmoney is still needed

Redlands museum’s permit, design approved, but money is still needed – San Bernardino Sun

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By JENNIFER IYER | jiyer@scng.com | Redlands Daily FactsPUBLISHED: January 29, 2020 at 4:39 pm | UPDATED: January 29, 2020 at 4:40 pm

After two decades of work to build a history museum in Redlands backers passed a milestoneTuesday, Jan. 28, as the planning commission gave the project the go-ahead with a few reservationsover parking and landscaping.

The commission approved the design and a conditional use permit for the museum.

Steve Stockton, Redlands Historical Museum Association president, called it a “historic day” forbackers.

The former Redlands Daily Facts building on Brookside Avenue, seen here on Jan. 22, 2020, will become the Museum of Redlands.The Planning Commission approved a conditional use permit for the museum on Tuesday, Jan. 28. (Photo by Jennifer Iyer, RedlandsDaily Facts/SCNG)

M

Redlands museum’s permit, design approved, but money is still needed – San Bernardino Sun

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“To get to this point with these kinds of plans is truly mind-boggling on our part,” he said, gesturing tosupporters in the audience wearing orange Museum of Redlands shirts, some of whom have beenworking on the project for 20 years.

1 of 3Architect Jim Favaro shares plans for the Museum of Redlands at a planning commission meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020. The commissionapproved a conditional use permit for the museum at the meeting. (Photo by Jennifer Iyer, Redlands Daily Facts/SCNG)

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Redlands museum’s permit, design approved, but money is still needed – San Bernardino Sun

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$12 million raised for construction ofMuseum of Redlands, backers say

Donation-matching program could bringMuseum of Redlands closer to reality

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Architect Jim Favaro shared the plans for the museum campus, which include remodeling the formerRedlands Daily Facts building on Brookside Avenue.

Additions to the property include a second story on the the original concrete block building, which willbecome storage for the 2,700 artifacts already collected; a separate events pavilion and garden on thewest side; and drought tolerant plants.

“We really wanted to maintain some memory of the originalbuilding which was a big part of the life of the city, certainlyin the latter half of the 20th century,” Favaro said.

Several mature oaks on the site will be saved, thoughmoved from their original positions.

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Redlands museum’s permit, design approved, but money is still needed – San Bernardino Sun

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Redlands Historical Museum Associationaims to create a ‘community living room’at new museum

100 years ago in Redlands: Redlandsconsiders a museum, gallery as memorialto World War I soldiers

Gifts of History: Donations to SmileyLibrary chronicle the city’s past

While the original entrance on Brookside will no longer bean entry point, an addition will look like an unfolding orangecrate, “a kind of gift box, if you will,” Favaro said, “that’sopening out, that’s displaying some of the goodies that areinside.”

In 2000 the City Council authorized the A.K. Smiley Public Library to run the museum, and to that end,library director Don McCue said he hopes to staff it with two full-time employees, a curator and anadministrative assistant, a couple of part-time museum attendants, and 20 to 30 interns andvolunteers. Funding for those positions has not yet been determined.

Commissioner Julie Rock wanted to see more done with the landscaping, calling it “arid.”

Favaro said they were willing to listen to landscaping suggestions, but called sustainability a balancingact.

There were also concerns over parking, especially for any large events. Several valet parkingscenarios were provided to alleviate concerns.

Commissioner Steven Frasher said he was at first taken aback by the historic museum’s moderndesign, but, he said, “the campus concept is quite stunning.”

Thanks to several recent large contributions the association is about 75% to 80% of the way to raisingthe $14 million needed for construction.

Next, the association will start the bidding process. The association, Stockton said, is also looking intophased construction.

A matching campaign that will double donations up to $2 million runs through Feb. 14.

By Martin Estacio Staff Writer Posted Jan 29, 2020 at 8:53 PMUpdated Jan 29, 2020 at 8:53 PM

BARSTOW — Residents living in voting District 3 will be without arepresentative for most of 2020 following the City Council’s decision not toappoint a successor to fill the seat vacated by Rich Harpole late last year.

During its Jan. 21 meeting, the Barstow Council was presented with two optionsto address the vacancy: either appoint someone or call for a special election.

Scheduling a special election didn’t appear to be viable though. City AttorneyNakhil Damle told the Council they had until Feb. 3 — or 13 days — to make thedecision per state law, which sets a deadline of 60 days. Harpole’s officialresignation went into effect Dec. 3.

According to state government code, a special election to fill a vacancy has to bescheduled at the next regularly established election date.

Damle said the Council could not choose a March 3 date, aligned with the state’sprimary election, due to another time condition in the law. That made the Nov.3 date for the statewide general election the only legal election option, he said.

City staff stressed that the lack of a method for appointment also made thatalternative doubtful.

“The Council could determine to take applications from interested electors whoreside in District 3 or choose some other method of appointment,” a staff reportread. “However, there is insufficient time to establish a procedure forappointment and select an appointee by the Feb. 3, 2020 deadline.”

Barstow’s District 3 residents won’t have a

representative for most of 2020

Mayor Julie Hackbarth-McIntyre and Mayor Pro Tem Carmen Hernandezagreed it wouldn’t be fair to try to appoint someone in such a short amount oftime.

Before the Council’s decision, one of the meeting attendees, who commentedthat “the whole thing smells weird,” asked why the Council waited until fewerthan two weeks before the deadline to decide on the open seat.

“You’d known about this vacancy for a long time,” Roland Ulloa said, “and I’mgetting the feeling that you’re trying to run out the clock on the public here andput them in a position where it’s a Catch-22 where you don’t have time to do aspecial election, and you’re going to be forced into appointing someone.”

Although Harpole’s resignation became official the first week of December, heannounced during the Nov. 18 meeting that he would resign. Before that, he hadalready made clear that he would not seek a third term on the Council, addingthat the November meeting would be his last.

A city spokesperson told the Daily Press Harpole submitted a letter ofresignation on Nov. 18, which stated it would not be effective until Dec. 3. Hedid not attend the next meeting on Dec. 2.

The topic was not on Dec. 2 agenda. Meeting minutes show that Hackbarth-McIntyre first asked the city attorney to bring back ways to fill the District 3 seatat the Dec. 16 meeting.

A Jan. 6 meeting was cancelled, making Jan. 21 the next available date.

Hackbarth-McIntyre argued that the Council’s proverbial hands were tiedbecause they couldn’t act until after Harpole officially left.

“So, I mean, we didn’t, (we) couldn’t have had that conversation prior to becausehe had not vacated his seat,” the mayor said. “So there was no way to talk about itbecause we can’t do that legally.”

The District 3 seat will remain open for about 9 months until the regularelection in November. About 5,500 people live in the district, which lies north ofRimrock Road and east of Muriel Drive.

Hemmed in by Interstates 40 and 15, the area encompasses the Barstow Mall andBarstow Junior High School.

Harpole said he and his wife, who retired last year, would be moving toTennessee where his only daughter and her children live.

After more than 30 years living in the city, he said it was a difficult decisionduring the Nov. 18 meeting.

“It’s with deep remorse that I leave early because serving on this Council is reallyimportant to me. When your fellow citizens elect you to represent them and totry to advance their issues, that’s humbling,” Harpole said. “And it’s, for me atleast, it’s an awesome responsibility, and I feel guilty for leaving. I love Barstow, Ilove Barstow dearly. But folks, I love my grandkids more.”

Martin Estacio may be reached at MEstacio@VVDailyPress.com or at 760-955-5358.

Follow him on Twitter @DP_mestacio.

Rialto water district fires employee who was target of cronyism complaints – San Bernardino Sun

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Rialto water district fires employee who was target of cronyism complaintsOne day after defending Gabriel Bostan's job qualifications, West Valley officials dismissed him without a publicexplanation

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Rialto water district fires employee who was target of cronyism complaints – San Bernardino Sun

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Rialto water district fires employee who was target of cronyism complaints – San Bernardino Sun

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By JOE NELSON | jnelson@scng.com and SCOTT SCHWEBKE | sschwebke@scng.com | San Bernardino SunPUBLISHED: January 29, 2020 at 6:22 pm | UPDATED: January 29, 2020 at 6:26 pm

A water system operator at the embattled West Valley Water District in Rialto has been fired in the wake of a Southern California News Group article detailing histroubled employment history, including two previous terminations and the alleged improper disposal of contaminated sludge.

Gabriel Bostan, who confirmed on Wednesday that he was dismissed the day before, was one of 10 water district employees singled out in a Dec. 9 lettercomplaining about cronyism and unqualified hires in the West Valley Water District.

Bostan defended himself in a phone interview.

“You don’t find my skills at the corner of Home Depot,” he said. “Show me another person who is capable of handling so many jobs like I am capable of handling.”

Former West Valley Water District employee Gabriel Bostan. (Courtesy of West Valley Water District)

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The letter, compiled by at least a half-dozen water district employees and supervisors and addressed to members of the district’s ratepayers association, allegedBostan and the other employees were friends and/or former colleagues of General Manager Clarence Mansell Jr., who recommended their hiring despite what theletter described as an apparent lack of suitable experience for the positions.

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READ MORETrump’s defense shifts to not ‘impeachable’ even if

Rialto water district fires employee who was target of cronyism complaints – San Bernardino Sun

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The district insists all the employees mentioned in the letter were qualified for their positions.

Preliminary findings from an audit by the state Controller’s Office support the allegations in the letter, showing the district did not put out for bid multiple professionalcontracts and failed to provide documentation supporting the hiring of new employees for executive positions.

State auditors also found the district failed to provide a fair and competitive hiring process for three non-executive positions, allowed multiple vendor contracts toexceed the contracted amount, and allowed some services to be invoiced before a purchase order was completed for the work.

District defended Bostan

Jeremiah Brosowske, assistant general manager at the district, and generalcounsel Robert Tafoya touted Bostan’s job qualifications in a Monday, Jan. 27,letter to the Southern California News Group. They said Bostan held anengineering degree from the Oil and Gas Institute of Romania, a master’sdegree in petroleum engineering from the International Evaluation Center ofRomania and certifications from the California State Water Resources ControlBoard and the American Water Works Association.

Brosowske and Tafoya also said in the letter that Bostan had been certified withthe state as a treatment plant operator grade II and a distribution operator gradeII, and is also a water quality laboratory analyst certified by the American WaterWorks Association.

Nevertheless, the water district confirmed Wednesday that Bostan had beenterminated. Tafoya said he could not comment further, other than to say Bostandid not receive any additional compensation beyond his usual pay.

“While Mr. Boston is no longer with the Water District, we must adhere to Stateof California employee labor protections and respect his right to privacy,” Tafoyasaid in an email.

Bostan speaks out

Sponsored Videoby lilly.com

Rialto water district fires employee who was target of cronyism complaints – San Bernardino Sun

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Bostan, a 64-year-old Rialto resident, told the Southern California News Groupthat he was told by interim human resources manager Martin Pinon that hefailed to pass his probationary period. Bostan said that when he was transferredfrom the purchasing department to the water quality department, he had to start his probationary period over.

According to information provided by the district, Bostan was hired at West Valley on May 28, 2019, as a purchasing/inventory specialist at a pay rate of $29.12 anhour. He was promoted to water system operator II on Dec. 16, 2019, at a rate of $30.57 an hour.

Clarence C. Mansell Jr. (Courtesy photo)

Rialto water district fires employee who was target of cronyism complaints – San Bernardino Sun

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The letter from employees to ratepayers association President Don Griggs and member Butch Araiza alleges Bostan encountered problems soon after he wasassigned to the purchasing department.

“(Bostan) has lost several invoices and was given a bad review by his supervisor,” the employees said in the letter. “Mansell tossed the review and promoted him …to water quality with no experience. Mansell informed the production supervisor that he was going to transfer him to his department as a lead with no experience orknowledge of a water system. This is an extremely dangerous move for the department and exposes West Valley Water District to great liability.”

Bostan claims that from the beginning, first in purchasing and later in water quality, employees and managers conspired against him. Bostan said he was excludedfrom software training while in purchasing, but within a month he was able to master the software on his own.

Yet he still received a poor performance review from his supervisors, Bostan acknowledged.

Then, when he was transferred to the water quality department, employees did everything they could to withhold information from him about the department andmanagement wrote him up for bogus infractions, despite his lengthy experience and skills as a water treatment operator.

Bostan also said he has filed a grievance against the district alleging it released confidential personnel information, which was included in the letter obtained bySCNG. “Whoever provided my personal information violated the law,” he added.

Troubled work history

The investigation by the Southern California News Group revealed that Bostan came to the U.S. from Romania in 1986. He was hired by the city of Corona as awastewater treatment plant operations supervisor in 1999. Less than a year later, he was fired after several reprimands for misconduct, including using a city vehiclefor personal business, failing to follow proper safety procedures that resulted in injury to another operator, exhibiting poor interpersonal skills, and failing to orderbioxide to treat odors at the plant he managed.

Bostan next supervised seven wastewater treatment plants for the Los Angeles County Internal Services Department from 2000 until his firing in 2015. He was firedafter instructing staff and a vendor to spread sludge that contained dangerous levels of mercury, lead and chromium on soil at the Miller and Kilpatrick WastewaterTreatment Plant Rehabilitation Project in Malibu, which necessitated a cleanup costing more than $51,000, according to records obtained by the Southern CaliforniaNews Group.

During Bostan’s 15-year stint at LACISD, he was suspended for 15 days in 2014 for using physical force against a subordinate and issued written reprimands in 2009and 2011 for failing to comply with departmental polices, use of obscene language and safety violations, records show.

Bostan appealed his firing to the county Civil Service Commission, which upheld his termination. William Balderrama, an attorney who represented Los AngelesCounty, called Bostan a “severe liability to the county,” and called his misconduct both “deliberate and egregious.”

Among those who testified on Bostan’s behalf at his Civil Service Commission hearing was Mansell, then a subordinate of Bostan’s who was working as awastewater treatment operator, records show.

Bostan declined to discuss problems he encountered while working in Los Angeles County but said he doesn’t blame Mansell for his firing. “Mr. Mansell is a very

Rialto water district fires employee who was target of cronyism complaints – San Bernardino Sun

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Former CFO sues embattled Rialto waterdistrict a second time

Workers say 10 employees hired by Rialtowater district manager were unqualified,especially this one

Embattled Rialto water district boardbegins to review questionable contracts

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qualified person and 100% honest,” he said.

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Joe NelsonJoe Nelson is an award-winning investigative reporter who has worked for The Sun since November 1999. He started as a crime reporter and went on to cover a variety of beats includingcourts and the cities of Colton, Highland and Grand Terrace. He has covered San Bernardino County since 2009. Nelson is a graduate of California State University Fullerton. In 2014, hecompleted a fellowship at Loyola Law School's Journalist Law School program.

Follow Joe Nelson @GumshoeJoe

Scott SchwebkeScott Schwebke is an investigative reporter for the Register and the Southern California News Group. A native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., he was previously a breaking news and multimediareporter for the Ogden, Utah, Standard-Examiner. Scott has also worked at newspapers in Colorado, North Carolina and Virginia. A graduate of Brigham Young University, Scott is theRegister's 2014 Beat Reporter of the Year. He has won more than two dozen journalism awards including the N.C. Associated Press News Council’s O. Henry Award for a lengthy narrative onthe brutal home invasion slaying of a nurse and a Katie Award from the Dallas Press Club for a feature story on a UFO investigator. Scott has covered everything from methamphetaminetrafficking cops to hurricanes and has accompanied police on undercover drug buys. He also provided an award winning, eyewitness account of the execution of a North Carolina death rowinmate and obtained an exclusive interview with the ringleader of a brazen escape from the Orange County Jail involving three maximum security inmates. Scott was also part of the Register’s

Tags: employment, Top Stories PE, Top Stories RDF, Top Stories Sun, West Valley Water District

By Jose Quintero Staff Writer Posted Jan 28, 2020 at 7:40 PMUpdated Jan 28, 2020 at 7:40 PM

HESPERIA — Authorities have identified a man killed in a head-on trafficcollision on Amargosa Road, near Key Pointe Avenue, on Jan. 24 thatinvestigators believe might have involved alcohol as a contributing factor.

Brandon Bachelier, 40, of Hesperia, has been identified by the San BernardinoCounty Sheriff’s Department Coroner Division as the driver ejected from a 2003Honda Accord, just before midnight. Bachelier was pronounced dead at thescene, according to the coroner’s report.

Sheriff’s officials said deputies and emergency personnel responded to a two-vehicle collision near the intersection and found Bachelier’s Honda collided witha 2016 Kia Forte 5, driven by a 20-year-old Hesperia woman.

Sheriff’s officials said the Hesperia station’s Major Accident Investigation Teamtook over the investigation and learned the Honda was traveling north onAmargosa Road, while the Kia traveled south.

“For reasons still being investigated, the Honda traveled into the southboundlane of Amargosa Road which resulted in a head-on collision with the Kia,”Sheriff’s officials said in a statement. “As a result of the collision, the driver sidedoor of the Honda was sheared off and due to Bachelier not wearing his seat belt,Bachelier had been ejected from his vehicle.”

A stretch of Amargosa Road was closed until about 5 a.m., as investigatorsworked the scene.

“At this time, alcohol appears it may have been a factor in the collision,” Sheriff’sofficials said.

Authorities: Hesperia man k illed in crash;

alcohol may have been a factor

Sheriff’s officials are asking any witnesses to contact the Hesperia station at 760-947-1500.

Jose Quintero may be reached at 760-951-6274 or JQuintero@VVDailyPress.com. Follow

him on Twitter at @DP_JoseQ.

By Martin Estacio Staff Writer Posted Jan 29, 2020 at 8:23 PMUpdated Jan 29, 2020 at 8:28 PM

VICTORVILLE — A man’s alleged threats to “shoot (a) school up” while arguingwith a school security guard led to a lockdown before his arrest Tuesday,authorities said.

Christian Fowler Avila, 20, faces one count of criminal threats with intent toterrorize, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said.

He is scheduled to appear in Victorville Superior Court on Thursday.

Sheriff’s officials said Avila was driving by Mesa Linda Middle School when hesaw a family member who attends there in the school yard.

The student went up to the fence surrounding the school and began talking toAvila.

A school security guard saw the two talking and told Avila he was not allowed tobe there.

“Avila became angry and started yelling at the security guard, threatening himand threatening to come back when school let out, to shoot the school up,”according to the Sheriff’s Department.

Avila then left in his vehicle. The middle school was immediately placed onlockdown and law enforcement was called.

After interviewing several witnesses, deputies and detectives served a searchwarrant at Avila’s home.

Authorities: Victorville man arrested for mak ing

threats to shoot up middle school

Arrest logs show he was arrested at an address less than a half-mile from theschool at 11:44 a.m.

No firearms or evidence indicating Avila planned to return to the school “toinflict any harm” were found at the home, the Sheriff’s Department said.

He was booked at the High Desert Detention Center in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Martin Estacio may be reached at MEstacio@VVDailyPress.com or at 760-955-5358.

Follow him on Twitter @DP_mestacio.

Inland Empire ring used U.S. mail and secret compartments in vehicles, federal prosecutors say – Daily Bulletin

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By CITY NEWS SERVICE | news@socalnews.com |PUBLISHED: January 29, 2020 at 3:17 pm | UPDATED: January 29, 2020 at 3:22 pm

Federal authorities arrested 16 defendants on Wednesday accused of operating an Inland Empire-based drug ring that used the U.S. mail and private vehicles fitted with secret compartments to shipcocaine and other illegal narcotics across the country.

A 17-count indictment, filed in Los Angeles federal court, charges defendants with conspiracy todistribute controlled substances.

From October 2016 to May 2018, the defendants mailed narcotics from post offices in Riverside andSan Bernardino counties to recipients in New York, Ohio, Michigan and South Carolina in exchangefor large cash payments – often more than $100,000, according to the indictment.

Ricardo Alejandro Bazan, 41, of Riverside was the ringleader, according to the indictment, which saysthe illicit drug proceeds were sent back to California and delivered to him.

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Inland Empire ring used U.S. mail and secretcompartments in vehicles, federal prosecutorssay

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Inland Empire ring used U.S. mail and secret compartments in vehicles, federal prosecutors say – Daily Bulletin

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Co-defendants Doroteo Mendoza Torrez, 57, of Eastvale, and Edulfo Leyva “Gallo” Perez, 54, of SanJacinto allegedly arranged for narcotics to be shipped from Mexico and Colombia to SouthernCalifornia.

Bazan then provided drugs to Noel Granados, 40, of Moreno Valley who handled the logistics ofmailing drug parcels via U.S. mail and private trucks, authorities said, and then receiving the moneypaid for the drugs.

The indictment also says Estevan Ortiz, 39, of Hesperia built hidden compartments in vehicles for thepurpose of hiding narcotics as well as the money paid for them.

During the three-year investigation, authorities across the United States seized about 170 pounds ofcocaine, 20 pounds of heroin, 150 pounds of methamphetamine, 989 fentanyl pills, 19 firearms, andmore than $1.89 million in suspected drug proceeds, according to federal prosecutors.

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What’s closed for refurbishment at Disneyland and

Inland Empire ring used U.S. mail and secret compartments in vehicles, federal prosecutors say – Daily Bulletin

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If convicted of all counts, the defendants would face 10 years to life in federal prison, according to theU.S. Attorney’s Office.

Three defendants were arrested in Ohio and South Carolina.

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By Martin Estacio Staff Writer Posted Jan 29, 2020 at 4:33 PMUpdated Jan 29, 2020 at 6:27 PM

Strong Santa Ana winds of 25 to 35 mph, with gusts up to 70 mph, are expected to pummel local mountains and the InlandEmpire until noon Friday.

The National Weather Service issued a high wind warning for San Bernardino, Riverside, and Orange County mountains,and the San Gorgonio Pass which began 6 a.m. Wednesday.

The strongest and most widespread north winds are predicted to blow Wednesday evening into Thursday.

The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreational Area and areas of the Los Angeles County mountains were also issueda high wind advisory in effect through Thursday afternoon.

The highest wind gusts reported by NWS on Wednesday afternoon were recorded at 62 mph at Heaps Peak near RunningSprings, and 61 mph at Ontario Airport.

Drivers in high profile vehicles traveling along Interstates 15 and 215 in the Cajon Pass and Interstate 10 through the SanGorgonio Pass should use caution, the advisory states.

Weather officials said power outages were possible as winds may topple trees and power lines.

Firefighters had responded to numerous calls involving “lines down,” which could be utility or power lines, throughout thevalley and mountain areas, San Bernardino County Fire Department spokesperson Eric Sherwin said Wednesdayafternoon.

No injuries were reported by a wind-related incident as of Wednesday afternoon, he said.

Sherwin said one small “spot fire” was caused by downed power lines in the San Bernardino Mountains.

According to Bigbearscanner.com, the lines fell near Pine Avenue and State Highway 18 in the unincorporated communityof Rimforest at about 2:40 p.m.

The fire was out when firefighters arrived, the lines were de-energized and most of the emergency response was cancelled,according to the site.

Sherwin said the department would be prepared for the stronger winds expected Wednesday night.

Martin Estacio may be reached at MEstacio@VVDailyPress.com or at 760-955-5358. Follow him on Twitter @DP_mestacio.

Gusty Santa Ana winds expected to last in local areas until Friday

More jobs, housing affordability ahead for Inland residents, forecast says – Daily Bulletin

https://www.dailybulletin.com/...utm_content=tw-ivdailybulletin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter.com[1/29/2020 4:04:45 PM]

BUSINESS

More jobs, housing affordability ahead for Inlandresidents, forecast saysLast year bought on a "housing recession," but more building permits areanticipated this year, forecast predicts.

More jobs, housing affordability ahead for Inland residents, forecast says – Daily Bulletin

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By JACK KATZANEK | jkatzanek@scng.com |PUBLISHED: January 29, 2020 at 12:10 pm | UPDATED: January 29, 2020 at 3:35 pm

The Inland Empire’s economy, dragged down in 2019 by a contentious trade war, will see its jobengine fire up again this year, according to a new economic forecast.

Chapman University economist Jim Doti said the region took a sizable hit last year as the trade warstymied imports and hindered warehouse work.

“The trade issues with China probably affected the Inland Empire more than California as a whole,” hesaid Tuesday during a presentation of the annual forecast.

Among the findings from the A. Gary Anderson Center forEconomic Research is an uptick in jobs that will spur rising

A sea of low hanging clouds surrounds the snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains as roofers stack roof tiles onto new homes underconstruction in Chino on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

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More jobs, housing affordability ahead for Inland residents, forecast says – Daily Bulletin

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incomes and homebuying. The year should also bring morehomebuilding in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

While job growth in the Inland Empire declined in 2019 to 2% from 3.4% in 2018, the region’sexpansion still outpaced California and the nation. Inland job growth was as high as 5% in 2015 duringthe recovery from the Great Recession.

Doti is predicting job growth would increase 2.4% in 2020, a net gain of about 36,000 positions.

“That’s a conservative estimate, but clearly there’s more upside than downside risk,” he said.

The trade skirmish resulted in a $25 billion decrease in imports from China, slowing growth intransportation and warehousing jobs in the Inland Empire to 3.5% in 2019, down from 9.1% in 2018and from double-digit growth from 2015 through 2017.

“This was an incredible growth machine,” Doti said of the warehouse industry.

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More jobs, housing affordability ahead for Inland residents, forecast says – Daily Bulletin

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The first phase of the trade treaty should lift the warehouse sector 4.2% this year, Doti said. Importsalso are a boost to other sectors such as financial services, which saw a modest 1.7% increase injobs in 2019.

Payroll growth is expected to increase personal income 5.2% and raise taxable sales in the region by4.5%.

Another blue-collar sector that did not have a good 2019 was construction. Jobs declined 0.5%, thevictim of what the economists are calling a “near housing recession” that started when mortgage rateswere as high as 5% early last year.

“These rates have already dropped sharply but the damage was already done,” Chapman economistswrote in the forecast.

But that decline in rates — currently at about 3.6% — is expected to increase residential construction.The number of residential building permits in the Inland Empire declined an estimated 6.1% last yearbut is expected to increase 14.7% in 2020, with close to 14,700 permits anticipated.

Prospective homebuyers in Inland areas should find the available inventory slightly easier to afford.The median family income will be an estimated 18.2% higher than what’s needed to buy the median-priced home. In pricier Orange County, incomes are 24% lower than what it takes to buy a median-priced home.

“The Inland Empire is still maintaining its affordability premium,” Doti said. “The people here are notrelocating to Texas.”

Single-family home prices in the Inland Empire are expected to increase to an average of $394,296.The 5% rate of appreciation would be slightly higher than 4.7% in 2019.

Reaction to Chapman’s forecast was mixed among housing industry professionals who attended thepresentation at the Riverside Convention Center.

John Adams, a senior vice president with Fidelity National Title, an insurance company with threeInland offices, said he agreed with the predictions but is holding back his enthusiasm.

More jobs, housing affordability ahead for Inland residents, forecast says – Daily Bulletin

https://www.dailybulletin.com/...utm_content=tw-ivdailybulletin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter.com[1/29/2020 4:04:45 PM]

“I think permits will rise but in a very, very mild way,” Adams said.

Scott Woodward, a residential property developer whose company, Woodward Properties, developedlarge communities before the start of the recession, said he was encouraged by the forecast. But headded there are new issues for developers.

“Jobs mean houses, but the fees for developers are about triple of what they used to be,” Woodwardsaid. “Cities have found that as a new way to generate revenue.”

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HOT PROPERTY

What vintage homes you can get for $350,000 in SanBernardino County’s three oldest cities

Two homes occupy this corner-lot property at 2905 N. Sierra Way in San Bernardino. (Realtor.com)

By JACK FLEMMINGSTAFF WRITER

JAN. 30, 20205 AM

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Here’s a look at vintage homes you can buy for roughly $350,000 in San Bernardino County’s three

oldest cities: San Bernardino, Colton and Redlands.

SAN BERNARDINO: Two homes occupy this corner-lot property on the north side of the city: a

three-bedroom house in front and a one-bedroom guesthouse in back.

Address: 2905 N. Sierra Way, San Bernardino, 92405

Listed for: $344,999 for four bedrooms, two bathrooms in 2,119 square feet (5,888-square-foot

lot)

Features: Turreted entry; arched doorways; floor-to-ceiling fireplace; fenced lot

About the area: In the 92405 ZIP Code, based on 21 sales, the median price for single-family

homes in December was $280,000, up 9.8% year over year, according to CoreLogic.

This 1914 Victorian at 452 W. G St. in Colton has four bedrooms and two bathrooms in 2,107 square feet. (Realtor.com)

COLTON: There’s plenty of potential in this Victorian-vibe home built on a quarter of an acre in

1914.

Address: 452 W. G St., Colton, 92324

Listed for: $300,000 for four bedrooms, two bathrooms in 2,107 square feet (11,325-square-foot

lot)

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Features: Leaded glass windows; covered front porch; tile and hardwood floors; kitchen with

tiered island

About the area: In the 92324 ZIP Code, based on 27 sales, the median price for single-family

homes in December was $297,000, down 1% year over year, according to CoreLogic.

This Craftsman bungalow built 111 years ago at 115 S. Center St. in Redlands has been kept up nicely. (Realtor.com)

REDLANDS: About a mile from downtown Redlands, this Craftsman bungalow with a spacious

workshop has been kept up nicely since it was built 111 years ago.

Address: 115 S. Center St., Redlands, 92373

Listed for: $399,000 for three bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms in 1,484 square feet (7,830-square-foot

lot)

Features: Porch with swinging bench; paneled walls; custom fireplace; fenced patio

About the area: In the 92373 ZIP Code, based on 30 sales, the median price for single-family

homes in December was $521,000, down 3.5% year over year, according to CoreLogic.

This Spanish-style home at 3170 N. D St. in San Bernardino has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. (Realtor.com)

SAN BERNARDINO: Spanish style brims from this 1920s spot with an arched entry and clay tile

roof.

Address: 3170 N. D St., San Bernardino, 92405

Listed for: $355,000 for three bedrooms, two bathrooms in 1,503 square feet (7,000-square-foot

lot)

Features: Tile walkway; covered front porch; hardwood floors; beamed ceilings

About the area: In the 92405 ZIP Code, based on 21 sales, the median price for single-family

homes in December was $280,000, up 9.8% year over year, according to CoreLogic.

This 95-year-old home at 515 E. G St. in Colton has a completely new look. (Realtor.com)

COLTON: This 95-year-old home has a completely new look with a bright red front door and

remodeled living spaces.

Address: 515 E. G St., Colton, 92324

Listed for: $343,999 for three bedrooms, two bathrooms in 1,369 square feet (7,500-square-foot

lot)

Features: Open floor plan; kitchen with dark hardwood cabinetry; laundry room; spacious

backyard

About the area: In the 92324 ZIP Code, based on 27 sales, the median price for single-family

homes in December was $297,000, down 1% year over year, according to CoreLogic.

This single-family home at 924 Clay St. in Redlands recently received a contemporary remodel. (Realtor.com)

REDLANDS: Wood accents adorn the exterior of this single-story home, which recently received

a contemporary remodel.

Address: 924 Clay St., Redlands, 92374

Listed for: $369,000 for three bedrooms, two bathrooms in 1,092 square feet (6,096-square-foot

lot)

Features: Open floor plan; fresh paint; modern kitchen with custom tile; grassy yard

About the area: In the 92374 ZIP Code, based on 32 sales, the median price for single-family

homes in December was $380,000, up 0.9% year over year, according to CoreLogic.

NEWS

State Attorney General Must Disclose PoliceMisconduct Files on Local Cops, Appeals Court RulesBy Alex Emslie Jan 29

A state appeals court has ruled that state Attorney General Xavier Becerra must release files about police misconduct and shootings held by thestate Department of Justice, including those created by local law enforcement agencies. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

A California appeals court rejected Wednesday the state attorney general's withholding ofthousands of records on police misconduct and shootings made public by a landmarktransparency law last year.

In a published opinion, a three-judge panel based in San Francisco found that California law"enshrines the value this state has long placed on government transparency and public accessto information concerning the conduct of the people's business." The judges ruled that the newtransparency law, Senate Bill 1421, acknowledged "the extraordinary authority vested in peaceofficers and the serious harms occasioned by misuse of that authority."

A representative from the Attorney General's Office wrote in an email that it is reviewing theopinion. Attorney General Xavier Becerra may appeal further, including to the state SupremeCourt.

KQED helped form a coalition of 40 California news organizations in late 2018 to obtain andreport on previously secret law enforcement records made accessible under SB 1421. Thecoalition has also fought numerous legal battles to ensure broad public access in what was oneof the most secretive states regarding the conduct of police officers.

"This ruling from the appeals court is a victory for truth and transparency — but it is not justthat," said Ethan Lindsey, executive editor of News for KQED. "This should be a marker for

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agencies around the state who continue to withhold public documents. The ruling shows thatthe public deserves to see these records."

In early 2019, Becerra stalled responses to public records requests seeking information underthe new law, arguing that he should wait for further direction from courts throughoutCalifornia who were fielding challenges to the law filed by law enforcement unions. Thosecourt filings argued that information from cases that occurred before the law took effectshould remain secret. Many law enforcement agencies seized on Becerra's position to delayreleasing records.

KQED joined the San Rafael-based First Amendment Coalition last March in a lawsuit aimingto force release of records covered by SB 1421, which include sexual assault and dishonesty bypeace officers, as well as any use of force resulting in serious injury and any shooting by lawenforcement officers.

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The attorney general refused to budge, however, until a few weeks later when a coalition ofnews organizations, including KQED and the Bay Area News Group, won a separate stateappeals court ruling that all such records, regardless of when they were created, should bedisclosed.

But even then, the state Department of Justice released only a few case files — thosepertaining to misconduct by state agents, arguing that it was not required to providethousands, and maybe more, files regarding investigations into local police officers andsheriff's deputies. Nearly a year later, the courts and public remain unclear on exactly whatpolice misconduct and shooting investigations the state Department of Justice may possess.

"There is no indication what kinds of records, if any, the Department may generate when itconducts an independent investigation of a law enforcement agency or when it reviews anagency's decision not to file charges in connection with an incident," the opinion says.

Judges strongly rejected the attorney general's arguments that SB 1421 should only requirerelease of records related to an agency's own employees. The court found that the Legislature

could easily have worded the law that way, and it did not.

"[W]e will not add words it has chosen to omit," the opinion says.

The attorney general has argued that providing the Department of Justice's misconduct fileswould be a huge burden largely duplicative of what the public can obtain directly from anylocal law enforcement agency. But the DOJ also conducts its own investigations and creates itsown files on those cases.

The state appeals court found that the attorney general may still be able to withhold some filesthat would be too difficult to release, but it must do so by making a case-by-case argumentthat the benefit of nondisclosure outweighs the public benefit of release.

"I think the court recognized the importance of SB 1421, the fact that it was a transformativepiece of legislation, and when combined with the public records act, it provides a powerful toolfor the public to gain access to records of police misconduct and serious use of force," saidGlen Smith, the First Amendment Coalition's litigation director.

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POLITICS

Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinkingwater

Members of the Bethany Slavic Missionary Church in Sacramento are baptized in a pool that is fed by a well polluted bytoxic chemicals from a former military base. (Max Whittaker / For The Times)

By DAVID S. CLOUD, ANNA M. PHILLIPS, TONY BARBOZA

OCT. 8, 20193 AM

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SACRAMENTO — It was a Sunday tradition at Bethany Slavic Missionary Church. After morning

services, Florin Ciuriuc joined the line of worshipers waiting to fill their jugs with gallons of free

drinking water from a well on the property, a practice church leaders had encouraged.

“I take it for my office every week,” said Ciuriuc, a 50-year-old Romanian immigrant and a

founding member of the largely Russian-speaking church, which claims 7,000 congregants.

Church leaders boasted it was the cleanest water in Sacramento, according to Ciuriuc. In fact, test

results showed the water contained toxic chemicals from firefighting foam used for decades on a

now-shuttered Air Force base a mile away. Church leaders say they did not understand their well

was contaminated.

The church’s well is one of thousands of water sources located on and near military bases polluted

with chemicals from the foam, which was used by the armed services since the 1960s.

Defense Department officials know that the chemicals, called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances,

or PFAS, have seeped into the groundwater underneath nearly two dozen military bases

throughout the state. But the department has conducted only limited testing off base and cannot

say how many civilian water sources they’ve polluted or who will pay for it.

Since 2016, when the Environmental Protection Agency classified PFAS as an “emerging

contaminant” linked to liver cancer and other health problems, the Pentagon has found the

pollutants at levels above federal health guidelines in soil and groundwater at more than 90 bases

nationwide.

A member of the Bethany Slavic Missionary Church is baptized. Test results showed well water at the church contained toxicchemicals from firefighting foam used for decades on a now-shuttered Air Force base. (Max Whittaker / For The Times)

California has the most of any state, with contamination at 21 bases, including six where the

chemicals threaten the water supply in nearby communities, according to a review of hundreds of

pages of Defense Department records by the Los Angeles Times.

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In Riverside County, Barstow, Orange County and Sacramento, PFAS have been detected in private

wells or public water systems outside the boundaries of military installations, records show.

At Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos and Fresno Air National Guard Base, the chemicals

are suspected of moving into the community water supply.

One military contractor warned in September that residents “using groundwater for drinking

water” near Los Alamitos “may potentially be exposed to migrating PFAS contamination.” Another

contractor said in March that five wells west of the Fresno airfield could be affected.

But the Pentagon has not completed off-base testing at either location, and at other California

bases, leaving the full extent of the contamination unknown.

The Pentagon faces the prospect of a gigantic environmental cleanup that officials estimate could

cost in excess of $2 billion and take decades to complete. The day Defense Secretary Mark Esper

took office in July, he appointed a task force to oversee the Pentagon response.

Wherever they have already found PFAS in drinking water above the EPA health advisory level of

70 parts per trillion, the military has supplied bottled water, paid for filters and purchased clean

water for both military personnel and civilians, officials say.

Firefighting foam at Travis Air Force Base in Northern California. (Ken Wright / U.S. Air Force)

“Our first priority is to cut off human exposure, and everywhere we’ve identified that someone’s

drinking water is above the EPA health advisory level, we are doing everything we can to provide

alternative drinking water,” Maureen Sullivan, deputy assistant secretary of defense for

environment, said in an interview.

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Citing limited funds from Congress for cleanup and testing, the Defense Department only acts

when water sampling finds contamination levels above EPA health advisory level for two of the

most common variations of PFAS.

The threshold, which was set in 2016, is nonbinding, and officials in several states have set much

more stringent standards. Congress is currently debating whether to force the Trump

administration to adopt an enforceable nationwide standard, a proposal the White House has said

it opposes.

California regulators have few legal tools to force the Pentagon to expand its sampling to

groundwater near bases.

“We’re doing everything we can to compel the owner, the Department of Defense, to conduct the

investigations, to show us it’s not a problem,” said Doug Smith, assistant executive officer with

Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, which monitors groundwater at seven California

bases.

According to the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonpartisan research organization, about

85% of Californians depend on groundwater for some portion of their water supply.

Regulators and environmental groups warn that the slow pace of Pentagon testing has left an

unknown number of people drinking contaminated water.

“The PFAS plumes are spreading near these military bases, and DOD is turning a blind eye,” said

Jane Williams, executive director of California Communities Against Toxics, an environmental

group that has pushed for more stringent PFAS cleanup standards.

“They said, ‘We spilled something, and you need to stop drinking the water for a while,’ ” Ruben Mendez, above at his InlandEmpire home, said of Air Force o�cials. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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‘Forever chemicals’ spread

Nationwide, the chemicals have been found at 401 current and former military bases. When testing

was conducted off-base, the pollutants were found in 1 in 4 wells and water systems, according to a

2018 Pentagon report to Congress.

Among them is the well at Ruben Mendez’s home in the Inland Empire.

Mendez said he had no reason to think something was wrong with his well water until Air Force

officials knocked on his door a few years ago.

“They said, ‘We spilled something, and you need to stop drinking the water for a while,’” Mendez

said in an interview on the front porch of his peach-colored home.

In 1993, when the Mendez family built the ranch-style home that Ruben, 64, and his 91-year-old

mother now share, they settled on property about a mile southeast of March Air Reserve Base.

They had a private well dug more than 400 feet down, and for years authorities came every few

months to test the water. Mendez said he attributed these visits to his home’s proximity to the

base.

Ruben Mendez’s home is about a mile southeast of March Air Reserve Base. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

In 2016, after the EPA set its health advisory, officials abruptly told the Mendezes and another

family nearby to stop drinking the water.

“We thought we had nice, clean water,” Mendez said.

At that point, the Air Force “immediately contacted the two private well owners, provided them

with bottled water and advised them not to use the well for any consumption purposes,” Air Force

spokesman Mark Kinkade said.

The Air Force delivered free five-gallon jugs of water to the Mendez home for more than two years.

In 2018, it paid to have the house connected to the municipal water system. Ruben Mendez said he

now pays $100 a month for water he used to get for free.

Ruben Mendez with water jugs in his living room. “We thought we had nice, clean water,” he said. (Genaro Molina / LosAngeles Times)

The toxic plume that spread from the base has also made its way into the public drinking-water

system.

The Eastern Municipal Water District, which supplies a swath of the Inland Empire that is home to

some 825,000 people — from Temecula to Moreno Valley and Perris to Hemet — closed one of its

large supply wells in 2016 when the EPA set its new health advisory level for the chemicals.

“We took that well out of service the same day,” said Lanaya Alexander, the water district’s senior

director of water resources planning.

But the chemicals had spread further south. In February, after a second well tested above

California’s notification level, the district shut it down too.

An emerging health threat

Often referred to as “forever chemicals,” PFAS can persist indefinitely in the ground and water, be

absorbed into people’s blood and accumulate in their bodies for years.

Some states and public health advocates say PFAS are harmful at much lower levels than the

federal health advisory level of 70 parts per trillion. California requires state regulators to be

notified at levels as low as 5.1 parts per trillion.

In January, a new state law will mandate that customers be told if any of the chemicals are

detected.

Contamination from these chemicals come from many sources, not just aircraft foam. They were

widely used in commercial products like nonstick pans, waterproof clothing and food packaging.

In Southern California, a major source of the pollutants is believed to be chrome-plating factories.

Most vulnerable are mothers and young children, whose reproductive and developmental health

can be altered by even tiny amounts of the chemicals being passed to fetuses during pregnancy and

to nursing infants through breast milk.

Since only small amounts can be absorbed through the skin, the greatest risk of exposure is from

drinking contaminated water.

Firefighting foam is considered a major contributor to the contamination, because it contains high

concentrations of PFAS. Developed by the Navy and 3M Co., the chemicals create a film that cools

burning aircraft fuel and blankets flammable vapors.

Because of concerns about PFAS contamination, the Pentagon promised in 2016 that it would phase out use of firefightingfoam. It has halted its use in training, but continues to apply it in aircraft fires. (Chris Gardner / Associated Press)

Because of concerns about PFAS contamination, the Pentagon promised in 2016, after the EPA

issued its health advisory, that it would phase out use of the foam. It has halted its use in training,

but continues to apply it in aircraft fires.

Outrage over PFAS contamination has been building in the Midwest and on the East Coast for

years, where companies like 3M, DuPont and its spin-off, the Chemours Co., which made the

chemicals, have sought to downplay their health risks.

New Hampshire has set some of the toughest PFAS drinking-water limits in the country.

Pennsylvania has tested the blood of residents in heavily-affected areas to measure their exposure.

New Mexico’s attorney general sued the Air Force this year to compel the military to pay for the

cleanup of two contaminated bases.

But in California, which state regulators say does not have any companies that manufactured

PFAS, the scope of the contamination is only beginning to be understood.

California regulators have launched a multi-part investigation, focusing first on more than 600

drinking-water wells located within one or two miles of commercial airports and municipal

landfills, where discarded household items release the chemicals.

They plan to widen their search in the coming months, sampling water from wells near military

bases and manufacturing plants.

“We’re going to take it case by case,” said Dan Newton of the state Water Resources Control Board.

“Where we find hot spots, we may chase those out further to identify plumes or areas of concern.”

The foam is tested at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia. (Gina Chiaverotti / U.S. Air Force)

High levels found, but not enough testing

One of the California bases with the highest levels of on-base contamination, Edwards Air Force

Base, has carried out little testing off-site.

A vast aircraft testing facility in the high desert north of Lancaster, Edwards has 24 contaminated

sites where firefighting foam was sprayed heavily.

At a training site where firefighters practiced dousing flames with the toxic foam, the

contamination level in soil samples reached 18,000 parts per trillion, more than 250 times higher

than the EPA threshold, according to a contractor’s 2018 report to the Air Force.

Tests of the base’s drinking water did not show high readings. Still, the environmental testing

company hired by the military called for further investigation into whether chemicals from the

foam were leaching into the groundwater, noting at least “39 off-base water supply wells are within

a 4-mile radius” of a contaminated site at Edwards.

Federal and state regulators agreed that more testing was necessary.

In March, the EPA complained in an email to base authorities that while the base was conducting

limited testing, it had made “no commitment to ensure the nature and extent of … PFAS

contamination is investigated.”

California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control recommended in a July 22 letter to base

officials that the Air Force expand its testing to include off-base wells.

Sanford Nax, a spokesman for the agency, acknowledged that regulators were concerned about “the

limited nature of the sampling.”

The Air Force is preparing to do further on-base testing next month near the base’s northern

boundary, it said in a statement. None of the 24 contaminated sites found at the base to date “are

in close proximity to any on-base or off-base drinking water wells,” it said.

If future sampling finds contaminated drinking water that exceeds the EPA recommended level,

“we will immediately provide alternate drinking water to impacted residences and facilities and

begin working with the community and state regulators,” the statement added.

Other bases have even higher PFAS contamination.

At China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station, a massive Navy testing facility and airfield near

Ridgecrest, groundwater samples in 2017 turned up PFAS levels of 8 million parts per trillion, the

highest in California.

Sampling in 2017 at Naval Base Ventura County found PFAS contamination of 1.08 million parts

per trillion.

And near San Francisco, at Naval Air Station Alameda, the levels reached 336,000 parts per

trillion, while at Marine Corps Air Station Tustin, a shuttered base in Orange County, samples were

as high as 770,000 parts per trillion.

Recently released Pentagon documents obtained through a public records request by the

Environmental Working Group, an environmental advocacy group, showed three more bases in

California with elevated contamination levels.

They include Joint Forces Training Base, a California National Guard airfield in Los Alamitos, and

Ft. Hunter Liggett, an Army training base in southern Monterey County. The third, Sierra Army

Depot, a military storage facility, is located north of Lake Tahoe.

Although the military has tested on-base at all of the facilities, their response to the spreading of

the contaminants to off-base drinking supplies has been spottier.

California regulators say there is little they can do to speed up the military’s testing or cleanup

efforts around its contaminated bases. Because the EPA has delayed setting a standard for cleaning

up groundwater contamination, the military has avoided large-scale remediation costs.

Mather Airport, the former site of Mather Air Force Base, is a mile from Bethany Slavic Missionary Church. (Max Whittaker /For The Times)

Growing frustration with Pentagon response

In Rancho Cordova, a city of more than 72,000 people just east of Sacramento that abuts the

former Mather Air Force Base, a drinking-water well owned by the California American Water Co.,

one of four utilities that sells water to the town’s residents, has been contaminated.

City Manager Cyrus Abhar said that when the tainted water was discovered, the Air Force assured

him it would deal with the problem.

“The Air Force is not going to leave the local communities holding the bag,” Abhar said.

But several years after test results showed high PFAS readings, the Air Force has largely evaded

responsibility for removing the contaminant.

Instead, California American Water has spent $1.3 million to build a treatment plant that filters

PFAS out of the groundwater. The Air Force has not reimbursed it for this expense, said Evan

Jacobs, a California American Water spokesman.

In a statement, the Air Force said, “Congress has provided no authority” to pay for constructing the

facility, but that it was in negotiations with the company to pay for its operation costs.

In a sign of growing frustration with the Defense Department, the company has filed a property

damage claim against the Air Force — a first step before a lawsuit.

Tim Miller, California American Water’s senior director of water quality, warned regulators at a

meeting of the State Water Resources Control Board last spring that the Mather PFAS plume could

grow.

“The risk of PFAS contamination continuing to spread in the groundwater basin underneath the

city of Rancho Cordova is increasing,” he said.

If no one acted to prevent it, Miller said, the chemicals could leach into five more drinking-water

wells within the next five years.

The pollutants have already reached Bethany Slavic Missionary Church, which is housed in a

former health club a mile from Mather.

A deep well on the property supplies the Pentecostal church with its drinking water and is used to

fill an outdoor swimming pool for baptisms.

Ciuriuc, one of the church’s founders, said he had no idea the Air Force was regularly testing the

well for PFAS — or that the tests showed the contaminant level had risen from 14 parts per trillion

in 2016 to 50 parts per trillion two years later.

A stream next to Bethany Slavic Missionary Church. (Max Whittaker / For The Times)

When the well was tested again in March, the chemicals had climbed to 59 parts per trillion,

according to a letter disclosing the results the Air Force sent to the church’s pastor, Adam

Bondaruk.

“The sample results” are “below the United States Environmental Protection Agency Lifetime

Health Advisory level of 70 parts per trillion,” said the letter, a copy of which was provided by the

church. “The Air Force is committed to protecting human health and the environment.”

Since the letter made no recommendations to limit use of the well for drinking water, the church

initially took no action. When another sample was taken in June, it showed the contaminant level

had dropped sharply — back to 16 parts per trillion.

But the church recently started taking precautions, after inquiries from The Times. Ciuriuc stopped

taking water every Sunday. Highlands Community Charter School, which leases space from the

church, began offering bottled water to its 44 adult students who attend class there.

Last month, church leaders padlocked the well.

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David S. Cloud

David S. Cloud covers the Pentagon and the military from the Washington, D.C., bureau of the Los

Angeles Times. In his 30-year career, he has also worked at the New York Times and the Wall

Street Journal, where he was a member of a team of reporters awarded a 2002 Pulitzer Prize for

coverage of the Sept 11, 2001, terror attacks. He is co-author of “The Fourth Star,” which traces the

careers and experiences in Iraq of four U.S. officers.

Anna M. Phillips

Anna M. Phillips is an environmental policy reporter based in the Los Angeles Times’ Washington,

D.C., bureau. Send her tips privately on Signal at (202) 660-1124.

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Controversial housing bill SB 50 falls short in Senate vote – San Bernardino Sun

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Controversial housing bill SB 50 falls short in Senate voteMeasure may come back Thursday.

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Controversial housing bill SB 50 falls short in Senate vote – San Bernardino Sun

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OAKLAND, CA – JANUARY 7: Senator Scott Wiener, right, speaks during a press conference announcing revisions to Senate Bill 50 the “More HOMES Act” on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020 in Oakland, Calif. (AricCrabb/Bay Area News Group)

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Controversial housing bill SB 50 falls short in Senate vote – San Bernardino Sun

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/01/29/controversial-housing-bill-sb-50-falls-short-in-senate-vote/?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com[1/30/2020 7:37:25 AM]

By MARISA KENDALL | |PUBLISHED: January 29, 2020 at 7:04 pm | UPDATED: January 29, 2020 at 7:14 pm

A controversial zoning reform bill supporters hoped would help ease the state’s housing crisis failed in the Senate on Wednesday, following a two-hour debate andtwo excruciatingly close votes.

But thanks to the passionate opinions on both sides of the measure, Senate Bill 50 could come back for another vote Thursday. Still, after falling three votes short, itfaces a significant hurdle.

“It’s not over until the session’s over, so theoretically there’s a chance,” David Garcia, policy director for UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation, saidWednesday. “That being said, it’s going to be hard to see what the senator can do to get the votes necessary when it wasn’t possible today.”

SB 50 would force cities to allow duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes in neighborhoods currently zoned only for single-family homes and larger residential buildingsnear transit stops.

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Controversial housing bill SB 50 falls short in Senate vote – San Bernardino Sun

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/01/29/controversial-housing-bill-sb-50-falls-short-in-senate-vote/?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com[1/30/2020 7:37:25 AM]

Even before the Senate floor debate, during which nearly two dozen legislators spoke, the bill divided the state. Builders and pro-development groups supported themeasure by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, while some city officials complained it stripped local governments’ control, and housing equity groups said it failedto provide enough affordable housing.

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Controversial housing bill SB 50 falls short in Senate vote – San Bernardino Sun

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/01/29/controversial-housing-bill-sb-50-falls-short-in-senate-vote/?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com[1/30/2020 7:37:25 AM]

Wiener didn’t seem ready to give up Wednesday.

“The bill will be eligible for reconsideration tomorrow, and we’re doing everything we can to get the votes,” spokeswoman Catie Stewart said.

Because the Senate likely won’t be in session Friday, the bill must pass Thursday or it will be dead for the year.

On the Senate floor Wednesday, Wiener invoked the millions of Californians struggling with sky-high rent and home prices that are forcing them to leave thecommunities where they grew up, spend hours commuting to job centers where they can’t afford to live, or even sleep in their cars because they have nowhere elseto go. And those Californians — those voters — want solutions, he said.

“They want us to take bold action. They want us to stop the pain,” Wiener said. “We have an opportunity today to do that. This isn’t a silver bullet — there are manyother things we need to do. But this is a big step, and it will send a profoundly powerful message to the people of California that we as their elected representativesget it, and we will continue to move the dial to make this situation better.”

The legislators who spoke about the bill Wednesday agreed that the state is experiencing a housing crisis, but many doubted whether SB 50 would help.

Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Los Angeles, said SB 50 assumes all cities have been standing in the way of home building and turns single-family homeowners into theenemy — a sweeping generalization that oversimplifies the problem. Addressing the housing crisis is urgent he said, but getting it right is just as urgent.

“Too often all of us are consumed by the immediate issue at hand, and we blind ourselves to the unforgiving law of unintended consequences,” he said.

Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, D-Los Angeles, worried the bill would not do enough to ramp up affordable housing production. Developments built under SB 50 wouldhave to be between 15 and 25% affordable — but only if the project is larger than 10 units.

“Let’s call it what it is,” Durazo said. “It’s a market housing production bill.”

Sen. Henry Stern, D-Calabasas, whose home was destroyed in the 2018 Woolsey fire, worried the bill would lead to development in fire-prone areas. The billincludes exemptions for high-risk fire areas, but Stern said those exemptions have “holes you could drive a truck through.”

“I can’t in good conscience support this bill today knowing that I’m making the problem worse,” he said.

Controversial housing bill SB 50 falls short in Senate vote – San Bernardino Sun

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/01/29/controversial-housing-bill-sb-50-falls-short-in-senate-vote/?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com[1/30/2020 7:37:25 AM]

Wiener revamps bill that would forceCalifornia cities to allow denser housing

Controversial housing bill that challengessingle-family zoning is dead for the year

California needs more housing, but 97%of cities and counties are failing to issueenough RHNA permits

Can Southern California build 1.34 millionhomes in a decade?

California’s housing shortage issomewhere between 2.5 million … andzero

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Wiener acknowledged SB 50 was still a work in progress and said he is continuing to meet with a coalition of housing equity groups to work on its affordabilityprovisions.

“We’re not all the way there yet on this bill, but we will get there, and I’m 100% committed to continued broad engagement,” he said.

Wiener made his first attempt to overhaul California’s zoning rules with SB 827 in 2018, but the bill died in its firstcommittee hearing. The senator was back again in 2019 with SB 50, which cleared its first two committee hearings. Butthe bill got stuck in the Senate Appropriations Committee in May, when committee chair Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-LaCañada Flintridge, abruptly announced it would become a “two-year” bill, not eligible for another vote until 2020.

Wiener brought the bill back this month, with a few changes intended to make the legislation more palatable to opponents.Under the new version, cities would have at least two years to craft their own plans as an alternative to SB 50, as long asthey provided for an equal amount of density — a nod to city officials who had argued the bill strips their local control. Theamendments also give low-income residents near new developments first priority for affordable homes in those buildings— a nod to housing equity activists who had argued SB 50 would lead to gentrification and displacement.

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Marisa Kendall

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