The Board of Supervisors received a report on the status of jails, prisoners and realignment of functions between the state and county since implementation of A.B. 109 in October 2011. The immediate result was jail overcrowding and the release of more than 3,000 inmates. The county’s sheriff and the probation departments analyzed these results and suggested several options, which should have significant positive results.

While President Barrack Obama requested more funding in 2014 for the Forest Service’s Wildland Fire Management programs, staffing is nevertheless being reduced by five percent (nearly 680 positions). The overall Forest Service budget projects 1,100 fewer positions in 2014 than 2013. The increase for both preparedness and suppression activities hides the staffing cut. Fifty million…

As of Friday, June 28, as the seasonal fire danger rises, forest officials are increasing fire use restrictions on the San Bernardino National Forest. This past winter the forest experienced less than average winter snow and rainfall as a result of the second year of a drought, and the seasonal outlook again expects a warmer…

Philip Drucker, La Quinta resident, lawyer and law professor, is running as one of two Democrats in a field of five to represent California Senate 28. “I don’t need a job,” said Drucker. “I’m an attorney and a professor. I can always work. I’m not planning to go up there to begin a career in…