On Tuesday, President Barack Obama released his fiscal year 2015 (starting Oct. 1, 2014) federal budget proposal. Beginning next year, the President plans to change the ways the federal government funds its costs of fighting wildfires. The proposal provides certainty, safeguards and effectiveness for paying these annual costs, which are in the billions of dollars….

Keep the faith, is the National Weather Service’s advice regarding the appearance of “El Niño” this spring. During the fall, forecasters were awash in warnings about the arrival of an El Niño event comparable to the 1982-83 and 1997-98 seasons. Public agencies, at all levels — local, state and federal — were advising Southern California…

The Riverside County Board of Supervisors has directed staff from the sheriff’s Office and Code Enforcement to consider a county ordinance to discourage or prevent removing shopping carts from the premises of businesses that provide them to customers. Third District Supervisor Jeff Stone offered the idea to his colleagues after several cities in his district…

As directed in Gov. Edmund Brown Jr.’s November executive order, the State Water Resources Control Board has drafted a revised set of emergency regulations to create water savings during the drought. SWRCB issued its initial regulations in March 2015, but in November, when Brown issued a new executive order, he extended the urban water use…