California has already experienced an unusually early start to fire season amid an ongoing drought and historically low rainfall and reservoir levels. While wildfires are a natural part of California’s landscape, the fire season in California and across the West is starting earlier and ending later each year. Warmer spring and summer temperatures, reduced snowpack,…
On May 13, Gov. Gavin Newsom released his revised fiscal year (FY) 2022-23 budget. For the first time, the state budget exceeded $300 billion. His January proposed budget was $286.5 million. Total expenditures approach $227.4 billion and revenues are forecast to be $222.6 billion.The estimated $15.4 billion surplus from FY 2021-22 plus new revenues is…
At the May 17 meeting of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, County Executive Officer Jeff Van Wagenen reported that at the end of June, the county’s projected deficit in discretionary funds for fiscal year (FY) 2021-22 would be $3 million, significantly less than the projection when the budget was adopted nearly a year ago.He…
At 29 years old, Shrina Kurani is the youngest of the five candidates for the 41st Congressional seat and the one who grew up in the district.From Riverside and a valedictorian graduate of La Sierra High School, she earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of California, Riverside. She traveled to Sweden to earn a…
Editor’s note: On June 7, Riverside County will hold a primary to choose two candidates to face off in the November Gubernatorial Election for the U.S. Congressional District 41 seat. Five candidates are on the ballot. The Republicans are Rep. Ken Calvert, incumbent, and John Michael Lucino. Two candidates, Will Rollins and Shrina Kurani, are…
Will Rollins is one of two Democrats seeking to unseat incumbent Republican Ken Calvert in the race to represent the 41st Congressional District. A new resident of Palm Springs, Rollins formerly lived in Canyon Lake, also in the 41st.As a result of the 2020 California Redistricting Commission’s decisions, the 41st District begins in the desert…
Anna Nevenic is a No Party Preference candidate in the race for the 41st Congressional seat. However, many voters may recognize her as the frequent Democratic candidate in elections for state seats over the past decade.In 2010, she entered the race that former Sen. Bill Emmerson won to replace John Benoit as the state Senate…
A sitting judge, Burke Strunsky, is one of two challengers to the third term for incumbent Riverside County District Attorney Michael Hestrin. (Strunsky has taken a leave of absence while campaigning.)The 49-year-old jurist has sat on the Riverside County Superior Court since 2017. But most of his professional career has been at the prosecutor’s table…
Michael Hestrin has been Riverside County’s district attorney since January 2015, and he is seeking another four-year term.In 2014, he garnered 55% of the vote to defeat his boss, former District Attorney Paul Zellerbach. Four years later, he nearly doubled the votes cast for him and increased his winning percentage to 66% over challenger Lara…
Editor’s note: On June 7, Riverside County will hold a primary election for district attorney. The three candidates — Incumbent Michael Hestrin, challenger Lara Gressley and challenger Judge Burke Strunsky — have spoken to the Town Crier. All three interviews are in this issue.Lara Gressley, a Northern California native now living with her family in…
