In response to Riverside County Executive Officer Jay Orr’s initial warning in February about a threatening $100-million deficit for fiscal year 2016-17, which starts July 1, Supervisor Marian Ashley (5th District) offered a 16-point p lan to his colleagues. Its purpose was to find ways to bridge the deficit problems until the CEO and board…
The Riverside County Board of Supervisors has expressed its concern about the impending county budget deficit (nearly $100 million) and how the Sheriff’s Department’s budget and other criminal justice agencies’ budgets contribute to this fiscal problem. The causes of the impending deficit are more costs to meet the terms of a settlement from a prisoner…
The U.S. Forest Service announced that it is proposing some changes to the Land Management Plan for the San Bernardino National Forest. The proposal will change existing monitoring programs, to be consistent with new planning criteria. Fire activity, non-native annual grasses, fire-frequency departure, special uses and stream flows are the activities that would be modified,…
The strongest El Niño weather pattern since the late 1990s never truly brought its predicted rain torrents to Southern California. During the winter months, when the region was expected to be dealing with flood emergencies and mudslides, an unusual high-pressure system pushed the storms further north. According to Alex Tardy of the National Weather Service’s…
Attorney General Kamala D. Harris has issued a consumer alert warning California businesses to be aware of phishing scams that target the workplace and can lead to data breaches and loss of funds. The scam is commonly called “brand spoofing” or “phishing” because the spam mail sent uses familiar or legitimate-sounding names of companies to…
Saturday was the fourth and last bald eagle count of the 2015-16 season. Volunteers and federal and state biologists spotted 12 bald eagles at various Southern California lakes. The nesting pair at Lake Hemet were among the dozen eagles seen this weekend. Five adults and seven sub-adults or juveniles were observed during the one-hour count…
It’s tax time, and the “IRS Tax Scam” is out and about. Actually, this scam operates all year long, and it involves you receiving a recorded (usually) telephone message that “this is your second and last warning” that you owe the IRS money for back taxes and late fees, which you must pay off immediately…
In danger of losing more than $1 billion from the federal Medicaid program for California’s Medi-Cal program, the Legislature and Gov. Edmund Brown Jr. agreed on a new package of financing to protect the federal funding, reduce state debt and provide more funds to aid residents with developmental disabilities. The problem was the state tax…
Key tax benefits renewed The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act, signed into law in December 2015, extended or made permanent a number of tax benefits that had expired at the end of 2014. This means that, as before, eligible taxpayers can claim these benefits on their 2015 returns. Renewed benefits include: • Deduction for…
The California State Board of Equalization voted to lower the excise tax rate on gasoline by 2.2 cents per gallon for fiscal year 2016-17. The new gasoline excise tax will be 27.8 cents per gallon and is effective July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2017. “Today’s vote was simply a matter of fairness. Californians overpaid…
