Deadline approaches for SBA disaster loans for property damage in the Fairview Fire

City News Service

Special to the Valley News

Law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty throughout Riverside County will be honored later in May in a ceremony that’s expected to draw representatives from local, state and federal agencies, with an open invitation to the public to attend.

The 40th Riverside County Peace Officers’ Memorial Ceremony is slated for 8 a.m. Saturday, May 20, adjacent to the Safe In His Arms statue that fronts the Riverside Police Department’s Orange Street station downtown.

“This event will include a tribute to all 74 (of the county’s) fallen officers, deputies and agents, a flag folding and gun salute ceremony, and a multi-agency helicopter fly-over,” according to an RPD statement.

The remembrance will begin with a two-mile “pride” run involving current and former peace officers, who will take a slow jog through the downtown area before returning to the statue, where multiple speakers are slated to deliver remarks, with a keynote address by Beaumont police Chief Sean Thuilliez.

Others slated to be on hand include Sheriff Chad Bianco, District Attorney Mike Hestrin, several members of the county Board of Supervisors and Riverside City Council members.

Three names recently added to the Safe In His Arms memorial will be unveiled, among which are 32-year-old sheriff’s Deputy Isaiah Albert Cordero, who was gunned down by a convicted felon during a traffic stop in Jurupa Valley, Dec. 29.

The shooter was later killed by a phalanx of deputies, who pursued him into Norco that same afternoon.

The name of 30-year-old Deputy Darnell Calhoun, who was fatally shot while responding to a family disturbance in Lake Elsinore only two weeks after Cordero’s slaying, is expected to be added later this year. Calhoun’s alleged killer is awaiting trial.

The other two lawmen whose names will be unveiled with Cordero’s did not die in shootings.

According to the Riverside County Law Enforcement Memorial Committee, the fallen listed on the memorial include nine U.S. Border Patrol agents, 11 California Highway Patrol officers, one California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation agent, one California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement officer, two Cathedral City police officers, one Corona policeman, four Palm Springs police officers, 16 Riverside police officers, 25 sheriff’s deputies, one county probation officer and a Union Pacific Railroad police officer.

A Temecula “constable” is near the beginning of the list, which begins in 1895.

SACRAMENTO – Director

Tanya N. Garfield of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Disaster Field Operations Center-West reminded California businesses and residents of the Monday, June 5, deadline to apply for an SBA federal disaster loan for property damage caused by the Fairview Fire in Riverside County that occurred from Sept. 5, to Oct. 3, 2022.

According to Garfield, businesses of all sizes, most private nonprofit organizations, homeowners and renters may apply for SBA federal disaster loans to repair or replace disaster damaged property. SBA can also lend additional funds to help with the cost of improvements to protect, prevent or minimize the same type of disaster damage from occurring in the future. These low-interest federal disaster loans are available in Imperial, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties in California and La Paz County in Arizona. Businesses of all sizes and private nonprofit organizations may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory and other business assets.

In addition, SBA offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans to small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture and most private nonprofit organizations of any size to help meet working capital needs caused by the disaster.

Firefighters attempt to subdue fast moving flames along Bautista Canyon Road near Hemet during the Fairview Fire in September 2022. Valley News/Shane Gibson photo

Economic injury assistance is available regardless of whether the business suffered any property damage. The deadline to apply for an SBA economic injury disaster loan is Jan. 4, 2024.

Disaster loans up to $200,000 are available to homeowners to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate. Homeowners and renters are eligible for up to $40,000 to repair or replace damaged or destroyed personal property, including personal vehicles.

Interest rates can be as low as 3.04% for businesses, 1.875% for private nonprofit organizations and 2.188% for homeowners and renters with terms up to 30 years. Loan amounts and terms are set by SBA and are based on each applicant’s financial condition.

Applicants may apply online, receive additional disaster assistance information and download applications at http:// www.disasterloanassistance. sba.gov. Applicants may also call SBA’s Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba. gov for more information on SBA disaster assistance. For people who are deaf, hard of hearing or have a speech disability, dial 711 to access telecommunications relay services. Completed applications should be mailed to U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155. Submitted by Small Business Administration.

Jennie Taer

Daily Caller Investigative Reporter

Several Democrats are lashing out against the Biden administration for not preparing sufficiently for a migrant surge expected when the Trump-era border order Title 42 ends May 11.

Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs and Democratic Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego criticized the Biden administration for not doing enough to prepare for the migration wave when Title 42 ends. The Biden administration has put forward a plan it hopes will address the surge that consists of erecting migrant processing facilities in Latin America and increasing legal pathways to entry.

Hobbs said Friday that her state is prepping for the expected migrant influx “largely without support from the federal government,” according to The Washington Post. Gallego, who is running for Senate, sent four letters to the Biden administration Thursday calling for more resources for his state and better communication.

“While the specific needs and requests of each border community varied, one similarity was clear: the administration has not done enough to meet their needs, and these local officials require additional resources, personnel, and funds to ensure our border stays secure and that the processing of asylum seekers is done in a humanitarian way,”

Gallego said in a statement regarding the inquiries. Federal authorities along the U.S.-Mexico border are already seeing an influx of migrants. Arizona’s Yuma sector, for example, was at 213% capacity as of Monday morning, according to an internal Border Patrol document obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who recently left the Democratic Party to become an Independent, also criticized the federal government for failing to adequately prepare for the sunset of Title 42.

“The Biden administration had two years to prepare for this and did not do so, and our state is going to bear the brunt,” Sinema told CBS News host Margaret

Brennan Sunday. President Joe Biden has also received backlash from members of his own party for his recent decision to deploy 1,500 troops to the southern border.

“The Biden administration’s militarization of the border is unacceptable. There is already a humanitarian crisis in the western hemisphere, and deploying military personnel only signals that migrants are a threat that require our nation’s troops to contain. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez said in a statement Tuesday.

“The Administration has had over two years to plan for the eventual end of this Trump-era policy in a way that does not compromise our values as a country. I have offered them a strategic and comprehensive plan, which they have ignored. Trying to score political points or intimidate migrants by sending military to the border caters to the Republican party’s xenophobic attacks on our asylum system,” he said.

Democratic New York Rep. Nydia Velazquez echoed Menendez’s sentiments.

“Further militarization of our southern border will do nothing to address the root causes of migration and only hurt migrants. We need real immigration reform,” Velazquez wrote on Twitter Wednesday.

California reparations task force approves $800 billion recommendations

The California Reparations Task Force voted in favor of approving $800 billion in recommendations Saturday, handing off their decision to the state’s legislature.

The nine-member panel tasked with tackling the question of reparations for California residents in 2020 by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom held a public meeting in Oakland May 6 in which they approved up to $1.2 million in reparations payments to be made to all qualifying Black citizens.

In addition to the payments, the panel called on the state to issue a formal apology for “long-standing racial disparities and inequalities” as observed by Democratic California Rep. Barbara Lee, Fox News reported. The apology, the panel insisted, must “include a censure of the gravest barbarities,” namely a condemnation of the state’s first elected governor, Peter Hardeman Burnett, an admitted white supremacist, NPR reported Under Burnett’s leadership, the state enacted the Fugitive Slave

Act in 1850 which allowed for the capture and return of runaway slaves until emancipation more than decade later, the outlet stated.

“By participating in these horrors, California further perpetuated the harms African Americans faced, imbuing racial prejudice throughout society through segregation, public and private discrimination, and unequal disbursal of state and federal funding,” the panel noted, according to NPR.

Though up to $1.2 million in reparations was approved by the task force, some voiced their displeasure at the offer, arguing the amount should be much higher

Citing a 19th century promise of “40 acres and a mule,” activist Rev. Tony Pierce demanded an “equivocal” amount for every black citizen, amounting to a total he figured to be $200 million, Fox News reported.

While the panel approved the $800 billion in reparations, the proposed payments are not likely to pass through the state’s legislature as $800 billion is more than 2.5 times higher than the state’s annual