THE LOCALIST - DEEP DIVE

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Welcome to a special weekly bonus edition of The Localist, where veteran editors who oversee our in-depth reporting highlight stories you might have missed in the daily onslaught of breaking news.

Here are 8 stories, most reported exclusively by our journalists, that are worth your time.

Lawsuit in O.C. could change school budgets statewide

Orange County Superintendent Al Mijares in 2016

A legal battle between members of the board and the superintendent of the Orange County Board of Education hinges on a simple question: Who should have final say over a county's education budget? The answer could change the way education funding is handled throughout California. Read More

Residents of Old West movie set finally have clean water

It took decades, but Pioneertown now has clean tap water. For the past three years, residents relied on bottled water shipments from San Bernardino County to grapple with water too high in arsenic, uranium and fluoride. Now a $5.4 million pipeline is pumping in clean water and bringing the tiny desert town new hopes. Read More

U.S. not alone in quandary over permanent disposal of nuclear waste

As activists continue to demand that spent fuel be removed from temporary storage at the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, America faces the same problem confronting the rest of the world -- not one country has managed to build a deep geologic grave for radioactive waste. Read More

Same fears, different problems for Latino community

The same immigration-related forces that are sparking a wave of stress-related woes in Southern California’s Latino communities -- everything from rising preterm births to kids diagnosed with PTSD -- also prevent many people from seeking public health care that could ease those problems. Read More

Have Inland Empire freeways turned into one big construction zone?

Transportation officials agree: Just about everywhere you drive on Riverside and San Bernardino county highways you may hit a construction project. From the resurfacing of the 60 Freeway that prompted months of full weekend closures to the building of truck lanes and toll lanes, road work has been hard to avoid. The gas tax increase is a big reason why. Read More

Sesame Street takes on drug addiction

A new character appearing in the online version of Sesame Street is Karli, a 6 ½-year-old fuzzy monster who’s mother is an addict. Festive? Uh, no. But an expert say the topic is important -- and, yes, appropriate -- even for toddlers. Read More

Scope of evidence booking problems in Orange County disputed

A top public defender challenges the findings of an audit showing only 57 instances in which sheriff’s deputies lied that they had booked evidence in criminal cases when they had failed to do so. Scott Sanders predicts the number could be as high as 9,000. Read More

Riverside’s contribution to Mission Inn could hit $12 million

Over the 20 years of a proposed deal between the Riverside City Council and the Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, the hotel could receive $12 million in tax money. But the deal agreed to by the council — whose goal is to ensure the Mission Inn Hotel & Spa Festival of Lights continues — still must be OK’d by the new city council. Of the four newly elected members, two said they have to study the issue and another says, “It’s not written in stone, which is good." Read More

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