Stephens' kangaroo rats, a species endemic to Southern California, have a comfortable living situation in southwestern Riverside County. But the hopping rodents felt their mecca was missing one vital component - grass. more ›

A 14-year-old boy was accidentally shot to death by his cousin while the two were on a deer hunting trip in the San Jacinto Mountains over the Thanksgiving weekend. Isreal Delatorre was killed while he was on a trip with his uncle Guillermo Delatorre, who was a local hunting safety instructor. more ›

Inmates in Riverside County could soon find themselves having to pony up cash for their "stay" in jail. Today the Board of Supervisors "tentatively approved an ordinance to require inmates in county detention facilities to reimburse the county for the cost of their incarceration." more ›

Riverside County wants its residents to turn off the bright lights. The county's board of supervisors has given a tentative OK to a law meant to fight the kind of light pollution that makes it hard for residents to see stars from their backyards. The law that would require residents to shield bright exterior lights and point them away from their neighbor's homes and public streets. It wouldn't affect public street lights, according to the Riverside Press-Enterprise. more ›

If you're a sex offender and you've already moved away from nearby schools, parks, swimming pools and libraries in Riverside County, you've got to one thing to your rather lengthy not to-do list. When Halloween rolls around this year, you have to tear down your decorations, turn off your lights and promise not to open your front door. The supervisors of Riverside County believe that Halloween is a loophole for sex offenders, because it's the one day every year when the children come to them instead of vice-versa. more ›

Gear up the parental fear machine, it's Halloween! Adding to a long list of regulations that deliberately ignore the uncomfortable fact that most children are sexually abused by people that they already know, Riverside County is considering a rule that would prohibit registered sex offenders from hanging Halloween decorations on October 31, would require them to leave their outside lights off that day, and would ban them from answering the door during the same hours. more ›

An atypical act of gang violence occurred on August 30 in Riverside County, and the culprits - three gang members of Jurupa Vallery - were finally apprehended Friday night. Riverside County sheriff's deputies arrested Daniel Delshawn Green, 19, Dequan Matthew Green, 26, and Daymen Qionel Tolbert, 20. more ›

Two bodies found Monday evening in the Riverside County portion of Joshua Tree National Park have been identified today as being a couple visiting the U.S. from the Netherlands, according to the Huffington Post. 44-year old Agustinus (Guus) Van Hove, and his girlfriend, 38-year-old Helena Nuellett, were discovered within about a mile of each other inside the park. more ›

33-year-old Ninderjit Singh was arrested on Friday at his home in San Jacinto, a community in Riverside County, after being a fugitive from his native Canada for several years. Singh is wanted for the 1999 murder of then-18-year-old Poonam Randhawa in Vancouver, British Columbia, explains CBS2. The suspect had previously been featured on the popular television show "America's Most Wanted." more ›

CVS Pharmacy got called out, and now they're going to be paying out: The company announced today they will pay $2 million as a result of a consumer protection civil lawsuit filed earlier this month by the District Attorneys of Los Angeles, Riverside and Ventura counties. The suit alleges CVS used false advertising by not providing an immediate discount for some advertised items. more ›

A body was found this afternoon on the side of I-15 in Riverside County, reports CBS News. Police are searching local homeless camps as part of their investigation, and have closed down El Cerrito Road near where the body was located. more ›

A manhunt launched five days ago to find two young Ventura County inmates who broke free from their labor crew in the Hollywood Hills has concluded with the pair's apprehension. Pablo Ladislow Ontaneda, 18, and Christopher Ochoa, 19, were located last night to a home in Jurupa, according to NBCLosAngeles. more ›

Apparently "Celebrity Rehab" had little effect on Rodney King. He was pulled over and arrested on Tuesday in Riverside County on suspicion of drunk driving. more ›

Over 220 campaigns aiming to section California into halves or even thirds have been defeated since the 1850s. Supervisor Jeff Stone of Riverside County introduces the latest secession proposal. Blaming left-wing Sacramento for the state's economic crisis, Stone’s proposal gathers thirteen conservative Republican counties, including Riverside, and forms them into the nation’s 51st state - “South California.” more ›

Two experienced skydivers were killed after the canopies of their parachutes collided and deflated about 300 feet from the ground Thursday afternoon, according to authorities. more ›

A student at Paloma Valley High in Menifee was branded a "sinner" by their teacher after the student wore a t-shirt that said "Gay is Good" to class. The teacher, whose identity has not been released, "drew an “S” on the hand of a student," to symbolize "sinner," according to CBS2, and referred to the student, whose identity is also being kept private, multiple times as such. more ›

Up until Monday, Wally spent his days and nights guarding a large-scale marijuana grow operation at a home in the Hemet area. Who is Wally? Well, he is a four-foot long, 55-pound alligator who "worked" from inside a cement pond on the property, says NBC. Now Wally is calling Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary home, since both he, and the 2,285 pot plants he was keeping an eye on are illegal in California. more ›

A 17-year-old Riverside County high school student was arrested Wednesday morning after threatening a teacher at his former school armed with a shotgun, knives and ammunition. The teen appeared at Lakeside High School in Lake Elsinore around 7:30 a.m. in the classroom of a former teacher who was able to alert another teacher. The teen, whose name hasn't been released because he is a minor, was quickly detained by police and booked into juvenile hall without incident, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. more ›

The body of Angela Wright, 39, was found inside her rainwater-flooded vehicle in a wash near Canyon Lake, according to KTLA. The Menifee resident "drove through a flooded intersection and was carried away by floodwaters shortly after 3 a.m. Wednesday." "Rescue divers were called out and found the vehicle submerged in the lake with the body inside," said Melissa Nieburg of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, according to LA Now. more ›

Two major solar power projects in Southern California were announced today, proving that the state's commitment to reducing greenhouse gases may be on target. Locally, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power pushed forward plans for what will become the city's largest solar array. Meanwhile, the federal government approved... more ›

Last week, census data revealed that 16.1% of L.A. County residents are living in poverty. Now data about the Inland Empire is surfacing and it's telling an even worse story: the region saw a 15.4% poverty rate in 2009. more ›

Registered sex offenders in one Riverside County city might have to leave if they want to celebrate Halloween. A motion (.pdf) before the Perris city council tonight (.pdf) could offenders from decorating their home. It would also instruct them to keep outside lights off not answer the door to trick or treaters. The idea follows in the footsteps of the city of Orange, but it originally was modeled after a Missouri law that, among other regulations, quarantines sex offenders inside their house from 5 to 10:30 p.m., according to the Press-Enterprise. more ›

Authorities in Riverside County have confirmed that the human remains found 2.5 miles from Valley View High School in Moreno Valley are that of missing teen Norma Lopez. more ›

The search for 17-year-old Norma Lopez of Moreno Valley continues today, reports LA Now. The Valley View High summer school student was reported missing midday on Thursday when she failed to return home from classes. more ›

Two homes have reportedly burned after lightning sparked a brush fire in a Lake Elisnore neighborhood this afternoon. Evacuations were called for and one sheriff's deputy was injured when he rescued an elderly woman from a house. In other parts of Riverside County, a handful of small and large fires burned, some near the cities of Temecula and Sage. "We've got small fires and larger fires," a Riverside County Fire Department spokeswoman told the LA Times. "We're trying to catch up. It's been hectic." more ›

A 40-year-old man was charged today in connection with freeway shootings -- using BBs or pellets -- that left windows shattered and driver rattled over the last couple months, reports the LA Times. William Matthew Frye of Apple Valley could be the man responsible for over 50 incidents on Inland Empire freeways in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. He was arrested Thursday when witnesses said he was allegedly shooting at vehicles on the 15 Freeway. No one has been hurt in any of the shootings. more ›

This is really becoming a trend. Following in the footsteps of LAUSD, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education is the latest to approve a boycott of Arizona over their controversial immigration law, banning official travel and to the state and stopping any contracts with businesses based there. Meanwhile, two Riverside County and one Orange County cities have approved resolutions in support of Arizona's law. Hemet and Lake Elsinore both approved them on Tuesday and Yorba Linda earlier this month. Next? more ›

Many local cities have gotten a handle on brick and mortar medical marijuana dispensaries by enacting ordinances that limit where they can be, but the latest trend are delivery services, which is in legal limbo. Out in Riverside County's city of Norco, a couple with a mobile RV dispensary are facing some heat so they've picked up and moved to an unincorporated part of the county, says the LA Weekly. Problem is, Riverside County also has a ban on dispensaries,but because local bans are based on zoning laws, mobile delivery services face uncharted territory as no laws exist to regulate them, notes the Press-Enterprise. more ›

A 5-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department was arrested today for selling narcotics, officials have announced. Yoshio Romero, assigned to patrol Southeast Division, became the subject of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration investigation in April for selling methamphetamine while off-duty. When the LAPD was informed, an internal administrative investigation was also launched. On Monday the 28-year-old was arrested in Riverside County under a federal arrest warrant. The investigation is ongoing. more ›

More than 50 vehicles in San Bernardino and Riverside counties have been hit by projectiles over the past several weeks, according to the LA Times. The California Highway Patrol believe that BBs or pellets are the objects that have shattered windows of many rattled drivers. Luckily no one has been hurt and mostly back windows have been shot out. more ›