Steven Cuevas

Another big crowd will pack the Rancho Community Church in Temecula Monday morning for another long hearing on the proposed Liberty Quarry. The quarry could be a significant source of jobs and tax revenue for Riverside County, but there are environmental risks.

The mayor of Colton has died after suffering a heart attack Thursday as he drove home from the civic center. He was 56. David Zamora was elected mayor less than a year ago, but he spent 30 years serving the city of Colton.

On the eve of wildfire season in Southern California, the nation’s biggest firefighting jet may stay earthbound. That’s the plan, anyway - unless the jet’s Victorville operator and state officials can reach some sort of agreement over a new seasonal contract.

Riverside County’s new registrar wants to expand her office’s electronic voting system. Kari Verjil is asking county officials to spend nearly half-a-million dollars on new ballot tabulation machines that could speed up election night returns.

Five years ago, a team of Southern California photographers created the world’s largest photograph. They did it by building a giant camera obscura at a jet hangar at the El Toro Marine airbase in Orange County. The 30-by-111-foot Great Picture was on display there for just a few days, and later for a few weeks in Pasadena. It’s never been exhibited in this country again, until now. Soon, it’ll be suspended in the atrium of UC Riverside’s Culver Center of the Arts.

A new state law will require restaurant workers to obtain food-handling licenses, beginning Friday. The law is designed to prevent the spread of food-borne illnesses. But bakers, baristas, bartenders and others still have time to get licensed before they face penalties.

The Democrats’ latest state budget, which was passed on Tuesday, would slash $650 million each from the California State University and the University of California systems. Those reductions, which come on top of hundreds of millions of dollars the state cut from the systems in recent years, might force the shortening of the academic year, and keep UC Riverside's new medical school from opening.

Riverside County supervisors have delayed a vote on a controversial fee on big solar energy farms. The proposed fee is meant to offset the potential effects of projects like this on roads, residents and the environment. Critics say it’ll impose a chill on the region’s hottest new industry.

People have a couple more chances to chime in on possible routes and stations for the Inland segment of California’s proposed high speed rail system.

The battle over a proposed open-pit quarry in southwest Riverside County heats up again this week. A county planning commission is winding up public hearings over the contentious project. Supporters say Liberty Quarry will bring in good jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue. Opponents say the cost for that will come in hazards to public health and the environment.

The Riverside County coroner’s office is investigating the death of Menifee vice-mayor Fred Twyman. Twyman collapsed at his home Wednesday night and died at Loma Linda University Medical Center.

A lack of state funding could stall the opening of UC Riverside’s medical school. The first class might not start next year as planned if lawmakers don’t come through with a multi-million dollar funding commitment.