Sponsored message
Logged in as
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
 — 
See All Episodes
Subscribe

Hey, LA listener!

Download our app for the optimal streaming experience

Apple Store logo Google play logo
  • Listen Now Playing Listen
  • Listen Now Playing Listen
Take Two

Why an Inland Empire city became home to warehouses and $2.36 million bribes

By Take Two Staff
Published Oct 27, 2014
Warehouses stretch out across the Inland Empire, blanketing several cities including Moreno Valley. But some say that expansion has come at a cost.
Warehouses stretch out across the Inland Empire, blanketing several cities including Moreno Valley. But some say that expansion has come at a cost.
(
Jesse Kaplan/BuzzFeed News
)

Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.

Get LA News Updates Daily

We brief you on what you need to know about L.A. today.
Listen 7:45
Why an Inland Empire city became home to warehouses and $2.36 million bribes

Far east of Los Angeles is a place that most Americans don't know exists, and yet they're all connected to it.

Moreno Valley, located deep in the Inland Empire, is a major artery of commerce that's home to warehouse after warehouse. Goods from overseas make a layover here before they're shipped out to stores across the country or directly to your home.

But it's also a home to political corruption. Here, the FBI paid out the largest bribe ever in a sting to catch a public official: $2.36 million. 

That person wasn't a senator or state lawmaker: he was a city councilman.

BuzzFeed reporter Jessica Garrison explains in her piece, "Warehouse Empire," that warehouses in the Inland Empire are an important part of the local economy but also a source of corruption and pollution that are eroding away at communities.