Good morning, CalMatters reader,

It's Dec. 10, and this week I'm writing on the I-15, county jail deaths, bill oversight and donkeys.

A coalition of the Inland Empire’s heavy hitters are lobbying to improve emergency response times on the I-15, from Barstow to Las Vegas.

The work will take a while, they admit, but it starts with an 18-month study of the route by CalTrans that, at its completion, will allow the project to receive federal funds

Lives are at risk, said San Bernardino County Fire Protection District Chief Daniel Munsey at the official unveiling of the Coalition for our Future on Oct. 7th. 

Munsey fought to control his emotions as he remembered responding to a three-car collision in Baker.

“I remember the beach chairs on the I-15. It was a family on their way to the beach,” Munsey said.

“Why did it take me so long to get there? We sat in traffic. We drove on the dirt shoulder,” he said.

He recounted another incident, in July 2024: a truck carrying lithium-ion batteries overturned. Munsey had to shut down the freeway for 40 hours, ruining the day for the 35,000 cars and 7,500 semi-trucks that he said travel along the route every day.

“Thirty years, I’ve been dealing with this. And I can’t thank the I-15 coalition enough,” Munsey said.

The fire chief also wrote about the I-15’s needs in an Oct. 11 letter published in the Press Enterprise.

The potential solutions to updating the route include the addition of more fire stations along the interstate, or the establishment of an emergency shoulder, according to Rebuild SoCal Executive Director Jon Switalski, a leader in the coalition.

“Does anyone think it is right that people were sitting on that freeway for 40 hours?” Switalski asked.

The coalition cites Berkeley data to say that an injury or death occurs every three days on the stretch of the I-15 from Barstow to Vegas. Beyond the lives, there is also an economic impact: $3 billion is lost annually due to congestion on the interstate. The route already supports 13,650 jobs, $153 million in visitor spending in San Bernardino County from Las Vegas visitors, according to a report the coalition put together with the statistical company Applied Analysis.

The Oct. 7 announcement on Coyote Canyon Park in North Fontana also included speeches from San Bernardino County Supervisor Curt Hagman, Southern California Association of Governments Executive Director Kome Ajise, Inland Empire Economic Partnership President Paul Granillo and a pre-recorded message from Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Big Bear).

The Press-Enterprise wrote about the coalition last week.

The Riverside Sheriff’s Department was sued last week on allegations that the department is illegally concealing public records regarding multiple deaths in county jails. The suit is brought by the New York Times and Christopher Damien, a Desert Sun reporter who requested videos and investigation reports while on a New York Times fellowship over a year ago. 

When the Desert Sun asked the Sheriff’s Department for comment, the department called the lawsuit illegitimate.

"The lawsuit is about as legitimate as the articles Chris Damien writes; fictional pieces based on his own biased, anti-law enforcement opinions. We do not comment on the specifics of lawsuits."

Read the story from The Desert Sun here.

The Press-Enterprise came out with a 4,800-word, six-month, three-bylined investigative report on the reasons for the deaths in the jails of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties on the same day the lawsuit was announced. The report is just the first of two parts. 

“(These documents) tell a story of a jail system struggling to keep up with the problems created by a complex population of inmates, many of whom are already in bad shape when they arrive. Yet the records also show instances of neglect and repeated failures of supervision,” the Press-Enterprise reported.

Dan Walters reported on an effort by Assembly Speaker Rivas to bring more oversight to the legislature on Friday:

On paper, what Rivas proposes makes a lot of sense. The Legislature should have always been checking up on the effects of its laws, rather than assuming that what it does will automatically have the desired effects.

However, it appears that legislators will have to volunteer their bills for scrutiny, which could mean that only obviously successful ones will be subjected to the process.

So, I asked our Inland Empire representatives if they would volunteer their bills to be examined. Assemblyman Corey Jackson (D-Moreno Valley) said that he would. 

“Tools that track how implementation is going are really important,” Jackson said. “I intend to use it.”

Jackson wants to nominate four of his recently passed bills: AB 1078 on book bans, AB 994 on mugshots, AB 443 on police bias, and AB 1877, which sealed juvenile records.

Assemblymember James Ramos (D-Highland) wrote by email that he has not identified which of his bills would be good candidates, but that he was aligned with Rivas’ mission.

“I have said in the past that it is important for legislators to review our work and check that our legislation is having the intended consequences. It is why I frequently meet with state and local officials as well as community members to discuss the impact of measures I introduced,” Ramos wrote.

Assemblywoman Natalie Johnson (R-Lake Elsinore) took her oath in September, and hasn’t introduced any bills yet, but she said she looks forward to learning about the tool.

The New York Times wrote an article on the long-standing donkey issues in Reche Canyon, between San Bernardino and Moreno Valley. Orlando Mayorquín, an Inland Empire native whose name you might recognize as a former CA Divide intern at CalMatters, was the lead writer on this piece.

The article provides updates on some of the biggest scandals: the aborted donkey relocation program (canceled after 256 of the approximately 1,000 donkeys were removed), the archer targeting donkeys (still at large), and the traffic delays (the reason why I always take San Timoteo Canyon or the 215).

Welcome to Donkey Country, U.S.A., the story is headlined.

Thanks for reading,