Riverside Mayor and California Air Resources Board (CARB) Member Patricia Lock Dawson explained her environmental methodology to a state Senate committee confirmation hearing on Feb. 11. 

Dawson, who has a Masters of Science in Forestry, was originally appointed to serve on CARB as a board member in April of 2025. The committee approved her reappointment unanimously.

"I come before you as a pragmatic environmental scientist. And I'm committed to protecting our natural resources. But I also think we need to be able to support our economy, industries and our communities at the same time," Dawson told the committee.

Sen. Eloise Gomez Reyes (D-Colton) asked Dawson about her ideas on land use.

Dawson said that, despite Riversiders' opposition to a warehouse moratorium, the city managed to control warehouse development by passing "the most stringent good neighbor guidelines we could."

When asked by Sen. Brian Jones (R-Santee) her thoughts on nuclear energy, Dawson said Riverside Public Utilities was considering nuclear power, and that the city expects to see hydrogen powered trains in time for the 2028 Olympics.

"I'm very technology-agnostic. As long as it's clean, and it's clean air, I want to see it employed," Dawson said.

She also said that Riverside has been leading by example through its overhaul of its fleet of vehicles into environmentally friendly cars. The city's fleet is now made up of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

"We have been the greenest fleet in North America for two years running," she said.

When asked by Gomez Reyes how Dawson ensures her programs are clean, the mayor said she pays attention to the reports out of University of California, Riverside and the testing done by CARB.

"I, as a scientist, like to read those reports and see what's coming in," Dawson said.

Watch the entire hearing on CalMatters' Digital Democracy database.

Redlands Unified School District voted against implementing a ban on certain book donations last week, KVCR reported. The policy was brought by board member Candy Olson, in response to the donation of Maia Kobabe's graphic novel "Gender Queer." There was no record of the book being checked out.

The policy would have stopped donations of books containing "perceived pornography, erotica, graphic descriptions or graphic depictions of sexual acts, sexual violence, and/or sexually explicit content." Any staff who had decided to accept donated books would also have to document their name and rationale for the acceptance, and each book would have to be approved by the school's principal before being placed on the shelves. 

The board tasked Superintendent Juan Cabral to develop his own book oversight policy, which will be presented March 10.

Read it at KVCR: Redlands School Board declines new library donation policy amid book challenge controversy.

School districts across the IE have decided to layoff teachers, the Press Enterprise reported. Riverside Unified School District voted to lay off 32 employees, including eight teachers. On Feb. 10, Temecula Valley Unified School District approved 20 layoffs. Last month, Redlands Unified voted to layoff 135 employees. 

CalMatters' Carolyn Jones reported Feb. 17 on the soaring insurance costs school districts are facing due to sex abuse lawsuits. Even school districts that didn't have to pay out any money are facing higher costs. The litigation stems from Assembly Bill 218, which removed the civil statute of limitations for child sex abuse suits.

To pay the premiums, schools have had to leave teacher vacancies unfilled, scrap renovation projects and make other cuts that affect students. Counties have cut back on public safety, roads, health care and social services.

"It's become unmanageable," said Dorothy Johnson, a legislative advocate for the Association of California School Administrators. "We desperately need guardrails, or the situation will become very dire."

Read it: California schools face a new budget hit: Soaring insurance costs after sex abuse lawsuits.

31,000 Kaiser Permanente workers have been striking for a month, CalMatters' Kristen Hwang has reported. 

Workers accuse Kaiser of violating staffing agreements and worsening patient care, while Kaiser contends its employees are on average the highest paid among other health care organizations. 

The workers ask for a 25% raise over four years. Kaiser's counterproposed a 21.5% raise, which the union rejected. They're about $1 billion in difference, according to a Kaiser statement. The union last signed a contract with Kaiser in 2021. Since then, there has been a 20% cumulative rate of inflation, according to the US Inflation Calculator. 

Read about the standoff at CalMatters: Kaiser strike hits fourth week as 31,000 workers demand higher pay and better staffing.

The Riverside Record talked with local nurses about the strike.

"We are here to help Kaiser thrive, and if they let us, we will make Kaiser the place people want to work at again," said Nicole Wooten, a registered nurse at Kaiser Permanente Riverside Medical Center.

Read those interviews: Kaiser Permanente strike continues as healthcare workers demand better staffing, wages.

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