Despite being months behind, many strapped residents are hanging on to their homes, essentially living rent-free. Pressure on banks to modify loans and a glut of inventory are driving the trend.

By Alana Semuels

February 27, 2010

It’s been 16 months since Eugene and Patricia Harrison last paid the mortgage on their Perris home. Eleven months since the notice got slapped on their front door, warning that it would be sold at auction.

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09:27 PM PST on Friday, February 26, 2010

By BEN GOAD and DUG BEGLEY
The Press-Enterprise

In its first year, President Barack Obama’s $787 billion stimulus program hasn’t been the quick cure proponents had envisioned for the Inland area’s ailing economy, an analysis of state and federal data shows.

Of roughly $1.15 billion in stimulus funds promised to agencies and businesses across the region, less than one-third has been received and only about one-sixth has been spent, according to the stimulus data.

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Michael J. Sorba, Staff Writer
Posted: 02/26/2010 09:27:49 PM PST

COLTON – A utility users tax that generates about $5 million annually is set to expire June 30, 2011.

And when the 2004-approved tax goes away, so will the money. Fearing layoffs or service cuts from the loss of a huge income source, some officials have expressed interest in placing a proposal to extend the tax on the Nov. 2 ballot.

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Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Posted: 02/26/2010 07:03:49 PM PST

SAN BERNARDINO – A woman who believes government officials denied her the right to vote on whether her neighborhood should be merged into the city has filed a lawsuit in a new attempt to block the annexation.

Susan Hulse, who attempted to convince officials to undo the annexations, filed the lawsuit in San Bernardino Superior Court on Thursday. The lawsuit names the city of San Bernardino and the San Bernardino Local Agency Formation Commission as defendants.

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10:00 PM PST on Friday, February 26, 2010

CASSIE MACDUFF

Over the past decade, San Bernardino County has been like the little Dutch boy, plugging the leaks in its ethics dike only to find more ethical leaks spouting here, there and everywhere.

After a sweetheart lease in 1998 on a building owned by a supervisor’s buddies, the county wrote a new policy requiring competitive bidding on real estate leases.

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February 27, 2010

Inquiring minds want to know: Scoop of the week honors to KTVU-TV in Oakland, which did the first story on new, 15-second eMeg spots attacking Steve Poizner, after some anonymous hero saw them suddenly turn up in the ad rotation and heads-upped the newsroom.

Channel 2’s Frank Sommerville did a report on “Mornings on 2,” about three hours before Poizner put out a release attacking eMeg for the attack, and about five hours before Team Whitman acknowledged the ads in their own release with its link to their “Why We Can’t Trust Steve Poizner” web site.

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