Turning a San Bernardino neighborhood into a lake? Building Branson West in Moreno Valley and RogersDale in Temecula (or Murrieta)? Here are 5 projects that never made it past the drawing board.

Published: June 11, 2016
Updated: June 12, 2016 – 8:52 a.m.

They were grand plans.

Plans that, if you believed the cheerleaders, would have created a sparkling water-themed paradise in a dangerous city, transformed a recession-battered bedroom community into Branson West, brought world-class sporting events to relatively boring Riverside and revived the dying Salton Sea with salty ocean water piped in from 160 miles away.

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Capitol Alert
By David Siders
dsiders@sacbee.com
April 21, 2016 – 10:00 AM

• Immigration remains major issue for Republicans in Riverside County
• Republican presidential candidates’ focus on immigration elevates debate
• Candidates gearing up for critical primary in California on June 7

MURRIETA– Morning light filtered into the doughnut shop in Murrieta’s old downtown, and Bob Swinford lingered over coffee, longing for a revolution.

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State has ordered city to pay county to settle dispute about loans made to the city’s former redevelopment agency.

Published: Dec. 20, 2015
Updated:   Dec. 21, 2015 – 6:53 a.m.

The state’s Department of Finance is forcing Murrieta to pay $4.8 million to Riverside County to settle a dispute about loans the city made to its former redevelopment agency in the mid-2000s.

To read article by Aaron Claverie in The Press-Enterprise, click here.

District attorney’s office’s decision does not affect a civil lawsuit filed by a Ramona woman who says Ramos sexually harassed her. (Frank Bellino – File Photo)

Published: Dec. 1, 2015
Updated: Dec. 2, 2015 7:01 a.m.

The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office has declined to pursue criminal charges against Murrieta Councilman Harry Ramos for his actions during a Murrieta Chamber of Commerce event in January.

To read article by Aaron Claverie in The Press-Enterprise, click here.

The council vote follows an investigation into Ramos’ actions that found he had engaged in a pattern of inappropriate behavior. (Frank Bellino – Staff Photographer)

Published: Oct. 8, 2015 – Updated: 3:08 p.m.

Murrieta Councilman Harry Ramos will no longer represent the city as mayor.

By a 4-0 vote Thursday afternoon, his colleagues on the council stripped him of his mayoral title, removed him from regional commissions and cut off funding for any travel expenses outside of the city limits.

To read article by Aaron Claverie in The Press-Enterprise, click here.

Monday, July 27, 2015 – 04:30 p.m.

The Lou Desmond and Company Show is broadcasting from the Toyota of San Bernardino Recording Studios!

Tonight on the show, Jay Prag, estimable economist, joins the show. The Jay and Lou talk about the mayor of Murrieta’s sexual harassment accusations. Also, the mayor and city manager in San Bernardino can’t seem to get along.

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Harry Ramos calls accusations ‘made-up lies,’ says he would never embarrass himself or his family. (Frank Bellino, Staff Photo)

Published: July 24, 2015 – Updated: 11:17 p.m.

Two days after being named in a claim against the city, Murrieta Mayor Harry Ramos denied sexually harassing a Ramona woman earlier this year, calling the allegations “made-up lies.”

To read article by Aaron Claverie in The Press-Enterprise, click here.

Friday, July 24, 2015 – 04:30 p.m.

The Lou Desmond and Company Show is coming to you from the Toyota of San Bernardino Recording Studios!

Tonight on the show, Ed Hoffman joins the show to talk with Lou about the mayor Murrieta who has been accused of sexual harassment. Then, a cyclist started a fire. How it happened may surprise you. After that, are food trucks being suppressed in the Inland Empire?

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Council set special meeting for Wednesday morning to consider investigation of Mayor Harry Ramos.

Published: June 23, 2015 – Updated: 3:37 p.m.

The Murrieta City Council on Wednesday will consider launching an investigation into the actions of Mayor Harry Ramos, who last week was accused of “inappropriate” conduct during his brief time as mayor.

To read story by Aaron Claverie in The Press-Enterprise, click here.

Teen Cheerleaders Sue Former Murrieta Mayor Alan Long Over Alleged DUI Crash

By Veronica Rocha
November 11, 2014

Melissa Reynolds, a cheerleader from Murrieta Valley High School, may not be able to rally crowds of students again, her attorney said.

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Alan Long, seen here during a town hall meeting in July, received 5,339 votes to win a seat on the Murrieta City Council. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

By Veronica Rocha
November 5, 2014

Alan Long, who resigned as mayor of Murrieta after being accused of a DUI crash that injured four high school cheerleaders, has been reelected.

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Murrieta Mayor Alan Long was arrested Thursday after crashing his car into a vehicle carrying teens from Murrieta Valley High School.

By Matt Stevens
October 20, 2014

The mayor of Murrieta resigned Monday after being arrested Thursday on suspicion of seriously injuring four high school students while driving drunk.

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Paloma Esquivel
July 2, 2014

After anti-illegal immigration protesters in Murrieta successfully forced buses full of migrants to divert to San Diego for processing, groups of immigration advocates have quietly galvanized.

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10:23 PM PDT on Thursday, August 11, 2011

By JOHN MURPHY
Staff Writer jomurphy@pe.com

Murrieta Valley and six other Inland high schools have been implicated in an alleged scheme involving kickbacks for ordering sporting equipment through a now defunct Orange County sporting goods company.

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(Click image to enlarge)

WHAT’S NEXT?: Now the largest community in southwest Riverside County, it’s trying to respond to that growth.

11:01 PM PST on Thursday, March 10, 2011

By JOHN F. HILL
The Press-Enterprise

In a town that had nary a stoplight when he moved in, it now takes Murrieta resident Mike Kulow nearly 20 minutes to drive three traffic-clogged miles from his house to Sam’s Club.

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By PE News
on March 10, 2011 4:59 PM

Teachers in the Murrieta Valley Unified School District will take 10 furlough days in the 2011-12 school year under a concession agreement announced today.

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10:00 PM PST on Friday, March 4, 2011

By JOHN F. HILL
The Press-Enterprise

A leading backer of Murrieta’s three voter-approved ballot measures said he will meet with a lawyer next week to start working on a plan to sue the city over its inability to enact the initiatives.

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10:00 PM PST on Tuesday, February 22, 2011

By MICHELLE L. KLAMPE
The Press-Enterprise

The Murrieta Valley Unified school board will consider cutting more than 100 teaching positions and furloughing dozens of non-union employees at a special meeting Thursday.

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11:46 PM PST on Wednesday, February 16, 2011

By JOHN F. HILL
The Press-Enterprise

After hours of debate, the Murrieta City Council on Tuesday passed an ordinance that would allow it to exceed voter-approved limits on what it can pay top employees.

Council members acknowledged the solution wasn’t final, and that it wasn’t going to satisfy the backers of Measure E.

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By PE News
on February 15, 2011 9:56 PM

The Murrieta City Council tonight backtracked on how it will carry out two voter-approved ballot measures.

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10:00 PM PST on Sunday, February 13, 2011

By JOHN F. HILL
The Press-Enterprise

An ordinance to be considered by the Murrieta City Council on Tuesday would allow the city to hire employees at salaries that exceed voter-approved limits.

The reason, council members and the city attorney said, is the limits are illegal.

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Nelson

10:58 PM PDT on Monday, October 4, 2010

By JEFF HORSEMAN
The Press-Enterprise

Just five city managers in California — and only one in the Inland area — earned more than Temecula City Manager Shawn Nelson in 2009, according to a survey.

Nelson, 51, earned $336,288 last year, an amount that includes his base salary, deferred compensation and other payouts, according to the survey released last month by the League of California Cities, an advocacy group for cities and towns. Nelson’s base pay is $291,571 a year, according to Temecula.

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10:52 PM PDT on Sunday, August 15, 2010

By JOHN F. HILL and JEFF HORSEMAN
The Press-Enterprise

Council members in 17 “general law” cities in western Riverside and San Bernardino counties earn less than half the pay of their counterparts in charter cities, a review of public records has found.

City managers in these Inland cities also make less, though the gap is smaller.

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