City / County News

Apple Valley is offering low interest loans for local small businesses. The recently launched Apple Seed Small Business Loan Program provides low-interest financing and leverages additional private capital, both of which will help small businesses grow, according to a city statement. Loans for small businesses are hard to find and, …

Backers of Hemet’s Measure E spent Wednesday sifting through the numbers and wondering what went wrong. As for their next move, assuming there is one, it’s a little early to say. “We’re obviously disappointed, and a maybe little surprised,” Hemet Fire Chief Scott Brown said of the defeat of Measure …

Californians reduced their water use by 26.1 percent in April compared with April 2013, earning praise from state water officials for again exceeding the state’s water reduction goals. But that praise came with a warning: the drought is not over, and water suppliers will again face restrictions if they don’t …

Chino Hills is accepting applications to fill a vacancy on its planning commission. The vacancy was created when Karen Bristow, who was appointed to the city’s first planning commission in 1992, announced she is stepping down because she’s leaving the area, according to a statement on the city’s website. Mayor …

The South Coast Air Quality Management District is asking the federal government to adopt tougher standards regulating tailpipe emissions produced by large trucks. The district joined 10 other state and local air quality agencies in calling for an ultra-low nitrogen oxide exhaust emissions standard that would be 10 times stronger …

Hemet’s Measure E is a proposed one percent sales tax that would pay for more police, firefighters and paramedics. Proponents say the extra manpower is needed because the city’s crime rate is going up, but critics say the tax could hurt the city’s economy. Hemet voters will decide tomorrow whether they …