English Bulldog Puppies for Sale in Riverside, CA

The "Festival of Lights" has returned to the Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in downtown Riverside, featuring millions of lights and holiday displays.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KABC) -- The famed "Festival of Lights" has returned to downtown Riverside, and will continue until the start of 2025, featuring millions of lights, holiday displays, carnival rides, caroling, Santa Claus and other entertainment on the pedestrian mall.

Like last year, this year's fest began the weekend prior to Thanksgiving. The switch-on ceremony was held Saturday afternoon and was be presided over by Mission Inn Hotel & Spa owner Duane Roberts, members of the Riverside City Council and other guests.

Prior to 2023, the ceremonies were traditionally held the day after Thanksgiving, but according to organizers, there's now an emphasis on getting a head start on the season's activities.

Last year's switch-on drew thousands of spectators. This year's event included a free concert, featuring Matt Mauser & The Tijuana Dogs, as well as Richard Goodall, winner of the 2024 "America's Got Talent" contest.

This was the fest's 32nd anniversary.

2024 holiday events in Southern California

Roberts, who inaugurated the tradition in 1992, said in 2023 that the festival consistently draws up to 500,000 visitors over a one-month span, "all thrilled to watch the display come to life through the Holidays."

Switch-on events were rescinded in November 2020 and November 2021. The 2020 event was prohibited because of the COVID lockdowns, and the city council decided to forgo the 2021 switch-on as a precautionary measure. The ceremony got back on track in 2022.

The nightly fest features the century-old inn bathed in multi-colored hues, with hundreds of animated characters, including elves, toy soldiers, nutcrackers and angels visible on banisters, balconies and ledges.

Towering Christmas trees and wooden soldiers traditionally line the way outside and into the hotel, where visitors also encounter a mistletoe measuring 12-by-8 feet.

Ice skating is slated to be available on the Main Street pedestrian mall, and at the corner of Mission Inn Avenue and Lime Street, a Ferris wheel will be in operation. Carolers sometimes make appearances around the hotel.

Ice skating is back at the Festival of Lights!! ⛸️❄️Join us for this year’s Switch-On Ceremony:❄️: Saturday, November 23❄️: Mission Inn Avenue & Orange Street❄️: 4:30pmFor more information on the ice rink, visit: https://t.co/GRCtPC8qns#RiversideFOL #ILoveRiverside pic.twitter.com/vYQjagGwde

— City of Riverside,CA (@riversidecagov) November 22, 2024

There will be live musical entertainment weekly, photos with Santa Claus, as well as artisan booths and food vendors up and down the mall. The city festoons light standards and other municipal property with displays and lights.

City spokesman Phil Pitchford told City News Service roughly $1.5 million in municipal funds were allocated for this year's fest, compared to about $1 million in 2023.

Although festivities will stop on Dec. 31, the lights are slated to stay on through the first week of January.

City News Service contributed to this report.

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A high school student in California has received a tremendous amount of attention this week for her passionate speech about protecting the safety of girls and women in sports.

The student, Rylee Morrow, who is a cross country runner at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, CA, spoke in front of the Riverside school district about the absurdity of modern academic administrators. And their prioritizing of certain groups with a clear political goal in mind.

Morrow was discussing a lawsuit filed by her teammates after their "Save Girls Sports" t-shirts were described as being like a swastika by school officials. The girls allege that a transgender athlete was placed on the varsity team by the school despite rarely attending practices or meeting eligibility requirements. Unsurprisingly, the school did not take well to criticism of how it handled the situation.

According to the plaintiffs' lawsuit, school officials forced the students to remove or cover up their clothes, saying they created a "hostile" environment and making swastika comparisons. In front of a Jewish student, no less.

Sounds very much like the experience of OutKick's Riley Gaines, as well as opponents of SJSU's Blaire Fleming.

Transgender Athletes Continue To Impact Women's Sports

Morrow's speech detailed how the school's actions have impacted her and her teammates, in graphic detail.

"It is not OK that I have to be in a position where I'm going to practice and have to see a male in booty shorts and having to see that around me," she said.

"I'm constantly affected by the actions taken place this season, and I have been around the females, and just my team in general, who have felt almost silenced to speak out about it, because the whole LGBTQ is shoved down our throats!" Morrow continued.

"We live in a society where it's almost impossible to speak out on it without facing repercussions."

"It feels as though that my school and the school district is choosing to support one person instead of the whole team," Morrow said. "To see the athletic director turn around and tell my teammates that their shirts that say, ‘Save girl's sports' be compared to a swastika, that is not okay. These girls feel silenced, they felt silenced, and when they finally did something to speak out against it . . . they were completely stabbed in the back."

This is emblematic of how the modern administrative world works. The desires and wishes of a privileged few are put above those who are actually affected. Meanwhile, those in positions of power are protected from consequences and demand that their political ideology be enforced and prioritized over the concerns of young girls and women.

Comparing "Save girls sports" to swastika's is unacceptable, inappropriate and absurd. In short, it's a perfect example of the extremism of transgender activism. Which has, unfortunately, completely captured the administrative state in the academic world.

RIVERSIDE, CA — A high-ranking cartel member who faked his own death and was living in luxury under a false identity in Riverside was arrested this week and faces international drug trafficking and money laundering charges, according to authorities.

Cristian Fernando Gutierrez-Ochoa is a member of the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación and the son-in-law of the cartel’s leader, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, or “El Mencho,” authorities said, adding Gutierrez-Ochoa was arrested Tuesday.

“The Jalisco Cartel — one of the world’s most violent and prolific drug trafficking organizations — is weaker today because of the tenacious efforts of law enforcement to track down and arrest a cartel leader who allegedly faked his own death and assumed a false identity to evade justice and live a life of luxury in California,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a news release.

Gutierrez-Ochoa, 37, started working for the cartel around 2014, and coordinated the transportation and distribution of about 40,000 kilograms of methamphetamine and 2,000 kilograms of cocaine in Mexico, all bound for the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

He kidnapped two members of the Mexican Navy around November 2021 in an attempt to secure the release of El Mencho’s wife, who had been arrested by Mexican authorities, the department said. He then fled to the U.S., assumed a fake identity and lived in a luxury home in Riverside that was purchased by cartel money-laundering operatives with drug-trafficking proceeds, according to the department.

El Mencho may have assisted Gutierrez-Ochoa in the scheme to fake Gutierrez-Ochoa’s death by telling associates that El Mencho murdered Gutierrez-Ochoa for lying, authorities said, helping Gutierrez-Ochoa sneak into the U.S. to be with El Mencho’s daughter.

The U.S. Department of State is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to El Mencho’s arrest and/or conviction, according to the justice department, which noted that he remains a fugitive.

Gutierrez-Ochoa is charged with conspiracy to distribute at least 5 kilograms of cocaine and 500 grams of methamphetamine, knowing the drugs would be illegally imported to the U.S., authorities said. He is also charged with conspiracy to launder the cartel’s drug-trafficking proceeds, according to the department.

If convicted, Gutierrez-Ochoa faces 10 years to life in prison on the drug charge and up to 20 years in prison on the money laundering charge, authorities said.

The Riverside Unified School District violated two high school girls’ rights by ordering them to remove or conceal T-shirts opposing the practice of transgender athletes competing in girls’ sports, a lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit, announced by a Murrieta-based conservative law firm Wednesday, Nov. 20, alleges the Martin Luther King High School students were told their T-shirts, which bore the slogans “Save Girls’ Sports” and “It’s Common Sense. XX ≠ XY,” were akin to wearing Nazi swastikas in front of Jewish students.

“We will not allow boys to take over girls’ sports or let woke policies silence young women fighting for fair competition,” Julianne Fleischer, an attorney with Advocates for Faith & Freedom, said in a news release.

RELATED: New lawsuit explicitly targets San Jose State over transgender volleyball firestorm

“This case,” Fleischer added, “is about protecting equal opportunities and the freedom to speak out — values that should be upheld, not suppressed, in our schools.”

District spokesperson Liz Pinney-Muglia did not immediately respond Wednesday afternoon to a request for comment.

Ryan Starling, Daniel Slavin and Cynthia Slavin are listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed in federal court. Their daughters, identified as 15-year-old “K.S.” and 16-year-old “T.S.,” are described as ninth- and 11th-grade athletes on King’s cross-country team, with T.S. being a team captain.

Starling is T.S.’s father, while the Slavins are the parents of K.S., according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges T.S. was “ousted” from a spot competing at the October Mt. SAC Cross Country Invitational “to make room for a biological male transgender athlete who did not consistently attend practices and failed to satisfy many of the team’s varsity eligibility qualifications.”

“As a result, T.S. missed opportunities to compete at a high-profile meet, losing valuable chances for college recruitment and recognition,” the lawsuit alleges.

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The transgender athlete, identified as “M.L.,” received more favorable treatment than T.S., K.S. “and other female athletes who have consistently satisfied many of the varsity eligibility qualifications,” the lawsuit alleges.

About 18 to 20 parents and grandparents of King student athletes, as well as K.S. and T.S., wore “Save Girls’ Sports” and “It’s Common Sense. XX ≠ XY” shirts at the Mt. SAC Invitational, the lawsuit states, adding that no one complained about the T-shirts at the time.

Wearing the shirts at a Friday, Nov. 1, practice, T.S. and K.S., who “are Christians … (who) believe God created boys and girls with unique biological differences,” were told by King Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Amanda Chann to remove their shirts or wear them inside out, the lawsuit alleges.

Chann, who is named as a defendant along with King Principal Leann Iacuone, told the girls the shirts’ messages “created a ‘hostile’ environment” and that “wearing the ‘Save Girls’ Sports’ shirts was analogous to a student who wore a swastika in front of a Jewish student,” according to the lawsuit.

Many of T.S.’s and K.S’s teammates “agree with their views of human identity, sex and gender but are afraid to express their views,” the lawsuit alleges, arguing that the school district allows the girls’ classmates “to wear clothing and apparel with various political, social and religious messages on them,” the lawsuit states.

The suit alleges violations of T.S.’s and K.S.’s constitutional rights to free speech, due process and equal protection under the law as well as Title IX, a federal law barring sex discrimination in educational programs receiving federal funding.

The plaintiffs are seeking a court order against the school district “to prevent further suppression of their free speech rights, a judgment affirming Title IX protections for female athletes” and unspecified damages, according to the news release from the plaintiff’s law firm.

(By Charese Frugé) Evelyn Erives is a “Jane of all Trades” at iHeartMedia Riverside. She hosts Middays for 99.1 KGGI, is cluster Public Service Director and podcast host, and serves as APD for Q 103.3 and Radio 94.5. She is also a weekend host and fill-in personality on LA’s KOST 103.5.

I’m not sure how this is possible, but she even has a side hustle. She runs a production company with her husband called This Is Funner, producing audiobooks, podcasts, and anything audio/video-related. She is the voice of many of the projects and he is the chief engineer.

“I started my broadcast career when I was 16 years old on a local access TV show called Campus Daze that aired on PBS and I was bitten by the hosting bug,” explains Erives. “I went to The Academy of Radio and Television right out of high school and began my career in radio at Radio Disney Los Angeles on the street team. I was recruited over to the Radio Disney affiliate in Riverside, closer to home in the Inland Empire, when I was asked to join the morning show down the hall. That was 23 years ago and I have been at 99.1 KGGI since… 20 of those years were in Morning Drive. Now I do Middays and love it. Additionally, in 2020 I joined the lineup at the iconic KOST 103.5 doing a regular weekend shift and fill-in work too.”

“I got into the business because a teacher told me I was good at hosting and my voice was unique. That’s all it took! When I was hosting the ‘Campus Daze’ TV show I felt comfortable in my skin and the producer/co-host of the show was a local teacher who spoke to the talent he saw in me. I don’t know if I would have gone down the radio path if I hadn’t been nudged in that direction. Teachers are amazing and the power they have to influence a young mind is something not to be taken lightly… that’s my two cents!”

If influence and connection are important, then both are a priority for Erives. “I’m on a mission to be the relatable friend you never knew you needed. My listeners have become family through the years, and I aim to provide a fun escape for them, where they can chill out, laugh, and forget about their to-do lists for a bit,” she says. “But I also try to sprinkle in some positivity and shine a light on causes that need a little extra love. Think of me as a friendly neighborhood advocate, armed with a microphone and a passion for making a difference. My goal is to inspire rather than impact my audience. I want them to engage, take action, and maybe even dance a little in their living rooms. After all, who says you can’t save the world while having a good time?”

“I’ve had so many amazing experiences thanks to my career in radio, says Erives. “One that stands out in particular was getting to meet Janet Jackson in her hotel room. I was doing some reporting for the Hollywood Hamilton Weekend Top 30, and I was sent to chat with Janet… We talked about boys! It was so fun and relaxed, like she — this ICON — was my friend and I left the interview on a high. The other exciting experiences are getting to bring my family along for broadcasts at Disneyland and traveling to Jamaica for ‘work.’ I never take these experiences for granted. I pinch myself every time.”

“In the spirit of keeping things positive, I’ll share only one story that stands out to me as one of the biggest challenges of my career, in hopes that it helps someone down the road. I dealt with a pretty big pay disparity issue on my first morning show. Doing the same job as my co-host, working extremely hard, and being a VERY marketable asset to my station didn’t change the fact that I was being paid 50% less than my male counterpart.”

“Finding out this fact broke my heart and forced me to take action outside of my comfort zone. When offered my next contract, I was armed with knowledge and ready to take my manager to task over the issue. I’m happy to say I was able to successfully negotiate a higher salary and learned a lesson in what it means to fight for your value.”

Speaking of which, I had to ask Erives if we have moved the needle at all when it comes to DEI in the industry. “I feel like we are headed in the right direction, but there is always room for improvement,” she says. “This has to start at the top – with superiors who truly want to implement a fair and equitable workplace. What I experienced early in my career was a sign of the old boys’ club still at work, but it’s starting to fade away. I can happily say I have seen a positive difference in this industry, but we aren’t all the way there yet.”

“And over the years, the industry has changed quite a bit in other ways. If we just talk about technology alone, Wow! What a difference. I have a full studio at home that is cloud-based so I can do my job from ANYWHERE and still be able to talk to listeners every single day like I’m at the radio station. That’s something I never thought I would be able to do. It’s amazing!”

“Another huge change is the way personalities are expected to be so much more now. When I started with iHeart (then Clear Channel) I was hired to do one job and over the years that has grown to wearing multiple hats, so to speak. Today, DJs hold multiple jobs within the company, track multiple stations, and are held to a different standard online (social media) which I have seen lead to burnout.”

Erives’ advice for cutting down on the workload is the use of AI. “I have been using AI to help with writing podcast episode descriptions for my Covering Your Health podcast and I use it to help me find fun facts about artists and music and different trending topics. At this point, I think AI is a great tool to have and I think if we continue to use it responsibly the impact on our industry can be positive. It has helped me with show prep and has cut down on time. It’s hard to say what the long-term impact will be, but for the sake of AI listening to me right now… I’m a big fan.’

“If radio hadn’t panned out for me, I think I’d be working with animals, I’ve always wanted to,” says Erives. “So I imagine I would be a Vet Tech or something along those lines. I also LOVE being a mommy, so I’m sure I would still be a mother and would be very content with ‘just’ being Juleen, Aiden, and Cassie’s mom.”

“As for the future, I suppose I see myself taking on more programming duties in our cluster and continuing to engage with my community the way I have loved doing for so long, I want to cultivate more local, fun events and raise money for causes I care about. My long-term goal is to be able to stay in this creative medium for my entire career while growing and nurturing my happy little family. It might be a quaint desire, but happiness and peace are what I crave most, so that’s what I hope I can bring to the world.”

Follow Evelyn Erives @evelynerives on all socials.

Charese Frugé is an award-winning Content, Broadcast, and Marketing executive with over 20 years of experience in markets like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, San Diego, and Las Vegas. As the owner of MC Media, she works with radio brands and individual talents, especially young women, helping them grow their brands and negotiate on their own behalf. Find her at @MCMediaOnline. See more Women to Watch here.