The Moreno Valley Master Chorale, directed by Viorel Gheorghe, will present “An Eastertide Celebration,” a concert of music for the Easter season, 4 p.m. Sunday, April 7, at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, 11650 Perris Blvd., Moreno Valley. The concert, with orchestra, will feature Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Ave Verum Corpus,” Franz Schubert’s “German Mass,” Gabriel Faure’s “Cantique de Jean Racine,” Stephen Adams’ “The Holy City” and “Lamb of God” by Twila Paris. The program also includes music from the Easter portion of George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah,” according to a news release ..read more

Moreno Valley’s former superintendent has won a new award from The Freedom Writers Foundation. Martinrex Kedziora received the foundation’s first Excellence in Education award during a Saturday, March 16, ceremony in Long Beach. Kedziora is “a longtime advocate for equity and inclusion and a lauded Freedom Writer Teacher” who displayed “exceptional educational leadership and enduring dedication to creating equal opportunities for all students,” a foundation news release states. Martinrex Kedziora, former superintendent of the Moreno Valley Unified School District, accepts the Excellence in ..read more

A Banning resident was charged with second-degree murder on Monday, March 25, after Rialto police said he was driving under the influence of alcohol when he caused a fatal collision early Saturday. Marcus Anthony Fiorillo, 27, was being held without bail at West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga in the death of 57-year-old Gregory McDonald of Moreno Valley. Superior Court records do not show a court date scheduled for Fiorillo. The collision was reported around 2:30 a.m. in the 4000 block of S. Riverside Avenue. Police say Fiorillo was driving a Ford F-150 pickup north on Riverside w ..read more

Gov. Gavin Newsom has requested that the state parole board take a second look at the approved release of a Moreno Valley man and convicted sex offender granted parole under a program based on a prisoner’s age and time served. Cody Woodson Klemp, 67, was convicted in 1994 for repeatedly raping his 14-year-old niece in his home in 1990. He has served 29 years of a 170-year sentence at the California Institution for Men in Chino. Klemp was granted parole in November under the Elderly Parole Program, which makes prisoners 50 or older eligible for parole hearings if they have served 20 continuous ..read more

A Moreno Valley man suspected of shooting another driver on the westbound 60 Freeway in Hacienda Heights was arrested Thursday afternoon, March 7, at his home, authorities said. California Highway Patrol officers took Michael F. Vickers, 50, into custody about eight hours after the road-rage shooting was reported to them. Vickers was booked on suspicion of attempted murder, driving without a license, driving with a suspended license, and failure to appear in court on a traffic citation, Riverside Country sheriff’s booking records show. Initially, the CHP said the shooting happened on the freew ..read more

The three women killed after a suspected drunk driver crashed into their car in Pomona were on their way home after attending a baby shower in Moreno Valley. A 12-year-old girl and a 56-year-old man in the car were also injured. Alejandra Olaez, sister-in-law Yesenia (Ochoa) Olaez, both 33 years old from Pomona, were killed along with a family friend, Lorena Morales, 58, of Montclair. Saturday evening, they attended a baby shower for a Morales niece in Moreno Valley. The memorial on Monday honors Yesenia Olaez, Alejandra Olaez and Lorena Morales. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG ..read more

Klatch Coffee in Rancho Cucamonga will be the scene of controlled coffee chaos come mid-March. The family run coffee company and bean roaster is hosting the 2024 U.S. Coffee Championships for baristas, brewers and tasters between March 15-17. The company founded by Mike and Cindy Perry last year celebrated its 30-year anniversary. Klatch has seven stores in Ontario, Fontana, Chino Hills, San Dimas, Pasadena and Redondo Beach in addition to the headquarters in Rancho Cucamonga. It also operates a stall at LAX. We asked the folks at Klatch for some details about the competitions. Here’s a brief ..read more

Nestled in Moreno Valley is the Garvey/Allen STEAM Academy, which aims to help historically disenfranchised students achieve academic success. The predominantly Black charter school’s opening in 2019 followed a decades-long climb in the Inland Empire’s Black population. Tiffany Gilmore, Garvey/Allen’s superintendent and founder, said Inland schools may not have been prepared for the influx, which happened in part because of the region’s lower cost of living. Today, she said, Black students continue to face barriers, including a lack of cultural representation in the classroom. Also, funding di ..read more

RIVERSIDE — A 41-year-old man who tried to snatch a Moreno Valley girl at gunpoint as she walked home from school was sentenced Tuesday to four years in state prison. Arturo Ramirez Cisneros in October pleaded guilty to attempted abduction of a minor. The plea was directly to Riverside County Superior Court Judge Thomas Kelly, without input or objection from the District Attorney’s Office. During a hearing Tuesday at the Riverside Hall of Justice, Kelly imposed the term of imprisonment that he stipulated at the time of the defendant’s admission. According to Sgt. John Fitzgerald of the Riversi ..read more

A convicted felon who pimped out a 19-year-old woman in Moreno Valley, assaulted other women who refused to work for him and tried to persuade an undercover investigator to join his crew was sentenced to more than five decades in prison on Friday, Feb. 23. A Riverside jury in November convicted Christian Scott Meeks, 35, of Moreno Valley of two counts each of procuring a person for the purpose of prostitution, depriving a person of personal liberty and assault resulting in great bodily injury, as well as one count each of witness intimidation, attempted pandering and pimping. Meeks was sentenc ..read more