You may recall the recent weird news that the Murrieta Police Department had to give up playfully obscuring suspect mugshots with Lego heads after Lego reprimanded them. This made national news, including the New York Post, Forbes, USA Today and the Washington Examiner (headline: “Murrieta police sent to Lego jail”). Now HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” has piled on. Oliver opened his March 31 show with a few jokes about police use of Legos. “Well, that is shocking for a number of reasons,” says Oliver. “One, that they were doing it, and two, that Lego was mad at them, because it is ..read more

Kids love cars and trucks. So naturally they loved the opportunity to see, touch and climb inside fire engines, police cars, dump trucks and emergency vehicles. Elijah Bailey, a 3-year-old Wildomar resident, sits behind the wheel of a forklift Tuesday, April 2, 2024, during the annual Touch-a-Truck event at the Murrieta Public Library. Hundreds of families with their young children attended the event that included, tractors, buses, trolleys, fire trucks and other vehicles. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) Israel Sanchez holds 1-year-old nephew Marsalino Melgoza ..read more

Seaman Apprentice Hayden Hanchette (Courtesy of U.S. Navy) U.S. Navy Seaman Apprentice Hayden Hanchette, a graduate of Murrieta Mesa High School in Murrieta, recently completed U.S. Navy boot camp training at Recruit Training Command in Illinois. During the eight-week program, he completed a variety of training, which included physical fitness, seamanship, firearms, firefighting and shipboard damage control and lessons in heritage and core values, teamwork and discipline. While in training Hanchette received the Navy Club of the United States Military Excellence Award. This award is prese ..read more

About seven months after adopting a policy to notify parents if their student is transgender, the Murrieta school board considered rescinding the rule but voted to leave it in place. The school board voted 3-2 Thursday night, March 28, to keep the policy, which was proposed in August by board President Paul Diffley and board member Nick Pardue. The pair — plus trustee Julie Vandegrift — voted to keep the policy, while board members Linda Lunn and Nancy Young voted to drop it. The policy requires parents or guardians to be notified if their student asks to identify as a gender other than t ..read more

In 1964, Donna Rovey went to a store in Pomona to pick up salad dressing. She was dispatched by her grandmother, also known for the purpose of this column as Cupid. The man she was supposed to meet, grocery guy Don McCullough, was so taken that he asked her out. She declined, explaining she was engaged to a guy in the Navy. Donald McCullough, 85, is helped back to his room as Donna McCullough, his wife of 61 years, left, heads to collect items after the couple renewed their vows Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at Vineyard Place in Murrieta. Donald McCullough, who has Alzheimer’s disease, lives at ..read more

A probationer who led Murrieta police on a pursuit earlier this month through the city in a stolen vehicle that crashed at an intersection, injuring eight people, pleaded guilty Wednesday to felony charges. Ricardo Avila Perez, 31, of Perris admitted eluding law enforcement resulting in great bodily injury and driving under the influence of drugs resulting in injuries under a plea agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. In exchange for his admissions, prosecutors agreed to drop charges of possession of a stolen vehicle and possession of controlled substances for sale ag ..read more

Murrieta’s school board could revise — if not scuttle — a policy requiring parents to be told if their child identifies as transgender seven months after passing it. An item on the Thursday, March 28, Murrieta Valley Unified School District board agenda would rescind the policy, one of at least several passed by California school boards that have divided parents, spurred lawsuits and brought the culture wars to public education. In an emailed statement, the district said Superintendent Ward Andrus placed the item on the agenda “for consideration recognizing the well-publicized actions and chal ..read more

A man was located with a drone and arrested after allegedly starting brush fires in Murrieta, the Murrieta Police Department said. Murrieta Fire & Rescue responded on Friday, March 15 to a report of several fires set near a residential area on Clearview Street and Whitewood Road in Murrieta, police said in a statement Friday, March 22. Firefighters arrived around 4:03 p.m. and extinguished the fires. Murrieta Police officers established a perimeter around where the suspected arsonist was last seen running, Friday’s statement said. The area, described as having overgrown brush surrounded by ..read more

A new Chick-fil-A restaurant will open near Vista Murrieta High School on Thursday, March 21. The restaurant, at 27960 Clinton Keith Road, is the Atlanta-based chain’s second location in Murrieta. It will feature a two-lane drive-thru that can accommodate 36 vehicles, according to a news release. Chick-fil-A has the busiest drive-thrus in the nation, according to a 2022 report by QSR Magazine, and uses innovative strategies to keep cars moving. Last month, it opened a restaurant without a dining room in Riverside, making for extra kitchen space. And it’s common for older restaurants to be reno ..read more

Seasonal vernal pools have returned to the Santa Rosa Plateau. Rob Hicks, reserve interpreter for the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve near Murrieta, said the wetland feature appears after winter rains and lasts until April or May. “They were once widespread throughout California,” he said, but most of that land has been developed, and only 5% to 10% of vernal pools remain. Hikers head back to the trail head as storm clouds roll over the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve near Murrieta on Friday, March 15, 2024. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG) Hikers take ph ..read more