Contributed

Overdose fatalities rose in 2020, with Black people at high risk The isolation, anxiety, and stress of the pandemic has pushed the opioid epidemic to a record-breaking death toll. According to the latest CDC data, drug overdose fatalities rose by almost 30% in 2020, to 93,000 deaths. Opioids such as fentanyl are driving the greatest rise in deaths among Black Americans, while methamphetamine overdoses are more common in American Indians and Alaska Natives than other groups, reports Abby Goodnough for The New York Times.

This newspaper recently reported that 12 members of the state Legislature refused, when asked by The Times, to disclose their vaccination status.

Even without the 100-plus candidate field seen in the 2003 gubernatorial recall that saw the ouster of Gov. Gray Davis, the 2021 effort has brought forward new nuggets previously unknown about the candidates seeking to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Between Friday, July 2, 2021, and Friday, July 7, 2021, deputies from the Southwest Sheriff’s Station, Lake Elsinore Sheriff’s Station, Moreno Valley Sheriff’s Station and Hemet Police Department, began investigating approximately 34 commercial burglaries throughout southwest Riverside County. All business’s targeted were nail salons, hair salons, taco shops and pizzerias and all had their front windows shattered, as a point of entry into the locations. Deputies were able to obtain security surveillance videos from multiple locations showing the suspect(s) illegally entering the businesses and targeting the cash registers.

Riverside County Sheriff’s department will conduct a bicycle and pedestrian safety operation July 26, 2021 from 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. aimed at keeping people out exercising or enjoying the outdoors safe.