While neither the tribe nor seller Kelly Roberts disclosed financial details when the sale was announced in early May, county transaction records indicate the deal was finalized on May 28. The acquisition adds the Mission Inn to a growing collection of hospitality properties owned by the tribe through its San Manuel Investment Authority.

    The estimated purchase price was confirmed through filings reviewed by the Riverside County Assessor-Clerk Recorder’s Office. The transactions were completed through entities controlled by Roberts, a former Orange County resident and billionaire businesswoman.

    “The sale price is within $1,000 of the actual price,” said Melissa Garcia, chief deputy assessor-clerk recorder for Riverside County.

    County officials noted that the final valuation could be refined in the coming months as additional documentation is reviewed and processed to establish the complete chain of title and updated property assessments.

    “This could take a few months,” Garcia said.

    Records show the sale involved several separate properties. One transaction transferred ownership of the 238-room Mission Inn itself, while another included the adjacent parking structure located between Fifth and Sixth streets and bounded by Main and Orange streets. The deal also encompassed a vacant parcel and annex building that houses a bookstore along with offices for the Mission Inn Foundation and Museum.

    Based on transfer taxes and associated fees filed with the county, the hotel property accounted for roughly $29.23 million of the total sale price. The garage, vacant land and annex building were valued at approximately $3.68 million.

    Those figures were derived using documentary transfer taxes and local city taxes assessed during the transfer of ownership, according to county officials.

    A separate filing documented the transfer of the property’s alcoholic beverage license. The license was sold for $331,394.16 to Mission Inn Riverside BevCo LLC, a limited liability company operated by the San Manuel Nation.

    The filings were submitted by Historic Mission Inn Corp. and Mission District Associates LLC, both controlled by Roberts. County records identify attorney Patrick O’Brien as the designated agent authorized to receive legal notices and government correspondence on behalf of those entities.

    The buyer was listed as Mission Inn Riverside LLC, a company established by the tribe on April 24. Corporate filings with the California Secretary of State show the entity was created specifically to facilitate the purchase of the downtown Riverside properties.

    “The San Manuel Investment Authority is continuing to abide by the confidentiality of the agreement and aren’t able to provide additional comment,” said San Manuel spokesman Kenneth Shoji.

    Representatives for Roberts and her attorney did not respond to requests seeking additional comment regarding the transaction.

    Officials with the Riverside County Assessor-Clerk Recorder’s Office cautioned that large-scale property transactions often involve multiple documents and filings, meaning additional records connected to the sale could still emerge.

    “It is important to note that large or complex property transfers may be recorded through multiple documents,” said county spokesman Steven Nguyen. “As a result, the information reflected in any single recorded document may represent only one portion of the overall transaction.”

    The sale marks the end of an era for the Roberts family, which played a pivotal role in preserving the iconic Riverside landmark.

    Duane and Kelly Roberts became closely associated with the Mission Inn after stepping in to save the property from an uncertain future. The hotel had closed during the mid-1980s and passed through several owners before Duane Roberts purchased it in 1992 for $15.6 million.

    Before that acquisition, the Riverside Redevelopment Agency had purchased the property in 1976 and later sold it to Carley Capital Group in 1985. Carley launched a major restoration effort but filed for bankruptcy in 1988. According to a previous Press-Enterprise report, Chemical Bank and the redevelopment agency ultimately completed the $50 million renovation project before Roberts took ownership.

    Duane Roberts, widely credited with helping spark the revitalization of downtown Riverside through the reopening of the Mission Inn, passed away on Nov. 1, 2025.

    When the sale was announced earlier this year, Kelly Roberts said she planned to relocate to Palm Beach, Florida, as she entered a new chapter in life. Florida remains a popular destination for wealthy residents because it does not impose state income taxes, estate taxes or luxury taxes on qualifying residents.

    For the San Manuel Nation, the acquisition continues a decades-long strategy of expanding beyond gaming and diversifying its investment portfolio.

    The tribe began broadening its holdings in the early 2000s with investments in the Four Fires Residence Inn by Marriott in Washington, D.C., and the Three Fires Residence Inn in downtown Sacramento.

    In 2021, the tribe made headlines with its $650 million purchase of the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, marking a significant expansion of its gaming interests beyond California.

    Its hospitality portfolio also includes the Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort & Club in Dana Point, the Bear Springs Hotel in Highland, and The Draftsman hotel in Charlottesville, Virginia.

    The tribe further expanded its real estate holdings in 2016 with the acquisition of the historic Arrowhead Springs Hotel property in San Bernardino’s Waterman Canyon from Cru, formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ, which had owned the 1,900-acre site since 1962.

    With the addition of the Mission Inn, one of Southern California’s most recognizable historic landmarks now joins an expanding portfolio of hospitality properties owned and operated by the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation.

Source: Riverside County Assessor-Clerk Recorder records; statements from Melissa Garcia, Steven Nguyen, Kenneth Shoji; Southern California News Group reporting.

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Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling announced the Ventura facility will permanently close on July 10, ending a 114-year run in the city and impacting dozens of workers, according to company filings and published reports.

The closure will affect 85 employees, though the company said most workers are expected to be reassigned to other Southern California locations.

“We regularly assess our locations, products and services to ensure we can continue driving sustainable growth and innovation across our business,” a company spokesperson told SFGATE.

The shutdown marks the end of one of Ventura’s oldest industrial operations.

Coca-Cola first opened a bottling operation in Ventura in 1912, later relocating several times over the decades as the business expanded.

By the 1950s, local newspapers described Ventura’s soda bottling industry as booming, with Coca-Cola and Nehi plants capable of producing thousands of cases of soft drinks each day.

The Ventura closure appears to be part of a broader consolidation effort by Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling, which has shuttered multiple California facilities in recent years.

Operations from the Ventura plant are expected to be transferred to other Southern California distribution centers.

The company filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN notice, with the state alerting officials to the upcoming closure and layoffs, according to the Los Angeles Times.

While many employees are expected to remain with the company through reassignment opportunities, the shutdown still represents the loss of a longstanding local landmark tied to Ventura’s industrial history.

The facility’s final day of operation is scheduled for July 10.

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File # MV232830317

Details:

On October 10, 2023, at 9:35 P.M., deputies from the Riverside Sheriff’s Moreno Valley Station responded to the report of a robbery in-progress near the 12000 block of Perris Boulevard, Moreno Valley. Employees at the business advised the suspect pointed a black firearm at them and demanded money from the safe. The suspect was described as a Hispanic male adult, approximately 30 years old, wearing a blue surgical mask, green hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, black gloves and black boots. The suspect fled the location before the safe could be opened. Deputies arrived within minutes but were unable to locate the suspect.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact Deputy Flores #6292 at the Riverside Sheriff’s Moreno Valley Station at (951) 486–6700.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Major corporations from oil and gas companies to retail giants would have to disclose their direct greenhouse gas emissions as well as those that come from activities like employee business travel under legislation passed Monday by California lawmakers, the most sweeping mandate of its kind in the nation.

The legislation would require thousands of public and private businesses that operate in California and make more than $1 billion annually to report their direct and indirect emissions. The goal is to increase transparency and nudge companies to evaluate how they can cut their emissions.

“We are out of time on addressing the climate crisis,” Democratic Assemblymember Chris Ward said. “This will absolutely help us take a leap forward to be able to hold ourselves accountable.”

The legislation was one of the highest profile climate bills in California this year, racking support from major companies that include Patagonia and Apple, as well as Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the United Nations convention behind the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

The bill would still need final approval by the state Senate before it can reach Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. Lawmakers backing the bill say a large number of companies in the state already disclose some of their own emissions. But the bill is a controversial proposal that many other businesses and groups in the state oppose and say will be too burdensome.

Newsom declined to share his position on the bill when asked last month. His administration’s Department of Finance opposed it in July, saying it would likely cost the state money that isn’t included in the latest budget. Newsom has advanced California’s role as a trendsetter on climate policies by transitioning the state away from gas-powered vehicles and expanding wind and solar power. By 2030, the state has set out to lower its greenhouse gas emissions by 40% below what they were in 1990.

State Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat who introduced the disclosure bill, said in a statement that it would allow California to “once again lead the nation with this ambitious step to tackle the climate crisis and ensure corporate transparency.”

California has a lot of big companies that manufacture, export and sell everything from electronics to transportation equipment to food, and most every major company in the country does business in the state, which is home to about one in nine Americans. Newsom often boasts about the state’s status as one of the world’s largest economies.

The policy would require more than 5,300 companies to report their emissions, according to Ceres, a nonprofit policy group supporting the bill.

About 17 states, including California, have inventories requiring large polluters to disclose how much they emit, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. California’s climate disclosure bill would be different because of all the indirect emissions companies would have to report. Additionally, companies would have to report based on how much money they make, not how much they emit.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed rules that would make public companies disclose their emissions, up and down the supply chain. But the California bill would go beyond that, by mandating that both public and private companies report their direct and indirect emissions.

Companies would have to report indirect emissions including those released by transporting products and disposing waste. For example, a major retailer would have to report emissions from powering its own buildings, as well as those that come from delivering products from warehouses to stores.

Opponents of the bill say it is not feasible to accurately account for all of the mandated emissions from sources beyond what companies are directly responsible for.

“We’re dealing with information that’s either unreliable or unattainable,” said Brady Van Engelen, a policy advocate at the California Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber, which advocates for businesses across the state, is leading a coalition that includes the Western States Petroleum Association, the California Hospital Association and agricultural groups, in opposing the bill. They argue many companies don’t have enough resources or expertise to accurately report emissions and say the legislation could lead to higher prices for people buying their products.

Hundreds of companies in California already have to disclose their direct emissions through the state’s cap and trade program, said Danny Cullenward, a climate economist and fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy. The decade-old program, which allows large emitters to buy allowances from the state to pollute and trade them with other companies, is one of the largest in the world.

Cullenward said the disclosure bill could lead to similar proposals in other states as federal regulators, faced with possible lawsuits in the future over disclosure mandates, “are going to be under pressure to not overreach.”

Supporters of the disclosure bill acknowledge it’s not a “perfect” solution that would guarantee flawless emissions reports. But they say it’s a starting point. California Environmental Voters, which supports the bill, says the legislation would put pressure on companies to move faster in lowering their emissions.

“Our state can’t just take 2023 off in terms of climate action,” said Mary Creasman, the group’s chief executive officer.

The California Air Resources Board would have to approve regulations by 2025 to implement the bill’s requirements. Companies would have to begin publicly disclosing their direct emissions annually in 2026 and start annually reporting their indirect emissions starting in 2027. Companies would have to hire independent auditors to verify their reported emissions releases. The state would not penalize companies for unintentional mistakes they make in reporting a portion of their indirect emissions.

A similar proposal introduced last year passed the state Senate but failed in the Assembly. Wiener, the San Francisco Democrat who introduced the legislation both years, has said proponents of the bill built a stronger coalition this year to have a better outcome.

A key committee in the state Assembly blocked legislation earlier this year that would have sped up the state’s timeline for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Lawmakers are also weighing a bill that would require companies making more than $500 million annually to disclose how climate change could hurt them financially.

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File # MV232260297

Details:

On August 14, 2023, at 11:36 p.m., deputies from the Moreno Valley Sheriff’s Station responded to a report of a robbery in-progress near the 12000 block of Frederick Street, Moreno Valley. Employees at the business advised the suspect pointed a silver firearm at them and demanded money from the cash register. The suspect was described as an Asian male adult, 18 to19 years old, 5’08” tall, 140 pounds, wearing a black beanie, grey sweatshirt, black backpack, and a black bandana wrapped around his wrist. The suspect fled the location before the register could be opened. Deputies arrived within minutes but were unable to locate the suspect.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact Deputy Hlavacek #6297 at the Riverside Sheriff’s Moreno Valley Station at (951) 486-6700.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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DETROIT (AP) — U.S. safety regulators are turning up the heat on Tesla, announcing investigations into steering wheels coming off some SUVs and a fatal crash involving a Tesla suspected of using an automated driving system when it ran into a parked firetruck in California.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Wednesday it is launching a special crash-investigation team to probe the Feb. 18 crash involving a Tesla Model S and a ladder truck from the Contra Costa County fire department.

The firetruck probe is part of a larger investigation by the agency into multiple instances of Teslas using the automaker’s Autopilot system crashing into parked emergency vehicles that are tending to other crashes. NHTSA has become more aggressive in pursuing safety problems with Teslas in the past year, announcing multiple recalls and investigations.

The driver of the 2014 Tesla Model S was killed in the crash and a passenger critically injured. Four firefighters were treated for minor injuries, and the $1.4 million ladder truck was damaged.

NHTSA is investigating how the Autopilot system detects and responds to emergency vehicles parked on highways. At least 14 Teslas have crashed into emergency vehicles nationwide while using the system.

Automated driving systems aren’t always involved in the crashes that NHTSA sends investigators to. For instance, the Ohio State Highway Patrol determined that a Tesla that hit one of its patrol cars in November was “not being operated in any type of autonomous mode” at the time of the crash.

Authorities said the California firetruck had its lights on and was parked diagonally on a highway to protect responders to an earlier accident that did not result in injuries.

A NHTSA spokeswoman said she couldn’t comment on an open investigation when asked if the Teslas are posing a danger to emergency workers.

NHTSA has been scrutinizing Teslas more intensely in the past year, seeking several recalls and opening investigations.

Earlier Wednesday, the agency posted documents revealing that it’s investigating steering wheels that can detach from the steering column on as many as 120,000 Model Y SUVs.

The agency said it received two complaints in which 2023 Model Ys were delivered to customers with a missing bolt that holds the wheel to the steering column. A friction fit held the steering wheels on, but they separated when force was exerted while the SUVs were being driven.

The agency says in documents posted on its website Wednesday that both incidents happened while the SUVs had low mileage on them.

In one complaint filed with NHTSA, an owner said he was driving with his family on Route 1 in Woodbridge, New Jersey, when the steering wheel suddenly came off on Jan. 29, five days after the vehicle was purchased. The owner wrote that there were no cars behind him, and he was able to pull toward the road divider. There were no injuries.

It was a “horrible experience,” the car’s owner, Prerak Patel, told The Associated Press. He said he was in the freeway’s left lane when the steering wheel came off and was lucky the road was straight and he was able to stop the car at the divider.

Messages were left seeking comment from Tesla, which is based in Austin, Texas, and has disbanded its media relations department.

At first a Tesla service center gave Patel a cost estimate of $103.96 to repair the problem. The service center apologized in what appear to be text messages posted on Twitter.

When Patel wrote that he had lost faith in Tesla and asked for a refund, the service center removed the charge.

Patel was later given the option of keeping the car or getting it replaced with a new one. Patel said he chose to get a replacement.

Patel said he’s a fan of Tesla CEO Elon Musk and has invested a large chunk of his savings in the company’s stock, which fell almost 4% Wednesday.

“My kids were a little scared to ride in a loaner Tesla and, as a parent, we are able to restore their confidence,” Patel said. He said he hopes Tesla will investigate and improve its quality control “so no other family experiences what we experienced.”

Detached steering wheels are rare in the auto industry, but not unprecedented. In February, Nissan recalled about 1,000 Ariya electric vehicles because the wheels could come off of the steering column due to a loose bolt.

In addition to the Autopilot investigation, NHTSA has opened investigations during the past three years into Teslas braking suddenly for no reason, suspension problems and other issues.

In February, NHTSA pressured Tesla into recalling nearly 363,000 vehicles with “Full Self-Driving” software because the system can break traffic laws. The system is being tested on public roads by as many as 400,000 Tesla owners. But NHTSA said in documents that it can make unsafe actions such as traveling straight through an intersection while in a turn-only lane, going through a yellow traffic light without proper caution or failing to respond to changes in posted speed limits.

The U.S. Justice Department also has asked Tesla for documents from Tesla about “Full Self-Driving” and Autopilot.

Tesla says in its owners manual that neither Autopilot nor “Full Self-Driving” can drive themselves, and that owners must be ready to intervene at all times.

NHTSA has sent investigators to 35 Tesla crashes in which automated systems are suspected of being used. Nineteen people have died in those crashes, including two motorcyclists.

Since January of 2022, Tesla has issued 20 recalls, including several that were required by NHTSA. The recalls include one from January of last year for “Full Self-Driving” vehicles being programmed to run stop signs at slow speeds.

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SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Intel said it is buying Israeli company Tower Semiconductor for $5.4 billion in a deal that could give the California chipmaking giant an edge in the business of making custom-designed chips.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said Tuesday that acquiring Tower will help expand Intel’s newly formed “foundry” business that makes microprocessors for other firms.

Intel will “benefit from that decades of experience that Tower brings in how to run a global foundry,” Gelsinger said on an investor call about the deal.

Tower, based in Migdal Haemek, Israel, specializes in making analog chips used in cars, mobile devices and in industrial, medical and military sectors.

The companies said it could take a year for the deal to close. It’s been approved by each company’s board of directors but will face scrutiny from government regulators and must be approved by Tower’s shareholders.

Amid growing demand for semiconductors and an ongoing global chip shortage, Santa Clara, California-based Intel said the deal also will help expand its manufacturing capacity and global footprint.

Many chipmakers have been seeking to diversify their supply chains to prevent the disruptions caused by pandemic lockdowns and other unexpected events, especially in Asia, which dominates global chip production.

Tower has factories in San Antonio, Texas, Newport Beach, California, and in Japan and Israel. It also shares an Italian factory with another company. Tower started in 1993 with the acquisition of an Israeli chip factory built by former U.S. chipmaker National Semiconductor.

Tower’s California facility is focused on chips built for the U.S. aerospace and defense industries and could complement Intel’s own agreement with the Pentagon last year to build chips for military systems, Gelsinger said.

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Joe Rogan has put Spotify in a tough spot, but the streaming giant is not ready to part ways with the popular podcast host despite intense criticism over his anti-coronavirus vaccine comments and use of racial slurs.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek also said in a message to employees Sunday that Rogan’s racist language was “incredibly hurtful” and that the host was behind the removal of dozens of episodes of “The Joe Rogan Experience.”

“While I strongly condemn what Joe has said and I agree with his decision to remove past episodes from our platform, I realize some will want more,” Ek said in the note. “And I want to make one point very clear — I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer.”

The letter is the clearest indication yet of where Spotify stands on Rogan’s fate with the company as some musicians, including Neil Young and India.Arie, have pulled their work from the streaming service in protest and others could follow. Spotify reportedly paid $100 million to exclusively host Rogan’s podcast, which now threatens the bottom line but is also a key part of the company’s strategy to be a one-stop shop for audio.

“We should have clear lines around content and take action when they are crossed, but canceling voices is a slippery slope. Looking at the issue more broadly, it’s critical thinking and open debate that powers real and necessary progress,” Ek wrote.

He said he was “deeply sorry” for the impact the controversy was having on Spotify’s employees. Rogan apologized Saturday for his use of the N-word on some past episodes.

Spotify’s move likely won’t sit well with one side of an increasingly polarized country where there are heightened sensitivities on race and vaccine misinformation, experts say.

“If Spotify says, ‘We can’t drop him. He has the right to say what he wants,’ that continues on the line where there is this implicit support to say racist things on these platforms,” Adia Harvey Wingfield, a sociology professor at Washington University in St. Louis, said before Ek’s letter was released.

The streaming site also has to decide whether offensive words are allowable elsewhere on its app, where songs with racist, homophobic and anti-immigrant messages are available, said John Wihbey, a Northeastern University professor and specialist in emerging technologies.

“There’s some real self-examination to be doing beyond Joe,” Wihbey said Sunday. “This is a big moment of reckoning for entertainment and streaming platforms to see where the window is, what’s over the line.”

In his letter, Ek announced an investment of $100 million to license, develop and market “music and audio content from historically marginalized groups,” without giving more details.

Rogan’s public troubles started on Jan. 24 when Young asked to have his music removed over concerns Rogan was promoting skepticism about the COVID-19 vaccines. Other artists followed suit, including Joni Mitchell and Roxane Gay.

Spotify said it would soon add a warning to all podcasts that discuss COVID-19, directing listeners to factual, up-to-date information from scientists and public health experts.

The scrutiny intensified when a video compilation emerged last week showing Rogan repeatedly using the N-word. Arie posted it on her Instagram account, using the hashtag #DeleteSpotify.

“They take this money that’s built from streaming, and they pay this guy $100 million, but they pay us like .003% of a penny,” the Grammy winner wrote. “I don’t want to generate money that pays that.”

Rogan apologized in an Instagram video Saturday, saying that the slurs were the “most regretful and shameful thing” he has ever had to address and that he hasn’t used the N-word in years.

Ek told The Wall Street Journal last week that he took responsibility for being “too slow to respond” to the criticism over vaccine misinformation. It took the company five days to respond publicly to Young.

“It’s become clear to me that we have an obligation to do more to provide balance and access to widely accepted information from the medical and scientific communities guiding us through this unprecedented time,” Ek continued in a statement.

Rogan is an odd mix of shock jock and host who leads discussions of public policy, arts and culture, Wihbey said, describing his brand as conservative “bro America.”

His comments were clearly racist, Wihbey said, but he hopes that Rogan will see this as a chance to substantively discuss race and vaccine issues in future episodes. His audience may not hear the discussions otherwise, Wihbey said.

“I do think that assembling this kind of audience is important,” he said. “He can say things that I think can move the needle.”

Wingfield said the controversy could be positive if it starts a shift to discussions of racial stereotypes.

“I think that if Joe Rogan kind of learns from this experience and becomes a driving voice for that conversation, that could be really valuable,” she said. “But I want to stress again that that’s a pretty big if, and I don’t know if it will come to that.”

Spotify reports having 406 million active monthly users, up nearly 20% from last year, and advertising has grown largely because of podcasts. Musicians still generate the bulk of Spotify’s profits, experts say. The company had 31% of the 524 million music streaming subscriptions worldwide in the second quarter of 2021, more than double that of second-place Apple Music, according to Midia Research.

Spotify Technology’s share price fell 0.5% early Monday in after-hours trading. It jumped 9.2% on Friday.

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DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government has opened a formal investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot partially automated driving system after a series of collisions with parked emergency vehicles.

The investigation covers 765,000 vehicles, almost everything that Tesla has sold in the U.S. since the start of the 2014 model year. Of the crashes identified by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as part of the probe, 17 people were injured and one was killed.

NHTSA says it has identified 11 crashes since 2018 in which Teslas on Autopilot or Traffic Aware Cruise Control have hit vehicles at scenes where first responders have used flashing lights, flares, an illuminated arrow board or cones warning of hazards. The agency announced the action Monday in a posting on its website.

The probe is another sign that NHTSA under President Joe Biden is taking a tougher stance on on automated vehicle safety than under previous administrations. Previously the agency was reluctant to regulate the new technology for fear of hampering adoption of the potentially life-saving systems.

The investigation covers Tesla’s entire current model lineup, the Models Y, X, S and 3 from the 2014 through 2021 model years.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which also has investigated some of the Tesla crashes dating to 2016, has recommended that NHTSA and Tesla limit Autopilot’s use to areas where it can safely operate. The NTSB also recommended that NHTSA require Tesla to have a better system to make sure drivers are paying attention. NHTSA has not taken action on any of the recommendations. The NTSB has no enforcement powers and can only make recommendations to other federal agencies.

Last year the NTSB blamed Tesla, drivers and lax regulation by NHTSA for two collisions in which Teslas crashed beneath crossing tractor-trailers. The NTSB took the unusual step of accusing NHTSA of contributing to the crash for failing to make sure automakers put safeguards in place to limit use of electronic driving systems.

The agency made the determinations after investigating a 2019 crash in Delray Beach, Florida, in which the 50-year-old driver of a Tesla Model 3 was killed. The car was driving on Autopilot when neither the driver nor the Autopilot system braked or tried to avoid a tractor-trailer crossing in its path.

“We are glad to see NHTSA finally acknowledge our long standing call to investigate Tesla for putting technology on the road that will be foreseeably misused in a way that is leading to crashes, injuries, and deaths,” said Jason Levine, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, an advocacy group. “If anything, this probe needs to go far beyond crashes involving first responder vehicles because the danger is to all drivers, passengers, and pedestrians when Autopilot is engaged.”

Autopilot has frequently been misused by Tesla drivers, who have been caught driving drunk or even riding in the back seat while a car rolled down a California highway.

A message was left early Monday seeking comment from Tesla, which has disbanded its media relations office.

NHTSA has sent investigative teams to 31 crashes involving partially automated driver assist systems since June of 2016. Such systems can keep a vehicle centered in its lane and a safe distance from vehicles in front of it. Of those crashes, 25 involved Tesla Autopilot in which 10 deaths were reported, according to data released by the agency.

Tesla and other manufacturers warn that drivers using the systems must be ready to intervene at all times. In addition to crossing semis, Teslas using Autopilot have crashed into stopped emergency vehicles and a roadway barrier.

The probe by NHTSA is long overdue, said Raj Rajkumar, an electrical and computer engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University who studies automated vehicles.

Tesla’s failure to effectively monitor drivers to make sure they’re paying attention should be the top priority in the probe, Rajkumar said. Teslas detect pressure on the steering wheel to make sure drivers are engaged, but drivers often fool the system.

“It’s very easy to bypass the steering pressure thing,” Rajkumar said. “It’s been going on since 2014. We have been discussing this for a long time now.”

The crashes into emergency vehicles cited by NHTSA began on Jan. 22, 2018 in Culver City, California, near Los Angeles when a Tesla using Autopilot struck a parked firetruck that was partially in the travel lanes with its lights flashing. Crews were handling another crash at the time.

Since then, the agency said there were crashes in Laguna Beach, California; Norwalk, Connecticut; Cloverdale, Indiana; West Bridgewater, Massachusetts; Cochise County, Arizona; Charlotte, North Carolina; Montgomery County, Texas; Lansing, Michigan; and Miami, Florida.

“The investigation will assess the technologies and methods used to monitor, assist and enforce the driver’s engagement with the dynamic driving task during Autopilot operation,” NHTSA said in its investigation documents.

In addition, the probe will cover object and event detection by the system, as well as where it is allowed to operate. NHTSA says it will examine “contributing circumstances” to the crashes, as well as similar crashes.

An investigation could lead to a recall or other enforcement action by NHTSA.

“NHTSA reminds the public that no commercially available motor vehicles today are capable of driving themselves,” the agency said in a statement. “Every available vehicle requires a human driver to be in control at all times, and all state laws hold human drivers responsible for operation of their vehicles.”

The agency said it has “robust enforcement tools” to protect the public and investigate potential safety issues, and it will act when it finds evidence “of noncompliance or an unreasonable risk to safety.”

In June NHTSA ordered all automakers to report any crashes involving fully autonomous vehicles or partially automated driver assist systems.

Shares of Tesla Inc., based in Palo Alto, California, fell 3.5% at the opening bell Monday.

Tesla uses a camera-based system, a lot of computing power, and sometimes radar to spot obstacles, determine what they are, and then decide what the vehicles should do. But Carnegie Mellon’s Rajkumar said the company’s radar was plagued by “false positive” signals and would stop cars after determining overpasses were obstacles.

Now Tesla has eliminated radar in favor of cameras and thousands of images that the computer neural network uses to determine if there are objects in the way. The system, he said, does a very good job on most objects that would be seen in the real world. But it has had trouble with parked emergency vehicles and perpendicular trucks in its path.

“It can only find patterns that it has been ‘quote unquote’ trained on,” Rajkumar said. “Clearly the inputs that the neural network was trained on just do not contain enough images. They’re only as good as the inputs and training. Almost by definition, the training will never be good enough.”

Tesla also is allowing selected owners to test what it calls a “full self-driving” system. Rajkumar said that should be investigated as well.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — What does Bitcoin have to do with roads and bridges?

A lot right now in the U.S. Congress. One way lawmakers propose to pay for the $1 trillion infrastructure bill the Senate approved Tuesday is by imposing tax-reporting requirements for cryptocurrency brokers, the way stockbrokers report their customers’ sales to the IRS. It could open the way for tighter regulation of cryptocurrency — something the Biden administration is moving toward as it also pushes for tax compliance.

The plan could raise about $28 billion in revenue over 10 years, congressional accountants estimate.

The $28 billion could get stretched very quickly. Take bridges, for example. It would cost an estimated $25.6 billion to replace all the bridges in the country that are classified as structurally deficient, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

So, currency you can’t hold in your hand would effectively pay for roads, bridges, water systems, internet broadband access and shoring up the electrical grid, what President Joe Biden called “a generational investment” on par with building the transcontinental railroad in the 1800s or the Interstate highway system in the ’50s. That’s testament to the explosive growth of cryptocurrencies in recent years — an enticing potential revenue source — and the mounting push by some government officials to put new reins around a largely unregulated market.

After weeks of wrangling, the Senate passed the bipartisan infrastructure package in a 69-30 vote. It now moves to the House.

A look at the situation:

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WHAT’S THE STORY WITH CRYPTOCURRENCY?

The market for cryptocurrencies has ballooned to an estimated $1.8 trillion. They’re basically lines of computer code that are digitally signed each time they travel from one holder to the next. Not tied to banks or governments, they allow users to spend or receive money anonymously. That appeals to libertarians, off-the-grid types and risk-taking millennials who believe the financial system is rigged.

But it’s also favored by international criminals, money launderers, drug dealers and ransomware hackers.

The most widely traded cryptocurrency is Bitcoin, now worth around $45,000 each, down from a high in April of about $64,800. It’s notoriously volatile, in some instances spiking or plunging on public pronouncements by Elon Musk, the provocative Tesla Inc. CEO. Some businesses now accept Bitcoin as payment. Other well-known cryptocurrencies include Ethereum, Dogecoin, Ripple and Litecoin. All told, there are thousands. Bitcoin and others can be bought and sold on exchanges with U.S. dollars and other national currencies.

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WHERE DO GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS STAND?

On both sides of the coin.

Some lawmakers see cryptocurrency as a font of technological innovation, especially in the development of blockchain, the digital ledger that records transactions.

Top U.S. regulators, on the other hand, are flashing danger signs. Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission appointed by Biden, said last week that investors need more protection in the cryptocurrency market, which he called “rife with fraud, scams and abuse” and “like the Wild West.” While the SEC has won dozens of cases against crypto fraudsters, Gensler said the agency needs more authority from Congress — and more funding — to regulate the market.

The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, is considering developing its own digital currency pegged to the U.S. dollar. A so-called digital dollar could enable faster payments among banks, consumers and businesses.

“You’ve got federal agencies not talking on the same page,” says Suzanne Lynch, a professor at Utica College who focuses on financial crime. “It’s so grey right now.”

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WHAT’S THE CONNECTION WITH THE INFRASTRUCTURE BILL?

The debate over cryptocurrency landed in the middle of the Senate’s work on the massive infrastructure package. An earlier plan to pay for the legislation, by bolstering IRS enforcement to crack down on tax cheating by individuals and businesses, went down as Republicans objected to expanding the agency’s reach. That would have brought in an estimated $100 billion over 10 years.

Going back to the drawing board on revenue raisers, the plan was hatched for stricter tax-reporting requirements for cryptocurrency brokers. The estimated $28 billion it would generate over a decade is only about a quarter of what the IRS crackdown proposal envisaged. But it’s still the biggest revenue raiser of several in the infrastructure bill.

It raised objections from some senators and unleashed an opposition lobbying blitz from the cryptocurrency industry as well as internet freedom advocacy groups.

The provision defines brokers too broadly, opponents say, potentially stifling innovation by unfairly putting new tax-reporting obligations on software developers and crypto “miners” — users who create coins by lending computing power to verify other users’ transactions and receive coins in exchange. Those people don’t have access to cryptocurrency users’ data the IRS would be collecting, opponents say.

Opponents brought forward amendments to the provision and a compromise emerged. But it failed to muster Senate approval, pushing the debate over cryptocurrency, taxes and brokers to the House.

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WHAT’S THE SITUATION NOW WITH CRYPTOCURRENCY AND TAXES?

Some cryptocurrency brokers already report transactions to the IRS, though most don’t, experts say. Brokers place buy and sell orders for users on the cryptocurrency exchanges.

The exchanges are required to collect personal identifying information from users and report their annual activity to the IRS.

The IRS defines cryptocurrency as “property” similar to stocks or gold. That means you pay capital gains tax when you sell it or cash it in at a profit.

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