The Trump administration gave the work a thumbs up at the same time it announced an investigation into California’s controversial high-speed rail project between Los Angeles and San Francisco. One major difference: the billionaire behind the Las Vegas high-speed rail project co-founded the investment firm that loaned Donald Trump $130 million to help build Trump International Hotel and Tower, Chicago, and then forgave the loan.

The Las Vegas to IE rail project, named Brightline West, has been embraced from the start. During an April 22 groundbreaking ceremony with a large gathering of VIPs in Nevada, then President Joe Biden’s U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg praised the project.

“People have been dreaming of high-speed rail in the U.S. for decades. Thanks to the President’s leadership and that of members of Congress like those here, as well as our state partners in Nevada and California, the men and women of organized labor, and the terrific work of Brightline West, it’s happening,” Buttigieg said.

“So, on behalf of the Biden Administration, it is my great honor to help break ground on what will be the first high-speed rail in American history,” Buttigieg continued. “It’s really happening this time.”

In total, the Brightline West project will see 218 miles of new track laid between a to-be-constructed terminal just south of the Las Vegas Strip and another new facility in Rancho Cucamonga.

With its trains traveling up to 200 mph, Brightline West is slated to be in service in time for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. In addition to the Rancho Cucamonga station, two other Inland Empire stations are planned along the Brightline West route: Hesperia and the Victorville area. Additionally, Rancho Cucamonga offers connections to existing Metrolink routes.

The project’s current construction work includes geotechnical borings and sampling, utility potholing, and land surveying in San Bernardino County.

The project has received billions in federal funding, and unlike the fate of another California high-speed rail project, there are no signs of trouble brewing with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

On Thursday, current U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean P. Duffy announced that the Federal Railroad Administration has launched a review of the California High-Speed Rail Authority and its proposed bullet train project. If completed, the long-promised and costly endeavor would shuttle riders between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Trump appears to be done with it, as are many Californians.

“For too long, taxpayers have subsidized the massively over-budget and delayed California High-Speed Rail project,” Duffy said last week. “President Trump is right that this project is in dire need of an investigation. That is why I am directing my staff to review and determine whether the CHSRA has followed through on the commitments it made to receive billions of dollars in federal funding. If not, I will have to consider whether that money could be given to deserving infrastructure projects elsewhere in the United States.”

Conversely, the Brightline West project received approval from Duffy. It was the only other infrastructure project named in the secretary’s remarks.

“The slow progress by CHSRA contrasts with the impressive work of Brightline West to build a high-speed rail system,” Duffy said.

Besides taxpayer dollars, Brightline West has big money behind it. Wes Edens founded the Brightline company. The venture currently operates a rail system in Florida, with dozens of passenger trains running between Miami and Orlando.

In addition to being a private equity investor and co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks NBA team, Edens is co-founder of New York City-based Fortress Investment Group.

The billionaire businessman also has complex financial ties to Trump.

Fortress was spotlighted after New York Attorney General Letitia James launched an investigation in 2019 into Trump’s finances. Court documents revealed the president received a multi-million-dollar loan during the aughts from Fortress for his Trump International Hotel and Tower, Chicago, project.

Fortress issued the Trump Organization a $130 million loan for the project, but Trump did not repay the bulk of the loan, according to the complaint filed by James in 2020.

Trump subsequently defaulted on the loan and sued Fortress, according to a 2020 New York Times report.

Fortress forgave more than $100 million in debt owed by the Trump Organization, court documents show.

The A.G.’s office wanted to know if Trump documented the loan forgiveness as income, as required by the Internal Revenue Service, and paid taxes on the money. It was part of a much broader investigation into Trump’s business dealings that ultimately led to a Feb. 16, 2024, court ruling against Trump and his company. In total, the defendants were ordered to pay more than $450 million.

Neither Edens nor Fortress were accused of any wrongdoing.

In addition to loaning Trump’s company money, Fortress reportedly made at least one multi-million-dollar loan to the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

The post The Convoluted Financial History Between Billionaire Behind SoCal Rail Project And Trump appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

The money is going toward myriad road improvement projects, wells and housing the homeless.

“Riverside County continues to be one of the fastest growing regions in the state and country, which is why we need additional resources to build long-overdue infrastructure projects for our residents,” Rep. Ken Calvert said in a statement.

The money requested by Calvert for the 41st District includes:

—$5 million for the Coachella Valley Rail Project

—$4 million for the Ontario Avenue / Interstate 15 Multimodal Corridor Enhancement Project in Corona

—$2.2 million for the Garbani Road/I-215 Interchange Project in Menifee

—$673,872 for the Regional Flood Mitigation Project to improve Indian Canyon, Gene Autry Trail, and Ramon Road crossings of the Whitewater River stormwater channel in Palm Springs.

—$4 million for the Highway 111 Resurfacing Project in La Quinta

—$4 million for the County Line Road Project in Calimesa

—$2 million for Lake Elsinore Camino Del Norte Infrastructure Improvements in Lake Elsinore

—$2 million for the Interstate 10 & Cherry Valley Interchange Project in Calimesa

—$3 million for the Homeless Facility Expansion Project in Lake Elsinore

—$2,005,961 for the Navigation Center Project in Palm Springs

—$4.7 million for the Lee Lake Wells Project

—$3 million for the Recycled Water Booster Station and Reservoir Project,

—$2.3 million for Eastern Municipal Water District’s Water Booster Plant Improvements Project

—$5 million for the Whitewater Channel Lining Project

Youth training facility opening in Rancho Cucamonga

D1Training, a training facility that works with youth athletes across the country, is opening a facility April 8 at 10768 Foothill Blvd in Rancho Cucamonga.

Jarrett Loop, the local franchisee, left his job in the electrician trades to join the field of youth training. He has experience working with kids as a trainer for young motocross enthusiasts.

D1 Training offers age-based programs including rookie (ages 7-11), developmental (ages 12-14), prep (ages 15-18) and D1 Adult. Each program includes warm-up, performance, strength, core and conditioning and cool down. D1 Training also offers one-on-one training.

Recognizing that a D1 training facility in the area could empower kids to pursue their goals, Loop took the initiative for his new location, personally handling the electrical installations and performing all the necessary demolition work himself.

For more information on D1 Training Rancho Cucamonga, go to d1training.com/rancho-cucamonga or call 909-265-7952.

Urgent care coming to Dos Lagos shopping center

American Family Care recently signed a lease in the popular Dos Lagos open-air shopping center in Corona.

AFC was represented by Progressive Real Estate Partners, which also handled the lease for a Chino Hills location last summer.

The 4,452-square-foot space at 2795 Cabot Drive #157 will provide customers with urgent care, primary care and occupational medicine services.

There are more than 300 AFC clinics in the US.

Bass Pro opens second location in Orange County

For anyone heading southwest to Orange County’s coastline, a Bass Pro Shops’ Outdoor World is now open in Irvine, just along the 5 freeway at Alton Parkway.

It’s just the second of its kind in Southern California. Inland residents are likely familar with the company’s massive lodge store along the 15 freeway in Rancho Cucamonga.

The Irvine store takes the place of a shuttered Walmart Supercenter that was a Sears’ Great Indoors store before that.

Tolar lands contract for up to 100 bus shelters in Michigan

Tolar Manufacturing Co. in Corona has signed a contract to design and build up to 100 Euro series bus shelters for Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the surrounding metro area. Terms of the contract were not shared by Tolar.

The shelters will include three styles designed for the Interurban Transit Partnership (also known as the Rapid), the city’s public transportation agency.

Tolar said the contract is part of the agency’s Bus Stop Improvement Program, which includes adding 26 bus shelters in the first year with an option to buy 74 more bus shelters for a combined 100 over five years.

The company expects to deliver that first round of shelters by July.

On the move

Nichole Dmytriw recently was promoted to business manager of Truly Nolen Pest Control’s California service offices, which stretch from San Diego to Orange County. She will be based out of the company’s Moreno Valley office at 1622 Illinois Ave., Suite 11 in Perris. Dmytriw joined the company in April of 2023 as a part of the company’s manager-in-training Program. Previously, she worked as operations manager for The Bugman, with 18 years of experience in the pest control and termite industry.

Judicial appointments

Arthur C. Hester of Riverside County recently was appointed as a judge in the Riverside County Superior Court. He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Mark A. Cope. Hester has served as a commissioner at the Riverside County Superior Court since 2021.

The post What’s new: $44 million aimed at Riverside County projects appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.