Stroud is forever indebted to the area that raised him.

“I love where I’m from,” the Rancho Cucamonga native said in the hollows of SoFi Stadium after his first NFL game in LA. “California has really backed me in a lot of ways.”

For better or worse, Stroud’s local upbringing shaped him into a jaded 23-year-old, a third-year quarterback who might as well be a veteran after all he’s overcome. At 13, Stroud became the man of his household. In high school, a two-bedroom apartment at the storage facility his mom, Kim, worked at was where he and his family called home.

He didn’t ask for these obstacles, but they’re certainly at the core of his stoic nature — transcendent beyond the football field. Stroud was forced to mature quickly, a happenstance that’s helped him roll with the punches that NFL quarterbacks are inherently thrown.

On Sunday, that maturation process was present. With the Rams’ defense presenting a shell to prevent downfield throws, Stroud took what the defense gave him. He threw for 188 yards and ran for 32 more, including a nifty scramble that set up a go-ahead field goal just before halftime. Stroud, operating without wide receivers Christian Kirk and Tank Dell, and an offensive line that returned one starter, in right tackle Tytus Howard, kept Houston in striking distance.

“I’m really proud of the way C.J. played,” Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans said. “He managed the offense well. Unfortunately, we came up short, but he made some nice plays under pressure.”

A gunslinging playmaker, Stroud didn’t deliver many signature highlights on Sunday. Not like the ones he made the last time he played in Los Angeles, when he threw for 573 yards and six touchdowns to lead Ohio State to a 48-45 win over Utah in the Rose Bowl. Not like the ones he made throughout his junior and senior years of high school when he took Rancho Cucamonga to the CIF Southern Section playoffs twice.

But that’s all part of his growth because those early years littered with success were also laden with forced throws and youthful mistakes.

For Stroud, football, life, none of it’s ever been smooth.

“It helped him know to take nothing for granted,” his high school football coach, Mark Verti, told the Southern California News Group. “He’s overcome obstacles, and every season he has to overcome obstacles, and that just kind of built his character up. He’s gone through things so tough that the things he has to go through in the NFL season aren’t quite as tough.”

Through just 33 games as an NFL starter, Stroud’s lived a career full of experiences. His arrival was celebrated as he paced all rookies with 23 passing touchdowns and ended Houston’s three-year playoff drought. His sophomore slump was ridiculed as his completion percentage dropped and his interception percentage rose. He has playoff scars. A Pro Bowl. A captain’s badge.

None of the lows get too low, the highs too high.

“He had to deal with a lot,” Verti said. “It was just him and his sister and mom at home. So, maybe that’s why he’s a good leader.”

In his third NFL season, Stroud is presenting an example of steadiness both on and off the field. He’s seeking a middle ground between stardom and slumping. He’s using his platform to uplift and inspire, returning to Rancho Cucamonga in the offseason, and creating an organization that supports single mothers, low-income families, and children of incarcerated parents.

Stroud’s tangible humility offsets his larger-than-life stature. It’s a persona constructed by the experiences and the community that raised him.

“I love LA, but I wish we got the dub here,” Stroud joked after the Texans’ 14-9 defeat.

Just another lesson from the place that gave him both nothing and everything.

The post Texans’ C.J. Stroud reflects on Inland Empire roots in homecoming against Rams appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

From now until June 27, just one Department of Motor Vehicles office in the Inland Empire will open an hour early every day to help meet the rush of residents scheduling appointments to get the new travel identification card.

The Rancho Cucamonga DMV, located at 8629 Hellman Ave., will open before its usual opening time to help those get those last-minute Real ID appointments in.

California officials are urging residents to get their Real IDs as soon as possible, especially if they plan to travel by air after May 7.

While there’s no penalty for missing the deadline, travelers without a Real ID — or another approved form of ID, like a passport — could face serious delays at airport security or not be able to travel at all.

“Passengers who present a state-issued identification that is not REAL ID compliant and who do not have another acceptable alternative (e.g., passport) can expect to face delays, additional screening and the possibility of not being permitted into the security checkpoint,” according to a recent news release from TSA.

Appointments are filling up fast, so if you haven’t started the process yet, now’s the time. Make an appointment here.

Across the state, 18 DMV offices are opening early to accommodate the rush through late June.

“We’re excited to offer Californians earlier hours this spring and summer,” stated DMV Director Steve Gordon. “These additional appointments will make it easier than ever to obtain a REAL ID.”

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Liming Li, 66, of Rancho Cucamonga, pleaded guilty on Thursday to one count of possession of trade secrets, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Li was arrested in May 2023 after his flight from Taiwan landed at Ontario International Airport.

From 1996 to 2013, Li worked as a senior software engineer, then as a program manager at an American company based in Southern California that “specialized in precision measuring instruments and metrological technology and equipment,” prosecutors say. Identified only as “U.S. Company #1,” it sold products such as micrometers, calipers, coordinate measuring machines and optical measurement systems.

In July 2013, Li signed an agreement with the company which required him to turn over the company’s proprietary information and barred him from sharing it with any other companies. He had worked with that information in the form of source code for one of the company’s software programs.

As part of his guilty plea, Li admitted that he “occasionally” downloaded that information onto his personal devices and failed to turn it over even after he stopped working at U.S. Company #1. From 2013 to 2018, Li worked at a subsidiary of U.S. Company #1.

He was terminated from that company in 2018 and failed to turn over all of the proprietary information, despite his signed agreement.

He then operated a consulting company named JSL Innovations Inc. starting in February 2018. In addition to that job, he started working for Suzhou Universal Group Technology Co. Ltd. in March 2020.

While working for that China-based chain-and-bearing manufacturer, Li used the information stolen from U.S. Company #1 for his own financial benefit, he admitted in the plea agreement. He also admitted that the use of that information would “injure” U.S. Company #1’s interests.

Li is scheduled to be sentenced on May 8. He could face a maximum of 10 years in prison.

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Michael Wei Yueh Liu, 59, and Jing Dong, 47, were each found guilty on one count of conspiracy and 10 counts of international money laundering.

According to evidence presented at a four-day trial, from at least January 2012 to March 2015, Liu and Dong ran a maternity house in Rancho Cucamonga. Their pregnant Chinese clients would come to the area, and waiting for them were apartments that Liu and Dong had rented across Southern California.

In addition to housing, other services Liu and Dong provided for the women were assistance on how to obtain visas to enter the United States, customs entry guidance, and transportation in the United States, as well as assistance applying for U.S. legal documents for the babies, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Liu and Dong received money from their overseas clients to promote their scheme and advised the women on how to hide their pregnancies from the immigration authorities.

“Liu and Dong also knew — or deliberately avoided learning — that their customers lied on their visa applications submitted to immigration authorities to enter the U.S.,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Generally, their customers’ visa applications falsely stated that the trip to the United States was for tourism, when it was to give birth, and the length of the stay was days or weeks when it was, in fact, months. The visas also misstated the location where the pregnant women intended to stay, the Attorney’s Office alleged.

Liu and Dong or their agents also advised the women to fly to ports of entry that the pair perceived as having less customs scrutiny before flying to Los Angeles. The women were instructed to wear loose-fitting clothing and to favor certain lines at customs; they were also told how to answer customs officials’ questions, according to the Attorney’s Office.

Liu and Dong face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for the conspiracy count and up to 20 years for each international money laundering count. They are scheduled for sentencing Dec. 9.

Homeland Security Investigations, IRS Criminal Investigation, and the FBI investigated the case. The Irvine Police Department and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department assisted.

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