Dramatic storm clouds paint the sky in shades of crimson and amber during a late November sunset over UC Riverside. (Bob Sirotnik) Have a photo that captures the spirit of Riverside? Share it with us and help celebrate the beauty of our community!
Sunday Gazette: February 8, 2026
Hello Riverside, and Happy Sunday!
Today is the last day to participate in our annual Reader Survey. We're at 318 responses and just 82 away from 400—your voice could help us reach our goal!
Your participation helps our team plan how to best serve you in the coming year and helps us tell advertisers about the community reading The Gazette, which keeps it free and accessible to everyone.
Each subscriber who completes the survey will be entered to win prizes from My Learning Studio, Riverside Art Museum, Bar Ni Modo, Mission Inn Museum Foundation, and Old Riverside Foundation.
P.S. Today's the big day: Super Bowl LIX. Whether you're in it for the game, the food spread, the halftime show, or those creative commercials, there's something for everyone. Still need a last-minute spot to watch? Check out our guide to where to watch and what to eat in Riverside. Heading to a gathering and need something quick to bring? We've got easy last-minute recipes to help you out.
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Thank you to the Subscribers who became paid supporters this week: Kate Anger, Suzanne Gray and Aaron Petroff. Your ongoing financial support is vital to our success in serving Riverside with the news it deserves!
Neighbor of the Week is a series profiling the hidden heroes of Riverside, doing incredible works of service throughout our different neighborhoods.
Katie Greene stands with members of The Group at the Civil Rights Institute of the Inland Empire in Downtown Riverside. (Brenda Flowers)
A consummate community personality, Katie has spent a significant part of her life improving herself and giving back generously to her community. She arrived in Riverside as a United States Air Force Staff Sergeant in 1969 at March Air Force Base, Moreno Valley. Her arrival in California was "a dream come true." She had dreamed of living in California since her youth, and when her dream came true, she showed her thanks and appreciation by immersing herself in California life.
She became a Licensed Vocational Nurse while in the Air Force in 1970. She later attended Riverside City College and became a Registered Nurse (1975). Katie is baffled when she recalls that on her graduation night from RCC Nursing School, she was approached by a Registered Nurse who informed her that she was leaving her job and recommended that Katie should apply to be her replacement. Katie did, and she was hired less than one week after graduation. She worked as a Psychological Counselor for the County of Riverside Mental Health Department in her new role as a Registered Nurse. After two years and facing budget cuts, Katie's position was cut in Mental Health. She then transferred to Riverside County Public Health, where she worked in the Child Health & Disability Program. Progressive minded and always desiring to advance in her field of endeavor, Katie volunteered and was chosen to attend Registered Nurse Practitioner courses in both Pediatrics & Adult Primary Care, which was paid for by the County of Riverside. She later attended UCLA/Harbor General Hospital's Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Program and Adult Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program. Katie worked for the County of Riverside for twenty-nine years before retiring in 1996.
Katie remained in the United States Air Force Reserves and was honorably discharged through retirement in 1996 at the rank of Major after serving 34 years of active duty and reserve duty combined. True to her life motto that "Learning never ends," Katie attended Citrus Belt Law School and earned a Law Degree (Juris Doctorate).
Katie has always been cognizant of serving and giving back to her community. She volunteered at her church to provide monthly blood pressure monitoring. She has co-taught a Sunday School class. She has served on several boards including Mount Rubidoux Manor, County of Riverside Mental Health Advisory Council, City of Riverside Public Utilities Commission (Ad Hoc member), and City of Riverside Ad Hoc Code of Ethics Committee. She has been a featured speaker at school career day programs over the years. Currently, she serves as President of the Riverside African American Historical Society, Inc., where she is a lifetime member, and as Chairwoman of The Group, which she helped found in 1999. She is also a member of Soroptimist and Church on the Hill, where she previously served as a board member.
Her proudest accomplishments, besides attaining an education, are being one of the founding members of The Group, being part of the City of Riverside Ad Hoc Code of Ethics Committee, and being a lifetime member of the Riverside African American Historical Society, Inc.
Kitchen Gardens: February's Quiet Work Pays Off in Spring
Tips on what to plant, when to pick, and what to watch out for in your home garden.
Before and after the squirrels found my cabbage. (Kim Malstrom)
February feels sleepy in the garden, but don't be fooled—what you do (or don't do) this month determines whether you'll be celebrating or scrambling come spring.
If you have peach, plum, nectarine, or apricot trees, this is the month to prune. But there's a right way and a wrong way, and the wrong way could cost you this year's entire harvest. We're breaking down exactly how to open up your tree's canopy, when to stop cutting, and the one spray you need if leaf curl plagued you last summer.
Plus: what to plant right now for harvests in as little as 30 days (yes, really), how to spot and destroy the caterpillars currently demolishing brassicas, and Kim's surprisingly simple squirrel defense strategy that's saving seedlings at a local school garden.
This week’s pebble nudge came to me as I shook debris out of my shoes after taking a dirt path shortcut that runs through my suburban neighborhood. I can ignore a lot of things in life, but not a pebble in my shoe. That demands standing attention: a foot lifted; an unceremonial return of the pebble from my shoe to its earthly home base. A shaky reshoeing. In this way, pebbles are excellent teachers. A pebble in your shoe takes priority over anything else happening around you.
Pebbles are everywhere, making them an easy nudge for your creative contemplation this week. Are pebbles just rocks that waited? Time did its slow, patient work—breaking, smoothing, rounding—until something too big to move becomes small enough to hold. How I wish my problems followed the same evolutionary path. They are nature’s long game.
See something? Say something. Your tips and ideas are what fuel The Raincross Gazette. If you know of something newsworthy happening in our city, please share it with us.
