Wednesday Gazette: March 18, 2026

Hello Riverside, and Happy Wednesday! Hello Riverside, and Happy Wednesday! March Madness is officially underway, and Riverside has a team to cheer for. California Baptist University made history this week with both the men's and women's basketball programs earning spots in the NCAA Tournament. Go Lancers!

See you tomorrow!

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GOVERNMENT

City Opens Search for Inspector General, a New Watchdog Role

The city is recruiting for a new watchdog position created after voters approved Measure L, though some question whether the appointed role can operate independently.

Riverside has opened recruitment for its first-ever inspector general — a watchdog with authority to investigate fraud, waste, and inefficiency across city government.

Why it matters: The new office, backed by 64% of Riverside voters in 2024, will have real teeth — including full access to city records and the power to put items directly on the City Council's agenda.

Driving the news: Recruitment opened March 3 and closes April 5. The role carries a salary of $160,896–$217,212 and requires at least eight years of executive-level experience in legal, criminal, or investigative work.

• After April 5, the selection process takes four to six months on average, with the Council approving the final hire in open session.

Catch up quick: Council voted 6-1 in November 2025 to create the role — a year after voters approved it via Measure L. Councilmember Robillard, who led the subcommittee, said the slow rollout reflected deliberate planning.

• "This is not a ceremonial position," Robillard told the Gazette.

Yes, but: Critics question whether an appointee selected by the mayor and council can truly provide independent oversight. Former Ethics Board member Keith J. Nelson argues the structure creates "managed oversight" — not independent accountability — because the same political body that appoints the inspector general may one day be subject to scrutiny by that office.

• Councilmember Falcone, the lone dissenting vote, has called the role "expensive, untested, and unnecessary."

What's next: Applications close April 5. A hire is expected by late 2026.

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HISTORY

A Life Well Lived: An Introduction to Katherine Siva Saubel

How a Cahuilla elder became one of California's most influential voices for Native language, culture, and rights.

Katherine Siva Saubel learned at a young age that her Cahuilla culture and traditional ways needed to be preserved. By the time Mrs. Saubel was born, March 7, 1920, many changes had occurred to Native people. The reservation system was in place; her family lived on Los Coyotes reservation but moved to Agua Caliente Reservation in Palm Springs a few years after her birth. Riverside had been established decades earlier, and Sherman Institute was still a tourist attraction for guests of the Mission Inn.

The eighth child of eleven children, Mrs. Saubel grew up speaking Cahuilla and taught herself how to speak English as she was virtually ignored in elementary school due to segregation. She became the first Native American woman to graduate from Palm Springs high school. During this time, Mrs. Saubel documented plants and their uses in a notebook with descriptions of food, medicine and tools so they would never be lost to the past. This later shaped one of the advocacies for which she is remembered. At a time when Native scholarship was limited to anthropologists, she took ownership of her community's narrative.

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Noteworthy

UCR researchers have identified an overlooked brainstem pathway that helps control hand and arm movements, a discovery published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that could open new targets for stroke rehabilitation therapies.

RCC's women's softball team dropped the series finale to Santiago Canyon, 10-3, falling to 6-14 overall after the Hawks erupted for five runs in the third inning to erase an early Tigers lead.

What's Happening in Riverside

Today

• Stretch & Dance Class at Janet Goeske Senior Center
• Reading Assistance Program at My Learning Studio
• World Recycling Day Art at Marcy Library
• Riverside Reads | Ethnic Studies Lecture at Main Library
• La Tinta Invisible - Book Launch with Victor at Zacatecas Cafe ($25)
• Riverside East Rotary Club at Civil Rights Institute of Inland Southern
• Riverside Mission Belles at Victoria Presbyterian Church
• Riverside Open Mic Music Series at Back to the Grind
• History on the Rocks - Round Two! Presented by The Mission Inn Foundation at Mission Inn Foundation ($60)

Tomorrow

• Empowered Leadership: Cultivating Influence and Impact at Work Well ($165)
• Family Storytime at Lincoln Park
• Empowered Leadership: Cultivating Influence and Impact at Work Well ($165)
• Movie | Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory at Marcy Library
• Pour Decisions a Comedy Wine Tasting at Canyon Crest Winery ($39.19)
• Savvy Chic Kids Spring Consignment Sale at Mission Grove Shopping Center
• Drag Queen Bingo Supporting the Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center at VIP Nightclub & Restaurant ($25)
• History on the Rocks! Presented by The Mission Inn Foundation at Mission Inn Foundation Store ($60)
• Snow Tha Product at Riverside Municipal Auditorium

Save the Date

• March 21: LiTEArature: A Fairy-Themed Afternoon Tea - SOLD OUT at Heritage House ($25)
• March 23: Sip with a Scientist at Bar Ni Modo
• March 26: She Built This City: Women and the Making of Riverside at Riverside Main Library
• March 28: The 4th Annual Citrus Festival at California Citrus State Historic Park
• March 28: Goeske Spring Festival at Janet Goeske Center
• April 2: Hays Press-Enterprise Lecture at University Theatre
• April 5: Easter Celebration at First Congregational Church of Riverside
• April 11: Olivewood Cemetery Tour at Olivewood Cemetery ($21.20)
• April 12: The Expeditions of Juan Bautista de Anza through Riverside County at Riverside Medical Clinic Basement Meeting Room
• April 17: Frozen: The Broadway Musical at Woodcrest Christian School Royals Pavilion ($15- $20)
• April 18: Fant-A-She’s at Riverside Municipal Auditorium ($37 - $97)
• April 18: Walk with the Animals - Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center at Fairmount Park ($20 to $40)

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