Rows of citrus trees stretch across the UCR citrus groves. (Titus Pardee) Have a photo that captures the spirit of Riverside? Share it with us and help celebrate the beauty of our community!
Wednesday Gazette: April 1, 2026
Hello Riverside, and Happy Wednesday! A quick update on the Raincross Gazette's candidate forums: Ward 2 has just a handful of spots left, Ward 4 is filling up fast, and Ward 6 still has room. If you've been meaning to register, today's the day.
All three forums are free and open to every Riverside resident. Grab your spot now before Ward 2 closes out.
As Sexual Assault Awareness Month Begins, NORA Warns of Funding Crisis
April marks Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and Riverside's primary crisis center is sounding the alarm as federal funding cuts force staffing reductions and push survivors onto waitlists.
For 53 years, NORA has walked alongside survivors of sexual assault in Western and Southwest Riverside County. (Priscilla Du Preez / Unsplash)
Federal funding cuts are threatening NORA's 24-hour crisis response and counseling services for survivors of sexual assault across Western Riverside County.
Why it matters: NORA serves more than 2,000 people annually in our region — and if the Building Hope Campaign falls short, survivors face longer waits for safety planning, counseling, and crisis support at their most vulnerable moments.
Driving the news: Federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grants and related state-administered funding have been cut or eliminated over the past year, forcing NORA to reduce staffing. Every lost position, CEO Adriane Lamar Snider says, means hundreds of hours of direct services gone.
When safety planning is delayed, survivors may go days without stable housing or protection orders.
By the numbers: NORA's team logs more than 500 staff hours per week across crisis response, counseling, prevention education, and advocacy.
The campaign goal is $250,000 — enough to stabilize staffing and eliminate counseling waitlists.
Who's hit hardest: Rural, low-income, youth, and immigrant communities feel funding gaps first, facing longer waits with fewer transportation and mental health options nearby.
What's next: NORA is asking the community for donations, employer matching programs, and advocacy for stable multi-year public funding. Learn more or give at callnora.org.
A curated list of upcoming events and happenings The Gazette team is most excited about.
Los Angeles-based Ozomatli headlines the 13th Annual Riverside Tamale Festival. The genre-blending band — known for mixing Latin, hip-hop, funk, and reggae — celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2025. (Courtesy of Spanish Town Heritage Foundation)
April is a full breath. The weather turns generous, the days stretch out, and Riverside answers with a calendar that earns it — art exhibitions that ask hard questions about identity and place, performances that fill rooms with something real, a tamale festival at a beloved park, a citywide cleanup that puts neighbors to work together, and a lit-up bike ride through the streets at golden hour. This city knows how to show up for itself.
The 35-Minute Show: A Lenticular Cloud Sunset Worth Waiting For
The best colors came long after the sun disappeared - a reminder that patience is a photographer's most underrated skill.
A lenticular cloud blazes in deep reds and magentas over the San Gabriel Mountains in the minutes after sunset. (Bob Sirotnik)
Lenticular clouds don't show up every day. They require a specific combination of stable, moist air and terrain to force it upward — typically a mountain peak or ridge — creating a smooth, lens-shaped formation that hovers in place while the wind passes through it. So when one appears in the late afternoon with sunset approaching, that's your cue. Drop what you're doing, grab your camera, and get ready.
I spotted this one parked over the San Gabriels with about ten minutes of daylight left, and I committed to staying through the entire show. Over the next 35 minutes — from ten minutes before sunset to twenty-five minutes after — the slow-building display confirmed something I've learned: the photographer who commits the time and stays gets the shot.
Ten minutes before sundown, the scene was understated. The lenticular's layered structure sat in muted silver. Nearby clouds at scattered elevations carried the faintest hints of peach — easy to overlook, easy to walk away from. But the best was yet to come. This formation reminded me of the Starship Enterprise.
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