Rialto Ca

Rialto Unified teacher Joscelin Thomas knew that her school district was the first in the state to send employees notices that their jobs were in danger. She knew she was particularly vulnerable as a new employee. She hoped she wouldn't get one. "I have a lot of faith. Maybe it won't happen," she said with a smile. Then the vice principal asked her if she had received any certified mail recently. Yes, Thomas said, but the mother of six hadn't had time to go the post office to pick it up.

Rialto is developing a taste for grease. A Rialto wastewater treatment plant will be powered in the future by used kitchen grease, waste sludge and a hydrogen fuel cell under a $15.1-million project to be announced today. The city of Rialto, which teamed with Chevron Energy Solutions and FuelCell Energy, said the endeavor would cut landfill wastes and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as bring in new revenue and save the city $800,000 a year in energy costs.

Although the opening of the final leg of the 210 Freeway through Rialto and San Bernardino is still several months away, merchants and city officials are gleeful at the thought of new businesses already being planned along the roadway and for another route to the Los Angeles area.

A Rialto police officer was shot and killed Thursday as authorities from local and federal agencies swarmed over a troubled stretch of the city serving search warrants for illegal drugs. Sergio Carrera Jr., 29, a four-year veteran of the force and a member of the SWAT team, was shot in the chest while he and other officers struggled with a man inside one of the targeted homes.

When Officer Sergio Carrera Jr. was shot and killed while serving a search warrant Thursday, he was part of a revamped Rialto Police Department, an aggressive force under new leadership looking to put a controversial past behind it. So while the community and fellow officers mourned the death of the 29-year-old SWAT officer Friday, there were vows to keep moving forward and not return to the days when a fed-up City Council voted to liquidate the department.

Rialto city officials have declared a state of emergency, citing concerns about a shrinking water supply in danger of further contamination by dangerous chemicals. The City Council voted on the declaration Tuesday in an attempt to secure state funding to halt the spread of industrial perchlorate in city groundwater. The growing, six-mile-long chemical plume in the north end of the San Bernardino County city contaminates 360 million gallons of groundwater each month.

Longtime San Bernardino County resident Angie Consolo knows the history of the often-maligned Rialto police force all too well. In the past decade, lawsuits against the department by its own officers have alleged rampant racism and sexism. Residents have complained of slow response times, dope deals in daylight and drug syringes discarded in the bedroom community of 100,000 residents. But efforts to improve policing in Rialto have been just as controversial.

The 800,000-square-foot warehouse in Rialto has all the proper pedigrees: easy access to the 10, 215 and 60 freeways, state-of-the-art fire control, secured truck court, spacious parking. It's got the kind of neighbors -- Unilever, FedEx, Home Depot, Energizer -- that show it's in the sweet spot of the nationwide cargo distribution system. The only thing it doesn't have is a tenant.

A San Bernardino County Superior Court judge has ordered the city of Rialto to invalidate its approvals for a proposed Wal-Mart supercenter because the city did not adequately analyze the project's environmental effect, among other factors. In two companion cases, one filed by a grass-roots organization and the other by the city of Colton, Judge Donald R. Alvarez decided last week that Rialto's approval violated the California Environmental Quality Act and other land-use laws.

A 6-year-old girl asleep in the back seat of a car stolen Sunday night in Rialto was found safe the next morning after she awoke in the abandoned vehicle and knocked on the door of a nearby home asking for help. Akyra Hernandez's mother had left her alone in a Ford Escort with the engine running, authorities said. The Rialto woman was escorting her nephew home at 10:35 p.m. when the car was stolen, said police Det. James Massey.