Indy Digest: March 23, 2026
Chad Bianco—the Riverside County sheriff who’s one of the frontrunners in California’s gubernatorial primary—has gotten a lot of attention over the last few days for his supposed “investigation” into supposed irregularities regarding last November’s redistricting election.
Amidst all of this hubbub, something else involving Chad Bianco’s Sheriff’s Department went largely unreported. According to a news release from the RCSD:
On Wednesday, March 18th, 2026, deputies from the Larry Smith Correctional Facility discovered an inmate experiencing a medical emergency inside a housing unit cell. Custody staff and jail medical personnel immediately administered life-saving measures until paramedics arrived, but he was ultimately pronounced deceased at the scene.
Investigators from the Sheriff’s Corrections Central Investigations Unit and Coroner’s Bureau responded and assumed the investigation. The inmate was identified as George Ortiz, a 62-year-old resident of Corona. There were no signs of foul play, and Ortiz’s family was notified of his death.
The investigation is ongoing, and no further information is available.
Yes, people in jails sometimes die, and it’s possible, even probable, that all procedures were properly followed in Ortiz’s situation. That said, every local in-custody death comes with a bit of doubt—because it’s a proven fact that Riverside County’s jails are among the deadliest in the nation.
A disturbingly abnormal number of inmates in Riverside County custody have died in recent years—around 250 since 2011—and the situation is only getting worse, as The New York Times reported in a 2024 piece headlined “The Deadliest Year Inside One of America’s Deadliest Jail Systems.”
Not only is the situation in Riverside County’s jails concerning; Bianco is suspiciously doing everything he can to keep information about these deaths away from the public. The First Amendment Coalition is suing on behalf of a former Desert Sun reporter because the sheriff’s department has been improperly delaying, redacting and withholding jail-death records—perhaps because when journalists finally get those records, a lot of what they find is quite disturbing. Last month, The Desert Sun reported about the 2020 death of inmate Jamall Brown:
First came the official answer, in a report released from Bianco’s coroner’s office: Jamall had refused treatment for his diabetes for days, the report said. He died from diabetic complications after or during a methamphetamine overdose.
But a trove of unreleased jailhouse video and detailed internal investigative reports that current and former sheriff’s employees provided to Brown and the Desert Sun told a different story.
Those reports confirm that Jamall died of diabetic complications. But they indicate it wasn’t because he was rejecting medical aid. The records and video say deputies and nurses ignored Jamall and failed to provide insulin to him for nearly two days. The jail’s cameras recorded him saying he was afraid he was dying. They recorded him slipping into a coma in a pile of trash on the floor of his two-man cell. They recorded deputies and nurses looking at him while he lay unconscious, but not intervening. The reports said investigators found no drugs or evidence of drugs in the cell after his death.
Investigators had collected evidence of the staff’s failures within hours of Jamall Brown’s death, the documents indicated. But for five years, no one told Brown.
Sheriff Chad Bianco and the department’s media team didn’t respond to requests for comment, including detailed questions about the findings reported in this story, including those in a 6-page administrative review that detailed deputies’ failings in Jamall Brown’s death.
Unfortunately, things don’t seem likely to improve in local jails anytime soon. Earlier today, we published a piece by Kevin Fitzgerald, headlined “Mistreated Behind Bars: Activists Postpone a Ballot-Initiative Effort to Require More Oversight of Riverside County’s Jails.” The gist of the piece: After the Riverside County Board of Supervisors refused to take action last year, a group of activists announced they would gather signatures to place a question establishing an independent sheriff’s oversight committee on the 2026 ballot. Unfortunately, those efforts fizzled, and the groups are now working on a 2028 ballot initiative.
As mentioned above: At certain times, Chad Bianco loves to get press, like last Friday, when—taking a page out of the Trumpian playbook to sow doubt about election integrity—he called a press conference to announce a “fact-finding mission” regarding so-called “questions” (easily answered by elections officials) about last November’s election. It got him a lot of headlines at a time when he has a very real chance of being one of the two gubernatorial candidates who advances to the general election—not because he’s popular, mind you, but because too many Democratic candidates are splitting the vote too many ways.
But when you ask him about the deaths of inmates he’s charged with overseeing and protecting?
No comment.
—Jimmy Boegle
From the Independent
Mistreated Behind Bars: Activists Postpone a Ballot-Initiative Effort to Require More Oversight of Riverside County’s Jails
By Kevin Fitzgerald
March 23, 2026
Last November, several Riverside County groups announced they’d be working to put a plan to place an independent sheriff’s oversight committee initiative on the 2026 ballot. That effort has stalled, at least for now.
A True Cinema Event: ‘Project Hail Mary’ Is the Epic Sci-Fi-Charmer Movie Theaters Needed
By Bob Grimm
March 23, 2026
The film starts with Ryan Gosling’s scientist and schoolteacher, Ryland Grace, waking up on a spaceship. As his memory slowly returns, he realizes he’s on a mission to save the Earth from a sun-gobbling microbe that is dimming our star.
One Woman: Yo Younger and Gary Powers Offer a Theater Master Class in Revolution Stage’s ‘JBKO’
By Terry Huber
March 22, 2026
As JBKO, Yo Younger inhabits the character and provides a nuanced, heart-felt portrait of a woman who is privileged, but—like all of us—has to deal with the ups and downs of life.
Locked and Loaded: Jackyl Brings Their Head-Banging yet Blues-y Songs to Agua Caliente Rancho Mirage
By Matt King
March 22, 2026
Jackyl are slated to perform on Thursday, March 26, at Agua Caliente Rancho Mirage. It’ll be yet another date for the band whose Instagram bio proudly claims “ALWAYS ON TOUR!”
Punk Over Posh: Palm Desert’s Damaged Goods Punk Shop Celebrates a Year in Business With a Party Featuring, Art, Music and More
By Matt King
March 21, 2026
Damaged Goods Punk Shop in Palm Desert has been providing threads, jewelry and more for the local alternative scene since late March 2025, and to commemorate the anniversary, the shop will host Damaged Fest, an event intertwining an art gallery experience with sets from energetic rockers.
Hiking With T: Four Hikes With Amazing Scenery, Wildlife and Spring Blooms
By Theresa Sama
March 20, 2026
Whether you’re seeking a gentle nature walk or a strenuous bucket‑list climb, you’re sure to find it here in the Coachella Valley. Here are a few you should know about, if you don’t already.
More News
• The Associated Press headline is “ICE officers go to TSA checkpoints at Trump’s direction, while long wait times at airports persist.” Details: “Armed federal immigration officers in tactical gear moved through terminals at some of the busiest U.S. airports Monday, standing near security lines and checkpoints after President Donald Trump ordered their deployment during a partial government shutdown that has disrupted air travel nationwide. The Trump administration said they would supplement Transportation Security Administration staffing at certain airports but provided few details about exactly what they would be doing. Still, after intensified immigration enforcement and protests in cities across the country over the past year, their presence has unsettled some travelers and raised new questions. On Monday, Associated Press journalists observed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and agents patrolling terminals and lingering near long lines of passengers at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International, John F. Kennedy International in New York, Newark Liberty International in New Jersey, George Bush Intercontinental in Houston and Louis Armstrong International outside New Orleans. A handful of other airports—including Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International—also confirmed ICE would be on-site. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said his office was monitoring the deployment of federal officers at O’Hare International.”
•Trump’s latest middle finger to DEI: He’s placed a statue of Christopher Columbus on White House grounds. The New York Times says: “The statue is a replica of one that protesters in Baltimore tore down and dumped into the city’s Inner Harbor in the summer of 2020. The statue’s marble pieces were retrieved from the harbor, and a Maryland artist used them to guide the creation of the replica. The new statue was erected sometime overnight on the north side of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, facing Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, which houses offices for White House staff and is next to the West Wing. The statue is behind fencing. ‘In this White House, Christopher Columbus is a hero, and President Trump will ensure he’s honored as such for generations to come,’ said Davis Ingle, a White House spokesman, in a statement. … Edward Lengel, a former chief historian of the White House Historical Association, said the addition of the statue was part of Mr. Trump’s ‘radical reshaping’ of the White House grounds—represented most dramatically by plans to construct a new ballroom over the demolished East Wing. ‘What this administration is doing,‘ Mr. Lengel said, ‘is turning it into a partisan battleground.’”
• From the “Headlines That Sound Like They’re From The Onion, but They’re Not, Because They’re Real, God Help Us” file comes this humdinger from The Guardian: “Top US FEMA official claims to have teleported to a Waffle House before.” Wow. More info: “A far-right conspiracy theorist turned high-ranking official at the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) claims to have once teleported to a Waffle House. Gregg Phillips, who in December was appointed to lead FEMA’s office of response and recovery, has spoken on ‘multiple podcasts’ about being teleported against his will, CNN reported on Friday. On a January 2025 podcast appearance, Phillips claimed that his car was ‘lifted up’ while he was driving and transported 40 miles (65km) away into a ditch near a church. And in another instance on the same episode, Phillips said he was teleported 50 miles away to a Waffle House in Rome, Georgia, CNN detailed in a deep dive into Phillips’ past public statements. … As the director of FEMA’s office of response and recovery—the largest of the agency’s divisions—Phillips is tasked with making recommendations on whether federal disaster declarations and aid are needed.”
• A case being decided by the U.S. Supreme Court could, among other things, change the deadlines for California’s mail-in election ballots. The Los Angeles Times reports: “Californians may be forced to put their ballots in the mail well before election day to be certain they will be counted. That’s the likely outcome of a Republican challenge to mail-in ballots that came before the Supreme Court on Monday. The court’s six conservatives sounded ready to rule that federal law requires that ballots must be received by election day if they are to be counted as legal. … California and 13 other states count mail-in ballots that were cast before the close of election day but arrive a few days late. And most states accept late ballots from members of the military who are stationed overseas. By law, California counts ballots that are postmarked by election day and arrive within seven days. In 2024, more than 406,000 of these late-arriving ballots were counted in California, about 2.5% of the total. Other Western states—Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Alaska — also count late-arriving mail ballots. With the midterm election looming in November, President Trump has repeatedly claimed that voting by mail leads to fraud—an occurrence election experts call exceedingly rare—and the Republican National Committee has taken up the cause. The case before the Supreme Court on Monday was the GOP’s challenge of a law in Mississippi, which accepts ballots that arrive up to five days after election day.”
• Today’s recall news … is actually an update—a recent Trader Joe’s recall has expanded to include nearly 10 million (!) pounds of food. Men’s Journal reports: “Ajimoto Foods North America Inc. pulled 9,885,240 pounds of Trader Joe’s Vegetable Fried Rice from shelves after reports that pieces of glass were found inside the one-pound packages, according to an alert from the FDA. The fragments were described as being between 1 and 3 centimeters long and 2 to 4 millimeters wide. The recalled products were sold in 43 states, with best-by dates ranging from Feb. 28, 2026, through Nov. 19, 2026. Hawaii, Maine, New Mexico, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia and Iowa were not affected. This latest action builds on an earlier recall that first began on Feb. 19 and was expanded again on March 3, according to federal officials. Additional items were later included, such as Trader Joe’s Chicken Shu Mai, which are chicken and vegetable dumplings served with soy sauce, along with Trader Joe’s Chicken Fried Rice that includes stir-fried rice, vegetables, eggs and seasoned dark meat chicken. Those products carried best-by dates between Feb. 28, 2026, and Aug. 19, 2027.”
• And finally … pour one out for CBS News Radio. It is being eliminated by Bari Weiss and CBS’ new corporate overlords. The New York Times just published a lovely obit, of sorts, looking back on CBS News Radio’s storied history; here’s a gift link. The lede: “It transported Americans onto the rooftops of London in the Blitz and into the bleak embers of concentration camps in liberated Nazi Germany, an aural atlas to world events thousands of miles away. In more recent years, it transmitted eyewitness dispatches from world capitals to hundreds of local stations in rural and sparsely populated parts of the country. CBS News Radio was a pioneer and stalwart of the mass media century, the proving ground of star journalists like Edward R. Murrow, with a distinctive five-tone chime that became synonymous with breaking news—long before the rise of 24-hour cable and the internet. Now, its venerable airwaves are crackling to a close. … CBS News Radio itself had been whittled down to a handful of correspondents in recent years and is unprofitable, a person familiar with the company said. Still, a Nielsen study found that radio today reaches 93 percent of American adults, particularly commuters who drive to and from work. And CBS said its radio network was providing reporting and short news segments to about 700 subscriber affiliates around the country, including major metro stations like 1010 WINS in New York. Those stations that wish to continue carrying national news reporting will need to look elsewhere.”
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