The Voice on KVCR is a weekly discussion with the Black Voice News editorial team about important issues in the inland region. This week KVCR's Megan Jamerson spoke with Alex Reed a Digital Coordinator with Mapping Black California , a Black Voice News initiative about a data centered series called Black California: Reporting on the Impacts of COVID-19 . Reed shares insights from the first intallment of the series Visualizing the Data: COVID-19's Impact on the Black Community .

In California, it can be hard to keep track of county level elections because not all races require runoffs and the timing of when elections happen varies. KVCR’s Megan Jamerson reports that a proposed state senate bill aims to reduce confusion for voters across the state including here in the inland region. Senate Bill 286 would standardize both a primary and runoff election for elected county positions, and those runoff elections would be a part of the statewide general election ballot. Since

Today on Inland Edition, Lillian Vasquez speaks with Jodie Holt, Director of the UCR Botanic Gardens. Jodie shares the history of the expansive and diverse gardens and how they have shifted operations during the pandemic, but continue to grow. For more information about UCR Botanic Gardens, visit gardens.ucr.edu/gardens

Monday through Thursday at lunchtime, KVCR News has your daily news rundown. Stories highlighted today include: Riverside County expands vaccine eligibility to everyone 16 and older. Riverside County moves into the less-restrictive COVID-19 orange tier today. California is aiming to fully reopen its economy on June 15, ending the state’s county-by-county color tier system of business restrictions.

Riverside County has expanded vaccine eligibility to everyone 16 and older, and the Riverside University Health System celebrated this milestone with a vaccination event at their medical center in Moreno Valley today. About 1,100 people are expected to come through the Riverside University Health System Medical Center in Moreno Valley today, Apr 6, to get vaccinated against COVID-19. There are balloons, photo booths, and signs that say “pandemic finish line.” Heather Jackson, Senior Public

San Bernardino made the move to open up COVID-19 vaccinations immediately to people age 16 and older who live and work in the county Tuesday. KVCR’s Megan Jamerson reports on this and other recovery news. Nine days before the state guidance to do so, Board of Supervisors Chair Curt Hagman said it is time to fully expand vaccine eligibility. The county is currently receiving 60,000 doses of vaccine per week and is expecting that number to continue to increase weekly by 10,000. “It sounds like we

Monday through Thursday at lunchtime, KVCR News has your daily news rundown. Stories highlighted today include: The city of Riverside is accepting items for a time capsule that will be buried at the new Main Library in Downtown Riverside. Vice President Kamala Harris visited her hometown of Oakland and discussed small business, jobs, water infrastructure, and the American Jobs Plan. A group of California state lawmakers accuse trucking companies of misclassifying their drivers as independent

The city of Riverside is accepting items for a time capsule that will be buried at the new Main Library in downtown Riverside. Residents can bring items like photographs, documents and objects no bigger than two inches through April 30. “We are excited to bring the new main library to our Riverside community,” said the City of Riverside’s Library Director, Erin Christmas in a news release. “This time capsule is a fun way to show the future stewards of our libraries what it was like to be a

Longtime Inland Empire journalist and KVCR contributor Cassie MacDuff and KVCR's Benjamin Purper review some of the big Inland Empire news stories from the past week: 1. Votes in the Eastvale special election were certified despite a mailing error that kept ballots from being sent in time for voters to cast them. 2. N ine candidates will be on the ballot in the Riverside City Council election this June. 3. Amazon tripled the number of warehouses it operates in Southern California. THIS SEGMENT

One in ten Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders reported hate crimes and hate incidents in 2021, according to survey results released by AAPI Data and SurveyMonkey Tuesday. KVCR’s Megan Jamerson reports, this rate which is higher than the national average is driven by a specific harmful stereotype. Karthick Ramakrishnan, CEO and Co-Founder of AAPI Data, and U.C. Riverside professor says the survey found 64 percent of AAPI respondents have been asked where they are from with the assumption it’s