reporter

Joe Nelson

Joe Nelson is an award-winning investigative reporter for the Southern California News Group's Watchdog Team. He is a graduate of California State University Fullerton and in 2014 completed a fellowship at Loyola Law School's Journalist Law School program. He is a bibliophile, film buff, and lover of the outdoors.

Cody Woodson Klemp, 70, of Moreno Valley, was granted parole under the state’s Elderly Parole Program in November 2023, but his parole was blocked by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The parole board denied him parole a year later upon further review. (Photo courtesy the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)

Lawmakers ramp up efforts to reform California’s Elderly Parole Program

April 21, 2026 at 2:58 p.m.

Years after the program came under fire in the Inland Empire, the parole of two violent sex offenders in Northern California has sparked new concerns.

Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Veterans Medical Center in Loma Linda, a part of the VA Loma Linda Healthcare System, is reflected in a pond on Friday, June 16, 2023. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Federal watchdog finds VA Loma Linda lacked policy for informing patients of test results

April 11, 2026 at 2:59 p.m.

The latest findings from U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs underscore a history of deficiencies at the VA Loma Linda Healthcare System.

Desert bighorn sheep in the Soda Mountains, near the Mojave National Preserve. (Photo courtesy of Michael Gordon)

California poised to OK controversial Soda Mountain Solar Project near Baker

April 13, 2026 at 2:46 p.m.

Opponents say that even with modifications, the 2,600-acre, 300-megawatt project threatens bighorn sheep as well as other desert species and habitat.

A catwalk connecting Colton High School’s main campus to the school’s athletic fields – emblazoned with the school’s Yellowjackets mascot and football team name – crosses over Rancho Avenue in Colton on Wednesday, March 18, 2026. The Colton Joint Unified School District has settled for $19.5 lawsuits filed by a dozen former player’s for the school’s reputed football team who claimed they were sexually abused for years by former athletic trainer Tiffany Strauss-Gordon, daughter of the late Harold Strauss, the school’s esteemed football coach known for preparing his players for the NFL. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Colton Joint Unified settles sex abuse lawsuits with former star football players for $19.5 million

April 9, 2026 at 1:50 p.m.

The daughter of esteemed Colton High football coach Harold Strauss had access to the athletes as the team's trainer in 2001 through 2007.

California School for the Deaf-Riverside is seen Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)

Mistrial declared in California School for the Deaf-Riverside sexual abuse case

April 6, 2026 at 7:49 a.m.

Attorneys for the plaintiff allege defense lawyers withheld more than 17,000 pages of evidence, some of which supported their allegations against the school.

Trista Ann Spicer, convicted of second-degree murder for killing boyfriend Eric Mercado in 2014, reacts as she listens to Mercado’s sister, Mahira Torres, give her impact statement during Spicer’s sentencing hearing at San Bernardino Justice Center on Friday, March 27, 2026. Spicer was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Her attorney said he will appeal the sentence. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)

San Bernardino woman who entombed boyfriend in backyard sentenced to prison

March 27, 2026 at 3:10 p.m.

Trista Ann Spicer was sentenced to 15 years in prison for her second-degree murder conviction in the 2014 slaying of Eric Mercado.

The California Institution for Women in Chino. (File photo by Joe Blackstock)

DOJ launches probe into ‘biological males’ housed in California women’s prisons

April 1, 2026 at 1:36 p.m.

The federal government is challenging the constitutionality of housing "biological men" in women's prisons, including the facility in Chino.

Val Verde Unified School District located at 975 W. Morgan St., Perris, Calif. on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Audit blasts Val Verde Unified’s ties with elite private boarding school in China

March 20, 2026 at 9:47 p.m.

Auditors for the Riverside County Office of Education detailed possible fraud, misappropriation of funds and other illegal activity at the core of the relationship.

“Rancher” Manuel Cortez, 45, from Rialto, and recovering from drug abuse, feeds a horse at the River’s Edge Ranch in Lucerne Valley on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. Cortez had been at the drug and alcohol recovery facility for only 72 hours. River’s Edge Ranch, a faith-based residential drug and alcohol treatment program on a 20-acre working ranch, has partnered with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department on its tentatively-titled New Beginnings program at the Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center. The Sheriff’s Department is pushing to launch the program in January 2027.(Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

New San Bernardino County program targets mentally ill and addicted inmates

March 15, 2026 at 6:50 a.m.

Outgoing inmates afflicted with such disorders will be referred to residential care facilities and other services after their release in an effort to cut recidivism.

Former Riverside police Officer Henry Ventura, pictured here during his graduation from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Basic Training Academy in March 2024, has been accused in a federal lawsuit of sexually assaulting a woman he pulled over in May 2025. Ventura resigned on July 17. The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office declined to file criminal charges, citing lack of evidence. (Courtesy Riverside County Sheriff’s Department)

DA will not charge former Riverside police officer accused of sexual assault

March 15, 2026 at 2:54 p.m.

Woman claims the former rookie officer stalked her, then forced his way into her apartment and sexually assaulted her in May 2025.

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