Latest news with #CodeEnforcement
CBS News
24-06-2025
- CBS News
Riverside County begins annual crackdown on illegal fireworks
Riverside County officials began their annual crackdown on illegal fireworks on Monday, just a week before the Fourth of July. This year's message, "If You Light It, We'll Write It," refers to potential citations that people could face if they're caught breaking Ordinance No. 858. Officials will continue their crackdown until the second week of July. Personnel with the Riverside County Fire and Sheriff's departments, as well as the Department of Code Enforcement will partner with officers from other municipal agencies to find people igniting fireworks without a permit to do so. "Fires ignited by illegal fireworks can quickly spread, endangering homes, lives and wildlife in our communities," said Riverside County Fire Chief Bill Weiser in a statement. "We need your help to get the word out that transporting and setting illegal explosives is not only a serious cost to your pocket, but a grave risk to public safety." Last year, nearly 400 citations were issued and 10 people were arrested on misdemeanor allegations of transporting illegal fireworks, officials said. Related: San Bernardino considers ban on all fireworks ahead of Fourth of July In early-June, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors approved a $100,000 bilingual public awareness messaging campaign to help deter the use of illegal fireworks. They have implemented electronic message signs, digital billboards and broadcast messages to spread word of the potential consequences one could face. Last week, the city of Riverside also announced that they would similarly be cracking down on illegal fireworks, as the police department prepares to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles to document instances where the fireworks are lit and help identify suspects. First-time penalties for illegally using fireworks are $1,500, officials said. A series of amendments to Ordinance No. 858, which were implemented in 2021, raised the potential penalties from their previous totals. They now range between $1,000 and $5,000, officials said. "We saw first-hand last summer how fireworks can cause catastrophic property damage," said Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson. "Be smart — don't shoot off fireworks. The risk to lives and property is real, and the consequences for getting caught just aren't worth it." She was referring to the Hawarden Fire, which engulfed 600 acres of brush and destroyed seven homes last July after a group of boys lit fireworks in a dry field near Hawarden Drive and Mary Street. Two teenagers were charged with over two dozen felony offenses in connection with the blaze. Related: New video suggests Palisades Fire ignition point burned just days earlier
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Beckley Fire Department to relaunch enforcement of certificates of occupancy
BECKLEY — A renewed initiative at the Beckley Fire Prevention Bureau aims to prevent future tragedies and ensure all businesses meet modern safety standards. While commercial businesses in Beckley have long been required to have a Certificate of Occupancy, Beckley Fire Marshal Christopher R. Graham said the bureau is getting ready to 'begin actively enforcing' the city's code. Graham has prepared a letter he is going to give business owners that explains why having an up-to-date Certificate of Occupancy is important. 'This effort is aimed at ensuring the health and safety of all individuals who live in or visit buildings open to the public,' states the letter. 'A lot of times, people just get busy. Life happens, and they've been [busy], it's not been, they've not gotten one,' Graham said. 'So we really want to try and go back and make sure, hey, everybody has one.' Graham works in tandem with Capt. Donald Morgan in the city's Code Enforcement Department to ensure commercial buildings are safe. Graham conducts inspections, but so does Morgan. 'Where I'm fire marshal, we will do an inspection, check if it needs a fire alarm or fire extinguishers, make sure the exit emergency lighting is ready,' Graham said. Then, the baton is passed to Code Enforcement. 'Code Enforcement comes in and they make sure the building is structurally sound — the electrical, the plumbing, items like that — are correct,' Graham continued. 'So, it's kind of a team effort to make sure the buildings are safe before the public can go into them or they're occupied by employees.' When asked if there was a recent incident in the city that sparked the new initiative, Graham said he wanted to remain positive. By issuing the letter and conducting a fairly public campaign to inform commercial business owners, Graham said his hope is that people will come forward and ask for a free inspection from him and Morgan. 'We want to enforce it. We're going to give people time,' Graham said. Graham said that if a safety issue is identified during an investigation, they can give the business owner enough time to correct the issue before issuing a citation. 'Then we say, hey, hold up. We need to address this before we can open,' he said. 'Our goal is not to shut anybody down or hinder anyone from having a business. But these items need to be checked to make sure that it's safe to open.' However, in the event a business does not comply once a safety issue is identified regarding electrical, plumbing and structural components of a business, there is an enforcement component of Beckley City Code they can use. Fines for noncompliance run $10-$300. 'Now that part is new,' Graham said. 'And before we would just go and say, 'Hey, can you do this?' 'Hey, can you do this?' But now we can actually run it through court, and they can explain to the judge why they're not doing it, maybe, or something like that. And those are usually extreme circumstances.' Graham said that 90-95% of the time, business owners comply because they have made such a huge investment and want to own and operate their business. 'After a reasonable correction period, if violations remain unresolved, a citation may be issued, requiring the owner or occupant to appear before the Municipal Court, where additional fines may be imposed,' states the letter. But Graham said he hopes businesses come forward and few fines have to be levied. He also hopes his phone starts ringing so he can schedule more free business safety inspections and get more Certificates of Occupancy completed. 'Our goal is not to hurt anybody or cost them a lot of money,' Graham said. 'We just really want to make the building safe and bring them up to code.'
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
8 arrested in Collierville for possession of firearms, drugs
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Eight people were arrested in a Collierville neighborhood for possession of drugs and firearms on Saturday, according to Collierville Police. On May 31, at 10 p.m., officers responded to a large gathering in a neighborhood near Mayfield Road. Reports say the complainant called about vehicles blocking the road. When officers arrived, they noticed many vehicles and detected a strong odor coming from several cars. Men seen carrying stolen counter, faucet on bikes after Midtown burglary Police say additional calls were received from nearby residents reporting that vehicles were parked in their yards. According to police, eight Memphians were arrested and cited for improper parking, and some were charged with multiple firearm charges, public intoxication, disorderly conduct, and possession of a controlled substance. Two people were charged with felony narcotics charges and felony firearm charges. Police seized 44 grams of marijuana, 347 Oxycodone tablets, 59 Xanax tablets, three Adderall tablets, and one handgun. Police say the Town of Collierville Code Enforcement will be following up with additional town ordinance violations with the organizer and homeowner. No injuries were reported. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Yahoo
Attorney cites dancing as reason for Luna Lounge closure following ‘shots fired' incident
CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WIVB) — The Luna Lounge bar in Cheektowaga was ordered to shut down by the town just three days after we brought you news of neighbors' concerns last week. Now, dancing has become an argument for the bar's closure. Concerns were first raised by residents following a 'shots fired' incident that happened in the bar's parking lot in the early morning hours of Monday, April 28. The incident stemmed from the bar, according to Cheektowaga Police Chief Brian Coons, who said it started as a verbal altercation that turned physical, resulting in a shot being fired into the air. The bar was ordered to close and cease operations by the Town of Cheektowaga Code Enforcement on May 5. The attorney representing the owners of Luna Lounge, Jacob Piorkowski, tells us that the Town of Cheektowaga is using dancing as part of the reasoning for their closure. 'My clients have gone to the town clerk on two occasions and asked for a permit for dancing, and were informed that no such permit exists, and that I believe a permit such as that has not been issued in over 16 years,' Piorkowski said. Piorkowski then went on to explain how his clients are willing to work with the town, saying they'd even be willing to revise their operations in order to reopen. 'One of my questions to the town was, well, can we operate as a tavern without dancing, until this permit issue is worked out?' Piorkowski asked. 'I haven't received a response that's definitive on that yet.' Cheektowaga Town Supervisor Brian Nowak appeared Friday on Buffalo Brief, streamed on WIVB+, where he was asked about their proposal to operate as a tavern with no dancing. 'In that particular case, this is something that the Town Board is got to talk about, and it gets into an area where we're dealing with our attorneys on that,' Nowak said. 'So, I don't want to speak in detail on that.' Moving forward, Piorkowski said his clients remain frustrated by the closure of their bar, and that he's hopeful they can work something out with the town to reopen. If not, they will be considering filing a petition in court to be able to resume operations. In our initial story, Chief Coons said his department had been called to the bar frequently for all kinds of complaints. He said they've responded to a total of 114 times in the past year as of last Friday. Rob Petree is an anchor and reporter who joined the News 4 team in 2025. See more of his work by clicking here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Daily Mail
08-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Drama ensues after Vegas man moved 'ROOSTER' into his back garden
Drama ensued in a suburban Las Vegas neighborhood after a man's domesticated birds kept his neighbors from ever getting a good night's sleep. The man's neighbors were fed up with the annoying noises and filed a complaint with the Clark County Code Enforcement. The home received a violation for having 'roosters and chickens,' which aren't permitted in their residential area. The couple even sent a letter to their neighbor asking him to control the pets before local Fox affiliate, KVVU-TV, knocked on the bird-lover's door. Even though the complaints cited roosters crowing in the early hours, KVVU instead found dozens of pigeons at the property when they confronted the home owner. The pigeon-lover, Chong, claimed to KVVU that he has only a small chicken and dozens of pigeons he uses for racing. 'This is my passion. We have a huge club... we compete them and we send them to places like Arizona, 300 to 500 miles away to compete all over the nation,' Chong told the outlet. 'This is my sport, my passion,' he added. The bird owner explained that he used the pigeons to race and said the sport was his 'passion' Chong admitted he'd be devastated if his pigeons were taken away. He said he recently moved to Nevada from Cuba and wasn't aware of local laws on domesticating the birds. Clark County Code Enforcement told the outlet that Chong's property didn't have a permit to race pigeons. After a notice of violation is sent to a property owner, they may be fined up to $500 per day until it is corrected. The county had previously combated issues with pigeons in November when another property had flocks of pigeons constantly surrounding it. 'They start cooing about 5 a.m. and it goes on all day long, flying and flocking, flying and flocking,' one neighbor told KVVU at the time. 'It's a health hazard for all of us. Our cars are always covered in pigeon poop, our houses, our yards, everything,' she added. Pigeons are legal to have as pets in Nevada, provided they are kept in a proper enclosure and are kept at least 200 feet from another home. Crowing roosters are prohibited in Las Vegas, and hens are only allowed if the owner obtains written consent from their neighbors.
