This is the 69th year that NORAD has tracked the Jolly Old Elf on his global journey. Here's how to find him as he arrives in RivCo towns.

Patch Staff

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Riverside County County children can start following Santa Claus as he delivers gifts around the world on Tuesday. This is the North American Aerospace Defense Command's 69th year of tracking the Old St. Nick's worldwide Christmas Eve journey.

The tracker went live at 1 a.m. Pacific time Tuesday via www.noradsanta.org.

NORAD started tracking the jolly old elf in the predawn hours Tuesday, and will follow his journey as he passes north to south and back again, until at last he reaches Riverside County communities.

NORAD is located at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, has provided simulated tracking of Santa Claus' global mission to deliver gifts and cheer, according to the agency.

In 2022 and 2023, the tracker captured Santa and his reindeer crossing from San Diego County to Riverside County, from south to north, as well as presented the sleigh flying directly over several cities, including Temecula, Murrieta, Lake Elsinore, Wildomar, Banning, Beaumont, and Palm Desert.

Find out what's happening in Temeculafor free with the latest updates from Patch.

"The (website) features Santa's North Pole Village, which includes a holiday countdown, games, movie theater, holiday music, web store and more," NORAD said. "The website is available in nine languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese and Korean."

NORAD has been providing updates regarding the upcoming flight via its social media platforms.

"On Dec. 24, trackers worldwide can call 1-877-HI-NORAD to ask our live operators about Santa's location from 6 a.m. to midnight mountain standard time," the agency said. "Whether you're in Alexandria, Egypt, or Alexandria, Virginia, remember that Santa typically arrives between 9 p.m. and midnight local time, and ONLY when children are asleep!"

NORAD, which is responsible for identifying and sounding alarms regarding potential airborne threats to the U.S. and Canada, inaugurated the Santa tracking tradition informally in 1955 when a child called the wrong number and connected with an aerospace command colonel asking about Santa's whereabouts. He assured the girl that the jolly man would make it through the night safely.

NORAD formalized Santa tracking in 1958, providing reports to media regarding Santa's progress making the rounds on Christmas Eve.

"Though the program began due to a misdialed number, `NORAD Tracks Santa' has flourished and is recognized as one of the Department of Defense's largest community outreach programs," according to the agency.

City News Service, Patch Editor Ashley Ludwig contributed to this report.

Meanwhile the Department of Homeland Security and federal Bureau of Investigation continue to press there is no evidence of reported drone sightings posing a national security or public safety threat from a foreign nexus.

Despite that, the FBI and DHS are deploying drone detection technology and infrared cameras to probe whether the drones flying over New Jersey and New York aren't harmful.

Recently, close to dozen drones were spotted by residents of Venice Beach on Sunday night.

"I haven't stopped talking about it since Friday," Ortega said. "All my friends and family are probably tired of hearing me say it, but something's going on. Something's in the sky."

Aaron Ortega is one of several residents in Riverside County, who's spotted drones flying above in the night time sky.

"Why are they here?," he ask.

"A lot of them look like planes that people I think are mistaking for big drones," Dr. Alexander De La Vega, of the University California Riverside said."A lot of them have blinking lights, which is a dead giveaway that it's a drone."

Dr. De La Vega says he's seen none of the videos from Riverside County to New Jersey show anything out of the unknown. He explained one of the easiest ways to verify what you're seeing in the sky is a drone or a plane, is to take a long-exposure photo.

"You can tell whether it's a plane because it has blinking lights. So you see these little blinks of light in the photo. You can tell it's a satellite because usually satellites will have a solid streak of light."

In California, a man from Brentwood was arrested this month for allegedly flying a drone over the Vandenburg Space Force Base.

Numbers in October from the Federal Aviation Administration put the number of drone registrations close to eight hundred thousand.

Breaking it down to half for recreational - and half for commercial.

In California, the film industry has added to the use, which has given us a new view of the action.

FAA requirements for recreational Unmanned Aircraft Systems

It's illegal to shooting an aircraft, including drones or manned airplanes. In California, first responders have immunity for damaging an UAS that interferes with the act of providing emergency services.

Both government agencies and recreationist must adhere to strict rules when operating a drone. You can view more of those here.

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Six suspects were arrested in connection to a series of Riverside County train burglaries that resulted in nearly $200,000 worth of merchandise being stolen.

The burglaries targeted cargo trains across several cities and Riverside County sheriff’s deputies worked to track down the locations where the stolen goods were stored.

The suspects were identified as:

The months-long investigation began on Aug. 2 when deputies responded to a train burglary near Hammond Road and 68th Avenue in unincorporated Mecca.

Several items that had been removed from the cargo trains were found, but the suspects already fled the scene.

In the following weeks, investigators worked to track down multiple locations where the large amount of stolen goods were believed to be stored.

On Nov. 6, a search warrant was served at a home and storage unit in the 82200 block of Santa Rosa Avenue in Indio. Over $80,000 in stolen merchandise was discovered at the property. Two suspects, Brinoes and Herrera, were arrested at the scene.

Another search warrant was served at a home in the 88800 block of 62nd Avenue in Thermal where over $12,000 worth of stolen items was found. One suspect, Castillo Ruiz, was taken into custody.

On Nov. 21, a search warrant was served at a property in the 65100 block of Calle Sor Juana in the unincorporated community of Mecca and a storage unit in the 53300 block of Highway 111 in Coachella. Over $76,000 in merchandise was recovered from the residence and storage unit. Two suspects, Hernandez and Luna, were arrested

The next day on Nov. 22, Thermal Sheriff’s Station deputies responded to a train burglary in the area of Hammond Road in Mecca. They found several open train containers with missing merchandise and a vehicle parked at the location, but no suspect was found at the scene.

On Dec. 4, a search warrant was served at a storage unit in the 53300 block of Highway 111 in Coachella where over $26,000 worth of stolen goods were found. On Dec. 10, the related suspect, Acosta, was located and arrested.

In total, around $194,000 worth of stolen goods were recovered. The group of suspects will face a variety of charges including burglary, possession of stolen property, violation of probation, possession of burglary tools, grand theft and conspiracy.

The series of thefts remains under investigation. Anyone with information on the case is encouraged to call Deputies Hernandez and Padilla at the Thermal Sheriff’s Station at 760-863-8990.

More than 1,600 employees would be covered under the contract.

City News Service, News Partner

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — The Board of Supervisors is slated Tuesday to approve a new three-year contract with the union representing Riverside County sheriff's deputies and District Attorney's Office investigators, guaranteeing pay increases to members totaling 19% over the duration of the compact.

The $164 million collective bargaining agreement between the county and the Riverside Sheriffs' Association, if ratified, would be in effect from this week until Dec. 9, 2027.

The highlight of the contract is the automatic pay hikes, which would apply to members in the "minimum and maximum range of all classifications," according to the terms.

The first across-the-board hike, totaling 9%, would take effect immediately. The next auto hike, totaling 5%, would take effect on Dec. 11, 2025, and the final 5% hike would be added to members' paychecks beginning Dec. 11, 2026, according to the agreement.

The county General Fund would cover roughly half the contract costs, while the sheriff's departmental budget would cover the other half.

Find out what's happening in Lake Elsinore-Wildomarwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

More than 1,600 employees would be covered under the compact, which is specifically with RSA's Law Enforcement Unit, encompassing patrol deputies, school resource officers, aviation personnel, basic-level investigators and District Attorney's Office investigators who are below the executive level.

The Law Enforcement Unit's prior five-year collective bargaining agreement expires this week. Negotiations on the new one have been underway since August.

The members have different schedules, some assigned to the standard five-day, 40-hour work week, while others are assigned to 4/10 schedules — four 10-hour days — and others are on 3/12 schedules, or three 12-hour days.

The new compact makes allowances for extra duty pay assignments and overtime. There is also a pay allowance for "standby duty," during which an employee can be designated as ready for deployment but may never actually be summoned. For each eight hours in standby mode, the law enforcement officer would receive one-hour of regular pay, according to the terms.

There is additionally extra pay for bilingual capabilities and education incentives compensation, as well as premiums for SWAT, the bomb squad and canine management.

Increased pay would also be permitted for patrol personnel "permanently assigned" to the Palm Desert and Thermal stations.

Only retiring Supervisor Kevin Jeffries has questioned the sustainability of double-digit percentage pay hikes for public safety personnel, along with general escalating costs tied to pensions for all county employees.

Tuesday will be his second-to-last meeting on the board. It's expected that while he'll comment on the proposed memorandum of understanding with RSA, he won't formally oppose it.