By Miriam Raftery

September 24, 2017 (La Mesa) – The La Mesa City Council will take up several hot issues at its meeting on Tuesday, September 26^th at 6 p.m. The Council’s decision could make it easier for developers to increase density and decrease parking, create new marijuana regulations, and declare La Mesa a ‘ferret friendly” city.

A proposed change in meeting time and openings on several boards and commissions are also on the agenda.

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Story by Liz Alper

Photo:  Pat Valaika set the all-time single-season RBI record for a rookie pinch-hitter (16) in the win against the Padres today.  Via @Rockies on Twitter

September 24, 2017 (San Diego) - All hope for this season is lost, but the Padres would love to finish the season series with the Rockies with a win today.  Kind of like dying with dignity.  German Marquez started for Colorado against Luis Perdomo.

By Miriam Raftery

September 24, 2017 (Sacramento) -- “Today, my office was informed for the first time by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that Russian cyber actors scanned California’s Internet-facing systems in 2016,” California Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced on Friday.

East County News Service

September 24, 2017 (Spring Valley) – This morning around 1:30 a.m., San Miguel Fire District Engine 16 and Brush 14, along with San Diego and Bonita Fire, responded to a vegetation/trash fire at a homeless encampment near Spring Canyon Drive in Spring Valley.

East County News Service

September 24, 2017 (San Diego)--Critics are calling today's planned rally in Oceanside that "celebrates the removal of nuclear waste at San Onofre" a sham that does not reflect reality, the opinions of nuclear waste experts or the community. These experts say the celebration tricks the media and the public into believing that the nuclear waste problems at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) have been solved.

Local critics say that Citizens Oversight, the group hosting the "celebration" is misleading the public with magical thinking and an irrational belief in "purple unicorns."

Photo by Sonia Carcoilo, Government of Ontario:  Governor Brown (right), Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne (left) and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard (center) sign agreement to expand cap-and-trade partnership.

Source: Governor’s office and government of Ontario, Canada

September 24, 2017 (Quebec City) – California Governor Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown Jr. yesterday signed an agreement with the leaders of Quebec and Ontario to officially integrate their cap-and-trade programs, expanding the three-year partnership between California and Quebec to include Ontario, Canada's most populous province and leading industrial region. The agreement takes effect January 1, 2018.

By Miriam Raftery

Click to view video of Emms shooting black-powder, muzzle loaded gun

September 24, 2017 (Mount Laguna) — If you stop by the Laguna Mountain Rendezvous October 13-21, you’re likely to feel as though you’ve been transported into the past –a mountain man encampment bringing history to life.  Activities for participants include black-powder shooting instruction, archery, tomahawk throwing, tool-making, camp stove cooking, early American music, and a traders’ row selling vintage and replica items from Colonial times in the 1770s through around 1840.

In an exclusive interview, Richard Emms, president of the Laguna Mountain Shooting Club, resident gunsmith and Rendezvous Booshway (leader of a group of mountain men)shares insights on how the group got started and what attracts folks to don historical garb for the 10-day encampment in period-style tents. 

By Valerie Watts

By Miriam Raftery

September 24, 2017 (La Mesa) — On August 9^th, La Mesa residents filled the community center to share their ideas for revamping MacArthur Park, the former Sun Valley Golf Course site. The city is committed to keeping the area as a public park and unveiled a map where citizens could post colored dots and comments to show which ideas they favored or not, and why.

Two proposed solar projects have been revived under new owners

By Paul Kruze

Photo: Map shows site of Boulevard Solar, one of the two former Soitec projects back in the planning pipeline.

September 22, 2017 (Boulevard) -- Boulevard, CA is a small rural community located about 50 miles east of downtown San Diego on Interstate 8,  nary half-an-hour to the Anza Borrego Desert State Park.  While residents – a mix of retired people and younger people who work in San Diego but want to experience rural living – are able to experience the best of both worlds, the stark realities of modern life do punctuate the overall quiet and serene quality of this hamlet.

This was apparent at the Sept. 7th meeting of the Boulevard Planning Group, where the dominant topic was the main threat to the area’s rural atmosphere – the development of alternative energy projects, including the revival of two former Soitec Solar projects now moving forward under new ownership.

By Rebecca Jefferis Williamson

September 22, 2017 (El Cajon) - “Yes, we had a boxing glove shaped pool,” said Billy Moore, son of legendary boxer Archie Moore said during a 1M Punches from the Heart event in El Cajon over the weekend.  Archie, who died in in 1998 in San Diego and resided here with his family for parts of his life, was the longest reigning World Light Heavyweight Champion of all time from 1952-1962, He also trained Muhammad Ali, James Tillis, and George Forman.

By Paul Kruze   

September 22, 2017 (El Cajon) -- The El Cajon City Council faced some new concerns at its Tuesday, Sept. 12 meeting when attention was directed to Solterra, an apartment project built by a partnership of both Affirmed Housing and the City of El Cajon some five years ago. The complex, located at 131-155 Chambers Street near W. Main Street, is a 49-unit, senior affordable community offering one-and-two bedroom apartments to seniors ages 55 and up who earn 30-60% of area media income (AMI).

East County News Service

September 21, 2017 (Borrego Springs) - The 52nd Annual Borrego Days Desert Festival returns to showcase qualities that make Borrego Springs so unique as both a weekend getaway and a world all its own with beautiful weather, incredible star gazing, resorts, and the free Borrego Days Festival which kicks off Saturday, October 21 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and continues through Sunday, October 22, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

By Duncan McFetridge, Director, Cleveland National Forest Foundation

September 21, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) - Cleveland National Forest Foundation’s lawsuit against the county’s attempt to subdivide the Hoskings ranch near Julian brings out three extremely important points:   

Source:  City of El Cajon

September 20, 2017 (El Cajon) -- The City of El Cajon has been working closely with the County of San Diego and other partners since the announcement of the recent Hepatitis A outbreak.  The City is taking an aggressive and proactive role in protecting the safety of the City’s residents and visitors.