Show love for your Valentine and the planet with eco-friendly tips from Waste Management of Southern California

February 9, 2015 (San Diego’s East County)--Valentine’s Day is almost here and with hundreds of millions of cards, boxes of chocolates and bouquets expected to exchange hands this year, Waste Management of Southern California is encouraging community members to consider simple alternatives that not only express the spirit of the holiday but also make it a little greener.

By Dennis Moore

February 9, 2015 (San Diego's East County) - Author KB Schaller (Cherokee/Seminole heritage) was recently notified by Florida Authors and Publishers Association (FAPA), Inc., that her title, 100+ Native American Women Who Changed the World, would be included in the organization's display at Book Expo America (BEA)!

Reprinted with permission from Reporting San Diego

By Nadin Abbott

February 7, 2015 (San Diego) On Feb. 6, at the stroke of midnight, the busses left the Old Town Transit center parking lot. On board were activists from SanDiego350, as well as students from King Chavez Community School in downtown San Diego with their teacher, Keith Fowler.

By Miriam Raftery

February 8, 2015 (Ramona) – Nearly 80 riders on horseback hit the trail Saturday in Ramona to help pay medical bills for Lynn Fuller, a Poway resident who suffered burns over more than 75% of her body.

February 7, 2015 (Rancho San Diego)—Tomatomania, the world’s largest heirloom tomato seedling sale, is coming to the Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College (12122 Cuyamaca College Drive) in the Rancho San Diego neighborhood of El Cajon.  Tomatomania will take place on March 14^th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Tax penalties kick in for uninsured this year

East County News Service

February 8, 2015 (San Diego) – February 15^th is the deadline to sign up for health insurance this year under Covered California, the state’s exchange for purchasing insurance under the Affordable Care Act, which requires every American to have health insurance.

February 7, 2015 (Ramona) – Greg Dunne and his son, Kyle, took a hike up Iron Mountain, along with an extended route to the top of Ramona View Point (8.4 miles total).

By Miriam Raftery

February 7, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – Back in September 2013, our article titled, “Why is County Veterans Services Department  ignoring rural East County vets?” inspired Supervisor Dianne Jacob to get a measure passed that would bring veterans’ services to libraries in rural East County. 

We wrote our story after a reader, Claudia Millerbragg, informed us that there were no county services for veterans in our County's rural, mountain or desert regions--areas that lack adequate transit services, making it difficult for disabled veterans to travel and receive the services that they need. By contrast, ECM's investigation found an abundance of services in coastal areas, despite the fact that residents in those areas could access transit services--and the fact that East County has more veterans than the coastal region. 

Supervisor Jacob's measure passed in March 2014 and stated that veterans service would be introduced into the El Cajon, Ramona, Julian and Pine Valley libraries by year’s end, with other locations possibly to follow. 

But when East County Magazine contacted the County Veterans Services Department in January of 2015, we learned that a year and a half after our initial report, only two libraries have received veterans’ services – El Cajon and Rancho San Diego, both in suburban areas close to La Mesa, which already had services. Despite the measure passed by Supervisors, no veterans services had yet been brought to rural areas. 

So we made some inquiries - and got results. Those who served our nation will soon be able to access services they need in libraries across our regoin.

By Miriam Raftery; Kristin Kjaero contributed to this report

February 6, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – The current measles epidemic  has focused attention on concerns over parents who decline to vaccinate their children.  In East County and San Diego’s inland region (East of I-15) the rate of unvaccinated children in local kindergartens is as high as 90% (at Holy Trinity, a private school in El Cajon)  down to just 1% unvaccinated at Mt. Vernon Elementary in Lemon Grove.

Countywide, the rate of kindergartners who are unvaccinated or not current on vaccine boosters  is 7.6%.

February 5, 2015 (El Cajon ) -- Heartland Fire & Rescue crews from El Cajon were at 5:17 a.m. Wednesday following reports of a residential structure fire in the 1000 block of East Madison Avenue in El Cajon.   Fire crews arrived within five minutes to discover heavy fire and smoke coming from three sides of a single story duplex. Firefighters contained the fire within 10 minutes, and stopped the fire from spreading to nearby units. There were injuries reported.

East County News Service

February 6, 2015 (El Cajon)--Gillespie Field in El Cajon ranks high among airports in California in potential for sustainable economic growth and job creation, according to a recent study by the California Dept. of Transportation (Caltrans), Division of Aeronautics.

By Andrea Toch

Reprinted with permission from http://blog.protectmyid.com/2014/01/22/sweetheart-scammers-what-you-need-to-know/?

February 6, 2015 (San Diego’s East County)-- Identity theft advocacy organizations and the FBI warn those who use online dating sites to watch out for “sweetheart scammers” who swindle money or bank account information from online daters.

Reprinted with permission from www.ReportingSanDiego.com

By Nadin Abbott

Feb. 6, 2015 (La Mesa) Earlier in the day a patient came to Grossmont Hospital with what looked like measles. According to the twitter page the Emergency Room at 5555 Grossmont Center Drive was closed.

The ER is now open, and the patient has been put in isolation, this is per the hospital twitter feed.

Proposed legislation would eliminate California's personal belief exemption for vaccinations

February 5, 2015 (Sacramento)--California State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) has joined State Senators Dr. Richard Pan and Ben Allen to propose legislation that would eliminate the personal belief exemption for vaccinations in California.