By Miriam Raftery

April 12, 2022 (San Diego)  - Jerrell Lacy, 38, of San Diego is the latest person to die in custody locally.  

By Mike Allen

April 12, 2022 (Santee) -- Fanita Ranch, the 3,000 unit housing project that was approved by the city of Santee two years ago, received another setback last week when a San Diego judge ruled the City must rescind all the legal permits for the construction.

The judgement by Superior Court Judge Katherine Bacal made last month and filed April 6, calls on the city to vacate a series of resolutions that gave Fanita Ranch the green light in September 2020. Bacal faulted the city and its contracted experts for creating an inadequate environmental report about all the impacts from the project, particularly the lack of safe evacuation routes in the wake of an emergency such as a major wildfire.

Values in Arms Export Act would create more oversight for arms sales, bar arms sales to nations that repeatedly commit violations

East County News Service

CC photo by Felton Davis:  New York protest in 2017 over U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia, which has been accused of war crimes in Yemen

April 11, 2022 (Washington, D.C.) --  San Diego Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-CA-53) has introduced legislation that aims to prevent U.S. weapons from being used to commit human rights abuses.

April 11, 2022 (San Diego’s East County) - East County Magazine's World Watch helps you be an informed citizen on important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S.

Misc. national news

• Congress votes to revoke Russia's trade status, ban Russian gas and oil (10 News)
• President Biden taps oil reserves to control US gas prices (10 News)
• Baby Formula Shortage, Partially Prompted by Recall, Leads Stores to Ration (Newsweek)
• Native American tribe gets its land back after being displaced nearly 400 years ago (CNN)

January 6 investigation

• Washington Post and CBS News: White House records of January 6 show more than seven-hour gap in Trump's calls (CNN)
• Judge: Trump Likely Committed Crimes Related to Election (US. News & World Reports)
• Biden's Justice Department wants to hire 131 more lawyers to prosecute January 6 cases (Business Insider)
• Justice Dept. Widens Jan. 6 Inquiry to Range of Pro-Trump Figures (New York Times)

WORLD

Ukraine war

• Russia has defaulted on its foreign debt, says S&P (CNN)
• West pledges to punish Russia over civilian killings in Bucha (Reuters)
• Mariupol mayor says 31,000 residents deported at 'gunpoint' to Russian 'filtration camps,' evacuations stalled (Yahoo News)
• UN assembly suspends Russia from top human rights body (KPBS)
• Talks resume as Ukraine denies hitting depot on Russian soil (10 News)
• Russian Troops Suffer ‘Acute Radiation Sickness’ After Digging Chernobyl Trenches (Daily Beast)
• Ukraine claims control over Kyiv region as Russia looks east (Reuters)
• Russ­ian oli­garch Ro­man Abramovich and Ukrain­ian peace ne­go­tia­tors suf­fered symp­toms of sus­pected poi­son­ing af­ter a meet­ing in Kyiv ear­lier this month (Wall Street Journal)
• With Ukraine farmers on frontlines, U.N. food chief warns of 'devastation' (Reuters)

Other world news

• Emmanuel Macron to face Marine Le Pen in French presidential election runoff (CNN)
• Here's why Mexico's president is launching a vote to recall himself (NPR)
• China tightens restrictions and bars scholars from international conferences  (NPR)
• U.N.: 1 out of 4 of the world's population live in areas affected by violence  (NPR)
• Gunman kills 5 in mass shooting spree in central Israel  (NPR)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

International Scientists Warn: Time to Fight Climate Change is Now

By Suzanne Potter

Story and photo from California News Service, originally published April 5, 2022

April 11, 2022 (Sacramento) --State and international reports on the effects of climate change are out this week, urging government efforts fighting climate change to speed up significantly if the world is to avoid the worst effects, from megafires and drought, to sea level rise and floods.

In a report released April 4, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said countries need to cut carbon emissions by 43% in the next eight years.

Lauren Sanchez, senior climate adviser to Gov. Gavin Newsom, said California is taking a "whole-of-government approach."

"The world's leading climate scientists have made it clear," Sanchez asserted. "Our window to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis is narrowing faster than expected, and success requires unprecedented collective effort and transformational change."

Source: County Parks and Recreation

April 10, 2022 (San Diego) -- San Diego is a biodiversity hotspot, and the daily actions of the County Parks and Recreation team help to safeguard our region's native plants and trees, air and water quality, and unique habitats for hundreds of species.

Earth Day provides the perfect opportunity to celebrate these efforts and connect residents to the public spaces where wildlife thrives. The theme this year is Committed to Caring for Our Earth.  Below are Earth Day events in county parks, including several in East County.

April 10, 2022 (Anza-Borrego Desert State Park) -- Though there wasn't enough rain for a superbloom season in the Anza Borrego Desert this year, you can still see examples flowering desert plants and trees in a demonstration garden at the Anza Borrego Desert Natural History Association center.

This orchid tree blossom was among the most striking examples during a recent visit by our editor, Miriam Raftery, who snapped this photo of the beautiful bloom resembling those found in the tropics, but thriving in the local desert.

Source:  FDA                                      

April 10, 2022 (Washington D.C.) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Canadian authorities, state and local partners, are investigating a multi-state outbreak of Norovirus illnesses linked to raw oysters that were widely distributed, including in California.

By Matthew Maichen, San Marcos

Photo: CC by NC via Bing

April 10, 2022 (San Diego) -- As an English teacher, I find it so immensely frustrating that the kids that I teach are going to bearing the brunt of this climate emergency and its long-term effects even more than I am. It's so frustrating that we have the technology, but not the will, to make the change. And I worry that by the time we decide to do anything, it'll be too late.

By Matthew Manosh

Photo: Mark Z. Danielewski, from his website

April 9, 2022 (San Diego) -- On Monday, April 11 at 7 p.m., A Conversation with Mark Z. Danielewski will be held in the IPJ Theatre at the University of San Diego. The event will be free and open to the public. Mark Z. Danielewski is known most for his horror novel House of Leaves. Other books he has written are the Familiar series, The Little Blue Kite and The Fifty Year Sword.