By Yvette Urrea Moe, County of San Diego Communications Office

Photo:  Here are some available pets at the County Department of Animal Services that are waiting for you or someone to give them a loving home.

August 15, 2019 (San Diego) - If you’re looking to add a furry friend to your life, consider one of our fabulous felines like Jessie, Damsel, or Joplin. Or one of our devoted dogs like Millie. They’re all at San Diego County Department of Animal Services shelters in Bonita or Carlsbad. And it won’t cost you a thing to take them home this Saturday, Aug. 17, for Clear the Shelters Day.

East County News Service

August 15, 2019 (Lakeside) – “It’s important that your voice is heard,” reads a flyer from State Senator Brian Jones, who will host an East County Town Hall on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2019 at the Lakeside Community Center (9841 Vine St., Lakeside).  There will be a local Nonprofit Expo first from 5-6 p.m., followed by a Town Hall from 6-7:30 p.m.

ATONEMENT AND FORGIVENESS: A NEW MODEL FOR BLACK REPARATIONS, by Roy L. Brooks (University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California, 2004, 325 pages).

Book Review by Dennis Moore

“In my Case for Black Reparations, published in 1973, I called for a national debate on this painful subject. Professor Brooks has responded magnificently to this appeal, with a comprehensive and painstakingly thoughtful analysis of all aspects of this area. His book, in my opinion, will certainly become the standard examination of the issue. I recommend it with unqualified enthusiasm.”

• Boris I. Bittker, Professor Emeritus of Law, Yale University

August 15, 2019 (San Diego) - Roy L. Brooks, Warren Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of San Diego, and author of over a dozen books, including When Sorry Isn’t Enough: The Controversy over Apologies and Reparations for Human Injustice (1996), has written this thoughtful and provocative book, Atonement and Forgiveness: A New Model for Black Reparations, that has renewed a long simmering debate.

East County News Service

August 15, 2019 (San Diego) - Artists from East County that will be showcasing their artwork at the 2^nd annual ArtWalk Carlsbad, afine arts festival that will bring immersive art experiences, visual arts and live music—including a performance by A.J. Croce—to North County on Saturday, September 21 and Sunday, September 22. The participating artists from East County include Jason Humphrey, Monique Straub and Gloria Chadwick. 

August 14, 2019 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• A vaccine for skin cancer? Tel Aviv researchers say they have discovered one (Jerusalem Post)
• Ebola now curable after trials of drugs in DRC, say scientists (Guardian)
• New Treatments Could Be Powerful Weapons Against Brain Tumors (U.S. News)
• Planned Parenthood to exit federal family planning program Aug. 19 over abortion ‘gag rule’ if court does not act (Washington Post)

SCIENCE & TECH

• Amazon’s facial recocgnition mistakenly ID’d 1 in 5 Calif. lawmakers as criminals (Vice)
• Russian Land of Permafrost and Mammoths Is Thawing (New York Times)
• Why solar activity and cosmic rays can’t explain global warming (Forbes)

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

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: SDG&E webcam

Other photos:  Steve Wingfield of Jamul

Update August 16:  The fire in Mexico has been renamed  #Border8Fire. It is now over 1,500 acres and is 30% contained. Cal Fire is preparing to send a strike team to assist firefighters in Mexico.

Update August 15:  The fire is now 1,100 acres but still confined to Mexico. Cal Fire is monitoring the situation.

August 14, 2019 (Tecate) – A fire burning in Mexico has scored over 250 acres in the Tecate area and has potential to cross the border near Potero.  Cal Fire has pre-treated fuels on the U.S. side of the border and will have crews remain on scene overnight at the fire, dubbed #BorderFire.  The blaze is within 1/8 of a mile from the international border Cal Fire reports.

Republicans Bill Wells and Carl DeMaio voice intent to challenge Hunter; others silent on whether they will run if Hunter is on the ballot

By Miriam Raftery

Photo courtesy Times of San Diego

August 14, 2019 (San Diego) – Judge Thomas Whelan has ruled that Congressman Duncan Hunter’s federal corruption trial will be postponed until January 14th.  That’s after the Dec. 6 deadline for candidates to run for the seat, posing a dilemma for some Republican candidates who have said they would not run if Hunter is still in the race. If the trial extends into February, voters could be casting early vote-by-mail ballots without knowing if Hunter has been found guilty or not.

Update: The board adopted both sets of civility standards 3-0, with members Jill Barto and Jo Alegria absent.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Creative Commons by NC-ND

August 13, 2019 (El Cajon) – At tonight’s Cajon Valley Union School District board meeting, the agenda includes proposed governance standards of civility for board members that would allow the district to ask a Grand Jury to remove a board member from office under Government Code section 3060 for engaging in repeated abusive conduct toward other board members, administrators, employees, students or members of the public.

Section 3060 allows a grand jury to take action to remove an elected official for “willful or corrupt misconduct in office” though the statute is vague on what constitutes such actions.

The agenda also includes proposed civility standards for employees and administrators; repeated acts of abusive conduct may result in discipline or ultimately, termination of employment.

Both items were placed on the agenda by Board Chair Tamara Otero, who has publicly clashed with board member Jill Barto on multiple occasions after Barto raised questions on board expenditures including the awarding of a construction contract to a company owned by Otero’s son.

The proposals seek to waive the customary second reading, in order to push through approval on a single vote, while board member Barto is absent due to a family emergency.

East County News Service

August 12, 2019 (Santee) – The Pacific Southwest Railway Museum Association (PSRM), a San Diego-area historical and educational nonprofit, will host a free presentation on the history of railroading in San Diego County at 11 a.m. on Saturday, August 17th at the Santee Historical Society’s barn building, 9200 Magnolia Ave., Santee. The public is invited to attend.  For more event information, visit www.santeehistoricalsociety.org.

East County News Service

Augut 12, 2019 (San Diego) - Would you like to support your local firefighters when they need it most? If so, check out the Firefighter Go Bag Community Support Program a California based company is offering.  

FireMom.com’s Community Support Program delivers all of the health, hygiene, and nutritional items that are truly unique to firefighters’ needs, when they’re out fighting fires for days at a time, in one convenient Go Bag.

When you purchase bags from the program, FireMom.com delivers them directly to the fire departments that need them the next time a large fire happens. The program ensures firefighters get the supplies they need in a complete kit, with no lag time, or trying to piecemeal items together.  

By Donald H. Harrison

Originally published at San Diego Jewish World, a member of the San Diego Online News Network

Photo:  plaque overlooking battle area.

August 11, 2019 (San Pasqual) - When a U.S. Marine Corps detachment from the USS Cyane marched from the shore of San Diego Bay to the plaza in Old Town San Diego on July 29, 1846 and raised the American flag without serious challenge, thus ending  Mexican control over this city, someone must have thought, ‘Wait a minute! Isn’t this too easy?”

East County News Service