By Fire Chief Sam DiGiovanna

February 15, 2016 (San Diego's East County) -- February is American Heart Month and Cardiovascular Disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, with one in three deaths caused by heart disease and stroke, reminds Fire Chief Sam DiGiovanna. These conditions are also leading causes of disability, preventing people from working, enjoying family activities and living normal lives.

by Sárka-Jonae Miller

February 14, 2016 (San Diego's East County) - Just in time for Valentine's Day, 10-time #1 New York Times best-selling author Robyn Carr drops by to give writing advice and to talk about her new romance, What We Find, coming in April 2016. During her more than twenty-five-year writing career, the former California resident has authored nearly 50 novels that blend romance and women's fiction. The RITA award winner is also ranked among the top 100 authors on Amazon.

By Brian Lafferty

February 5, 2016 (San Diego) – Hail, Caesar! (Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, 2016) falls under a category I like to call a “Love Letter Movie.” Defining the term is hard. However, I can easily point to a classic example, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (John Hughes, 1986), which was the beloved director’s love letter to Chicago. It showcased Wrigley Field, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Von Steuben Day parade, and Chicago’s other fine attractions with affection and pride. Hail, Caesar! is the Coens’ love letter to classic Hollywood in much the same way.

By Fire Chief Sam DiGiovanna

Listen to Destination East County, also aired on KNSJ radio, by clicking the audo link.

We thank the County of San Diego for a Community Enhancement Grant supporting Destination East County.

East County News Service

January 27, 2016 (San Diego's East County) -- This week’s Destination East County includes hawk watching in Ramona,‘California Dreamin’ in Anza Borrego and “Visions” at Mission Trail Regional Park.

Plus we’ll have previews of coming attractions, including  a Valentine’s food and wine pairing at Vineyard Grant James in Ramona, breakfast with Supervisor Dianne Jacob, and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy performing live at  Sycuan.

So scroll down for all of these events and more.

Photo: Greg Palast with ECM editor Miriam Raftery

By Miriam Raftery

January 24, 2016 (San Diego) - “I want to report on the theft of the 2016 election before it happens,” famed investigative reporter Greg Palast said at a benefit event for KNSJ radio in La Jolla on January 10^th.  He then proceeded to detail the shocking findings of his latest investigation, which will be the subject of an upcoming film, “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy:  A Tale of Billionaires and Ballot Bandits.”

The heist involves a conspiracy in red states to toss out millions of minority voters by falsely claiming they voted twice. How?  By eliminating  voters with the same or similar names in different states – even if they have different middle names or different Social Security numbers, or tossing out their votes if cast.  Voters are never informed that they’ve been disqualified, or given any chance to correct errors.  The effort, according to Palast’s investigation, is funded by billionaire backers of the Republican party.

The scam targets African-Americans, Latinos, Muslims and other likely Democratic voters with common names such as “Jose Rodriguez” and “Mohammed Mohammed” said Palast, who brought copies of purged voter lists he obtained.  Despite accusations against millions Americans of alleged double voting, not a single one has been arrested or prosecuted, Palast says.

Listen to Destination East County, also aired on KNSJ radio, by clicking the audio link.

We thank the County of Diego for a Community Enhancement Grant to support Destination East Couny.

January 19, 2016 (San Diego's East County) -- This week’s Destination East County includes disaster preparedness classes, hawk watching in Alpine, wine tasting with East County wineries from along Highway 94, desert hikes, and Health Awareness Month in Santee. 

By Mimi Pollack

January 12, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) -- The motto for California Labrador Retrievers and More is “Dogs + Families = Love”. Thanks to all their hard work and dedicated volunteers, this local group, also known as Labs and More, has found homes for 3,900 dogs in five years. Just last week, Labs and More volunteers found homes for 60 dogs, an impressive record to start 2016.

By Mimi Pollack

January 9, 2016 (La Mesa) — Recently, I interviewed five ebullient German Shorthaired Pointers. Their owner, George Juchum, was there, too, clearly relishing giving his dogs the run of his large home and garden  near Mt. Helix in La Mesa.

 We thank the County of San Diego for a Community  Enhancement Grant to help support Destination East County.

Listen to Destination East County, also aired on KNSJ radio, by clicking the audion link.

January 6, 2016 (San Diego's East County)--This week’s Destination East County includes Hawk Watch in Ramona, a Family Fun Fest at Kroc Center, an art show at Mission Trails, a hike into the Jacumba wilderness and a desert oasis, and a bluegrass open mike night in La Mesa. All month long, you can get free health and fitness classes and services as part of Santee’s Health Awareness Month.

Plus we’ll have previews of coming attractions, including the opening of trout season at Santee Lakes,  a Martin Luther King Jr. Day breakfast, civil rights speaker and film showing, plus a hike to a garnet mine near Jacumba Hot Springs. So scroll down for all of these events and more.

By Sharon Hamilton

December 18, 2015 (San Diego) -- Dear SharonAnn:  My wife and I set up our family trust several years ago. We have two grown children and named them as successor co-trustees should we be unable to act. Some friends of ours did the same thing with their three adult children. We know them and their situations. One son lives in Perth, one son lives in Shanghai and their daughter lives in BoraBora and they all come home to visit about once every three years. I read something about the details of being a trustee and I’ve been telling them it is a bad idea. In fact it may even be a bad idea for us even though ours live in Key West, Florida and Marshall, Arkansas. What do you suggest?  Signed Perplexed.

This column is also published in

the http://EastCountyMagazine.org

Readers

December 12, 2015 (San Diego's East County) - December 13 (Sunday, 12:00 pm) — Local Author Meet and Greet. Mysterious Galaxy brings you the local talent of more than a dozen authors — in our genres and beyond — who are enthused to share their work. We will mingle, hear about each author’s work with some holiday refreshments to top off the afternoon. There will be a variety of genres and subjects ranging from pixies to ghosts, from memoirs to mystery, and from pictures books to novels to non-fiction. These fun gatherings are a great opportunity to meet new people and support our local authors. You might just be the first to support a future best-selling author of our time! Participants so far include: Dennis Greenhill, Lauri Taylor, Fraser C. Heston, Heather J. McAdams, Cindy C. Murray, William Anthony, Marcia Berneger, David J. Schmidt, Janet Elizabeth Lynn, Will Zeilinger, Dick Holt, Jill G. Hall, Leslie Johansen Nack, Elizabeth Comer, and Lynn Lipinski.

For complete Calendar including Authors Events,

go to

http://SDWriteWay.org

This column is also published in the

http://EastCountyMagazine.org

Readers

December 6, 2015 (San Diego's East County) - December 6 (Sunday, 12:00 pm) — Warwick's is hosting Elias Weiss Friedman to sign his book The Dogist. Elias Weiss Friedman is a photographer whose singular portraits of dogs have drawn more than 1.1 million followers on Instagram, where he is known as @TheDogist.