EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

October 18, 2017 (San Diego's East County) -- East County Roundup highlights top stories of interest to East County and San Diego’s inland regions, published in other media. This week’s top “Roundup” headlines include:

LOCAL

• San Diego waterways are not being tested for hepatitis amid health crisis (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• No one is recording what happens in family law court anymore (Voice of San Diego)
• Cheers for badger den near Julian (San Diego Reader)
• In wake of scandal, SANDAG overhaul signed by Governor (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• SANDAG Releases Substance Abuse Monitoring Report (Times of San Diego)
• Military film festival to highlight deported veterans (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• San Diego to provide safe parking for homeless living in vehicles (10 News)
• The Learning Curve: Behind the Schools Educating ‘the Most Difficult Kids’ (Voice of SD)
• Study: San Diego 4th best place in the country for startups (San Diego Union-Tribune)

STATE

• California bosses can no longer ask about your previous salary (Orange County Register)
• Investigators Look Into Downed Power Lines, Exploding Transformers As Possible Cause of Fires (KPBS)
• Challenge to Feinstein tests where California stands (Fox and Hounds)
• California's GOP members got a big boost from group that held fundraiser with Vice President Pence (Los Angeles Times)
•  State senator:  PG&E should be ‘split’ if negligence caused fires (San Francisco Chronicle)
• List of wineries damaged or destroyed in wine country fires (San Jose Mercury News)
• How Local Food Trucks are Helping with California Fire Relief (Food 52)
• Pot farmer's dreams go up in smoke during California wildfires (Reuters)
• They survived six hours in a pool as a wildfire burned their neighborhood to the ground (Los Angeles Times)
• Regulators demand answers into status of CPUC criminal probe (SD Union-Tribune)
• State utilities commission seeks to close San Onofre proceeding (SD Union-Tribune)
• Coastal Commission 'sympathetic' but defends 2015 SONGS nuclear waste permit (SD Union-Tribune)
• California unveils revised rules on self-driving testing (Reuters)

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

LOCAL

San Diego waterways are not being tested for hepatitis amid health crisis (San Diego Union-Tribune)

No one is monitoring San Diego’s surface water for hepatitis A, even amid a deadly, human waste-fueled outbreak of the disease that can spread through area waterways.

No one is recording what happens in family law court anymore (Voice of San Diego)

San Diego Superior Court is no longer providing court reporters for family law proceedings, which means there is no verbatim, written record of what happens in court. People involved in disputes can elect to pay for one themselves, which attorneys worry creates a two-tiered system.

Cheers for badger den near Julian (San Diego Reader)

Years spend tracking  `species of special concern.’

In wake of scandal, SANDAG overhaul signed by Governor (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Big changes are headed for San Diego County’s embattled regional transportation agency under a bill signed Wednesday by Governor Jerry Brown…The legislation, among other things, will establish an independent auditor for the agency and shift the balance of power on its 21-member board of elected officials in favor of larger cities…Opponents have called it an  “all out assault” on local control.

SANDAG Releases Substance Abuse Monitoring Report (Times of San Diego)

Seventy-five percent of male adult arrestees and 74 percent of female adult arrestees booked into jail in 2016 tested positive for an illicit substance…The researchers also discovered that among arrestees who tested positive for multiple drugs, 91 percent were using meth along with something else.

Military film festival to highlight deported veterans (San Diego Union-Tribune)

A military film festival will feature two documentaries that illustrate challenges that immigrant veterans face if they did not naturalize while they were serving and end up deported.GI Film Festival San Diego will pair the two films, showing Saturday afternoon at AMC Mission Valley 20, with a panel discussion on the issue.

San Diego to provide safe parking for homeless living in vehicles (10 News)

A program in Clairemont that provides a safe parking area for homeless people living out of their vehicles and offers them assistance to transition to permanent housing will be expanded, city officials and community leaders announced Monday. A similar area will also be opened on city-owned property in Murphy Canyon.

The Learning Curve: Behind the Schools Educating ‘the Most Difficult Kids’ (Voice of SD)

Sometimes districts just can’t provide what a student needs. That’s where nonpublic schools come in.

Study: San Diego 4th best place in the country for startups (San Diego Union-Tribune)

San Diego appears to be making headway in its quest to become a tech mecca.

STATE

California bosses can no longer ask about your previous salary (Orange County Register)

A landmark new law designed to narrow the gender pay gap in the nation’s most populous state bars California employers from inquiring about applicants’ previous salaries and benefits.

Investigators Look Into Downed Power Lines, Exploding Transformers As Possible Cause of Fires (KPBS)

State fire investigators are looking into a possible connection between failures in Pacific Gas & Electric Co.’s electrical infrastructure and the devastating wildfires sweeping through Northern California.

Challenge to Feinstein tests where California stands (Fox and Hounds)

With the announcement that State Senate president pro-tem Kevin de León will run against Dianne Feinstein (and billionaire Tom Steyer may join the fray), it will prove a good test on where California voters stand on how elected officials should function

California's GOP members got a big boost from group that held fundraiser with Vice President Pence (Los Angeles Times)

 California Republican House members have received more than $1 million from a committee that recently benefited from a fundraiser with Vice President Pence.

State senator:  PG&E should be ‘split’ if negligence caused fires (San Francisco Chronicle)

The fires still burning across Wine Country could pose an existential threat to California’s largest utility, Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

List of wineries damaged or destroyed in wine country fires (San Jose Mercury News)

As fires continue to burn throughout much of Northern California, reports are surfacing more regularly about the fates of wineries throughout Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties

How Local Food Trucks are Helping with California Fire Relief (Food 52)

The company usually coordinates with public marketplaces to get food truck vendors, catering companies, and chefs all in one place. Last week, they launched an effort get food trucks from across San Francisco and the Bay Area feeding first responders and communities displaced by the fires.

Pot farmer's dreams go up in smoke during California wildfires (Reuters)

California is the source of most of the nation’s illegal marijuana farming. Humboldt and Mendocino counties, in the cannabis-growing region known as the “Emerald Triangle”, have led the state’s production. 

They survived six hours in a pool as a wildfire burned their neighborhood to the ground (Los Angeles Times)

Jan Pascoe and her husband, John, were trapped. The world was on fire, and Jan was hyperventilating from fear. Then they remembered their neighbors’ pool.

Regulators demand answers into status of CPUC criminal probe (SD Union-Tribune)

Lawyers for the California Public Utilities Commission say they can’t get a straight answer from the state Attorney General’s Office about a long-running corruption investigation into the regulatory agency.

State utilities commission seeks to close San Onofre proceeding (SD Union-Tribune)

Five-plus years after the San Onofre nuclear plant leaked radiation and closed for good, state utility regulators have laid out a schedule for ending their review of what went wrong.

Coastal Commission 'sympathetic' but defends 2015 SONGS nuclear waste permit (SD Union-Tribune)

The California Coastal Commission gave no indication Wednesday that it will make any changes to its decision two years ago to approve storing millions of pounds of nuclear waste at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS).

California unveils revised rules on self-driving testing (Reuters)

California regulators on Wednesday unveiled revised rules on the testing of self-driving cars after automakers and technology companies raised concerns.