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March 8, 2012 -- (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:
STATE
- Jerry Brown pushes his tax proposal
- Redevelopment demise leaves CA housing money in limbo (Sacramento Bee)
LOCAL
- Scripps warning on Statin-induced diabetes (UT San Diego)
- Would you buy gas in Mexico? It’s $2.91 a gallon (UT San Diego)
- Barona Fire Captain arrested on molestation charges (UT San Diego)
- Madrid opposes county taxes to help build Chargers Stadium (La Mesa Patch)
- Poway reps to oppose water rate increases (Pomerado News)
- Bonnie buys some open government cred (CityBeat)
- SDG&E helicopter has hard landing (10 News)
- Tire surcharge funds paving projects that use old tires (KPBS)
Scroll down for excerpts and links to full stories.
STATE
Jerry Brown pushes his tax proposal
March 7, 2012 -- Gov. Jerry Brown said Tuesday that two tax proposals likely to be competing with his tax measure on the November ballot would do little or nothing to solve the state's persistent deficit and would create even bigger fiscal problems resulting in further spending cuts.
In a meeting with The Chronicle's editorial board, Brown sought to sell his tax initiative as the only one that is comprehensive, solves the state's fiscal crisis and delivers an increase in funding to public schools, universities and other state services.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2012/03/07/MN061NGUV8.DTL
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2012/03/07/MN061NGUV8.DTL
Redevelopment demise leaves CA housing money in limbo (Sacramento Bee)
March 7, 2012 -- When more than 400 local redevelopment agencies in California went out of business this year, thanks to state legislation and a Supreme Court decision, it stranded as much as $2 billion in funds that had been set aside for low- and moderate-income housing.
The funds had been accumulated from a 20 percent set aside of property taxes that redevelopment agencies had collected in their project areas -- money that housing advocates often complained was being stockpiled rather than spent on housing projects.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/03/california-redevelopment-demise-leaves-housing-money-in-limbo.html
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/03/california-redevelopment-demise-leaves-housing-money-in-limbo.html
LOCAL
Scripps warning on Statin-induced diabetes (UT San Diego)
March 6, 2012 -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has ordered that the labels of cholesterol-lowering drugs -- such as Lipitor and Zocor -- state that the drugs can increase a person's risk of diabetes and memory loss. (Story). The subject led to a provocative essay in the New York Times by Eric Topol, the chief academic officer at Scripps Health. Topol also is an internationally known cardiologist. Topol answered questions about the new warnings in an email with UT-Sandiego.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/mar/06/scripps-warning-statin-induced-diabetes/
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/mar/06/scripps-warning-statin-induced-diabetes/
Would you buy gas in Mexico? It’s $2.91 a gallon (UT San Diego)
March 7, 2012 -- A few miles from some of the highest pump prices in the U.S., regular unleaded gasoline was selling Wednesday for $2.91 a gallon — all across Mexico.
Surging retail gas prices in Southern California and a relatively weak Mexican peso have pushed the spread between Mexico’s state mandated gas prices and the average retail price in San Diego to $1.46 a gallon.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/mar/07/mexico-gas-entices-291-gallon/
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/mar/07/mexico-gas-entices-291-gallon/
Barona Fire Captain arrested on molestation charges (UT San Diego)
March 2, 2012 -- A Barona fire agency captain accused of having sex with a minor was arrested this week on several child molestation charges, sheriff’s officials said Friday.
Raul Licon Jr., 38, of the Barona Fire Protection District was arrested Thursday, sheriff’s Lt. James Bolwerk said.
Licon was booked into jail about 12:45 p.m. after being taken into custody at his residence in San Marcos. Licon was charged with six counts of child molestation, including lewd and lascivious acts on a child 14 or 15 years old.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/mar/02/barona-fire-captain-arrested-molestation-charges/
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/mar/02/barona-fire-captain-arrested-molestation-charges/
Madrid opposes county taxes to help build Chargers Stadium (La Mesa Patch)
March 3, 2012 -- The San Diego Chargers once made their home in La Mesa (as far as workouts), but Mayor Art Madrid isn’t letting nostalgia cloud his feelings about the idea of taxing county residents to retain the NFL team.
Supporters of a new Chargers stadium “want to tax people who can’t even afford to go to the football games,”
Madrid told the North County Times in a story posted Saturday.“It’s convenient to use the term ‘regional’ when it's for a special interest,” the paper quoted Madrid as saying.
Take a poll: Should county residents pay taxes toward a new Chargers stadium in San Diego?
Poway reps to oppose water rate increases (Pomerado News)
March 7, 2012 -- Two Poway representatives will travel to Los Angeles on Monday to protest a Metropolitan Water District proposal to increase its rates by 12.5 percent over the next two years.
Public Works Director Leah Browder and Deputy Mayor Jim Cunningham will each speak for three minutes before the board at a hearing that Cunningham said is expected to draw large numbers of rate protestors.
Bonnie buys some open government cred (CityBeat)
March 5, 2012 -- It's Saturday, and about a dozen open-government and data geeks (including CityBeat arts and web editor Kinsee Morlan and myself) are scattered at a couple of tables in the VizCenter at San Diego State University to take part in the "Code Across America" event. It's one of the "hackathon" type of workshops that are popular these days, where developers and media professionals collaborate on digital endeavors. In this case, the goal is to develop civic apps. The walls are lined with projector screens displaying a variety of online projects, including Open San Diego Flashlight, a website I built last year that aggregates useful links to government data and records.
http://www.sdcitybeat.com/sandiego/blog-792-bonnie-buys-some-open-government-cred.html
http://www.sdcitybeat.com/sandiego/blog-792-bonnie-buys-some-open-government-cred.html
SDG&E helicopter has hard landing (10 News)
March 2, 2012 -- Two U.S. government agencies are investigating another incident involving the fleet of helicopters being used to construct the Sunrise Powerlink east of San Diego.
The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday afternoon confirmed that a helicopter pilot reported a hard landing during construction operations at the Sycamore Construction Yard in Scripps Ranch last Saturday morning.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/mar/02/sdge-helicopter-has-hard-landing/
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/mar/02/sdge-helicopter-has-hard-landing/
Tire surcharge funds paving projects that use old tires (KPBS)
March 6, 2012 -- The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery is giving a whole new meaning to the phrase, “when the rubber meets the road.” The department has handed out $5.5 million to help fund projects that recycle tires to make asphalt.
Heather Jones with Cal Recycle says turning tires into asphalt is no more environmentally unfriendly than the current method of making asphalt and it has a number of benefits. “They kind of lay it over the top of the road that’s already there in a thin overlay, maybe like one or two inches. So, it preserves the pavement that’s there. It’s quieter than your regular, traditional road surface. It also stays black longer, so the striping is more visible, so there’s a safety component," said Jones.
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2012/mar/06/tire-surcharge-funds-paving-projects-use-old-tires/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kpbs%2Flocal+%28KPBS+News%3A+Local+Headlines%29
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