June 13, 2020 ISan Diego) – More than 100 people from across the country have joined nonprofit Main Street Relief’s volunteer network and its mission of helping small businesses respond to and recover from COVID-19. Volunteers have helped small business owners with federal funding programs, rent renegotiations and deferrals, strategic and financial planning, creative new revenue streams, and more.
June 13, 2020 (San Diego) - As people head back to work or resume some of their normal activities, County health officials are reminding the public to continue doing three things to prevent a surge of COVID-19: wear a face covering, keep their distance from others and wash their hands regularly.
“We now have more scientific evidence that face coverings prevent the spread of COVID-19,” said Wilma Wooten, M.D., M.P.H., County public health officer. “When people are in public the risk of exposure is higher so they should wear a face covering, especially when they’re within six feet from others.”
June 13, 2020 (San Diego) – The latest easing of COVID-19 restrictions are rolling out. Since yesterday, June 12th, indoor movie theaters can reopen and film production of TVs and movies can resume. Also allowed to reopen, with limitations, are gyms, bars and wineries, swimming pools, hotels and other rental properties for travelers, and major tourist attractions such as zoos, aquariums, galleries and museums.
June 13, 2020 (San Diego) -- Dignity & Power Now, has announced the establishment of its Emergency Fund to aid in connecting community members to essential supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The rapid response fund will be implemented in three phases to respond to the ongoing concerns of community members who are experiencing loss, hardship, and health concerns as a result of the coronavirus.
First Phase: The first phase provides essential needs such as diapers, baby wipes, and formula to families with children. This phase includes size collection and drop-offs to residential addresses.
June 12, 2020 (Lemon Grove) – A 65-year-old man was struck by a vehicle last night at 7:02 p.m. at the intersection of Broadway and Vista Avenue in Lemon Grove. He was transported via ambulance to Scripps Mercy hospital, but died there of his injuries, says Sgt. Aaron Montan with the San Diego Sheriff.
Neither drugs nor alcohol are believed to be factors in the collision, which is being investigated by the Lemon Grove Traffic Division of the Sheriff’s department.
Anyone with information about this case can call the Lemon Grove Station at 619-337-2000.
CORRECTION: Previous versions mistakenly refered to Lakeside. It should have read El Cajon. Read update here.
East County News Service
June 12, 2020 (El Cajon) – The San Diego County Sheriff’s Bomb/Arson detectives are investigating the cause of a fire yesterday in El Cajon, says Sergeant David Chamoo.
Deputies from the Lakeside substation responded at 2:44 p.m. to the 1600 block of Via Elisa Drive for a structure fire that threatened adjacent structures due to strong winds. The officers made evacuation notifications to nearby residences until the fire was extinguished.
June 12, 2020 (El Cajon) - Texas Roadhouse restaurant in El Cajon is back open after the COVID-19 shutdown and already drawing a wait list. Arrive before five for some great dinner specials. I got a tender BBQ pulled pork dinner with all the fixings for just $10.99, chilling out with an Armadillo Punch.
As an added bonus, enjoy some dancing cowboys and cowgirls -- actually the wait staff, kicking up their heels with some Western-style line dancing. Yeehaw!
Photo by Miriam Raftery: Will Rodriguez-Kennedy at an election night party March 3
June 12, 2020 (San Diego) -- One of the 21 COVID-19 patients treated at the VA Hospital in San Diego was Will Rodriguez-Kennedy, Chair of the San Diego Democratic Party. He was the first COVID-19 patient treated at the VA Hospital in San Diego. In an exclusive interview with ECM, he discussed COVID-19 and the impact the novel coronavirus has had upon his life.
GoFundMe Site raises over $200,000 to help local businesses
By Mike Allen
Photos by Henri Magala
June 12, 2020 (La Mesa) -- Steve Clay first got wind that his family’s package mail business, The Postal Annex, was being looted from an app he has on his phone.
Photo by Paul Kruze, left: Bonfire in Rancho San Diego ignited nearby foliage, prompting fire crews to respond.
June 12, 2020 (San Diego’s East County) – Cal Fire has banned burn permits effective immediately, as temperatures rise across our inland region. The no-burn proclamation will remain in effect indefinitely.
Two recent illegal bonfires in a single night swiftly burned out of control recently, prompting responses by firefighters witnessed by this ECM journalist. Those incidents highlight the dangers of open burning, as temperatures rise and brush dries out across our inland region with summer drawing near.
Scroll down for images of more crimes commited during the May 31 La Mesa riot, including arsonists not yet apprehended
By Miriam Raftery
Photo, left: This image of looters circulated widely on social media.
June 12, 2020 (La Mesa) – La Mesa Police yesterday announced new arrests related to the May 30 riot in La Mesa, the latest for looting stores at Grossmont Center and the La Mesa Springs shopping center. Though the riots occurred in the aftermath of a Black Lives Matter protest over police use of force, those arrested so far include white, Hispanic and black suspects.
Photo by Paul Kruze: Officers guarding City Hall, where the City Clerk's office was set afire during the riot on May 30
The City of La Mesa held a heated livestream city council meeting Tuesday with council members socially distanced via zoom, the first public meeting since the May 30 riots that followed protests for black lives.
The Council unanimously voted to have an outside investigator review police, fire department and other city agencies’ actions during the protest and rioting that ended with multiple businesses looted, vehicles burned, two banks and a historic building burned down.
Council members reviewed their agenda before public comments, most of which criticized the La Mesa Police Department for its recent treatment of the black community, perceived mismanagement of what began as a peaceful protest, and for not preventing the city from burning down during riots that ensued.
By David R. Shorey, East County Program Manager, Institute for Public Strategies
June 11, 2020 (San Diego’s East County) -- When alcoholic beverage delivery and curbside pick-up became an option in the East County and the rest of California during the COVID-19 pandemic’s stay-at-home order, it provided licensed on alcohol businesses affected by the order an expanded source of revenue. But whatever benefits the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control’s (ABC) relaxation of liquor laws had financially for business owners, it negatively impacted alcohol harm prevention efforts to keep alcohol out of the hands of minors and those prone to binge drinking.
Photo: Leslie Furcron, a 59-year-old grandmother who was injured during a protest in front of the La Mesa Police Department, thanked her hospital caregivers but said she is still very weak and will need nursing care. Photo by Chris Stone
June 11, 2020 (La Mesa) - Leslie Furcron spoke for three minutes outside La Mesa City Hall on Wednesday — her first public remarks since being shot in the face during a La Mesa police station protest. But her lawyer said she was wounded for being heard saying “Murderers.”
In an exclusive interview, the Director of San Diego’s VA Healthcare System shares insights and challenges
By Helen Horvath, Army veteran
June 11, 2020 (San Diego) – The COVID-19 pandemic has opened up a wide variety of complex systemic blind spots in our healthcare system, including care for military veterans. This has been the result of how the various private sector and government agencies initially responded to the pandemic.
June 11, 2020 (El Cajon) -- As of June 15, The Water Conservation Garden reopens for members and reopens to the public on June 16, but with a small admission fee for non-members. All visitors in June will receive free ice cream and popsicles, as well as having the opportunity to visit the Dorcas E. Utter Memorial Butterfly Pavilion to view butterflies throughout June. Butterfly release dates are planned June 15, 19 and 27.
Board to decide future use of distance learning technology at 1 p.m. today; Superintendent apologizes over staff comments
Story and photos by Paul Kruze, Contributing Editor
June 11, 2020 (El Cajon) -- The Cajon Valley Union School District’s carefully controlled public relations moat has been seriously breached over the past week with embarrassing social media comments, news of secret district meetings, and documents accidentally shared by a district employee, as reported by San Diego television and newspaper media outlets.
One report was about a CVUSD school district employee and the revelation of a document of a secret meeting held over the weekend involving Dr. David Miyashiro and four district Trustees (except not Jill Barto) at the shuttered Marriott Coronado Resort and Spa.
The district also had two protests by parents yesterday outside district headquarters, one over racism concerns raised by staff comments, the other objecting to a district plan to continue distance learning instead of in-person classes this fall -- a vote delayed until an emergency session convening this afternoon after parents raised vigorous objections.
Update 2 p.m.: The fire is now 100 acres and 5% contained, per Cal Fire.
Update 2:45 p.m.: Per CalFire, evacuation orders have broadened to the area along Skyline Truck Tr. from the 15000 block to Twisted Oak Rd. Also included is the area on Wisecarver Truck Trail. A temporary evacuation point will be Regal Edwards movie theater in Rancho San DIego at 2951 Jamacha Rd., El Cajon.
Update 6:40 p.m.: Forward spread has been stopped. The fire is 100 acres and 10% contained. No structures or livestock were lost and there were no injuries.
June 11, 2020 (Jamul) -- Cal Fire is at the scene of a vegetation fire in the 17000 block of Skyline Truck Trail in the Lawson Valley area of Jamul. As of 12:45 p.m. the fire is 20 acres and spreading at a moderate rate, per Cal Fire/County Fire Authority.
Evacuation orders have been issued between the 15600 block of Skyline Truck Trail and 17700 block of Skyline Truck Trail due to the #SkylineFire, ECM news partner NBC 7 reports.
Skyline Truck Trail is closed from Lawson Valley Rdo to Honey Springs Road in Lyons Valley.
June 11, 2020 (Santee) – Rebecca Jefferis Williamson snapped these photos of the marquee at the Santee Drive-In Theater this week, where some local schools held drive-up graduation ceremonies to maintain social distancing due to COVID-19.
Our hats are off to the class of 2020 for earning your diplomas despite the global pandemic, an economic depression, and civil unrest that has rocked our region and nation. We wish you a better and brighter future—and hope many of you will work for change to make our world a better, safer and more peaceful place for us all.
As COVID-19 quarantines cause disruptions worldwide, a survivor of a prior pandemic speaks out
By Roger Coppock
Photo: A case of smallpox in 1886; public domain image via Wikipedia
June 10, 2020 (San Diego’s East County) -- It fell off me in the shower this morning. I felt the brief pinch and saw it before it went down the drain. The little piece of thin plastic suture used to hold together a former pustule on my skin, hiding it. It has been more than a decade since I saw the last of its kind. This may, finally, be the last of them all.
As a preschooler, I followed my late father to a research station in New Mexico along the border. My father was an experimental psychologist who was trying to measure learning in bats. It was a great adventure, until I caught one of the last cases of Smallpox in North America.
June 10, 2020 (La Mesa) – Hours after the city of La Mesa released a timeline and incident narrative on the May 30-31 protest over police violence and the riot that ensued, ECM editor Miriam Raftery and contributing editor Paul Kruze conducted exclusive interviews with Mayor Mark Arapostathis and La Mesa Police Chief Walt Vasquez yesterday at the La Mesa community center, seeking answers to questions on protest preparations and riot responses.
Photo, left by Henri Migala: Officers outside LMPD station vandalized with graffiti by late afternoon, shortly before rioting began.
June 10, 2020 (La Mesa) – The city of La Mesa has released a timeline and incident narrative of the protest and subsequent riot in La Mesa May 30-31, which reveal chilling details of an increasingly violent siege waged against police and sheriff officers as well as City Hall and businesses across the city. Despite reinforcements pre-staged, rioting swiftly grew out of control, starting from early reports of violence starting at 4 p.m. that later escalated into hurling of bottle bombs (Molotov cocktails) at police, breaking windows on police vehicles with officers inside and attacking an armored bearcat. Looting commenced in multiple locatoins, rocks and bottles were hurled at officers, as rioters throughout the long night and early morning hours of mayhem ignited multiple vehicles, burned down two banks and a historic building,and ignited nuermous other locations.
Police defended themselves with non-lethal weapons including tear gas, pepperballs and beanbags, striking at least two people in the head. Multiple officers were also reported injured. It remains to be seen whether the looting and burning were done by protesters or outside groups that took advantage of what began as a peaceful protest and march against police violence earlier in the day, or perhaps a combination of both.
June 10, 2020 (La Mesa) -- California Coast Credit Union is donating $5,000 to the La Mesa Business Disaster Recovery Fund, helping drive total donations to the cause to more than $140,000.
June 10, 2020 (La Mesa) - Friday afternoon, several dozen people met at a boarded-up corner on La Mesa Boulevard to discuss how they might help a fledgling La Mesa CIvil Defense group.
Photo, left: Zachary Karas, arrested for possession of incendiary devices
Photo, right by Paul Kruze: Vons truck burning approximately one block from where Karas was arrested
June 9, 2020 (La Mesa) – The U.S. Attorneys Office has charged Zachary Alexander Karas, 28, of San Diego for possessing incendiary devices including Molotov cocktail explosive devices and fireworks In La Mesa during riots that began the night of May 30th. Throughout that night and early in the building, multiple buildings and vehicles were set afire.
According to the complaint filed by U.S Assistant Attorney Andrew Haden, Karas and his girlfriend, Kali Braj Jonkuet, were sitting on the pavent at the corner of Allison Ave. and Spring St. in front of the trolley tracks. Officers ordered the crowd to disperse for an unlawful assembly and arrested Karas after he failed to leave. After his arrest, officers discovered that Karas possessed Molotov cocktails --two glass bottles with wicks that contained gasoline. Molotov cocktails are also known as bottle bombs or poor man’s grenades. Karas also had fireworks in his possession.
A special agent with the ATF inspected the Molotov cocktails and found them to be functioning incendiary devices.
June 9, 2020 (La Mesa) – A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of a man who broke into Alex Imports Shop at 7389 University Ave. in La Mesa and stole nine long guns on May 30 around 11 p.m. The burglary occurred during the rioting and looting following protests last Saturday night over racial injustice and police brutality.
Photo: Protesters show their support for the LGBTQ+ community wearing pride flags and holding signs inclusive of Black trans lives
June 9, 2020 (San Diego) -- Thousands of protesters met in front of the San Diego City/County Building Saturday in spite of a very public social media post from Black Lives Matter’s San Diego chapter instructing protesters to attend its caravan event instead.
June 8, 2020 (San Diego) – The County of San Diego amended its public health order last week. Effective immediately, one-on-one sports lessons are allowed, as long as both the instructor and student comply with physical distancing and face covering requirements. Students and instructors should not share equipment.
June 8, 2020 (Ramona, CA) – Ramona Community Foundation (RCF), an affiliate of The San Diego Foundation, announced its annual call for grant applications. In its 9th year of grantmaking, RCF invites nonprofit organizations and agencies to submit proposals that demonstrate the power to build a more vibrant Ramona community.
The goal of the grant cycle is to support programs that make Ramona a great place to live, work and play. Desirable projects will inspire community pride and revitalization, and increase the quality of life of the broader community.
Photo by Ursula Esser courtesy of Anza Borrego Foundation: Base of Sheep Canyon
June 8, 2020 (Borrego Springs) – California’s largest state park is about to get even bigger. The Anza Borrego Foundation announced that it has closed escrow on several properties it plans to donate to the state to expand Anza Borrego Desert State Park. The land transfer will include 331 parcels totaling 17,598 acres over 25 years of land acquisitions.
“In response to COVID-19, there has been increased land activity. Landowners have called eager to sell, and a couple even wanted to donate their land to ABF,” a newsletter sent by the ABF to its members states.
Grant writing and land acquisition have continued even while the park has been closed off to the public due to the pandemic.
Source: Main Street Relief
By 
Image Credit: Shutterstock
East County News Service
ast County News Service
By Helen Horvath
GoFundMe Site raises over $200,000 to help local businesses
By David R. Shorey, East County Program Manager, Institute for Public Strategies
By Ken and Chris Stone, 
In an exclusive interview, the Director of San Diego’s VA Healthcare System shares insights and challenges
East County News Service
Evacuation orders have been issued between the 15600 block of Skyline Truck Trail and 17700 block of Skyline Truck Trail due to the 
By Miriam Raftery
Source: Cal Coast Credit Union
y Miriam Raftery
By Miriam Raftery
By Briana Gomez
By Miriam Raftery
By Miriam Raftery
Recent comments