By Sameea Kamal, CalMatters

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters

Photo:  the California Air Resources Board meets at the California Environmental Protection Agency building in Sacramento on June 23, 2022. Photo by Rahul Lal, CalMatters

August 23, 2023 (Sacramento) - For a July meeting, the Little Hoover Commission — an independent state oversight agency — posted notice that the public could attend in Sacramento, but also in Traverse City, Mich., or Southampton, N.Y.

August 23, 2023 (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 round-up stories include:

LOCAL

• Alpine school district becomes 1st in county to provide affordable housing for teachers (10 News)
• What is in San Diego's Housing Action 2.0 Package? (NBC7)
• Much of San Diego will soon be surveilled by a network of police cameras. Here’s what you should know (San DIego Union-Tribune)
• Supreme Court to hear Poway school board case over blocking criticism on social media (Reuters)
• Our Border Sewage Crisis Has a Solution. SANDAG Holds it. (Voice of San Diego)
• FAA Probing Near Collision of Southwest Airliner and Executive Jet in San Diego (Times of San Diego)
• Family of 14-year-old found at Camp Pendleton demand answers (Times of San Diego)
• County Human Relations Commissioner Resigns After His Antisemitic Rant (Times of San Diego)
• Zoe Bernard of La Mesa acts with the stars in ‘Asteroid City’ (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• 29:Eleven Maternity Home in El Cajon helps unsheltered pregnant women(CBS 8)
• Protesters gather outside New Children's Museum over drag queen story time  (10 News)
• County Water Authority sues over Rainbow, Fallbrook agencies' departures  (KPBS)
• Orphaned pets from Maui fire on their way to Helen Woodward Animal Center (KUSI)

STATE

• Los Angeles crime lab finds 4% of seized fentanyl samples contain flesh-eating sedative (Los Angeles Times)
• California voters made public records a right, will they give it more teeth?  (San Jose Mercury News)
• Record numbers of people have died in California jails. Now lawmakers could crack down (Cal  Matters)
• Alaska Airlines flight makes hard landing during California storms  (NPR)
• Sea level changes could drastically affect Calif. beaches by the end of the century  (NPR)
• .Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 90, falls at home and goes to hospital, but scans are clear, her office says (AP)

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

Video by: Jessyka Heredia

August 23, 2023 -- Hurricane Hillary was downgraded to a tropical storm before hitting San Diego on Sunday. See what some residents experienced around the county from as far east as Sunshine Highway in Mount Laguna to as far north as La Jolla and as far south as Imperial Beach and several spots in between.

Update August 24:  Missed the debate? View the video.  Watch for analysis to be posted soon.

East County News Service

August 23, 2023 (San Diego) –At 6 p.m. Pacific Standard Time,  Fox News will broadcast the first debate among  Republican presidential primary candidates, though former  President Donald Trump will not be participating.

The eight candidates who qualified for tonight’s debate in Milwaukee are, in alphabetical order:

1. Doug Burgum, the governor of North Dakota
2. Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey
3. Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida
4. Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the U.N. and former governor of South Carolina
5. Asa Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas
6. Mike Pence, the former vice president and a former Indiana congressman
7. Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur
8. Tim Scott, U.S. senator from South Carolina

Photo,  top left to lower right:  Doug Burgum, Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Asa Hutchinson, Mike Pence,  Vivek Ramaswamy, and Tim Scott.

Scheme involved fake electors, seizing voting machines, and pressuring officials in Georgia and other states to break the law

By Miriam Raftery

August 15, 2023 (Fulton County, GA) – In a sweeping 98-page indictment, Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis filed indictments against former president Donald Trump and 18 others with violating the state’s Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO)  Act. The indictments, recommended by a Grand Jury, accuse the defendants of willfully joining a “conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump.”

41 counts in the conspiracy case include forgery, filing false documents, making false statement and writings, impersonating a public officer, pressuring public officials to violate their oaths of office to commit illegal acts in multiple states, and illegally accessing ballots on voting machines in Coffee County, Georgia, among other things.

Trump faces 13 new criminal charges in Georgia, the fourth jurisdiction where he is under criminal indictment. The former president and current presidential candidate is charged with conspiracy to  impersonate a public officer (related to the slate of fake electors that cast votes and submitted them to official channels), conspiracy to commit forgery, conspiracy to commit false statements and writings (including in official proceedings), and conspiracy to commit filing false documents. He is also charged with pressuring public officials to violate the law for the purpose of stealing the 2020 presidential election.

The indictment alleges that after  Trump falsely declared victory following the Nov. 2020 election, Trump among other things personally committed the ofllowing illegal acts:

• Called Arizona Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers and pressured  Bowers to unlawfully appoint electors to vote for Trump, even though Biden won the state. Bowers declined and told Trump, “I voted for you… I campaigned for you.  I just won’t do anything illegal for you.”
• Joined a call to Pennsylvania legislators, made false statements and asked them to appoint electors for Trump, though Biden won Pennsylvania;
• Met with Mark Meadows and John McEntee to devise a scheme for Vice President Mike Pence  to count only half the electoral votes from some states and return others to state legislators, an illegal act which Pence refused to do;
• Solicited Georgia’s Republican Speaker of the House David Ralston (since deceased) to commit a felony by arranging for Georgia to appoint presidential electors for Trump, even though Biden won Georgia;
• Called the Republican Party chair Ronna McDaniel and asked her to help get certain people to meet as fake electors and cast electoral votes for Trump in states won by Biden;
• Asked  U.S. Attorney General Jefrrey Rosen and Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue to make a false statement.  Trump urged them, “Just say that the election was corrupt,and leave the rest to me and the Republican Congressmen.”
• Made false and harassing statements against officials who refused his demands to violate the law, such as “What a fool Governor@BrianKempGA of Georgia is…Demand this clown call a Special Session and open up signature verificfation NOW.”
• Submitted false documents in a lawsuit, Trump v.Kemp, which falsely claimed that thousands of votes were cast by felons, unregistered voters, underage people and dead people, without any evidence.
• Solicited Georgia’s Secretary of State,Republican Brad Raffensperger, to commit a felony by unlawfully altering  certified election results.
• Making false statements to  Raffensperger and other Georgia officials claiming pollworker  Ruby Freeman stuffed ballot boxes, that ballots were dumped,and numerous other claims found to be false.
• Was present at a January 4, 2021 meeting with Vice President Pence,  Eastman and others. After Trump pressured Pence to reject electoral voes or delay the joint session of Congress on January 6, Eastman “admitted both options violated the Electoral Count Act,” the indictment states.
• Made false statements asserting election fraud (despite losing 62 court challenges, some decided by Trump-appointed judges) in his speech at the Ellipse and urged the crowd to march to the U.S. Capitol on January 6, where violence ensued that resulted in several deaths and 140 injured  Capitol police officers.
  

By Miriam Raftery

August 22, 2023 (San Diego)—A recall is underway of Hyundai 2023-2024 Palisade, 2023 Tucson, Sonata, Elantra, and Kona vehicles due to an electric oil pump assembly that overheats and can cause a vehicle fire. Owners are advised to park outside and away from structures until the recall repair is complete.

Two years after Kabul’s fall

by Ariana Figueroa, Kansas Reflector, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Photo (ticker) Getty Images (used under Creative Commons, courtesy Kansas Reflector)

Photo (story) Air Force One (used under model release)

 Author to hold booksigning Sept. 3 locally

Novel by Ken Schafer

Reviewed by Pennell Paugh

August 21, 2023 (San Diego)-- Ken Schafer, a San Diego resident, started his professional writing career as a screenwriter, working for companies as diverse as Disney, Paramount and ABC, and on projects ranging from a prequel to "Sleeping Beauty" to "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and “ABC Night at the Movies.”

By UM News

Photos by Mike DuBose

August 22, 2023 (Nashville, Tenn.) -- Gun reform supporters, including United Methodist clergy and church members, gathered for an early morning prayer vigil at the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville, yesterday. The gathering came as lawmakers begin a special legislative session focused on public safety and mental health following a mass shooting at the Covenant School here in March. The Rev. Ingrid McIntyre, a United Methodist pastor, helped organize the vigil.

Farm fresh veggies are harvested daily

East County News Service

August 21, 2023 (Alpine) - San Diego Animal Sanctuary & Farm (SDASF), a 20-acre animal sanctuary in Alpine, announces the first harvest of its new, organic garden, which is available for sale. Funds earned from garden sales will go directly to the animals and sanctuary. Produce includes lettuce, carrots, radishes, kale, squash, zucchini, chard and more, harvested daily. In the growing stage, the farm also has a variety of tomatoes, spinach, fruits, bell peppers, corn and more. 

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Michael Adam Cohen, award-winning entertainment reporter and photographer: taken near I-8 near Del Cerro

August 21, 2023 (San Diego) – Tropical Storm Hilary has moved northeast out of San Diego County.  The storm brought high winds and heavy drenching in many local communities, while others had only moderate rainfall. The storm  sparked spectacular lightning storms over East County’s mountains and even prompted a tornado warning for Alpine, Descanso, and other areas.

Though no tornados are known to have touched down, Michael Cohen photographed a funnel cloud near I-8 from his Del Cerro home.

August 20, 2023 (San Diego's East County) --The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood warning now through 5 p.m. for El Cajon, La Mesa, Poway, Ramona, Alpine, Tierrasanta, Escondido, Santee, Lakeside and San Diego Country Estates. This is due to heavy rainfall capable of producing life-threatening flash floods.

Update:  The freeway has now reopened, after Cal Trans removed boulders from road and unstable rocks above.

By Miriam Raftery

August 20, 2023 (San DIego’s East County) – The California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) reports that Interstate-8 is closed at In-Ko-Pah, due to massive rock slide.

The rockslide is blocking the primary highway connecting San Diego and Imperial Counties.  Ava Thatsme on Facebook posted a photo of a boulder she said was on the I-8 grade.(photo, left)