Source: Helix Water District

June 30, 2020 (La Mesa) -- Helix Water District’s 2020 Water Quality Report, which documents the quality of its treated water throughout 2019, is now available in English at hwd.fyi/wqr2020-english and Spanish at hwd.fyi/wqr2020-espanol.

The annual water quality report contains important information about the sources and quality of customers’ drinking water. As in years past, Helix Water District tap water met all U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state of California health standards for drinking water.

UC San Diego’s Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies among the key partner institutions for the first-of–its kind, international effort

June 30, 2020 (San Diego) -- Despite being considered the world’s second largest producer of opium and heroin, little is known about poppy cultivation in Mexico. Yet, the opioid crisis remains a huge problem across much of the U.S. and Mexico and COVID-19 appears to have made matters worse: Recent lockdowns have disrupted the flow of synthetic opioids and have ostensibly increased production of heroin in Mexico.

To address the global opioid crisis, the Mexico Opium Network, a first-of-its kind international effort, was recently launched to examine the socio-political challenges posed by illicit poppy crops in Mexico.

Source: SDG&E

June 30, 2020 (San Diego) – San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) residential customers will see a 5% reduction in summer pricing to help alleviate concerns about higher energy bills due to hot weather and people spending more time at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) recently approved a pricing reduction that will benefit the majority of SDG&E customers – those who are enrolled in the Time-of-Use (TOU)-DR1 pricing plan, SDG&E’s default turn-on plan. The new pricing will go into effect July 1 and run through Oct. 31 and are applied to all three TOU time periods: on-peak, off-peak, and super off-peak. The decrease in summer pricing will be offset by an increase of 4% during winter pricing months, Nov. 1 through May 31.

Story and photos by Miriam Raftery

Photo, left: Outdoor patio at Vineyard Grant James in Ramona provides ample social distancing for wine-tasting guests

June 29, 2020 (San Diego’s East County) – East County’s once-thriving wine industry is struggling under COVID-19 restrictions – and some local wineries may die on the vine now that the county has once again shut down all bars effect July 1, including wineries and breweries.

Now, some winery owners are criticizing the shutdown as overly broad and unfair,  since many rural wineries have outdoor patios or spacious tasting rooms and have been providing ample social distancing – unlike urban bars and crowded venues such as the Gaslamp District.

Part 1 of a 2-part interview with Dr. Leonard Thompson

By Helen Horvath

Photo:  Dr. Leonard Thompson, CEO and Michelle Thompson, Sr. Vice President, M.A.N.D.A.T.E Records

June 29, 2020 (San Diego) -- In this first of a two-part interview with Dr. Leonard Thompson III, CEO of M.A.N.D.A.T.E Records and Communications Director of the NAACP San Diego, Dr. Horvath and ECM discuss COVID-19’s impact upon his business and the mission of the NAACP. 

M.A.N.D.A.T.E’s acronym means “Making A Necessary Difference at the End.”

Source: U.S. Health and Human Services

June 28, 2020 (Washington D.C.) -- Thursday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) published an updated solid organ transplant guideline to assess donors and monitor recipients for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus, and hepatitis C virus infections. This guideline reflects advances in transplant technology and safety that can increase the number of organs available for transplants.

Currently, more than 110,000 patients in the United States are waiting for an organ transplant.

By Miriam Raftery

“It’s very likely that we won’t be able to provide the same level of service that we do today….The County has no walk-in services for the homeless, and pretty soon that’s going to be the way it will be in El Cajon.” – Mary Case, Executive Director at Crisis House (photo, left)

June 25, 2020 (El Cajon) – El Cajon’s City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve an early lease termination agreement to oust Crisis House from city-owned property at 1034 Magnolia Ave. For the past 26 years, the city has leased the property to Crisis House for a dollar a year, recognizing the value to the community of the services provided by Crisis House, which has a mission to “break the cycle of poverty, domestic violence and homelessness and strengthen families and individuals so that they can thrive and transform their lives.”

The city wants Crisis House gone from is current location near the new Hampton Inn hotel.  So the Council-approved measure offers Crisis House $700,000 if it vacates the property by September 30^th. That amount diminishes to just $350,000 by year’s end and $150,000 by March 31, or zero if Crisis house remains until the lease expires on June 30, 2021.

But Mary Case, Executive Director of Crisis House, says that’s not enough time to find an affordable space, adding that the action will almost certainly mean major cuts in services.

By Miriam Raftery

View Spanish version of the FDA warning

June 28, 2020 (San Diego) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns consumers not to use any hand sanitizer made by Eskbiochem, a Mexican company, and sold under various brand names in the U.S. that are still on store shelves.

These sanitizers contain methanol, or wood alcohol, which when absorbed through skin or ingested can be toxic. Substantial exposure to methanol can cause permanent blindness, seizures, coma, permanent damage to the nervous system or death.

The hand sanitizers were sold under the brand-names All-Clean, Esk Biochem, CleanCare, Lavar, Saniderm, and The Good Gel. Some products tested had as much as 81% methanol.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo, left: Ramona Ranch Winery's winemaker is cheered by news that wineries and vineyards can now reopen to visitors.

June 26, 2020 (San Diego’s East County) – Wineries are reopening across our region, after three months of curbside-only services due to COVID-19. Some owners have been hard-hit by the economic loss, but now welcome the opportunity to welcome back visitors.

Now you can once again enjoy sipping wine on a mountain patio  overlooking vineyards or in an urban tasting room. Some are offering food pairings, special sales and other incentives to welcome back visitors – with social distancing and other changes per state health rules.

By Miriam Raftery

June 25, 2020 (El Cajon) – El Cajon City Council members received hundreds of comments sent via email on the city’s proposed budget, nearly all weighing in on police funding following a nationwide wave of protests over police violence and racial injustice issues.   

Many of the commenters argued for “defunding” or shifting some funds away from police into investments in the community or alternatives to handle mentally ill and homeless people, though many others voiced support for El Cajon Police and supported raising the department’s budget.

The Council unanimously voted for a $120,000 increase for the police.

“The motivation is to keep all the citizens safe,” Councilman Gary Kendrick told ECM.

By Mike Allen

June 25, 2020 (Santee) -- Santee’s leaders decided they needed to make a public denunciation of racism, hate speech, and intolerance in response to a flurry of recent ugly incidents in their predominantly white city.

At the June 24 City Council meeting, Mayor John Minto said the unanimously passed resolution condemning racism will be a guiding principle as the city confronts its past.

“We acknowledge that we’ve had problems but we’re not going to allow those problems to stop us from moving forward and doing better,” Minto said.

June 25, 2020 (San Diego’s East County) - East County Magazine's World Watch helps you be an informed citizen on important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S.

• House passes police reform bill that faces dead end in Senate (The Hill)
• CDC Head Estimates U.S. Coronavirus Cases Might be 10 Times Higher Than Data Show (CDC)
• MLB Officially Locks in 60-Game Season, to Begin in Late July (TV line)
• Supreme Court hands big win to Trump on expelling immigrants seeking asylum (NBC)
• After deadly CHOP shooting, activists and officials look for ways to prevent protest zone violence (Seattle Times)
• My terrifying five-day stay inside Seattle’s cop-free CHAZ (New York Post)
• TSA Whistleblower: Lack Of Coronavirus PPE Left Airport Staff, Passengers Unsafe  (NPR)

WORLD

• Major quake shakes southern Mexico, at least four killed (Reuters)
• World's second-deadliest Ebola outbreak is declared over (CNN)
• Lockdown Measures Return To Beijing As Testing Reveals Cluster At Major Food Market : Coronavirus Live Updates  (NPR)
• More Yemeni children face malnourishment amid aid shortage, coronavirus: UNICEF (Reuters)

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

June 25,  2020 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Some Experts Say Face Shields Better Than Masks for Coronavirus Protection (AARP)
• To prepare for the next pandemic, the U.S. needs to change its national security priorities, experts say (Washington Post)
• Racial inequalities in COVID-19 — the impact on black communities (Medical News Today)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• Hacking against corporations surges as workers take computers home (Reuters) 
• Natural fluid injections triggered Cahuilla earthquake swarm (Science Daily)
• Cyber spies use LinkedIn to hack European defence firms (Reuters)

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

By Paul Kruze, Contributing Editor

June 24, 2020 (El Cajon) -- The Cajon Valley Union School District Board of Trustees has approved a plan to re-open its 27 schools this fall, after going to a state-mandated distance learning program in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The final plan approved by the board on June 11, however, looks different from what had been envisioned by the district’s Superintendent, Dr. David Miyashiro. The original plan would have had students continue to use internet teleconferencing exclusively, as they have been since mid-March.

However, after documents from a private meeting involving some 40 district employees at the Marriott Coronado Resort and Spa on June 6 and 7 were leaked to parents and to East County Magazine, Miyashiro’s vision began to unravel. Some 100 parents throughout the district quickly organized and descended on school district headquarters on June 9 for what was supposed to be a one hour board workshop to approve the measure.

San Diego has eight community outbreaks, reopenings halted

By Miriam Raftery

Image:  Comparison of U.S. and European Union COVID-19 cases based on Johns Hopkins University medical data.

June 25, 2020 (San Diego)—If you’re planning a European vacation anytime soon, you may be out of luck. The European Union is looking to reopen to tourism from countries with low rates of the virus, travelers from the U.S. are expected to be banned, along with travelers from Brazil and Russia, the New York Times reports.

COVID-19 has largely diminished in Europe thanks to swift and aggressive actions by government in nations hard-hit there in late March. By contrast, cases have skyrocketed in the U.S., which had a similar number of cases in late March as Europe. But President Donald Trump never ordered a national lock-down or made masks mandatory; the U.S. was also late disseminating testing and sent inadequate numbers of personal protection equipment to medical providers.

The U.S. has had 11.3 million cases to date, more than any other nation on earth.  Over 120,000 Americans have died of COVID-19, which is more lives lost than from World War.