East County News Service

May 16, 2019 (Jamul) - D&S Farms, home to Granite Lion Cellars (2801 Jamul Highlands Rd., Jamul) will host a wine tasting that also features live entertainment, food, and craft beer on Saturday, July 27 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.  The event will benefit St. Pius X Catholic Church’s parish improvement fund, earmarked for heating and air conditioning repairs.

By Jose Eli Villanueva, County of San Diego Communications Office

May 31, 2019 (Ramona) - Looking for a challenging hike? Look no further than Mt. Gower County Preserve in Ramona. The preserve has approximately 8 miles of multi-use trails, including the Mt. Gower Ridge trail.

By Miriam Raftery

Photos (top left to bottom right):  Steve Vaus, Joel Anderson, Tom Lemmon, and Kenya Taylor

Update:  Lemmon has opted not to run.

May 30, 2019 (San Diego’s East County) – Stepping down due to term limits in 2020 after 28 years, San Diego County Supervisor Dianne Jacob leaves some big shoes to fill.  Four candidates, two Republicans and two Democrats, have thus far announced plans to run for the 2^nd Supervisorial district, which covers 2,000 square miles encompassing the eastern two-thirds of the county.

The contenders for the ostensibly nonpartisan race are Poway Mayor Steve Vaus and former State Senator Joel Anderson, both Republicans. Democrats Tom Lemmon, a labor leader who heads up the San Diego Building and Construction Trades Council, and Kenya Taylor, a mental health counselor and NAACP board member, are also in the running.

Below are highlights of their backgrounds and goals if elected, as well as analysis of the challenges each may need to overcome to win the race.

May 30, 2019 (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

• La Mesa residents push for police oversight at community forum (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Rent cap could be coming to San Diego (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Newly Released Internal Report Details La Mesa Police Deadly Standoff In 2017  (KPBS)
• San Diego Ranks Eighth In Population Growth Among Major US Cities (KPBS)
• Two Additional Lanes To Open On South I-5 At U.S.-Mexico Border (KPBS)
• How Kevin Faulconer Touched Off a Historic Debate About San Diego’s Transportation Future (Voice of San Diego)
• San Diego approves plans to expand Mission Trails park with a series of upgrades (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Uncovering A San Diego Porn Scheme: Deception, Humiliation Follow Online Ads (NBC 7)
• San Diego State Center apologizes for using photo of Palestinian terrorist (JPost)
• SD County Supes approve intellectually disabled hiring program (Patch.com)
• Advisory board recommends 30 changes to SDPD practices (San Diego Union-Tribune)

STATE

• Chicken slaughter due to Newcastle spread tops more than 1.1 million in Inland Empire (Riverside Press Enterprise)
• PG&E says it will build Paradise power lines underground (Sacramento Bee)
• Think California’s too big and influential? Wait for the presidential primary (Los Angeles Times)
• Bye bye, big top? California lawmakers vote to ban the use of circus performing animals (Sacramento Bee)
• California (Poverty And Taxes) And Texas (Jobs And Freedom): A Few Key Comparisons (Forbes)

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

By Miriam Raftery

May 30, 2019 (Spring Valley) – A male caller, possibly a juvenile, called Bancroft Elementary School in Spring Valley at 2:44 p.m. today to state that there would be a shooting and warned the school to go on lockdown.  Staff put the school into lockdown and notified the Sheriff.

Sheriff’s deputies and California Highway Patrol officers responded.  There were no further threats or substantiation, but the school dismissed students with law enforcement present.

May 30, 2019 (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.

• Mueller says his investigation did not exonerate Trump (Los Angeles Times)
• Trump bypasses Congress to push through arms sales to Saudis, UAE (NBC News)
• Rolling Thunder is on its final ride in Washington (Washington Post)
• Thousands of immigrants forced into solitary confinement by ICE (NBC)
• Federal court: First amendment protects sharing food with homeless people (Forbes)
• Trump Administration Separates Some Migrant Mothers From Their Newborns Before Returning Them to Detention (Rewire)
• “American soil” is increasingly foreign owned (NPR)
• Number Of Asylum Seekers At Border Higher Than Previous Estimates, New Research Says (KPBS)

WORLD

• Tearful May resigns, paving way for Brexit confrontation with EU (Reuters)
• Factbox: How will Britain's Conservative Party choose PM May's successor? (Reuters)
• UK ever more polarized as Brexit Party storms to EU vote win (Reuters)
• Japan to limit foreign ownership of firms in its IT, telecom sectors (Reuters)
• French police hunt suitcase bomber after blast in Lyon (Reuters)
• German antisemitism officer: Don’t wear kippot in public (JPost)
• Record number of women set to enter India parliament (Reuters)
• Angola bans Islam and shuts down all mosques (International Business Times)
• Soldiers held hostage, villagers killed: the untold story of Venezuelan aid violence (Reuters)

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

Source:  Calif. Attorney General’s office.

May 29, 2019 (Sacramento) - California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced today judgments totaling $1,498,574 in a lawsuit against telemarketers who scammed investors. The company, Consumer Rights Legal Services (CRLS), and four individuals, including CRLS’s president and owner, James Davitt, cheated more than 150 victims by offering bogus “investment recovery services” that they claimed would recover money victims had lost from previous investments. Many of the victims were elderly and had already lost hundreds of thousands of dollars from previous schemes.

East County News Service

May 29, 2019 (San Diego's East County) – The Pacific Southwest Association of Realtors (PSAR), a 2,800-member real estate trade group for San Diego-area realtors with an office in El Cajon, was recently honored by the San Diego County Taxpayers Association (SDCTA) with a Golden Watchdog Award. The award recognized PSAR’s assistance to the San Diego County Assessor’s Office with a program that is helping disabled military veterans achieve homeownership.

East County News Service

May 28, 2019 (Alpine) - Grab your popcorn – it’s time for (free!) summertime movies at the outdoor roller skating rink at Viejas Outlets shopping mall (5005 Willows Rd.) in Alpine.  Showtimes start at 7:30 p.m. The season opened May 24 with Top Gun. The lineup of popular movies coming up include:

• May 31  – Hotel Transylvania 3 (PG)
• June 7 – Moana (PG)
• June 14 – Bumblebee (PG13)
• June 21 – Antman and the Wasp (PG13)
• June 28 – Spiderman: Into the Spider-verse (PG)
• July 4 – Star Wars: The Force Awakens (PG13)
• July 5 – How to Train Your Dragon 3 (PG)
  

By Miriam Raftery

May 28, 2019 (Lakeside) - The Lakeside RiverPark Foundation announces two events next weekend.  A guided hike originally set in May has been rescheduled for Saturday,b June 8 due to rain last month. Plus, you can help clean-up the River Park on either Friday or Saturday, June 7-8.  Below are details.