East County News Service

June 8, 2017 (San Francisco) – In what a patient advocacy group calls a ”devastating turn," the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing to not only terminate its short-lived ban on pre-dispute arbitration agreements in nursing homes but to endorse their use as a condition to receiving vital care and services.

By Miriam Raftery

June 7, 2017 (San Diego’s East County ) – Major TV networks including CBS, NBC  and ABC will be interrupting regular programming tomorrow morning  to broadcast live testimony by fired FBI director James Comey to the Senate Intelligence Committee slated to start at 7 a.m. Pacific Standard Time.

A copy of Comey's pre-prepared statement has been released and can be read here. Comey confirms "inappropriate" actions by President Donald Trump including demanding loyalty and pressuring him to drop the investigation into former National Security Director Michael Flynn.  Comey's statement directly contradicts Trump's denial that he asked Comey to drop the investigation.  After Comey refused,  and also refused to swear a loyalty oath to Trump, Trump fired him.

 Comey’s testimony under questioning by Senators tomorrow could provide evidence for special prosecutor James Mueller, who is heading up an investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.

The stakes have ratcheted up after the Intercept published  excerpts of a leaked top-secret National Security Administration report detailing that Russian military intelligence sent phishing messages to at least 100 U.S. election officials days before the 2016 presidential election and earlier executed a cyber attack on at least one voting software supplier.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Senator Ricardo Lara and Toni Atkins, authors of Healthy California Act.

June 4, 2017 Sacramento) – Both houses of California’s Legislature have passed a landmark bill  called the “Healthy California Act”  to create a single-payer, universal healthcare system and eliminate private insurance companies  from covering anything covered by the state plan, which is broad.   

If enacted  the measure coauthored by Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) and Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) would  cover all Californians, with no premiums, copays or deductibles, for all medical, dental, vision care, mental health and chiropractic services.   

But Senate bill 352 must go back to the Assembly to remedy a major flaw: the bill was advanced without details on how to pay for it, in order to meet legislative deadlines, and contains a clause that without the Secretary of Health and Human Services determining that a new Healthy California Trust Fund has sufficient revenues to fund the bill’s costs,  it will not become law.  

By Miriam Raftery

June 4, 2017 (San Diego) – A measure to create an independent review process for officer-involved shootings in California passed by state Assembly this week.  Assembly Bill 284 by Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) would empower the California Attorney General’s office civil rights division to appoint a special investigator for controversial cases of concern.

By Vanessa Schipani, Eugene Kiely, Lori Robertson and Robert Farley

Credit to factcheck.org, full story here:  http://www.factcheck.org/2017/06/factchecking-trumps-climate-speech/

June 3, 2017 (San Diego's East County) - In announcing that the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris Agreement, a global accord aimed at addressing climate change, President Donald Trump made more than a few false and misleading claims:

• Trump said the U.S. would be exposed to “massive legal liability if we stay in” the Paris Agreement. But there is no liability mechanism in the Paris Agreement. International environmental law experts tell us that pulling out of the agreement won’t reduce U.S. exposure to liability claims and, in fact, may increase it.
• Trump called China and India the “world’s leading polluters,” referring to carbon emissions. That’s not accurate. China and the U.S. were the top emitters per kiloton in 2015.
• The president also falsely said “nobody even knows where the money [in the Green Climate Fund] is going to.” The fund’s website outlines all of the projects that have been funded.
• Trump said the agreement would cost “close to $3 trillion in lost GDP.” That’s one estimate from a report for a business-funded group that found a much smaller impact under a different scenario. Yet another analysis said the impact of meeting the emissions targets would be “modest.”
• Trump again took credit for job gains, saying the economy has added more than a million private sector jobs since his election. That’s true, but only 493,000 of them were added since he took office.

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher wins approval of package of bills helping women in the workforce

East County News Service

June 1, 2017 (Sacramento) – California State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego) has won approval for several “women in the workplace” initiatives she authored this year to address income inequality as well as the challenges of working while pregnant or as a young mother.

By Miriam Raftery

May 31, 2017 (Sacramento) – If you’re hailing a ride through a service such as Uber or Lyft, you may soon have an option to add a tip onto your credit card charge. A measure requiring ride-serving aps that take credit card payments to offer an option to add a tip passed the Assembly today by a 41-22 vote.  The measure, Assembly Bill 1099, was authored by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego).

By Jordan Damond

May 31, 2017 (Washington D.C.) -- Ever since President Donald Trump released his budget plan for 2018, it’s caused an uproar among concerned citizens and some members of Congress. Many have deemed the plan illogical or harmful, while others defend and even praise it.

By Miriam Raftery

May 30, 2017 (San Diego) – Your Internet provider can now legally sell your browsing history and your email address, without your consent—thanks to legislation signed into law by President Trump.   The measure passed the Senate by just 2 votes and the House by 10 votes. San Diego Republican Congressmen Duncan Hunter and Darrell Issa both voted for the measure – after taking $19,000 and $66,275 from the telecommunications industry respectively. 

By Ken Stone

Reprinted with permission from Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association.

Photo:  John Mattes speaks to San Diego Democrats for Equality, the predominantly gay club in Hillcrest. Photo by Ken Stone

May 27, 2017 (San Diego) - Oliver Mitov was dispatched by the Kremlin to get Bernie Sanders fans to vote third-party in the November election, write in the Democratic primary loser for president — or not vote at all.

By Jonathan Goetz; Miriam Raftery also contributed to this article

May 26, 2017 (El Cajon) – Following a lively public hearing on drawing up city council district lines to comply with Voting Rights Act requirements aimed at increasing minority representation,  El Cajon’s City council voted 3-2 to adopt  Paul Circo’s map PCirco1 for council district elections. 

Councilman Ben Kalasho,  a Chaldean-American and the only minority on the Council,  earlier sent a letter threatening to sue his city if that map was approved and request public records to determine if gerrymandering laws or the Brown Act were violated. 

Mayor Bill Wells, Councilmen Gary Kendrick and Bob McClellan voted to approve the map drawn by Circo, a Republican who ran for Council in 2016.  Councilmembers Steve Goble and Kalasho voted against it.  The district election map  chosen squares Kalasho off against fellow Councilman Kendrick, who also lives in Fletcher Hills, on the opposite side of Parkway Plaza. It also pairs Councilmembers Steve Goble and Bob McClellan, leaving two other districts that will be open seats. The Mayor will continue to be elected at-large by all voters in the city.

The plan chosen creates three majority minority districts.  Two have 70% minorities and a third has 51% . The minority definition used is broad, including language minorities such as Arabic speakers as well as all classes protected under state and federal  Voting Rights Acts.

President has called for shifting money out of Pell Grants to fund other non-educational programs

By Miriam Raftery

May 21, 2017 (San Diego) — Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) along with three other legislators has introduced the Pell Grant Preservation and Expansion Act to help students offset rising costs of college by permanently indexing Pell Grants to inflation. The bill also makes Pell Grant funding mandatory, providing students with security and stability, raises the maximum award for low-income students, and restores eligibility for students who were defrauded.

By Miriam Raftery

May 20, 2017 (San Diego) -- Dave Myers wants to be the new Sheriff in town.  He says he’s running to restore accountability, transparency, and community trust to policing.  He’s worked in law enforcement for 32 years and is currently a Commander with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

A native of San Diego, he’s always had a “passion for law enforcement” and to “treat everyone who’s calling for help as if my mother was calling for help.”

Recently, East County Magazine sat down with Myers for an in-depth interview on our show on KNSJ radio. Hear the full broadcast by clicking the audio link above, and view highlights below.

Officials intervene in pending case to ensure effective defense of Affordable Care Act (ACA)

Source: Calif. Attorney General’s Office

May 18, 2017 (Sacramento) -- California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman today took legal action to challenge the Trump Administration and protect health care access for millions of Americans.

Below is text from their press release:

By Miriam Raftery

May 18, 2017 (San Diego) — It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it. San Diego developer and ex-newspaper mogul Doug Manchester has been appointed by President Donald Trump to serve as U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas.