By Jonathan Goetz

Photo: Iraqi Democratic Current

November 16, 2017 (El Cajon) - A proposal that would reduce a girl’s marriageable age to puberty, right to decline sex to a husband, eliminate inheritance rights and child custody decisions for women passed its first reading in the Iraqi Parliament on October 30. The bill still requires a second reading to become law.

By Miriam Raftery

November 15, 2017 (Washington D.C.) – If your child’s holiday wish list includes a hoverboard, you may want to tell Santa to think twice before delivering one.  The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued seven more hoverboard recalls Tuesday due to fire and explosion hazards.  The Commission has previously recalled many other hoverboard models.

By Miriam Raftery

November 18, 2017 (Rancho San Diego)--San Miguel Fire District along with Heartland Fire Rescue and Santee Fire Department will be conducting fire and rescue training this weekend at Vahalla High School, located at 1725 Hillsdale Road in the Rancho San Diego area of unincorporated El Cajon.

The fire rescue drill will be Saturday November 18 and Sunday November 19 from 9am to 3pm.  Smoke machines will be used during training - neighbors might see smoke coming from the school during these training events.

By Jonathan Goetz and Miriam Raftery

November 14, 2017 (San Diego) -- Another mass shooting has occurred, this time northern California, where a gunman killed four people  and injured 10 before being shot dead in a shoot-out with law enforcement on Tuesday.

By Miriam Raftery

Judicial nominee Brett J. Talley failed to disclose that his wife, a White House lawyer, is a witness in the Mueller investigation

November 14, 2017 (Washington D.C.) – A former White House ethics lawyer is accusing President Donald Trump of tampering with a witness in special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia and whether Trump has obstructed justice.

By Suzanne Potter, Public News Service

November 9, 2017 (Sacramento) - Scams targeting veterans are on the increase, according to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, so postal inspectors are teaming up with AARP's Fraud Watch Network in a new campaign called "Operation Protect Veterans."

Devices improve fire detection and protect communities

East County Wildfire & Emergency Alert Service Service

November 8, 2017 (San Diego) – The public, firefighters, and SDG&E crews can now watch for fires in real time on 15 new video cameras across San Diego county. You can view them here.

By Suzanne Potter, Public News Service

Photo:  About 3,000 Nicaraguan legal immigrants will become undocumented by January 2019 unless Congress acts to give them permanent legal status. Photo via Pixabay.

November 8, 2017 (Sacramento) - Latino groups are speaking out against the decision by the Trump administration on Monday to end legal status for some people from Central America who were given temporary protected status over the past two decades.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo courtesy ECM news partner 10 News

November 7, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) – A man suspected of savagely stabbing a female delivery driver, 35, this morning at a convenience store in La Mesa has been taken into custody.  Sheriff’s deputies are investigating whether he may be linked to another woman found stabbed this morning in El Cajon.

The chilling sequence of events began shortly after 3 a.m. when a Frito Lay delivery truck driver was stabbed repeatedly outside of the 7-Eleven store on Avocado Boulevard in unincorporated La Mesa.  She staggered into the store, where she collapsed after telling a clerk she’d been attacked, 10 News reports.

By Miriam Raftery

Updated Nov. 22, 2017 to include information on suicide prevention for firefighters through the Firefighters Behavioral Health Alliance.

November 6, 2017 (Pine Valley) – Local firefighters, heroic in battling flames and saving lives, today are grieving the tragic loss of one of their own.  Cal Fire Unit Chief and County Fire Chief Tony Mecham announced yesterday on Facebook, “It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that I notify you of the passing of Fire Captain Ryan Mitchell from Station 20. Ryan took his own life this morning at the Pine Valley Bridge shortly after completing his shift.”

Kalasho claims he’s being framed by beauty queens and taco shop owner suing him;

Kalasho’s wife admitted visiting friend In Cerritos, when the allegedly fake nude beauty queen photos were posted online from her friend’s home

By Miriam Raftery

November 6, 2017 (El Cajon) – Today, plaintiffs suing El Cajon Councilman Bessmon “Ben” Kalasho filed an anti-SLAPP motion asking that Kalasho’s countersuit against two beauty pageant contestants and a taco shop be dismissed as retaliatory and violating their First Amendment rights to speak to the press about their case.   

California’s anti-SLAPP statute prohibits public officials from filing what are known as SLAPP suits to retaliate against members of the public for exercising their free speech and right to petition the government for redress of grievances.  Kalasho’s countersuit took issue with plaintiffs talking to the media, specifically the Reader, about their case.

October 25, 2017 (Alpine) -- Alpine Inn Steakhouse (2225 Alpine Blvd., Alpine), the coziest steakhouse in East County is now reopened under new ownership -- and East County Dining Club will host our next event sizzling event there on Friday, November 10th. 

Join us for cocktails (cash bar) at 5:30 in the steakhouse bar and dinner at 6:30 in the private captain's-style dining room. Enjoy live music by Paul Nichols and Cindy Burnham, plus you can win prizes!  You don't have to be a dining club member -- all are welcome!

This event requires an RSVP by November 5 and pre-reserving your choice for entrée, 2 sides, and a dessert. See the delicious details below!

By James Kecskes, County of San Diego Communications Office

Updated Nov. 3, 2017: Animal Services had removed 127 cats as of Friday afternoon.

November 4, 2017 (Lakeside) - More than 100 cats are in the care of County Animal Services after they were relinquished by a resident in Lakeside Thursday. Sheriff’s deputies were conducting a welfare check on a person at the home and discovered the animals, then called Animal Services.

By Miriam Raftery

October 31, 2017 (Washington D.C. )  -- George Papadopoulos, foreign policy advisor to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, has pled guilty to criminal charges pertaining to his dealings with Russian foreign nationals. Two others,Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and his business associate  Rick Gates, have been arrested and indicted on felony charges, court documents unsealed on Monday reveal. 

The 12 counts include charges of conspiracy against the U.S., failing to register as foreign agents, making false statements to federal investigators, tax fraud, and laundering tens of millions of dollars through offshore accounts for clients in the Ukraine,  including former Ukranian president Viktor Yanukovych, Associated Press reports. Yanukovych was a staunch ally of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

By Ken Stone

Originally published by Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo:  Rebekah Basson, 25, was appointed to the La Mesa-Spring Valley school board in August. Photo by Ken Stone

November 1, 2017 (La Mesa) - La Mesa’s new school board member voted in Georgia’s November 2016 election despite later swearing that she had been a resident of the East County district for 1 1/2 years — going back to about January 2016.