By Miriam Raftery

July 6, 2018 (El Cajon) -- Food donations are urgently needed at the Salvation Army in El Cajon, where supplies are at a “critical low point” after an annual holiday food drive fell far short.

Donations of canned, boxed or other nonperishable food items can be dropped off at the Salvation Army facility at 1011 East Main Street from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, the organization states on Facebook. For details, call (619) 440-4683. Financial donations are also welcome.

If the supplies are not promptly replenished within 30 days, the nonprofit will be forced to use funds to buy food items to feed the hungry, reducing money available for other important needs, an agency spokesperson has stated, NBC 7 reported.

By Eric Bartl

ECM Editor Miriam Raftery also contributed to this report

July 3, 2018 (El Cajon) -- Over a hundred people marched down Main Street through downtown El Cajon Saturday, June 30, joining the chorus of “Families Belong Together” protesters from cities across the nation.

Their chants, “families belong together” and “let the children go," received affirmations from passersby. Drivers honked their horns. Workers from restaurants and barber shops stuck their heads through their front doors greeting the march with waves and thumbs up.

Source:  U.S. Forest Service

July 3, 2018 (Ramona) - An emergency closure order has been implemented for Three Sisters and Cedar Creek Falls, effective Thursday, July 5 through Monday, July 9, due to the anticipated heat wave and considerable public health and safety concerns involved..

Despite having committed no crime, some asylum seekers have been kept in windowless cells for over a year, never allowed outside even a single day

By Miriam Raftery

July 2, 2018 (Washington D.C.) – People who ask for asylum when they arrive at the U.S. border after fleeing violence and persecution have committed no crime, unlike people who cross the border illegally. Yet the Trump administration has been imprisoning asylum seekers for over a year, even after they passed background checks, were found likely to receive asylum, and in some cases, even after a court granted them asylum but the administration was appealing the cases.

By Ken Stone and Chris Stone

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

Photo:  Families marched together downtown against the Trump Administration’s immigration policy. Photo by Chris Stone

July 2, 2018 (San Diego) - Sandra Delgadillo of Roseville, marching downtown Saturday while visiting her father, repeatedly called out “the children are crying.”

Jessica Kane of La Mesa had her children wearing what resembled the reflective solar blankets given to migrant children at shelters after being separated from their parents.

East County News Service

July 1, 2018 (La Mesa) - Thousands of La Mesans found a surprise in their mailbox last month with the arrival of a new community newspaper, La Mesa Village News.

La Mesa Village News is the latest of 30 hyper-local community direct mail newspapers launched by San Diego publishing house Local Umbrella Media. Local Umbrella, since the acquisition in 2015 of North Park News (which has been in existence since the 1990’s).

East County News Service

Photo via Lakeside Fire Department on Twitter

July 1, 2018 (Lakeside) – A paraglider pilot stranded on the face of El Cajon Mountain (also known as El Capitan) in Lakeside today suffered minor to moderate injuries. 

San Diego Sheriff’s Copter 11 made a hoist rescue, flying the injured pilot down to El Monte Park. There, firefighter-paramedics from Lakeside Fire Department provided treatment and transported the paraglider to a local trauma center.

East County News Service

June 30, 2018 (Santee) – After dousing a brush fire that charred about 500 square feet near Santee Lakes this afternoon, firefighters found a body at the scene.

The blaze was reported around 2:10 p.m. in the 9300 block of Fanita Parkway, Sheriff’s Lt. Rich Williams said, Patch.com reports.

The Medical Examiner is working to try and identify the decease. No description has been provided. Authorities are investigating the cause of both the death and the fire, but it is not yet known whether foul play was involved.

By Miriam Raftery

June 29, 2018 (Rancho San Diego) –Carter Yarborough, 48, a Valhalla High School cross country and track coach, was killed Sunday morning when his motorcycle struck a Sheriff’s vehicle that had pulled into his lane after a left turn on South Coast highway in Encinitas, Patch.com reports.

A memorial Mile in his memory will be held tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Valhalla.  Team members, alumni, and friends are invited to participate in the walk of remembrance.

By Miriam Raftery

June 27, 2018 (San Diego) – San Diego’s County Board of Supervisors has unanimously approved a budget of over $6 billion budget for the new fiscal year starting July 1^st, an increase of 8.4 percent over last year.

By Miriam Raftery

June 26, 2018 (Washington D.C.) – The U.S. Supreme Court has issued 5-4 rulings in several landmark cases, with conservatives pushing through two major decisions, but two other decisions splitting the ideological divide.

East County News Service

June 25, 2018 (Borrego Springs) — Douglas Russell Irons Jr., 24, was found dead at the scene of a vehicle accident June 17^th on Borrego Springs Road north of State Route 78 in Borrego Springs.

According to the Medical Examiner’s report, paramedics responded after the crashed vehicle was discovered in the desert. Death was pronounced at the scene of blunt force injuries.

Russell, who was single, resided in Borrego Springs.

By Chris Stone

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

Photo:  Many women and children from Mexico and Central America waited to see if they would be the next people allowed to enter the U.S. Photo by Chris Stone

June 24, 2018 (San Diego) - Natash waited in line Saturday morning to present herself to U.S. immigration officials at the PedWest Port of Entry, believing that America is the “best place where human rights are respected.

By Miriam Raftery

Photos by Paul Kruze

June 23, 2018 (El Cajon) – A pedestrian was struck and seriously injured at Main and Ballantyne in El Cajon tonight by a black Ford Focus.  Witnesses told ECM that the injured man suffered a head injury and was transported to a local hospital.

He was described by bystanders as an elderly man believed to be homeless. 

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Bryan Hong via Wikipedia

Update June 26, 2018:  The deceased man has been identified as Manuel Lizarraga, who had been reported missing. His body was found four miles from his vehicle in a remote area of the park.

June 22, 2018 (Ocotillo Wells) – A 24-hour search for a man reported missing yesterday at 4:30 p.m. led to discovery of a male body at 5 p.m. today, four miles from the missing man’s vehicle.

A caller reported a man missing and presumably stuck in sand near Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area in San Diego County, between Borrego Springs and the Salton Sea. That prompted a search by park rangers and a Sheriff’s Astrea helicopter late yesterday.