East County News Service

April 24, 2017 (Ramona) -- Arlene (Paladino) Alper, 63, died at her home on Mt. Woodson in Ramona, CA  on April 18, 2017 after a long battle with stage four breast cancer.  She was the mother of East County Magazine sportswriter Liz Alper.

East County News Service

April 24, 2017 (Ramona) – State Route 67 between Ramona and Lakeside is one of the most accident-prone stretches of highway in San Diego County. 

Caltrans is planning to install flexible posts between Willow Road in Lakeside and Shady Oaks in Ramona at a cost of $7.14 million in hopes of preventing head-on collisions.

By Miriam Raftery

April 24, 2017 (San Diego) – Border Angels activist Hugo Castro is back in San Diego, after more than $15,000 was raised through a Go Fund Me site to pay for a medical evacuation. His partner, Gaba Castro, posted the news on Facebook.

By Miriam Raftery

“I will argue that my minority and low income citizens have just as much right to be fairly represented as San Diego and Chula Vista.”—Lemon Grove Councilman Jerry Jones

April 23, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) – Assembly Bill 805  passed the Assembly Local Government Committee on Wednesday by a 5-4 vote.  The measure claims to  reform SANDAG,  but in fact gives virtually all power to the cities of San Diego and Chula Vista, leaving East County cities and other communities in our county powerless to add agenda items to benefit other cities or block objectionable measures at SANDAG, the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) and North County Transit District.

Now East County cities are fighting back.   On Tuesday, La Mesa’s City Council will consider a proposal from Council members Bill Baber and Kristine Alessio to hire a legislative lobbyist to advocate on La Mesa’s behalf against AB 805, which was authored by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), according to the agenda.

El Cajon’s City Council has voted to oppose AB 805, as did Lemon Grove and La Mesa.  East County Assemblyman Randy Voepel, former Mayor of Santee, voted against the measure in committee.

Photo:  top left to right:  Ammar Campa-Najjar, Patrick Malloy, Hannah Gbeh, Josh Butner, Gloria Chadwick, Glenn Jensen, Pierre “Pete” Beauregard

By Miriam Raftery

View our videos and post your comments!  Which candidate(s) are strongest and why?  Which might you be most apt to consider voting for, and why?

Part 1: https://youtu.be/pOOQxhTDj5Q

Part 2:  https://youtu.be/kk4H7dNWTPQ

April 21, 2017 (San Diego’s East County)—Seven Democratic candidates running  for the seat currently held by Republican Duncan Hunter participated in a lively forum last night hosted by the East County Democratic Club.   After opening statements, by each candidate they fielded questions on women’s rights,  healthcare, public education, protecting minorities, digital privacy, as well as their backgrounds, financing and organizing strengths. Many other issues were also addressed by this diverse and articulate array of candidates seeking to represent the 50th Congressional district.

The field includes a former Navy Seal, a farmer, a nurse, an ex-Navy medic, rural planning board members,   a Hispanic and Arab-American activist in the Obama administration, a realtor, a computer data expert, an environmnetalist, and more -- with several candidates having background in multiple fields.

Watch for our detailed analysis of the forum coming later. 

By Miriam Raftery

April 19, 2017 (El Cajon) – A 9-year-old autistic girl who went missing from her home in unincorporated El Cajon yesterday morning was found on an onramp to State Route 67 at Bradley Avenue.

Source:  Department of Homeland Security

April 19, 2017 (San Diego's East County) - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) is issuing this fraud alert to warn citizens of reports that the DHS OIG Hotline telephone number has been used recently as part of a telephone spoofing scam targeting individuals throughout the country.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Clip art; the actual "Duncan Thumpin'" costume has not yet been revealed

April 18, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) – Hopping down the bunny trail—and the campaign trail—Duncan Thumper will soon be popping up at Congressman Duncan Hunter’s events to draw attention to his campaign finance controversies that have sparked a criminal investigation by the Justice Department.

By Nick Pellegrino for East County Magazine

Photo courtesy Comedy Central

April 17, 2017 (Los Angeles) - Comedian Doug Benson is nothing close to an overnight success, yet after 20 years in show business, the former Grossmont College student is starting to gain notoriety after recently claiming the Tournament of Champion on the self-admitted, fake game show @midnight.

By Miriam Raftery

April 17, 2017 (San Diego)  –  The University of California has announced that it will halt its investments in private prison companies, removing $25 million in investments from Corrections Corporation of America, G4S, and GEO Group Inc., the Los Angeles Times reports.

East County News Service

April 16, 2017 (San Diego's East County) - Across the nation, tens of thousands of people in more than 100 cities held Tax Day protests on April 15^th – calling on President Donald Trump to release his income tax returns.  San Diego event organizers estimate that several thousands took to the streets locally, also urging Congress to subpoena Trump’s tax returns.

East County News Service

April 15, 2017 (Washington D.C.) – The U.S. on Thursday dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb ever deployed to destroy caves used by ISIS fighters in the Achin area of Afghanistan, the Pentagon confirms.  Some Afghan officials estimate that as many as 94 ISIS fighters and four commanders may have been killed, with no civilian deaths reported, according to NBC news.

East County News Service

April 14, 2017 (Alpine) — Diego, an emaciated baby bobcat dropped off at a pet hospital in Rancho Bernardo in late March and later taken to Lions, Tigers and Bears (LTB) sanctuary in Alpine has been moved again, this time to a northern California rehabilitation facility.

By Mike Allen

Photo:  San Miguel Fire & Rescue

April 13, 2017 (Spring Valley) -- The San Miguel Fire District continues to take the necessary steps to go back to being a stand-alone agency and cut the cord from Cal Fire, which currently provides its fire protection services.

By Miriam Raftery

April 12, 2017 (San Onofre) – Just days before an April 14 court hearing filed by Citizens Oversight seeking to force removal of nuclear waste from storage along the ocean near the closed San Onofre power plant, Southern California Edison has agreed to enter into negotiations to move the nuclear storage elsewhere.