East County Roundup: Local and statewide news

October 3, 2025, 2025 (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 round-up stories include:

LOCAL 

• ICE arrests rise at a higher rate in San Diego than across the U.S., data shows  (NBC San Diego)
• Out with the old and in with the new at San Diego International Airport  (KPBS)
• Animal shelter supervisor ‘out of the office’ after revelation of profane recording  (KPBS)
• Ramona cemetery district board member uncovers unusual compensation records (KPBS)
• Sweetwater Authority Joins Stampede Away from County Water Authority  (Voice of San Diego)
• One killed, another injured in bicycle crash at Lake Murray (ABC)

STATE

• California braces for a health insurance meltdown  (Politico)
• California shrank prisons with sentencing changes. A new study shows how that’s working (Cal Matters)
• Gavin Newsom signs first-in-nation AI safety law (Politico)
• More California high school seniors applied for college financial aid this year than last (Cal Matters)

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

LOCAL 

ICE arrests rise at a higher rate in San Diego than across the U.S., data shows  (NBC San Diego)

The increase was driven largely by spike in arrests of people without a criminal conviction, up nearly seven times through July of this year as compared to all of 2024.

Out with the old and in with the new at San Diego International Airport  (KPBS)

 The first flight into the new Terminal One is scheduled to arrive at 8:55 tonight, and the last flight out of the old Terminal One is set to depart 15 minutes later.

Animal shelter supervisor ‘out of the office’ after revelation of profane recording  (KPBS)

The official, who oversaw the county’s animal shelters, complained of “shit dogs” and too few euthanasias in a voice recording. The county isn’t providing details about her employment status.

Ramona cemetery district board member uncovers unusual compensation records (KPBS)

Pete Smith, a longtime community watchdog in Ramona, is now serving on the board of Nuevo Memory Gardens. He found records of health insurance payments he’d been told were terminated, and an “unheard of” severance agreement.

Sweetwater Authority Joins Stampede Away from County Water Authority  (Voice of San Diego)

The agency supplying drinking water to a large swath of South San Diego County is exploring a groundwater desalination project.

 One killed, another injured in bicycle crash at Lake Murray (ABC)

 One cyclist died and another was hospitalized after they collided on the Lake Murray path near the Mission Trails Golf Course on Friday morning.

STATE

California braces for a health insurance meltdown  (Politico)

 Health care regulators here are raising alarms that a government shutdown could knock the bottom out of the nation’s largest health insurance market. 

California shrank prisons with sentencing changes. A new study shows how that’s working (Cal Matters)

California over the past dozen years enacted a series of criminal justice laws that were meant to give more people an opportunity to be resentenced and thin out the state’s severely overcrowded prisons. This week a state agency released the most-comprehensive look yet at how those changes are playing out among formerly incarcerated people.  The report found low recidivism rates among people who were older and had served lengthy sentences. Those patterns contrasted with people serving shorter prison sentences for nonviolent crimes, which showed higher rates of recidivism, the majority of which were for misdemeanors. 

Gavin Newsom signs first-in-nation AI safety law (Politico)

The measure, SB 53, requires some AI developers to publicly disclose their safety and security protocols. It also creates a way for companies and the public to report major safety incidents to the state. The law includes whistleblower protections for AI workers and lays the groundwork for a state-run cloud computing cluster dubbed CalCompute.

More California high school seniors applied for college financial aid this year than last (Cal Matters)

Nearly three-quarters of California public high school seniors applied for federal financial aid this year, soaring past last year’s figures by 11% and giving further indication that California’s efforts to get more students to apply for federal grants are paying off