East County News Service

February 18, 2015 (San Diego) – Target Corp. has agreed to pay $4 million to settle a complaint of overcharging consumers filed by the San Diego City Attorney, the Marin County District Attorney and other law enforcement agencies in additional counties.

East County News Service

February 19, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – University of California President Janet Napolitano has announced that UC will postpone a planned 5 percent tuition hike from the summer quarter until fall.  The decision comes after Governor Jerry Brown proposed an extra $119 million for UC funding in 2016, still $100 short of what regents have said is needed to cancel the rate hikes of 5 percent a year for the next five years that are set to kick in this year.

View video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fTobU9pt0ds

East County News Service

February 19, 2015 (San Diego)—Supervisor Bill Horn, Chairman of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, declared 2015 the “year of the veteran” in his state of the county speech last week.

Horn said, “These men and women have made sacrifices that often take terrible tolls on their personal lives. As a county and as a community, we have a responsibility to take care of our veterans.”

An ex-Marine Corps officer and veteran, Horn said programs will be ramped up and new programs rolled out in the coming year.  One is the Vet Connect program being rolled out East County libraries, prompted by an East County Magazine special report that found a lack of veterans’ services in rural areas.

East County News Service

February 19, 2015 (San Diego)--The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General has issued a report which slams the use of drones by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.  A press release issued by Homeland Security says the report concludes, “After spending eight years and hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has yet to prove the value of its Unmanned Aircraft System (drone) program while drastically understating the costs.”

By Miriam Raftery

February 18, 2015 (San Diego's East County) - There’s some good news this weeks for fans of Dr. Seuss the beloved San Diego children’s book author who died in 1991.  Three new manuscripts have been discovered that were written by Dr. Seuss, whose real name was Theodore Geisel.

February 18, 2015 (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 top “Roundup” headlines include:

LOCAL

• GOP backs Anderson over Jacob in supervisor race (UT San Diego)
• County to pay $1.1M for invasive exams (UT San Diego)
• Grossmont school district to appeal injunction (UT San Diego)
• SDG&E Gets $5M Grant To Expand Borrego Springs Microgrid (KPBS)
• Huge Funding Disparity Lingers for San Diego’s Homeless (Voice of San Diego)
• More Than 2,000 Trees Planted Along River In Santee (KPBS)
• Flu Season Death Toll Rises To 43 In San Diego County (KPBS)
• Nuke group: Unhand emails, Edison (UT San Diego)

STATE

• California Committee Explores Road Usage Charge In Place Of Gas Tax (KPBS)
• Lawmakers press for tighter leash on CPUC (SF Gate)
• San Francisco commuters possibly exposed to measles on train (Reuters)
• Broke California cities can slice pensions (U-T)
• California leaders announce investigation into missing bond funds (Reuters)
• UCSA calls for divestment from bodies involved in alleged human rights violations (Daily Bruin)
• Solar jobs surge in California (U-T)
• Senator blasts Cal over Peevey party (UT San Diego)

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

Another stinging defeat for Grossmont.  Court orders $42M to be set aside for Alpine High School.

By Sal Casamassima, Chair – Alpine High School Citizens Committee

February 17, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) - On January 22 Judge Joel Pressman of the California Superior Court, delivered a huge victory to the supporters of a high school in Alpine.  Judge Pressman issued a preliminary injunction that requires the Grossmont Union School District (GUHSD) to set aside $42 Million of Prop U bond money that would be used toward the construction of the long-overdue Alpine High School.  GUHSD must set aside $14 Million immediately and another $28 Million on January 15, 2016.  Although the $42M is less than the $70M needed to build a school on the Lazy A site it nevertheless represents a major victory for Alpine.  This article will discuss why the court issued this injunction and its importance in preserving our ability to fund construction of the high school.

East County News Service

File photo by Karl W. Hoffman

February 18, 2015 (San Diego)—A ruling by a Texas judge that halts President Obama’s executive orders to protect many undocumented immigrants from being deported will directly impact half of the 181,000 undocumented immigrants living in San Diego County, according to the Migration Policy Institute.  The Institute, which is based in Washington D.C., estimates that 91,000 San Diegans would have been eligible to apply for protection from deportation.

By Miriam Raftery

February 17, 2015 (San Diego’s East County)—Last week,  a young Jewish man was shot and killed outside a Copenhagen synagogue. In Paris, as many as 250 Jewish graves were desecrated.  At the University of California in Davis, California earlier this month, swastikas were sprayed on a Jewish fraternity house after a demonstration by pro-Palestinian students, one of whom  proclaimed on Facebook that Hamas and Sharia law had come to the campus, prompting 23 organizations to demand an investigation to protect Jewish students’ safety. These are the latest in a string of hate crimes targeting Jewish people around the world.

It's a violent start to the New Year that continues a chilling trend.  Last year, 2014, was a year of unprecedented anti-Semitic violence worldwide, the Simon Wiesenthal Center reports. That report found that due to violent anti-Semitism, Jewish people worldwide now face the greatest challenges since the end of World War II, when 6 million Jewish people were exterminated in concentration camps by the Nazis.

East County News Service

February 17, 2015 (Spring Valley )—Sheriff’s detectives are investigating a drive-by shooting that occurred early this morning at 2:45 a.m. near the intersection of Bancroft Drive and Kenwood Drive in Spring Valley, an unincorporated community in San Diego's East County.

The suspect vehicle, a white or silver BMW-type sedan occupied by at least two black males, was last seen traveling northfrom the shooting scene toward state route 94. The victim, an adult male, suffered multiple gunshot wounds, says Sergeant Pat McCoy.

By Sam DiGiovanna

February 16, 2015 (San Diego)--If your husband has chest pain you’d call 911. However, many women may not recognize signs of heart attacks themselves. Did you know that heart attack symptoms in women can be quite different from men's. Heart disease is often thought about as a man’s disease, but recent studies show that heart disease is actually the number one killer of women in America.  Yet acting quickly is vitally important.

Janju: A Village Girl In A City World, by Priscilla Koranteng (Poised Publishing LLC, Lanham, Maryland, 2014, 147 pages.)

Book Review by Dennis Moore

February 17, 2015 (San Diego's East County) - Priscilla Koranteng has followed up on her earlier Janju: The Voice Of One Girl with the natural progression to Janju: A Village Girl In A City World. It expands on the leadership qualities of a young girl in a small village area of Africa identified in the earlier book to that of her being in a much larger city environment. As with her earlier book Koranteng underscores the unique and endearing qualities of a young girl that seems to embolden her family and all those that come into contact with her. Clearly, Janju is a born leader. Why this particular book? The author indicates that as a young girl she always loved to read and write, and that she would basically write about anything, but little did she know or realize at the time that she had the ability to write poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Looking at her own life and now living abroad – she realized that the African child is sometimes distorted and limited to hunger and poverty – which is still the case. Koranteng emphasizes that the underlying resilience with which these kid survive is sometimes left out of the story. Thus, the fictional and warmly humanistic character Janju.

February 16, 2015 (San Diego’s East County)--This week’s Destination East County includes celebrations of Black History Month, rock and roll concerts, a star party, a sweetheart dance and more. Plus we’ll have a preview of coming attractions including St. Patrick’s Day events and Vallecito Day celebrating our frontier heritage and cattle drives along the Overland trail. Stay tuned for all of these events and much more, from East County Magazine.

East County News Service

February 17, 2015 (Sacramento)—A clear partisan divide separates Congress on immigration issues. But in a rare show of bipartisan unity, California’s State Senate unanimously approved a strongly worded resolution asking Congress to provide undocumented immigrants with a path to citizenship.

February 16, 2015 (El Cajon) – You’re invited to join in St. Patrick’s Day weekend festivities on Sunday, March 15^th.   Choose from a half marathon, a 5K run or a green mile competition to compete for a large cash prize pot, medals, and  free drinks after the races at the St. Patrick’s Beer & Wine Festival in downtown El Cajon (Main Street and Magnolia).