Congressional legislation aims to halt June 15 closure of FAA tower, others

County  News Service

April 23, 2013 (San Diego)--The county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday (4/23) urged federal lawmakers to approve pending legislation in Congress that would save the Ramona Airport traffic control tower. The board, on a 5-0 vote, endorsed a pair of bipartisan federal bills that would halt the June 15 closure of the East County facility, along with nearly 150 other towers funded by the Federal Aviation Administration.

April 21, 2013 (San Diego)--Nationwide federal furloughs of air traffic controllers due to budget cuts that started today are delaying many flights coming into San Diego's Lindbergh Field, KNSJ news director Mike Hancock has informed ECM.  Flights from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston and Phoenix are running late or have been cancelled.

Check ahead if you're expecting passengers coming into the airport: http://www.san.org/sdia/flights/default.aspx

4 Million Senior Meals to be Cut Nationwide, 100,000 meals in San Diego Alone

By Paul Downey, President/CEO, Senior Community Centers

March 28, 2013 (San Diego)--Sometimes I am really glad to live almost 3,000 miles from Washington DC. The latest “raging” chest-thumping, finger-pointing debate is whether President Obama cancelling tours of the White House are politically motivated or a true result of sequestration. This is a bit of Nero fiddling while Rome burned.

March 27, 2013 (La Mesa)—The federal government has slashed Community Development Block Grant funding for La Mesa from $800,000 a few years ago down to just $350,000 this year. As a result, the City Council voted 5-0 on Tuesday to completely eliminate funds for all public services funded by CDGB, except for fair housing. The cuts fall largely on programs that help the elderly, poor and disabled.

Funds will be axed for the Alzheimer’s Association, East County YMCA Summer Camp, Meals on Wheels of Greater San Diego, San Diego Youth Services, Elder help, Interfaith Shelter Network, Senior Community Centers, and more.

Mayor Art Madrid called the elimination of public services a “tough decision” necessitated by federal sequestration cuts. Sequestration mandates cuts across the board in nearly all federal agencies as a result of Congress failing to reach agreement on how to reduce federal debt and resolve the federal budget.  Democrats sought a combination of revenue increases and budget cuts, while Republicans have blocked such proposals, holding out for cuts-only solutions.

By Miriam Raftery

March 22, 2013 (San Diego’s East County) – Today the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed closure of 149 air traffic control towers due to sequestration cuts that are mandated due to Congress failing to agree on how to balance the federal budget.  That includes towers at Ramona Airport in East County and Brown Field in Otay Mesa, both slated to shut down starting April 7.

Closure of the Ramona facility had sparked widespread protests from local officials and the public, who had urged the FAA to keep the tower open to assure protection of firefighters at the backcountry airport.

By Nadin Abbott

March 20, 2013 (San Diego)—Federal employees and their families at a rally outside the 32^nd Street Naval Station today  came to bring attention to the effects of the federal sequester in their lives. This is a reality for them right now, not just a headline in a paper.

So how exactly will this affect East County residents in the near future?

By Nadin Abbott, photos Tom Abbott

March 12, 2013 (San Diego)—Today, Supervisor Dianne Jacob urged citizens in San Diego County to contact the Federal Aviation Adminstration (FAA) at Closurecomments@FAA.GOV  and oppose closure of the Ramona Airport’s air traffic control tower, a vital component in fighting wildfires and protecting safety of firefighting crews. Tomorrow at 1 p.m. Pacific Standard Time is the deadline for comments.

 The Board learned that the Federal Aviation Administration has targeted the Ramona Air Traffic Control Tower for closure as as early as April 7. This means, according to Cal Fire Battalion Chief Ray Cheney, that the airport would revert back to an “uncontrolled airport, where pilots have to avoid each other and announce their intentions.”  

This was the way it was back on June 21, 1995 when there was a midair collision between a United States Forest Service Beechcraft and an NTSB air tanker, leading to the deaths of the air tanker crew. An open space, instead of a controlled space, will increase the risk of mid-air collisions, since a “controlled airport controls the air traffic sequencing.”

March 12, 2013 (Ramona)--Vice-Chairwoman Dianne Jacob and Supervisor Ron Roberts will join disaster response experts at the Ramona Air Field today to urge the federal government to recognize that the Ramona Air Traffic Control Tower is a critical asset during county disasters, especially fires.

The Cal Fire Air Attack Base at the Ramona Air Field responds to an average of 450 calls per year and protects more than 1.7 million acres, including U.S. Forest Service land. The base played a key role in fighting the 2003 and 2007 wildfires. The county, along with Cal Fire, has made significant technology investments and upgrades to aircraft that fly from Ramona.       

In response to sequestration, the Federal Aviation Administration is proposing to close air traffic control towers deemed not crucial to the national interest. The County has learned that the Ramona Airport ATCT, operated under a FAA contract with Serco Inc., is targeted for closure. 

Article by Dennis Moore

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle.”   --Frederick Douglass

March 6, 2013 (San Diego)--Thousands of federal employees in the San Diego area are soon to be impacted by sequestration, automatic budget cuts mandated by the federal government.  These cuts may have a larger impact on San Diego County than anywhere else in the U.S., since our region is home to wide-ranging naval operations, a bustling border and vibrant biotech and drone sectors. About $37 billion flows into the County each year, including billions of dollars for defense contracts and millions more for research efforts.

The Coalition For Change, Inc. (C4C) is a Washington, DC based organization that promotes equality as well as exposes retaliation and racism in the federal government. “Civil servants (i.e., agents, air marshals, food inspectors, investigators, corrections officers, firefighters) function as America’s first line of defense against domestic threats. Therefore, we must protect our federal workforce against managerial abuse and reprisal in order to better protect our citizens.” That is what Tanya Ward Jordan, the founder of C4C, believes and espouses in her daily activities and advocacy on behalf of this organization. Now C4C is ramping up to strengthen its fight for federal workers.

By Miriam Raftery

White House releases list of cuts to California

“By God, across-the board cuts are the worst and most cowardly way to approach this situation.” –Senator John McCain (R-AZ)

"Are Republicans in Congress really willing to let these cuts fall on our kids’ schools ...slash military health care and the Border Patrol ...Are they seriously prepared to inflict more pain on the middle class because they refuse to ask anything more of those at the very top?" -- President Barack Obama

February 25, 2013 (San Diego’s East County) – If Congress can’t agree by Friday, automatic sequestration cuts will take place in nearly all federal programs.  Half will hit the military, the other half will slice domestic programs. 

Both sides agreed in prior debt negotiations that the cuts were so severe that neither party would actually let them take place--and that the sequestration trigger would force Congress to come up with a more sensible plan before the March 1 deadline.

Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened.  Sequestration appears likely to occur on Friday--and the impacts are apt to be felt by every American, from long waits at airports to cuts in programs impacting students, senior citizens, the military, national parks, the unemployed, health programs, and much more.  Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said cuts will  even harm the readiness of U.S. troops in the military.

February 28, 2013 (San Diego’s East County)--ECM World Watch helps you be an informed citizen about important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a wide variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

NATIONAL

• Supreme Court Makes It Harder To Challenge Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (NPR)
• Cap Cod community considers taking down wind turbines after illness, noise (Fox)
• Needy families can apply for pet food stamps through donation-based program(ABC News 5)
• Threat of sequestration looms as deadline approaches (CBS)
• Justices asked to void marriage law provision (U-T San Diego)
• Cash-Strapped Postal Service To Launch A New Clothing Line (NPR)
• The true size of the National Debt (Washington Post)
• Mom takes on smart meters over privacy, security and health (Jewish World Health)
• Those terrible first few minutes: Revisiting active shooter protocols for schools (FBI Bulletin)
• iDoctor: Could a smart phone be the future of medicine?  (NBC)

WORLD

• Mexico's 'Crisis Of Disappearance': Families Seek Answers  (NPR)
• UK convicts 3 Islamists for plotting another 9/11 (Jerusalem Post)
• Heritage sites of national significance under threat from wind farms (British Telegraph)
• For Taliban victims, Pakistani peace talks feel like betrayal (Christian Science Monitor)
• Bulgarian government resigns amid growing protests (Reuters)
• Sunspots: Huge and growing fast, says NASA (Christian Science Monitor)
• 'Gazans seek elections as Hamas support declines' (Jerusalem Post)

Read more for excerpts and links to full stories.

February 21, 2013 (San Diego’s East County)--ECM World Watch helps you be an informed citizen about important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a wide variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

NATIONAL

• States join battle over drone fights (The Hill)
• The Voting Rights Act: Under fire (Ebony)
• Sequestration could mean across the board pain (CBS)
• FTC advises consumers to keep eye out for unauthorized charges on credit card bills (ABC)
• Kerry comes out swinging on climate change (The Hill)
• Pentagon informs Congress of plans to furlough 800K civilian workers (The Hill)
• In US, big strides in reducing domestic violence (CS Monitor)
• Farmer's Fight With Monsanto Reaches The Supreme Court (NPR)
• Who will clean up after the nuclear plants? (Christian Science Monitor)
• Alaska brewery plans to use beer as source of green energy (Fox)

WORLD

• Meteor blast injures 1,000 in Russia (CNN)
• Ozone hole shrinks to new low (Christian Science Monitor)
• Journalist rips ‘pro-life’ Republicans for seeking to cut infant nutrition program (Raw Story)
• GOP lawmakers propose $30 million a year to fund cops in schools program (The Hill)
• India farmers’ rice revolution (UK Guardian)
• U.K. Slaughterhouses Raided As Europe's Horse Meat Scandal Widens (NPR)
• A glimpse of Mexico's new crime fighting strategy (Christian Science Monitor)
• Chernobyl hit by roof collapse (BBC)
• The Afghan Battle Over A Law To Protect Women (NPR)
• Foreigners arrested for trying to spread Christianity in Libya (Reuters)

Read more for excerpts and links to full stories.

October 25, 2012 --  (San Diego’s East County) – ECM World Watch helps you be an informed citizen about important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflecting all voices and views, we include links to a wide variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S.

• Mystery in Gulf of Mexico: Why is oil leaking from Deepwater disaster site? (Christian Science Monitor)
• Obama predicts deals on debt, immigration in his second term (The Hill)
• Obama, Romney begin swing state tour in home stretch (LA Times)
• K Street ready for sequestration battle (The Hill)
• CDC: Meningitis mold in tainted drug can incubate for months (NPR)
• Equal pay for equal work: Not even college helps women (NPR)
• Nearly 30% of vets treated by V.A. have PTSD (Newsweek/Daily Beast)
• Drought areas shrink, wheat states see improvement (Reuters)
• Campaigns spar over ‘Romnesia’ charge (The Hill)
• George McGovern, Nixon’s challenger, dies (BBC)

WORLD

• Fatah claims Palestinian election victory (Telegraph UK)
• Putin flexes muscle in big test of Russia’s nuclear arsenal (Reuters)
• At least 28,000 Syrians forcibly disappeared (Jerusalem Post)
• Gazans blast Israel with rockets, draw air strikes (UT San Diego)

Read more for excerpts and links to full stories.