February 26, 2010 (4 a.m.)Sheriff Bill Gore has activated more than 100 Search and Rescue volunteers and deputies to locate missing Poway teen Chelsea King. King was reported missing by her family late Thursday after she did not return home from a run in the north Rancho Bernardo area.

UPDATE FEB. 23:  The Board has voted unanimously to outlaw project labor agreements through an ordinanance, instead of putting a similar measure on the ballot. 

February 20, 2010 (San Diego) – San Diego's Board of Supervisors will vote Tuesday on whether to place a ballot initiative before voters that would ban project labor agreements (PLAs). PLAs, adopted in other jurisdictions but not by the Supervisors, mandate that government contracts for public construction projects go to contracts that hire union workers.  

Supporters of PLAs say they are needed to assure that jobs will go to local workers paid decent wages, not cheap labor imported from elsewhere.  Opponents contend that outlawing PLAs will cut costs and save money for cash-strapped jurisdictions.

Questions raised over early handling of case; no major search mounted for weeks after Jeep SUV found disabled 22 miles off-road in remote desert locale

“Thanksgiving weekend is the busiest of the year. Tens of thousands of people were in the desert…It’s likely someone would have come across him. If it was at night and he was on foot, someone could have given him a ride.” -- Detective Patrick Yates

By Miriam Raftery

February 25, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) - Grounded for stealing his stepfather's motorcycle and going joyriding November 20th in a Riverside County park, 16-year-old Mickey Guidry (also called Mike or Mikey) took his parents’ blue Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV on Thanksgiving to join friends who were camping at 5454 Split Mountain Road in Ocotillo Wells. He left camp at 3 p.m. on Friday, November 27th—and hasn’t been seen since. Now ECM has learned that this wasn't the first time the teen has gone missing. Sheriff officials are treating the case as a runaway.

But the boy's mother, Missy Perucca, believes her son made it out of the desert alive and may now be living elsewhere--and hopes he didn't meet with foul play.  "I just hope someone somewhere knows something and reports it to the police so we can finally have a direction to go in," she said. 

February 24, 2010 (Spring Valley)  Firefighters are on the scene of a two-alarm blaze that has fully engulfed a residence at 8814 Bancroft in Spring Valley.  The blaze, south of 94,  has sent up a plume of black smoke visible for many miles.  The photo at left was taken from Mt. Helix.

February 23, 2010 (San Diego) – Congressman Bob Filner (D-San Diego) recently introduced H.R. 4488, the National Wildfire Infrastructure Improvement & Cost Containment Act.

“It is about time that we properly recognize our brave federal wildland firefighters and make sure they are on par with other federal firefighters,” Filner said in a newsletter to constituents. “Congress must provide American citizens with the strongest, most cost-effective, and efficient federal wildfire response possible to meet the challenges and complexities of wildfires in the 21st Century.”

By Miriam Raftery
 

Mike Thaller also contributed to this report
 

Updated February 25

February 23, 2010 (Julian) - A 20,000 boulder has rolled off a mountain and is blocking Highway 78 east of Wynola Road and is blocking the highway, CHP reports. In addition, I-5 is blocked at B Street with traffic diversion in place due to a fatality rollover which occurred at 8:40 a.m.  

February 22, 2010 (San Diego's East County) -- At its February 17, 2010 meeting, the Helix Water District Board of Directors adopted a resolution supporting the $11.14 billion water bond set for the November 2010 ballot.

View a video of the full meeting, recorded by www.CitizensOversight.org  here:  blip.tv/file/3260117

FACT CHECK SITES REVEAL CORPORATE FUNDING BEHIND TEA PARTIES; 

POLLS SUGGEST MOST FOLLOWERS ARE UNAWARE OF ACTUAL TAX RATE CHANGES

February 20, 2010 (El Cajon) – T.E.A. (“Taxed Enough Already”) Party protesters rallied in an El Cajon park yesterday, turning out despite drizzly weather. “We were happy with our big turnout considering the weather conditions,” organizer Barry Willis told East County Magazine. Just how big that crowd was, however, has become a point of contention.

By Miriam Raftery

February 21, 2010 (Julian) – “Mexican gray wolves are the rarest land animals in North America. They are highly endangered—there are only 52 in the wild,” said Erin Hunt, general manager of the California Wolf Center in Julian, which is open to the public, researchers, photographers, education and youth groups. “This is a binational effort," she added,  "because once, the only population left was in captivity.”

February 21, 2010 (Dulzura) The San Diego Sheriff Department’s Search and Rescue Unit was activated this morning to search for six hikers who failed to return home last night. The group has been located and airlifted out after rushing waters left them trapped, East County Magazine has been informed by a spokesperson with the San Diego Sheriff’s Department.

DeMaio pushes to ban living wage, local hiring requirements and more;

Hueso counters with local jobs ordinance

February 20, 2010 (San Diego) On Wednesday, San Diego Councilman Carl DeMaio and the Associated General Contractors are trying to put an initiative on the ballot that would eliminate gains made by labor in recent years. On Wednesday, Councilman Ben Hueso will seek to counter those efforts by introducing a Local Jobs Ordinance that would make local job creation a priority on public works projects.

February 20, 2010 (Santee) - In early February Santee’s Community Policing Unit developed information on a prolific tagging crew consisting of seven criminal graffiti "taggers". Using the Graffiti Tracker investigation system, the San Diego County Sheriff’s office documented that the "tagging crew" had committed over 80 incidents since April 2009 with a significant spike in activity last week.

Reprinted with permission from EnviroCitizen

February 20, 2010 -- Finding a green home is getting to be easier as more people are becoming aware of the benfits of green living for their health as well as for the Earth. There are a few things to look for and ask when you are in the market for a green home.