July 7, 2010 (Encanto) - San Diego Police Department seeks public help to locate a 2007 Dodge Charger, California license 6FOV930, which was carjacked last night at 9:55 p.m. A Hispanic man with a shaved head ran up to the driver, a 33-year-old woman driving her friend’s car, as she pulled up to 305 61st Street. He ordered her out of the car at gunpoint and stole the vehicle.

July 7, 2010 (La Mesa) – San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce will feature NBC 7/39 money advisor George Chamberlain at its Power Breakfast meeting on Friday, July 9th at 7:15 a.m. Chamberlain is also host of KOGO Radio’s “Money in the Morning” show, serves as executive editor of the Daily Transcript, pens a column for the North County Times, and publishes a national newsletter titled “Investing for Rookies.”

July 7, 2010 (La Mesa) -- Saddle up and head on over for an evening of innocent fun at the tables at Home of Guiding Hands 1st Annual Wild West Casino Night, Friday, July 16, 7–11 p.m. at Gio Bistro Wine Bar in La Mesa. Ticket includes hors d'oeuvres, a beverage of your choice, and $200 of gaming credit, opportunity drawings and door prizes. Net proceeds benefit San Diegans with developmental disabilities.

 Device helps prevent blindness in patients with age-related macular degeneration

Additional street closures slated in vicinity

July 6, 2010 (Santee) –Highway 67 will be closed in both directions Thursday night and early Friday morning due to extension of the highway into Santee.
 

Southbound lanes will shut down starting Thursday at 9 p.m. between Woodside and Prospect. Northbound lanes in the same section of highway will be closed starting at 11 p.m., along with Bradley Avenue and Prospect Avenue onramps.  Additional closures are as follows:

July 6, 2010 (Washington D.C.) -- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on July 1st unveiled an innovative new on-line tool aimed at helping consumers take control of their health care by connecting them to new information and resources to access quality, affordable health care coverage.

July 6, 2010 (Lemon Grove) – The City of Lemon Grove has issued a proclamation declaring July 10th “Pride Day at Your Lemon Grove Library.” Ron deHarte, emcee of the Pride Celebration, was the victim of a hate crime that occurred in Lemon Grove last summer while participating in an equal rights torch relay that passed through Lemon Grove.

July 5, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – C. Hook Theater will present Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat July 7-10. C. Hook Theater productions are held at the Performing Arts Center at The Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Community Center, 6845 University Avenue in San Diego (one block west of 70th Street).

July 4, 2010 (Washington D.C.) – The Fourth of July marks the anniversary of the signing of America’s most cherished document, the Declaration of Independence announcing the American colonies' freedom from British rule. Yet many today have never heard the inspiring words in their entirety.
 

 It was 234 years ago today, while the Revolutionary War was raging, that church bells rang out across Philadelphia to celebrate the Continental Congress' adopting Thomas Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence.

National Public Radio has a tradition of inviting journalists and show hosts to read the cherished document out loud each year at Independence Day.  Click here to hear the broadcast--and read the full text. Invite friends, family and neighbors to listen, too.  You may be amazed to find how many issues are just as relevant today as they were back in 1776. 

 By Miriam Raftery

July 3, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – Michael Eugene Richardson, whose wife and mother-in-law have been identified as homicide victims in a staged car crash in Lakeside, has an extensive criminal past, investigations reveal.  Court records in North Carolina indicate Richardson was convicted of robbing and shooting a cab driver in 1976. He served six years of a 30 year sentence before escaping while out with a roadside work crew.

July 2, 2010 (La Mesa) – Brew Ha Ha "Sunday Night Comedy" opens July 11 at Gio Bistro and Wine Bar, 8384 La Mesa Boulevard in La Mesa’s downtown village. The weekly performance will be the first of its kind in East County, according to producers.

By Miriam Raftery

Photos courtesy of Helix Water District

July 3, 2010 (Sacramento) – Due to the state budget deficit, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger this week announced his intent to ask the Legislature to postpone Proposition 18, the $11.4 million water bond measure that qualified for the November 2010 ballot, until November 2012. Postponement would require a two-thirds vote of both the Assembly and Senate. 

The measure faced mounting opposition from consumer, environmental and labor groups, with even many supporters urging revision or postponement amid the current economic situation.

July 3, 2010 (San Diego) -- Congressman Bob Filner (D-San Diego) applauds the announcement of a $9 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to a UC San Diego led consortium for research into use of algae for biofuels.

Hackers use Facebook and other social networking sites to swindle friends

July 2, 2010 (San Diego) – The San Diego FBI office warns that the Internet Crime Complaint Center has received complaints of e-mail or social networking accounts being used in a social engineering scam to swindle consumers out of thousands of dollars.

East County Roundup features top stories impacting East County published in other media.

Roundup stories in this issue:

• Winery change goes to supervisors with no recommendation
• Final count: Mullin defeats Vaus with 104 votes (Poway Council)
• 2 more to be sentenced in 2008 SDSU stabbing
• Dubois family seeks damages from state
• Court bolsters gun rights
• Doctors test new rattlesnake antivenom
• Man accused of flashing girl, fondling others in Escondido
• Authorities deal with more bee swarms
• King family moving back to Illinois
• Unemployment rate drops in San Diego
• Ex-Helix High official acquitted of some charges
• SDG&E’s customers to pay for fire repairs