East Couinty News Service

June 3, 2025 (La Mesa) -- The La Mesa Chamber of Commerce invites you to join businesses and food providers at the 16th Annual “Taste of San Diego East” on Monday, June 23 at the Legacy Resort Hotel & Spa in Mission Valley.

Guests can “taste, savor, and mingle” as you meet business vendors and enjoy the food samplings prepared by food and catering participants. Whether you love all-American barbecue or old-fashioned onion burgers, or crave international cuisine including Indian, Irish, Italian, Himalayan, Mexican and Sushi, you’ll find plenty to savor and sip.

East County News Service

April 22, 2025 (El Cajon) – The San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce invites you to the 22nd annual “Grip it and Rip it” golf tournament at Singing Hills  Golf Club on May 15.

The event for ages 21 and up includes one round of golf and lunch.

The invitation states, “Challenge yourself on Willow Glen, a par 72 course, with demanding, narrow fairways and strategically placed bunkers. Sweetwater River runs along the course and comes into play on many holes, providing dramatic scenery and difficult shots. The layout contains several dogleg holes, elevation changes and water crossings that create an incomparable day of golf for enthusiasts. Ted Robinson redesigned Willow Glen in 1980.”

Update April 4:  The tariffs rolled out are broader and steeper than those initially proposed. Read the full list of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on nearly every nation, which range from 10% to 99%. Noticeably absent from the list of Russia, which has zero tariffs imposed.

By Karen Pearlman

Photo by Emma Palmer: San Diego County Building Industry Association CEO Lori Pfeiler; Lucas Coleman, Director of World Trade Center San Diego; and San Diego City Councilman Raul Campillo.

March 26, 2025 (San Diego) -- One week ahead of plans by President Donald Trump to put a 25 percent additional tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada, as well as a 10 percent tariff on imports from China, San Diego City Councilmember Raul Campillo and local business leaders  warned of severe economic consequences for the San Diego County region.

By Leorah Gavidor

March 13, 2025 (Campo) -- When Urban Timber partners Jessica Van Arsdale and Dan Herbst learned they had just a few months to move their well-established tree salvage business, the couple had to scramble to find a place to move hundreds of tons of logs that they had saved from the landfill. The company that saves trees from urban displacement was itself facing displacement. After a few weeks of major stress and uncertainty, Urban Timber found its rural salvation in East County.

By Karen Pearlman 

Photo, left, by Miriam Raftery:  El Cajon's downtown district

March 12, 2025 (El Cajon) – A new city vibe is expected to come to the more than 100-year-old city of El Cajon. 

Earlier this month, the Downtown El Cajon Business Partners, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting a safe and prosperous downtown El Cajon, announced that it had hired New City America to lead a renewal effort in the area. 

The group that helped revitalize Little Italy is being tapped to be executive director of the group and work to make downtown El Cajon a vibrant community hub.

East County News Service

February 22, 2025 (El Cajon) -- Goodwill San Diego announces the Grand Opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new mobile Community Employment Center in El Cajon on February 26 at 9 a.m. This mobile center is designed to meet job seekers where they are, particularly assisting residents in rural areas and those facing transportation and childcare challenges. 

The mobile center will actively participate in hiring events and is available to support local organizations and events as needed. The ribbon-cutting will be held at the Goodwill El Cajon Retail Store parking lot, 420 North 2nd Street, El Cajon on Wednesday, February 26 at 9 a.m.

By Mary England, La Mesa Chamber of Commerce

Photos courtesy of Carrie Smedley Photography

February 19, 2025 (La Mesa) -- The owner of Aromas of India Bar and Grill, Dinesh Shah, made history in La Mesa at the February 5 grand opening of his newly renovated restaurant, located at 5270 Baltimore Drive. Dinesh and his staff offered complimentary dinners to the public and La Mesa Chamber of Commerce guests for three hours from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m., which has never been done in the Chamber’s history and possibly never in the La Mesa business community’s history.  The robust marketing plan generated over a thousand reservations for the evening and brought hundreds and hundreds of people to La Mesa to savor this new restaurant.

"This order is about administering political loyalty tests to everyday employees in the federal workforce," said the president of the National Treasury Employees Union

By Jake Johnson, Common Dreams

Photo:  Trump official portrait, 2025

January 21, 2025 (Washington, D.C.) - A union representing workers across dozens of federal agencies sued the Trump administration late Monday over an executive order stripping many career civil servants of protections designed to insulate them from political pressure.

By Miriam Raftery

December 21, 2024 (San Diego) – Our guests on our East County Magazine Radio Show on KNSJ 89.1 FM this week were Brigette Browning, President of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, along with Ollivia Aguirre, a striking worker, mother of two young children, and psychosocial clinician currently on strike at Kaiser Healthcare in El Cajon. She is also a representative of the National Union of Healthcare Workers. We also spoke with Chris Chavara, a single father of three teenagers and member of the Ironworkers Local 229.

Our guests spoke about the Labor Council’s recent holiday food and toy drive, including how it helped their own families. A downturn in the construction industry and the healthcare strike impacted their households directly, yet both Chavara and Aguirre volunteered at the holiday drive to help give back to others, as well as receive much-needed help.

Browning, also president of UNITE HERE Local 30, also spoke about successes won by unions recently, including unionizing all Sharp Healthcare Workers and landing a historic contract for hotel workers following a strike at the Hilton Bayfront Hotel.

You can listen to our full interviews here and scroll down for more information.

San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council Rallies Community Solidarity to Support Working Families Struggling to Make Ends Meet, Including Striking Workers

East County News Service

December 7, 2024 (San Diego) -- Today, more than 350 San Diego County families received a holiday meal and toys at the United Labor Center in San Diego,  thanks to the generosity of local union workers. Another 150 families in Imperial County will also be helped through the food and toy drive.

Teachers, firefighters, nurses, hotel workers, truck drivers, healthcare providers, janitors, government employees, construction workers, community partners, elected officials, and more are volunteering in solidarity to ensure no family goes without this holiday season.

For over three decades, the San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council has organized this annual Food & Toy Drive to support union families facing financial hardships, including many who are on the frontlines of ongoing fights for better wages and working conditions.

Source:  East County Chamber of Commerce

November 1, 2024 (El Cajon) - The San Diego Regional East County Chamber of Commerce is now accepting nominations for the 2024 East County Honors. On Saturday, February 22^nd, 2025, The East County Chamber will celebrate the 113th anniversary of its annual East County Honors event at Sycuan Casino Resort at 5 p.m. For over a century, the San Diego Regional East County Chamber of Commerce has been a strong voice on business, education, and community issues of interest to the East County Region of San Diego County.

East County News Service

Photos: Bing Copilot Designer powered by DALL-E 3

September 18, 2024 (Sacramento) – California Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday signed two bills that constitute the nation’s toughest laws regulating deceptive AI videos targeting political candidates.

AB 2839 makes it illegal to make or publish deepfake videos in political ads or election communications within 120 days before an election or 90 days after. The law takes effect immediately. 

The second bill, AB 2655, requires online platforms such as social media sites to remove or label deceptive digital content related to elections during certain time periods, and to allow reporting of such content. . It also authorizes candidates, elected officials, elections officials, the Attorney General, and a district attorney or city attorney to seek injunctive relief against a large online platform for noncompliance.