October 25, 2024 (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 round-up stories include:

LOCAL

• First locally acquired case of dengue virus reported in Escondido (NBC San Diego)
• Sheriff introduces new jail safety efforts, and faces critics, in first oversight-board appearance and in-depth interview
• State delivers millions in funding for rail corridor in San Diego and Orange County (KPBS)
• ‘They took away the love of my life’: Widow sues over diabetic man’s death in San Diego jail  (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• County Official Accuses Two Supes of Racist Remarks (Voice of San DIego)
• Grossmont High School math teacher named one of California's top 5 educators (10 News)
• First phase of CDC survey on health impacts of sewage crisis launching (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• State Bar seizes law office of El Cajon woman accused of posing as attorney (10 News)
• Big Donor Dominance: Campaign Finance in San Diego (Maplight)

STATE

• Fact-checking claims about California's Proposition 36: What it means for drug arrests (CBS 13)
• Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Workers Continue Strike; Union Accused of ‘Slow Walking’ Negotiations (Times of San Diego)
• California’s plan  to overhaul a key climate program — raising the cost of gas — ignites debate (Cal Matters)
• Endangered birds released at Naval Base Ventura County Point Mugu  (Fox 5)
• L.A.’s quake mystery: 2024 brings the most seismic activity in decades. Why now? (LA Times)

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

By Suzanne Potter, California News Service

September 12, 2024 (Sacramento) --Hundreds of thousands of older Californians will see huge savings on prescription drugs starting in January, according to a new report from AARP.

That's because the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act caps prescription drug costs at $2,000 per year for people on Medicare, starting in 2025.

An estimated 271,000 people in the Golden State will hit the out-of-pocket maximum next year, Nina Weiler-Harwell, associate director of advocacy and community engagement for AARP California, said.

"Medicare drug plan enrollees nationwide who reach the new out-of-pocket cap will see an average savings of roughly $1,500," said Weiler-Harwell, "or 56% in 2025 for new prescription drugs."

On average, 40% of people on Medicare who reach the cap will save at $1,000 a year. And 12% will see savings of more than $3,000.

July 18, 2024 (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 round-up stories include:

LOCAL

• In-Depth: $10 million effort to assess San Diego's aging dams (10 News)
• Border arrests plunge 29% in June to the lowest of Biden's presidency as asylum halt takes hold (10 News)
• Poll finds majority of San Diego, Imperial County officeholders experienced threats (KPBS)
• UC San Diego poised to super-size dorms to ease chronic housing shortage (San Diego Union-Tribune)

STATE

• Hundreds of deaths, thousands of injuries, billions of dollars: The cost of extreme heat in California (Cal Matters)
• Project 2025, GOP platform blast California, teeing up critiques of Biden stand-ins (LA Times)
• Space firms pitch SpaceX workers hurt by Elon Musk’s plan to move company out of California  (Mercury News)

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

July 8, 2024 (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 round-up stories include:

LOCAL

• San Diego County unemployment rate drops below national average at 3.6% (KPBS)
• New copper line trolley would bring major changes to East County  (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Gang Member Sentenced to Life Without Parole for Killing Spring Valley Mother (Times of San Diego)
• $10M from state for tiny homes in jeopardy after county board kills Spring Valley plan (Times of Diego)
• San Diego County is unprepared for climate disasters (Axios)
• Threats, profanity, accusations skyrocketing at public meetings, KPBS analysis shows (KPBS)
• Controversial plans to urbanize San Diego neighborhoods advance, could soon get City approval  (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• San Diego Humane Society creates 'Dog Day Out' program (CBS 8)

STATE

• Will Google strike a deal with California news outlets to fund journalism?  (San Jose Mercury News)
• DEA operation exposes growing ties between Mexican drug cartel and Chinese organized crime  (NBC)
• California Democrats agree to delay health care worker minimum wage increase to help balance budget (ABC News)
• California budgets up to $12 million for reparations bills, a milestone in atoning for racist legacy (KPBS)

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

June 4, 2024 (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 round-up stories include:

LOCAL

• Shark scientists use new DNA technology to track great whites after San Diego attack (NBC San Diego)
• Nearly four years after protests took a violent turn in La Mesa, the healing continues (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• San Diego wants twice as many people in 2 popular neighborhoods. Its controversial plans could get OK’d this week. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• San Diego Padres player Tucupita Marcano banned for life by MLB for betting on baseball (10 News)
• Auditors Flag SDG&E’s Soaring Costs to Bury Power Lines(Voice of San Diego)
• 20 years of the Lebanese Festival in El Cajon (10 News)
• Morning Report: Gloria Pushes Back on Countywide Water Rate Hike (Voice of San Diego)

STATE

• Recess is a right next year in California. Are school districts ready? (KPBS)
• CA Among Worst States For Tick-Borne Illness: Ranking (Patch)
• Sacramento Report: Flurry of Votes Decides Which Bills Move on, and Which Die (Voice of San Diego)
• California Sen. Alex Padilla convinces colleagues to vote against bipartisan border bill (Los Angeles Times)
• Former California water official pleads guilty to conspiring to steal water from irrigation canal  (KPBS)

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

“AT&T failed to demonstrate the availability of replacement providers...Additionally, public commenters at CPUC public forums highlighted the unreliability of voice alternatives such as mobile wireless or VOIP.” –CPUC

May 10, 2024 (Sacramento) – After hearing from consumers across the state and reviewing evidence in the record, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today issued a proposal rejecting AT&T’s request to withdraw as a carrier of last resort (COLR), which would have ended land line service across San Diego County and other areas. The CPUC also indicated that it intends to initiate a new Rulemaking process to address COLR telecommunications service obligations.

The proposal will be on the CPUC’s June 20 Voting Meeting agenda.

AT&T's plan to pull the plug on land line phone service has drawn strong opposition from rural residents in East County and elsewhere in California, as ECM reported in February, as well as from consumer advocates who warn that ending land lines would leave many in rural or remote locations with no reliable phone service at all, since Internet VOIP phone service is not widely available in many places and some areas also lack cell phone connectivity. Even for those with cell service, land lines have proven life-saving options when cell towers have burned down during wildfires in places such as rural Potrero.

By Suzanne Potter

Photo: Yaya Err,  Adobestock

April 22, 2023 (Sacramento)-- Today, in honor of Earth Day, climate advocates are asking California lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom to rally around a plan to put a $15 billion bond measure on the November ballot.

If passed, the bond measure would fund a range of climate resiliency measures.

Sam Hodder, president and CEO of the Save the Redwoods League, said March was the tenth month in a row to break monthly heat records.

By  Suzanne Potter, California News Service

Suzanne Potter

January 9,2024 (Sacramento) -- Starting January 1st, California became the first state to cover health care for all income-eligible people regardless of their age or immigration status. 

November 17, 2023 (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 round-up stories include:

LOCAL

• 3 cities (including Santee) face a climate dilemma: to build or not to build homes in risky places (NPR)
• San Diego Selling Back Some Pricey Colorado River Water for Cheaper Met Water (Voice of San Diego)
• What's that smell? Some East County residents complain of strong odor in the air  (10 News)
• San Diego County asks organizations to host ‘sleeping cabins' on their property in homelessness fight (NBC)
•  San Diego residents charged up about high electricity prices (KPBS)
• San Diego Tourism Authority celebrates over $14 billion in visitor spending last year  (KPBS)
• San Diego gets closer to zero waste goal, but is still behind schedule (KPBS)
• How the Union-Tribune’s new owners could impact democracy in San Diego County (KPBS)
• How big will the Cardenas fallout be? (Voice of San Diego)
• San Diego man's car insurance retroactively canceled after he got in an accident (NBC 7)
• The Supposed Volunteers Keeping Major San Diego Venues Staffed Are Often Paid Under the Table and Below Minimum Wage (Voice of San Diego)
• Restoring Cuyamaca’s tree canopy is years away. Some birds may never return. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

STATE

• Thousands Forced To Switch Insurance As Yet Another Provider Leaves CA (Patch)
• Newsom pushes California universities to boost campus safety as protests rage over Mideast war (Politico)
• California's electricity bills could soon be based on how much you make — and some people are furious (Business Insider)

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

September 23, 2023 (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 round-up stories include:

LOCAL

• Up for parole | Convicted Santana High School shooter has a chance at freedom   (CBS 8)
• COVID-19 hospitalizations are on the rise in San Diego County. Here's what you need to know  (KPBS)
• New jail-death lawsuit accuses sheriff’s deputies of being involved in drug sales behind bars (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• More antisemitic flyers dropped in Del Cerro neighborhood (KPBS)
• Video footage of fatal La Mesa police shooting released (10 News)
• State Legislature Steps Into San Diego’s Water Divorce Debate (Voice of San Diego)
• Newsom sends more CalGuard members to border in effort to halt the flood of fentanyl (Los Angeles Times)
• Once smeared as a security risk who would ‘infiltrate’ Congress, he’s a Navy officer now (Los Angeles Times column)
• Tijuana official explains why hundreds of migrants are back at the border
• Disgraced ex-Supervisor Fletcher describes relationship with woman suing him in court docs 
• City of San Diego to unveil mattress disposal program at Miramar Landfill  (10 News)
• Woman sentenced 18 years to life for shooting woman found dead in Bonita (10 News)
• The Learning Curve: Students Could Soon Earn Degrees Without Going to Class (Voice of San Diego)
• It's about to get easier to pay MTS bus and trolley fares(KPBS)

STATE

• CSU Board Approves Five-Year Annual 6% Tuition Hikes (Times of San Diego)
• Appeals court will hear challenge to California's new rooftop solar rules  (KPBS) California health care tax proponents go to the ballot (Politico)
• US judge strikes down California ban on high-capacity gun magazines( Reuters)
• California scales back electric car rebates to focus on lower-income car buyers (CalMatters)
• Schiff and Porter increasingly dominate race for Senate, poll shows (Los Angeles Times)
• CA Moves To Legalize Magic Mushrooms And Other Psychedelics (Patch)
• California voters oppose cash reparations for slavery descendants by 2 to 1: Poll (Washington Times)

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

August 23, 2023 (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 round-up stories include:

LOCAL

• Alpine school district becomes 1st in county to provide affordable housing for teachers (10 News)
• What is in San Diego's Housing Action 2.0 Package? (NBC7)
• Much of San Diego will soon be surveilled by a network of police cameras. Here’s what you should know (San DIego Union-Tribune)
• Supreme Court to hear Poway school board case over blocking criticism on social media (Reuters)
• Our Border Sewage Crisis Has a Solution. SANDAG Holds it. (Voice of San Diego)
• FAA Probing Near Collision of Southwest Airliner and Executive Jet in San Diego (Times of San Diego)
• Family of 14-year-old found at Camp Pendleton demand answers (Times of San Diego)
• County Human Relations Commissioner Resigns After His Antisemitic Rant (Times of San Diego)
• Zoe Bernard of La Mesa acts with the stars in ‘Asteroid City’ (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• 29:Eleven Maternity Home in El Cajon helps unsheltered pregnant women(CBS 8)
• Protesters gather outside New Children's Museum over drag queen story time  (10 News)
• County Water Authority sues over Rainbow, Fallbrook agencies' departures  (KPBS)
• Orphaned pets from Maui fire on their way to Helen Woodward Animal Center (KUSI)

STATE

• Los Angeles crime lab finds 4% of seized fentanyl samples contain flesh-eating sedative (Los Angeles Times)
• California voters made public records a right, will they give it more teeth?  (San Jose Mercury News)
• Record numbers of people have died in California jails. Now lawmakers could crack down (Cal  Matters)
• Alaska Airlines flight makes hard landing during California storms  (NPR)
• Sea level changes could drastically affect Calif. beaches by the end of the century  (NPR)
• .Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 90, falls at home and goes to hospital, but scans are clear, her office says (AP)

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

East County News Service

July 17, 2023 (Sacramento) -- The California Medical Association (CMA) has achieved a significant victory for healthcare providers, consumers and public interest advocates in the case of California Medical Association v. Aetna Health of California Inc. The California Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of CMA, confirming  the organization's legal standing to sue Aetna Health for alleged violations of the Unfair Competition Law (UCL).

The lawsuit centers on an Aetna Health policy that targeted the use of out-of-network benefits by its PPO plan members. CMA alleges that the insurance company discouraged its members from going out of network even though their PPO plans included such benefits, and that Aetna Health harassed or terminated its contracted physicians for referring PPO members to out-of-network facilities.

Such a policy, according to CMA, directly interfered with the doctor-patient relationship and physicians’ independent medical judgment, in violation of numerous state laws. CMA sued Aetna Health to stop what it calls “harmful and illegal policy.”

April 14, 2023  (San Diego) -- East County Roundup highlights top stories of interest to East County and San Diego's inland regions, published in other media.  This week's round-up stories include:

LOCAL

• SDG&E proposes adding flat fee to utility bills (KPBS)
• Duncan Hunter Blamed in Friendly Fire Incident That Killed 2 Marines in Fallujah (Times of San Diego)
• Fletcher Resignation: What Are Next Steps for County Supervisors and How Much Will It Cost? (KPBS)
• Proposed ordinance banning homeless from camping in public places sets off fiery debate (10 News)
• Border Patrol: Armed bandits robbed 3 migrant groups in Otay Mountain wilderness (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• three migrants shot and wounded in the same vicinity.
• Supervisors delay vote on sewer rate increase for 8 unincorporated communities (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Julian Man Dies From Flesh-Eating Bacteria After Chasing Dog Into Pond (NBC 7)
• Man surrenders to deputies, taken in for psychiatric evaluation after 7-hour standoff in Dulzura  (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Bankruptcy court OKs sale of Borrego Health to DAP Health; regulatory approval pending  (Desert Sun)

STATE

• Feinstein asks for Judiciary replacement after calls for resignation (The Hill)
• Los Angeles, Las Vegas and other major cities could face huge water cuts in feds’ proposed plan to save the Colorado River (CNN)
• California Government Cuts Back In-Person Press Access in Post-COVID Era (Cal Matters)
• Ocean temperatures hit record as El Niño looms (CBS News)
• California’s snowpack is among the deepest ever. Now get ready for the perilous ‘big melt’ (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Undocumented California farmworkers would get path to state residency under new proposal (Sacramento Bee)
• Lawsuit seeks to uphold closing California’s last nuke plant (AP)

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

March 21, 2023  (San Diego) -- East County Roundup highlights top stories of interest to East County and San Diego's inland regions, published in other media.  This week's round-up stories include:

LOCAL

• Biden Meets With UK, Australian PMs In San Diego; Submarine Deal OK'd (Patch)
• Son of scientist fatally shot by law enforcement during confrontation in Little Italy sues city, county  (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Former anchor claims victory in her discrimination lawsuit against KUSI (KPBS)
• San Diego County now has overdose reversal drug in vending machines  (KPBS)
• Man pleads guilty to murder for killing ex's twin daughters in Lemon Grove (10 News)
• Woman sentenced nearly 8 years for role in injuring El Cajon Police Officer (Times of San Diego)

STATE

• Newsom loosens rules to allow more floodwater to flow into underground reservoirs (Sacramento Bee)
• Storms end Southern California water restrictions for 7 Million (AP)
• More than 8,000 people in California were evacuated after a levee failed  (NPR)
• California Politics: State GOP starts convention with no prominent Senate candidate (Los Angeles Times)
• No California salmon: Fishery to be shut down this year (KPBS)
• California bill to protect doctors who mail abortion pills (KPBS)
• California will remake San Quentin prison, emphasizing rehab (AP)

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

February 9, 2023  (San Diego) -- East County Roundup highlights top stories of interest to East County and San Diego's inland regions, published in other media.  This week's round-up stories include:

LOCAL

• In State of the County speech, Board Chair Nora Vargas pledges to boost housing, small businesses and air quality (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• ‘We are not forgotten’: Formerly deported veterans become U.S. citizens in special San Diego ceremony (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• After the Vaccine, Republicans Became Far More Likely to Die with Covid-19 Than Democrats (Voice of San Diego)
• Here come the flowers (Borrego Sun)
• Reopened Chamber rebuilds (The Alpine Sun)
• Change in towing policy coming to San Diego (KPBS)
• Rincon reclaims power from state to oversee its gaming (Valley Roadrunner)
• Sharp data breach impacts nearly 6,300 (Fox 5 San Diego)

STATE

• California won't require COVID vaccine to attend schools (KPBS)
• The winter storms in California will boost water allocations for the state's cities  (AP)
• New Bill Would Mandate California Gun Owners Purchase Liability Insurance (Times of San Diego)
• President Biden Approves Emergency Aid for California in Wake of Deadly Storms (Times of San Diego)
• New cars in California must be zero-emissions by 2035. Can the power grid handle it?  (NPR)

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