Source: Spring Valley Community Alliance

February 22, 2024 (Spring Valley, CA) -- Spring Valley residents applaud Tuesday's approval of FEMA aid for those affected by the January 22 rainstorm, but the community is already taking action to support recovery efforts. A coalition of area churches, community organizations, and residents led by the Spring Valley Community Alliance have partnered to open a site at Spring Valley Community Church to collect and distribute donations for those affected. 

A donation site located at 3310 Bancroft Drive, Spring Valley will open Saturday February 24 from 10am to Noon. The site's regular hours will be Mondays through Thursdays from 10 a.m. to Noon.

While the waters receded quickly from the thousand-year flood, more than 200 Spring Valley homes were left badly impacted. Cars, furniture, appliances, and other essential belongings were left severely damaged or destroyed.  

"Many Spring Valley residents were left with the clothes on their backs and the items they could grab as they attempted to escape the rising waters," said Chris Pierce, Vice President of the Spring Valley Community Alliance. "There are physical needs that our neighbors have beyond what the County Resource Center set up at the Spring Valley Library could provide."

East County News Service

February 21, 2024 (Santa Ysabel, CA) – An 11-year-old girl has died as a result of a two-vehicle collision that occurred in Santa  Ysabel on February 17 around 2:40 p.m.

According to Officer Jared Grieshaber with the California Highway Patrol, an Escondido woman,27, was driving a 2020 Honda Accord with three passengers. She was headed east on State Route 76 and stopped at the intersection with State  Route 79, then pulled out in front of a 2022 Ford F-150 pickup truck that was heading south on  State Route 79.

East County News Service

February 21, 2024 (Washington D.C.) -- President Joe Biden today announced the approval of $1.2 billion in student debt cancellation for almost 153,000 borrowers currently enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, repayment plan.

The borrowers receiving relief are the first to benefit from a SAVE plan policy that provides debt forgiveness to borrowers who have been in repayment after as little as 10 years and took out $12,000 or less in student loans. Originally planned for July, the Biden-Harris Administration implemented this provision of SAVE and is providing relief to borrowers nearly six months ahead of schedule.

The Biden-Harris Administration has now approved nearly $138 billion in student debt cancellation for almost 3.9 million borrowers through more than two dozen executive actions.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Flooded cars, City of La Mesa, January 22, 2024

February 20, 2024 (San Diego) – Water damaged vehicles may be flooded the market after the severe January storms submerged many vehicles. Flooded vehicles are apt to have permanent damage to electrical systems including airbags, putting lives at risk. But some water damage can take months or even years to appear.

Most insurers will declare a flooded vehicle a total loss, which means it should be issued a salvage or flood title. It is then sent to auction, where it may be stripped for parts, or sold to unscrupulous buyers who may resell it.

 So how can you protect yourself from buying a flood-damaged vehicle? Here are some tips,compiled from Consumer Reports and NBC news.

Update February 19, 2024-- Video of this candidate forum is now posted.  View the forum here:  79th State Assembly Forum 2/3/2024 (youtube.com)

By Jessyka Heredia 

Miriam Raftery also contributed to this report

Photo, left to right:  Mayor Racquel Vasquez, Councilman Colin Parent, and County Office of Education Community Engagement Specialist LaShea Sharp-Collins.

January 31, 2024 (East County) --Three Democrats are running for the 79^th District State Assembly seat on March 5^th . Lemon Grove Mayor Racquel Vasquez, La Mesa City Councilmember Colin Parent and Dr. LaShae Sharp- Collins. There are no Republicans in this race.

All three candidates will be attending a public forum being held Saturday February 3^rd, 2024 at the Lemon Grove Library at  2 p.m. The library is located at 3001 School Ln, Lemon Grove, CA 91945. 

With three strong names in the same party competing, it may be hard for voters to decipher the differences. ECM breaks down their experience, accomplishments, the goals they have outlined in their campaigned, and key endorsements.

East County Wildfire & Emergency Alerts

February 18, 2024 (San Diego) – The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch for  San Diego County’s mountains, valleys, and coasts,  as well as portions of Orange, Riverside,  San Bernadino ,Los Angeles and Oxnard counties. The watch is in effect tonight through Wednesday morning due to a Pacific storm moving into our region expected to bring up to 1.5 inches of rain locally.

A low pressure system from the north is forecast to bring widespread showers and isolated thunderstorms, with moderate to heavy rains capable of flooding in urban and low-lying areas.

“We are holding him accountable for lying, cheating, and a lack of contrition...because there cannot be different rules for different people in this country, and former presidents are no exception.” – New York Attorney General Letitia James (photo, left)

By Miriam Raftery

February 18, 2024 (New York, NY) – Donald Trump has been ordered to pay a $354.1 million penalty for fraudulently inflating his net worth and the value of his real estate holdings in order to obtain bank loans. In the New York civil trial, Judge Arthur Engoron also barred Trump from running a business in New York for two years and ordered that a monitor oversee Trump Organization’s business dealings. Two of his sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., were each fined $4 million and prohibited from running the company for three more years.

This is not the first time that Trump has been found to have committed fraud.  His family charity and Trump University both shut down after separate courts found them to have engaged in fraud.

By Michael Howard

Photos courtesy of the candidates' campaigns, left to right: Republican Kristie Bruce-Lane and Democrats Darshana Patel and Joseph Rocha

February 17, 2024 (San Diego, CA) – Three candidates in the upcoming March 5 primaries are vying for the open California 76th Assembly seat vacated by Brian Maienschein (D), who announced he was running for the city of San Diego’s City Attorney this election cycle.

A former Republican, Maienschein switched to the Democratic party in 2019 before running against Republican Kristie Bruce-Lane in the 2022 general election for the seat, where he won by a 6% margin, 78,895 votes to Bruce-Lane’s 73,944.

Bruce-Lane will be the sole Republican in the race this year, facing two Democratic candidates, Joseph Rocha and Darshana Patel. All three candidates look to represent a mostly inland North County district with a population of around 471,000.

Dozens displaced Jan. 22 at Rolando apartment complex that has flooded in the past

By Miriam Raftery

February 16, 2024 (San Diego) – When a flood control channel next to Donna Ferguson’s townhome on Bonillo Drive in San Diego’s Rolando community,  water  surged through the ground floor, sweeping away everything in its path including furniture, appliances and clothes, also destroying the electric scooter chair that she relies on for mobility. 

By Tracy DeFore, County of San Diego Communications Office

February 12, 2024 (San Diego) -- Jobs and finances, food systems, health, and housing – data shows these areas have some of the largest equity gaps in the San Diego region.

The Office of Equity and Racial Justice (OERJ) released the County’s first Equity Indicators Report on Wednesday.

By Cassie N. Saunders, County of San Diego Communications Office

February 12, 2024 (San Diego) -- The County of San Diego has begun providing people displaced by the Jan. 22 flooding with up to 30-days of temporary lodging.

NATO forces fought in Afghanistan to protect the U.S. after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, but Trump made clear he would not defend our NATO Allies

By Miriam Raftery

Photo (cc by SA) --  The Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington D.C. caused NATO to invoke its collective defense article for the first time.

February 12, 2024 (San Diego) — Former president Donald Trump said Saturday that if reelected, he would not defend U.S. allies under the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance, or NATO, unless they paid at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defense. He claimed to have told the leader of a major ally that if Russia were to attack that nation, “No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.”

Trump’s comments during a South Carolina rally sent shockwaves around the world, drawing strong rebukes from NATO and world leaders.

Retired General Wesley Clark, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, called the remarks “treasonous,” in a CNN interview.

Earlier, he issued this statement:  “On 9/11, when America was under attack, NATO nations all mobilized to come to our defense and fought alongside us to crush al Qaeda. They didn’t ask us for money. They didn’t put strings on it.  That is the kind of iron-clad commitment that has kept western democracies—including our own—alive for 75 years.”

General Clark added, “For Donald Trump to publicly signal to Vladimir Putin that he can take as much of Europe as he wants, and we will sit by and cheer him on, isn’t just breaking the promise the United States has made, and it isn’t just threatening Europe. It is encouraging World War III, which will hit our shores and cost American lives....The lives of every American, both in uniform and civilian, are at severe risk if Donald Trump wins this election.”

By Mike Allen

Photo, top left to lower right:  Carl DeMaio, Andrew Hayes, Kevin Juza, Jack Fernandes, Joy Frew, Christie Dougherty

February 10, 2024 (Santee) -- Politics makes strange bedfellows. This is certainly proving true in the 75th Assembly race, which has attracted a field of six candidates, evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.  Incumbent Marie Waldron is termed out this year, making this an open seat.

In the last few weeks, television viewers have seen ads for the most recognizable and funded candidate, Republican Carl DeMaio, at his most combative, railing about the mess at the southwest border. It closes with pictures of him alongside one of Democrat Kevin Juza, who has the endorsement of the state’s Democratic party and big labor backing.

“I have no connection to (the ad) at all,” Juza said. “He’s chosen me to run against in the primary….As my grandmother always said, ‘Watch out what you wish for.’”