East County News Service

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March 24, 2026 (San Pasqual)  --  The lion pride at the Safari Park just got a little louder as Bo, Zuri, Amira, and Malika are together on habitat for the first time. For the past several years, the Safari Park has had only lionesses on display, but now the pride has a new lion king with the addition of Bo, a young male lion.

By Alexander J. Schorr

March 24, 2026— On Saturday, March 28, 2026, a massive nationwide mobilization called “No Kings 3” is scheduled across the United States. It is organized by the NO Kings Coalition, which includes groups like Indivisible, the ACLU, and the AFL-CIO. This event is expected to be one of the largest protests in American history.

The protest primarily aims to oppose what organizers describe as authoritarian actions and “regime brutality” by the second Trump administration. This specific date of protests was also chosen following the murders of residents like Alex Pretti, Renée Good, and Keith Porter during federal immigration (ICE) operations.

As of March 2026, the public views Trump’s second term as generally negative and deeply polarized. The nation is struggling under rising costs for living and affordability, disdain over the recent Iran War started by President Trump, as well as a general dissatisfaction of life in the United States,

by Chris Jennewein • Times of San Diego , a member of the San Diego Online News Association

The USS Boxer underway in March 2024 prior to a deployment. (Photo courtesy of the Navy)

March 20, 2026 (San Diego) --  The USS Boxer amphibious ready group with 2,200 Marines from Camp Pendleton has deployed to the Mideast as the war with Iran continues.

According to multiple reports, the amphibious assault ship accompanied by the dock-landing ship USS Comstock and amphibious transport dock USS Portland left San Diego on Wednesday.

The departure was not announced in advance for security. The Associated Press said it received confirmation that ships are bound for the Middle East.

By Miriam Raftery

March 20, 2026 (San Diego’s East County) – Upcoming events in our inland region include egg hunts, a bunny bash, and a train ride with the Easter Bunny.  Plus you can enjoy a Spring Garden Festival and Butterfly Release at the Water Conservation Garden,a pow-wow at SDSU, Lakeside’s Western Days Parade and Rodeo, a Lilac Festival in Santa Ysabel, El Cajon’s Arbor Day Celebration, Adams Avenue Unplugged, Sweet Pea Days at Summers Past Farms, wolf center tours in Julian, a piano concert at Cuyamaca College, a health fair at Grossmont Center, county libraries’ Spring Break reading series, and a performance by Journey’s former lead singer in Poway.

Scroll down for these fun and festive happenings.

March 20, 2026 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Federal court blocks Kennedy’s vaccine changes, invalidates vaccine advisory panel (The Hill)
• 10 Surprising Things Not Covered by Medicare and Ways You Can Pay for Them (Newsweek)
• Spanish researchers develop low-cost artificial cornea from fish scales  (Reuters)
• Experts Issue Warning on Ebola-Like Virus That Has Already Reached the US (Newsweek)
• UCSD study: Simple blood test may predict dementia decades early  (KPBS)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• The Planet is Heating Faster Than Ever Before, New Research Shows (Time)
• Hundreds of Millions of iPhones Can Be Hacked With a New Tool Found in the Wild (Wired)

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

By Karen Pearlman

East County News Service

Photo via Dolores Huerta’s press office

March 19, 2026 (San Diego) – Dolores Huerto, cofounder of the United Farm Workers Union, has issued a statement on her Facebook page on revelations that she and other women were sexually abused by co-leader Cesar Chavez. 

In her statement, she talks about being pressured and later forced to have sex with Chavez,  why she stayed silent and is now speaking out, the two children by Chavez that she's maintained relationships with, and her renewed commitment to support workers' rights and women's rights.

“I am nearly 96 years old, and for the last 60 years have kept a secret because I believed that exposing the truth would hurt the farmworker movement I have spent my entire life fighting for.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Cesar Chavez in 1972, public domain image by Cornelius M. Keyes via National Archives and Records Administration                                          

March 18, 2026 (San Diego) – Latino leaders across the state and nation are expressing shock after a bombshell investigation by the New York Times revealed evidence of sexual abuse against women and girls by  César Chávez , famed cofounder of the United Farmworkers Union and a prominent national leader of the Latino rights movement who died in 1993.

By Rob Okun

March 18, 2026 (San Diego) - With the US feeling to many like it’s spiraling out of control—recklessly piloted by a White House in chaos—NO KINGS on March 28, couldn’t be coming at a better time. It’s a line in the sand.

We are living through a systematic betrayal of the American people. The Trump administration promised everyday costs would drop; instead, our economy is being siphoned away while families choose between heat or eat. We were promised peace; instead, we are embroiled in a war no one voted for. We were told immigration enforcement would target the “worst of the worst”; instead, ICE and Border Patrol are seizing working immigrants from their homes. Even five-year-olds aren’t immune. And then, the unthinkable: US citizens murdered by state actors.

This isn’t a drill. This is an “All Hands on Deck” emergency.