84 Republican national security and foreign policy leaders say they won’t back Trump if nominated

By Miriam Raftery

March 3, 2016 (Washington D.C.) – An open letter signed by 84 Republican foreign policy and national security leaders condemned Donald Trump, stating, “We are unable to support a Party ticket with Mr. Trump at its head.”

The leaders’ letter comes on the heels of former CIA director and ex-National Security Agency director Michael Hayden stating that if Trump ordered torture which violates the Geneva Convention or ordered the killing of family members of suspected terrorists, the military would disobey his orders.   Hayden told Bill Maher, “If he were to order that once in government, the American armed forces would refuse to act.”

The 84 Republican letter signers included Michael Chertoff, former Homeland Security director under George W. Bush and former Under Secretary of Defense Policy Eric Edelman who served under the senior George Bush.

By Miriam Raftery

March 3, 2016 (El Cajon) — The Medical Examiner’s office has identified Drake Lou Pappas, 61, as the victim found dead after a fire at the Villa Embasadora motel in El Cajon early yesterday morning.

East County News Service 

“His domestic policies would lead to recession. His foreign policies would make America and the world less safe. He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president. And his personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill.” – Mitt Romney

March 3, 2016 (San Diego)—Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, today issued an extensive statement urging Republicans not to support Donald Trump’s candidacy.  Romney blasted Trump for his “bullying” personal style, racist remarks, failed business ventures, and “reckless” foreign policy, concluding he lacks the temperament needed in a president.

Trump responded by denigrating Romney as a “loser” and a “failed candidate.”

Below are the full remarks delivered by Romney on the presidential race at theHinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah.  Click here to watch the video of this speech

East County News Service

March 3, 2016 (Santee) - Santee Lakes invites you to bring the kids for its annual Eggstravaganza on Saturday, March 26^th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. This fun-filled event features continuous egg hunts, live entertainment, a petting zoo, craft booths and carnival rides, all hosted by the Padre Dam Municipal Water District and the City of Santee. 

East County News Service

March 3, 2016 (Spring Valley) - Young Adult Theatre will present Snoopy! The Musical, featuring all of the Peanuts characters including Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus and that mischief-making beagle, Snoopy. 

County News Service

March 3, 2016 (San Diego) -- If you are registered as a No Party Preference (or nonpartisan voter) and get your ballot by mail, the Registrar of Voters wants you to know presidential candidates will not be listed on your ballot. If you’d like to vote for a presidential candidate in the June primary, you must take action and request a party ballot.

March 4, 2016 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Major insight into killer pancreatic cancer (BBC)
• Cancer-causing HPV plummeted in teens since vaccine, study finds (CNN)
• Strokes On The Rise Among Younger Adults (NPR)
• Cancer Trials At UCSD Aim To Use Body's Immune System (City News Service)
• More Women Are Having Mastectomies And Going Home The Same Day (NPR)
• Air Pollution Heightens Risk of Obesity and Diabetes (TIME)
• Gay man taking daily HIV prevention pills contracts resistant strain of the virus - in … Daily Mail
• Should Sprouts Come With A Warning Label? (NPR)
• Woman's blindness apparently reversed by stem cell treatment (Baltimore Sun)
• One cuppa a day could cut heart risk: Tea reduces likelihood of stroke or cardiac arrest (Daily Mail)
• Sleep Munchies: Why It's Harder To Resist Snacks When We're Tired (NPR)

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• New low-power Wi-Fi could save batteries throughout your house (CS Monitor)
• VIDEO: Rise in butterfly numbers ‘inspirational’ (BBC)
• Using Billboards, Company Will Collect Personal Information To Help Advertisers (NPR)
• U.S. Navy Brings Back Navigation By The Stars For Officers (NPR)
• Smart rats sniffing out Cambodia's vast mine fields (AP)
• Chinese-owned brand Volvo is recalling 59,000 cars
• U.N. agency bans lithium-ion batteries on passenger aircraft (Reuters)
• In An Unusual Move, The EPA Tries To Pull Pesticide From Market (NPR)
• Is Nutritious Food In Peril, Along With Pollinators? (NPR)
• MIT team makes solar cells as light and thin as soap bubbles (CS Monitor)
• Why do people blindly trust robot rescuers, even when they're wrong? (CS Monitor)

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

Listen to Destination East County, also aired on KNSJ radio, by clicking the audio link.

We thank the County of San Diego for a Community Enhancement Grant supporting Destination East County.

By Miriam Raftery

This week’s Destination East County includes a night hike with stargazing at the Santa Ysabel preserve, a Pirate’s Cove run/walk at Lake Cuyamaca, live music in La Mesa, and the Julian Doves and Desperados performing wild west skits in Julian.

Plus we’ll have previews of coming attractions including St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, egg hunts, garden tours, a desert art show, a backroom beer pairing, a harmonica festival, a spring carnival, Snoopy the musical, and a hike to the Valley of the Moon..

So scroll down for all of these events and many more!

East County News Service

March 2, 2016 (La Mesa) - The La Mesa Chamber of Commerce held its 8th annual Salute to Local Heroes on Wednesday, February 24th at the Town & Country Hotel--and celebrated its own group of “Oscar” winners with a Mardi Gras themed event.

U.S.

March 2, 2016 (San Diego's East County)-- East County Magazine's World Watch helps you be an informed citizen about important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a wide variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

Presidential primary

• Justice Dept. grants immunity to staffer who set up Clinton e-mail server (Washington Post)
• Jesse Ventura: I’ll run for president if Bernie Sanders loses (Daily Beast)
• Therapists confirm Trump’s narcissistic personality disorder (Psychology Today)
• Can Marco Rubio save his campaign and his career in Florida? (Washington Post)
• National poll: Clinton, Sanders both top Trump (CNN)
• Current Affairs: Unless Democrats run Sanders, a Trump nomination means a Trump presidency (Current Affairs)
• Ben Carson, seeing ‘no path forward’, signals end to candidacy (New York Times)
• Nearly 20% of Trump supporters disapprove of Lincoln freeing slaves (Vox)

General news

• ISIS leaders threaten Zuckerburg and Dorsey, say they will take down Facebook and Twitter(CNN)
• Abortion clinics are closing at record pace (Bloomberg)
• The unexpected side effects of legalizing weed (Newsweek)
• IRS says phishing and malware scams are up 400 percent this year (10 News)
• Despite promised transparency, US drone policy remains cloudy (CS Monitor)
• Investigation offers glimpse into polygamous sect's secretive compound (CS Monitor)
• 106 Burmese pythons captured in Florida in monthlong hunt (CS Monitor)
• IRS identifies more cyberattacks to access tax data (Reuters)
• U.S. Air Force vet one of first to face trial for Islamic State support (Reuters)

WORLD

• Former Tepco execs indicted over Fukushima nuclear disaster: media (Reuters)
• Mugabe birthday bash riles critics in drought-hit Zimbabwe  (Reuters)
• Cameroon frees several hundred hostages from Boko Haram (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Israel: Lebanon violated UNSC resolution calls to disarm Hezbollah more than 2,000 times (JPost)
• Huge increase in European products passing through Israel to Arab states (JPost)
• Missing radioactive material found dumped in south Iraq (Reuters)
• To stay or go? UK to vote on membership in European Union. (CS Monitor)
• Thousands pay respects to slain Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in solemn march (Social Media News)

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

Team will begin conference play October 8^th 

By Liz Alper

Photo: Mika Holder via goaztecs.com

March 2, 2016 (Colorado Springs, Co.) - The San Diego State Aztecs football program has released its 2016 schedule.

By Miriam Raftery

March 2, 2016 (Ocotillo) – The numbers are in –and for the third straight year, the Ocotillo Wind Energy Facility has fallen far short of the 34% capacity factor that Pattern Energy predicted the project would generate in its applications for lucrative federal subsidies.   In 2015, the Ocotillo project generated just 23.06%.  In 2014, it hit 26.4% and in 2013, when it was offline two months for hurling off a multi-ton blade, it produced a scant 15.7%.

We’re not surprised, since our award-winning 2014 investigative article, Was It Fraud? included forecasts by an international wind expert,Nicolas Boccard, who accurately predicted the project’s failure before it was built. He suggested the federal government had grounds for a False Claims Act suit against Pattern Energy.  We again raised questions about the project’s viability last year, in  a second story.

East County News Service

March 1, 2016 (San Diego) - If you’ve used your credit or debit card to purchase monthly trolley or bus passes through the Metropolitan Transit System’s Compass Card fare collection system, your security may be compromised.

Update 11:05 a.m.:  The suspect is now in custody and the lockdown has been lifted.

March 1, 2016 (San Diego) 10:50 a.m. -- San Diego State Police have issued a shelter-in-place alert due to suspect believed armed with a handgun near Alvarado Hospital.  10 News reports police attempted to stop a vehicle on I-8 near College Avenue and the suspect fled toward Alvarado.

If you are in this area, police ask that you stay inside and do not call police unless you have an emergency.

East County News Service

March 1, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) – It’s official – last month was the hottest February ever I San Diego County since record-keeping began way back in 1875.