By Miriam Raftery

April 17, 2015 (San Diego’s East County)—Our dinner hour was interrupted twice recently by automated calls claiming to be from the IRS.  The messages were intimidating, claiming we owed a tax debt and threatening dire consequences if we wouldn’t pay up promptly.

April 17, 2015 (Rancho San Diego)--Six homegrown bands playing an eclectic mix of folk, jazz, pop and rock will perform on two stages on the grand lawn of Cuyamaca College at the Coyote Music Festival noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 2. Now in its seventh year, the entirely student-run festival will provide the community a free afternoon of live music by local talent in a family-friendly venue, where picnic blankets and lawn chairs are the best seats in the house.

By Miriam Raftery

April 17, 2015 (El Cajon) --  Recently, Citizens Oversight founder Ray Lutz challenged the city of El Cajon’s allocation of community development block grant funds to the East County Transitional Living Center for programs that benefit homeless people seeking to get off the streets. In a complaint sent to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Lutz argued that the program was illegal due to church-state separation requirements of the U.S. Constitution.

East County News Service

April 18, 2015 (Sacramento)—First came craft beer, a booming business in California. Could craft cannabis be next?

East County News Service

April 17, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis has announced her support for a measure to make it a specific crime to threaten a shooting on any school campus, public or private. It would also make a person convicted of such threats responsible for the reasonable costs of emergency responses by public agencies.

East County News Service

April 17, 2015 (Spring Valley) – The Sheriff seeks public help to locate four suspects who fled the scene of a shooting Wednesday evening after one of the suspects shot a man in the head.

The Underlying Issue Is Freedom of Religion

Originally Published on the ECOreport

By Roy L Hales & Robert Lundahl

April 18, 2015 (San Diego's East County) - In a remote corner of the Mojave Desert, 15 miles from Las Vegas, stands the expansive Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System. Occupying 5 square miles, the facility seems to swallow up a stunning expanse of desert including animals, plants and now, spiritual and cultural resources.

Originally Published on the ECOreport

By Roy L Hales

April 17, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) - A new poll confirms California's solar revolution appears to be unstoppable. The respondents were parents, 81% of whom said they want to live in a solar powered home. The majority, 67%, also wants solar to be the world's primary energy source when their children grow up.

East County News Service

April 17, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – The California Department of Public Health on Friday declared the measles outbreak officially over.  The outbreak, which began at Disneyland, infected 131 people in California, including 14 in San Diego County.  The Disneyland outbreak also spread to other states, causes 142 cases in seven states from late December to early March.

Part V in a series

By the East County Eaters

Week 5: Mediterraneo Italian Bar & Bistro and The Brigantine Seafood & Oyster Bar

April 17, 2015 (San Diego’s East County)--For this week’s series, our Eaters returned to savor happy hour specials at two local favorites: Mediterraneo Italian Bar & Bistro in Alpine and The Brigantine on Mt. Helix.  The first offers divine Italian food in a European-style ambience, the second specializes in seafood served up amid a nautical theme.  Both are delightful and unexpected “finds” for newcomers in East County—so it’s no wonder that each of these restaurants are popular gathering spots for locals in the know.

April 14, 2015 (El Cajon)—Communities Against Substance Abuse (CASA) and the San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce are offering a training program for stores on how to avoid selling alcohol to minors.  A recent sting operation by El Cajon Police found 18 of 66 stores selling alcohol to minors – and three stores did it twice.

By Miriam Raftery

April 16, 2015 (El Cajon) – The City of El Cajon is cracking down on liquor stores and markets that sell alcohol to minors and serial inebriates. Following sting operations that found many stores selling to minors, some repeatedly, on Tuesday the City Council voted unanimously to ask staff to work on preparing a ballot initiative to make alcohol sale restrictions part of the city’s charter so that the limits will be “very difficult to take it out,” Mayor Wells said.

No one spoke publicly against the ballot initiative effort. But Mayor Bill Wells (photo, left)  said he and the council members have been threatened by the liquor industry with punishment if the measure is put on the ballot. The industry and its lobbyists “have said that they will spend tremendous amounts of money to make sure we are never elected again,” said the Mayor, who told citizens present, “We don’t want you to be in a position where your city council changes or your mayor changes and all of that hard work can just be wiped away with a single vote.”

East County News Service

April 16, 2015 (San Diego) — Internationally acclaimed Native American and environmental activist Winona LaDuke will be the keynote speaker at San Diego State University’s GreenFest on Earth Day, April 22^nd.  She will appear at Montezuma Hall in the Conrad Prebys Student Center at 4:30 p.m. The speech is free and open to the public.

LaDuke is the Executive Director of Honor the Earth, the largest Indigenous environmental organization in North America, and the author of 6 books. She is an Anishinaabe from the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota. La Duke also served as Ralph Nader’s vice-presidential running mate on the Green Party ticket in the 1996 and 2000 presidential elections. In 2007, LaDuke was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

She is also a cousin of East County Magazine co-founder Leon Thompson.

April 16, 2015 (Julian) - On Friday, June 12^th, the Julian Woman’s Club will hold its annual Apple Blossom Tea at the Woman’s Club, 2607 “C” Street. There will be two seatings: 11:00 am and 1:30 pm. Cost is a $25 donation and reservations must be made in advance.

Source: County News Center

April 15, 2014 (Poway)--San Diego County and Poway are teaming up on an ambitious proposal to connect the region’s vast network of hiking and equestrian trails and other popular outdoor attractions.