East County News Service

April 24, 2025 (El Cajon) – A suspect has been arrested for the fatal shooting of Jaquis Holiday, 26, this morning in the 300 block of North First Street in El Cajon.

El Cajon Valley High School was placed on temporary lockdown and two nearby elementary schools followed secure campus protocols as a precaution, although the shooting was not tied to any of the schools.

Multiple 9-1-1 callers reporter the shooting around 10:13 a.m.  Officers responded and found the victim suffering gunshot wounds. He was transported to a hospital where he died.

April 24, 2025 (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 

• Her newborn baby died after a hospital refused to treat her, now she is suing for change (CBS 8)
• Updated state maps show San Diego County's areas at 'very high' risk for fires (10 News)
• Loved ones of El Cajon murder victim make appeal for information (10 News)
• San Diego-based USS Carl Vinson arrives in Mideast, launches airstrikes against Houthi rebels I(Times of San Diego)
• San Diego County loses $40M in funds just before new public health lab opens (Fox 5)
• Community rallies around (La Mesa) baseball coach diagnosed with pancreatic cancer (10 News)
• SDSU to Award Honorary Degree to Controversial Corner Store Figure (Voice of San Diego)
• Federal safety board lists Coronado Bridge as potentially at risk of 'catastrophic collapse' if hit by a vessel (CBS)
• CalTrans to invest $24 million in San Diego area infrastructure  (10 News)
• Supreme Court rules against San Diego-based marijuana dispensary in CBD suit (Reuters)
• 5 UC San Diego students have F-1 visas revoked, 6th student deported  (10 News)

STATE

• California economy now the world’s fourth-largest, overtaking Japan (Los Angeles Times)
• Peril And Rescues Spike Along Pacific Crest Trail In Wake Of Federal Cuts
• Sea lions are attacking people in the waters off California’s coast. Here’s why (CNN)
• A loophole in California law makes it hard to prosecute threats against schools. Will lawmakers close it? (Cal Matters)
• As the California.-Mexico land border tightens, focus turns to dangerous sea crossings (Mercury News)
• California's water reservoirs on track as winter storms may boost snowpack (KPBS )
• California needs $3.4 billion loan to cover Medi-Cal expenses (CBS)
• Dead fish stink up the Newsom-Trump truce on water (Politico)

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

April 24, 2025 -- As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S.

Lawsuits and key court rulings

• Supreme Court temporarily pauses deportations under Alien Enemies Act (CNN)
• Judge in Abrego Garcia case indicates she's weighing contempt proceedings against Trump administration (NBC)
• Supreme Court allows Trump to deport Venezuelans under wartime law, but only after judges’ review (AP)
• Rightwing group backed by Koch and Leo sues to stop Trump tariffs (Guardian)
• Supreme Court Pauses Order Requiring Trump to Reinstate Thousands of Federal Workers (Democracy Docket)
• Trump officials face records lawsuit over Signal chat (The Hill)
• Judge blocks Trump from enforcing 'chilling' order against law firm (NPR)
• Judges threatened with impeachment, bombs for ruling against Trump agenda (NPR)
• US judge orders Trump administration to restore legal aid to unaccompanied migrant children (AP)
• Judge blocks Trump effort to expand proof of citizenship requirement for voter registration (CNN)

Economy, business and labor

• U.S. consumer sentiment falls for third straight month amid tariff, inflation worries(UPI)
• Concerns about espionage rise as Trump and Musk fire thousands of federal workers (AP)
• Florida debates lifting some child labor laws to fill jobs vacated by undocumented immigrants (CNN)

Signalgate

• ‘Amateur hour’: Washington aghast at Trump administration’s war plan group chat (Politico)
• 5 revelations from the Trump administration’s war plan texts  (Politico)
• Flight data show Steve Witkoff was in Russia during group chat on Signal (CBS)

 Immigration

• Trump Finds Another Country to Accept His Mass Deportations (New Republic)
• Japanese Americans react to Trump's plans to invoke Alien Enemies Act (KGTV)
• Immigration officers are becoming 'extreme' in how they vet travelers entering the U.S. (NPR)
• IRS acting commissioner is resigning over deal to send immigrants' tax data to ICE, AP sources say (AP)
• US citizens getting pulled aside: Travelers fear scrutiny at the border is rising  (USA Today)
• ‘I was a British tourist trying to leave the US. Then I was detained, shackled and sent to an immigration detention centre’ (Guardian)

Diversity, equity and inclusion

• Is planting trees 'DEI'? Trump administration cuts nationwide tree-planting effort (NPR)
• Museums and parks must remove some items related to race and gender: Executive order (ABC)

FEMA funding for disaster recovery

• Noem said she plans to eliminate FEMA (The Hill)

Economy and political corruption

• Trump administration halts funding for two cybersecurity efforts, including one for elections   (AP)
• ‘Something stinks’: Elon Musk, congressional Republicans target Democrats’ main fundraising machine (CNN)
• This Republican tried to impeach a judge. Guess which billionaire cut him a check? (Arizona Central)

Other National News

• Trump Claims Nazis Treated Jewish Prisoners With “Love” (New Republic)
• Trump Will Get His Showy (And Likely Expensive) Military Parade in D.C.  (Washington City Paper)

WORLD

• US allies express alarm at Trump’s plan to let Russia keep most of the land it seized from Ukraine (CNN)
• Canada Announces Bombshell Break With U.S. Over Trump (New Republic)
• Earthquake rocks Thailand and Myanmar, triggering the collapse of a Bangkok high-rise (AP)
• Anthrax kills 50 hippos in Congo's Virunga National Park (Newsweek)
• As the World Turns on Trump, Mexico's Claudia Sheinbaum Has Other Plans (Newsweek)
• Who are the Houthis and why is the US targeting them? (BBC)
• The US lifts bounties on senior Taliban officials, including Sirajuddin Haqqani, says Kabul (AP)
• Mexicans searching for missing relatives uncover possible mass killing site (NPR)
• Some European countries and Canada issue advisories for travelers to the U.S.  (NPR)
• Parisians vote to ban cars from 500 more streets (The Independent )
• Turkey's opposition urges peaceful protests over Istanbul mayor's arrest despite bans (AP)

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

By Alexander J. Schorr

Photo: Congresswoman Sara Jacobs speaks before a crowd of parents, teachers, community and union members about “stateof the union.”

April 23, 2025 (El Cajon) – In a live town hall meeting last night at Grossmont College’s Performing and Visual Arts Center, Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-51) presented her own “State of the Union” address in which she warned that our nation is experiencing a “constitutional crisis.”  She spoke of numerous bills she has introduced seeking to push back against actions of the Trump administration.

 In addition, she fielded written questions from constituents over issues including budget cuts, mass firings, human rights violations, the looming constitutional crisis, and a potential recession on the horizon.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Kaiser attorney Jennifer Lynch

April 23, 2025 (El Cajon) – For 23 years, ever since an old medical facility was torn down, Kaiser Permanente has been promising to build a new hospital at its property on Main Street near Greenfield Ave.in El Cajon.  Frustrated by the lack of action, the City Council yesterday considered changing the zoning to residential—a proposal that surprised Kaiser representatives.

“We received no notice,” Kaiser representative Skyler Denniston told the Council.  “We would like the site developed as a hospital,” he said, adding that Kaiser representatives had just spoken with the City Manager and felt they were making “good progress.”  He asked for a 30-day extension of any proposed rezoning.

Mayor Bill Wells indicated that while he was open to an extension of 30 days or more, he wants to see a development agreement to assure that construction will commence soon. “I have no confidence that a hospital will be built within five years,” he said, adding that the vacant property attracts homeless camps and is an eyesore.  “Our constituents are screaming at us to do something,” he said.

Ortiz defends actions as "only about public safety"

By Miriam Raftery

April 23, 2025 (El Cajon) – “You betrayed the large immigrant community here,” Mairene Branham told El Cajon Councilman Phil Ortiz at yesterday’s city council meeting, where she served him with a recall notice.

The recall effort was sparked by Ortiz’s vote on Feb. 11 in favor of a resolution that authorized the city’s police to cooperate with federal immigration officials in handing over undocumented immigrants who have been convicted, or accused, of a violent crime. The resolution passed narrowly on a 3-2 vote.

Ortiz represents District 4, a district with a majority of Latino voters, as well as many other immigrants.

April 24, 2025 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Virus that causes polio-like illness found in Bay Area as influenza cases spike (SF Gate)
• Tuberculosis cases in the US rose to their highest levels in more than a dozen years (AP)
• States sue Trump administration for rescinding billions in health funding (AP)
• CDC division responsible for asthma control and lead poisoning prevention effectively eliminated (Stat)
• CDC’s top laboratory on sexually transmitted diseases is shut by Trump administration (STAT)
• RFK Jr. says MMR vaccine ‘most effective’ way to stop spread of measles after Texas child’s death (Fox 5)
• Vaccine critic’s apparent selection to head HHS autism study shocks experts (Stat)
• The CDC Buried a Measles Forecast That Stressed the Need for Vaccinations(ProPublica)
• Utah becomes the first state to ban fluoride in public drinking water (ABC)
• CDC’s top laboratory on sexually transmitted diseases is shut by Trump administration  (STAT)
• CDC advisory committees not mandated by law at risk of being terminated (Politico)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• NASA weighs doing away with headquarters (Politico)
• Dire wolf revived after 10,000 years due to biotech company's de-extinction process (MSN)
• Exclusive: Secretive Chinese network tries to lure fired federal workers, research shows (Reuters)
• Trump shifts cyberattack readiness to state and local governments in wake of info-sharing cuts (CSO)
• Dire wolf revived after 10,000 years due to biotech company's de-extinction process (MSN)
• Encrypted messaging apps promise privacy. Government transparency is often the price (AP)
•  Humming along in an old church, the Internet Archive is more relevant than ever (NPR)
• Turned Into a Ghibli Character? So Did Your Private Info (CySecurity News)

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

By G. A. McNeeley 

Photo: Prisoners at the El Salvador prison criticized for human rights violations and inhumane conditions, where Trump gas sent deported immigrants and now wants to send U.S. citizens. CC BY-SA   via Bing

April 23 2025 (Washington D.C.) — President Donald Trump says his administration is actively exploring a proposal to detain U.S. citizens and send them to prisons in El Salvador, according to NPR.  The proposal has raised alarm bells among legal scholars and civil libertarians who contend such action would be unconstitutional. Moreover, the admnistration's defiance of court orders over immigrants deported to El Salvador without due process heighten concerns over the potential for U.S. citizens to be disappeared into El Salvador's infamous prison system.

"It is pretty obviously illegal and unconstitutional," Ilya Somin, a professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, said of the proposal.

Trump discussed this with El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who agreed to deposit people deported from the U.S. into the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador, which has gained notoriety for human rights violations. 

"Yeah, we've got space," Bukele reportedly told Trump, during their White House meeting, suggesting his country is prepared to incarcerate U.S. citizens.

East County News Service

April 22, 2025 (El Cajon) – The San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce invites you to the 22nd annual “Grip it and Rip it” golf tournament at Singing Hills  Golf Club on May 15.

The event for ages 21 and up includes one round of golf and lunch.

The invitation states, “Challenge yourself on Willow Glen, a par 72 course, with demanding, narrow fairways and strategically placed bunkers. Sweetwater River runs along the course and comes into play on many holes, providing dramatic scenery and difficult shots. The layout contains several dogleg holes, elevation changes and water crossings that create an incomparable day of golf for enthusiasts. Ted Robinson redesigned Willow Glen in 1980.”

League of Women Voters, groups representing veterans and seniors, and Issa’s Democratic opponent Curtis Morrison all oppose action in court

By Miriam Raftery

April 20, 2025 (San Diego) – Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican representing the 48^th Congressional district, has filed a lawsuit against California Secretary of State Shirley Weber. The suit, Issa v.Weber, seeks to halt California’s decade-long practice of allowing mail-in ballots to be counted up to a week after an election, provided they were postmarked by Election Day.

Ballots at risk of not being counted include many cast by military members deployed overseas, as well as seniors and others who rely on mail-in ballots.  Motions to intervene in the suit have been filed by organizations representing veterans, women, voters, and by Issa’s political opponent.

East County News Service

April 19, 2025 (Ramona) – The Nashville Americana duo Goldpine, a husband and wife team, will perform at The Barn (344 Main St., Ramona) at 8 p.m., Friday, May 23.

The duo won the 2022 Rocky Mountain Songwriter Contest and has performed at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium and the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion.

Their music tells stories of live, love and purpose.

By Karen Pearlman

Image of Mountain Lion courtesy Pixabay

April 17, 2025 (Descanso, CA) -- A 31-year-old Descanso runner on Wednesday, April 16, came face-to-face with a mountain lion that he says charged at him, during an evening run on the Oak Trail in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park.

JJ Goodrich wrote on his Facebook page as well as in the Descanso Neighbors Facebook page that he had an encounter with a local mountian lion.

"Please be aware if you hike out there," Goodrich wrote in Descanso Neighbors. "It was on Oak Trail between East Mesa Fire Road and Harvey Moore. Probably 140-150 lbs, never hissed, ears up, and maintained eye contact. They can close the distance incredibly fast, it was impressive."