By Leon Thompson

August 3^rd, 2015 (Jamul, California) - CalTrans is holding a public meeting on the State Route 94 Improvement Project including traffic safety issues related to the Hollywood Casino Jamul on Wednesday, August 5^th from 5 to 8 p.m.at the Cottonwood Golf Course, 3121 Willow Glen Dr. El Cajon.

Caltrans, the State’s highway engineers, have proposed road improvement to portions of State highway 94 to handle the increased traffic including major road widening, turn lanes, lane painting, guard rails, signage, traffic signals and exit lanes.   The Jamul tribe has expended substantial sums to help fund improvements as mitigation for the new casino.

However some residents think the mitigation doesn’t adequately address all the problems, particularly near Steele Canyon High School and on Otay Road.  Steele Canyon road is especially important because of all the foot-traffic and teen drivers; Otay Road is the shortest distance to the casino from the Otay border crossing.

August 5, 2015 (La Mesa) -- On Saturday, September 19th and Sunday, September 20th the La Mesa Chamber of Commerce is proud to host a FREE electronic recycle waste activity between the hours of 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

July 22, 2015 (San Diego's East County)-- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH


• US hospitals warned on drug pump use
 (BBC)
• HIV flushed out by cancer drug (BBC)
• New York City's new drug threat: 'weaponized marijuana' (Reuters)
• Lilly yanks millions from UCSD for Alzheimer's study
 (LA Times)
• Variety of medical scopes pose risks of serious infections (Los Angeles Times)
• Health Insurer Anthem To Buy Rival Cigna For Nearly $50 Billion (NPR)
• Bionic hand uses smart wires to mimic muscle fibers (Reuters)
• Cataracts reversed in animal study, human therapy eyed (U-T)
• What San Diego Scientists Are Discovering About Dolphins And Diabetes (KPBS)

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

• When Relying On The Sun, Energy Storage Remains Out Of Reach (NPR)
• Airbus-patented jet able to fly more than 3,000 miles per hour (Marketplace)
• Lexus to unveil hoverboard. How does it work? (CS Monitor)
• Mutant Flowers From Japan's Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Go Viral Online (Weather.com)
• NASA estimates 1 billion 'Earths' in our galaxy. Why so many? (CS Monitor)
• Why is China building the world's largest radio telescope? (CS Monitor)
• Rice revolution? New rice could help feed world, fight climate change. (CS Monitor)
• NASA spacecraft shows Pluto wrapped in haze, ice flows (Reuters)
• What is Twitter, Facebook obligation to aid in terror fight? (CS Monitor)
• Disaster debris becomes giant Lego blocks to build new homes (CS Monitor)
• How satellites could slow the decline of wildlife (CS Monitor)
• Opinion: Why the information sharing bill is anti-cybersecurity (CS Monitor)
• Follow The Leader: Drones Learn To Behave In Swarms (KPBS)
• 3D-printed plane flies from UK ship (BBC)

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

East County News Service

Photo: SDSU news center

August 4, 2015 (San Diego)--An expansion approved by San Diego State University has been flunked by the state’s Supreme Court. That’s because CSU trustees failed to fund mitigation of traffic impacts on neighborhoods near campus or Interstate 8.

August 4, 2015 (Lakeside)--The Lakeside Chamber of Commerce will host a “Business Appreciation Evening” from 5 to 8 p.m.,Thursday, Aug. 20, at the Carter-Smith V.F.W. Post #5867, 12650 Lindo Lane, Lakeside. Admission is free. All Lakeside business owners and employees are invited to attend. Refreshments will include food samples and desserts from local eateries.

Update August 4, 2015: County health officials have confirmed at least four norovirus cases among the stricken diners. 

East County News Service

August 3, 2015 (San Diego) – More than 60 people have fallen ill after dining at the Bali Hai restaurant on Shelter Island during the Society of Professional Journalists annual awards banquet on Thursday, July 30^th, according to Matt Hall, president of SPJ’s San Diego chapter. Several individuals were hospitalized with food poisoning symptoms, though most have recovered.

By Leon Thompson

Photo: www.JesseCalifornia.com

August 3, 2015 (Sacramento)--The California tax board officials Friday announced their interest in forming a state-run bank that would allow legal marijuana business operators to transition from what has traditionally been a cash only business to legitimate banking.

East County News Service

Devoreo Bell, Juwan Armstrong and Miriam Raftery contributed to this series.

Part 1:  Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton (most prominent political pedigrees) and Donald Trump (the show horse)

August 3, 2015 (Washington D.C.) -- The 2016 presidential candidates are off and running. It’s a crowded race, with over two dozen contenders vying for the ultimate winner’s circle.  Over the next couple of weeks, East County Magazine will run a “Race for the White House” series profiling the candidates.

Our series opens with frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush, two seasoned entries with long political pedigrees, and “show horse” Donald Trump who’s been grabbing media headlines and moving up in the polls. Later we’ll highlight mavericks such as Rand Paul and  Bernie Sanders,  each drawing populist followings for talking about issues like civil liberties and the wealth gap largely ignored by party power-brokers.  Finally, we’ll have coverage of the pack of other prominent contenders, plus some dark horses hoping to pull off an upset win.  For each candidate, we’ll give you  biographical highlights, stances on key issues, controversies, and fascinating facts as these contenders bolt out of the starting gate and run for the roses—the White House rose garden, that is.  Plus, we’ll check with pollsters and odds makers to see how they’re handicapping this important race—so keep an eye out for each installment in our “Race for the Whitehouse” 2016 coverage.

Click "read more" and scroll down to learn more about Bush, Clinton and Trump.

By Leon Thompson

Photos by Nadin Abbott,  Reporting San Diego

August 3, 2015 (San Diego) – Insurgent presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ campaign is setting records for huge crowds even in places thought to be conservative strongholds.    Sanders, a Vermont Senator, drew more than 100,000 people at rallies nationwide including 29 rallies in San Diego County that drew thousands of local people, with 500 at the largest San Diego rally at the North Park Observatory Theater.

His unapologetically liberal message repeated at every stop is “This great nation deserves to be run by the people, not a handful of billionaires.”  Sander wants to increase Social Security and raise the minimum wage. 

Detentions shine spotlight on U.S. policies that critics say is harshest system in the world for asylum seekers

By Miriam Raftery

Hear our KNSJ radio coverage of the rally, aired on August 3, 2015:  /sites/eastcountymagazine.org/files/2016/April/OtayIraqis-FinalShow.mp3?641

Hear our August 7, 2015 radio broadcast on KNSJ  with Mark Arabo, a national spokesman for Iraqi-American Chaldeans, and Amir Moshe, a former translator for the U.S. Army in Iraq who has two cousins detained inside the Otay facility.  Listen Now: /sites/eastcountymagazine.org/files/2016/April/8-4-15%20MOSHE%20-%20MARK%20-%20CHALDEAN%20INTERVIEW.mp3?722

August 2, 2015 (El Cajon) – Over three dozen Iraqi Chaldean Christians from El Cajon held a prayer vigil and protest outside the prison walls at the Homeland Security detention facility at Otay Mesa on Thursday, calling for the release of their family members and friends who fled ISIS only to be imprisoned when they arrived in America seeking asylum.  Over two dozen have been held in indefinite detention for over four months, some up to seven months, with no hearing date set for release. 

The detainees include a woman who pleaded for release to see her mother, who died Thursday at Sharp Grossmont Hospital.

Father Noel from St. Peter’s Cathedral in El Cajon told East County Magazine that all of the detained Christians have family in El Cajon who vouch for their identities and are willing to take them in. 

The situation is far different than for Iraqi Chaldeans who came here a decade ago seeking asylum.  “Ten years ago, they were held just a couple of days and they were not in a jail,” he told East County Magazine.  “Today, they are fleeing ISIS," escaping genocide in their homeland, only to arrive and be imprisoned in the U.S.

East County News Service

August 1, 2015 (San Diego) – Governor Brown has called in the National Guard to help battle blazes burning across the state. One firefighter was killed in Northern California, where a red flag is in alert.  Currently firefighters are battling 23 wildfires stateswide. CAL FIRE Captain Kendal Bortisser in San Diego has provided the following update issued Friday night, July 31^st:

By Kristin Kjaero

August 1, 2015 (La Mesa) – What a vibrant community we live in! August boasts five free concerts, three free movie screenings, two theater productions, the annual Helix High All Class Picnic, and the annual heART of Mt. Helix. There are free clubs for every age and interest at the La Mesa Library, a broad range of activities at the La Mesa Adult Enrichment Center, and a number of classes at the La Mesa Community Center start in August. For those who love nature there are a number of activities as Mission Trails Regional Park and the Water Conservation Garden, and for the fitness oriented there are several walking groups, aquatics, and even a boot camp. Get out and find your bliss, and while you’re at it meet your neighbors.