EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

May 23, 2018 (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 top “Roundup” headlines include:

LOCAL

• Backcountry development initiative faces signature deadline (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• El Cajon councilman ordered to pay $30,000 in attorney fees as fraud case takes unusual turns  (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• What we know about the internal affairs investigation into Sheriff candidate Dave Meyers (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Prosecutors: Cox Communications Violates Customer Privacy and Hazardous Waste Protections (NBC 7)
• San Diego home price hits (another) record high: $570K (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• County to close juvenile detention facility Camp Barrett by end of year (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• ICE Is Getting Fewer Notices from the San Diego Sheriff, But Is Making More Arrests (Voice of San Diego)
• SDG&E Will Find It Hard to Put the Brakes on Gas  (Voice of San Diego)

STATE

• How candidates for California governor would make college more affordable (San Jose Mercury News)
• California's Message to Hospitals: Shape Up or Lose 'In-Network’ Status (NPR)
• Why centrist Dianne Feinstein is moving so much to the left that she now opposes the death penalty (Los Angeles Times)

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

LOCAL

Backcountry development initiative faces signature deadline (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Both paid and volunteer signature-gatherers are trying to beat a looming deadline to qualify an anti-development initiative for the November election. Backers of the Safeguard Our San Diego Countryside initiative say they realistically must submit more than 100,000 signatures to the Registrar of Voters by the first week of June …The measure would force countywide votes before large housing projects in rural parts of the county are allowed.

El Cajon councilman ordered to pay $30,000 in attorney fees as fraud case takes unusual turns  (San Diego Union-Tribune)

The defamation and fraud lawsuit against Bessmon “Ben” Kalasho has taken some unusual turns in recent days, even as the first-term El Cajon councilman promotes his nascent campaign for mayor of his adopted hometown.

What we know about the internal affairs investigation into Sheriff candidate Dave Meyers (San Diego Union-Tribune)

… Commander Dave Myers, a 33-year department veteran is running against his boss, Sheriff Bill Gore, who has held the spot for nearly a decade. Early in the race, Myers contended that Gore retaliated against him for vying for the position by stripping him of his leadership duties and relocating his office to a room that used to be a closet….As the two traded barbs in various interviews, it surfaced that Gore reportedly launched an internal affairs investigation into Myers after the commander drove to a South Bay political event in his department car.

Prosecutors: Cox Communications Violates Customer Privacy and Hazardous Waste Protections (NBC 7)

One of San Diego's biggest cable and internet providers is accused of dumping hazardous waste and compromising customer privacy. The allegations in a civil lawsuit, filed by the state attorney general in San Diego Superior Court May 17, could affect you no matter how you get your cable, phone or internet service. State prosecutors want Cox Communications to pay penalties and costs for two significant violations. The lawsuit alleges that Cox employees threw away customer records without shredding or erasing personal information.

San Diego home price hits (another) record high: $570K (San Diego Union-Tribune)

San Diego County’s median home price hit an all-time high of $570,000 in April, increasing 8.6 percent in a year, said real estate tracker CoreLogic. It surpasses the previous peak of $550,000 from the month before.

County to close juvenile detention facility Camp Barrett by end of year (San Diego Union-Tribune)

… The move will end the county’s long-running program for housing some youths convicted of crimes at back country camps.

ICE Is Getting Fewer Notices from the San Diego Sheriff, But Is Making More Arrests (Voice of San Diego)

Since the California Values Act went into effect, the San Diego Sheriff’s Department has notified ICE of the release dates for unauthorized immigrants in its custody less than it has in previous years. But overall, ICE arrests are up from this time last year.

SDG&E Will Find It Hard to Put the Brakes on Gas  (Voice of San Diego)

The city of San Diego has an agenda: to have everyone within city limits using only renewable power by 2035.  San Diego Gas & Electric has another reality: It owns or contracts to buy gas from seven major power plants that burn natural gas to generate electricity. The longest of those contracts runs through 2042, years after the city hopes to be free of fossil fuels.

STATE

How candidates for California governor would make college more affordable (San Jose Mercury News)

All of the top Democrats running for California governor are calling for major new investments to make the state’s public universities more affordable and relieve crushing student debt, suggesting they’d be more willing than Gov. Jerry Brown to open state purse strings and give students a hand up.

California's Message to Hospitals: Shape Up or Lose 'In-Network’ Status (NPR)

Starting in less than two years, if the hospitals haven't met certain designated targets for safety and quality, they'll risk being excluded from the "in-network" designation of health plans sold on the state's insurance exchange.

Why centrist Dianne Feinstein is moving so much to the left that she now opposes the death penalty (Los Angeles Times)

… Democratic strategist Rose Kapolczynski called Feinstein's shifts the natural progression of a long-serving politician. "Dianne Feinstein's core values are the same," she said. "Is she more liberal on some things than she used to be? Sure, but so is the state."