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Story and photos by Liz Alper

March 6, 2018 (El Cajon) - Basketball playoffs are, for the most part, over (except for state playoffs and hats off to Mount Miguel and Foothills Christian boys basketball and good luck to them), so now it’s time for spring sports.  El Cajon Valley girls softball kicked off their season against the (sort of in East County) Crawford Colts.

By E.A. Barrera

March 5, 2018 (San Diego) -- My mother, Marion Kathryn Holmes Barrera, died on March 3, 2018. She died a little after four in the morning, 25 days to the minute from when my father died. My dad was San Diego State Professor Ernesto Martin Barrera. Together, my parents led a life that began on the campus of UCLA and took them to Cartagena, Los Angeles, San Diego - and a lifetime of romance, family and meaningful purpose. 

By Miriam Raftery

March 1, 2018 (El Cajon) – A search warrant was served this morning at Cloud 9 Wellness, an illegal marijuana dispensary in the 500 block of West Douglas in El Cajon. 

“A large amount of cash and marijuana was seized as evidence,” Lieutenant Walt Miller with the El Cajon Police Department states in a press release. Six employees and three armed security guards working at the business were briefly detained but not arrested. However, Lt. Miller notes, “Although the employees were not arrested today, they and the owner of the business may face charges of allowing the Commercial Sale of Marijuana within the City.”

Backcountry hidden pleasures:   Our guide to unique lodging adventures in San Diego’s beautiful backcountry

By Robert Gehr

February 25, 2018 (El Cajon) – The new Courtyard Marriott Hotel will hold its grand opening this week on February 28^th.  in the heart of downtown El Cajon complete with a restaurant and bar, fitness center, business and wedding facilities.

February is Career Technical Education Month

East County News Service

February 22, 2018 (El Cajon) -- Automotive students in teacher Jordie Lehr’s classes at Grossmont High School were treated to a fun experience as part of Career Technical Education Month. On Wednesday, February 21, La Mesa Police Chief Walt Vasquez, Captain Matt Nicholass, and Officer Dan Paugh brought the La Mesa Police Department’s 2016 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray C7 onto campus for the day.

By Paul Kruze

February 18, 2018 (El Cajon) -- The El Cajon City Council on Tuesday continued to address issues concerning the city’s growing homeless population, such as considering signs to direct the homeless to resources. 

Click to view video of Adnan Al Jaafari's anti-corruption message in Arabic or scroll down for highlights and local reactions

By Jonathan Goetz

Translator Abbas Al Khuzaie also contributed to this report

February 14, 2018  (El Cajon) -- Adnan Al Jaafari is a journalist who has published a video criticizing corruption, including harsh words for Iraq's highest ranked religious figure, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

A blog on Huffington Post, as well as an East County resident we interviewed, credit Sistani with defeating ISIS in Iraq.

Runway Shoes & Accessories is Rancho San Diego’s newest fashion bargain retailer

By Reema Makani Boccia

February 11, 2018 (El Cajon) - Rancho San Diego’s retail offerings have expanded with the recent addition of the fashionable Runway Shoes & Accessories. The boutique is locally owned and operated by an East County family, and features head-to-toe merchandise for any fashionista on a budget.

By Miriam Raftery

February 11, 2018 (El Cajon) — A man in a vehicle parked outside the Home Goods store at Parkway Plaza shopping mall in El Cajon exposed himself to a 14-year-old girl on Tuesday, the girl’s mother told ECM news partner 10 News.

$11.5 million PE and Food Services project will begin construction in late spring

East County News Service

February 9, 2018 (El Cajon) - The Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD) and Erickson-Hall Construction are hosting a Contractor Outreach Event, designed to bring the District’s construction management team together with local general contractors, subcontractors and small and/or historically underutilized businesses looking for opportunities on the upcoming construction of the new PE and Food Services Buildings at Granite Hills High School.

By Miriam Raftery

Photos by Robert Gehr

Robert Gehr contributed to this report

Update:  The  deceased woman has been identified as Brandi Duhamell. According to El Cajon Police Lieutenant W. Miller, officers arrived to find her fiancee performing CPR on Duhamell, who had shot the fiancee in the leg before committing suicide by shooting herself in the chest.

February 6, 2018 (El Cajon) – A woman is dead and a man hospitalized with a gunshot wound, El Cajon Police Department posted on Twitter this evening.

ECM photographer Robert Gehr, who lives across the street from the Park Royale apartment complex at 193 West Park avenue, said a SWAT team was deployed and reported seeing “at least 12 police units” and 20 or more officers at the scene following the shooting that occurred around 6 p.m. as well as paramedics and a fire truck.

By Miriam Raftery

February 5, 2018 (El Cajon) -- A man was shot and a security guard injured outside Parkway Bowl on Fletcher Parkway in El Cajon Saturday night shortly after 11 p.m.

El Cajon Police Department reports that a confrontation began at the bowling alley, leading to a shooting nearby.  A security guard who tried to intervene was rammed by the suspect’s vehicle as he fled the scene.

By Kendra Sitton

February 1, 2018 (El Cajon) --- Activists praise the end of a ban on feeding the homeless, but continue advocating for further changes in El Cajon.

At a food sharing event organized by Food not Bombs and Breaking Bread on Saturday, Jan. 27, transients and volunteers filled Wells Park. There was a swathe of donated clothes, blankets, and hand sanitizer, as international media attention brought additional support to the advocates who have worked for months to repeal the ban. Houseless people filled plates with beans, chow mein, bread, peach cobbler, and a chocolate cake which read “solidarity not charity.”

Hear our interview  on KNSJ with Mandy Mattis, No One Left Behind, on the Shurish family, how you can help this local hero and other translators relocated here after risking their lives to help Amreican troops.

By Miriam Raftery

February 1, 2018 (El Cajon) – Targeted by the Taliban for helping the U.S. military as a translator in Afghanistan, Ahmed Shurish fled his homeland with his wife and children, leaving everything else behind.  They arrived here just seven months ago, building a new life in El Cajon.

But now his family has once against lost everything, this time in a fire in which Shurish heroically saved his neighbor’s baby from the flames. So the community is pulling together to help this hero and his family rebuild their lives yet again.

East County News Service

February 1, 2018 (El Cajon) — Two pickup trucks collided shortly after midnight this morning at Jamacha Road and East Main Street in El Cajon.  A 40-year-old Hispanic man was ejected from his 2001 Nissan Frontier vehicle and died at the scene.