Source: County News Service

October 30, 2019 (San Diego’s East County) -- The San Diego County Office of Education reports that because San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has activated a public safety power shutoff in certain parts of the county, schools in the following school districts will be closed on Halloween this Thursday, October 31: 

• Dehesa School District
• Julian Union High School District
• Julian Union School District
• Mountain Empire Unified School District
• Rancho Santa Fe School District
• Spencer Valley School District
• Vallecitos School District 
• Valley Center-Pauma Unified School District
  

By Miriam Raftery

October 28 2019 (San Diego’s East County) – With the strongest Santa Ana winds of the season forecast Tuesday through Thursday,  San Diego Gas & Electric is warning over 32,000 customers that the utility may proactively shut off power to many communities to prevent lines from sparking fires, including some areas not previously impacted by outages.  The outages could begin late Tuesday or early Wednesday and last as late as Friday evening, according to SDG&E.

The communities that may lose power are:

• Alpine
• Boulevard
• Campo
• Descanso
• Dulzura
• El Cajon (portions of)
• Encinitas (portions of)
• Escondido (portions of)
• Jacumba
• Jamul (portions of)
• Julian
• Lakeside (portions of)
• Mount Laguna
• Pala
• Palomar Mountain
• Pauma Valley
• Pine Valley
• Potrero
• Poway
• Ramona
• Ranchita
• Rancho Santa Fe (portions of)
• San Clemente (portions of)
• San Juan Capistrano (portions of)
• Santa Ysabel
• Valley Center (portions of)
• Warner Springs

Steps to prepare for an outage

By Miriam Raftery

Update October 24:  As of 8 a.m. Thursday, power is shut off for 431 people in Dehesa, Alpine, Rancho Palo Verde, Santa Ysabel, Wynola, Pine Hills, East Descanso, Green Valley Falls, Cuyamaca, Viejas, West Descanso, Boulder Creek, Live Oak Springs, Boulevard, Jacumba, Japatul Valley, Buckman Springs, Morena Village. Resource centers have been opened in Julian and Descanso; scroll down for details.

October 23, 2019 (San Diego’s East County) – SDG&E is warning of a new round of potential power-shut offs that could affect up to 23,944 customers, with a red flag warning from 5 a.m. Thursday through 5 p.m. Friday evening.

The areas that could be impacted are Alpine, Barona, Barrett Lake, Boulevard, Campo, Cuyamaca, Descanso, East Poway, East Valley Center, Julian, Mesa Grande, Mount Laguna, Palomar Mountain, Pine Valley, Potrero, Ramona, Rancho Bernardo (portions), Santa Ysabel, Shelter Valley, Viejas and Warner Springs.

The utility’s site states that it makes several efforts to notify ratepayers prior to shutoffs. In many cases the system worked to provide customers with time to prepare for outages.  However, some rural residents have posted complaints on social media stating that they received repeated warnings of shut-offs that never occurred, and later had power shut-off with no warning.

October 9, 2019 (San Diego's East County) -- SDG&E has issued a warning that it may shut off power to 28,701 customers in East County communities starting in the next 48 hours due to wildfire risks.  A red flag alert has been issued for Thursday afternoon and Friday by the National Weather Service.  The following communities are currently forecasted to be impacted:

• Banner Grade
• Boulevard
• Descanso
• East Alpine
• East Ramona
• Fallbrook
• Julian
• Mesa Grande
• Mt Laguna
• Palomar Mountain
• Pine Valley
• Potrero
• Rancho Santa Fe
• Rincon
• Santa Ysabel
• Valley Center
• Viejas
• West Valley Center
• Wynola

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Borrego wildflowers, CC by SA

October 6, 2019 (Borrego Springs) -- Since moving to Borrego Springs from Santa Barbara in 1980, Bill Wright has been a “champion of all things good in Borrego Springs,” according to the Borrego Sun.  The newspaper announced that Wright passed away on October 1 at age 88.

By Rebecca Person

October 2, 2019 (Jacumba Hot Springs) -- The weather’s perfect,  making October 5th a day for a great getaway.

Here’s what’s happening in Jacumba Hot Springs on San Diego's historic Old Highway 80.

Jacumba Hikers, a dedicated group of local hikers and walkers, leads an easy four mile round-trip Walkabout, covering the Chinese Castle, Natural Hot Springs, Jacumba Lake, Sand Wash, passing the old Railroad Station, the Border Fence and more. Hikers meet at 8 a.m. in front of the Jacumba Spa Resort (44500 Old Highway 80). The Spa’s restaurant opens at 7 a.m.

By Miriam Raftery

September 21, 2019 (Jacumba Hot Springs) – The Jacumba Community Service District invites you to a Fall Festival on Saturday,  Oct. 5 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Jacumba Community Park (44653 Old Highway 80).

By Miriam Raftery

Roger Coppock contributed to this story

September 8, 2019 (San Diego’s East County) -- Extreme heat is poised to rise steeply in frequency and severity over the coming decades, bringing unprecedented health risks for people and communities across the country. That’s the disturbing finding of the Union of Concerned Scientists in a just-issued report titled Killer Heat in the United States: Climate Choices and the Future of Dangerously Hot Days.

By Miriam Raftery

September 3, 2019 (San Diego) – Gina Champion-Cain has long been hailed as one of San Diego’s most powerful women business leaders.  But on Thursday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges against her and her company, ANI Development, calling it a “multi-year $300 million scheme” that allegedly defrauded some 50 retail investors, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

East County News Service

August 28, 2019 (San Diego’s East County) – Hot weather is here again. The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat watch from Friday morning through Saturday in San Diego’s desert areas. Temperatures could reach 115 in the low deserts and 105 in the low deserts.

By Michelle Mowad, County of San Diego Communications Office

July 30, 2019 (San Diego) - Six San Diego County parks will be closed in August, a safety measure taken each year because of the month’s typically high temperatures.  El Capitan Preserve near Lakeside, Hellhole Canyon Preserve in Valley Center, Mt. Gower Preserve near Ramona and Wilderness Gardens in Pala will be closed Aug. 1 through Aug. 31. In addition, Agua Caliente Regional Park in Anza Borrego and Vallecito County Park near Julian are closed all summer; they reopen Labor Day weekend.

Source:  CalTrans

July 19, 2019 (San Diego’s East County) -- Crews will close various connectors along Interstate 8 (I-8) in the mountain areas of eastern San Diego County weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for pavement work, according to CalTrans. Full closures will take place at one intersection at a time in the coming week as follows: