EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

March 4,  2016 (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

• 22 People Charged Under Provisions Of Chelsea's Law In San Diego County
• State laws prompt local marijuana backlash (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• MTS Admits Credit Card Security Gaps (KPBS)
• San Diego-Based Navy SEAL To Receive Medal Of Honor (City News Service)
• Navy’s new mission: alternative medicine(San Diego Union-Tribune)

STATE

• Yosemite name changes: Park Service not giving up yet (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Why won't California track where $13 billion went? (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Judge’s PUC action, friendship with Brown questioned (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Despite Porter Ranch disaster, Sempra reports strong earnings (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Surge pricing at Disneyland could boost pricing by 20% (Bloomberg)

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

LOCAL

22 People Charged Under Provisions Of Chelsea's Law In San Diego County

Chelsea's Law mandates life prison terms for those convicted of certain violent sex crimes against children, increases law enforcement oversight of paroled sex offenders and prohibits released sex offenders from visiting places where children congregate.

State laws prompt local marijuana backlash (San Diego Union-Tribune)

New state laws expected to make medical marijuana more legitimate have had the opposite effect across California and in San Diego, where the legislation has prompted most cities to reaffirm previous bans or make their restrictions even more rigorous. Exceptions include the city of San Diego and the county government, the only two local jurisdictions that allow dispensaries. The county also allows cultivation and the new state laws have prompted the San Diego city attorney’s office to begin exploring how to follow suit…But in nearly every place else in the county, city councils have voted to reaffirm bans on dispensaries. In addition, most have added new bans on cultivation and many have banned deliveries …

MTS Admits Credit Card Security Gaps (KPBS)

San Diego’s public transit agency is failing to comply with standard data security measures, creating a potential liability for both transit riders and taxpayers.

San Diego-Based Navy SEAL To Receive Medal Of Honor (City News Service)

A Navy SEAL who trained in San Diego early in his military career was awarded the Medal of Honor Monday by President Barack Obama for his valorous actions in helping rescue an American doctor held hostage in Afghanistan. Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward C. Byers Jr., 36, was a member of the team that rescued Dr. Dilip Joseph after he and his driver and Afghan interpreter were abducted in the Qarghah'i District of Laghman Province in December 2012, according to the White House and the Navy.

Navy’s new mission: alternative medicine(San Diego Union-Tribune)

For years, advocates have pushed the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to provide alternative treatments for veterans, instead of focusing narrowly on Western medicine, surgery and pills. In a sign of changing times, no less a New Age figure than Deepak Chopra headlined the Navy’s first-ever “resiliency medicine” summit this week (at San Diego Naval Medical Center), which included discussion of the healing effects of meditation, yoga and “compassion” therapy.

STATE

Yosemite name changes: Park Service not giving up yet (San Francisco Chronicle)

Just days before Yosemite’s Ahwahnee Hotel and other famed sites at the park lose their names to an ugly trademark battle that has left visitors nationwide seething, subtle moves by the National Park Service suggest there’s hope the names won’t be gone for long. Yosemite officials say signs at the soon-to-be-rebranded locations, from the Curry Village tent city to the Badger Pass Ski Area, won’t be taken down when their new names take effect Tuesday — only covered up, so that the old monikers might return.

Why won't California track where $13 billion went? (San Diego Union-Tribune)

A ballyhooed state education reform is actually a multibillion-dollar bait and switch.

Judge’s PUC action, friendship with Brown questioned (San Diego Union-Tribune)

A legal flap over Gov. Jerry Brown’s communications with the Public Utilities Commission is escalating — and now involves one of Brown’s oldest friends.

Despite Porter Ranch disaster, Sempra reports strong earnings (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Even though thousands were displaced by a natural gas blowout, Sempra reported strong earnings.

University of California notifies 80,000 of cyber attack (Reuters) - Officials at the University of California Berkeley said on Friday that they were alerting 80,000 people, including current and former students, faculty and vendors of a cyber attack on a system that stores social security and bank account numbers.

Surge pricing at Disneyland could boost pricing by 20% (Bloomberg)

Walt Disney Co. is raising the cost to visit its U.S. theme parks like Disneyland as much as 20 percent during the busiest times of year and lowering them on typically slow days at its California resorts.