EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

December 4, 2013 (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

• License plate readers creating countywide database (CBS)
• Rural fire fee to increase  (UT San Diego)
• Mexican truck with radioactive load stolen (UT San Diego)
• A reader’s guide to San Diego hospital districts (Voice of San Diego)
• City helps sell sewer warranty without facts (UT San Diego)
• East African refguees find empathy, education in San Diego (Sacramento Bee)
• Arson under-reported in U.S. cities including San Diego (10 News)
• Borrego’s ‘dinosaur sculptor’ moving his base to Borrego (UT San Diego)
• Why the County Will Lose Half Its Health Funds (And Why It Might Not Matter) (Voice of San Diego)
• Taking names for term limits (La Mesa Courier)
• Former Filner aide seeks $1.5 million (UT San Diego)
• Neighbors sue city over huge ‘luxury’ housing project (La Mesa Courier)
• San Diego Council Approves 15 Percent Water Rate Hike (KPBS)
• Long-Term Water Facilities and Climate Action Plans released for public review  (SDCWA)\
• San Diego Transfers Low-Level Prisoners To Help Fight Wildfires (KPBS)
• Jail violence rises with shift from prison (UT San Diego)

STATE

• How an Egg-Centric Amendment Could Hurt San Diego Farmers (Voice of San Diego)
• Judge stops bullet train in its tracks (UT San Diego)

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

LOCAL

License plate readers creating countywide database (CBS)

A massive data collection operation is underway in San Diego county to store and search millions of photographs. The photos are being taken by license plate reading cameras mounted on law enforcement vehicles all across the county.

Rural fire fee to increase  (UT San Diego)

... State law requires the fee to automatically adjust upward for inflation — even though about $26 million already collected remains unspent. The hike amounts to $2.33, netting the state an additional $1.7 million on top of the $72 million in current fees expected from mostly rural residents. That will push the price to $117.33 or $152.33, depending on the property location

Mexican truck with radioactive load stolen (UT San Diego)

The U.N. nuclear agency says a truck carrying an extremely dangerous radioactive substance has been stolen in Mexico. 

A reader’s guide to San Diego hospital districts (Voice of San Diego)

t’s difficult to imagine large parts of San Diego County that were once so sparsely populated that communities needed to tax themselves in order to build a hospital. But about 70 years ago, that’s exactly what went down.

City helps sell sewer warranty without facts (UT San Diego)

San Diego’s government now taking cash to promote a financial product to homeowners

East African refguees find empathy, education in San Diego (Sacramento Bee)

Mahamud Abdi had seen the worst of war and humanity in his native Somalia by the time he was 11 and found himself in a sixth grade classroom in San Diego’s City Heights neighborhood in 1994. He did not know English, and was confused and afraid in a new country.

Arson under-reported in U.S. cities including San Diego (10 News)

A Team 10 and Scripps News investigation found arson fires are not investigated properly in many American cities -- including San Diego -- due to a chaotic patchwork of reporting systems and standards… "The majority of all fire agencies do not investigate probably half their arsons,” said veteran arson investigator and trainer Ed Nordskog.  “They don't even go to the scene.”

Borrego’s ‘dinosaur sculptor’ moving his base to Borrego (UT San Diego)

Ricardo Breceda, the artist whose steel sculptures of prehistoric and mythical beasts are spread out all over Borrego Springs, is moving his business to the small desert community. The owners of the newly reopened La Casa del Zorro are letting Breceda use a warehouse next to the resort as a studio and a storage yard for hundreds of sculptures that Breceda is moving from Temecula, where his studio has been based the past few years.

Why the County Will Lose Half Its Health Funds (And Why It Might Not Matter) (Voice of San Diego)

…The state will reduce the amount of health care dollars it gives to all California counties beginning next fiscal year to recoup savings under the Affordable Care Act. The health reform law’s Medicaid expansion is expected to net a majority of the so-called “indigent” individuals who relied on county medical coverage. They’ll become fully insured through Medi-Cal, lifting the burden off counties that reimburse clinics when uninsured residents get care.

Taking names for term limits (La Mesa Courier)

A group of La Mesa citizens will soon begin collecting signatures for a voter referendum on whether to adopt term limits for the mayor and city councilmembers.

Former Filner aide seeks $1.5 million (UT San Diego)

[Irene McCormack Jackson]  is suing him and the city for sexual harassment. / She listed $950,000 for emotional stress, pain and suffering; $450,000 for future loss of earnings; $70,000 for treatment of emotional injuries and $11,000 for loss of earnings in the document filed by her attorney Gloria Allred.

Neighbors sue city over huge ‘luxury’ housing project (La Mesa Courier) - The city of San Diego illegally approved a large student dormitory project and shut the community out of the process, according to a group of residents calling themselves Rolandans for Quality Infill Development.  

 San Diego Council Approves 15 Percent Water Rate Hike (KPBS)

.The San Diego City Council approved the rate increases by a vote of 8-1 on Thursday. The rate structure will boost revenue by 7.25 percent in 2014 and 7.5 percent the following year. The majority of the added revenue will pay for increases in wholesale water rates. The remaining revenue will cover the debt on the city's major infrastructure projects, according to the City Council.

Long-Term Water Facilities and Climate Action Plans released for public review  (SDCWA)\

San Diego County Water Authority : “The San Diego County Water Authority’s draft water facilities master plan and Climate Action Plan were released for public review today, along with an environmental analysis of the two long-range plans. A public hearing will be held at 6 p.m. on Jan. 9 at the Water Authority’s headquarters in Kearny Mesa. The Board of Directors is expected to consider adoption of the documents no later than March 2014…”

San Diego Transfers Low-Level Prisoners To Help Fight Wildfires (KPBS)

KPBS takes a look at how the program is working, who qualifies, how it's saving the county jail space and money while building a force to fight wildfires.

Jail violence rises with shift from prison (UT San Diego)

County jails have seen a marked increase in violence since they began housing thousands of offenders who previously would have gone to state prisons. 

STATE

How an Egg-Centric Amendment Could Hurt San Diego Farmers (Voice of San Diego)

It turns out California’s egg law is at the center of some important negotiations thanks to a controversial amendment being proposed by an equally controversial Iowa lawmaker.

Judge stops bullet train in its tracks (UT San Diego)

A Sacramento judge on Monday tore up California's funding plans for its bullet train project in separate orders that could force the state to spend months or years redrawing its plans for the $68 billion rail line.