EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

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East County News Service

December 27, 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

STATE

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

LOCAL

El Cajon reaching out to homeless with police, social services combo (San Diego Union-Tribune)

The El Cajon Police Department deployed a homeless outreach team for the first time this month: two officers and a social worker who will go out twice a month to connect with people living on the streets.

Local businesses donate food, clothing to homeless community (NBC 7)

The homeless situation in downtown San Diego is a problem that’s impossible to ignore. On Friday afternoon, a group of local business owners decided to step in and help out. They set up shop on 15th Street and Island Avenue to give out food and clothing to hundreds of people who live out on the streets.

SDSU named one of worst colleges for Jewish students (San Diego Union-Tribune)

A New York-based Jewish news organization has named San Diego State University as one of the “worst college campuses for Jewish students in the nation.”

Change of venue request for San Diego wildfire hearings denied (San Diego Union-Tribune)

T he judges overseeing the 2007 wildfire case before the California Public Utilities Commission have denied a request to move the proceedings to San Diego.

Opponents sue to block Balboa Park project (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Opponents of the Balboa Park Plaza de Panama plan filed a lawsuit this week to block the $79 million project based on contentions the city didn’t analyze potential environmental effects thoroughly enough when the project was revived this year.

Voice of the year: The Downtown Homeless (Voice of San Diego)

This year, the shanty towns throughout downtown San Diego became impossible to ignore. More than 1,000 San Diegans live in tents on block after downtown block, cultivating settlements that are uncomfortably permanent and suggestive of the city’s abject failure to address a mushrooming tragedy.

County GOP’s new director dogged by Nazi jokes made as teen (San Diego Union-Tribune)

The newly named acting executive director of San Diego County’s Republican Party had his own political ambitions dashed two years ago when photographs surfaced of him in a German military uniform making Nazi jokes.

The lights festival—higher fire risk?  (Ch. 6)

The Lights Festival is making a stop on their nationwide tour.  They have scheduled 2 days in 2017, March 18th and April 1st, where at the Pala raceway off state route 76, hundreds of flame carrying lanterns will be released at night to float in the wind.  The area where the event is scheduled to occur is close to the Pala fire incident earlier this year.  Fire officials have encountered a legal roadblock trying to regulate this event.

SANDAG’s error morphs into scandal (Voice of San Diego)

It was October when we first explained how San Diego’s regional transportation authority SANDAG had profoundly miscalculated its financial projections back in 2004 when it persuaded voters to raise taxes to build roads, new trolley lines and other big stuff. Last week, SANDAG itself copped to whole thing, acknowledging its forecasting was broken.

El Cajon Girl Who Died Saving Another Among 21 Carnegie Heroes (KPBS)

Kiera Vera Larsen, 10, was killed when she pushed 2-year-old Emmah Gusich out of the way when a parked vehicle began rolling down a sloped driveway toward the toddler.

Israeli Artist, Syrian Refugee Make Art Not War in San Diego (KPBS)

A nonprofit Jewish foundation hosted a refugee artist-in-residence program with an Israeli sculptor to help a Syrian refugee heal through art.

STATE

California Ups Water Allocations as Drought Eases (KPBS)

Water agencies that serve nearly two-thirds of Californians will get more water, thanks to rain that's helping ease a six-year drought.  California's Department of Water Resources said Wednesday it expected to give 29 water agencies 45 percent of their requested water allotments in 2017. That compares to just 5 percent of their allocations in 2014, one of the driest years of the drought.

U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy appointed judge (Times of San Diego)

Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday announced that U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy will become a Superior Court judge in San Diego. Duffy, a Democrat who was appointed by President Obama in 2010, was likely to be replaced by a Republican when President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

California leads country with most job gains(Capitol Public radio)

California’s employment picture improved last month, with 29,000 new private sector jobs added. Experts see the trend continuing into next year.

Edison Announces Contractor for $4.4B Decommissioning of San Onofre (KPBS)

A joint venture between Los Angeles-based AECOM and Energy Solutions Inc. of Salt Lake City will serve as the general contractor for the decommissioning of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

Environmental Documents for Replumbing California Water System Released (KPBS)

California Governor Jerry Brown’s administration has released final environmental documents for a project it says will modernize the state’s water delivery system and have little to no impact on threatened fish species.

CalPERS Cuts Projected Rate of Return, Increasing Taxpayer Contributions (KPBS)

A key decision from California’s largest public pension fund will have major ripple effects on state and local budgets.

California adopts nation's first energy efficiency rules for computers (San Diego Union-Tribune)

…The regulations promise to reduce energy consumed by computers by about one-third, saving ratepayers some $373 million in utility bills by 2027, and figure to have impacts far beyond California’s state lines. Computers and computer monitors in the state use an estimated 5,610 gigawatts-hours of electricity, representing up to 3 percent of residential electricity use and 7 percent of commercial use.

New Law Requires Comprehensive Background Checks for Uber, Lyft Drivers  (KPBS)

Ride-sharing companies have already been doing background checks of a driver's past seven years. A new California law requires them to look at entire records.

Uber takes self-driving cars to Arizona after California demands permit  (Reuters)

 Uber Technologies Inc on Thursday removed its self-driving test cars from California and put them on trucks bound for Arizona, shuttering the autonomous vehicle project in its home state after a week-long battle with regulators. The California Department of Motor Vehicles on Wednesday revoked the registration of 16 cars in Uber's self-driving fleet, which the regulator said lacked the proper permits.


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