EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

June 28, 2017 (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

• Just in time for July 4^th, San Diego revealed as U.S. city with 5^th worst drivers (10 News)
• Supervisors approve three-pronged plan for affordable housing (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• What is causing an outbreak that has infected 181 people and killed four? (SDUT)
• In San Diego, Cars are Deadlier Than Guns (KPBS)
• MTS Adds Long-Delayed 'Stored Value' to Compass Card (KPBS)
• Beetle That Has Killed Palm Trees in San Diego County Could Spread (KPBS)
• San Diego’s Suzie’s Farm announces closure (SanDiegoVille)

STATE

• Nuclear Expert Slams Edison's San Onofre Nuclear Waste Storage Plan (KPBS)
• Californians contemplate ‘unthinkable choices’ if GOP healthcare becomes law  (KQED)
• Proposed state law would shrink control cities have over cell tower installations (SDUT)
• California's electricity price skyrocketed with the heatwave. Should power officials have called the alert? (SDUT)
• Why California gun owners may be breaking the law on July 1 (Sacramento Bee)
  
  Huge milestone for Delta tunnels: Feds say they won’t push fish over the brink (Sacramento Bee)
• California Attorney General’s office faces scrutiny over San Onofre inquiry (KPBS)
• Weed killer ingredient going on list as cancerous (AP)
• State: 111 Terminally Ill End Lives Under New California Law (KPBS)

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

LOCAL

Just in time for July 4^th, San Diego revealed as U.S. city with 5^th worst drivers (10 News)

As the Fourth of July rapidly approaches, an estimated 37.5 million Americans will drive 50 or more miles away from home, according to AAA, marking the perfect time to call out our great nation's worst drivers. QuoteWizard, an insurance comparison service, has ranked 75 most-populous U.S. metropolitan cities by how bad their drivers are and it may come as no surprise to you that our dearly beloved San Diego ranked fifth. 

Supervisors approve three-pronged plan for affordable housing (San Diego Union-Tribune)

As the region’s homeless population continues to grow, San Diego County Supervisors on Tuesday approved a series of initiatives to increase the supply of low-cost housing. The three measures they unanimously approved use government-owned properties and more than $25 million in public money to work with private organizations and real estate developers to create new homes for low-income people, particularly seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, and others who are financially vulnerable and at risk of becoming homeless.

What is causing an outbreak that has infected 181 people and killed four? (San Diego Union-Tribune)

San Diego County’s public-health officials are focusing on hygiene as they rev up their battle against the state’s largest hepatitis A outbreak in nearly two decades, a scourge that has infected 181 people and killed four since it was first detected in November…. / the total caseload in the first half of 2017 already 700 percent higher than the county’s yearly average since 2011. 

In San Diego, Cars Are Deadlier Than Guns (KPBS)

Over the past five years, more than twice as many people have died from car crashes in San Diego than have been murdered. The statistics show how much work the city has to do to meet its goal of zero traffic deaths by 2025.

MTS Adds Long-Delayed 'Stored Value' to Compass Card (KPBS)

Starting Wednesday, public transit riders in San Diego will be able to store money on their Compass Cards. The function, branded Compass Cash, was promised a decade ago before the Compass Card system came online.

Beetle That Has Killed Palm Trees in San Diego County Could Spread (KPBS)

The South American palm weevil has already toppled dozens of palms in the Sweetwater Summit regional park in Bonita.

San Diego’s Suzie’s Farm announces closure (SanDiegoVille)

San Diego South County based Suzie's Farm, which first launched in 2004, announced today on its social media that it is closing for business citing financial difficulties.

STATE

Nuclear Expert Slams Edison's San Onofre Nuclear Waste Storage Plan(KPBS)

Environmental expert Tom English calls the plan "ridiculous" and contends it makes the storage site at the shuttered plant vulnerable to terrorism.

Californians contemplate ‘unthinkable choices’ if GOP healthcare becomes law  (KQED)

People in the state’s health industry, from advocates to clinic directors, were left reeling by the new CBO report, which estimated the Senate Republican health plan would create an additional 22 million uninsured Americans by 2026. “Nowhere are the dangers greater than in California, where our Medicaid program (Medi-Cal) covers more than one in three state residents,” said Sandra R. Hernández, president and CEO of the California Health Care Foundation.

Proposed state law would shrink control cities have over cell tower installations (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Cities and counties across California are lobbying against a proposed state law that would accelerate approval of cell phone antennas by largely stripping local governments of their power to regulate installation of them.

California's electricity price skyrocketed with the heatwave. Should power officials have called the alert? (San Diego Union-Tribune)

As record-setting temperatures surged into the triple digits in parts of California this week, the manager of the state’s electrical grid put out an urgent plea: Turn down the AC and conserve power to avoid rotating outages.

Why California gun owners may be breaking the law on July 1 (Sacramento Bee)

Sweeping new gun laws passed last year by California voters and legislators require those with magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition to get rid of them by July 1.

Huge milestone for Delta tunnels: Feds say they won’t push fish over the brink (Sacramento Bee)

The Delta tunnels got a crucial green light from two federal agencies Monday when scientists said the controversial project can co-exist with the endangered fish that inhabit the waters of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. In a pair of long-awaited decisions, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service said the tunnels, known as California WaterFix, aren’t likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the Delta smelt, Chinook salmon, steelhead and other imperiled species.

California Attorney General’s office faces scrutiny over San Onofre inquiry (KPBS)

Questions are again being raised about the California Attorney General’s investigation of how consumers were left with a $3.3 billion bill for the closure of the San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station. Since the Attorney General’s Office opened its criminal probe in 2015 into secret dealings connected to the San Onofre settlement, the office made a number of decisions that may have weakened its own case.

Weed killer ingredient going on list as cancerous (AP)

Regulators in California took a pivotal step on Monday toward becoming the first state to require the popular weed killer Roundup to come with a label warning that it’s known to cause cancer.

State: 111 Terminally Ill End Lives Under New California Law (KPBS)

California health officials reported Tuesday that 111 terminally ill people took drugs to end their lives in the first six months after a 2016 law made the option legal in the nation's most populous state.