EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

July 5, 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

• San Diego Superior Court to close courtrooms, cut staff because of budget shortfall (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• To curb suicides, VA opens services to those with less than honorable discharges (KPBS)
• Targeted immigration arrests in San Diego have more than doubled under Trump (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Uninsured in East County get help from $150,000 local grant (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Oceanside minister supported Trump. Now he faces deportation (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• FS investors, a leaked memo and the Q:  Who done it? (Reporting San Diego)

STATE

• More state officials refuse to turn over voter roll data (The Hill)
• Hate crimes rise in California, state report says (Los Angeles Times, via San Diego Jewish World)
• California invested heavily in solar power. Now there’s so much that other states are sometimes paid to take it. (Los Angeles Times)
• California’s Supreme Court makes it harder for three-strikes prisoners to get sentence reductions (Los Angeles Times)

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

LOCAL

San Diego Superior Court to close courtrooms, cut staff because of budget shortfall (San Diego Union-Tribune)

The San Diego Superior Court is expecting at least a $6 million cut to its budget this fiscal year, leading court authorities to reduce staff, consolidate departments and close courtrooms, all of which will reduce public access.

To curb suicides, VA opens services to those with less than honorable discharges (KPBS)

… A VA study reported that in 2014 only six of the 20 veterans who committed suicide received services from the Veterans Health Administration. Some of those vets were not eligible for VA services because of their discharge status. … Starting Wednesday, the VA will…allow those veterans to access mental health services for 90 days, according to Neal Doran, a staff psychologist and director of clinical improvement at the VA San Diego Medical Center, who directs suicide prevention program at the VA San Diego.

Targeted immigration arrests in San Diego have more than doubled under Trump (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in San Diego took Emilio Sotomayor, 55, from his home early one morning to deport him to a country he hasn't seen in 36 years

Uninsured in East County get help from $150,000 local grant (San Diego Union-Tribune)

An East County group that helps people who can’t afford health insurance got a little help of its own last month from a local healthcare district. The Grossmont Healthcare District presented a check for $150,000 to Maureen Hartin, CEO of Volunteers in Medicine ….Volunteers in Medicine runs its only San Diego County medical clinic at 1457 E. Madison Ave. in El Cajon.

Oceanside minister supported Trump. Now he faces deportation (San Diego Union-Tribune)

…Ramirez came to the U.S. with his family when he was 11 and was raised in North County. In high school, Ramirez joined the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps for the Marines, and when the Gulf War began, he tried to enlist. .. “I’m USA all the way,” Ramirez said. “It’s that American spirit”…When he worked as a satellite television technician, he always tried to show the Marines he encountered how grateful he was for their service, he said.

FS investors, a leaked memo and the Q:  Who done it? (Reporting San Diego)

We have a mystery in the City of San Diego. Who leaked a confidential memo to FS Investors? This memo allegedly detailed the strategies the city would follow in negotiations over Soccer City and the Qualcomm Stadium property. Among other details, the memo contained legal strategies, and what would survive legal challenges…This is not minor. This has led to calls for investigations.

STATE

More state officials refuse to turn over voter roll data (The Hill)

Top officials in more than 10 states have announced they won't turn over all voter roll data to President Trump's commission on voter fraud… officials in New York, California, Massachusetts, Kentucky and Virginia had said they would not turn over any of their voter data to the voter fraud commission.

Hate crimes rise in California, state report says (Los Angeles Times, via San Diego Jewish World)

California is seeing an increase in hate crimes. There were 931 incidents in 2016, an 11.2 percent spike over 2015, the state Department of Justice reported Monday. More than half of those involved bias based on race, ethnicity or national origin. The second-most-common incidents were based on sexual orientation. Race-based hate crimes jumped 21.3 percent, the report said.

California invested heavily in solar power. Now there’s so much that other states are sometimes paid to take it. (Los Angeles Times)

… Eventually, unnecessary redundancy of electricity from renewables and fossil fuel will disappear, regulators, utilities and operators of the electric grid say.

California’s Supreme Court makes it harder for three-strikes prisoners to get sentence reductions (Los Angeles Times)

Judges have broad authority in refusing to lighten the sentences of “three-strike” inmates, despite recent ballot measures aimed at reducing the state’s prison population, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday.