EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

August 28, 2018 (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

• Duncan Hunter not first 50^th Congressional district Rep. embroiled in scandal (KNSD 7)
• Nurses association calls for lawmaker Joel Anderson’s resignation over altercation with its lobbyist (Sacramento Bee)
• Why San Diego can’t house everyone who wants to live here (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• SDG&E still wants consumers to pay $379M for 2007 wildfires and files appeal with court (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• An Urban Wildfire Could Happen in San Diego (Voice of San Diego)
• Federal regulators in San Diego muted after Newland Sierra developer lobbies D.C. power players (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• San Diego doctor caught watching child porn at work will get his job back (10 News)

STATE

• Lawmakers drop bid to change utility liability for wildfires (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Here's how California became the most secretive state on police misconduct (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Lowe's closing Orchard Supply Hardware chain it acquired out of bankruptcy (Los Angeles Times)

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

LOCAL

Duncan Hunter not first 50^th Congressional district Rep. embroiled in scandal (KNSD 7)

Over the last 30 years, several congressmen from the 50th district have found themselves involved in scandal while in office.

Nurses association calls for lawmaker Joel Anderson’s resignation over altercation with its lobbyist (Sacramento Bee)

 The California Nurses Association is calling for a lawmaker to resign from the Senate and withdraw his candidacy for the state Board of Equalization after an altercation with its lobbyist at a Sacramento restaurant. The California Senate is investigating allegations that Sen. Joel Anderson, R-Alpine, threatened to “bitch slap” the association’s female lobbyist during an evening fundraiser at The Diplomat Steakhouse.

Why San Diego can’t house everyone who wants to live here (San Diego Union-Tribune)

San Diego may never again be able to provide housing for all the people who want to live here. We are too deep in the hole, far removed from the conditions that prevailed when we last could make that offer, in the 1980s. Yet we can stabilize conditions and improve the quality of life of current and future residents.

SDG&E still wants consumers to pay $379M for 2007 wildfires and files appeal with court (San Diego Union-Tribune)

The utility has filed an appeal with the state’s Fourth Appellate District in San Diego, calling on the court to review a decision by the California Public Utilities Commission that rejected SDG&E’s request last November. The commission also denied the utility a rehearing on the case last month.

An Urban Wildfire Could Happen in San Diego (Voice of San Diego)

Urban San Diego may seem like an unlikely place for an out-of-control wildfire. After all, the city’s many canyons are small and cut-through with street networks, and close to city fire stations to ensure a quick response. But San Diego’s unique topography sets the stage for what could actually be a damaging wildfire.

Federal regulators in San Diego muted after Newland Sierra developer lobbies D.C. power players (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Federal environmental regulators in San Diego had for several years raised concerns about a massive master-planned community proposed in the Merriam Mountains north of Escondido, dubbed Newland Sierra.U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials in Carlsbad repeatedly told developers that the envisioned design would clog up a key wildlife corridor for everything from mountain lions to bobcats to golden eagles to gnatcatchers — potentially undermining a federally mandated blueprint, decades in the making, to protect species habitat in the region.

San Diego doctor caught watching child porn at work will get his job back (10 News)

A former San Diego Kaiser doctor who was caught watching child porn at work will have his license reinstated.

STATE

Lawmakers drop bid to change utility liability for wildfires (San Francisco Chronicle)

 Lawmakers are abandoning a controversial plan pushed by Gov. Jerry Brown to end strict financial liability for utilities whose power lines cause wildfires, saying the complex and fiercely debated issue made it impossible to focus on other fire-related measures.

Here's how California became the most secretive state on police misconduct (San Diego Union-Tribune)

n the 1970s, Los Angeles police officers were furious that past complaints against them increasingly were making their way into court cases. So, LAPD officials did something radical: They took more than four tons of personnel records dating to the 1940s and shredded them.

Lowe's closing Orchard Supply Hardware chain it acquired out of bankruptcy (Los Angeles Times)

All Orchard Supply Hardware stores in California and elsewhere will close by February, the company’s parent — home-improvement retail giant Lowe’s — announced Wednesday.