EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

October 4, 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

• San Diego County Adding Psychiatric Beds To Serve Growing Mentally Ill Population (KPBS)
• County agrees to pay $3 million to settle lawsuits filed by former foster children  (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Visa change could hit San Diego hard (Voice of San Diego)
• Signature gathering underway to overturn Newland Sierra housing development approval (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Shark attacks 13-year-old boy diving for lobster at San Diego County beach (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Private prison $10K goes to Lincoln Club (San Diego Reader)
• Man finds $46K hidden in Goodwill donation (10 News)

STATE

• No gun sales under age 21 in California starting in 2019 (Sacramento Bee)
• Gov. Jerry Brown blocks medical marijuana on school campuses (Los Angeles Times)
• Booze until 4 a.m.? Not in California, governor says in veto of bill to keep bars open (Sacramento Bee)
• California will ban the sale of most animal-tested cosmetics starting in 2020 (Los Angeles Times)
• California Just Passed an Internet of Things Law (Mac Observer)
• California is requiring more women on boards. It may not stand up in court (San Francisco Chronicle)

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

LOCAL

San Diego County Adding Psychiatric Beds To Serve Growing Mentally Ill Population (KPBS)

A new psychiatric unit is set to open in San Diego this week as part of the county’s plan to boost services for a growing number of people suffering from mental illness. The 67 long-term care beds will serve people who are too ill to live on their own.

County agrees to pay $3 million to settle lawsuits filed by former foster children  (San Diego Union-Tribune)

The County of San Diego will pay millions of dollars to settle a pair of lawsuits filed by two former foster children who accused officials of failing to protect them from abuse by their foster parent, then invaded the privacy of one boy during resulting litigation, county officials said.

Visa change could hit San Diego hard (Voice of San Diego)

Roughly 20 percent of all skilled foreign workers in the United States live and work in California. But potential changes that would bar their spouses from working may make it more difficult to attract foreign workers to the state – and especially San Diego, Maya Srikrishnan reports.

Signature gathering underway to overturn Newland Sierra housing development approval (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Signature-gatherers have fanned out across the county to collect signatures in hopes of qualifying a referendum for the March 2020 ballot that would overturn the approval of the Newland Sierra housing project in North County.

Shark attacks 13-year-old boy diving for lobster at San Diego County beach (San Diego Union-Tribune)

A 13-year-old boy diving for lobster was attacked by a shark Saturday morning near Beacon’s Beach in Encinitas, leaving him with traumatic upper body wounds, authorities said.

Private prison $10K goes to Lincoln Club (San Diego Reader)

And Lincoln Club antes up $5,000 for Voice of San Diego

Man finds $46K hidden in Goodwill donation (10 News)

A Del Cerro Goodwill employee found tens of thousands in cash hidden in a donation to the nonprofit.

STATE

No gun sales under age 21 in California starting in 2019 (Sacramento Bee)

 Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday signed Senate Bill 1100, which raises the age limit for the purchase of long guns, such as rifles and shotguns, from 18 to 21. The state already restricts handgun sales to adults 21 and older.

Gov. Jerry Brown blocks medical marijuana on school campuses (Los Angeles Times)

 Voicing concern about exposing minors to marijuana, Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday vetoed a measure that would have allowed parents to bring medical cannabis to school campuses for their children in districts that sign off on the practice.

Booze until 4 a.m.? Not in California, governor says in veto of bill to keep bars open (Sacramento Bee)

Citing concerns about increasing drunken driving, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill Friday that would have allowed alcohol to be served two hours later in the morning until 4 a.m. in nine cities, including Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

California will ban the sale of most animal-tested cosmetics starting in 2020 (Los Angeles Times)

 The ban, authored by Sen. Cathleen Galgiani (D-Stockton), will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2020, and will apply only to cosmetics tested on animals after that date. It allows exceptions when a federal authority, such as the Food and Drug Administration, requires animal testing.

California Just Passed an Internet of Things Law (Mac Observer)

 Starting on January 1st, 2020, any manufacturer of a device that connects “directly or indirectly” to the internet must equip it with “reasonable” security features, designed to prevent unauthorized access, modification, or information disclosure. If it can be accessed outside a local area network with a password, it needs to either come with a unique password for each device, or force users to set their own password the first time they connect. That means no more generic default credentials for a hacker to guess.

California is requiring more women on boards. It may not stand up in court (San Francisco Chronicle)

On Sunday, Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB826, which requires public companies with headquarters in California to have at least one female director by the end of next year. By 2021, the mandate grows to two women for five-board members and three women for boards of six or more members. Firms failing to comply face a fine.  But some legal experts say the measure violates the federal and state constitutions, by in effect requiring companies to discriminate against men wanting to serve on boards. It also, they say, compels firms to prioritize gender over other aspects of diversity such as race and ethnicity….