EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

November 16, 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

• Court denies SDG&E appeal; utility wanted customers to pay $379M for 2007 wildfire costs (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Migrant Caravan Groups Arrive By Hundreds At US Border (KPBS)
• Farm animals get second chance at Campo sanctuary (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• The slow end of the Kalasho regime (San Diego Reader)
• La Mesa library promoting ebooks with bookmobile (San Diego Union-Tribune)

STATE

• PG&E outlook ominous if utility found responsible for California’s worst wildfire (Los Angeles Times)
• State Senator Looking at Breaking Up Utilities Following Potential Ties to Deadly Fires  (KQED)
• Trump threatens to pull federal funds for Calif. wildfires over forest 'mismanagement' (CBS 8)
• Trump’s erroneous claims about causes of California wildfires don’t add up (Los Angeles Times)
• In California wildfires, disabled people may be left behind (SF Curbed)
• Nurses risk their lives to save elderly patients and newborns from California wildfire (Daily Mail)
• Fire and police fought Camp Fire as blaze hit home: More than 90 first responders lost houses (Sacramento Bee)
• Utility stocks slump as California wildfires leave hundreds missing  (Reuters)

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

LOCAL

Court denies SDG&E appeal; utility wanted customers to pay $379M for 2007 wildfire costs (San Diego Union-Tribune)

The long-running effort by San Diego Gas & Electric to pass onto ratepayers $379 million in costs related to deadly wildfires in 2007 that ripped through parts of the county has suffered another setback. California’s Fourth Appellate District in San Diego late Tuesday afternoon denied a petition from SDG&E asking the court to review a decision made by the California Public Utilities Commission last year that rejected the utility’s request to recover the $379 million through rates.

Migrant Caravan Groups Arrive By Hundreds At US Border (KPBS)

Migrants in a caravan of Central Americans scrambled Wednesday to reach the U.S. border, arriving by the hundreds in Tijuana, while U.S. authorities across the border were readying razor wire security barriers.

Farm animals get second chance at Campo sanctuary (San Diego Union-Tribune)

They were once facing irreversible harm or imminent death. Gerald the rooster, Jen the hen, India and Grace the cows, Sherman the goat, Lilac the sheep, and Jerome, Thor and Rudy the pigs. But they are all now living high on the hog at a sanctuary in Campo. The nine are among nearly 50 rescued agricultural animals at Farm Animal Refuge, a nonprofit co-founded two years ago and run by East County natives Jordan Russo and Matt Lieurance.

The slow end of the Kalasho regime (San Diego Reader)

Tuesday’s votes have been tallied and the race with the largest margin of defeat in San Diego County was for El Cajon’s first district city council representative.

La Mesa library promoting ebooks with bookmobile (San Diego Union-Tribune)

The Digital Bookmobile, a 42-foot-long “toterhome” showcasing high-tech ways to enjoy literature, will be pulling up in La Mesa later this month.

STATE

PG&E outlook ominous if utility found responsible for California’s worst wildfire (Los Angeles Times)

In a grim sign for the Northern California utility giant, Pacific Gas & Electric said Wednesday that if it is deemed responsible for the fire that destroyed much of Paradise, the liability would exceed its insurance coverage.

State Senator Looking at Breaking Up Utilities Following Potential Ties to Deadly Fires  (KQED)

 State Sen. Jerry Hill tells KQED that he is looking into legislation that would break up the state's investor-owned utilities or make them public following reports that Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison equipment may have been connected to the Camp and Woolsey fires burning at either end of the state.

Trump threatens to pull federal funds for Calif. wildfires over forest 'mismanagement' (CBS 8)

With major wildfires still roaring out of control in California, President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Saturday to blame "gross mismanagement of the forest" for the catastrophe and threatened to withhold federal funds if the issue is not remedied.

Trump’s erroneous claims about causes of California wildfires don’t add up (Los Angeles Times)

… Some firefighters took to social media to point out the distinction. “Mr. President, with all due respect, you are wrong. The fires in So. Cal are urban interface fires and have NOTHING to do with forest management. Come to SoCal and learn the facts & help the victims,” the Pasadena Firefighters Assn. said on Twitter. Experts have also said forest management was not a factor in California’s two most destructive fires: the Camp, which burned more than 6,000 structures this week in Paradise, and the Tubbs fire last year in wine country.

In California wildfires, disabled people may be left behind (SF Curbed)

“Our lives are at stake and thoughts and prayers are not enough”

Nurses risk their lives to save elderly patients and newborns from California wildfire (Daily Mail)

 The staff at the Feather River Hospital in Paradise, California, took just 20 minutes to evacuate their patients.... The nurses packed elderly patients and newborns into vehicles and then fled in their own cars but were trapped by flames on the road. … A bulldozer then cleared their path and she was able to return to the hospital where she continued treating patients in a makeshift triage area set up in the parking lot.

Fire and police fought Camp Fire as blaze hit home: More than 90 first responders lost houses (Sacramento Bee)

 Among residents who lost homes in the Camp Fire in Butte County, California: Cal Fire firefighters, Paradise town police officers, the [Paradise] mayor and [all its City Council], as they worked to save lives and battle the wildfires, which burned over 6,700 structures. // Paradise mayor Jones estimated that 90 percent of the town’s houses are now gone, and that about half of downtown has been destroyed. Still standing are Town Hall, the high school, the hospital, two if the three fire stations, and two of the three grocery stores. 

Utility stocks slump as California wildfires leave hundreds missing  (Reuters)

 California utility stocks plummeted for a second day on Monday after deadly wildfires killed at least 31 people and left hundreds missing, with property losses estimated at over $2 billion and the companies facing potential liability.