EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

February 6, 2019 (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

• Lemon Grove asking judge to remove city from lawsuit involving Councilman, dispensary applicant (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Campaign for Rep. Duncan Hunter reports spending hundreds at amusement park, disputes drone charges (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Baja Railroad's overhaul of MTS-owned Desert Line appears stuck in the sand (SDUT))
• Immigrant rights attorneys and journalists denied entry into Mexico (SDUT)
• Marijuana business opening, children's center to move (in La Mesa) (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Local school board member to lead statewide organization (SDUT)
• Santee – where everyone wants to live (San Diego Reader)
• San Diego restaurants can legally add a surcharge to diners' bills for labor costs, court rules (SDUT)

STATE

• Wildfire victims living in RVs forced to leave their own properties (NBC)
• Federal judge asks PG&E: Should I ‘let you keep killing people?’ Rules utility violated its felony probation (San Jose Mercury News)
• Lorena Gonzalez announces 2022 Secretary of State bid (SDUT)
• As California wildfires grew, so did PG&E lobbying spending (Sacramento Bee)
• A web of threats to California's power supply could leave the state in the dark (CAL Matters)
• California Introduces Rewards Program for Buying Milk (Food and Wine)

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

LOCAL

Lemon Grove asking judge to remove city from lawsuit involving Councilman, dispensary applicant (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Lemon Grove City Councilman David Arambula says he knew that Christopher Williams was interested in discussing a city-related business matter when he agreed to meet with Williams at his home in July 2017, according to court documents. But he said he did not know that Williams wanted to talk about the businessman’s pending application to open a medical marijuana dispensary in Lemon Grove… the evening ended with a fight between Williams and Arambula that left Williams with a gash over his eye and bite marks on his torso

Campaign for Rep. Duncan Hunter reports spending hundreds at amusement park, disputes drone charges (San Diego Union-Tribune)

In the last five weeks of 2018, Rep. Duncan Hunter’s campaign reported spending hundreds of dollars at a local amusement park and made $2,000 in charges — now disputed — to a technology company that flies drones.

Baja Railroad's overhaul of MTS-owned Desert Line appears stuck in the sand (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Baja California Railroad has made little progress on rehabilitating the so-called Desert Line since the business took over the lease to operate the 70-mile stretch of track from Tecate to Plaster City more than two years ago. Officials with the Tijuana-based company said last year that they expected...

Immigrant rights attorneys and journalists denied entry into Mexico (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Two U.S. immigrant rights attorneys and two journalists who have worked closely with members of a migrant caravan in Tijuana said they had been denied entry into Mexico in recent days after their passports were flagged with alerts… I think this is retaliation,” Phillips said. “I think this is because we sued the U.S. government. I think it’s that we’re pointing out gross, flagrant human rights violations …” Pinheiro, a U.S. citizen who lives in Tijuana, said she was denied the chance to fetch her 10-month-old son, who has dual citizenship and was in Tijuana….

Marijuana business opening, children's center to move (in La Mesa) (San Diego Union-Tribune)

A standoff between a medical marijuana dispensary and the operators of a behavioral health clinic appears to have been resolved.

Local school board member to lead statewide organization (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Emma Turner, vice president of the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District board, has been named president of the California School Boards Association for 2019…Joining Turner on CSBA’s 2019 Executive Committee are Vice President Tamara Otero of the Cajon Valley Union School District Board…

Santee – where everyone wants to live (San Diego Reader)

Mission Trails Park in the front yard, small homeless, parking woes

San Diego restaurants can legally add a surcharge to diners' bills for labor costs, court rules (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Nearly a dozen San Diego restaurants that were sued over an extra charge they had added to diners’ bills were within their legal right to do so, a Superior Court judge has ruled.  At issue were surcharges of 3 percent to 4 percent of the cost of a meal that local restaurants have been increasingly using to help defray the rising cost of labor, stemming largely from a succession of increases in the minimum wage, now at $12 an hour.

STATE

Wildfire victims living in RVs forced to leave their own properties (NBC)

Hundreds of Northern California wildfire victims desperate for housing and living in recreational vehicles on their burned-out lots were ordered off their properties Monday after federal authorities threatened to cut off funding for the state's biggest natural disaster cleanup.

Federal judge asks PG&E: Should I ‘let you keep killing people?’ Rules utility violated its felony probation (San Jose Mercury News)

U.S. District Judge William Alsup spent Wednesday morning eviscerating PG&E in federal court over wildfires.

Lorena Gonzalez announces 2022 Secretary of State bid (San Diego Union-Tribune)

One of San Diego’s most prominent legislators may move up to a bigger stage. Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez announced Monday she has launched a bid for Secretary of State in 2022.

As California wildfires grew, so did PG&E lobbying spending (Sacramento Bee)

 PG&E spent $1.3 million on lobbying from October through December, bringing its total for the 2017-2018 session to $11.8 million…For comparison, the utility spent $2.5 million over the 2015-2016 session.

A web of threats to California's power supply could leave the state in the dark (CALmatters)

At SDG&E, which has 3.6 million electricity customers, “there’s always some type of an intrusion attempt daily,” said Zoraya Griffin, the company’s emergency operations manager. “It’s not a matter of if we have them, but how many.”

California Introduces Rewards Program for Buying Milk (Food and Wine)

 California’s milk marketing board has announced “Moo Money,” a kind of cashback program where customers accrue points anytime they purchase liquid milk. (Sorry, cheeseheads!) These points can later be converted into a Virtual Reward Card that can be used anywhere MasterCard is accepted.