EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

March 14, 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

• Facing widespread criticism, Senator Hueso withdraws bill to rewrite state public records law (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• CPB: Two young girls dropped over border fence as distraction (10 News)
• George Bailey, whose political career spanned 35 years, dies at 100 (San Diego Union Tribune)
• Verizon customers experience problems with 911 Calls (KUSI)
• Source: Leaked Documents Show the U.S. Government Tracking Journalists and Immigration Advocates Through a Secret Database (NBC 7)
• Bad behavior reported at Southern California wildflower super bloom (10 News)
• Local agencies respond faster than federal agencies to request for public records (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Morning report:  Travel ban splits a San Diego family ( Voice of San Diego)
• University of San Diego raises tuition above $50,000 for the first time (SDUT)
• The Learning Curve: Schools With Cops But No Counselors (Voice of San Diego)
• Fault Lines Emerge in Push to Connect Airport to Trolley (Voice of San Diego)

STATE

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom announces moratorium on death penalty, calls decision 'personal' (ABC)
• Sick marine mammals turning up on California beaches in droves (Los Angeles Times)
• How we mapped more than 100 years of wildfire history (Open News)
• California agencies dispute Colorado River drought plan (ABC News)

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

LOCAL

Facing widespread criticism, Senator Hueso withdraws bill to rewrite state public records law (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Confronting a wave of criticism from elected officials, news organizations, good-government groups and others, state Sen. Ben Hueso on Tuesday withdrew a bill he introduced last month that …would  have required people requesting records from public agencies to “meet and confer” with government officials before filing any lawsuit alleging the government had improperly withheld documents…. The San Diego City Council voted unanimously to include opposition to Hueso’s bill in its state and federal legislative platform.

CPB: Two young girls dropped over border fence as distraction (10 News)

A human smuggler reportedly used two children as decoys by dropping them over the border into concertina wire, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. CBP reports that two Salvadoran girls, ages six and nine, were dropped roughly eight feet from the San Diego border behind concertina wire late Monday night.

George Bailey, whose political career spanned 35 years, dies at 100 (San Diego Union Tribune)

George Bailey, the longtime La Mesa mayor and former San Diego County supervisor, died at his home Monday of congestive heart failure.

Verizon customers experience problems with 911 Calls (KUSI)

 People making emergency calls to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department on Verizon phones Tuesday were experiencing problems connecting with dispatchers.

Source: Leaked Documents Show the U.S. Government Tracking Journalists and Immigration Advocates Through a Secret Database (NBC 7)

The documents detail an intelligence-gathering effort by the United States and Mexican authorities, targeting more than 50 people including journalists, an attorney, and immigration advocates

Bad behavior reported at Southern California wildflower super bloom (10 News)

The beautiful wildflower super bloom in Southern California is being met with some ugly behavior. A sea of bright orange poppies carpets the hills along Interstate 15 in Lake Elsinore. Word spread when the bloom erupted; now the area is a huge draw for visitors.

Local agencies respond faster than federal agencies to request for public records (San Diego Union-Tribune)

 In January U-T Watchdog sought six months’ worth of email records that contained four phrases — “off the record,” “off record,” “on background” and “deep background” — from nearly 100 public agencies. 

Morning report:  Travel ban  splits a San Diego family ( Voice of San Diego)

A San Diego engineer and his family are stuck in limbo more than a year after President Donald Trump instituted his final travel ban, effectively barring most Iranians from obtaining visas to permanently settle in the United States. Sawyer Mirage, who works at Qualcomm, became a U.S. citizen in 2016 and soon petitioned to move his aging parents from Iran so he could help care for them.

University of San Diego raises tuition above $50,000 for the first time (SDUT)

 The University of San Diego has raised its annual tuition above the $50,000 level for the first time… a $1,700 increase over the current year. If you add room, board and related expenses, a full year at USD will cost $67,211. That’s an increase of $2,282 over this year.

The Learning Curve: Schools With Cops But No Counselors (Voice of San Diego)

Voice of San Diego - The ACLU released some disturbing data this week: 1.7 million students in the United States attend a school with a cop or security guard, but not a school counselor.

Fault Lines Emerge in Push to Connect Airport to Trolley (Voice of San Diego)

At SANDAG’s retreat last week, officials clashed over whether the “San Diego Grand Central” concept is the best way to get people to and from the airport.

STATE

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announces moratorium on death penalty, calls decision 'personal' (ABC)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a moratorium on the death penalty Wednesday, halting more than 700 executions in the state and drawing criticism from President Donald Trump. The executive order grants a reprieve to 737 inmates on the country's largest death row and halts the use of the death penalty in the state, according to the governor's office.

Sick marine mammals turning up on California beaches in droves (Los Angeles Times)

As winter rains have poured down, trash has flowed onto area beaches. And amid the detritus has been an even more troubling discovery: scores of sickened or dead marine mammals.

How we mapped more than 100 years of wildfire history (Open News)

We had people asking for real-time maps of fires as they burned, as well as for historic maps showing the effect of wildfire on the state over time. From these answers, we had the idea for a historic map of all the wildfires that have been recorded in California history.

California agencies dispute Colorado River drought plan (ABC News)

 A major Southern California water agency is trying to push the state through a final hurdle in joining a larger plan to preserve a key river that serves 40 million people