EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

August 8, 2013 (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

• Horses give Border Patrol a leg up in Southern California (Sacramento Bee)
• Time-lapse beauty of Borrego Springs (CBS)
• Student left in DEA cell to get $4 million from US (AP)
• San Diego Emergency Response Times Too Slow Too Often (Voice of San Diego)
• Filner will pay group back for Paris trip (U-T San Diego)
• Sheriff's harassment line 'lit up' with calls (U-T San Diego)
• San Diego mayor accused of inappropriate behavior by 11th woman (Reuters)  
• Grand jury: Filner's worst nightmare? (U-T San Diego)
• Bureau of Reclamation awards $1.025 million toward San Diego watershed basin study (Groksurf San Diego)

STATE

• Citrus growers import wasp to fight disease threatening groves (Los Angeles Times)
• Ex-lawmaker seeks to bolster privacy (U-T San Diego
• U.S. high court backs order on California prison crowding (Reuters)
• Unions target Westfield malls over Prop 13 tax benefits (Los Angeles Times)
• California's New Rules Could Change The Rideshare Game (NPR)
• California Takes Drivers' Orders For 'Vintage' Car Plates (NPR)

Click “read more” for excerpts and links to full stories.

LOCAL

Horses give Border Patrol a leg up in Southern California (Sacramento Bee)

Mustangs shake their heads in the heat, eyes and ears alert to their riders, all of them U.S. Border Patrol agents. The horses and the agents have gathered for an advanced class at their new facility in this tiny community about 60 miles east of San Diego, near the Mexican border.

Time-lapse beauty of Borrego Springs (CBS)

Remarkable time lapse video shows the surreal beauty of the desert town of Borrego Springs, California. Video courtesy of Sunchaser Pictures. Check them out on Facebook.

Student left in DEA cell to get $4 million from US (AP) -- The Justice Department will pay $4.1 million to a California college student left in a Drug Enforcement Administration holding cell for four days without food or water last year, two people familiar with the case told The Associated Press on Tuesday....

San Diego Emergency Response Times Too Slow Too Often (Voice of San Diego)

A VOSD investigation found that first responders are late to high-priority emergencies an average of twice an hour every day.

Filner will pay group back for Paris trip (U-T San Diego)

San Diego Mayor Bob Filner said Wednesday that he will pay out of his own pocket the nearly $10,000 it cost for his trip to France last month. Filner’s announcement came one day after U-T Watchdog reported that the IRS had no record of the organization Filner said paid his tab of being a U.S. tax-exempt nonprofit.

Sheriff's harassment line 'lit up' with calls (U-T San Diego)

A Sheriff’s Department hotline to take calls from potential victims of sexual misconduct by San Diego Mayor Bob Filner has “been lit up” with calls and that the department is investigating.

San Diego mayor accused of inappropriate behavior by 11th woman (Reuters)  

The number of women to publicly accuse San Diego Mayor Bob Filner of inappropriate behavior increased to 11 on Tuesday when a vocational nurse said she had been propositioned by Filner while seeking his help on behalf of a disabled U.S. war veteran.

Grand jury: Filner's worst nightmare? (U-T San Diego)

Rarely used legal option could blast the mayor out of office.

Bureau of Reclamation awards $1.025 million toward San Diego watershed basin study (Groksurf San Diego)

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has agreed to contribute funding in the amount of $1,025,000 in fiscal year 2013 for a San Diego Watershed Basin Study proposed by the City of San Diego along with two other local agencies.

STATE

Citrus growers import wasp to fight disease threatening groves (Los Angeles Times)

California citrus farmers import a parasitic wasp from Pakistan to battle citrus greening, a disease threatening their groves. The tiny wasps become parasites to a species of psyllid that has been spreading a deadly bacteria in citrus trees throughout the Southland.

Ex-lawmaker seeks to bolster privacy (U-T San Diego)-- Steve Peace is proposing a ballot initiative that would add new privacy protections to the state constitution. Specifically, it would establish standards for the collection of personal information by government and commercial entities — including the presumption that such information is confidential and unauthorized disclosures harm consumers.

U.S. high court backs order on California prison crowding (Reuters)

 The U.S. Supreme Court refused on Friday to excuse California from a lower-court order demanding that the nation's largest state prison system reduce its inmate population by about 10,000 convicts this year to ease crowding.

Unions target Westfield malls over Prop 13 tax benefits (Los Angeles Times)

Unions that say big businesses pay too little in taxes under Prop. 13 target Westfield malls to try to make a point.

California's New Rules Could Change The Rideshare Game (NPR)

For years, cities and states have struggled to figure out what to do about the rise in ridesharing companies such as Uber and Lyft. California recently took the first steps toward legitimizing them, a move that could serve as a model for places also trying to catch up with the boom.

California Takes Drivers' Orders For 'Vintage' Car Plates (NPR)

Thousands of California drivers are ordering specialty vintage license tags for their cars, in a program that lets people choose new tags based on designs from the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. The throw-back plates will let drivers put iconic blue, black, or yellow tags on their vehicles.