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July 8, 2020 (San Diego) -- East County Roundup highlights top stories of interest to East County and San Diego's inland regions, published in other media. This week's round-up stories include:
LOCAL
- Will San Diego get a COVID-related surge of foreclosures? (San Diego Union-Tribune)
- When are the Hunters going to jail already? (Escondido Grapevine)
- Young San Diegans willing to be exposed to coronavirus to help with vaccine trials (San Diego Union-Tribune)
- Businesses Say Border Patrol Is Seizing Legal Cannabis Between San Diego, Imperial (Voice of San Diego)
- COVID-19 cases remain low among San Diego County’s homeless (San Diego Union-Tribune)
- County, advocacy group partner to reduce racial disparities in child welfare system (San Diego Union-Tribune)
- Intact piñatas, empty venue halls; San Diego’s family-owned party businesses bemoan lost revenue (San Diego Union-Tribune)
STATE
- California severely short on firefighting crews after COVID-19 lockdown at prison camps (Sacramento Bee)
- California sets record for most coronavirus cases in a single day (Los Angeles Times)
- Cancel the bar exam? California considers allowing law graduates to skip test due to COVID-19 (Sacramento Bee)
- These California Republicans will raise money and campaign against Trump’s reelection (Sacramento Bee)
For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.
LOCAL
Will San Diego get a COVID-related surge of foreclosures? (San Diego Union-Tribune)
It is hard to forget the image of entire street blocks jammed with foreclosure signs pushed into front lawns. The shadow of the Great Recession hangs over the coronavirus crisis and it is easy to see why many assume that Americans will start losing their homes again, especially considering record unemployment and a host of economic problems related to COVID-19. Housing analysts and economists largely agree though that it will be a long time before banks start selling homes. They say that the fear — or hope — of thousands of homes flooding the San Diego market might be misplaced.
New Pact Reached For Fires Near San Diego, Riverside County Line (Patch)
A new mutual aid agreement aims to better protect lives and property at the San Diego-Riverside county line.
Family believes ‘angry mob attack” in El Cajon was racially motivated (10 News)
An El Cajon family says a drive to see a fireworks show turned into a racially motivated nightmare, ending in a mob of people ripping off their car door. On July 4th, just before 9 p.m., William Gavin, his fiancee Alana Christman and their two children - a 6-year-old girl and a two-year-old boy - were driving on Lima Court, looking for Kennedy park and the fireworks show. "Looking down at my GPS, when I hear, 'You can't come into our neighborhood,'" said Christman….A cigarette had flown in through an open window. Gavin, who is African American, says he stopped the car, got out and saw the man who tossed the cigarette: a white man in his 50s.
Large Crowds Fill San Diego County Beaches As Holiday Weekend Begins (KPBS)
Large crowds flocked to San Diego beaches Friday at the start of the Fourth of July weekend as positive coronavirus cases surged throughout the county. San Diego County beaches are among the only open stretches of coast line in Southern California, as most others have closed in response to mounting positive coronavirus cases.
No Charges In SDSU Fraternity Pledge's Death (Patch)
No charges will be sought following a monthslong investigation into the death of a San Diego State University student last November.
When are the Hunters going to jail already? (Escondido Grapevine)
Who knew that the easy part of Duncan and Margaret Hunter taking the heat for their campaign finance fraud would be arranging plea agreements sending them to prison. The hard part, apparently, is for them actually to serve time in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to use over $250,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses. Last week, Margaret Hunter’s sentencing was moved to July 6 in the third sentencing delay because of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
Young San Diegans willing to be exposed to coronavirus to help with vaccine trials (San Diego Union-Tribune)
She doesn’t think of herself as a risk-taker. But April Simpkins of San Diego says she’s willing to help test a COVID-19 vaccine by allowing herself to be directly exposed to the novel coronavirus, which has killed 128,500 people nationally since February.
Businesses Say Border Patrol Is Seizing Legal Cannabis Between San Diego, Imperial (Voice of San Diego)
Growers and distributors in Imperial County and San Diego often have to go through Border Patrol checkpoints en route to testing facilities or markets. Sometimes, they say, Border Patrol will let them through. But other times, those agents confiscate products.
COVID-19 cases remain low among San Diego County’s homeless (San Diego Union-Tribune)
The number of homeless people who have contracted or been hospitalized with COVID-19 has remained relatively low in San Diego County while cases continue to rise among the general population.
County, advocacy group partner to reduce racial disparities in child welfare system (San Diego Union-Tribune)
The percentage of Black children in the region’s child welfare system is almost four times their percentage of the general population, according to San Diego County statistics. A new partnership announced Wednesday aims to change that.
Intact piñatas, empty venue halls; San Diego’s family-owned party businesses bemoan lost revenue (San Diego Union-Tribune)
Robert Diaz has spent nearly a quarter of his life surrounded by piñatas. The 37-year-old was tasked by his father at the age of 12 to work for the family business. When other kids in City Heights were hanging with friends in the neighborhood, Diaz was learning how to properly use flour paste to mold piñatas into various cartoon and superhero characters…Now Diaz and special event business owners like him are hurting as people cancel and postpone parties, large family gatherings, weddings and coming-of-age celebrations because of the coronavirus pandemic.
STATE
The trouble with hot spots: Hard-hit counties send COVID-19 patients to other areas (CalMatters)
Imperial County on the Mexican border is some 600 miles away from the state capital. But when its two area hospitals recently began to run out of intensive care unit beds, it had to transport critically ill patients as far north as Sacramento. The remote county of about 180,000 people has California’s highest rate of COVID-19 cases. It has also sent at least 500 patients to hospitals outside its county lines, demonstrating that despite the state’s emphasis on local control during the pandemic, an outbreak in one county can be felt almost anywhere in the state.
LA sheriff will fine you $300 if you're not wearing a mask in public (CNN)
Californians living in several key Golden State cities could incur hundreds of dollars in fines if they venture out in public without masks. Authorities in Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Monterey announced they'll enforce California Gov. Gavin Newsom's mask mandate by citing people who don't cover their face in public.
California severely short on firefighting crews after COVID-19 lockdown at prison camps (Sacramento Bee)
As California enters another dangerous fire season, the COVID-19 pandemic has depleted the ranks of inmate fire crews…This week, state prison officials announced they had placed 12 of the state’s 43 inmate fire camps on lockdown due to a massive outbreak at a Northern California prison in Lassen County that serves as the training center for fire crews. Until the lockdown lifts, only 30 of the state’s 77 inmate crews are available to fight a wildfire in the north state, prison officials said.
California sets record for most coronavirus cases in a single day (Los Angeles Times)
The coronavirus outbreak continued to worsen in California this week, with 9,500 infections recorded on Tuesday — the most new cases reported in a single day since the pandemic began — and triple-digit fatalities that sent the statewide death toll past 6,500.
Cancel the bar exam? California considers allowing law graduates to skip test due to COVID-19 (Sacramento Bee)
It’s a ticket to a potentially lucrative career as a lawyer — and a grueling, dreaded rite of passage that can defeat even the most promising young legal mind. Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic raging, there’s a chance thousands of recent law school graduates could become lawyers in California without having to take the bar exam.
These California Republicans will raise money and campaign against Trump’s reelection (Sacramento Bee)
Now that the Lincoln Project has the nation’s attention with its ads baiting and attacking President Donald Trump, the political action committee is going grassroots.
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