EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

June 13, 2022 (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

• Ex-Christian youth theater employee pleads guilty to sex abuse charge (10 News)
• Navy to ‘pause’ non-deployed flight operations Monday after spate of crashes (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Lemon Grove will likely have a balanced budget, but not for the best reasons (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• East County cities pledge to find more homes for the homeless. How many places actually exist? (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Surge of fentanyl deaths, staffing shortages create backlog in county Medical Examiner’s Office (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• New leader takes over Taylor Guitars, as founder steps back (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• San Diego County family sues over alleged Hepatitis A infections linked to strawberries (10 News)
• Lemon Grove residents would have an easier time building accessory units under proposal (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Rules for Outdoor Dining Spaces About to Get More Strict in City of San Diego (NBC San Diego)
• What to know about Bishop McElroy, who will soon be a cardinal (Catholic News Agency)

STATE

• California lawmakers push gun control legislation toward final approval by Gov. Newsom  (Sacramento Bee)
• The California Highway Patrol has 1,000 officer vacancies. A new campaign aims to fill them (Sacramento Bee)
• Invasive jumping earthworms spotted in California (Ecowatch)
• Pelosi’s Husband Faces Drunken Driving Charge in California (New York Times)

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

LOCAL

Ex-Christian youth theater employee pleads guilty to sex abuse charge (10 News)

One of two former employees of the El-Cajon-based Christian Youth Theater charged with sexually abusing underage students in the program pleaded guilty Friday. Brad Christian Davis, 41, pleaded guilty to a sexual penetration by a foreign object count stemming from a 2010 incident, which the San Diego County District Attorney's Office says involved a then-16-year-old girl.

Navy to ‘pause’ non-deployed flight operations Monday after spate of crashes (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Navy aviation units will pause flight operations Monday to review practices and conduct training after a series of crashes involving aircraft from both branches in Southern California over the last 10 days, the Navy said in a statement Saturday. Six service members — a Navy F/A-18E Superhornet pilot and the 5-Marine crew of an MV-22B Osprey — died in two Southern California crashes within a week. A third aircraft, a San Diego-based MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter, crashed Thursday. All four sailors on board survived, the Navy said.

Lemon Grove will likely have a balanced budget, but not for the best reasons (San Diego Union-Tribune)

The city has also run out of fire engines and once had to send two people in a pickup to medical calls, the fire chief said.

East County cities pledge to find more homes for the homeless. How many places actually exist? (San Diego Union-Tribune)

You have limited options if you’re homeless in East County. There are no shelters in Santee. There are no shelters in Lemon Grove. There are dozens of rooms in La Mesa, but only for young people. And while hundreds can be housed at one El Cajon facility, it does not allow pets or smoking and its leadership has said the shelter may not be ideal for everyone. In total, the region appears to have shelter space for about 500 people while more than three times that need housing.

Surge of fentanyl deaths, staffing shortages create backlog in county Medical Examiner’s Office (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Families forced to wait months to learn how loved ones died while Public Defender said delays make it ‘almost impossible’ to investigate homicide cases.

New leader takes over Taylor Guitars, as founder steps back (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Years ago, Bob Taylor wrote a wish list describing the type of person he wanted to replace him as top designer for his namesake company. They needed to be a self-taught guitar maker. A native San Diegan. A professional player. They couldn’t be older than 30 but still needed two decades of experience building instruments — and they should be a fundamentally good person. He knew it was an impossible list. Then he met Andy Powers.

San Diego County family sues over alleged Hepatitis A infections linked to strawberries (10 News)

A lawsuit filed on behalf of a San Diego County family alleges all three family members contracted hepatitis A after eating strawberries just weeks before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced it was investigating an outbreak among people who had consumed the fruit. The suit filed Friday in San Diego Superior Court against FreshKampo alleges the family of three ate FreshKampo brand strawberries in late April, then each suffered symptoms consistent with hepatitis A

Lemon Grove residents would have an easier time building accessory units under proposal (San Diego Union-Tribune)

The Lemon Grove City Council has given initial approval to rules expanding when residents can build accessory dwelling units as skyrocketing housing prices increase pressure on local leaders to make cities more affordable. The council also approved a proposal allowing developers to build more units than normally allowed as long as housing was set aside for low-income residents or college students, young people in the foster care system, disabled veterans or the homeless.

Rules for Outdoor Dining Spaces About to Get More Strict in City of San Diego (NBC San Diego)

If restaurants fail to follow new outdoor dining rules, they could lose their pandemic lifeline

What to know about Bishop McElroy, who will soon be a cardinal (Catholic News Agency)

Pope Francis announced Sunday that he will create 21 new cardinals in August, one of whom is the bishop of San Diego, California.  Who is Bishop Robert McElroy? Here are some fast facts.

STATE

California lawmakers push gun control legislation toward final approval by Gov. Newsom  (Sacramento Bee)

The bills, wide in scope, would limit the manufacture of ghost guns, ban gun sales on public properties and cap the number of guns a private citizen is allowed to manufacture. 

The California Highway Patrol has 1,000 officer vacancies. A new campaign aims to fill them (Sacramento Bee)

The California Highway Patrol plans to hire 1,000 new officers in the next few years to make up for a staggering number of vacancies that accumulated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Invasive jumping earthworms spotted in California (Ecowatch)

What grows up to eight inches long, is dark with a white band, can leap a foot in the air and is the latest threat to California’s forest ecosystems? The answer is the Asian jumping worm (Amynthas agrestis), a uniquely mobile species of earthworm with an impressive appetite that was sighted in the state for the first time in recent months. 

Pelosi’s Husband Faces Drunken Driving Charge in California (New York Times)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was not with her husband, Paul, when he was arrested in Napa County on Saturday, a spokesman said.