EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

February 9, 2023  (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

• In State of the County speech, Board Chair Nora Vargas pledges to boost housing, small businesses and air quality (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• ‘We are not forgotten’: Formerly deported veterans become U.S. citizens in special San Diego ceremony (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• After the Vaccine, Republicans Became Far More Likely to Die with Covid-19 Than Democrats (Voice of San Diego)
• Here come the flowers (Borrego Sun)
• Reopened Chamber rebuilds (The Alpine Sun)
• Change in towing policy coming to San Diego (KPBS)
• Rincon reclaims power from state to oversee its gaming (Valley Roadrunner)
• Sharp data breach impacts nearly 6,300 (Fox 5 San Diego)

STATE

• California won't require COVID vaccine to attend schools (KPBS)
• The winter storms in California will boost water allocations for the state's cities  (AP)
• New Bill Would Mandate California Gun Owners Purchase Liability Insurance (Times of San Diego)
• President Biden Approves Emergency Aid for California in Wake of Deadly Storms (Times of San Diego)
• New cars in California must be zero-emissions by 2035. Can the power grid handle it?  (NPR)

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

LOCAL

In State of the County speech, Board Chair Nora Vargas pledges to boost housing, small businesses and air quality (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Jobs, housing and environmental health will be priorities for the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, its new chair Nora Vargas said in her first State of the County address Wednesday evening.

‘We are not forgotten’: Formerly deported veterans become U.S. citizens in special San Diego ceremony (San Diego Union-Tribune)

The ceremony highlighted the successes that activists have had in the nearly decade-long fight to return deported veterans to the United States

After the Vaccine, Republicans Became Far More Likely to Die with Covid-19 Than Democrats (Voice of San Diego)

A Voice of San Diego analysis of death certificates and public voter files reveals that partisan affiliation was a predictor of one’s likelihood to perish during year two of the pandemic.  Republicans were 39 percent more likely to die with Covid during year two of the pandemic, even after adjusting for the fact that they tend to be older than Democrats…Researchers and public health specialists interviewed by Voice pointed to vaccine resistance as the most obvious reason for the widely differing death rates in San Diego County. 

Here come the flowers (Borrego Sun)

… The long anticipated flowerfest is arriving in our small town of Borrego Springs, as Mother Nature has been doing its best to give us semi-perfect conditions. However, many are not ready to use the "S" word just yet (superbloom).Rain has scattered throughout the last couple of months, creating portions of blooms in many parts of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and Ocotillo Wells.

Reopened Chamber rebuilds(The Alpine Sun)

The Alpine/Mountain Empire Chamber of Commerce shuttered their doors on Sept. 30, 2020 after half a year of attempting to preserve business connections while the COVID- 19 pandemic took root in San Diego County. In June 2022 the Chamber made its return and is now rebuilding for the future.

Change in towing policy coming to San Diego (KPBS)

The city of San Diego plans to change it's policy around vehicle towing. Specifically, car owners in San Diego will not be towed for late registrations fees, or for having more than five unpaid parking tickets.

Rincon reclaims power from state to oversee its gaming (Valley Roadrunner)

The Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians, which owns Harrah’s Resort Southern California, has chosen to opt out of having the state of California oversee its gaming operations. Instead it will work directly with the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC). It becomes the first California gaming tribe to do so.

Sharp data breach impacts nearly 6,300 (Fox 5 San Diego)

Sharp HealthCare announced Monday that the server that runs its website experienced a data breach, impacting nearly 63,000 people…The incident occurred on Jan. 12… “While it varied from person to person, the information contained in the file was limited to patient names, internal Sharp identification numbers and/or invoice numbers, payment amounts, and the names of the Sharp entities receiving the payments,” the health care group said.

STATE

California won't require COVID vaccine to attend schools (KPBS)

Children in California won't have to get the coronavirus vaccine to attend schools, state public health officials confirmed Friday, ending one of the last major restrictions of the pandemic in the nation's most populous state.

The winter storms in California will boost water allocations for the state's cities  (AP)

The Department of Water Resources said public water agencies will now get 30% of what they had asked for, up from the 5% officials had previously announced in December. That’s because for the first three weeks of January nine atmospheric rivers dumped an estimated 32 trillion gallons of rain and snow on California. It was enough water to increase storage in the state’s two largest reservoirs by a combined 66%.  “We’re not out of drought in California, but this certainly makes a significant dent,” said Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources.

New Bill Would Mandate California Gun Owners Purchase Liability Insurance (Times of San Diego)

A new state senator from Encinitas teamed with a Capitol veteran Thursday to introduce legislation requiring California gun owners to have liability insurance.

President Biden Approves Emergency Aid for California in Wake of Deadly Storms (Times of San Diego)

President Biden approved an emergency declaration for California on Saturday after storms have pounded the Golden State since Dec. 26, killing at least 19 people and bringing floods, power outages, mudslides, evacuations and road closures.

New cars in California must be zero-emissions by 2035. Can the power grid handle it?  (NPR)

California has some of the most ambitious climate goals in the country....One key goal - that all new cars and light trucks sold in the state be electric by 2035...to power all these vehicles, the state will need to triple the amount of electricity that's currently produced