EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

June 19, 2024 (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 round-up stories include:

LOCAL

• Lawsuit says homeless people’s belongings are being illegally trashed in East County (San Diego)
• Latest county report shows uptick in COVID cases (KPBS)
• Assembly Candidate Carl DeMaio Keeps Failing at Ballot Initiatives – On Purpose?  (Voice of San Diego)
• La Mesa woman's grocery run ends in road rage attack (10 News)
• Catholic Charities hires armed guards following video posted by alt-right social media influencer (10 News)
• Graduation at stake for some UCSD student protesters (KPBS)
• Times of San Diego Joins Arizona State University Nonprofit to Develop New Model for Local Journalism (Times of San Diego)

STATE

• Invasive species — a threat to wine grapes — shipped to California, officials say (Star-Telegram)
• Newsom to more than double National Guard at ports of entry to combat drugs  (KPBS)
• Why so many California Indians lack the federal recognition given to other Native Americans (Los Angeles Times)
• State Farm: Some Californians can keep home insurance, but something major won't be covered (Fox 11)
• The dirty secret of California’s legal weed (Los Angeles Times)
• Fatal black bear attack on woman in 2023 first in California, officials say (CNN)

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

LOCAL

Lawsuit says homeless people’s belongings are being illegally trashed in East County (San Diego)

Early one morning in 2022, Christy Gillette was woken by sheriff’s deputies. The officers told her to move or face arrest. Gillette, who’s now 51, had been sleeping outside near the Santee Drive-In and responded that she couldn’t leave without her walker. The deputies instead threw the walker away, along with the cremated ashes of her husband and son. That story is part of a new class-action lawsuit alleging that officers and government workers from around the region are repeatedly, and illegally, throwing out homeless residents’ personal property in East County.

Latest county report shows uptick in COVID cases (KPBS)

A recent county Department of Health and Human Services reported 454 cases of the virus for the week ending June 8. That’s up 111 cases from the previous week.

Assembly Candidate Carl DeMaio Keeps Failing at Ballot Initiatives – On Purpose?  (Voice of San Diego)

Public records show Carl DeMaio submitted zero signatures for five previous ballot initiatives to the Secretary of State, automatically disqualifying them from election ballots.  From Sept. 15, 2021 when DeMaio filed the first voter ID initiative to Feb. 17, 2024, DeMaio’s Ballot Measure Committee raised more than $2 million, records show. The committee also raised $2.4 million in 2018.

La Mesa woman's grocery run ends in road rage attack (10 News)

A La Mesa woman is recounting how a trip to the grocery store ended in a brutal road rage attack… after she went shopping at Frazier Farms Market…. she hopes a witness or someone with a video will come forward.

Catholic Charities hires armed guards following video posted by alt-right social media influencer (10 News)

Catholic Charities San Diego ramps up security forces at its locations in two counties following threats after online video was posted by former Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe

Graduation at stake for some UCSD student protesters (KPBS)

UCSD said it had placed some student transcripts and degrees on hold pending an investigation into a violation of the student code of conduct.

Times of San Diego Joins Arizona State University Nonprofit to Develop New Model for Local Journalism (Times of San Diego)

Times of San Diego has been acquired by NEWSWELL, an innovative nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and strengthening local news outlets... NEWSWELL is part of the ASU Media Enterprise at Arizona State University, recognized repeatedly as the nation’s most innovative university. ASU also is home to one of the nation’s premiere journalism schools, the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Times of San Diego will continue to be based in San Diego with local reporting and editing, while gaining access to shared resources, best practices, industry innovations and new opportunities for revenue and digital advancement.

STATE

Invasive species — a threat to wine grapes — shipped to California, officials say (Star-Telegram)

Eggs of the spotted lanternfly, an insect species with a notoriously destructive appetite, were found in a shipment to Sonoma County, California. At Truckee Border Protection, staff discovered 11 spotted lanternfly egg masses in a shipment of an art sculpture from New York, according to a June 10 news release by the California Association of Winegrape Growers.

Newsom to more than double National Guard at ports of entry to combat drugs  (KPBS)

The number of CalGuard service members will be increased from 155 to 392, according to a statement from the governor's office.

Why so many California Indians lack the federal recognition given to other Native Americans (Los Angeles Times)

One September afternoon in 2016..., a news release shared by a colleague caught my attention. In just two days, the National Museum of the American Indian would unveil, for the first time, one of the treaties the California Indian Nations had negotiated with the United States.“The Treaty of Temecula is one of 18 treaties negotiated between the United States and American Indian Nations in California and submitted to the United States Senate on June 1, 1852, by President Millard Fillmore,” the announcement read. “Unbeknownst to the American Indian signatories, the U.S. Senate rejected the treaties and ordered them to be held in secrecy for over fifty years,” ... leading “to an ethnic cleansing ...” The museum planned to unveil the treaty that a captain of my tribe, San Diego County’s San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians, had signed more than a century and a half ago to no avail.

State Farm: Some Californians can keep home insurance, but something major won't be covered (Fox 11)

Insurance giant State Farm says it will let certain California home insurance customers keep their coverage after all. But there's a major catch: they won't cover any fire damage. 

The dirty secret of California’s legal weed (Los Angeles Times)

... Twenty-five of 42 legal cannabis products that The Times and WeedWeek purchased from retail stores and had tested at private labs showed concentrations of pesticides either above levels the state allows or at levels that exceed federal standards for tobacco... Vapes tested from five well-known brands had pesticide loads that exceeded federal Environmental Protection Agency risk thresholds for harm from a single exposure... The state’s requirements for weed testing also have not been updated to include dangerous chemicals currently used in cultivation, including illegal, smuggled pesticides so toxic that law enforcement officers who encounter them are advised to don respirators and take blood poisoning tests.

Fatal black bear attack on woman in 2023 first in California, officials say (CNN)

A  woman’s death in Sierra County has been confirmed as the first documented fatal attack by a black bear on a human in California history, according to officials. Patrice Miller, 71, was found dead in her Downieville home last November, but a recently released autopsy report by California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife has verified she was killed by a bear...The bear was eventually trapped and euthanized, the sheriff said.