EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

April 24, 2025 (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 

• Her newborn baby died after a hospital refused to treat her, now she is suing for change (CBS 8)
• Updated state maps show San Diego County's areas at 'very high' risk for fires (10 News)
• Loved ones of El Cajon murder victim make appeal for information (10 News)
• San Diego-based USS Carl Vinson arrives in Mideast, launches airstrikes against Houthi rebels I(Times of San Diego)
• San Diego County loses $40M in funds just before new public health lab opens (Fox 5)
• Community rallies around (La Mesa) baseball coach diagnosed with pancreatic cancer (10 News)
• SDSU to Award Honorary Degree to Controversial Corner Store Figure (Voice of San Diego)
• Federal safety board lists Coronado Bridge as potentially at risk of 'catastrophic collapse' if hit by a vessel (CBS)
• CalTrans to invest $24 million in San Diego area infrastructure  (10 News)
• Supreme Court rules against San Diego-based marijuana dispensary in CBD suit (Reuters)
• 5 UC San Diego students have F-1 visas revoked, 6th student deported  (10 News)

STATE

• California economy now the world’s fourth-largest, overtaking Japan (Los Angeles Times)
• Peril And Rescues Spike Along Pacific Crest Trail In Wake Of Federal Cuts
• Sea lions are attacking people in the waters off California’s coast. Here’s why (CNN)
• A loophole in California law makes it hard to prosecute threats against schools. Will lawmakers close it? (Cal Matters)
• As the California.-Mexico land border tightens, focus turns to dangerous sea crossings (Mercury News)
• California's water reservoirs on track as winter storms may boost snowpack (KPBS )
• California needs $3.4 billion loan to cover Medi-Cal expenses (CBS)
• Dead fish stink up the Newsom-Trump truce on water (Politico)

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

LOCAL 

Her newborn baby died after a hospital refused to treat her, now she is suing for change (CBS 8)

Nurses at Sharp Grossmont told 29-year-old Hannah Michaelis she needed to go to another hospital. She gave birth to her baby in her car.

Updated state maps show San Diego County's areas at 'very high' risk for fires (10 News)

The Office of the State Fire Marshal released new maps that indicate which parts of San Diego County are in a very high-risk zone for fires. For the first time in 15 years, Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps were updated for San Diego County, and they show a 26% increase in acreage now designated as “very high" fire risk.

Loved ones of El Cajon murder victim make appeal for information (10 News)

Loved ones of a 46-year-old man gathered at Wells Park in El Cajon to make an appeal for information, nearly a week after he was fatally shot in the park’s parking lot.  Wearing shirts bearing his face, family members of Deandre Bryant came together near the spot where he was struck down...

San Diego-based USS Carl Vinson arrives in Mideast, launches airstrikes against Houthi rebels I(Times of San Diego)

The San Diego-based USS Carl Vinson has arrived in Mideast waters and is launching air strikes on Houthi rebels ahead of the next round of talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.

San Diego County loses $40M in funds just before new public health lab opens (Fox 5)

San Diego County will not receive $40 million of public health funding promised by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), County Supervisor and acting Board of Supervisors Chair Terra Lawson-Remer announced Thursday in a news release.... “We built the lab. We planned responsibly. We kept our end of the deal. Now the federal government is walking away from theirs — and San Diego families are the ones paying the price,” said Lawson-Remer. 

Community rallies around (La Mesa) baseball coach diagnosed with pancreatic cancer (10 News)

... Nick Di Zinno is the manager of the Athletics and has been coaching the team since 2019.

SDSU to Award Honorary Degree to Controversial Corner Store Figure (Voice of San Diego)

Mark Arabo has a history of documented lies and a checkered past — but that won’t stop San Diego State University from awarding him an honorary doctorate degree next month. Arabo came to prominence locally advocating for other Iraqi Christrians a decade ago. He was a major political player, supporting several local candidates, and he counts the governor and former President Joe Biden as close associates. 

Federal safety board lists Coronado Bridge as potentially at risk of 'catastrophic collapse' if hit by a vessel (CBS)

Coronado Bridge is one of 68 bridges identified by the National Safety Transportation Board in need of assessment for risk of collapse.

CalTrans to invest $24 million in San Diego area infrastructure  (10 News)

Six projects in San Diego County were part of a $1 billion investment from the state transit agency

Supreme Court rules against San Diego-based marijuana dispensary in CBD suit (Reuters)

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday against Medical Marijuana Inc in its bid to fend off a lawsuit by a commercial truck driver who was fired for failing a drug test after taking cannabidiol, or CBD, that he said was falsely sold as lacking the psychoactive ingredient present in marijuana.

5 UC San Diego students have F-1 visas revoked, 6th student deported  (10 News)

A campus-wide notice said school officials received no prior warning and that "the federal government has not explained the reasons behind the terminations."

STATE

California economy now the world’s fourth-largest, overtaking Japan (Los Angeles Times)

If California were its own country, its economy would now rank as the fourth-largest of any nation in the globe, Gov. Gavin Newsom said this week, a new milestone that comes at a time of major economic turbulence. California has long been a global powerhouse, fueled by a variety of sectors including technology, agriculture, services and entertainment. The new ranking comes as the state is facing challenges from a trade war with China and other nations that are key California trading partners.

Peril And Rescues Spike Along Pacific Crest Trail In Wake Of Federal Cuts

 Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail is a challenge, especially for adventurers making the entire run from Southern California to Canada, and this year, it's harder than most. Following cuts by the Trump administration, plans to clear downed trees and rebuild storm-battered stretches in 2025 have been scrapped. Costly and hazardous, air rescue operations have become common place along portions of the trail.

Sea lions are attacking people in the waters off California’s coast. Here’s why (CNN)

Along some 70 miles of Southern California coastline, usually curious and playful sea lions are attacking humans in the water. The animals are being poisoned by the ocean they live in, experts say, citing reports of sick sea lions at unprecedented levels. And many are dying... The cause is ... likely domoic acid toxicosis caused by toxic algal bloom, often referred to as red tide, experts say.

A loophole in California law makes it hard to prosecute threats against schools. Will lawmakers close it? (Cal Matters)

For over six months, San Diego resident Lee Lor sent hundreds of emails threatening a mass shooting at Shoal Creek Elementary School as replies to random spam emails.  He was arrested and spent 10 months in jail, but the charges were dismissed by a judge last October because Lor didn’t name a specific individual in his threats, as the law requires for prosecution.

As the California.-Mexico land border tightens, focus turns to dangerous sea crossings (Mercury News)

Three recent interceptions near San Diego reveal the stakes for migrants, who paid smugglers up to $17,000.

California's water reservoirs on track as winter storms may boost snowpack (KPBS )

 The water in California’s mountain snowpack is just shy of average as spring begins, but a winter storm set to hit the Sierra Nevada in the coming days will offer a boost.

California needs $3.4 billion loan to cover Medi-Cal expenses (CBS)

 California lawmakers have been notified that the state will require a $3.4 billion loan to cover expenses for Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program that provides health coverage to over 15 million residents.  The announcement has sparked debate over the program's expansion to include undocumented immigrants.

Dead fish stink up the Newsom-Trump truce on water (Politico)

Newsom and Trump’s fragile truce on water is starting to show strain — and it’s because of dead salmon.