EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: March 21, 2010

East County Roundup includes top stories in other publications that impact East County or are important for our readers.

March 21, 2010 (San Diego's East County) -- Top Roundup stories for the past month include:

 
• 3,500 finish route that Chelsea started
• Reagan High may not make grade in Alpine
• Card cheater sentenced to six years
• Fire kills man in brownout area
• Big plans in Borrego didn’t quite blossom
• Santana shooting survivor stabbed to death
• A positive outlook for San Diego’s economy
• Top 5 health insurers posted 59% profit gains in 2009
• A town left dry
• Saldana drops out of Supervisors race
• Rexford recall petitions certified
• Public power backers cry foul over utility
• California in crisis

3,500 FINISH ROUTE THAT CHELSEA STARTED
Slain mother’s girl cheers participants

March 21, 2010 (Union-Tribune) - The trails that had grown quiet after the killing of Poway teenager Chelsea King came back to life yesterday as thousands of people finished the run she never did.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/21/3500-runners-walkers-fini...

REAGAN HIGH MAY NOT MAKE GRADE IN ALPINE
 

March 20, 2010 (Union-Tribune) – Residents of Alpine are known for their fierce independence, conservative politics and love of the area’s rugged open spaces. Not exactly the kind of place you’d think would protest anything having to do with President Ronald Reagan.
But a new effort by the Grossmont school board to name a long-awaited Alpine high school after the 40th president — without formally consulting the close-knit community — has angered some residents.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/20/reagan-high-may-not-make-...

CARD CHEATER SENTENCED TO SIX YEARS
 

March 20, 2010 (San Diego News Network) -- A card cheat, who may have helped a ring steal more than $7 million from casinos across the nation, was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for scamming two Southern California casinos, it was reported Saturday.
http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2010-03-20/local-county-news/courts/card-ch...

FIRE KILLS MAN IN BROWNOUT AREA
 

March 19, 2010 (Union-Tribune) -- A cost-cutting plan that idles fire equipment in San Diego did not contribute to the death of an elderly man found inside a burning Golden Hill apartment Friday, fire officials say, but the man’s granddaughter and firefighters union officials are not convinced.
The death is the first in a San Diego fire since the city began taking fire engines out of service last month to save money.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/19/one-fatality-in-san-diego...

BIG PLANS IN BORREGO DIDN’T QUITE BLOSSOM
 

February 28, 2010 (Union-Tribune) --A chicken-wire fence and a “no trespassing” sign are posted in front of the Borrego Ranch Resort & Spa, formerly La Casa del Zorro. The resort closed in January, about two years after developer Greg Perlman purchased it.
 

Over the decades, the economy of Borrego Springs has had its ups and its many downs.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/feb/28/big-plans-in-borrego-didn...

SANTANA SHOOTING SURVIVOR STABBED TO DEATH
 

February 27, 2010 (Union-Tribune)--Triston Salladay survived a bullet through the chest in the 2001 Santana High School shooting in Santee and once rolled over four times in an accident in his black Volkswagen Beetle.
 

At 23, he had survived so much that his ex-wife, Vanessa Salladay, the mother of his young daughter, just knew he would find a way to survive this latest horror: being stabbed on Valentine’s Day.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/feb/27/shooting-survivor-stabbed...

A POSITIVE OUTLOOK FOR SAN DIEGO’S ECONOMY
Recovery appears to be taking shape
 

February 12, 2010 (San Diego Union-Tribune)--When you’ve hit rock bottom, the old saying goes, there’s nowhere to go but up.
 

Which is one explanation for the growing signs that San Diego’s economy, slowly and unsteadily, is creeping toward recovery.
 

The latest positive news came yesterday from the index of leading economic indicators by the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate at the University of San Diego. For the first time since April 2004, all of the economic criteria that USD uses to evaluate the local economy — housing permits, want ads, consumer confidence, the employment rate, local stock prices and national economic growth — were pointing up in December, suggesting a positive outlook for 2010.
 

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/feb/12/a-positive-outlook-for-sa...

TOP 5 HEALTH INSURERS POSTED 56% PROFIT GAINS IN 2009
 

February 12, 2010 (RawStory.com) -- If no health care overhaul passes Congress, health insurers may be in for a windfall -- and one far larger that most Americans probably realize.
 

According to a study by a pro-health reform group published Thursday, the nation's largest five health insurance companies posted a 56 percent gain in 2009 profits over 2008. The insurers including Wellpoint, UnitedHealth, Cigna, Aetna and Humana, which cover the majority of Americans with insurance.
 

The insurers' hefty profit gains came even as 2.7 million more Americans lost their insurance coverage due to the declining economy.
http://rawstory.com/2010/02/top-health-insurers-posted-57-percent-profit...

A TOWN LEFT DRY
 

February 10, 2010 (San Diego Reader)-- People need money and water. Just ask Borrego Springs, the San Diego County desert town of only 2600 year-round residents. Through the years, it has endured failures of its major businesses, as entrepreneurs have run out of capital. Meanwhile, citizens have vehemently disagreed over a critical question: is the water supply adequate for Borrego’s long-term survival? If not, will new investors try to rescue the crown jewel real estate assets that were recently padlocked?
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2010/feb/10/city-lights-town-left-dry/

SALDAÑA DROPS OUT OF BOARD OF SUPERVISORS RACE
 

February 11, 2010 (San Diego News Network)--Lori Saldaña stepped out of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors race Wednesday, citing her mother’s recent death.
The Democratic Assemblymember made the announcement that she was dropping her campaign against incumbent Supervisor Ron Roberts in an email to her supporters.

http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2010-02-11/politics-city-county-government/...

REXFORD RECALL PETITIONS CERTIFIED
 

February 10, 2010 (Pomerado News) -- There are enough valid signatures on submitted petitions to recall Poway City Councilwoman Betty Rexford to place the matter on the June 8 ballot, the county Registrar of Voters has determined.
http://www.mylocalnews.com/nws/index.php?/main/content/rexford_recall_pe...

PUBLIC POWER BACKERS CRY FOUL OVER UTILITY
 

February 15, 2010 (San Diego Union-Tribune/AP)— Pacific Gas & Electric Co. is funding a June ballot initiative that would amend California's constitution to make it much harder for cities and counties to offer residents another choice for buying their power.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/feb/15/public-power-backers-cry-...

CALIFORNIA IN CRISIS

With a dysfunctional state government unable to act, the universities, schools, and roads that were once the model for the nation are crumbling -- if not collapsing.

February 1, 2010 (American Prospect) -- California is broken -- and broke. Its K-12 public schools, roads, levies, aqueducts, parks, and bridges; its health-care system; home health care for the elderly and disabled; and even its once-envied public universities are all crumbling from long-term neglect and underfunding. State employees have been forced to take three unpaid furlough days per month -- equal to a 14 percent pay cut.
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=california_in_crisis