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December 8, 2011 (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 top “Roundup” headlines include:
STATE
- Jerry Brown has plans to hike sales, income tax (Sacramento Bee)
- California fiscal conservatives file spending cap proposal (Sacramento Bee)
LOCAL
- Sunrise Powerlink water use put in perspective (San Diego Union-Tribune)
- County improves healthcare for the very poor, but stops there (Voice of San Diego)
- Backcountry warrior keeps up the fight (San Diego Union-Tribune)
- Hunter casts protest vote against immigration reform (CityBeat)
- Water district directors meet, talk in secret (Voice of San Diego)
- Release of rare golden eagle a success at Safari Park (North County Times)
- Our Greater San Diego Vision launches interactive website (KPBS)
- La Mesa is in “great financial position” new auditors tell City Hall (La Mesa Patch)
- Reports reveal trends in drug use and gang involvement (SANDAG)
- Mistrial of Stanley Lloyd Jr. case; new trial may be held (Santee Patch)
- Barona murder “a puzzle”; casino and tribal security could have provided more pieces, prosecutor says (Ramona Patch)
- So what can schools cut? (Voice of San Diego)
- SDG&E defends solar rate hike to County Supervisors (San Diego Reader)
- Escondido: Tighten the rules (The Reader editorial by Don Bauder)
Scroll down for excerpts and links to full stories.
STATE
Jerry Brown has plan to hike sales, income tax (Sacramento Bee)
December 5, 2011 -- Desperate to plug budget holes for the next five years, Gov. Jerry Brown will ask voters to raise $7 billion annually by taxing the rich and hiking the sales tax by half a cent.
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/02/4094599/jerry-brown-has-plan-to-hike-sales.html
California fiscal conservatives file spending cap proposal (Sacramento Bee)
December 6, 2011 -- A day after Gov. Jerry Brown asked voters for $7 billion in additional taxes, a trio of fiscal conservatives said Tuesday they filed a ballot initiative to cap state spending.
The proposal would reconfigure the Gann Limit, a 1979 spending restriction established on the heels of tax-limiting Proposition 13. Voters later softened the limit, and the state is now $17 billion below the spending cap.
LOCAL
Sunrise Powerlink water use put in perspective (San Diego Union-Tribune)
December 5, 2011 -- The Watchdog has done two stories on the Sunrise Powerlink's use of city drinking water for tamping down dirt and other construction purposes.
The 117-mile, $1.9 billion transmission line project is using 300,000 gallons of water a day, much of it drawn into tanker trucks from fire hydrants in San Carlos.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/dec/05/sunrise-powerlink-water-use-put-perspective/
County improves healthcare for the very poor, but stops there (Voice of San Diego)
December 6, 2011 -- This year, San Diego County accepted $50 million from the federal government to launch a new program to improve health care for the county's poorest uninsured residents.
Under the program the county started in July, poor singles and couples can now get health care benefits similar to Medi-Cal, the state's safety net program that used to be only for poor, disabled people and families with children.
http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/survival/article_e720e156-1fbd-11e1-b0c6-0019bb2963f4.html
Backcountry warrior keeps up the fight (San Diego Union-Tribune)
December 2, 2011-- Donna Tisdale’s boundless backyard may not be God’s greenest acre, but look at it.
Stand along a gravel road on her 310-acre Boulevard spread — the Morning Star Ranch, she and her husband call it — and turn east and you can see the In-Ko-Pah and Jacumba mountains, chocolate and orange in the late-afternoon sun. To the north sits McCain Valley and a row of giant wind turbines. To the south, a short hike away, are the knobby peaks of Baja California. And to the west, some 50 miles from the ranch, is metropolitan San Diego. You can’t see a lick of it from this spot and that’s probably just as well.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/dec/02/backcountry-warrior-donna-tisdale-keeps-up-the-f/
Hunter casts protest vote against immigration reform (CityBeat)
November 30, 2011 -- ith Congress as divided as it is, it's kind of refreshing to see 90 percent of the U.S. House of Representatives all get behind a bill, particularly one related to immigration reform.
Yesterday, the House voted 389 to 15 (29 not voting) to pass H.R. 3012, the "Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act." All of San Diego's Congressional delegation voted for the bill, except one—Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, a Republican representing East County.
Water district directors meet, talk in secret (Voice of San Diego)
December 6, 2011 -- Good luck if you wanted to attend the Otay Water District committee meeting in late March 2010. Two directors were talking about legal issues.
The district was facing lawsuits from Chula Vista business owners who'd been drinking treated sewage for months. The water district hadn't noticed the wrong pipe was connected to the business park's taps.
But to know a meeting was happening that day, you would've needed a tip that the public agency was holding one. No announcement was made.
Release of rare golden eagle a success at Safari Park
December 2, 2011 -- A golden eagle found with grave injuries six weeks ago was released back to the wild Friday, high in the hills above the San Pasqual Valley.
Our Greater San Diego Vision launches interactive website (KPBS)
November 30, 2011 -- A multi-million-dollar effort to get San Diegans involved in planning for the region’s future is unveiling a new tool. The project hopes an interactive web site will attract more people than public meetings.
“Our Greater San Diego Vision” has invested $2.4 million to ask San Diegans how they’d like the region to look in 40 years. San Diego’s quality of life is at stake as the population is expected to grow 40 percet by 2050.
La Mesa is in “great financial position” new auditors tell City Hall (La Mesa Patch)
November 30, 2011 -- Despite redevelopment and pension concerns, “You guys are in good shape,” CPA Terry Shea says.
http://lamesa.patch.com/articles/two-thumbs-iup
Reports reveal trends in drug use and gang involvement (SANDAG)
November 11, 2011-- Nearly two-thirds of women (62 percent) and more than half of men (59 percent) arrested and booked into jail for crimes in San Diego County in 2010 tested positive for illicit drugs, such as marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin.
http://www.sandag.org/enewsletter/feature_1.html
Mistrial of Stanley Lloyd Jr. case; new trial may be held (Santee Patch)
December 5, 2011 -- Jurors deadlocked 10-2 in favor of a guilty verdict. A new trial may be held.
http://santee.patch.com/articles/jury-deadlocked-in-murder-trial-of-stanley-lloyd-jr-8c4e5c4c
Barona murder “a puzzle”; casino and tribal security could have provided more pieces, prosecutor says (Ramona Patch)
November 30, 2011 -- A casino surveillance tape from the night Christopher Carioscia was last seen, plus a log of an event attended by tribal security, were not provided when requested.
So what can schools cut? (Voice of San Diego)
December 1, 20011 -- San Diego Unified is beyond figuring out what it wants to cut from its tattered budget. Now school officials are trying to decipher simply what they can cut without breaking the law.
http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/education/schooled/article_ee7bff3e-1bcc-11e1-9ccb-001cc4c03286.html
SDG&E defends solar rate hike to County Supervisors (San Diego Reader)
December 6, 2011 -- Representatives from SDG&E appeared at a county hearing on Tuesday to defend a proposal to increase solar rates for 15,000 customers. The energy company claims solar customers are not paying for the energy infrastructure, leaving non-solar customers to foot the bill.
Escondido: Tighten the rules (The Reader editorial by Don Bauder)
Nov. 30, 2011 -- Early next year, the California Supreme Court will decide whether the state can abolish or weaken redevelopment agencies. If the City of Escondido is lucky, the high court’s decision will thwart the City’s dubious plan to build a $50 million ballpark for the Padres’ AAA minor league team.
The court will rule whether the state can eliminate the agencies altogether or let cities keep the agencies if they share revenues with schools and special districts.
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2011/nov/30/citylights1-escondido/
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