ISSA BILL WILL INCENTIVIZE WILDFIRE PREVENTION THROUGH TARGETED TAX RELIEF

East County News Service

July 1, 2025 (San Diego’s East County) -- Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48) has introduced the Wildfire Infrastructure and Landowner Tax Relief Act of 2025 (WILTR Act) to make wildfire mitigation and resilience attainable for homeowners who know it provides essential protection from future fires. The bill text can be found here.

“It’s not enough to say we will be ready for the fire next time. We need to back it up with real solutions that put homeowners in charge,” said Rep. Issa. “This legislation makes it more possible than ever for homeowners to adopt breakthrough innovations in wildfire defense through targeted tax relief we know will make it possible.”

EL CAJON POLICE ARREST PAROLEE IN POSSESSION OF FIREARM, NARCOTICS AND AMMUNITION

El Cajon Police Department

East County News Service

July 1, 2025 (El Cajon) -- El Cajon Police Department detectives arrested a parolee in possession of a firearm, narcotics and ammunition on June 26, following a surveillance operation.

According to Lieutenant Will Guerin, detectives observed 26-year-old Hector Ruiz Rico standing near a vehicle in a parking lot. placing items into both the trunk and cabin of the vehicle. Detectives recognized Rico as a parolee on active California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation parole for a robbery conviction.

Uniformed El Cajon Police Department officers made contact with Rico at the scene. During a parole compliance search of Rico and the vehicle, officers located a shotgun, ammunition, methamphetamine, and fentanyl.

DRIVER CHARGED WITH HOMICIDE, DUI IN FATALITY LEMON GROVE CRASH

By Miriam Raftery

June 30, 2025 (Lemon Grove) – A 28-year-old man is charged with vehicular homicide and felony driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, after a deadly head-on collision in Lemon Grove last night.

Sheriff’s deputies responded shortly before 8 p.m. to the crash in the 8400 block of Broadway, where they found the suspect beside a blue Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck with major front-end damage. According to Sergeant William Price, the man was “determined to be the driver and sole occupant of the blue truck at the time of the collision and had the strong odor of alcohol emanating from his breath and person.”

The sergeant adds ,”During the initial investigation, two open alcoholic beverages were found within the pickup, and a canister of nitrous oxide was located on the ground between the male and his truck.”

PHOTO OF THE WEEK: RACCOONS IN SAN CARLOS

Photo of the Week

Best Photos from our Readers and Staff

June 30, 2025 (San Diego) – Diana Rozenshteyn snapped this photos of masked intruders-- a raccoon family-- in the backyard of her San Carlos home near Cowles Mountain.

MAN ARRESTED FOR SETTING TRASHCAN FIRE IN SANTEE

East County News Service

June 30, 2025 (Santee) -- Sheriff's Deputies and Santee Fire personnel responded to a report of a fire near the Walmart on Town Center Parkway in Santee around 6:32 p.m. on June 28. As deputies were driving to the location, a second witness called Sheriff's Dispatch and reported they watched a man set fire to contents of a trashcan just outside the Walmart parking lot.

Deputies arrived on scene and detained the suspect, later identified as 30-year-old Ryan Crist, says Lieutenant Thomas Fletcher.

INJURED MOUNTAIN LION RETURNS TO WILD; 2 OTHER CUBS CONTINUE REHAB AT RAMONA WILDLIFE CENTER

Story and photos via San Diego Humane Society

June 29, 2025 (Ramona) -- After nearly five months of rehabilitation at San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center, a young mountain lion injured in a vehicle strike has been successfully released back into the wild.

The male mountain lion, estimated to be around 10 months old, was released by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) into a remote location of the Santa Ana Mountains in Orange County on June 17.

He was transferred to San Diego Humane Society on January 15 after being hit by a vehicle 4 days earlier and receiving emergency veterinary care at Serrano Animal and Bird Hospital in Orange County.

He was suffering from a skull fracture, head and eye trauma, and lameness in his left hind leg.

MARINES NOW STATIONED IN CAMPO AT BORDER; NEWSOM OFFICE: 'DANGER' TO COMMUNITY

Tents for U.S. Marines set up outside of the Campo Border Patrol Station in eastern San Diego County on Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (Photo by Ariana Drehsler for CalMatters)

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters here

East County News Services

June 29, 2025 (Campto) -- Dozens of Marines are now assigned to a Border Patrol station in eastern San Diego County, a new development that points to the Trump administration’s military buildup on the southern border.

Some Marines there told CalMatters on Wednesday that they are out in Campo patrolling the border twice a day.

That’s a change from how Marines have operated in Southern California since President Trump took office. Until now, Marines have been limited to a supporting role, adhering to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which keeps the armed forces away from civilian law enforcement.

But Trump has long hinted at using the armed forces in unprecedented ways at the border to deal with what he describes as “an invasion.”

And recently, the Trump administration shifted immigration enforcement northward toward the interior of California. Border Patrol agents have been seen chasing farmworkers through strawberry fields in Oxnard and swarming workers in unmarked cars at bus stops in inner-city Los Angeles.

SUSPECTS ARRESTED FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER AT PARKWAY PLAZA

East County News Service

June 28,2025 (El Cajon) – El Cajon Police have arrested three men and a juvenile for attempting to kill a teen boy, 17, insider Spencer’s at Parkway Plaza on June 24.

“One suspect pointed a handgun at the victim’s head and appeared to pull the trigger,” says Lieutenant Will Guerin. Fortunately, the weapon jammed and did not fire.

All four suspects fled the scene. El Cajon Police detectives reviewed surveillance footage, which confirmed the assault and attempted murder. According to Lt. Guerin, the video clearly identified the suspects as Abraham Rodriguez, 19, Isidro Vazquez, 24, and Jermaine Taylor, 23, along with a 16-year-old male juvenile who was the shooter.

SUPREME COURT LIMITS INJUNCTIONS THAT BLOCKED TRUMP’S PLAN FOR BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP

“We are fighting to make sure President Trump cannot trample on the citizenship rights of a single child.” –Cody Wofsy, deputy director, ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, which filed a class lawsuit in response to Supreme Court’s action

By G. A. McNeeley

June 28, 2025 (Washington D.C.) -- The United States Supreme Court has narrowed the scope of nationwide injunctions by lower courts, in a case that involves President Donald Trump's executive order to eliminate birthright citizenship, according to ABC 10.

It’s been widely accepted that the Constitution’s 14th Amendment confers automatic citizenship to most people who are born in the United States, NBC reports.

Despite this, the court ruled in a 6-3 vote to prohibit nationwide injunctions by lower courts. Thus the lower court must narrow its ruling to only those areas over which it has jurisdiction,not nationwide. The ruling allows Trump to enforce his executive order in other states not covered by lower court decisions, putting the future of babies born to undocumented parents in limbo.

ECM WINS TWO JOURNALISM AWARDS

News

East County News Service

June 27, 2025 (San Diego’s East County) – East County Magazine editor Miriam Raftery won two awards from Society for Professional Journalists in the San Diego SPJ Journalism competition. The honors bring ECM’s total awards to 149 since our founding in 2008.

In the series category for daily reporting and writing, Raftery took third place for her series on the Water Conservation Garden’s growing pains. The series chronicled the Garden’s financial struggles, brief closure, and reopening after operations were taken over by the Garden’s joint powers authority. View the series: part 1, part 2, and part 3.

Raftery also won third places in the opinion/editorial category for her editorial published last July 4 , titled As we celebrate Independence Day, our democracy is at risk. Several of the threats to our democratic system of government that she warned of have since come to pass via authoritarian actions rolled out by the Trump administration following the blueprint outlined in Project 2025.

LAKESIDE FIRE PANCAKE BREAKFAST JUNE 28

East County News Services

June 27, 2025 (Lakeside) -- The Lakeside Firefighters are hosting a $5 pancake breakfast on Saturday, June 28 at Lakeside Fire Station 2.

The breakfast of pancakes as well as sausage, eggs, orange juice and coffee, will be served from 8 a.m. until noon at the station at 12216 Lakeside Ave.

At the event, there will be games and opportunity drawings as well as fire engines on display.

GUHSD BOARD FACES MULTIPLE LITIGATION THREATS

Grossmont Union High School District

Curriculum changes, lack of transparency, and allegations of white supremacy against Mt. Miguel teacher among hot button issues raised

Eckert

Screenshots: Left to Right -- GEA President James Messina and Jason Balistreri, a teacher-librarian, take aim at the governing board for a lack of transparency and trust.

By Alexander J Schorr

June 26, 2025 (El Cajon) —The Grossmont Union High School District Governing Board convened for a special meeting at the East County Regional Education Center on Thursday.

Following the controversial firing of 49 credentialed employees, the governing board voted 4 to 1 in favor of the ratification and approval of new job descriptions for a Cybersecurity Engineer, Position Control Analyst, Voltage Technician and Licensed Mental Health Case Workers.

The governing board did not provide a QR code or website link to these key positions on their board agenda page.

The main source of contention from the community this time was the outrage and general lack of respect that community members voiced as a result of information that was revealed in The San Diego Union-Tribune.

WATER CONSERVATION GARDEN LOSES SD COUNTY WATER AUTHORITY FUNDING

Photo and story by Karen Pearlman

June 26, 2025 (San Diego) – The fate of public access to the Water Conservation Garden in Rancho San Diego is a little less certain after another partner, the San Diego County Water Authority, on Thursday voted to withdraw its funding and participation from the Water Conservation Authority, operators of the Water Conservation Garden.

The Garden is a six-acre site focused on natural resource conservation and sustainability. It was initially funded starting in 1990 and opened with strong backing during an era of major drought issues in 1999. A demonstration site for water-wise landscaping that offers programming reaching across the county, The Garden had been receiving support from the SDCWA since 2001.

Combined with the exit of backing earlier this year from the financially strapped city of San Diego, The Garden now looks to lose 1/3 of its funding.

SAN DIEGO RIVER CLEANUP IN SANTEE ON SATURDAY

Photo at Forester Creek in Santee by Karen Pearlman

East County News Services

June 27, 2025 (Santee) -- If you care about the environment and don't mind getting a little dirty, then a clean up at Forester Creek may be the perfect fit for you!

The San Diego River Park Foundation is having a cleanup event from 8 to 11 a.m., Saturday, June 28 at Forester Creek as part of the group's monthly Community River Clean-ups.

Volunteers are needed to work outdoors with like-minded community members to help remove thousands of pounds of trash. The three-hour event is part of a regular schedule of cleanups hosted around San Diego County by the foundation.

SUPREME COURT ALLOWS TRUMP TO DEPORT MIGRANTS TO COUNTRIES THAT AREN'T THEIR HOMES, WITHOUT DUE PROCESS

Court majority’s action exposes “thousands to the risk of torture or death,” says Justice Sonia Sotomayor

By G. A. McNeeley

June 25, 2025 (Washington D.C.) — The Supreme Court has allowed The Trump Administration to restart the swift deportations of migrants to countries that aren't their homelands. The conservative majority also lifted a court order that required migrants be given a chance to challenge their deportations, according to PBS.

Immigration officials had put eight people on a plane to South Sudan that was eventually diverted to a U.S. naval base in Djibouti, after U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy stepped in.

CITY OF SAN DIEGO BUDGET CUTS WON'T CUT INTO LOCAL LAKES

Fishing expeditions like this man's at San Vicente Reservoir will continue uninterrupted after fears of budget cuts within the city of San Diego that would have cut hours and days at a group of lakes and reservoirs were quelled. Photo by Karen Pearlman

By Karen Pearlman

June 25, 2025 (San Diego) --Anglers and outdoor enthusiasts are celebrating after the San Diego City Council voted Monday to keep the city's lakes and reservoirs open, overriding some of Mayor Todd Gloria’s budget vetoes.

The council voted 6-3 to adopt a $6 billion budget for fiscal year 2025-26, partially rejecting Gloria’s proposed cuts aimed at closing a $350 million deficit — one of the largest in city history.

Among the restorations: funding for recreation programs at city reservoirs, partial support for wildfire prevention, nearly $1 million in community grant funds for councilmembers and $450,000 for racial equity initiatives.

READER’S EDITORIAL: FEDERALLY FUNDED SCIENCE SHAPES OUR HEALTH, NATURE, TECHNOLOGY AND LOCAL ECONOMY

Editorials

Cuts to National Institute of Health could devastate University of California research and negative impact San Diego County’s economy (Photo by unknown author is licensed under CC BY-ND)

By Cami Scantlin

June 25, 2025 (San Diego) -- Microbes are the world’s most powerful chemists. These tiny life forms are in the business of transforming things. They transform milk into cheese and barley into beer.

Other microbe-driven transformations are less obvious and less tasty. They release fertilizer into the soil and collect heavy metals from acid mines.

The chemistry done by any one microbe is small, but collectively, they are mighty.

There are about a million trillion trillion microbes alive at any given time, or more microbes on earth than grains of sand. When they work together, they have the power to influence every inch of the planet.

ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

ECM World News

June 25, 2025 -- As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S.

WORLD

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

LA MESA SUNDAYS AT SIX CONCERT SERIES CONTINUES

The Navy Southwest Band, shown here in 2013, is a regular part of the Sundays at Six summer concert series in La Mesa. (Photo by Karen Pearlman)

East County News Services

June 25, 2025 (La Mesa) -- La Mesa's Sundays at Six summer concert series continues this Sunday, June 29, with variety dance band Breez'n taking the stage from 6 to 7 p.m. at Harry Griffen Park.

This Sunday's free concert will also include the crowning of Miss La Mesa 2025, a person who will take over for the current Miss La Mesa, Samantha Luevano.

EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

East County Round-UP

June 25, 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

New app helps connect unhoused people to shelters in San Diego County (Fox 5)
San Diego's inflation rate highest in the nation for May
The Supreme Court just issued a ruling on nuclear waste. What does that mean for San Onofre? (San Diego Union-Tribune)
Cars keep tumbling downhill into popular La Mesa restaurant parking lot (NBC 7)
Council passes San Diego budget that restores library hours, fire rings and more — but at a cost to some city workers (San Diego Union-Tribune)
‘This is a Muslim ban’ – airport protest among nationwide rallies against Trump travel ban (Times of San Diego)
Supervisor Candidate Left Trail of Unpaid Debts, Taxes

STATE

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

HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

June 25, 2025 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

SCIENCE AND TECH

AI system resorts to blackmail if told it will be removed (BBC)
Leading AI models sometimes refuse to shut down when ordered (ZME Science)
From the Andes to the Beginning of Time: Telescopes Detect 13-Billion-Year-Old Signal (Science Daily)
Google’s $125 million deal with California for local news is already shrinking (Cal Matters)
Trump sons unveil mobile carrier promising to 'disrupt' the industry, make phones in America (Yahoo/Fox)

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

COUNTY WATER AUTHORITY VOTES JUNE 26 WHETHER TO WITHDRAW FROM WATER CONSERVATION GARDEN: PETITION LAUNCHED TO SAVE GARDEN’S FUNDING

By Kristin Kjaero

June 21, 2025 (San Diego) - - On June 26, San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) will vote on a staff recommendation to end its sponsorship and funding for the Water Conservation Garden.

The Garden says accessibility to the public is at risk if SDCWA withdraws, and started an online petition campaign to request that an option to stay, be added to the Committee's agenda. The petition has received 1,319 signatures in its first 24 hours. One can also send an email addressed to committee members via their clerk at kwalker@sdcwa.org.

The proposal to end SDCWA’s support of the Garden will go first to the Administration and Finance Committee at 9 a.m. which will consider two options: to withdraw, or to withdraw and donate $150,000 over the next two years. The result of the Committee's vote will then move to a list of consent items at the full SDCWA Board meeting at 2p.m.

FESTIVE FOURTH OF JULY EVENTS AND FIREWORKS

By Karen Pearlman

June 25, 2025 (San Diego County) – Independence Day in the USA is just days away, and across San Diego County, there are myriad events to be part of to celebrate.

East County Magazine has compiled a list of various offerings to celebrate the Fourth of July, whatever part of the region you’re in.

All events are on July 4 unless otherwise noted.

SUPS. ANDERSON, MONTGOMERY STEPPE CHAMPION FOOD JUSTICE

East County News Service

SAN DIEGO, CA (June 24, 2025) — In a continued show of leadership on food equity and community health, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors this week approved a joint proposal from Supervisors Joel Anderson and Monica Montgomery Steppe to allocate $750,000 in funding to support critical food access programs across the region.

The action provides $500,000 to the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank and $250,000 to the California Center for Cooperative Development to support operations at SunCoast Market Co-Op in Imperial Beach.

FENTANYL DEATHS DROP 30% COUNTYWIDE, AS DRUG SEIZURES INCREASE

East County News Service

Image: Fentanyl pills seized by U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency

June 24, 2025 (San Diego) – Deaths from fentanyl dropped 30% countywide in 2024 over the prior year. That coincides with a major increase in drug seizures, including 1.9 million fentanyl pills worth more than $20 million over the past 18 months, Sheriff Kelly Martinez announced Monday in a press conference.

“When children as young as 13 years old began dying from using the drug, we knew we needed to act with more urgency,” said Martinez, who credits state and county funding for aiding law enforcement's crackdown on illlegal fentanyl sales.

EL CAJON PAINT CO. MANAGER PLEADS GUILTY TO MISDEMEANOR HIRING OF UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS

Screenshot of video from NBC 7, an ECM news partner

By Miriam Raftery

June 23, 2025 (El Cajon) – Following a workplace raid at San Diego Powder & Protective Coatings in El Cajon in March by federal immigration officers, the company’s former general manager, John Washburn, has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor county of hiring undocumented workers.

He was originally charged with a felony conspiracy count of harboring migrants not authorized to work in the United States.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK: LAKESIDE RESIDENTS THANK FIREFIGHTERS

East County News Service

June 23, 2025 -- Photographer Shiloh Ireland provided this video of Lakeside residents Sarah Ann WIlson and BIlly Ortiz unfurling a banner to thank firefighters who worked tirelessly to protect homes and halt the Monte Fire in Lakeside's El Monte Valley.

View video: Monte Fire Appreciation to Firefighters- 06/21/2025

Also see Ireland's drone video showing the scope of damage: Monte Fire Lakeside, California

FERRET LEGALIZATION EFFORT CLEARS KEY HURDLE AT STATE FISH AND GAME COMMISSION

By Karen Pearlman

June 23, 2025 (San Diego County) – Ferrets may be moving a step closer to being allowed to thrive in homes in California.

The animal that is legal in nearly every contiguous state across the nation, but still considered an undomesticated, wild animal in California and Hawaii may have that status changed.

Earlier this month, ferret legalization advocate Pat Wright, a La Mesa resident and leader of the nonprofit group LegalizeFerrets.org, reported that the California Fish and Game Commission unanimously approved Wright’s petition for a regulation change for ferrets and remove them from the restricted species list.

IRAN MISSILES FIRED AT U.S. AIR BASE IN QATAR; TERROR ATTACKS IN U.S. THREATENED

an aerial view of al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar

By Miriam Raftery

June 23, 2025 (al-Udeid Air Base, Qatar) – Iran has fired multiple missiles at the largest U.S. air base in the Middle East, al-Udeid in Qatar. The attack was launched in retaliation for the U.S. bombing of nuclear facilities in Iran.

Qatar’s air defenses intercepted the missile attack, and there have been no reports of injuries, CNN reports., Qatar condemned Iran’s attack on the air base, calling it “a flagrant violation of Qatar’s sovereignty and airspace.”

DURING PRIDE MONTH, TRANSGENDER PEOPLE FIGHT FOR JUSTICE

By Suzanne Potter, California News Service

June 23, 2025 (San Diego) -- June is Pride Month and transgender advocates are speaking out, seeking equal recognition in society and in the workplace.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled President Donald Trump can enforce a ban on transgender people in the military while litigation proceeds.

Martha Gomez, director of workforce development for the nonprofit Trans Can Work, said the attacks on transgender people ultimately hurt society as a whole.

"Transgender people are at the forefront of a lot of those cuts and those attacks," Gomez pointed out. "The truth is that these DEI cuts, they hurt all of us as a nation to not have opinions outside of just one."

The armed forces are also changing the names of transgender members of the military back to their names at birth. Trans Can Work encourages all employers to consider the harm of deadnaming people and to make sure health care policy and legal paperwork is inclusive.