East County News Service

Photo via Zimbio

May 20, 2019 (San Diego's East County) - Two former East County alums made waves for the Padres.  Valhalla Norseman alum Greg Garcia went 1 for 3 with a double and one run scored for the Padres as they were defeated by the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-4 on Sunday.  Former Grossmont Foothiller Joe Musgrove improved his record to 3-4 as he pitched 6.1 innings and gave up four hits, four runs (three earned), one walk and four strikeouts for the Bucs. 

Santee Chamber of Commerce celebrates with family-friendly fun, craft beer and the honoring of military members 

East County News Service

May 20, 2019 (Santee) -- Join more than 30,000 visitors at the Santee Street Fair and Craft Beer Festival on Saturday, May 25 at Town Center Parkway and Riverview Parkway in Santee.  The Street Fair is celebrating its 11th year and offers family-friendly games, live music and entertainment, over 300 various food and vendor booths, artists, carnival rides, a kid’s zone and more. The Craft Beer Festival is back for its sixth year and will feature award-winning craft beer samples from local breweries and beyond. The street fair starts at 10:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. and the Craft Beer Festival starts at 11:30 am to 5:30 p.m.

By Miriam Raftery

May 19, 2019 (La Mesa) – Frustrated by a lack of compromise between local businesses for and against the Friday night farmers market in downtown La Mesa, the city council has voted unanimously to end its contract with the La Mesa Village Association to run the market.  Council will put out a request for proposals from other operators to potentially move the market to another location or a different day,or keep the same location and days, but with improvements to resolve the rift.

If no entity comes forward, East County’s longest running farmer’s market could end after July 31, when the LMVA contract runs out.

East County News Service

May 18, 2019 (San Diego) -- The critically-acclaimed and award-winning Kidz Danz Kompany, based in La Mesa with Visionary Dance Theatre, will present “Visions of Broadway” at the Horton Grand Theater (444 Fourth Ave, San Diego)  May 31 - June 1 at 7 p.m.

Aztecs score three runs in the ninth inning of 7-4 loss

Source:  goaztecs.com

Photo courtesy goaztecs.com

May 18, 2019 (San Diego) - The San Diego State baseball team capped the 2019 regular season with a 7-4 loss against New Mexico on Saturday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The Aztecs finish the regular season with a 32-23 record (16-13 Mountain West), while New Mexico finishes 2019 with a 23-28-1 record (11-16-1 MW). 

By Miriam Raftery

May 17, 2019 (El Cajon) – Last night’s major fire at 920 El Cajon Blvd. in El Cajon was caused by an explosion at an illegal hash oil extraction lab which caused burn injuries to one victim. The explosion occurred less than two weeks after a hash oil lab exploded in Mira Mesa, seriously injuring three people.

By Suzanne Potter, California Public News Service

May 17, 2019 (Sacramento) -- Immigrants' rights groups are speaking out against President Donald Trump's new immigration proposal - unveiled yesterday - saying it betrays American values and ignores the thorniest issues that have thus far held up a comprehensive immigration deal in Congress. 

By Paul Kruze, Contributing Editor

May 17, 2919 (El Cajon) --In a unanimous vote, the El Cajon City Council on Tuesday approved planning commissioner and businessman David “Phil” Ortiz to fill the seat formerly held by Ben Kalasho. Ortiz edged out three other finalists for the position: Richard Agundez, Anthony Sottile, and Humbert Cabrera.

Other applicants were Gladys “Jo” Alegria, Juan Barajas, Richard Campbell, Margaret Carlson, Estela De Los Rio, James Elia, Mark Jamil, former El Cajon Mayor Mark Lewis, Amanda McGimpsey, Juan Carlos, Mercado, Michelle Metschel, Abraham Muheize, Nancy Wilson, and Steven Woods. Community activist Stephanie Harper dropped out of the race at Tuesday’s meeting. See our prior coverage for highlights on all 22 candidates.

Owner and CEO of New Earth Energy Specialists Inc. and a pastor of Foothills Church, Ortiz is also an active community volunteer. He serves on the San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce board of directors and is founding member of the El Cajon Community Clean Up Group.  He has a B.A. degree in criminal justice administration from SDSU and a master’s in organizational management with emphasis in public administration.

According to his application with the city, his top priorities are public safety, including making retention of officers a priority, homelessness, including partnering with local organizations and having metrics to determine programs effectiveness, and having a balanced budget plus revitalization and incentivization to build on vacant lots.

Watch a streaming video of Tuesday’s evening's council session here and scroll down for details.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo:  Retired Pvt. First Class Joseph Reilly, courtesy of the White House website

May 17, 2019 (San Diego) – Joseph Reilly, a D-Day veteran who parachuted behind enemy lines in Britain and fought other battles to help liberate Eastern Europe during World War II, has made his first political endorsement at age 97.  Reilly, whose courageous actions were honored by Donald Trump at the President’s State of the Union Address, has endorsed Ammar Campa-Najjar, the Democrat running against indicted Republican Congressman Duncan D. Hunter in the 50th Congressional district.

Hunter has been a strong supporter of Trump on the  campaign and during Trump’s presidency. But Reilly, a former Army private, said in a statement that he is “proud” to support Campa-Najjar because Hunter “has now crossed the line twice. First when he betrayed the public in order to enrich himself, and now again when he  makes such shameful and false attacks in order to hold onto his power.”

Hunter, a combat veteran in Iraq and Afghanistan, is awaiting trial on federal corruption charges. He and his wife are accusing of taking over $250,000 from his campaign and spending it on lavish personal expenditures including family vacations to Italy and Hawaii, jewelry, oral surgery bills, tuition at his children’s private school, and airfare for his son’s pet rabbit.

Updated at 11:02 with information on burn victim and estimated damge.

May 16, 2019 (El Cajon) -- A major fire has caused an estimated $100,000 of damage to a  structure at the New 2 You Autos used vehicle dealership at 930 El Cajon Blvd. near Washington in El Cajon tonight.  The fire is now extinguished.

The fire was reported at 9:13 p.m. by a caller from a nearby Walmart who was involved in the fire. He has been transported to the UCSD Medical Center burn unit.

Division Chief Mike Chasin told the press that this is the second fire at a car dealership recently, following a fire at a Mercedes Benz dealership last week.

Chemicals were found at the scene tonight and an arson investigation will be done, Chief Chasen confirms.. ECM reporter Paul Kruze reports at least eight fire engines were present to battle the blaze. A Hazmat unit arrived at 10:45 p.m. 

Source:  goaztecs.com

Photo courtesy goaztecs.com

May 16, 2019 (San Diego) - The San Diego State men’s and women’s tennis programs will offer youth tennis camps this summer, which will be led by men’s assistant coach Jeff Thomsen and women’s assistant coach Nico Vinel. Two camp weeks will be offered, first from July 22-26 and again from July 29 through August 2, both at the Aztec Tennis Center.

By Miriam Raftery and Paul Kruze

May 15, 2019 (El Cajon) – The Cajon Valley Union School District stepped up its war on the media during its May 7^th board workshop.  A guard demanded that East County Magazine editor Miriam Raftery and contributing editor Paul Kruze move from the front row to the back, in a clear effort to prevent the investigative journalists from recording an audible copy of the meeting. Both refused, citing First Amendment freedom of the press and the district’s continued non-compliance with California public records act requests to receive audios of past meetings.

 At a subsequent meeting May 14, the guard repeated this demand for Kruze to move out of a front row seat, even threatening to the El Cajon Police for “disruption” if he would not comply. Kruze’s recording device is inobtrusive, about the size of a cell phone. There is nothing inherently disruptive about a journalist quietly recording a meeting, which is a right guaranteed to any citizen by the California Ralph M. Brown Act, the state’s public records act.

These intimidation tactics come after the board admitted destroying recordings of public meetings despite our requests for the recordings.  After receiving a cease and desist letter from an attorney at CalAware, the board on March 29 responded with a letter agreeing to comply with the law, as we reported, but has not done so. The board also voted to retain recordings for a year and make copies available on request. But the  district’s lawyer claims our more records request, along with other emails sent to multiple  people at the district, all went to a spam folder.

May 16, 2019 (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:

LOCAL

• Can SANDAG solve traffic woes with 100 MPH commuter rail, rush-hour pricing? (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Gov. Gavin Newsom announces wildfire technology competition at conference in La Jolla (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• San Diego homeless deaths doubled in last decade (Voice of San Diego)
• Breaking San Diego: A Meth Crisis (NBC 7)
• Family DNA Search Leads to Another Arrest: Suspect in 1995 San Diego Rapes
• (Times of San Diego)

STATE

• A Little-Known Company Is Quietly Making Massive Water Deals (Voice of San Diego)
• San Francisco is first US city to ban police use of facial recognition tech (The Guardian)
• Key conflicts roil California’s ever-evolving waterscape (CalMatters)

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