East County News Service

November 28, 2022 (La Mesa) – You’re invited to turn in your unwanted guns and receive a gift card valued at $100 to $200 this Saturday, December 3 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the La Mesa Civic Center, 4825 Date Ave. in La Mesa.

Gift card values of $100 will be provided for handguns, rifles and shotguns, while assault weapons and ghost guns can be exchanged for a $200 gift card.

You can remain anonymous; no questions asked.

By Gig Conaughton, County of San Diego Communications Office

November 27, 2022 (San Diego) - ‘Tis the season—for food!

By Susan Taylor

Photo credit: Tim Taylor

November 26, 2022 (San Diego) ---The City of San Diego’s Human Rights Commission held a press conference, Wednesday, November 16 to present a proclamation to approve Human Rights Week to Mayor Todd Gloria for his signature.

The Aztecs have won six games in a row, their longest streak since the 2012-13 season

Source: goaztecs.com

Photo courtesy goaztecs.com

November 25, 2022 (San Diego) - The Aztec women’s basketball team (6-1) knocked off Seattle (0-5) 70-36 Friday afternoon to extend SDSU’s win streak to six games, the program’s longest since the 2012-13 season.

By Miriam Raftery

Updated 3 p.m. with new outage information

November 24, 2022 (San Diego’s East County) – Gusty winds howled across East County’s mountains and rural region last night and early today, Thanksgiving morning.  Strong winds are forecast to continue through Friday.

The National Weather Service reports peak gusts as high as 89 miles per hour on Sill Hill near Descanso and 75 mph on Cuyamaca Peak in San Diego’s inland region between 10 p.m. last night and 10 a.m. today. Many other local areas had strong winds as well.

SDG&E reports outages in Campo, Dulzura, and Potrero with power restoration expected around 6 p.m. due to a foreign object hitting a power line, putting a damper on Thanksgiving cooking. In Granite Hills/Bostonia areas of El Cajon, outages have left people without power until an estimated 6 p.m. power restoration time. Two outages in the Julian, Wynola, Pine Hills and Santa Ysabel areas is due to have power restored around 5:30 p.m. Outages in East County have a 4 p.m. projected power restoration time. An earlier outage in Live Oak Springs, Boulevard and Jacumba, has been restored. Find out the latest outage info at to the SDG&E outage map.  

East County News Service

November 24, 2022 (San Diego) – Pilots safely landed two helicopters that collided near San Diego’s Brown Field Tuesday shortly after 6 p.m. 

A  UH-60A Firehawk contracted by SDG&E for year-round firefighting in our region collided in midair with a U.S.  Navy MH-60R Seahawk with three crewmembers aboard.

Despite the damage, crews and their families have much to be thankful for. "Both aircraft landed safely and there were no injuries to personnel," said ENS. Bryan Blair, Assistant Public Affairs Officer for Commander, Naval Air Forces, NBC 7 reports.

Source:  California Department of Justice

November 23, 2022 (Oakland) - California Attorney General Rob Bonta today provided consumers with tips on how to shop safely this holiday season. As Black Friday and Cyber Monday quickly approach, Californians can take action to help protect themselves from scams, fraud, and other consumer-related issues. 

November 23, 2022 (San Diego) -- 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

• Lemon Grove is getting a new council member. Will that improve the city’s tense public meetings? (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• SDSU Alum, Decorated Iraq War Vet, Subdued, Pinned Down Colorado Springs Gunman (Times of San Diego)
• Gloria To Urge Gov to Release State Homeless Funds (Voice of San Diego)
• San Diego GOP Leaders Mostly Silent as Trump Announces 3rd Race for President (Times of San Diego)
• 11^th hour comfort returns after pandemic-forced break (East County Californian)

STATE

• California’s revised climate strategy relies on carbon capture (Energy News)
• California likely to have $25 billion budget deficit (KPBS)
• Strike by 48,000 University of California academic workers causes systemwide disruptions (Los Angeles Times
• To save salmon, U.S. approves largest dam removal in history (Reuters)
• Jennifer Siebel Newsom, wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, testifies that Harvey Weinstein raped her (CNN)

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

By Miriam Raftery

Photo  left:  water drains from Loveland Reservoir in Alpine to Sweetwater Reservoir in Otay;

Photo, right: bare mudflat at Loveland, once  400 surface acres, now doomed to be dropped to just 10.

November 23, 2022 (Alpine) – Without any regard to impacts on wildlife, fire danger, rural residents or recreational users at Loveland Reservoir near Alpine in San Diego's East County, the Sweetwater Water Authority (SWA) on November 16 began draining down the lake with an intent to reduce it to “dead pool” level – less than one-half of one percent of the reservoir’s capacity, once draining is completed over the next couple of weeks or so.

The water is being transferred to Sweetwater Reservoir in Spring Valley. From there, it will be used to provide drinking water and other water needs to residents in the South Bay communities of Chula Vista, National City and Bonita.

But critics say  the action is destroying habitat for wildlife, perhaps forever, also eliminating fishing at the area's only reservoir with free fishing access, and threatening firefighters' ability to combat fast-moving wildfires .  Critics also contend that draining the reservoir so low is unnecssary at current drought levels. Yet the people most negatively impacted have no representation on the SWA board, which doesn't include East County.

SDSU's 5-1 win start is their best since the 2007-08 season

Source: goaztecs.com

Photo courtesy goaztecs.com

November 22, 2022 (San Diego) - The Aztec women’s basketball team beat Grambling State (1-4) 66-41 to improve to 5-1 on the year, their best start since the 2007-08 season.

November 22, 2022 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Energy bills: patients prescribed heating as part of health trial (BBC)
• Omicron variants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 now dominant in U.S. (NPR) 
• Devices, loud venues could cause hearing loss in 1 billion young people  (NPR)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• Is this really the end of Twitter? (BBC)
• After crypto exchange FTX collapsed, Washington policymakers debate how to respond  (NPR)
• To save water, Arizona farmers are growing guayule for sustainable tires (Pop Science)
• Google settles location-tracking case for $392 million   (NPR)
• James Webb images thrill and surprise scientists  (NPR)

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

November 22, 2022 (Alpine) -- Josh Stotler snapped this inspirational image of a starburst sun beaming morning rays onto a field in Alpine, California. 

By Miriam Raftery

November 20, 2022 (San Diego’s East County) -- This week’s Destination East County features fun and fabulous holiday events coming up across San Diego’s inland region, as East County communities celebrate the season.