By José A. Álvarez, County of San Diego Communications Office

Image credit:  PhotoSpin

January 29, 2018 (San Diego) - It’s that time of the year again to get your income taxes filed, and you might be able to get them done for free.

The County is once again teaming up with its local partners to help low-income families or individuals prepare their taxes at no cost.

Victims encouraged to file claims with insurers

Source: California Insurance Commissioner’s Office

January 29, 2018 (Santa Barbara) -- Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones today issued a formal notice to all property and casualty insurance companies reminding them of their duty to cover damages from the recent mudslide and debris flows if it is determined that the ravaging of hillsides and vegetation by the Thomas and other fires was the efficient proximate cause of the mudslides. In general homeowners' insurance policies, excludes flood, mudslide, debris flow and other similar events.

By Chris Jennewein, credit to Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Network

Photo:  Ernest and Evelyn Rady at the Salvation Army’s Door of Hope in Linda Vista. Photo by Chris Jennewein

January 29, 2018 (San Diego) - Philanthropists Ernest and Evelyn Rady announced Monday an unprecedented $50 million donation to The Salvation Army to help homeless individuals and families in San Diego.

By Miriam Raftery

January 29, 2018 (La Mesa) – The City of La Mesa invites residents to attend two upcoming town hall meetings, where elected officials and city staff will be on hand to answer residents’ questions and hear concerns.  The forums will be held Tuesday, January 30 at the La Mesa Arts Academy (4200 Parks Ave.) and Tuesday, Feb. 6 at Northmont Elementary School (9045 Gregory Street), both from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Mayor Mark Arapostathis and City Council members Kristine Alessio, Bill Baber, Guy McWhirter and Colin Parent are expected to participate, as well as Police Chief Walt Vasquez, Heartland Fire & Rescue Chief Colin Stowell, City Manager Yvonne Garrett, City Attorney Gleen Sabine, and staffers from La Mesa’s departments of public works, finance, and community development.

East County News Service

January 28, 2018 (San Diego) -- The California Democratic Party's Region 18 this week endorsed Ammar Campa-Najjar for Congress in the 50^th district at its pre-endorsement conference, which included delegates from East County and San Diego. 

Campa-Najjar received 97% of the delegate vote in a four-way contest with candidate Josh Butner and potential candidates Patrick Malloy and Larry Tract. Since Campa-Najjar exceeded the threshold of 70% of the vote, the party's state convention is expected to ratify the region's recommendation on February 25th, which would give a major boost to Campa-Najjar in his effort to win the June primary and square off against incumbent Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter in November.

"I am humbled to have earned this endorsement by such a wide margin," said Campa-Najjar, who has raised over half a million dollars to date for his campaign.  He adds that during his campaign, he has been meeting people across the district at farms and rodeos, bars and diners, churches, mosques, synagogues, college campuses and senior centers, VFW halls and memorials, libraries, city halls, rallies, backyards, living rooms and dining rooms.

Santillan scores four goals to pace the Flash at home; San Diego’s magic number to clinch playoff berth remains at three entering the bye week

Source:  San Diego Sockers

Photo courtesy sdsockers.com

January 28, 2018 (Monterrey, Mexico) - Omar Santillan's four-goal performance power the Monterrey Flash to a 6-3 win over the visiting San Diego Sockers in Arena Monterrey on Sunday afternoon. The Flash improved to 15-0, while the Sockers dropped to 12-3 on the season. The win gives Monterrey the advantage in the playoffs, if the two teams meet again the game will be played in Mexico. San Diego's magic number to clinch a playoff berth remains at three.

Copyright 2018 by Sam Warren

"We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to." — Somerset Maugham

January 28, 2018 (San Diego) -- From book signings to authors’ tips for writers to a lecture on the First Amendment, here are highlights of events in our local literary community coming up.

CLICK TO SCROLL DOWN FOR A LIST OF BOOK EVENTS

By Mike Allen

January 28, 2018 (Santee) -- In his first state of the city address last week, Santee Mayor John Minto outlined a vision that puts a priority on several capital improvement projects and saving money on the city’s growing pension liabilities.

By Miriam Raftery

January 28, 2018 (San Diego’s East County) – With a red flag warning in effect due to high fire danger and gusty Santa Ana winds forecast through Monday, San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) has once again shut off power to many rural and mountain communities.  An outage map curiously labels these as “unplanned outages” even though clicking on communities shown in the SDG&E outages map reveals a message stating that in most of the current outages, “We’ve shut off the power for safety.” 

Power went off last night (Saturday evening) and is not slated for restoration until mid-to-late afternoon on Monday.

The power is presently out in many areas including the East County communitise Boulevard, Live Oak Springs, Descanso, Pine Valley, Alpine, Pine Hills, Santa Ysabel and surrounding communities, affecting thousands of customers. Portions of North County including Valley Center and the Pauma area are also without power.

By Laurel Rosenhall | CALmatters

Photo:  Gov. Jerry Brown delivers his final State of the State speech. Photo by Max Whittaker for CALmatters.

January 27, 2018 (Sacramento) -- As Gov. Jerry Brown neared the end of his last State of the State speech Thursday, he invoked a name that has become a frequent theme: August Schuckman, his own great-grandfather, who left Germany in 1849 and “sailed to America on a ship named Perseverance.”

Warner Springs and Murrieta farm raises pastured chickens, rebuilds healthy soils and grasslands, and coexists with wildlife

Story and photos @Pasturebird and Primal Pastures.

January 27, 2018 (Warner Springs) -- Most people don’t set up a wholesale pastured poultry operation in an area known for its mountain lion activity as much as for its orchards.  Yet for farmer Paul Grieve of Pasturebird, flourishing habitat is an integral part of farming. “The important thing to us is that we build an ecosystem.  Our role is to steward the land and grow a great environment for Mother Nature.”

Source: World Jewish Congress

Photo, left:  Matthias Müller (CEO) and Hans Dieter Pötsch (Chairman of the Supervisory Board) of Volkswagen

January 26, 2018 (New York) -- Senior German industry figures, including the CEOs of companies that collaborated with the Nazis during World War II, have lent their support to the World Jewish Congress’ We Remember campaign ahead of International Holocaust Memorial Day on January27th.

East County Wildfire & Emergency Alerts

January 26, 2018 (San Diego) -- The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning due to high fire danger.  The warning is in effect from Saturday evening through Monday afternoon for all mountains and valleys across Southern California.

Gusty Santa Ana winds, low humidity and temperatures west of the mountains that could be 10 to 22 degrees above normal all contribute to the elevated risk risk.