By Miriam Raftery and Mike Allen

March 10, 2022 (San Diego) – Citing wildfire evacuation concerns, San Diego Superior Court Judge Katherine Bacal has ruled that the city of Santee and the City Council violated state law in approving Fanita Ranch, HomeFed’s long-planned 3,000 home development.  The project would be built on more than 2,600 acres of fire-prone hillsides in the city’s northwest section.

The ruling found that the city’s environmental review of the project was inadequate, violating California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by failing to adequately disclose how the development would affect wildfire evacuations and safety in the surrounding community.

The Judge also slammed the city for its last-minute removal of the Magnolia Avenue extension from the project just six days before approving the project’s EIR, even though that extension had been touted as a key wildfire evacuation route. This was inadequate for public review or evaluation of impacts on neighbors along other connector roads should an evacuation be needed. In addition, the judge found, “the City’s decision not to recirculate the EIR violated CEQA.”

By Miriam Raftery

Photo via Russ T Nailz on Facebook

March 10, 2022 (San Diego) – He often said he’d been making people laugh since June 1957, when he was born. Yesterday, the laughter stopped when Russ Stolnack, Jr., aka Russ T Nailz, died at age 64. The long-time East County resident was a multiple Emmy award-winning entertainer best known as a comedian, radio host, musician and celebrity auctioneer for charities.

On his Facebook page, he celebrated “making a living doing what I love.”

He also died doing what he loved, while filming "On The Air."  His  long-time TV and radio cohost, Robert “Sully” Sullivan, said Stolnack “was signing a song with the house band when he had a heart attack, and – just like that – he was gone.”

East County News Service

March 10, 2022 (San Diego) – A La Mesa man, 26, died at the scene of an accident early this morning after he was struck by a truck and ejected off his Honda motorcycle onto westbound State Route 52.

The accident occurred at 5:13 a.m. just west of Mast Blvd.  According to the California Highway Patrol, a Freightliner truck tractor-trailer combination driven by a 34-year-old Lakeside man collided with the motorcycle.

Source: Rancho San Diego Sheriff substation

March 10, 2022 (Spring Valley) -- Take a good look at this sketch.  The man you see here is suspected of approaching a student and demanding she get in his car while she was walking to school in the Casa de Oro area of Spring Valley.

By Miriam Raftery

March 9, 2022 (Julian) -- The Julian Daffodil Project was started by Sally Snipes in 1990 as a memorial to her father Jack Snipes. Now there are 4 million bulbs planted in Julian, according to the Julian Daffodils page on Facebook.

Each year, the group hosts the Julian Daffodil show. This year, the free event will be held Saturday and Sunday, March 19-20 from 12 noon to 5 p.m. at the Julian Town Hall, 2129 Main Street in the heart of historic Julian.

In addition, you can enjoy U-pick daffodils on Saturdays and Sundays from March 19 through May 1 during Daffodil Days at Julian Farm and Orchard, 4381 Highway 79, Julian.

Reprinted with permission from J.W. August, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo:  Leonard Trinh, hate crimes prosecutor for the San Diego County District Attorney, during a La Mesa forum on hate crimes in 2021; photo by Miriam Raftery.

March 9, 2022 (San Diego) - The white supremacy movement has undergone profound changes, as detailed in the influential Southern Poverty Law Center‘s annual report released Wednesday.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Vince Kattoula, President, Chaldean Coalition (Screenshot via CBS 8 video)

March 9, 2022 (San Diego’s East County) – The nonprofit Chaldean Coalition has filed a lawsuit contending that Chaldeans are being disenfranchised by San Diego County’s supervisorial redistricting in East County, where most of this ethnic and religious minority group resides.

The lawsuit, filed March 4 in Superior Court, claims the division of the close-knit community between two supervisorial districts is illegal under the California Election Code, which incorporates other state and federal statutory and constitutional law.

The suit was filed by attorneys from LiMandri & Jonna LLP, a Rancho Santa Fe firm with a specialty in civil rights, against the County of San Diego, its Independent Redistricting Commission, and its Registrar of Voters. The Chaldean Coalition seeks a stay, as well as preliminary and permanent injunctions, to restrain application of the County’s new Supervisorial Districts and require the redrawing of such maps in compliance with the law.

East County News Service  

March 8, 2022 (Lemon Grove) -- Lemon Grove Lions Club is having a See’s Candy Fundraiser online at the service club’s “Easter Goodies Store” https://tinyurl.com/2s3s9ryj.

Sophia Ramos led the Aztecs with 18 points

Source:  goaztecs.com

Photo courtesy goaztecs.com

March 7, 2022 (Las Vegas) - The Aztec women’s basketball team’s (15-16) season came to an end Monday evening after a heartbreaking 63-60 loss to the No. 2 seed New Mexico in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Tournament.

Santana High alumnus drives in go-ahead run vs. ASU on Sunday

Source: goaztecs.com

Photo courtesy goaztecs.com

March 7, 2022 (San Diego) - San Diego State’s Tyler Glowacki collected Mountain West Freshman of the Week honors, the league office announced on Monday.

By Henri Migala

March 6, 2022 (Julian) -- If you live in San Diego, then you have probably enjoyed a country drive to the charming mountain town of Julian and perhaps stopped to have lunch at what used to be the Lake Cuyamaca Restaurant overlooking the lake. It’s now under new ownership and has been fully renovated, reopened as the Pub at Lake Cuyamaca.

By SJ Miller 

Photo: East County celebrity Chopper the Biker Dog,by Mark Shaffer

March 6, 2022 (La Mesa) — It's been just over a year since Fox 5 San Diego announced that canine celebrity Chopper the Biker Dog had been diagnosed with liver cancer. Now, I’m checking in on the beloved Boston Terrier and his dog dad, realtor Mak Shaffer.

“He’s terminal,” said Shaffer. “I’m trying to still give him some happiness and comfort.” 

East County News Service

March 6, 2022 (San Diego) -- Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA-50) formally addressed a policy roundtable that included county, state and federal officials last week, outlining his strategies and solutions to address the nation’s worsening fentanyl crisis. Fentanyl is a factor in more than half of all overdose deaths, and fatally poisons someone every eight minutes.