By Paul Levikow

August 13, 2025 (El Cajon) – The Palms Restaurant and Banquet Hall on Main Street was determined to be in violation of its Conditional Use Permit Tuesday by the El Cajon City Council and ordered to close by Oct. 1, unless it is granted a new CUP at next week’s Planning Commission meeting.

The Planning Commission revoked The Palms’ CUP at its June meeting. The business owners appealed the ruling, which was denied by the City Council on a 4-1 vote. Rather than require the business to close immediately, the Council voted to allow it to stay open until Oct. 1. Mayor Bill Wells voted no.

La Mesa City Council hears update from Caltrans

By Karen Pearlman

Aug. 13, 2025 (La Mesa) – Road changes long planned for state Routes 94 and 125 in La Mesa at the junction with Spring Valley are starting to move again.

The SR 94/125 Interchange Project, in the works for several decades by the California Department of Transportation in collaboration with the San Diego Association of Governments, will bring connectors long anticipated and needed for the freeways and the region.

The original project extended more than three miles along both routes and Caltrans officials say it remains “a highly prioritized project in the region.”

Construction is expected to begin in late spring or early summer 2026 with an anticipated finish to the first of two phases in late spring or early summer 2028.

National Guard to also be deployed in nation’s capital city

By Miriam Raftery

August 11, 2025 (Washington D.C.) – President Donald Trump has issued an executive order to put Washington D.C.’s police force under federal control, claiming a need to reduce crime, CNN reports. However, according to a Newsweek report, violent crime in Washington D.C. was the lowest in 24 years last year, while other crimes also fell.

By Miriam Raftery

August 8, 2025 (San Diego) – Today, Superior Court Judge Matthew Braner dismissed a lawsuit filed by Grecia Figueroa against former Supervisor Nathan Fletcher. Judge Braner said Figueroa engaged in “rampant and willful spoilation of evidence” including deleting photos and text messages damaging to her case.

A video of the event is available on the Indivisible North County YouTube page.

By Jesse Kendrick

Image: Rep. Sara Jacobs addresses the 48th district’s constituents next to masked mockery of Rep. Darrell Issa.

August 1, 2025 (Escondido) — Jeering laughter filled the halls of the California Center for the Arts on Sunday as a man in a rubber chicken mask imitated Congressman Darrell Issa before a crowd of hundreds of his constituents. 

Federal budget cuts have closed an EPA office and pose significant threat to California’s clean air, water, and clean energy sources 

By G. A. McNeeley 

July 25, 2025 (Washington D.C.) -- On Thursday, July 10, California’s top leaders in wildfire response, water resources, natural lands and clean energy assembled to discuss budget cuts, staff reductions and more significant changes brought forward by The Trump Administration that are posing a threat to California’s environment, the LA Times reports. 

California’s drive to run its electric grid entirely on wind, solar and other clean sources of energy got harder after President Donald Trump signed a sweeping new budget law. Changes in federal tax incentives could affect the feasibility of new solar and wind projects that California is counting on to provide more electricity for its citizens, according to CalMatters. 

By Mike Allen

Image,left:  Rendering of Buzz's planned cannabis store interior

July 23, 2025 (Santee) -- Santee has concluded what Mayor John Minto called “an exhaustive process” to award four business permits for the sale of cannabis and related products to four groups, all of which have experience in retailing the highly regulated lines of liquor and gasoline.

The vote on the cannabis business licenses July 11 followed an extensive, four-phase vetting process that began in October culminating in three days of interviews with all 16 groups interviewed by the five-member council.

The stores will offer both medical and recreational cannabis (marijuana) products.

Story and photo by Jennifer Sencion

July 13, 2025 (Lemon Grove) —  Dozens of concerned residents and animal advocates spoke at the Lemon Grove City Council meeting Tuesday night to demand a citywide ban on the retail sale of all animals.

Sixteen of the nearly 20 speakers urged Councilmembers to expand on California Assembly Bill 485, which already prohibits the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits in retail stores, to include all animals in the ban.

Much of the concerns centered on Lemon Grove Pet Supplies and Exotics, a pet store located on Main Street that has been in business for over a decade. Many of the speakers shared personal experiences at the shop, ranging from witnessing unsanitary conditions to finding deceased animals. 

By Alexander J Schorr

July 4, 2025 (Everglades, FL)  — Nearby President Trump’s Miami resort in the swamplands of the Florida Everglades sits a makeshift detention facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” the latest in his administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.

Andrea Pitzer, author of One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps, writes in an editorial published on MSNBC, “I visited four continents to write a global history of concentration camps. This facility’s purpose fits the classic model: mass civilian detention without real trials targeting vulnerable groups for political gain based on ethnicity, race, religion or political affiliation rather than for crimes committed. And its existence points to serious dangers ahead for the country.”

The term ‘concentration camp’ was in use for many years before the Germans used some as extermination camps, Pitzer notes. While most have been in foreign countries,notable exceptions were internment camps on U.S. soil set up to hold Japanese-Americans, including citizens, during World War II. President Ronald Reagan later apologized for their imprisonment and signed a measure granting reperation payments to those incarcerated.

By Miriam Raftery

Photos and videos by Shiloh Ireland

“It’s my duty...to speak up for other people that currently are scared... I know what it feels like to be undocumented and having to be living in the shadows for fear of being deported.” – Carlos Gomez Perez, an Iraq War combat veteran who earned a Silver Star medal of valor.

July 3, 2025 (El Cajon) – As Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids ramp up nationwide, detaining and deporting even many immigrants who committed no crimes, an “ICE out of El Cajon” march and rally on June 28  called for support of immigrants.

Concerns over non-criminals detained and abuse of detainees

Trump ran on a platform of deporting “violent criminals” who are undocumented. But KPBS reports that since Donald Trump took office in January, the number of detained immigrants who have no criminal records has skyrocketed by 12,000%--from 800 to over 11,700.  By contrast, detentions of convicted criminals in ICE detention rose only 59%, from 9,000 in January to 14,500 in June.

By Miriam Raftery

Image: County Administration Building

July 2, 2025 (San Diego) – The $8.63 billion balanced budget passed by San Diego County Supervisors last week prioritizes housing, homelessness, public safety, infrastructure, health, environmental sustainability and support for vulnerable populations.

It also includes projects benefitting or impacting East County communities. These include:

• Buying two ambulances for unincorporated areas
• Purchasing a helicopter for firefighting and search and rescue missions
• A new crisis stabilization unit in El Cajon
• Operating safe parking programs in Spring Valley and unincorporated El Cajon, plus opening a third safe parking site in Grantville for people living in vehicles
• Constructing Troy Street Sleeping cabins in Lemon Grove to shelter homeless people
• Upgrades and repairs at the Descanso Fire Station
• Staffing two water tenders to provide water during wildfires
• Partnering with Cal Fire to explore using livestock grazing to reduce fire risk
• Enhanced fire and emergency medical services in Dulzura and Pauma Valley
• Improving a temporary space during construction of new Ramona Sheriff’s substation
• New county library opening in 2026 in Casa de Oro
• Creating community gardens in Spring Valley and Ramona
• New mobile veterinary surgical unit for unincorporated areas
• Cleaning up homeless encampments in unincorporated areas
• Installing new electric vehicle charging stations in rural areas

In addition to those East County specific projects, the budget  includes many other items to benefit residents countywide including these:

By Miriam Raftery

Photo, left, via candidates' websites:  John McCann, left, and Paloma Aguirre, right

July 1, 2025 (San Diego) – In a special election that will determine the balance of power on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre leads with 53.22% of the vote over Chula Vista Mayor John McCann, who has 36.78%, according to the San Diego County Registrar of Voters

Aguirre, a Democrat, has 37,324 votes while McCann, a Republican, has 32,805, a lead of 4,518 votes. Another 9,500 ballots remain to be counted, with the next update from the Registrar due by 6 p.m. this evening. The winner is expected to take office by the end of this month as the new District 1 Supervisor.

Though the race is officially nonpartisan, the board currently has a 2-2 split following the resignation of Nora Vargas.  If Aguirre’s lead holds, Democrats will retake the majority, which could sway policy decisions on key issues.

An Aguirre win will also bring back a Latina voice on the board of Supervisors in an era when immigration issues have brought heightened tensions to the region, as well as providing a voice calling for cleanup of severe pollution that has forced long-term beach closure and serious air pollution health threats to Imperial Beach residents.

Aguirre released a statement declaring victory, though McCann has not yet conceded.

“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.

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.