February 6, 2010 (El Cajon) Updated 11:45 p.m.. - A serious accident involving several vehicles caused CHP to shut down all lanes on I-8 westbound at Murray Drive in El Cajon, diverting traffic onto 125.  CHP's website reports one vehicle flipped over and a person was trapped inside with fluid leaking.

February 6, 2010 (Lakeside) 9:25 a.m. -- Center lanes remain blocked on I-8 westbound at Lake Jennings Road in Lakeside due to a vehicle accident.  Emergency workers have now freed all people trapped in a vehicle and transported three patients to a hospital, according to Heartland Fire dispatch.

Incident Page Network reports that one of those trapped was a baby.  

Open to all GUHSD students – if you can draw, you can win!

February 5, 2010 (La Mesa) – Golden Artistry Jewelry Design invites Grossmont Union High School district students to participate in its 2nd annual jewelry design competition. “We are doing this in order to find students that have creative skills, and help them find their calling,” says Terry Whyte, owner and master goldsmith.

By D.R. Schwab

February 3, 2010 (Poway) -- It would be a first for Poway: Converting a city-owned mobile home park to resident ownership.  For the second time in six years, it's something that residents of Poway Royal Mobile Estates, the City's largest mobile home park, are attempting to do.

By Miriam Raftery

 “How can you sit there and say it’s safe to be there when that canyon has burned every year—and you’re going to put those towers up, leave us with no power, and we only have one way in and one way out?” -- Myles Thurman, Lakeside

February 3, 2010 (Lakeside) – San Diego Gas & Electric officials received a far-from-warm welcome from Lakeside residents at a community forum last night hosted by the utility to discuss impacts of Sunrise Powerlink, the proposed high-voltage power line that SDG&E wants to run through Lakeside's El Monte Valley.

SDG&E plans to hold a follow-up meeting within 30 days.

UPDATE FEBRUARY 2, 2010 :  The FDA has taken samples to test and launched an official investigation, also pulling seed bags from other local retailers, ECM has learned. In addition, samples have been sent to the manufacturer to test for toxins or contaminants.

By Miriam Raftery

Many aren’t aware of tax credit that can be claimed, County says

February 1, 2010 (San Diego)--The County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) has launched the 2010 Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) campaign, an effort to get more low-income families and individuals to take advantage of the federal government’s largest cash assistance program.

January 31, 2010 (Julian) – Carl K. Davis Jr., 28, of San Diego died in a head-on collision shortly after noon yesterday on Highway 78 at Payson Drive, Julian.

January 31, 2010 (Alpine) – Firefighters from Viejas and the U.S. Forest service responded to a vehicle fire on Interstate 8 in Alpine this afternoon. Alpine firefighter/paramedics Broc Thorn and Colby Ross formed an attack line and quickly knocked down the fire before it spread into the nearby vegetation.

Is the LRAD disabled, or not?

By Miriam Raftery

January 28, 2010 (San Diego) San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore drew sharp criticism from the public and his three political opponents following an article we published last fall, revealing that his office purchased a long-range acoustic device (LRAD) and rolled it out at Congressional healthcare forums and other events.  The Sheriff’s office held a press conference in September to announce that the sonic weapons feature had been “disabled.”

Now the Sheriff has removed a press release discussing the disabling of the sonic weapons feature from the homepage and from the archives at his website. We contacted the Sheriff’s spokeperson, Jan Caldwell, to ask why the release was removed and whether the sonic weapons feature has been reenabled.

January 27, 2010 (Ramona) – Bridgette T. Hale, 36, was killed in a head-on collision on State Route 67 near Johnson Lake Road in Lakeside on Tuesday. Hale was driving southbound in her Chevy Astro Van when she was struck head-on by an Oldsmobile that had crossed a double-yellow line, according to the California Highway Patrol.

By Miriam Raftery

January 27, 2010 (Spring Valley) – A memorial service for David Norman Reid will be held on Sunday, January 31st at 2 p.m. at the Steele Canyon High School theater (see address below). Reid was killed last Friday when a car driven by Andrew Bellati, 18, crossed the center line at a high speed and crashed head-on into Reid’s van.

January 25, 2010 (San Diego) –Rescue Task Force, the humanitarian organization established in East County that has since merged with World Emergency Relief, is now working to restore electricity in Haiti.

 
“Lack of power can cost lives,” RTF’s Andrea Stone observed.

January 25, 2010 (El Cajon) – Rebecca Ann Phillips, 23, died after being hit by a red Chevrolet Metro on southbound Highway 125 shortly after 9:30 last night. According to witnesses, she was a passenger in a green Ford Taurus sedan that had pulled onto the shoulder just north of Grossmont College Drive. For unknown reasons, she stepped into traffic and was killed.