By Shauni Lyles, County of San Diego Communications Office

Video by Suzanne Bartole

August 24, 2023 (San Diego) - It’s been one year and counting since hopeful chefs looking for a way to start a business in their homes found one through the County’s Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations (MEHKO) program.

By Jessyka Heredia

August 18, 2023 (Lemon Grove) – Approximately 50 people were in attendance earlier this month at the Lemon Grove Library to hear what Mayor Raquel Vasquez, the city council and staff has accomplished this past year and what is planned moving forward for Lemon Grove.

By Sameea Kamal, CalMatters

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters

Photo:  the California Air Resources Board meets at the California Environmental Protection Agency building in Sacramento on June 23, 2022. Photo by Rahul Lal, CalMatters

August 23, 2023 (Sacramento) - For a July meeting, the Little Hoover Commission — an independent state oversight agency — posted notice that the public could attend in Sacramento, but also in Traverse City, Mich., or Southampton, N.Y.

Scheme involved fake electors, seizing voting machines, and pressuring officials in Georgia and other states to break the law

By Miriam Raftery

August 15, 2023 (Fulton County, GA) – In a sweeping 98-page indictment, Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis filed indictments against former president Donald Trump and 18 others with violating the state’s Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO)  Act. The indictments, recommended by a Grand Jury, accuse the defendants of willfully joining a “conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump.”

41 counts in the conspiracy case include forgery, filing false documents, making false statement and writings, impersonating a public officer, pressuring public officials to violate their oaths of office to commit illegal acts in multiple states, and illegally accessing ballots on voting machines in Coffee County, Georgia, among other things.

Trump faces 13 new criminal charges in Georgia, the fourth jurisdiction where he is under criminal indictment. The former president and current presidential candidate is charged with conspiracy to  impersonate a public officer (related to the slate of fake electors that cast votes and submitted them to official channels), conspiracy to commit forgery, conspiracy to commit false statements and writings (including in official proceedings), and conspiracy to commit filing false documents. He is also charged with pressuring public officials to violate the law for the purpose of stealing the 2020 presidential election.

The indictment alleges that after  Trump falsely declared victory following the Nov. 2020 election, Trump among other things personally committed the ofllowing illegal acts:

• Called Arizona Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers and pressured  Bowers to unlawfully appoint electors to vote for Trump, even though Biden won the state. Bowers declined and told Trump, “I voted for you… I campaigned for you.  I just won’t do anything illegal for you.”
• Joined a call to Pennsylvania legislators, made false statements and asked them to appoint electors for Trump, though Biden won Pennsylvania;
• Met with Mark Meadows and John McEntee to devise a scheme for Vice President Mike Pence  to count only half the electoral votes from some states and return others to state legislators, an illegal act which Pence refused to do;
• Solicited Georgia’s Republican Speaker of the House David Ralston (since deceased) to commit a felony by arranging for Georgia to appoint presidential electors for Trump, even though Biden won Georgia;
• Called the Republican Party chair Ronna McDaniel and asked her to help get certain people to meet as fake electors and cast electoral votes for Trump in states won by Biden;
• Asked  U.S. Attorney General Jefrrey Rosen and Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue to make a false statement.  Trump urged them, “Just say that the election was corrupt,and leave the rest to me and the Republican Congressmen.”
• Made false and harassing statements against officials who refused his demands to violate the law, such as “What a fool Governor@BrianKempGA of Georgia is…Demand this clown call a Special Session and open up signature verificfation NOW.”
• Submitted false documents in a lawsuit, Trump v.Kemp, which falsely claimed that thousands of votes were cast by felons, unregistered voters, underage people and dead people, without any evidence.
• Solicited Georgia’s Secretary of State,Republican Brad Raffensperger, to commit a felony by unlawfully altering  certified election results.
• Making false statements to  Raffensperger and other Georgia officials claiming pollworker  Ruby Freeman stuffed ballot boxes, that ballots were dumped,and numerous other claims found to be false.
• Was present at a January 4, 2021 meeting with Vice President Pence,  Eastman and others. After Trump pressured Pence to reject electoral voes or delay the joint session of Congress on January 6, Eastman “admitted both options violated the Electoral Count Act,” the indictment states.
• Made false statements asserting election fraud (despite losing 62 court challenges, some decided by Trump-appointed judges) in his speech at the Ellipse and urged the crowd to march to the U.S. Capitol on January 6, where violence ensued that resulted in several deaths and 140 injured  Capitol police officers.
  

By UM News

Photos by Mike DuBose

August 22, 2023 (Nashville, Tenn.) -- Gun reform supporters, including United Methodist clergy and church members, gathered for an early morning prayer vigil at the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville, yesterday. The gathering came as lawmakers begin a special legislative session focused on public safety and mental health following a mass shooting at the Covenant School here in March. The Rev. Ingrid McIntyre, a United Methodist pastor, helped organize the vigil.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Michael Adam Cohen, award-winning entertainment reporter and photographer: taken near I-8 near Del Cerro

August 21, 2023 (San Diego) – Tropical Storm Hilary has moved northeast out of San Diego County.  The storm brought high winds and heavy drenching in many local communities, while others had only moderate rainfall. The storm  sparked spectacular lightning storms over East County’s mountains and even prompted a tornado warning for Alpine, Descanso, and other areas.

Though no tornados are known to have touched down, Michael Cohen photographed a funnel cloud near I-8 from his Del Cerro home.

August 20, 2023 3:55 p.m. -- A tornado warning has been issued by the National Weather SeErvice until 4 pm includes Locations impacted includes Alpine, Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, Descanso, Captain Gran

de Indian Reservation, Viejas Indian Reservation, Japatul Valley, and Boulder Creek. This is due to an extreme thunderstorm capable of producing tornados.

From the National Weather Service:

Flying debris will be dangerous to those caught without  shelter. Mobile homes will be damaged or destroyed. Damage
         to roofs, windows, and vehicles will occur.  Tree damage is  likely.

By Miriam Raftery

File photo: El Captain reservoir and dam, by BIlly Ortiz

August 20, 2023 (Lakeside) – The City of San Diego has announced that today it has begun releasing water from El Capitan Reservoir in Lakeside, in anticipation of a potential spill due to Tropical Storm Hilary. 

Flowing water will be visible downstream from the dam in El Monte Valley and beyond. The notice is posted on the city’s webpage for El Capitan Reservoir.

El Capitan is an aging dam made of rocks, built in 1934. The dam is 237 feet tall and 1,170 feet wide, but no longer meets state standards, ECM warned back in 2017.

The aging dam is considered in poor condition and would pose a high risk of loss of life downstream if it were kept full and should rupture. Last year, NPR reported that El Capitan dam “is capable of storing over 36 billion gallons of water — enough to supply every resident in San Diego for most of a year. Today, it's three-quarters empty — intentionally kept low because of concerns it could fail under the strain of too much water.”

August 19, 2023 (Jacumba Hot Springs) -- Outer bands of Hurricane Hilary have sparked an estimated 1,000 cloud-to-cloud lighting strikes in San Diego County, the National Weather Service says.  At the Desert View Tower in Jacumba Hot Springs, overlooking Imperial Valley, Gabrielle Schultz had a birds-eye view and shot this dramatic video of a lightning storm before dawn this morning.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo courtesy of Governor Newsom’s office

August 19, 2023 (San Diego) – Governor Gavin Newsom signed an emergency declaration today while in San Diego, where he visited National Guard troops that he ordered stationed here to protect our region from Hurricane Hilary’s strong winds and torrential rains forecast to slam our region tomorrow.

“California has thousands of people on the ground working hand-in-hand with federal and local personnel to support communities in Hurricane Hilary’s path with resources, equipment and expertise," Gov. Newsom said. "We’re mobilizing all of government as we prepare and respond to this unprecedented storm.”

Over 7,500 people have been dispatched by the Governor to help San Diego and other Southern California communities.  The Governor indicated he has also been in touch with federal officials in the  Biden administration, including the White House and other agencies, ECM news partner 10 News reports.

By Chris Jennewein, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo: Congresswoman Sara Jacobs, East County Magazine Zoom Interview (2021)

August 19, 2023 (San Diego) -- Rep. Sara Jacobs on Wednesday called the conservative 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling against access to the abortion drug mifepristone a “gross attack on our bodies and freedom.”

August 18, 2023 (Lakeside,  CA) -- The Sheriff is asking for public help to find 68-year-old Jose Martinez, who is reported missing from a care facility in unincorporated El Cajon. Martinez was last seen at the care facility around 9:00 p.m.last night by staff.

Deputies from the Lakeside Sheriff’s Substation responded to the care facility and began checking the area for the missing man.A Sheriff's Command Post has been established at the Awaken Church located at 950 North Second Ave in El Cajon. The Sheriff's Search and Rescue (SAR) Unit has also activated. SAR Volunteers responded and searched the area throughout the night, says Lt.Chris Katra..

Update August 18, 2023 -- The #Coyote Fire has burned 466 acres and is 43% contained. A firefighter injury is reported and two structures were destroyed.

Update 3:45 p.m. -- The fire is 100 acres and threatening homes near Round Potrero Rd. and  Horizon View. Round Potrero Road is closed between Yerba Santa Road to  Potrero Valley. The evacuation order area has broadened;view map: . temporary evacuation center has been set up in the parking lot of the Mountain Empire High School at 3305 Buckman Springs Rd. in Pine Valley. You can take your animals, including livestock, to the @SanDiegoCounty Animal Shelter at 5821 Sweetwater Road in Bonita

August 17, 2023 (Potrero) -- Cal Fire is at the scene of a vegetation fire on Coyote Holler Road near Ranch Road in Potrero.

The fire has burned at least five acres and has a dangerous rate of spread, per Cal Fire.

The Sheriff's vehicles now have a hi-low alarm sound.  If you hear it, evacuate immediately.

Mountains and deserts forecast to get 5-7 inches of rain, with winds up to 60 mph

By Miriam Raftery

August 17, 2023 (San Diego’s East County) – Hurricane Hilary is barreling toward San DIego County, slated to hit this weekend.

“The storm is going inland, so the strongest winds will be in the mountains,” meteorologist Miguel Miller with the National Weather Service in San Diego told  East County Magazine. “The rainfall, flood potential and winds are actually going to be stronger the more east you go. This will be a really wet and windy storm.”

Currently a category 2 hurricane, Hilary could be upgraded to a category 4 by the time it hits Baja, Mexico, though it will likely be downgraded to a tropical storm once it reaches San Diego County. However, the impacts will still pack a wallop, with thunderstorms, very heavy rains and flooding likely --with the worst in inland areas.

Desert areas are forecast to be soaked with 5-7 inches of rain, with 5-7 inches in the mountains, 2.5 inches in Alpine, and 1.75 inches in El Cajon from Saturday through Monday. The worst of the storm is expected to peak on Sunday.

Wind gusts of 40 to 60 miles per hour are expected in the mountains, with 30 to 50 mph winds on the desert floor. West of the mountains, 30 to 40 mph winds are forecast. High surf will occur along the coast.

This isn’t the first time a hurricane has hit our region.

Back in September 1976,  Hurricane Kathleen had a similar trajectory. Designate a tropical cyclone by the time it reached our region, it as ECM previously reported on an anniversary of that storm, it caused massive flooding and destruction.