By Miriam Raftery

Updated with analysis from Forbes Magazine.

November 19, 2017 (San Diego) – House Republicans rammed through passage of a sweeping tax reform measure without holding a single hearing on the 400-page bill and without allowing any input from Democrats.   The measure, hailed as the first major legislative victory for President Donald Trump, was opposed by San Diego’s three Democratic representatives as well as by Republican Darrell Issa, but was supported by Republican Duncan Hunter. 

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Bobcat with necrotic mange in Deerhorn Valley, 2012

November 18, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) – Deadly outbreaks of mange in wildlife across California has been linked to second-generation anti-coagulant poisons meant to kill rats and other rodents.  Locally, numerous cases of mange have been reported among coyotes in Lakeside as recently as this month.  In Deerhorn Valley, the Antler documented bobcats dying of necrotic mange from second generation rodenticides in 2012. 

Update: Hear our interview with Dash McTavish from Food Not Bombs, a group planning to feed the homeless Nov. 25 in defiance of  El Cajon's ban.  Click the audio link to hear the interviewed originally aired on KNSJ.

By Miriam Raftery

November 12, 2017 (El Cajon) – Protest rallies on November 19^th and 25^th are being organized to oppose the El Cajon City Council’s unanimous decision to outlaw feeding the homeless and other city-owned properties, after previously banning camping in parks, sleeping on sidewalks and panhandling.  An online petition also calls on Mayor Bill Wells and the City Council to overturn the ban.  

By Miriam Raftery

November 13, 2017 (Washington D.C.) — Alex Azar, a long-time pharmaceutical industry executive, has been appointed by President Donald Trump to serve as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. 

By Jonathan Goetz

Photo: Iraqi Democratic Current

November 16, 2017 (El Cajon) - A proposal that would reduce a girl’s marriageable age to puberty, right to decline sex to a husband, eliminate inheritance rights and child custody decisions for women passed its first reading in the Iraqi Parliament on October 30. The bill still requires a second reading to become law.

By Miriam Raftery

November 15, 2017 (Washington D.C.) – If your child’s holiday wish list includes a hoverboard, you may want to tell Santa to think twice before delivering one.  The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued seven more hoverboard recalls Tuesday due to fire and explosion hazards.  The Commission has previously recalled many other hoverboard models.

By Miriam Raftery

November 18, 2017 (Rancho San Diego)--San Miguel Fire District along with Heartland Fire Rescue and Santee Fire Department will be conducting fire and rescue training this weekend at Vahalla High School, located at 1725 Hillsdale Road in the Rancho San Diego area of unincorporated El Cajon.

The fire rescue drill will be Saturday November 18 and Sunday November 19 from 9am to 3pm.  Smoke machines will be used during training - neighbors might see smoke coming from the school during these training events.

By Jonathan Goetz and Miriam Raftery

November 14, 2017 (San Diego) -- Another mass shooting has occurred, this time northern California, where a gunman killed four people  and injured 10 before being shot dead in a shoot-out with law enforcement on Tuesday.

By Miriam Raftery

Judicial nominee Brett J. Talley failed to disclose that his wife, a White House lawyer, is a witness in the Mueller investigation

November 14, 2017 (Washington D.C.) – A former White House ethics lawyer is accusing President Donald Trump of tampering with a witness in special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia and whether Trump has obstructed justice.

By Suzanne Potter, Public News Service

November 9, 2017 (Sacramento) - Scams targeting veterans are on the increase, according to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, so postal inspectors are teaming up with AARP's Fraud Watch Network in a new campaign called "Operation Protect Veterans."

Devices improve fire detection and protect communities

East County Wildfire & Emergency Alert Service Service

November 8, 2017 (San Diego) – The public, firefighters, and SDG&E crews can now watch for fires in real time on 15 new video cameras across San Diego county. You can view them here.

By Suzanne Potter, Public News Service

Photo:  About 3,000 Nicaraguan legal immigrants will become undocumented by January 2019 unless Congress acts to give them permanent legal status. Photo via Pixabay.

November 8, 2017 (Sacramento) - Latino groups are speaking out against the decision by the Trump administration on Monday to end legal status for some people from Central America who were given temporary protected status over the past two decades.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo courtesy ECM news partner 10 News

November 7, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) – A man suspected of savagely stabbing a female delivery driver, 35, this morning at a convenience store in La Mesa has been taken into custody.  Sheriff’s deputies are investigating whether he may be linked to another woman found stabbed this morning in El Cajon.

The chilling sequence of events began shortly after 3 a.m. when a Frito Lay delivery truck driver was stabbed repeatedly outside of the 7-Eleven store on Avocado Boulevard in unincorporated La Mesa.  She staggered into the store, where she collapsed after telling a clerk she’d been attacked, 10 News reports.

By Miriam Raftery

Updated Nov. 22, 2017 to include information on suicide prevention for firefighters through the Firefighters Behavioral Health Alliance.

November 6, 2017 (Pine Valley) – Local firefighters, heroic in battling flames and saving lives, today are grieving the tragic loss of one of their own.  Cal Fire Unit Chief and County Fire Chief Tony Mecham announced yesterday on Facebook, “It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that I notify you of the passing of Fire Captain Ryan Mitchell from Station 20. Ryan took his own life this morning at the Pine Valley Bridge shortly after completing his shift.”

Kalasho claims he’s being framed by beauty queens and taco shop owner suing him;

Kalasho’s wife admitted visiting friend In Cerritos, when the allegedly fake nude beauty queen photos were posted online from her friend’s home

By Miriam Raftery

November 6, 2017 (El Cajon) – Today, plaintiffs suing El Cajon Councilman Bessmon “Ben” Kalasho filed an anti-SLAPP motion asking that Kalasho’s countersuit against two beauty pageant contestants and a taco shop be dismissed as retaliatory and violating their First Amendment rights to speak to the press about their case.   

California’s anti-SLAPP statute prohibits public officials from filing what are known as SLAPP suits to retaliate against members of the public for exercising their free speech and right to petition the government for redress of grievances.  Kalasho’s countersuit took issue with plaintiffs talking to the media, specifically the Reader, about their case.