September 11, 2010 (Ramona) – Mercy Air is en route to Ramona, where a major accident has left three injured including one in CPR status, Incident Page Network reports.

September 10, 2010 (Alpine) – The Willows Road offramp from I-8 will be closed intermittently on September 14-17 for construction. Full details on closures are as follows:

September 10, 2010 (El Cajon) -- A full freeway closure of eastbound Interstate 8 (I-8) is scheduled for Sunday night, according to the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). Highway construction crews will close all eastbound lanes between Second Street and Greenfield Drive in El Cajon. The closure will beginning with one lane closed at 7 p.m. then all lanes closed by 10 p.m.. The freeway will begin to reopen at 6 the following morning with all lanes open by 7 a.m.

September 9, 2010 – At least 28 people have been injured and one killed in a fiery gas explosion in San Bruno, California. Flames up to 1,000 feet high have destroyed 53 homes and damaged 120 more; about 100 people are now in evacuation centers.

Cause of the blaze, which continues to burn,  is believed to be a burst gas pipe. Details:

Update 11 p.m. - The Bomb Squad has blown up the device, a pipe bomb, which was thrown from a vehicle in a Fed Ex box with wires attached.

September 8, 2010 (Rolando) – Incident Page Network reports that a bomb squad and robot have been dispatched to examine a suspicious device in the 3900 block of Vista Grande in Rolando, near the College area. 

About 20 homes are being evacuated, officer Dino Delimitros with San Diego Police told East County Magazine at 9:25 p.m. Asked if the Bomb Squad has determined that the device in the street is an explosive, he replied, “They said it looks like it.” The device appears to be a pipe bomb, he added. 

Measure backed by 2 big out-of-state oil companies would rollback air pollution standards and repeal incentives for clean, green-tech jobs

La Mesa Council to consider No on 23 resolution on Sept. 14

By Miriam Raftery

September 6, 2010 – La Mesa Mayor Art Madrid and El Cajon Mayor Mark Lewis have joined with over 30 cities including Los Angeles and Sacramento, hundreds of business leaders, and many public officials to oppose Proposition 23, the deceptively titled “California Jobs Initiative.”  A whopping 97% of funds come from the oil industry, with most from two large out-of-state oil companies, Valero and Tesoro.

September 6, 2010 (Blossom Valley) – A man driving a white van with tinted rear windows attempted to kidnap a teen jogging in Blossom Valley yesterday around 5:15 p.m. The suspect, a white or Hispanic male, age 20-35, was wearing a Padres baseball cap. He reportedly tackled the  woman, 19, from behind and tried to drag her into the bushes, tearing her clothing.

“He lost his balance and fell down, which allowed her to escape,” Sergeant Brent Strahm at the San Diego Sheriff’s Department told East County Magazine.

September 3, 2010 (Tierrasanta) – A 66-year old woman was struck by a 2001 Chrysler sedan at 8:36 this morning while walking southbound in the 11200 block of Tierrasanta Boulevard. She died at a hospital later of major injuries sustained in the accident.

East County News Service
September 2, 2010 (La Mesa) – Helix Water Board general manager Mark Weston asked Board members to table a proposed resolution that would have restricted non-emergency communications among board members to business hours. Several board members also leveled criticism at media outlets that reported on the issue.

“I have said that I’m on call 24 hours a day. I’ve been in public works for 30 years,” said Weston, who stated that “portrayal of my character” in some news reports was “quite inaccurate.”

September 1, 2010 (San Diego's East County) -- Effective Friday September 3, at 6:00 a.m., the Cleveland National Forest will raise the fire danger level to VERY HIGH. Forest use restrictions under the very high level will be implemented at that time.

By Miriam Raftery

August 31, 2010 (La Mesa) -- "He makes $199,000 a year and gets a car and benefits, but this public official doesn’t want to receive routine emails outside business hours. I-Team reporter Lauren Reynolds shows us the unusual steps he’s taking to be left alone.”

East County News Service
August 27, 2010 (Santee) – Christina Gravitt, 46, of El Cajon was killed Wednesday, August 25 as the result of a high-speed accident. According to the San Diego County Medical Examiner, Gravitt was driving a Dodge Durango traveling southbound on Magnolia Avenue in Santee at a high rate of speed when the vehicle went out of control.

County honors deputies who saved couple’s lives during Monte Fire;

Climbers offer safety tips for others

By Miriam Raftery

August 26, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – San Diego Sheriff’s deputies Gary Kneeshaw and Scott Blight saved two rock climbers trapped on the face of El Capitan mountain during the Monte Fire in Lakeside on Saturday.  Today, the deputies were honored with a commendation from the County Board of Supervisors for their heroic actions in a daring ASTREA helicopter rescue. In a press conference at Gillespie Field in El Cajon today, Lieutenant Richardson praised the deputies for actions “above and beyond the call of duty” which “without a doubt, saved the lives” of rock climbers André Doria and Meg Rippy.
 

Doria and Rippy, 27-year-old graduate students at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, revealed details of their ordeal to East County Magazine.