By Miriam Raftery

August 24, 2011 (Iowa) – President Barack Obama has announced new initiatives recommended by the White House Rural Council for creating jobs in rural America and helping to grow the U.S. economy.

The new efforts include helping rural small businesses access capital, expanding rural job search and training services, and increasing rural residents’ access to health care workers and technology including broad-band Internet access.

August 25, 2011 (San Diego)--Christopher Blakeley, 26, an off-duty San Diego Police Officer, was killed in a traffic collision last night at 9:41 p.m.  He was riding his motorcycle in Palm City, SDPD reports.

August 26, 2011 (La Mesa)—An 18-year-old woman attempted suicide Wednesday by jumping off the Baltimore bridge and landing in lanes on Interstate 8.
 

“She is alive,” Lt. Bell with La Mesa Police informed East County Magazine yesterday. The patient remains hospitalized at Sharp Memorial, he added.

Her identity and area of residence have not bee released. La Mesa Police attempted to talk the woman out of jumping, but were unable to prevent her actions.

Online vehicle shoppers are being victimized by fraudulent vehicle sales and false claims of vehicle protection (VPP) programs

By Miriam Raftery

August 23, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) – Rural homeowners will pay a fire parcel fee of $90 at most, and in many cases considerably less. Statewide, the total annual fire parcel fee will average just $30 under emergency regulations approved yesterday by the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection.

By Miriam Raftery

August 22, 2011 (El Cajon) – Officer Jerred Slocum, 38, has been identified as the El Cajon policeman shot last night while responding to a domestic violence call.

An ECM Special Report: Part I

By Walter Hall

August 19, 2011 (La Mesa)--In October, property owners in La Mesa’s downtown district will vote on an initiative with long range consequences for the city and surrounding area. At stake is the charter and character of a Property-based Business Improvement District, commonly abbreviated to PBID.

“Operation Shadowbox” arrests 60; Suspects at Chaldean Social Club sold improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to undercover officers

By Miriam Raftery

August 18, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) – Elizabeth Rodriguez, 16, of Spring Valley has been missing since August 11. The San Diego Sheriff’s office is treating the case as a runaway, according to Detective Ward at the Lemon Grove Sheriff substation. However her parents have posted flyers asking the public to help locate their daughter, who was last seen Friday, August 11 in Lakeside at 12:45 a.m.
 

August 16, 2011 (Poway) – San Diego Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team is searching for a lost hiker, possibly injured, Incident Page Network reports.  The hiker has erratic cellphone communication in the vicinity of Twin Peaks Road and Midland Road, possibly on Twin Peaks Mountain. 

August 14, 2011 (Lakeside) – Parents of Elizabeth Rodriguez, 16, have been posting flyers and seeking public help to locate their daughter. She was last seen August 11, 2011 in Lakeside, California at 12:45 a.m. Click here to view and print a flyer: http://cbskscf.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/erica-rodriguez.pdf.

By Miriam Raftery

Owner attributes deaths to helicopter flyovers for SDG&E Sunrise Powerlink Construction

“The mitigation will be handled by the courts. Well by then, they will all be dead.” – Catherine Gorka, Pampered Parrots owner

“SDG&E should do the right thing TODAY to protect these endangered birds, up to and including relocating the birds to a safe location...It is unconscionable that they would knowingly allow the deaths to occur instead of proactively doing the right thing.” – Laura Cyphert, East County Community Action Coalition

August 11, 2011 (Lakeside) – “The house was shaking. It terrified me,” Catherine Gorka, owner of Pampered Parrots in Lakeside’s El Monte Valley, recalls the first flyover above her home and aviaries by an SDG&E helicopter working on Sunrise Powerlink on February 25, 2011. “I was waiving my arms, calling out for them to stop.”

August 10, 2011 (Poway) – Leon B. Livingston, 56, of San Diego died August 7th of injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident in Poway. Livingston, who wore a helmet, was driving southbound on State Route 67 in Poway when the vehicle in front of him stopped suddenly and Livingston rear-ended the vehicle.

August 8, 2011 (Ramona)—A fire that began at a hay storage area behind Kahoots Feed Store in the 900 block of Main Street in Ramona spread to two neighboring homes in the pre-dawn hours this morning.

As of late this morning, firefighters continued hosing down hay bales from the barn, which was destroyed.  Some closures of streets occurred although Highway 78 remained open, Ramona Patch.com reported.