EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: DECEMBER 10, 2010

December 10, 2010 (San Diego's East County)--East County Roundup highlights stories of interest to East County published in other media. Latest Roundup headlines include:

• Immigration charges for Mom of accused teen hitman
• Community college head gets Obama nomination
• Altamont Wind Energy Company to pay $2.5 million and replace turbines to reduce raptor deaths
• Bringing dogs to heal: Care for veterans with PTSD
• Debate in Alpine: Is town getting too big, too citified?

IMMIGRATION CHARGES FOR MOM OF ACCUSED TEEN HITMAN

December 8, 2010 (San Diego Union-Tribune)--The mother of a suspected 14-year-old assassin for a Mexican drug cartel has been charged in San Diego with entering the United States illegally, according to a federal complaint filed Wednesday.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/dec/08/immigration-charges-filed...

COMMUNITY COLLEGE HEAD GETS OBAMA NOMINATION

Constance Carroll, chancellor of the San Diego Community College District, has been nominated by President Barack Obama to serve on the National Council on the Humanities.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/dec/08/city-college-chancellor-g...

ALTAMONT WIND ENERGY CO. TO PAY $2.5 MILLION AND REPLACE TURBINES TO REDUCE RAPTOR DEATHS

December 6, 2010 (Contra Costa Times) -- The largest wind energy producer in the Altamont Pass area of eastern Alameda and Contra Costa counties has agreed to replace 2,400 wind turbines within four years and pay $2.5 million in a legal settlement to reduce deaths of eagles, hawks and other raptors hacked by turbine blades.

The settlement between NextEra Energy Resources, the state, and several environmental groups was announced Monday by the state Attorney General Jerry Brown.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_16790686?nclick_check=1

BRINGING DOGS TO HEAL: CARE FOR VETERANS WITH PTSD

December 5, 2010 (Time) -- Staff sergeant Brad Fasnacht was clearing mines on an Afghan road a year ago when an IED blast broke his spine and both ankles and put him in a two-week stupor that ended only when he woke up, 7,000 miles away, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. The explosion had knocked his helmeted head so violently, he suffered a traumatic brain injury, which exacerbates his posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although Army doctors and nurses have been able to get the 26-year-old walking again, he has had to call in a specialist — Sapper, an Australian cattle dog mix — to help tackle his PTSD.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2030897-1,00.html#ixzz1...

DEBATE IN ALPINE: IS TOWN GETTING TOO BIG, TOO CITIFIED?

Residents fear Sunrise Powerlink work, other changes could jolt the rural character of town in East County

October 14, 2010 (Union-Tribune)--Out in Alpine, the bulldozers and asphalt mixers are returning — and so is the debate:
Is the town getting too big, too citified? Is it losing the things that make Alpine Alpine?
Set in the hills about 25 miles east of San Diego, the community of 17,000 has always had an independent streak. The beekeepers and sheepherders who settled here in the 1800s saw a bright future in a rural pocket chock with boulders and gnarled oak.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/oct/14/alpine-tries-to-avoid-lif...