By Tracy DeFore, County of San Diego Communications Office

July 12, 2017 (San Diego) - Kittens, kittens and more kittens are flooding County Animal Services so now is the time to break into your cash kitty and get the real thing. In fact, you can get two for the price of one!

East County News Service

July 11, 2017 (Flinn Springs) – “I watched this whole fire play out, since we live so close,” Renee Owens wrote in an email to ECM. “It’s not the first fire I have ever witnessed, but this one got so hot and moved so quickly at first it was downright scary. You could hear the trees pop and explode, the fire reached 60 foot flames on some of the steep slopes, and stopped right at the I-8 just a couple hundred feet from a huge propane storage tank. It traveled frighteningly fast at first, but once the air tankers and helicopters showed up - combined with hitting some steep and sparsely vegetated cliff faces - they managed to tamp it down pretty quickly despite the heat and wind. It came within a couple hundred feet of houses near Dunbar lane. Watching it go from enormously hot and fast to under control was seriously impressive, and we owe some major thanks to the pilots on this one.”

As of 10 p.m. tonight, the fire is 10% contained and has burned over 400 acres.  All roads have been reopened.

East County News Service

July 11, 2017 (Washington D.C.) – On Monday, July 10, the formal public comment period closed for the review of national monuments. More than 1.2 million comments were received on Regulations.gov and thousands more were received via traditional mail on 27 national monuments designated since January 1, 1996 that are more than 100,000 acres, or that were considered to have inadequate public input are under review in accordance with President Donald J. Trump’s April 26, 2017, executive order. That order had sparked fears that national monuments could be closed or sold off, including several cherished California sites as well as the newly designated Bears Ears national monument protecting Native American sites.

East County News Service

July 11, 2017 (Flinn Springs) — Renee Owens sent in these photos of the #JenningsFire burning between Lakeside and Alpine in San Diego’s East County, including the eerily beautiful images of “fire rainbows” – illusions created by helicopters dropping water on the flames. 

Three firefights injured battling blaze

By Miriam Raftery,  photo by Jonathan Goetz

July 11, 2017 (Alpine/Lakeside./Flinn Springs) -- The #JenningsFire that began at 1:40 p.m. near Lake Jennings in Lakeside has swelled to 400 acres, Cal Fire reports.  Forward spread of the fire has been stopped.

Mandatory evacuations are in effect for 15000 Viewside Lane along the south side of I-8 in Alpine and is a structure threat to five homes. 

An evacuation center is open at Joan MacQueen Middle School located at 2001 Tavern Road in Alpine.

An earlier announced evacuation center at Granite Hills High has been closed.

July 11, 2017 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• What the brain's wiring looks like (BBC)
• Suspected Cholera Cases Pass 300,000 In Yemen, Red Cross Says (NPR)
• First vaccine shows gonorrhoea protection (BBC)
• Oral sex spreading unstoppable bacteria (BBC)
• Credit Agencies to Ease Up on Medical Debt Reporting (NPR)
• 111 people died under California’s new right-to-die law (CNN)
• Parkinson’s disease is partly an autoimmune disease, Columbia study finds (Knowridge.com)

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• Internet Companies Plan Online Campaign to Keep Net Neutrality Rules (NPR)
• The Uninhabitable Earth:  Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak — sooner than you think. (New York Magazine)
• Microsoft Courts Rural America, And Politicians, With High-Speed Internet (NPR)
• Hot, Dry Madrid Aims for a Cooler, Greener Future (NPR)
• Earth faces "biological annihilation" in sixth mass extinction, scientists warn (CBS)
• First teleportation to low-Earth orbit (BBC)
• 3D-printed structures change shape when heated (BBC)
• Elephant tourism is ‘fueling cruelty’ (BBC)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

By Joe Gandelman, Editor-In-Chief , The Moderate Voice, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo: Creative Commons by Gage Skidmore

July 10, 2017 (Washington D.C.) -- Yet another journalistic bombshell from the New York Times: the paper reports that Donald Trump, Jr. was informed in advance of his meeting with a Russian lawyer that she had negative info about Hillary Clinton — and that the info came from the Russian government.

East County News Service

Longtime Mission Trails Regional Park docent and author of the new book Nature Adventures! will sign books at Maxwell’s House of Books Thursdays, July 13^th and 20th

July 10, 2017 (La Mesa) -- She’s not originally from around here, but New York transplant and lifelong educator, Linda Gallo Hawley, can school most San Diegans on the region's native flora, fauna and even cultural history. In fact, she’s made her own mark on the culture of the region through her monthly “Nature Adventures!” programs at Mission Trails Regional Park, where she guides primary school children through the park’s many trails, pointing out unique and interesting plants and signs of wildlife along the way, all while singing catchy tunes like “The Ecosystem Song” and the “Big Brown Bats Song.” Now visitors to the La Mesa Classic Car Show have two chances to meet the captivating teacher in person.

By Miriam Raftery

July 10, 2017 (San Diego) — Genevieve Jones-Wright has served as deputy public defender in San Diego for more than a decade.  Now Wright, a Democrat, has announced plans to run for District Attorney against Summer Stephan, who was recently appointed by Supervisors to fill the vacancy left by Bonnie Dumanis’ retirement.

Updated July 10 with SDG&E response filed with CPUC

By Miriam Raftery

July 9, 2017 (San Diego) – Cox Communications and Cox California Telcom have filed a motion seeking limited party status in order to file a motion to strike what Cox calls “false and defamatory statements” that  San Diego Gas & Electric Company made in its application to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) seeking authorization to recover $379 million in costs of the 2007 wildfires from ratepayers.

SDG&E fired back by filing a response calling Cox's argument "wholly disengenuous."

Source:  goaztecs.com

Photo courtesy goaztecs.com

July 10, 2017 (White Sulpher Springs, W.Va.,) - Former San Diego State men’s golf All-American Xander Schauffele (San Diego, Calif.) captured the first PGA Tour title of his career Sunday after winning The Greenbrier Classic in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

By Miriam Raftery

July 10, 2017 (Jacumba Hot Springs) – Adventurer Dana Law will present a travelogue about the West Coast’s national scenic trail on Tuesday, July 18 at the Jacumba Library (44605 Old Hwy 80, Jacumba Hot Springs, CA 91934 at 6 p.m. On 31 separate journeys over 13 years, Law completed all 2,650 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, which begins in California at the Mexican border and ends at the Canadian border in Washington.

Drone impeded firefighting near Camp Pendleton fire for a full hour, officials say.

By Yvette Urrea Moe, County of San Diego Communications Office

Photo:  A CAL FIRE air tanker drops retardant on a fire in San Diego County.  Image credit:  Jeff Pack

July 10, 2017 (San Diego's East County) - Hobbyist drones are a growing safety concern among local first responders fighting fires in the air and on the ground.

By Jordan Damond

July 9, 2017 (San Diego) -- President Donald Trump’s Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, has announced her intent to discard college policies created by the Obama administration to  protect students and taxpayers from certain predatory for-profit colleges. Many take issue with Devos’ action, because during the final stages of Obama’s administration, it became evident that these policies have been increasingly effective ways of eliminating costly college programs that have left students mired in debt, without the earning power to pay off student loans.

By Miriam Raftery

July 9, 2017 (El Cajon) – Alfred Olango would have celebrated his 39^th birthday on July 29^th, if he hadn’t been killed by El Cajon Police Officer Richard Gonsalves. The shooting was ruled justifiable by District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.  But his family and some civil rights activists from the National Action Network (NAN) and others believe justice was not served.