April 1, 2012—East County Magazine has the exclusive scoop on some astounding major stories breaking today.

Is truth stranger than fiction? You decide. Be sure to click this hot link to view these stories in our extra-special April 1st edition. (Trust us, you won't want to miss this!)  -- Miriam Raftery, Editor

• Cheers! El Cajon announces Vice Revival for Centennial
• Mega-Millions Lotto winner in Lakeside reveals hot plans
• Rare species discoveries may halt wind farms
• Animal rights activists protest plan to eradicate wild pigs
• Rural residents' "Ultimate Red Tape Reduction" initiative qualifies for ballot
• La Mesa finds missing time capsule
• Poway okays controversial superstore
• Shocking cause of the big blackout revealed

CLICK HERE FOR THIS VERY SPECIAL EDITION. (Then click "read more" below each story)

By Megan McGlamery

April 1, 2012  -- Concerns are growing across the nation over the number of birds, particularly eagles, that are losing their lives. Now, as the number of wind energy projects grows, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service is preparing to issue “take” permits that will make it legal for wind energy companies to kill eagles with no consequences.

The move comes as San Diego County Supervisors are poised to consider a wind energy project for East County as well as a proposed wind ordinance that would make it easier for industrial-scale wind projects to be built here.

 March 31, 2012 (Rancho San Diego) -- A pilot program for recent Iraqi immigrants that teaches English in the context of office work is being offered at Cuyamaca College through a partnership between the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District and San Diego County.

Dear Readers,

March 30, 2012-7 p.m. (San Diego's East County) -- Two serious traffic accidents are clogging traffic on local freeways. A motorcyclist is down, blocking lanes on southbound Highway 125 at Navajo. On Interstate 8 eastbound near El Cajon Blvd., a major accident involving four vehicles and a big rig has just occurred, according to the CHP website and Incident Page Network.

March 30, 2012 (San Diego) -- Kids and families will have their choice of enjoying traditional egg hunts, meeting the Spring Bunny, gobbling up a pancake breakfast and just generally having some egg-ucational fun over the next two weekends at County parks in Ramona, Spring Valley,  Cardiff, Del Mar and Encinitas.

“A good egg hunt is a fun spring-time tradition for many families and it’s hard to imagine a better place than an egg-hunt in one of our great parks,” said Brian Albright, director of the San Diego County Department of Parks and Recreation. “They’re the perfect place for the whole family.” 

Part IV in our series on the Ocotillo Express Wind project, which would feed electricity into SDG&E's Sunrise Powerlink bound for San Diego.

By Miriam Raftery

“Jobs are temporary but the destruction of our desert is forever. All of this culture and history will be lost…all in the name of greed.” – Linda Ewing, Ocotillo

“This is an economically important project for our community.”—Katie Figari, Chief Executive Officer, Brawley Chamber of Commerce

March 29, 2012 (Ocotillo) – A conditional use permit, height variances and mitigation were approved by an 8-1 vote yesterday at the Imperial Valley Planning Commission meeting.

Planners, wooed by the applicant’s estimate that $150 million in tax revenues will flow into county coffers over the project’s 30-year-life, along with a  projected 350 construction jobs and at most 20 permanent jobs, opted to ignore the very grave concerns voiced by tribal leaders, environmentalists, health workers and many residents. Those concerns include dangerous and destructive potential of the project, as well as federal fast-tracking that has trampled long-held rights of residents and tribes.

March 29, 2012 (Lemon Grove) – Police seek information on the occupants of a dark sedan that pulled up next to a Ford Five Hundred near Massachusetts early this morning.  The driver of the Ford and a passenger heard several shots and two bullet holes were found in the driver’s side of the vehicle. No one was injured. 

March 29, 2012 (San Diego)—Michael Kobulnicky, a Lemon Grove resident and former spokesman for the San Diego Tea Party, is a free man after the District Attorney dropped all charges.  Kobulnicky had been accused of kidnapping a woman, then sexually assaulting her at Fiesta Island.