By Miriam Raftery

February 8, 2014 (Santa Ysabel) – One day after the Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel’s  tribal council met and voted to shut down its financially troubled casino in Santa Ysabel, employees arrived at work to find the facility closed last week. Patrons found a “closed for business” message on the casino’s website. 

Now, a tribal business enterprise,  Biostar Solar, offers a potentially brighter future.

SDSU water expert concludes Soitec’s 4 projects will use more water than rainfall can replace, placing entire ecological system at risk. Other experts confirm serious water concerns

A special joint investigation by East County Magazine and The Eco Report

By Roy L. Hales; Miriam Raftery also contributed to this report

(photo:  Dead trees from well pumping that lowered water table elsewhere illustrates what experts and residents fear could occur in Boulevard.)

February 9, 2014 (Boulevard)—Hydrology experts are casting serious doubts about the credibility of water use claims made by Soitec Solar for four massive solar projects proposed in San Diego’s rural East County.

 By Janis Mork

"It means a faster response time and ...a higher level of public safety in all of these neighborhoods." -- Supervisor Dianne Jacob

February 11, 2014 (Rancho San Diego)- At the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Rancho San Diego police station, many community members showed their support.

Editor's Note: The following story previously ran at Reviving Gaia (now Eco Report) and Watershed Sentinel.

The photo came from Flickr - Photo by Stephen Boyle

by Joyce Nelson

It looks like Armageddon but it’s “just a little bit of Alberta.”

That’s what some are saying about the black clouds of “petcoke” that have been blowing off huge piles of the stuff in Detroit and Chicago, forcing residents to hide in their homes until the wind dies down, then try to hose off the black grit until the next time Alberta blows through their neighbourhoods.

February 11, 2014 (El Cajon)--The El Cajon Police Department will be conducting a specialized Motorcycle Safety Enforcement Operation on February 21 in an effort to lower deaths and injuries.  Extra officers will be on duty patrolling areas frequented by motorcyclists and where motorcycle crashes occur.  

Officers will be looking for violations made by drivers and riders alike that can lead to motorcycle crashes.  They will be cracking down on both those operating regular vehicles and motorcycles that are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, speeding, making illegal turns, or any other dangerous violation.

By Miriam Raftery

February 8, 2014 (San Diego)--If you’re planning to tent your house to get rid of termites, you’d better be aware of another unwanted “pest.”

District seeks to muzzle whisteblower Priscilla Schreiber (photo, left)

By Miriam Raftery

February 8, 2014 (San Diego’s East County) – Last week, Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD) trustee Priscilla Schreiber testified before the Citizens Bond Oversight Committee (CBOC) to urge examination of a Grand Jury report and other evidence, as ECM reported.   In response, the District’s board has proposed a resolution to prohibit its trustees from speaking to the Oversight Committee unless specifically invited to do so by the chair or a majority of committee members.  The items is on the agenda on February 13.

ECM asked general counsel Terry Francke at Californians Aware (a nonprofit that works to protect open government), if this resolution was legal or not.  “It's legally unenforceable," he responded via e-mail. "School trustees have the same First Amendment, Brown Act and Public Records Act rights as anyone else to attend meetings of a bond oversight board and obtain any documents that pertain to or result from its work.”

“We are puzzled by recommendation not to list, given that the state’s current known wolf population is only one wolf that intermittently comes into the state.  It’s hard to get more endangered than that.”--- Lauren Richie, Director of California Wolf Recovery for the California Wolf Center in Julian. “It’s hard to get more endangered than that.”

 

Source: California Wolf Center

February 6, 2014 (San Francisco)--. — The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has determined that protecting gray wolves under the California Endangered Species Act is not warranted. The Department presented that recommendation yesterday in a status report given to the state’s Fish and Game Commission in Sacramento.