East County News Service

February 2, 2016 (Sacramento) – Californians beleaguered by a barrage of ballot initiatives in recent elections may be surprised–and relieved—to learn that only one statewide ballot measure has qualified for the June election.

East County News Service

Update: With all precincts counted, Clinton received 699.57 delegates and Sanders received 697.77 delegates, the Des Moines Register reports. The Register has called for a recount due to numerous irregularities, but thus far the Iowa Democratic Party has not complied.

February 2, 2016 (San Diego) – Last night’s Iowa caucus, the opening of the presidential primary season, has made clear that the competition is fierce on both sides of the political aisle.  On the Republican side, Texas Senator Ted Cruz won an upset victory over frontrunner and business mogul Donald Trump by a 28% to 24% margin, with Florida Senator Marco Rubio at 23% --just 1 point behind Trump, emerging as a viable candidate. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson got 9.3%, followed by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul at 4.5%.  All other candidates had less than 3% .

On the Democratic side, as of this morning the Iowa Democratic Party reports that New York Senator and former First Lady Hillary Clinton has 699.57 state delegate equivalents, while Vermont Senator Sanders was awarded 695.49,  a statistical 50-50 virtual tie, with a handful of votes still to be counted.  Six county delegates were  awarded by a coin toss after tie votes--making this the closest Iowa caucus in history-and the first that may be won by a coin toss, under Iowa's quirky procedures. 

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Jane Moore: downed tree limbs in El Cajon

February 1, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) – A fierce storm that roared through our region over the weekend toppled trees that killed a woman in Pacific Beach, injured a 10 News crew in Mira Mesa and sent a Santee mom to the hospital.  Downed trees destroyed a popular wedding spot at the San Diego Botanic Garden. Winds also toppled trees and patio furniture across East County, our readers report.  The storm caused power outages to over 18,000 customers as SDG&E crews worked through the night to restore power.

Our December 2015 radio shows are now online!  You can listen online now (sound files may take a minute to load). For links to listen to the shows plus a full list of topics and interviews in December, click here and scroll down.

Our newsmaker interviews included climate scientist Jeffrey Severinghaus of Scripps Institute, Assembly candidate Mike Harrison, authors Caitlin Rother (Then No One Can Have Her) and Bill Swank (Christmas in San Diego), geologist Norrie Robbins on her efforts to bring science to kids on Native American reservations, and Jawdat Al Obeidi on a Chaldean youth conference, plus some “best of East County” reruns including some holiday favorites.

East County News Service

February 1, 2016 (Lemon Grove) -- The Lemon Grove Historical Society’s popular "History Alive" lecture series will feature noted historian James D. Newland and his latest book "Around Mt. Helix" on Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. in the H. Lee House Cultural Center, 3205 Olive, Lemon Grove.

East County News Service

Photo courtesy SoCalGas

January 31, 2016 (San Diego) — “The worst environmental disaster in California history is continuing to occur without any investigation by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC),” says Raymond Lutz, founder of Citizens Oversight in El Cajon.  Now, Citizens Oversight has filed a petition along with Consumer Watchdog and Paul E. Hunt, calling on the CPUC to hold an open investigation into the Aliso Canyon/Porter Ranch methane gas leak north of Los Angeles.

Listen now:  https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/sites/eastcountymagazine.org/files/au...

(Note: Sound file may take a few moments to load)

January 31, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) --Congresswoman Susan Davis was our special guest on the East County Magazine radio show on KNSJ on January 21^st.

She shared highlights of the past Congressional session, her legislative efforts, and what we can expect in the coming year. Topics covered include education reforms, college affordability, healthcare, hate targeting religious minorities, support for military women, families and veterans. She also spoke out on the need to prevent future infrastructure disasters such as the L.A. natural gas leak and Flint water poisoning, both the results of regulatory failures.

By Fire Chief Sam DiGiovanna

East County News Service

East County News Service

January 30, 2016 (San Diego's East County) – San Diego supervisors will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday,  February 2^nd and 3^rd this week.  The agenda includes some important items for East County.

January 30, 2016 (San Diego) — Literary lovers will find a wealth of activities coming up locally for both readers and writers, from author appearances to a major writer’s conference, as well as a reading of Valentine’s sonnets and much more.

East County News Service

January 30, 2016 (La Mesa) – the La Mesa Sunrise Rotary Club invites you to a Spring Tea fundraiser honoring four distinguished San Diego women. The honorees are Kathi Anderson, director of Survivors of Torture International, Bobbi Brink, founder of Lions, Tigers and Bears, Mimi Pollack, a writer for East County Magazine, and Estela de los Rios, executive director of CSA of San Diego County.  The tea will be held on Saturday, March 5 from 2 to 4 p.m. at Noah Homes, 12526 Campo Road in Spring Valley.

By Sylvia Sullivan

January 30, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) -- Unbelievably another Roe v Wade anniversary is upon us as the dead babies number about 58 million lives lost after 43 years. Do these lives matter?

East County News Service

January 29, 2016 (San Diego) -- Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) and Senator Patty Murray praised President Obama’s proposal to reduce child summer hunger by making permanent the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children (Summer EBT) program nationwide. 

During the school year, low-income children have the opportunity to receive free or reduced-price meals at school. However, millions of these same children go hungry during summer break.  The President’s budget will address this summer meals gap by investing $12 billion to scale up the successful Summer EBT demonstration project that has decreased hunger among participating children by about 33 percent while increasing healthy food intake. 

Source: County News Service

January 29, 2016 (Lemon Grove) -- They come from a variety of backgrounds and each has different challenges, but for one hour a week in the Lemon Grove Library, a group of special needs adults all have one thing in common: their enthusiasm.