By San Diego Jewish World, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo:  The Kamaras family. Left to right: Elliott, Jacob, Aurora, and Megan.

October 26, 2021 (San Diego) - The San Diego Jewish World on Tuesday announced that Jacob Kamaras will assume the role of publisher and editor in chief of the daily online news publication beginning January 1, 2022. Kamaras, a public relations professional who previously served as the first editor in chief of the national Jewish News Syndicate (JNS), succeeds San Diego Jewish World founder Donald H. Harrison, 76, who will become editor emeritus.

By Miriam Raftery

October 24, 2021 (San Diego) – “Just a couple of weeks ago, a quarter of a million kids were getting COVID,” says Dr. William Tseng, area assistant medical director of Kaiser Permanente and Kaiser’s vaccine expert. That’s according to the American Academy of Pediatrics' new site tracking COVID cases in U.S. children. Deaths of children due to COVID have occurred in 48 of 50 states.

In an exclusive interview via Zoom on October, the day the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) broadly expanded eligibility of COVID-19 booster shots, East County Magazine interviewed Dr. Tseng on who should get boosters and what parents should know about COVID vaccines for children ages 5-11, which are likely to be approved in early November.  The answers may surprise you!

Click the image at left to view the full interview (which will also air on KNSJ radio) or click "read more' and scroll down to read highlights.

By Miriam Raftery

October 26, 2021 (La Mesa) – A body found on a dark, dead-end road in Bonita has been identified as Kimberly Gutierrez, 22, of La Mesa.  An autopsy found that she died of gunshot wounds.

According to Lieutenant Thomas Seiver, evidence at the scene indicated she was killed at the site, not dumped there. Her death was ruled a homicide.

By Miriam Raftery

October 25, 2021 (San Diego) –  East County Magazine tonight received 11 awards in San Diego Press Club’s 48^th annual Excellence In Journalism competition. The honors include three first place awards, recognitions for both our online news site and radio show coverage during the past year’s turbulent times.  ECM’s awards span a broad range of categories, including three of the four awards presented for breaking news. Since its inception in 2008, ECM has won 137 major journalism prizes.

Congratulations to ECM’s award-winning reporting team:  Miriam Raftery, Henri Migala, Helen Horvath, and the late Briana Gomez as well as columnists David Shorey and Paul Levikow.

“I’m proud of our team for once again going all out to report news that matters, even amid a global pandemic and civil unrest, at times risking their own safety to get the stories,” says ECM editor Miriam Raftery. " It's especially poignant to see two posthumous awards honoring works by Briana Gomez, who was such a talented and devoted young journalist."

She adds, “We also thank the Facebook Journalism Project for their generous support through a grant which helped enable our reporting during the pandemic, including several Zoom special reports and interviews as well as our coverage of COVID-19 issues and breaking news."

 Below are ECM's winning stories, radio broadcasts and podcasts:

By Miriam Raftery

October 25, 2021 (San Diego) --  Family and friends of Steven Hilles, 54, are asking individuals throughout San Diego County to help find hm. Since the evening of October 7, when he experienced an extreme mental health crisis and left his Kensington neighborhood home on foot, no one has heard from him.

When last seen, he was wearing dark blue jeans, a black pullover and dark sport shoes. He is white, 5’7”, 150 pounds. 

His disappearance has been reported to San Diego Police (reference # 21-500959).

By Miriam Raftery

October 24, 2021 (San Diego’s East County) – This week’s Destination East County features many of East County’s most popular fall festivities including some haunting Halloween happenings, a murder mystery play, plus art and winetasting events to celebrate harvest season in our region’s wine country.

Scroll down for all of these events and many more!

Source: Caltrans

Photo: Creative Commons-SA via Bing

October 23, 2021 (Dulzura) --  Pavement rehabilitation work on a nine-mile segment of State Route 94,  from just west of Arnold Road to State Route 188 in East County, will move to weekdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. beginning Monday, according to Caltrans.

The work will require lane closures on 1.5-mile sections of roadway within the project area through November. Highway personnel will direct traffic onto the open lane, one direction at a time, as crews work on the closed lane.

Traffic delays are expected depending on the traffic queues and motorists are advised to allow additional travel time to reach their destinations.

Signs will be posted ahead of the closures to alert drivers.

By Miriam Raftery

October 23, 2021 (San Diego’s East County) – The drought has dried up watering holes and vegetation that the Anza Borrego Desert’s iconic bighorn sheep rely upon.  Scott Gibson with the Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep told ECM, “Endangered bighorn sheep mortality due to dehydration has been documented recently."

Fortunately, the U.S. Marines came to the rescue – with help from several nonprofit organizations and state agencies. In September, a Marine Corps helicopter crew made the first-ever helicopter water delivery to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

Click here view a video by David Owen Hawxhurst, www.hawxhurtst.com and scroll down for details.

Our radio shows from April through August 2021 are now online.  For links to listen plus an index with full list of topics and interviews in each show, click here,  or click the "read more" link and scroll down for audio links below the index. (Audio files may take a few moments to load.)  

Highlights included a special report with interviews from Sharp Grossmont Healthcare physicians on COVID-19, interviews with several local authors and with El Cajon Councilman Gary Kendrick, and coverage of top issues from local politics to wildfires as well as features such as the top festivals and events across our region.

The East County Magazine Show airs Mondays and Fridays from 5 to 6 p.m. on KNSJ, 89.1 FM.  Our shows rerun on Tuesdays at 9 a.m. and Saturdays at 8 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. (Note: Due to COVID-19 quarantines, some show dates aired reruns. Original shows are listed below.) Shows also include station IDs and public service announcements.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Creative commons image via Bing

October 22, 2021 (Lemon Grove) – Lemon Grove’s City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to join Tree City USA, a national program that has provided 3.6 million trees to  communities since its inception in 1976. Lemon Grove joins East County’s other cities (La Mesa, El Cajon and Santee) and  3,600 other communities in all 50 states.

Planting a thriving urban forest creates theses benefits for communities, according to Tree City USA, a project of the Arbor Day Foundation:  

By Miriam Raftery

Photo, left by Jake Rose: Chase Bank in flames

October 21, 2021 (La Mesa) – Ricky Bernard Cooper, 34, has pleaded guilty to setting an arson fire that burned down Chase Bank in downtown La Mesa during a riot on May 30, 2020.  Cooper also pleaded guilty to a burglary count for looting at the La Mesa Springs Shopping Center. His sentencing is slated for next month.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: immigration court, Creative Commons image by NC-ND

October 21, 2021 (San Diego) – The U.S. Justice Department, under the Biden administration, has ended case quotas for immigration judges imposed during the Trump administration, CNN reports. 

The Trump-era performance metrics had required judges to complete 700 cases a year to receive a satisfactory rating, among other benchmarks. But that policy led to complaints from judges who argued that the quotas valued haste over due process.  

By Chris Jennewein, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo:  Hospital staffers and union organizers waved signs and banners in protest over staffing shortages at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Roseville. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters

October 21, 2021 (San Diego) - The union representing pharmacy and laboratory workers at Kaiser Permanente locations throughout Southern California said Wednesday members voted overwhelmingly to reject the company’s offer and authorize a strike if a new deal can’t be reached.

UPDATE:  Due to rain, the Ornamental Horticulture ribbon-cutting has been rescheduled for  Friday, Dec. 3 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Source: Cuyamaca College

Photo:  The Cuyamaca College Ornamental Horticulture Complex & Building M Renovation includes a new nursery sales office for the campus’ retail nursery that will be open to the public.

October 21, 2021 (Rancho San Diego) -- A ribbon-cutting ceremony to be held Monday, Oct. 25 for Cuyamaca College’s expanded Ornamental Horticulture complex marks a new chapter for one of the campus’ flagship programs.