March 8, 2012 (Santee) -- County officials and community partners unveiled the new volunteer garden at Edgemoor in Santee yesterday.

The volunteer garden, located at 255 Park Center Dr., is open to both community residents and County staff to increase access to fresh produce and physical activity. Residents of Edgemoor, will be involved in the garden through the Recreational Therapy Unit.

Saldaña wins endorsement after impassioned pledge to fight for women’s rights; Secor gains unanimous support

By Miriam Raftery

March 8, 2012 (La Mesa) – The largest Democratic Club in East County last night heard from candidates running for Congress, State Legislature, and local offices before holding endorsement votes.

Former Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña received overwhelming endorsement over ex-Council president Scott Peters by a 48-7 vote. Both are running in the new 52nd Congressional District against incumbent Republican Brian Bilbray. 

Update March 8, 2012: The deceased have been identified as Jim Simmons, 41, and Donna Simmons, 16.

March 6, 2012 (Campo) – Yesterday morning, Sheriff’s deputies discovered the bodies of a man and his 16-year-old daughter at a home in the 2600 block of Cameron Truck Trail in Campo. 

“The reporting party told deputies that he read a text message on his phone,”  Sgt. David Martinez said. The message, from the father found dead, “essentially read that the man’s daughter committed suicide and the man was going to be with his daughter.”

March 6, 2012 (Sacramento) -- In January, California Fish and Game Commission president Dan Richards shot a mountain lion on a guided hunt in Idaho, after dogs drove the big cat up a tree. A guide took a picture of Richards smiling as he held up the slain animal. Richards sent it to a hunting newspaper, which posted the photo.

March 8, 2012 (San Diego’s East County) – Remember to wind your clocks ahead one hour this weekend. Daily Savings Time starts Sunday, March 11, so set your clocks forward before going to sleep Saturday night.

March 8, 2012 (Santee)—The City of Santee invites you to join in its free SanTree Fest on Saturday, March 17 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon at Town Center Community Park, 10123 Riverwalk Drive. 

By Miriam Raftery

March 7, 2012 (San Diego)—The U.S. military is tackling a major battle: striving to rely on renewable energy to meet half of all energy that it uses by 2020. 

“That’s a tall order,” Captain Marko Medved, Operations Officer for Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest.  Marko spoke last weekend at Forging a Sustainable Future, a two-day symposium sponsored by UnitedGREEN.  Captain Medved’s job? Makinge the military bases of the Southwest energy efficient.   That’s over one million acres—and he reports, “We’ve made significant gains.”

By Megan McGlamery

March 8, 2012 (San Diego)—“Our biggest challenge is to stabilize climate change,” Mike Bullock, chairman of the Transportation Committee for Sierra Club’s San Diego chapter, told attendees at the Forging a Sustainable Future Conference hosted by UnitedGREEN at San Diego State University last weekend. 

To accomplish that, the state has set ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions--and mandated that counties reduce driving and encourage public transportation. 

But the San Diego Association of Government (SANDAG) failed to meet those goals in a Regional Transportation Plan(RTP) that it approved last fall. Now, California Attorney General Kamala Harris has joined with the Sierra Club, the Cleveland National Forest Foundation, and other environmental groups to sue SANDAG. 

March 7, 2012 (Washington, D.C.) —In preparation for the release of new unemployment figures this month, Representative Duncan Hunter, joined by a group of House lawmakers, introduced the Real Unemployment Calculation Act on March 1.