January 5, 2011 (Alpine) Responding to an alarming teen fatality trend in San Diego County,  Alpine Sheriff’s Station will host “Start Smart” on Thursday, January 12 at 7 pm. at the Viejas Training Center, 5000 Willow Road in Alpine (first driveway on the left after the casino).

 
José Antonio Vargas, award winning multimedia journalist and founder of Define American, to headline Breakfast program heralding “inspirational voices for acceptance, inclusion, opportunity and change.”

January 5, 2011 (Julian)--The San Diego County Department of Parks and Recreation will be conducting weekday pile burns in January through May, weather permitting, at Santa Ysabel East Preserve, Volcan Mountain Preserve and William Heise County Park.

The pile burns — in which piles of cleared brush and other cut vegetation are burned — will reduce the fire hazard of excess vegetation fuels.

 
January 5, 2012 --  (San Diego’s East County)--East County Roundup highlights top stories of interest to East County and San Diego’s inland regions, published in other media.  This week’s top “Roundup” headlines include:   

• San Diego farmers hit record sales in 2011 amid many challenges (KPBS)
• San Diego leaders eye new law to save redevelopment  (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• What redevelopment’s death means for San Diego (Voice of San Diego)
• D.A. says officials took dinners, tickets, more (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• San Diego VA Hospital to get influx of Iraq War vets (KPBS)
• Helix Water District chief is staying on through Jan. 31—or perhaps later (La Mesa Patch)
• Rep. Hunter attends services for aide “Mac” MacWilliams, killed in road accident (Ramona Patch)
• Village’s Larry Stowe sought on arrest warrant; made infamous on ’60 Minutes’ (La Mesa Patch)
• Otay Water contracts tied to board chairman (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• USO Sailor of the year killed in Afghanistan(San Diego Union-Tribune)

• State Board eyes fire fees again (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• California Legislature returns to face more budget woes, new election rules (Sacramento Bee)
• Federal judge blocks California emission rules (Reuters)
• LA Arson: A turning point for police use of Twitter, social media (Los Angeles Times)
• Deputy who arrested arson suspect shuns limelight (Los Angeles Times)

January 4, 2012 (Santee)—The driver of a sedan that struck another vehicle was unconscious at the scene of an accident on Mission Gorge Road in Santee this evening, ECM photographer Dennis Richardson reports.  

 
January 4, 2012 (San Diego County) -- Effective January 1, 2012, California Fire Safe Council (CFSC) will become the state liaison for the Firewise Communities/USA program in California. This new designation is part of an agreement between Firewise USA, CFSC and CAL FIRE that delegates CAL FIRE's authority as State Firewise liaison to the California Fire Safe Council. The agreement is memorialized in a Memorandum of Understanding between CFSC and CAL FIRE.

 
January 4, 2011 (Scripps Ranch) –A man in his 40s has been transported to a hospital with fractured vertebrae following an accident on Scripps Lake Drive yesterday. 

By Miriam Raftery

January 2, 2011 (San Diego's East County) – On the eve of Tuesday's Iowa Caucus, polls show the race could be close—with a number of candidates striving to win the Republican Presidential Primary election or prove viability with a strong showing.

All Republican contenders are conservatives who believe in smaller government, lower taxes, less regulation of businesses and corporations, rolling back environmental regulations, and outlawing or restricting abortions.  Each has spoken out against President Obama’s healthcare reforms and all but one has indicated support for either privatizing or eliminating Social Security.  (For detailed, nonpartisan comparisons of candidates’ stances on many issues, visit www.ontheissues.org.)

But there are key differences.  Scroll down for the key qualifications and biographical highlights for each major contender in Iowa, as well as Jon Huntsman, a viable contender in the upcoming New Hampshire primary. Also included are standout statements which differentiate their stances from most competitors and key controversies.

 
January 3, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) -- San Diego Police Department Robbery Unit detectives have recovered the watches believed to have been stolen in a series of violent “smash and grab” robberies that occurred throughout the state.

January 3, 2011 (Pine Valley) – Cal-Fire will be conducting a prescribed burn today through January 7 in the Rancho Corte Madera area southwest of Pine Valley.

Approximately 200 acres of brush will be burned as part of a vegetation management plan aimed at protecting surrounding communities.

The burns will be conducted from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Smoke will be visible in many areas of the county.

By Brian Lafferty

January 3, 2012 (San Diego) – I pop in the Bridesmaids DVD. I’m ready to laugh. I wait. Fifteen minutes pass. Then thirty. No laughter. Then a whole hour passes by, but not a single chuckle was uttered. Towards the end of the movie it was so quiet in the house that I distinctly thought I heard the sound of crickets chirping outside.

 
A former mortgage industry insider from La Mesa shares why he joined the Occupy movement

Story and photos by Ron Logan

 On December 19, I sat down with Mike Garcia at Downtown Johnny Brown's at the Civic Center Plaza. Garcia is a La Mesa resident and Committee Member of Occupy San Diego (OSD). I asked him some straight-forward questions. His answers were eye-opening and offered insight into what OSD is all about, its struggles and its evolutions-- and how he first became involved in early October.