June 3,  2015 (San Diego's East County)-- East County Magazine's World Watch helps you be an informed citizen about important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a wide variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S.

Texas floods:

• After 35 trillion gallons of rain, Texans search for the missing – and closure (+video)
• Cattle Drive Saves Hundreds Of Cows Stranded By Texas Flooding (NPR)
• Soaked Texans Brace For More Storms After 7 More Inches Of Rain Fall (NPR)
• IsraAID sending team to join Texas flood relief effort (JPost)

Other national news:

• As The Arctic Opens Up, The U.S. Is Down To A Single Icebreaker (NPR)
• U.S. removes Cuba from list of terrorism sponsors (LA Times)
• Leaked Repot: DHS and soverign citizens   (Reason) 
• It's a Match (Reason)
• What Beau Biden represented in American politics (CS Monitor)
• If NSA surveillance program ends, phone record trove will endure (LA Times)
• Silk Road mastermind: drug kingpin or libertarian ideologue gone astray? (CS Monitor)
• Yahoo must face email spying class action: U.S. judge (Reuters)
• Appeals court blocks 12-week ban on abortion as unconstitutional (CS Monitor)
• San Diego State Study: Millennials Might Be Least-Religious Generation (KPBS)
• IRS believes massive data theft originated in Russia (CNN)

WORLD

• Russia moves to silence civil society and its 'undesirable' contacts (CS Monitor)
• Putin classifies Russian soldiers' deaths while denying Ukraine buildup (CS Monitor)
• Islamic State suicide attack kills 38 Iraqi policemen (Reuters)
• Cyber-Archeologists Re-Create Destroyed Artifacts (NPR)
• Did Russia impose a secret travel ban on European politicians?
• Under Cover Of Conflict, Hamas Killed Palestinians, Amnesty Alleges (NPR)
• Cyberattack tied to Hezbollah ups the ante for Israel's digital defenses (CS Monitor)
• Five weeks after big quake, Nepal's schools reopen (CS Monitor)
• Squeezing Somalia (Reason)
• Man arrested in Cyprus suspected of planning terror attack against Israelis (JPost)
• Video shows Canada Parliament gunman praying before attack (Reuters)
• Gravely ill Russian opposition figure won't be sent abroad (AP)
• Assad regime kills dozens with barrel bombs, rights group says (JPost)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

By Sarka-Jonae Miller

How can I get free material on formatting my manuscript for eBook conversion, and where can I find a good free eBook conversion application? Do you know any eBook retailers who pay through PayPal, since I can't receive payments through a US bank and prefer PayPal to posted checks? Also, can I find quality material on how to use Social Media to promote my books? – James Badmos

June 1, 2015 (San Diego's East County) - I recommend Draft2Digital.com for quality ebook conversion. You can upload a Word document and they will provide you with a mobi and epub file for free. Their program can create a table of contents, dedication page, copyright page, etc. so you don't have to do much formatting. In your case, you might want to allow them to do your distribution since they pay via PayPal.

By Miriam Raftery

Photos: Creative Commons images by Deus X Florida and Kirsten 5400  from Wikipedia

June 1, 2015 (Sacramento) – Two-thirds of all catastrophic sports injuries among female high school and college athletes nationwide occur in cheerleaders, according to a report by the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

San Diego Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, a Democrat and former cheerleader, says cheerleading is “the most dangerous sport for high school athletes,” the Sacramento Bee reports. This week, Assembly Bill 949, a measure by Gonzalez aimed at improving safety for high school and collegiate cheerleaders, passed the Assembly by a 71 to 3 vote.   

East County News Service

June 1, 2015 (Washington D.C.) – Effective at midnight on May 31^st, the Patriot Act has lapsed.  Critics contend that allowing the measure to sunset without passing a proposed reform measure, the USA Freedom Act, puts national security at risk, though some civil libertarians applaud the effort to halt mass collection of data by the National Security Administration.

By Miriam Raftery

May 27, 2015 (El Cajon) – Parents have filed a class action lawsuit against Ametek Aerospace & Defense in El Cajon, alleging that the company dumped toxic waste into the ground for 20 years, from 1963 to the 1980s.  The site is located next door to Magnolia Elementary School, where children have been suffering mysterious health problems.

For complete Calendar including Authors Events, go to www.SDWriteWay.org

East County News Service

May 31, 2015 (Borrego Springs)--If you felt the earth move under your feet Sunday morning at 6:02 a.m., that’s because a 4.1 earthquake centered 7 miles northeast of Borrego Springs rattled our region.  Our news partner, 10 News, reports the quake was felt as far away as Escondido, but the Sheriff’s Department did not receive any reports of damage.

May 30, 2015 (Alpine)--The Alpine Library Friends Association (ALFA) announces an anonymous challenge grant pledge of $10,000. The Donor will match any contribution of $250 or more from an individual or group, up to a total of $10,000. The Challenge period runs from June 1st to July 15th   The money raised by this challenge will be used to outfit the Library.  San Diego County provided $10.7 million for the construction of the Library; but the Alpine Community must raise the money needed for furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E ) the cost of which is estimated at $675,000. ALFA has, so far, raised about $350,000.

May 30, 2015 (La Mesa) - The La Mesa Chamber of Commerce will host its 7th annual Taste of La Mesa from 6 to 8 p.m., Monday, June 8, at the La Mesa Community Center, 4975 Memorial Dr., La Mesa. Presenting sponsor is Sycuan Casino. The event will feature networking and food sampling from local restaurants and food providers. In addition, local businesses will be on hand with exhibit tables. Parking is free and shuttle service will be available.

East County News Service

May 29, 2015 (National City) -- Darla Renee Jackson, 25, has been arrested and charged with murder.  She is accused of intentionally ramming and running over a motorcyclist on State Route 54 on Thursday evening, May 28^th after an altercation with him earlier on I-5.

May 29, 2015 (Alpine) – Ground was broken this morning for a new turf field at Alpine Elementary School.  Funding was received from the County thanks to efforts by Supervisor Dianne Jacob, Colin Campbell, former president of the Alpine Education Association, told East County Magazine. “Finally, some positive news coming out of Alpine!”

East County News Service

May 29, 2015 (San Diego)--The Society of Professional Journalists San Diego Pro Chapter has issued a statement criticizing local and federal law enforcement for going “too far” when an FBI agent and a San Diego Police Department detective on the San Diego Joint Terrorism Task Force visited a San Diego City College student journalist’s home. The investigators inquired about a news crew filming outside the FBI San Diego office for a story about sex trafficking.

Fraud issue heightened by 2nd year of weak wind energy output. So why isn't the federal government taking action?

By Miriam Raftery

May 29, 2015 (Ocotillo) – Last year, our award-winning investigative story, Was It Fraud?  raised serious questions over why Pattern Energy’s Ocotillo Wind Energy Facility produced only 15% capacity factor in 2013—far less than the 34 percent capacity factor that Pattern promised the federal government in order to obtain lucrative federal subsidies. Even after accounting for time when a fallen blade shut down the project, capacity factor for the remaining months still averaged less than 19 percent.

Now, the figures are in for 2014—and the Ocotillo wind project again under-performed, this time reaching 24 percent capacity factor:

May 29, 2015 (EL CAJON) –The recent East County Career Expo at Cuyamaca College has resulted in at least 113 anticipated hires and lined up more than 80 interviews for jobseekers, according to a survey of employers who attended the May 20 event.

By Sarka-Jonae Miller

May 29, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) --Cortina Jackson asked a question about a potential instance of piracy and possibly fraud in the comments of last week's column about planning a series, increasing readership, and the benefits of indie publishers vs self-publishing. Here is the question: