Dec. 16, 2010 (San Diego) – For the second consecutive year, Sempra Energy Foundation today announced $1 million in charitable donations to non-profit organizations in California and the U.S. Gulf region to help people in need. The contributions also include a grant-incentive program to support the Sempra Energy family of companies’ employee volunteer efforts.

December 15, 2010 (La Mesa) –Most robbers demand cash. But at noon yesterday, a man armed with a handgun entered Dr. Newman’s Optometry Office in the 5600 block of Lake Murray Boulevard and demanded that the doctor fill a bag with eye glass frames.

Nothing but the Truth!
By Will Power
December 14, 2010 (San Diego)--Necons, who have made the 21st Century the Age of Unbridled Greed, have a new plan. Not happy with a monopoly on electricity, gasoline, and natural gas, the new Conservatives want to privatize the LA Freeway system, to keep those damned poor people on the surface streets, while they cruise in Lexus Lanes.

December 14, 2010 (Pine Valley) – Two injured patients were transported by helicopter to a local hospital following a head-on, off-road collision on Bear Valley Truck Trail five miles south of I-8 in Pine Valley this evening.

December 14, 2010 (El Cajon) -- Parents, are you looking for a fun place to take the kids while you get some holiday shopping done?  Hillside Center in El Cajon is hosting a “Winter Wonderland Party Palooza” from 4-6 p.m. and children ages 5-12 are invited. The event includes a variety of holiday games, arts & crafts, cookie baking, and much more. Sign-ups have already started and the deadline to enroll is Wednesday, December 15th.

Thoughts on giving, plus egg nog recipes for your holiday season

By Sharon Courmousis, Sacred Rocks Reserve

December 15, 2010 (Boulevard)--The presents are wrapped and the little dears are tucked up tight. All the games and toys and electronics advertised on TV – wrapped up under the tree. Oh, wait, that was last year, or the one before. This Christmas everyone seems to be downsizing IF they are lucky enough to even have a home, and a job, and something extra. So the question is HOW do you make this a wonderful Christmas if the day itself is not really about the quantity of gifts?

By Brian Lafferty

December 11, 2010 (San Diego)--While watching Tiny Furniture, which opened yesterday at the Ken Cinema, I was somewhat captivated and never bored. It accomplishes its goals and captures without fail the feeling it wants to convey.

Victory in Iraq: How America Won
By Duncan L. Hunter. Columbus, MS. Genesis Press. 2010. 433 pages. Illustrations, end notes, and index. $19.95

Reviewed by Walter Hall

“The community of America’s military folks, active and retired, are at once a national resource and a national treasure.”  --Former Congressman and Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Duncan L. Hunter

December 14, 2010 (San Diego's East County)--The title of this book will delight many and annoy many others – who will likely pass it by. That’s too bad. Because at heart this is a tribute book. And a timely one. The setting is Iraq, but the subject is American grit, talent, innovation, and occasionally plain, raw courage. The ham-handed title is a distraction.

Watchdog group says state law does not allow charges above 10 cents a page

December 13, 2010 (Martinez, California)– In a case that could have wide repercussions for members of the public and media outlets seeking public records from public agencies in California,, today Californians Aware (CalAware) filed a lawsuit in superior court, seeking an order to bar Contra Costa Community College District from continuing to violate the California Public Records Act (CPRA).

The district has been charging fees for copies of district records that are substantially above the "direct cost of duplication"--the maximum allowed by law, said CalAware general counsel Terry Francke.

December 13, 2010 (La Mesa) -- State Senator-elect Joel Anderson, County Supervisor Diane Jacobs and other community leaders will join Skyline Church this Wednesday, December 15, at 10 a.m. to celebrate the start of construction for a new Worship Center at Skyline Church in La Mesa.

By Jim Bell

December 12, 2010 (San Diego)--Here we go again, justifying doing something bad to do something supposedly good.

December 11, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – Services were held today for Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former presidential candidate John Edwards, who lost her battle with breast cancer.

Leon Thompson, past executive board officer in the California Democratic Party, sent an e-mail to ECM recalling his meeting with Elizabeth Edwards at the state Democratic convention in Sacramento. “She was an inspiration to me, Suzy and so many others,” said Thompson, whose wife, Suzy, later died of breast cancer. Thompson, a former Santee resident now living in Arizona, is battling cancer himself.

December 10, 2010 (San Diego) – San Diego Police homicide detectives are investigating the murder of a 22-year-old woman and the suicide of a man, 21, whom she had dated. Officers responded to a report of gunshots and found the woman lying in the street in the 4500 block of 55th Street this morning at 9:52 a.m. She had several gunshot wounds and an assault rifle was found near her body.

150 protesters stage rally outside, vow to file new lawsuits

View our video highlights by Billy Ortiz

By Miriam Raftery

Photos by Dennis Richardson and Miriam Raftery

“Some people look out in the deserts and just see empty space. I see a gold mine there for clean energy.” – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“This is a big land grab—the taking away of our wilderness areas.” – Marion Bowles, protester

December 10, 2010 (McCain Valley) – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Robert Kennedy’s son, Joe Kennedy, were among the leaders on hand for a symbolic groundbreaking of Sunrise Powerlink yesterday at McCain Valley in San Diego’s East County. Inside the Rough Acre Ranch (former training ground for the San Diego Chargers), the Governor praised the project as “an example to the rest of the nation.”

He then helped affix a commemorative plaque to a massive power tower top, or bridge, wider than the audience seating area. The project will have 436 towers. Afterwards, about 200 invited guests celebrated at a lavish luncheon provided by SDG&E and its parent, Sempra Energy.