July 10, 2019 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Federal judge in Texas strikes down affordable care act (CNN)
• Mental Health Patients Are Pouring Into Local Emergency Rooms (Voice of San Diego)
• Spike in autism may be linked to preservative in processed foods (Forbes)
• A deadly fungus is killing millions of bats in the U.S. Now it’s in California (Los Angeles Times)
• A hospital introduced a robot to help nurses. They didn’t expect it to be so popular (Fast Company)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• A Flaw in Teleconferencing App Zoom Could Have Let Hackers Access Your Webcam. Here's How to Fix it (Time)
• What to Know About Restrict, Instagram's New Anti-Bullying Feature  (Time)
• Massive, kilometer sized asteroid was just found orbing the sun (Fox)
• Could This Be the End of Frankincense? (New York Times)

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

By David R. Shorey, East County Program Manager, Institute for Public Strategies

Photo courtesy San Diego County Sheriff’s Department website, other photos via Creative Commons

July 10, 2019 (San Diego’s East County) -- Imagine you lived in an apartment complex so riddled with crime and danger, that law enforcement officers would not enter the property until backup arrived. A place where firefighters would not respond to a fire unless they were accompanied by sheriff’s deputies for protection. Where helicopters frequently flew overhead in search of a suspect, or attempting to restore peace. Where drive-by shootings, vandalism, prostitution, thefts, drug dealing, gangs and violence ruled the day.

East County News Service

July 6, 2019 (San Diego’s East County) -- This week’s Destination East County features lots of fun and festive upcoming summertime events, including Watermelon Days at Oasis Camel Dairy in Ramona, the Sunshine Boys at Lamplighters Theatre, in La Mesa, a Pacific Southwest Railway Museum meet and greet in La Mesa, the Pine Valley Days festival and parade, a Sip of Julian, Concert at the Lakes in Santee, a winetasting festival in Jamul, Herman’s Hermits live at Sycuan, the Ramona Country Fair, and the HeART of Mt. Helix.

There are also some all summer long events including outdoor concerts, movies in parks across our region, classic car shows and dive-in movies at the Kroc Center’s swimming pool.

So scroll down for all of these events and many more!

Overall water quality not compromised, but customers are being notified

By Miriam Raftery

Photo:  When completed in 2008, the Twin Oaks Valley Water Treatment Plant was the largest submerged membrane water treatment plant in the world and the first treatment plant built by the San Diego County Water Authority.

July 10, 2019 (San Diego) -- A malfunction at the Twin Oaks Valley Water Treatment Plant resulted in a citation from the state Division of Drinking Water due to a two-day failure of one of its systems that kills harmful organisms. The plant provides water to water districts across San Diego County including East County, but the County Water Authority assures that water in regional pipelines continued to be safe for all uses due to additional treatment processes. 

The clean energy celebration included education, local food and drinks, a silent auction and more

East County News Service

July  9, 2019 (San Diego) - On June 29, over 250 residents from across San Diego County came together to celebrate and recognize the region’s progress toward its goal of 100 percent clean energy at the largest Energy Independence Day celebration the area has yet to experience. This year’s event, hosted at Brian Malarkey's Farmer & the Seahorse restaurant in Torrey Pines, included complimentary sustainably-sourced food, local craft beer, cleantech organizations, nonprofit advocacy groups and a silent auction. It also featured two Cleantech Talks about community choice energy as well as solar power and energy storage. 

By Ken Stone

Reprinted with permission from Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo:  Gregory A. Vega of downtown San Diego’s Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek law firm came to the defense of his old friend Gonzalo Curiel when the federal judge came under attack from Donald Trump. Image via YouTube.com

July 9, 2019 (San Diego) - At Monday’s hour-long hearing for Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, 22 minutes were devoted to whether two (or possibly three) assistant U.S. attorneys had a political ax to grind against the indicted Republican.

By Miriam Raftery

July 8, 2019 (San Diego) - U.S. beekeepers lost 40.7% of their honey bee colonies for the year ending April 2019, according to the latest survey by the Bee Informed Partnership, a nonprofit led by the University of Maryland.  That continues a national decline in recent years that has alarmed scientists, with causes ranging from pesticides to climate change to colony collapse disorder of unknown causes. 

By Miriam Raftery

Photos, top left to lower right:  Bill Wells, Sam Abed, Matt Rahn, Larry Wilske, Ammar Campa-Najjar, and Rep. Duncan D. Hunter

July 7, 2019 (San Diego’s East County) – With Congressman Duncan D. Hunter slated for trial starting in September on 60 federal corruption charges, one Democrat and four Republicans, all men, have established campaign committees to run for Rep. Hunter's seat in 2020. At least two other prominent names have been floated as possible contenders, with more entries possible.

Here are the contenders to date:

By David Willauer 

July 7, 2019 (San Diego's East County) - Here are this week's East County alumni highlights:

June 30:

Valhalla product Greg Garcia went 1 for 4 for the Padres with a single as they were defeated in 11 innings by the St. Louis Cardinals 5-3. 

Granite Hills product Travis Tajeron went 1 for 4 with a solo home run for the Syracuse Mets as they defeated the Buffalo Bisons 10-4. 

By Miriam Raftery

July 6, 2019 (San Diego’s East County) – Three nonprofit charter schools operating within the Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD) have been ordered shut down by a judge, but now a stay issued has been ordered for one year until an appeal can be heard. 

The schools at risk of closure are Diego Valley East charter in El Cajon and San Diego Workforce Innovation High charter schools in Lakeside and Lemon Grove. 

Update July 9:  This photo has been deleted off Hunter's social media. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports Hunter spokesman Michael Harrison stated, “Congressman Hunter has never supported or been accused of supporting white supremacy and if anyone were to espouse any such beliefs in a photo with Congressman Hunter they did so without his knowledge or consent,” Harrison said in an email. “To be clear, Congressman Hunter does not personally know this individual, or what his views may be.”

Updated July 7 with information on identity of the man standing next to Hunter: Kristopher Wyrick, founder of an avowed white nationalist organization.  Updated July 8 with statement from Ammar Campa-Najjar.

By Miriam Raftery

July 6, 2019 (Alpine) – A photo making the rounds on social media claims Congressman Duncan D Hunter spent the Fourth of July in the company of white nationalists.  A photo shows Hunter standing next to a man flashing a hand signal that’s commonly used as a white power symbol as well as A-okay sign.  The image was cropped down from a group photo taken in Alpine, where Rep. Hunter participated in the town’s annual 4th of July Independence Day Parade.

However, the man in the photo has an apparent history of participating in and leading groups that espouse white nationalist positions and of  violence against protesters as shown in videos.

According to a Times of San Diego report published July 7, the man flashing the white power sign is believed to be Kristopher Wyrick, a cofounder of the Bordertown Patriots, a white nationalist group that organized an event at Chicano Park that reportedly resulted in clashes with counterprotesters and multiple arrests. Wyrick is also reportedly a former member of San Diego Proud Boys and the United Patriot National Front. Will Johnson, who has had two court battles with Wyrick, told Times of San Diego that he's certain it's Wyrick in the photo because  "I've seen him so many times."  Johnson sought a restraining order against Wyrick but lost; Wyrick later won a small claims court against Johnson over lost work time and gun storage costs.

By Yvette Urrea Moe, County of San Diego Communications Office

Video by Autumn Endara

July 6, 2019 (San Diego) - If you felt some shaking on the Fourth of July, and even if you didn’t personally sense it, you have likely heard it was from a 6.4 magnitude earthquake in the Mojave Desert near the town of Ridgecrest. The quake is being called one of the biggest in Southern California in 20 years, could be felt in various counties as far as San Diego County and Nevada, and is continuing to put out aftershocks.

By Miriam Raftery

July 5, 2019 (San Diego’s East County) –Called in by family members or others to search for immigrants who have gone missing after crossing the border, volunteer with the nonprofit Aguilas del Desierto (Eagles of the Desert) brave triple digit heat, rattlesnakes and other perils in a desperate effort to save lives. 

Hear our exclusive interview with Vicente Rodriguez and Henri Migala, originally aired on KNSJ radio earlier this year, at the audio link and scroll down for highlights.

According to the Border Patrol, 7,000 migrants are known to have died crossing the border since the wall began. The toll is likely much higher, since it doesn’t include those missing and never found.