By Brooke Binkowski, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo: Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Labor Foundation, AFL-CIO, speaks while flanked by Democratic and Republican local leaders.

October 31, 2024 (San Diego) -  Saying he lacks ethics and integrity, local elected officials and community leaders gathered in Scripps Ranch Wednesday to offer an “anti-endorsement” of far-right Republican candidate and AM radio personality Carl DeMaio, a former San Diego City Council member and two-time congressional candidate.

Source: San Diego Sheriff’s Department

October 27, 2024 (Campo) – The San Sheriff's Search and Rescue (SAR) volunteers have found and rescued a woman who was lost in San Diego's backcountry for almost two days.

East County News Service

October 27, 2024 (Borrego Springs) – The Borrego Springs Film Institute is offering a series of free film showings at the Borrego Springs Performing Arts Center.

The next showing is the classic film “Casablanca” on November 6 at 7 p.m.  The1942  film, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, features a cynical expatriate American cafe owner who struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco.

By Miriam Raftery

October 27, 2024 (San Diego)—Four members of East County Magazine’s journalism team won awards at the San Diego Press Club’s Excellence in Journalism Awards presented on October 22. Their coverage encompassed  public safety issues in La Mesa, the future of the Water Conservation Garden, international migrants in Jacumba, and La Mesa's ban on public comments after anti-Semitic rants.

October 27, 2024 (Mt. Helix) -- Karen Pearlman stopped atop Mt. Helix with her dog, Charlie, last weekend and captured some stunning sunset shots.

By Laura Preble, El Cajon

October 28, 2024 (El Cajon) -- As a 20-year veteran of Grossmont Union High School district (West Hills and Monte Vista High School), I want to strongly urge East County voters to elect Jay Steiger and Chris Fite to the school board.  

October 26, 2024 (San Diego’s East County) - East County Magazine's World Watch helps you be an informed citizen on important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S.

• Who Is Winning the Election? Kamala Harris vs Donald Trump Polls 10 Days Out (Newsweek)
• Key lines to understand the Kamala Harris town hall on CNN (CNN)
• Trump’s Speeches, Increasingly Angry and Rambling, Reignite the Question of Age (New York Times)
• Ghost guns and transgender care: Major cases before US Supreme Court (BBC)
• Life of the Mother: How Abortion Bans Lead to Preventable Deaths (ProPublica)
• Death toll from Hurricane Helene rises to 227 as recovery efforts continue (!0 News)
• Rudy Giuliani ordered to turn over NYC apartment, 26 watches to Georgia election workers  (NPR)

WORLD

• Israel confirms Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in Gaza (AP)
• Thousands of North Korean Soldiers Moving to Russia-Ukraine Border (Newsweek)
• In the heartland of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, the old ways have changed and violence rages (AP)
• Israel limited its attack on Iran, hoping to ease tensions for now  (Washington Post)
• Israel bombs Lebanon, Gaza ahead of one-year anniversary of Oct. 7 attacks (Reuters)
• Gazans wonder how to deal with tons of rubble (Reuters)
• Mexican mayor assassinated days after taking office (Reuters)
• This Caribbean nation is preparing for the ravages of climate change by selling citizenship (Washington Post)
• A-bomb survivors use Nobel Peace Prize to share anti-nuke message with the young  (AP)
• Norway introduces temporary border checks after its terror threat level was raised (AP)
• Powerful storm knocks out power to 1.4 million homes in Brazil's largest city  (AP)
• Zelenskiy says North Koreans fighting with Russians in Ukraine (Reuters)

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

October 25, 2024 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future

HEALTH

• What we know about the McDonald’s E. coli outbreak investigation (CNN)
• IV fluid supplies in US disrupted by Hurricane Helene (BBC)
• CDC updates COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for older adults (The Hill)
• Worst U.S. whooping cough outbreak in a decade has infected thousands  (NPR)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• TikTok sued by 14 states over alleged harm to children’s mental health (CNN)
• Inside the TikTok documents: Stripping teens and boosting ‘attractive’ people (NPR)
• In an engineering feat, mechanical SpaceX arms catch Starship rocket booster back at the launch pad  (AP)

SpaceX pulled off the boldest test flight yet of its enormous Starship rocket on Sunday, catching the returning booster back at the launch pad with mechanical arms.

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

Recalled products distributed at Albertsons, Carrs-Safeway, Eagle, Jewel-Osco, Pavilions, Randalls, Safeway, Shaw’s and Star Market, Tom Thumb, and Vons stores

East County News Service

October 23, 2024 (Washington D.C.) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announces a recall by Albertson’s supermarkets of a dozen ReadyMeals and store-made deli item. These foods contain a chicken ingredient by Fresh Creative Foods that was recalled due to possible contamination with Listeria monocytogens.

By Seraphina Eberhardt, East County Program Manager, Institute for Public Strategies

October 22. 2024 (San Diego) -- Alcohol consumption is embedded in our social fabric, often marking celebrations, casual gatherings and daily routines. While moderate drinking is generally accepted, alcohol misuse brings significant social costs that affect our communities at large. Understanding and addressing these impacts helps build a healthier and safer society.

By Yvette Urrea Moe, County of San Diego Communications Office

Video by Alex Aguirre

October 21, 2024 (Santee) - County officials all stepped aside for Howard the dog to take the first dig at the groundbreaking for the new 23,000-square-foot County animal shelter. When completed in early 2026, it will provide a new standard of care in animal housing for long-term animals as they patiently wait for a new home.

The new shelter in Santee will serve animals and residents in the South and Southeast County with an on-site small animal hospital. It will also serve as a fire evacuation site with animal intake and care during local disasters and will be energy efficient.

Slashing federal disaster relief, privatizing public education, politicizing federal agencies, gutting intelligence bureaus, stripping away rights of protected groups, and ending climate change actions are among the proposals detailed in Project 2025

By Miriam Raftery

October 7, 2024 (Washington D.C.) -- Project 2025 is an 887-page blueprint for a second Trump administration, according to its authors. Trump has alternately praised it, claimed never to have read it, and said he disagrees with parts of it; he has denied knowing its authors, even though those authors include 140 top officials and advisors from Trump’s first presidential term, some of whom wrote entire chapters.

ECM has reviewed the entire document and provides this analysis of its most controversial provisions, in summary and detail. Some page citations are provided; citations are available on request for every fact cited.

Project 2025’s  stated mission is to restore family as centerpiece of American life, “dismantle the administrative state” (p 3), defend our nation’s sovereignty and borders against global threats, and secure ”God given individual rights to live freely.”  But if fully implemented, it would dismantle many branches of our federal government, politicize every federal agency,  threaten  our democracy and take away many rights and protections for women, minorities, the LGBTQ community, and our environment.

SUMMARY

Some of its most polarizing proposals include:

Shutting down and privatizing agencies: It aims to close down entirely agencies ranging from the Department of Education (p. 285) to  the National Hurricane Center and the National Weather Service (p 664) which could charge for weather reports and warnings, also privatizing FEMA  (p. 135), the Federal Emergency Management Agency that provides aid to victims of wildfires, floods and other disasters, privatizing Small Business Administration disaster loans, and privatizing National Flood Insurance. The Transportation and Security Administration, or TSA which was set up to protect us from terrorists after 911 including airport screenings, would be privatized as well. 

By Fernanda Lopez Halvorson, County of San Diego Communications Office

October 22, 2024 (San Diego) - National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is this Saturday, and the County is encouraging community members to collect their unused and expired medications and take them to a drop off location around the County.  

October 17, 2024 (Lemon Grove) -- All four candidates running for Lemon Grove City Council participated in East County Magazine’s candidate forum on Oct.10, which was moderated by editor Miriam Raftery.

The candidates are Councilman George Gastil, a history professor, Seth Smith, Chair of the Lemon Grove Planning Commission, architectural designer and project manager, high school coach Steve Faiai, and Jessyka Heredia, a small business owner, community volunteer, and reporter who previously covered Lemon Grove issues for our news site. 

Candidates fielded questions on issues including infrastructure, housing, homeless, the business community, and increasing access to public meetings through livestreaming and videotaping.  See highlights of their responses belone, or click here for video of the complete forum.  Listen to audio here, as aired on our radio show on KNSJ, edited slightly for length.