Photo courtesy of ECM news partner 10 News

January 6, 2014 (Pine Valley) – Two vehicles collided on I-8 this morning, plunging down a steep, rocky slope and igniting a brush fire that scorched a quarter-acre in Cleveland National Forest.  Six people were injured.

January 5, 2014 (Santee)--This is a story made in the shade!  Takeda California, a pharmaceutical company,  plans to plant 2,000 trees along a one-mile-stretch of the San Diego River in Santee’s new Walker Preserve on January 20.  That’s 20 times more trees than the drug discovery company used in paper during the entire last year.

The trees will be planted by Takeda’s employees, family members and friends.  The effort will benefit the San Diego River Park Foundation and Walker Preserve by introducing native Coast Live Oak, Scrub Oak, Englemann Oak, Laurel Sumac, Cottonwood, Sycamore, Lemonade Berry and Elderberry to lands previously used for mining operations.

January 6, 2014 (San Diego's East County) -- If you’re traveling outside of our area, you may have a long wait.  Over 3,000 flights have been cancelled nationwide due to an extreme cold front known as a polar vortex. 

The severe weather system  is breaking all records, with temperatures dipping to a frosty 68 degrees below zero in  the Midwest, also bringing icy cold weather to the northeast and the South. Atlanta Georgia was colder than Moscow today ad Memphis, Tennessee was chillier than Anchorage Alaska.

January 5, 2014 (San Diego) -- Sprinkled with stories and tips (such as how to connect with literary agents), this February 22 program is designed to inspire and empower writers of all levels and genres. Start with a glimpse at today’s dynamic book business including traditional, electronic, and self-publishing. Then  share ideas to help refine the writing craft, followed by suggestions for getting published and tips for promoting books.

Also on the afternoon’s menu are imagination workouts, writing prompts, self-assessments, and Q&A throughout. The workshop will be presented by  Laurie Gibson, the La Mesa resident who’s edited the work of more than 150 first-time authors. She’s also edited or proofread well over 250 books for numerous publishers, including recent editions of novels such as “The Color Purple” and the writing of business guru Brian Tracy. For several years, Laurie taught at the Extension programs of both UCSD and UCLA.

January 5, 2014 (Ramona) – Yesterday, El Cajon Police Department arrested Ramona resident Douglas Lane, 50, for a road rage incident on State Route 67 back on October 26 that resulted in injury to a bicyclist.

On October 26, 2013 at 9:48 a.m., Poway Sheriff’s deputies responded to a vehicle collision on State Route 67 north of Poway Road. Drivers of two vehicles were involved n a dispute over right of way as the highway merged from two lanes to one lane, said Deputy A. Meleen. 

January 5, 2014 (San Diego’s East County) – Cassandra Kunze, a resident of Crest and a student at San Diego State University, has been crowned winner of the 2014 Miss California USA competition.

Kunze, 20, is working to complete a double major at SDSU in international security and conflict resolution and television/film media.  She represented Beverly Hills at the time of her pageant entry and will next compete at the Miss USA pageant, representing California.

Click to buy this book

On Teaching Well: Using Classroom Instructional Strategies to Increase Your Teaching Effectiveness, by Dr. Dee L. Fabry (Ready or Not Press, Cheyenne, Wyoming, 2012).

Book Review by Dennis Moore

January 5, 2014 (San Diego)--Dee L. Fabry, Ph.D, along with 18 eighteen high school teachers in a graduate level course on effective teaching practice, shares their journey of improving the cognitive skills of students in Fabry’s groundbreaking book; On Teaching Well: Using Classroom Instructional Strategies to Increase Your Teaching Effectiveness.

The author, Associate Professor at National University, School of Education, Teacher Education Department in La Jolla, serves as the Master of Arts in Teaching Program Lead, teaching classroom teachers returning for their post graduate degrees. This makes her eminently qualified to lead these high school teachers in a graduate level course in effective teaching practice, which has resulted in this innovative book. Her research and scholarship is focused around improving teaching and student learning outcomes.

January 5, 2014 (El Cajon ) -- El Cajon Police requested the public’s assistance in identifying a suspect who was involved in two armed robberies that occurred on Monday December 30, 2013, Thursday January 2, 2014 and an attempted robbery on Wednesday January 1, 2014.

"Based on information received from tipsters and witnesses the suspect was located at an address in El Cajon," said Lt. Frank La Haye.  "The suspect was contacted as he was leaving an address on S. Magnolia.  After a brief foot chase he was apprehended without further incident in the 600 block of Van Houten Avenue."

January 4, 2014 - The La Mesa Chamber of Commerce announces that its first breakfast meeting of the year, with guest speaker Supervisor Dianne Jacob will be held on Tuesday, January 21 from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. at Marie Callenderʼs restaurant, 6950 Alvarado Road, San Diego, CA 92120.

The public is welcome to attend, along with Chamber members, to hear from Supervisor Jacob, whose 2^nd Supervisorial district includes 620,000 residents – the largest of San Diego County’s five supervisorial districts.

January 2, 2014 (McCain Valley) -- While hiking in McCain Valley north of Sacatone Road on New Year's Day, Laurie Baker and her husband encountered these two Peninsular Bighorn rams.

"What a pleasant surprise!" Baker exclaimed of her New Year's discovery -- an important sighting, since the draft environmental impact statement for Iberdrola Renewables' planned Tule Wind project in McCain Valley concludes that wind turbines aren "located outside of critical habitat areas and will not have any detrimental impacts on sheep."

Finding proof of the endangered animals doesn't assure their protection, however.  When Pattern Energy's Ocotillo Express Wind Facility was approved, the project's environmental report similarly concluded that the site was not bighorn habitat.  When photos of a herd of bighorn on the project site were sent to then Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, he issued take permits allowing up to 10 bighorn ewes and lambs to be killed, allowing the project to proceed at the expense of this critically endangered species which is at risk of extinction, according to the Bighorn Institute.

By Miriam Raftery

January 1, 2013 (Sacramento)--A flurry of new laws are slated to take effect in California in the New Year.  Here are a few of the new laws that could affect you, your family, or your business:

January 2, 2014 (La Mesa)--The Grossmont Healthcare District (GHD), the public agency that serves as landlord of Grossmont Hospital, has announced it is continuing negotiations with Sharp HealthCare to add another 30 years to its existing lease agreement for the operation of the La Mesa hospital.

The GHD board recently voted to finalize discussions with Sharp officials to extend the current 30-year lease, which was signed in 1991 and is scheduled to expire on May 30, 2021. The parties are discussing extending the lease to May 29, 2051.

By Jake Christie

December 29, 2013 (San Diego)--As a courtesy to the thousands of San Diego State University students who use Malcolm A. Love Library, the library administration recently held an open house of sorts to describe their plans for modernizing the Nixon-era structure-- plans that may take 20 years to finish and cost somewhere in the ballpark of $100 million. 

The presentation was held in the Leon Williams Room (fourth floor, Love Library) to an audience of 19 students and made by Stephanie Kingsnorth, an architect with Pfeiffer Partners Architects of Los Angeles.

January 2, 2014 (San Diego) – You’re invited to a star party with Mission Trails Regional Park guide and resident astronomer George Varga on Saturday, January 11 from 5 to 8 p.m.

The Moon is past First Quarter and waxing. Jupiter will be rising in the Eastern sky. Up for viewing are The Pleiades (Seven Sisters), the Double Cluster in Perseus, the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) high overhead as well as the great Orion Nebula rising in the East.