East County News Service

Photo: Constituents join Davis at a press conference in support of her resolution

September 2, 2014 (San Diego) -- With the U.S. Postal Service already beginning to phase out door delivery, Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) has introduced a bipartisan House Resolution stressing that door delivery should not end.  Two Republicans joined Davis as lead cosponsors of House Resolution 711.

By Miriam Raftery

September 2, 2014 (Sacramento)--On Friday, the California Senate closed its annual legislative session. Not a single Senator would sponsor AB 2145, which opponents had dubbed the “anti-competitive Monopoly Power Grab Act,” so the bill is now dead.

The measure, authored by Assemblyman Steven Bradford, would have undermined efforts in San Diego to create an alternative to San Diego Gas & Electric under community choice energy law.

By Miriam Raftery

September 2, 2014 (Sacramento)--One in five students nationwide is a victim of sexual assault,  Increasingly, campuses across America are facing criticism for not doing enough to protect students from sexual assault.

From head to toe, 3-D implants are revolutionizing modern medicine

By Miriam Raftery

September 2, 2014 (San Diego's East County) - Doctors  at Peking University in China have implanted the first-ever vertebra in a patient made using a 3-D printer, Business Insider reports.  Unlike most items printed in 3D, which use plastic, the custom-designed vertebra is made of titanium powder – a lightweight, porous material that allows real bone to grow through it, eventually creating a more natural fusion for the young patient’s spine.

September 3, 2014 (Jacumba) – “It’s impossible to gauge the size of this substation from this photo. It’s huge,” Wayne Brammer writes of the still-under-construction ECO substation project that SDG&E is building in rural Jacumba.

September 1, 2014 (San Diego's East County) - You hear the term, but you don't know what it really means.  Why are some grapes called Bordeaux grapes, if what I drink is from California?  And why are they sometimes called vinifera or Vitis vinifera and why are they connected to each other?  What is a cultivar, or a Bordeaux grape?

September 1, 2014 (San Diego’s East County) – A reward of up to $1,000 is offered by Crimestoppers for information leading to the arrest of Tavarris Deshawn Garcia.

By Miriam Raftery

September 1, 2014 (Washington D.C.) – Two former investigators with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are speaking out to say that the federal government is ignoring harm to wildlife caused by industrial scale wind and solar facilities.

Photo: View of Oak Creek/Boulder Creek area taken by Cynthia Burnham from her home, where she reports seeing an SDG&E helicopter hovering "very low" for at least 10 minutes.

An open letter sent to the California Public Utilities Commission,  U.S. Forest Service/Cleveland National Forest, Congressman Duncan Hunter and Supervisor Dianne Jacob:

By Cindy Buxton

Dear CPUC, Foresters, Congressmen, and Supervisors:  

August 31, 2014 (Boulder Creek)--Several residences and visitors to the Cleveland National Forest lately between Descanso and Julian in the Boulder Creek area have complained about low flying helicopters.  These were seen hovering over people's back yards by only a few hundred feet. Subsequently we are to learn in the East County Magazine that several other residences identified the helicopters belonging to SDG&E, also experienced this to the point that horses were so frightened that they were injured.  One of the helicopters seen by several residences along Boulder Creek Road had a visible camera on the front  and apparently was not necessarily  in line with the ROW (right of way) for the TL626 line.

By Miriam Raftery

August 30, 2014 (Jacumba Hot Springs)—Two agave roasting pits  found recently in Jacumba Hot Springs have been carbon-dated, indicating Kumeyaay Native American occupation in the Jacumba region dates back at least 9,000 years.  Termed “an astounding recent archaeological find” by the Imperial Valley Desert Museum in Ocotillo, the agave roasting pits were unearthed during construction of SDG&E’s ECO substation project in San Diego’s East County.

Howard Cook, chair of Jacumba Hot Springs Sponsor Group (the town's advisory planning board) believes the find should have impacts on future develoment projects pending in the area. 

“This is highly relevant to the proposed Jacumba Solar project located next door and sharing roads with the under construction Eco project,” he told East County Magazine. “Certainly this calls for a cultural monitor and perhaps some preliminary excavating of the proposed site by [an] historical society and Native American historical/cultural experts."

By Fire Chief Sam DiGiovanna

August 29, 2014 (San Diego)--It appears the California Grape Crush came crashing in a bit early and un-expectantly for the Napa wine region. On the eve of the 2014 harvest, Napa and Napa Valley wineries were rocked by a 6.1 magnitude earthquake in the early hours of Sunday morning. The quake injured over 100 people, but fortunately claimed no lives says Fire Chief Sam DiGiovanna. Napa’s Resiliency is to be commended, however, a good reminder for all of us to be prepared… Coincidentally, September is National Wine Awareness Month and wine has become so vital to California, that it deserves a whole month.

East County News Service

August 30, 2014 (San Diego’s East County) – Three East County residents have contracted West Nile Virus – the first victims of the disease in San Diego County in the past two years.

By Miriam Raftery

August 30, 2014 (Sacramento) – Plastic accounts for 90% of all floating debris in the ocean. This has negatively impacted over 250 species and puts petroleum-based chemicals into our food chain. Many bags wind up in the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” in the north Pacific Ocean that has been estimated to measure hundreds of thousands, even millions of square miles.  Whales, dolphins and sea turtles choke by swallowing plastic bags, which resemble jellyfish prey. Bags can also become entangled around an animal’s neck.

August 30, 2014 (Alpine) – Viejas Casino & Resort will attempt to launch the world’s longest chain of fireworks—more than 10,000 – to celebrates its 23^rd anniversary on Friday, September 12th at 8 p.m. You’re invited to the festivities near the Viejas Hotel pool to witness the sky come alive with fireworks during this Guinness Book of World Records setting attempt.