Delays are expected Thursday night during one-way traffic control operations

Source: Caltrans

October 27, 2016 (San Diego) - Caltrans crews have scheduled lane closures at the intersection of State Route 67 (SR-67) and Dye Road/Highland Valley Road near Ramona on Thursday night from 7 until 5 Friday morning.

East County News Service

October 27, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) -- East County Magazine editor Miriam Raftery picked up three awards in San Diego Press Club’s 2016 Excellence in Journalism Awards competition.

Our entry titled “Border Fire Leaves Residents Burned Over Bureaucratic Bungling” won the Wildcard category; this year the wildcard topic was “life on the border.”  Our media outlet beat out media in all categories for this prestigious award including TV, radio, newspapers and magazines countywide.

October 27, 2016 (San Diego's East County) -- East County Roundup highlights top stories of interest to East County and San Diego’s inland regions, published in other media. This week’s top “Roundup” headlines include:

LOCAL

• Toxic Plume In El Cajon Reaches Beneath Mobile Home Park(KPBS)
• Hunter pushes Coast Guard to lease or buy ship owned by top campaign donor (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Sister of El Cajon police shooting victim files suit against city of El Cajon (10 News)
• “Justice or else…” Activists at El Cajon City Council meeting(Reporting San Diego)
• “Wake up: Stop the genocide…” Why those T-shirts?  (Reporting San Diego)
• 3 Iran-Americans Receive Lengthy Prison Sentences In Iran(NPR)
• San Diego federal judges OK 99% of requests to cut drug sentences (Union-Tribune)
• Invasive Insect Threatens San Diego County's Palm Trees (KPBS)
• Most San Diego Hospitals Fail To Meet Goal For Reducing C-Sections(KPBS)
• San Diego State's Graduation Rate Hits All-Time High (KPBS)
• Obama lashes out at Issa in San Diego (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Chargers advertising — lies, lies, lies (San Diego Reader – Don Bauder)

STATE

• California  Investigating Whether Wells Fargo Committed Criminal Identity Theft (NPR)
• Donors pour $450 million into California initiatives (KQED California Report)
• Calif. voters returning ballots in big numbers, election officials say (Sacramento Bee)
• Two earthquake faults meet near San Francisco, could trigger next Big One (CS Monitor)
• California judicial watchdog agency sues over state audit (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• How Doctors And The DMV Decide It’s Time For Californians To Stop Driving (KPBS)

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

Apple recipes included

By Greg Dunne

October 26, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) – Let’s compare apples to apples. The change of the season from summer fruits, to fall and winter apples is under way. The start of the new crop apples begins the middle of October and will run through early May. The variety of apples we see in the markets are increasing all the time. Some of the relatively new varieties include Opal Apples, Sweetie Apples, Envy Apples, Ambrosia Apples, Ginger Gold Apples, Autumn Glory Apples, and Sweet Tango Apples.

Update October 26, 2016: Defense Secretary Ash Carter has ordered a halt to this action, so  California National Guard members won't have to payback bonuses paid out erroneously years ago. President Barack Obama applauded Carter's decision. Read more.

East County News Service

October 24, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) – California National Guard soldiers have been ordered to pay back reenlistment bonuses paid a decade ago, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The bonuses of $15,000 or more  were offered to encourage reenlistment.  The Pentagon intended those bonuses to retain experts in intelligence and other high in demand services during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

East County News Service

October 26, 2016 (San Diego's East County) - East County Magazine's World Watch helps you be an informed citizen about important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a wide variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S.

General news

• Should we see everything a cop sees? (New York Times Magazine)
• An outsider takes charge of the Border Patrol (Los Angeles Times)
• Will The New Era of Limited Federal Monitoring Still Protect Voter Rights? (NPR)
• Will Maine Be the First State Where Voters May Rank Their Choices?  (Reason)
• AARP sues U.S. agency over employee wellness programs (Reuters)
• US warns its citizens of possible kidnappings, terror attacks in Turkey (JPost)
• NSA contractor faces spying charges (BBC)
• Sempra owned leaking gas well in Alabama, too (Los Angeles Times)

Presidential campaign

• Inside Donald Trump’s one-stop parties: attendees recall cocaine and very young models(Daily Beast)
• Fact check: The final fiery debate between Clinton and Trump (CNN)
• Clinton might be moving toward privatizing Social Security (Forbes)
• The stunningly long list of women who have accused Donald Trump of sexual assault (Mother Jones)
• Top 10 Things We Learned from Hillary Clinton Campaign's Emails (Reason)
• Did FBI barter with Hillary Clinton over email classification? (CS Monitor)

WORLD

• Hundreds near Mosul sent to hospital after sulfur plant set alight (JPost)
• UK to pardon thousands convicted under past anti-gay laws (CS Monitor)
• Mexico's Demand for Potent Calif. Marijuana Creates Southbound Smuggling (KPBS)
• Did Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro stage a coup? (CS Monitor)
• Another North Korea intermediate range missile fails after launch (Reuters)
• Bennett suspends Israeli cooperation with UNESCO after Temple Mount vote (JPost)
• Police Van Rams Protesters at Anti-U.S. Demonstration in Philippines (NPR)
• Two American citizens sentenced by Iran to 10 years in jail (JPost)
• Exclusive: Iran steps up weapons supply to Yemen's Houthis via Oman - officials  (Reuters)

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

Starts Season-long Celebration for Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

East County News Service

October 25, 2016 (Borrego) – How do you protect and preserve Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, the largest state park in California – with its 600,000 acres of flora, fauna, hiking trails, free camping, archeological sites and much more? That’s the job of the Anza-Borrego Foundation, celebrating its 50th anniversary this desert season.

Story and photos by Liz Alper

Full quotes courtesy Jen Heisel

October 25, 2016 (San Diego) - With their last Friday night game of the season against Utah State this week, San Diego State head coach Rocky Long, senior linebacker Austin Wyatt-Thayer and junior running back and kick returner Rashaad Penny spoke to media at this week's press conference.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo courtesy ECM news partner 10 News

October 25, 2016 (El Cajon)—A 14-year-old football player at Grossmont High School was injured  by lightning that struck nearby while walking toward the locker room after football practice yesterday around 6:15 p.m. 

In 2010,  we reported on a coach at El Capitan High School who kept players on a field during a lightning storm in violation of district policy. “The policy of the GUHSD in thunder/lightning storm conditions would be to immediately seek safe shelter at the first sound of thunder and to remain in said shelter until at least ½ hour after the last sound of thunder,” Larry Pear, director of extended and co-curricular activities at the Grossmont Union High School District,  told us at the time.

Numerous witnesses report seeing lighting strikes throughout the afternoon in the community, right up until the time the student was struck. So why wasn’t yesterday’s football practice at Grossmont High, in the same school district, cancelled?

East County News Service

October 25, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting-edge news that could impact your health and our future.

• Meet the baby who was born twice (CNN)
• Pediatricians Release New Guidance for Preventing Sudden Infant Deaths (NPR)
• More than half a million heart surgery patients at risk of deadly infection (CNN)
• Researchers tackle metastatic breast cancer (CBS)
• Brain Implant Restores Sense of Touch to Paralyzed Man (NPR)
• Why Is the News About TB So Bad? (NPR)
• Healthy mice from lab-grown eggs (BBC)
• NPR Poll: Are Parents Overrating the Quality of Child Care? (NPR)

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

• 'Smart' home devices used as weapons in website attack (BBC)
• Companies urged to use multiple vendors in wake of cyber attack (Reuters)
• Widespread cyberattacks take down sites worldwide (CNN)
• China launches longest manned space mission (Reuters)
• The Universe Has Almost 10 Times More Galaxies Than We Thought
• Great Barrier Reef pronounced dead by scientists (Outside Online)
• UK spy agencies broke privacy rules says tribunal (BBC)
• DOJ Uses Vague Court Request to Try to Demand People Unlock Any Fingerprint-Locked Phones (Reason)
• Police Facial Recognition Databases Log About Half of Americans (NPR)
• In insurance Big Data could lower rates for optimistic tweeters (Reuters)
• The rise of 'citizen astronomers': An era of new discoveries and collaboration (CS Monitor)

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

East County News Service

October 25, 2016 (El Cajon) - The Mission Arts & Crafts Fair will be this Saturday, October 29 fro 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

East County News Service

October 25, 2016 (El Cajon) – A hearing is set for tomorrow at 3 p.m. in U.S. District Court in downtown San Diego on a restraining order sought by the NAACP and several individuals who claim they were falsely arrested for holding peaceful protests and vigils in the wake of the Alfred Olango shooting by an El Cajon Police officer.

Source: Jamul Indian Village

October 24, 2016 (Jamul) - The Jamul Indian Village Development Corporation (JIVDC) announced today that it has finalized an approximately $460 million refinancing transaction in connection with its brand new facility, Hollywood Casino Jamul- San Diego. Proceeds from the refinancing will be used to refinance the debt associated with the development of the casino, retire tribal debt and for working capital. N.A., Goldman Sachs Banks USA and Fifth Third Bank acted as joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners. The loans will be held by commercial banks, an affiliate of Och-Ziff Real Estate, and an affiliate of Penn National Gaming Inc.

Photo credit:  Dave Nunes

October 24, 2016 (El Cajon) -- A SIG Alert has been issued for I-8 east due to a two-acre brush fire burning alongside the freeway just east of Greenfield in unincorporated El Cajon. The fire is burning uphill toward the Wal-Mart store, according to the CHP incident page.

ECM has a reporter en route to the scene; check back for details.