Update 4:30 p.m. The Mexico fire has crossed the border into the U.S. and has burned about a half acre. CAL FIRE/San Diego County Fire Authority has moved resources to the Tecate point of entry. Air Attack 330 is now equipped with a camera and downlink system that the ground incident commander can view real time to see how the fire is burning across the border. “This is the first Air Attack to have this system and it has proved itself as a major tool in the firefighting arsenal,” Cal Fire’s Mike Mohler said. Smoke is visible across a broad swath of East County.

September 26, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) 8:30 a.m. – Three fires in Mexico that began yesterday are generating smoke visible from East County. “We are monitoring them and we have a lookout out there.,” Cal Fire spokesman Mike Mohler told East County Magazine this morning. The U.S. Forest Service is also keeping watch, he added.

September 25, 2010 (Santee) -- A brush fire in Santee charred approximately 40 acres late this afternoon, briefly threatening structures before firefights brought the blaze under control. Multiple agencies responded to the fire, which began at Carlton Hills and Lake Canyon.

By Brian Lafferty

September 25, 2010 (San Diego)--Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps opens with Gordon Gekko being released from a federal penitentiary in the year 2001. Among the personal items given back to him is his mobile phone, one of those ugly giant cell phones that are an eyesore today but were trendy in the late 1980s. Gekko exits the penitentiary and sees everybody else being picked up, including one ex-convict in a limousine. But nobody comes for him. His face exudes loneliness. Here was a man who was big and rich twenty-five years ago but now nobody cares about him.

Congressional debate to follow Stop Powerlink events

September 25, 2010 (Lakeside) – A rally for San Diegans who oppose the Sunrise Powerlink will be held Saturday, September 25th in Lakeside. The rally will be held at Lindo Lake Park (by the pavilions near the playground) at 10 a.m., followed by a march through Main Street in downtown Lakeside. 

September 17, 2010 (Julian) -- The first annual Folk Music Festival will be held in historic Julian, paired with the 24th annual Julian Art Guild Show. Both events will be held on the rustic grounds of the Menghini Winery on September 25 and 26 from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

September 24, 2010 (Washington, DC) –Several important consumer protection features of health reform went into effect yesterday, six months after the Affordable Care Act (also know as the Patient's Bill of Rights) was signed into law. While even supporters contend the bill is no panacea, it does contain some key reforms that may affect you and your family.

“The Patient’s Bill of Right makes sure that health care is available to you when you need it most and outlaws the most egregious abuses by the insurance industry,” said Congressman Filner (D-San Diego). For plan years beginning on or after September 23, 2010, all privately-insured Americans now have the following protections:

September 24, 2010 (Rancho Bernardo) – An 82-year-old driver crossed four lanes on Rancho Bernardo Road after leaving a shopping center shortly before noon yesterday, landing in a drainage ditch. According to San Diego Police, the woman appeared to have a medical issue.

By Brian Lafferty

September 24, 2010 (San Diego)--My favorite scene in the French film Heartbreaker comes towards the end. Alex (Romain Duris), who is tasked with breaking up a heiress’s relationship with her fiance, puts on I’ve Had the Time of My Life from her favorite movie Dirty Dancing. He starts dancing, having memorized all the steps. I cracked a really wide smile when Bill Medley began singing. I wasn’t laughing a lot during Heartbreaker but I sure was smiling.

By Brian Lafferty

September 24, 2010 (San Diego)--I watched Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole in a packed theater. Much of the audience consisted of parents and kids, many of them ranging between three to seven years old. There was an air of excitement in the theater during the half hour before the screening. But within the first fifteen minutes all the fun was sucked out. By the end, the atmosphere was cold and joyless. I left the screening depressed, manipulated, angry and appalled. This movie is based on a series of children’s novels but it is definitely not for kids. I will feel sorry for parents who will be understandably misled and take their kids to see a movie that will leave their young ones with tears and nightmares.

Victim taken to motel, forced to pose for photos use to solicit johns online

September 23, 2010 (San Diego) – U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy announced last week that three men have been sentenced to prison for sexual exploitation of a child and sex trafficking involving a minor.

September 23, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – The National Weather Service predicts hot weather across Southern California this weekend and early next week. High pressure building over the west along with weak offshore air flow will result in mostly clear skies, low humidity and high temperatures:

Septemer 23, 2010 (Sacramento) Assemblymember Marty Block (D-Lemon Grove) announced that 10 bills which he authored now await Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s signature. This package includes measures to boost skills for the unemployed, improve community college student assessment, eases the voting process for military serving overseas and protect funding for special education programs in schools across California.

Sullivan Solar has vision for Alpine “solar revolution”; hosts community meeting Sept. 25
Property owners can start saving money immediately, with no money down

September 23, 2010 (Alpine) – Sullivan Solar Power, a San Diego firm ranked among the fastest growing companies in America by Inc. Magazine, is offering group discounts to help Alpine homeowners and businesses create a solar-powered community. 

“When the powers-that-be such as the PUC, Sempra and SDG&E don’t respect the wishes of the constituents, it’s time for the constituents to declare independence,” Daniel Sullivan, president of Sullivan Solar Power, told East County Magazine. “What we are doing is setting the stage for them to declare independence at a cost that’s less than they would find anywhere else.” 

By Billie Jo Jannen
For East County Magazine

September 22, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) -- The principals of Campo and Potrero elementary schools in Mountain Empire Unified School District were reassigned by the superintendent without warning on Sept. 9; shocked parents were issued hasty letters of explanation five days later.

Campo Principal Diane Yops was informed that she was being removed. A janitor was dispatched to collect her keys and, in the presence of parents and staff members, moved her office items to Potrero Elementary. There, the non-Spanish speaking educator will supervise a student body that is mostly made up of native Spanish speakers. Witnesses said she was forbidden to speak to anyone at the time of her removal.