By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Cleveland National Forest, courtesy National Forest Service

April 6, 2015 (San Diego’s East County)—The Republican-controlled House and Senate have passed measures that would allow the sale or outright giveaway of most public lands –including national forests, federal wildernesses and  wildlife preserves and Bureau of Land Management properties.  Only Republicans voted for the language slipped into a non-binding budget resolution—which passed without a single Democratic vote. 

The shocking news is revealed in a New York Times editorial by Will Rogers, president of the Trust for Public Lands, titled “Our Land, Up for Grabs.”  

While it’s unlikely that President Barack Obama would support such an extreme measure, if a Republican president is elected in 2016 and Republicans maintains control of both houses of Congress, losing our cherished public lands such could be a very real possibility.

Here in San Diego County alone, that could mean the demise of:  Cleveland National Forest,  Otay Mountain Wildnerness, Hauser Wilderness, Pine Creek , Carrizo Gorge, Sawtooth Mountains Wilderness , Agua Tibia Wilderness, San Diego National Wildlife Refuge, San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge , Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge, McCain Valley National Recreation Area and more.

March 25, 2015 (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

• GOP makes big entry in supervisor race (U-T)
• San Vicente Reservoir large battery ‘years away’, council told (Times of San Diego)
• 71st Assembly: Santee Mayor Voepel makes it official; Harrison locks down some big endorsements (SD Rostra)
• Energy Obamacare hits California homeowners (UT San Diego)
• Schools defend solar investments from utility proposal (UT San Diego)

STATE

• California teachers  unions promote charter schools bill (Sacramento Bee)
• CPUC boss had backchannel dealings (UT Watchdog)
• Prison population down, payroll up (UT Watchdog)
• California Senate Approves $1B Water Plan Amid Drought (KPBS)
• California’s aid in dying bill passes first committee (Sacramento Bee)

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

February 18, 2015 (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

• GOP backs Anderson over Jacob in supervisor race (UT San Diego)
• County to pay $1.1M for invasive exams (UT San Diego)
• Grossmont school district to appeal injunction (UT San Diego)
• SDG&E Gets $5M Grant To Expand Borrego Springs Microgrid (KPBS)
• Huge Funding Disparity Lingers for San Diego’s Homeless (Voice of San Diego)
• More Than 2,000 Trees Planted Along River In Santee (KPBS)
• Flu Season Death Toll Rises To 43 In San Diego County (KPBS)
• Nuke group: Unhand emails, Edison (UT San Diego)

STATE

• California Committee Explores Road Usage Charge In Place Of Gas Tax (KPBS)
• Lawmakers press for tighter leash on CPUC (SF Gate)
• San Francisco commuters possibly exposed to measles on train (Reuters)
• Broke California cities can slice pensions (U-T)
• California leaders announce investigation into missing bond funds (Reuters)
• UCSA calls for divestment from bodies involved in alleged human rights violations (Daily Bruin)
• Solar jobs surge in California (U-T)
• Senator blasts Cal over Peevey party (UT San Diego)

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

January 24, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – Our December radio shows are now online!  You can listen online now (note sound files may take a minute to load). For links to listen to the shows plus a full list of topics and interviews in December, click here and scroll down.

Our top newsmaker interviews included leading environmentalists, musicians, authors, business leaders, police officers, refugee aid leaders, winemakers, and more.   We talked about hot news from UC tuition hikes to energy projects proposed in our region to a nonprofit seeking to build an incubator business model to bring jobs to East County.  Plus we went on location to events from a holiday party for homeless kids in El Cajon to a Nile Sisters program honoring local refugees.

You can hear the East County Magazine Show on KNSJ 89.1 FM on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 5 to 6 p.m., on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m, and on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.

County planners approved despite serious environmental and financial issues; rural group vows to sue if approved

By Miriam Raftery

January 19, 2015 (Boulevard) – Rural  planning group chairs and environmentalists are blasting county planners for approving Soitec Solar’s controversial industrial scale solar projects.  Planners largely ignored evidence that the projects could deplete groundwater supplies, threaten wildlife and create fire hazards—as well as Soitec’s precarious financial position.

Next up, San Diego Supervisors will hold a hearing on the project February 4^th.  At least one citizens’ group, Backcountry Against Dumps (BAD) has promised to file a lawsuit against the County if Supervisors approve the projects, which would cover 1500 acres with approximately 8,000 massive solar trackers, each 30 feet high.

January 6, 2015 (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/REGIONAL

• A quick peek at 2015 in the East County (UT San Diego)
• What to Watch for in 2015 (Voice of San Diego)
• San Vicente could be whopper in 2015 (UT San Diego)
• Innocent Alpine resident detained for a week - San Diego County faces federal lawsuit in a case of mistaken identity (SD City Beat)
• City’s cell-phone sniffer cost $738K (U-T Watchdog)

STATE

• Plastic Bag Ban Opponents Turn In Referendum Signatures (KPBS)
• California judges sue Calpers pension system over contributions(Reuters)
• California campus union votes 2-1 for Israel divestment (Jewish Daily Forward)
• Cal Fire puts 16 workers on administrative leave in anticipation of sexual misconduct report (Sacramento Bee)

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

December 29, 2014 (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/REGIONAL

• San Diego: No. 1 pleasant place in U.S. (UT San Diego)
• Chiefs beat Chargers as both miss play-offs (UT San Diego)
• New brewery, entertainment center for La Mesa (La Mesa Today)
• San Diego Closes 40 Illegal Marijuana Dispensaries In December  (KPBS)
• Judge called Edison about San Onofre (UT San Diego)
• Authorities Warn Public After 4 Dead Birds Test Positive For West Nile Virus (KPBS)

STATE

• Judge called Edison about San Onofre (UT)
• Why every American should care about California’s Moonlight Fire case (Fox)
• New faces at CPUC. But new broom unlikely (SD Reader, Don Bauder)
• PG&E discloses more emails with state regulators (U-T)
• Lawmakers are getting way more gifts (UT)

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

December 10,  2014 (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

• Lightner first woman elected president of SD City Council (Times of San Diego)
• Grossmont College To Offer Bachelor's Degrees In Nursing  (KPBS)
• Behind the lone vote against SANDAG’s big transportation plan (Voice of San Diego)
• Mayor to the end (La Mesa Today)
• Dianne Jacob: confronting issues head-on (UT San Diego)
• Sheriff sues in chokehold guard case (UT San Diego)
• Free speech returns to pension board (UT San Diego)
• La Mesa travel writer completes 800 mile walk through California’s 21 missions (East County Californian)

STATE

• Bill would extend fraud protections to CA immigrants (UT San Diego)
• San Francisco, L.A. lawsuits against UBER stir backlash (Los Angeles Times)
• Protests Over Police Killings Turn Violent In Berkeley, Calif. (KPBS)

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

“Without significant input from the public, from you, this juggernaut will proceed relentlessly, sacrificing millions of acres of desert habitat, wasting precious groundwater, degrading air quality, and “taking” endangered species and other wildlife.” —David Garmon, Borrego Springs, petition author

By Miriam Raftery

November 28, 2014 (San Diego’s East County) – Environmentalists have launched a petition at Moveon.org asking the public to sign in opposition to the Desert Renewable Energy Plan, which would open up millions of acres of California deserts to industrial-scale wind and solar projects. Instead, environmental leaders want the California Energy Commission to do an analysis of rooftop solar as an alternative. 

You can sign the petition here:  http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/we-dont-have-to-sacrifice?source=c.em.mt&r_by=1516679

The petition states: “More renewable energy is available from rooftop solar in San Diego and Los Angeles Counties than will be derived from the siting of utility-scale generating facilities on 2 million acres of desert habitat called for in the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan. The unintended consequences of utility-scale facilities in the desert are becoming known and are unacceptable--dust storms in Lancaster, midair incineration of birds at Ivanpah, depletion of scarce groundwater in Borrego Springs.”

The petition was started by Borrego Springs resident David Garmon, president of the Tubb Canyon Desert Conservancy. It is supported by the Desert Protective Council in San Diego and by Basin and Range Watch, another southwest environmental protection organization.

November 19, 2014 (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

• SDG&E seeks 7.5% rate increase for 2016 (U-T)
• Whose utilities commission is it, anyway? (U-T)
• Sheriff dumps Facebook over lawsuit (UT San Diego)
• Who Lied? Part II: DeMaio’s Deceptive Emails (Voice of SD)
• Quite the grand larceny, if proven true (SD Reader)
• Border rail line faces 40-mile gap (UT San Diego)
• Sempra earnings surge 18 percent (UT San Diego)

STATE

• UC regents move tuition plan forward (Sacramento Bee)
• Huge solar plant lags in early production (Yahoo News)
• Napolitano makes case for University of California tuition increase (SacBee)
• California ordered to speed up inmate releases (SacBee)

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

November 6, 2014 (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

• “I did my very best for this city.” La Mesa’s outgoing Mayor Art Madrid  (SD Reader)
• Wedding bug hits S.D. City Council (UT San Diego)
• What Chris Cate means for the City Council (Voice of San Diego)
• Grammy Award winner Steven Vaus now Mayor of Poway (KUSI)
• Intrusive county exams reined in (UT San Diego)
• Major injury collision on I-8 sents several Ramonans to area hospitals (Ramona Sentinel)

STATE

• Analysis: California GOP victory—Democrats denied a supermajority (LA Times)
• University of California plans annual tuition fee increase for five years (Sacramento Bee)
• California could legalize recreational marijuana use in 2016 (KUSI)
• Brittany Maynard’s death could spur action on assisted suicide in California (Sacramento Bee)

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

October 22, 2014 (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/REGIONAL

• KPBS Debuts Its Interactive Voters Guide  (KPBS)
• Unemployment rate down, so are jobs (SD Reader)
• La Mesa gets grant for pedestrian, bicycle safety (UT San Diego)
• GOP Candidate Carl DeMaio Cleared Of Sexual Harassment Claims (Huffington Post)
• John McCann files defamation lawsuit (UT San Diego)

STATE

• Californians To Receive Credit On October-November Electricity Bills (KPBS)
• In dry California, using price to police water use (Marketplace.org)

For excerpts and links to full stories, scroll down.