By Miriam Raftery

April 25, 2017 (Cuyamaca) –From flowing water falls to blooming wildflowers, nature put on a spectacular show in San Diego’s East County. On Saturday,  I headed out to the mountains, taking the Highway 79 exit north off I-8 to start with a visit to Green Valley Falls in Rancho Cuyamaca State Park, followed by stops at Lake Cuyamaca  and picturesque Julian.

Editor’s note:  We first wrote about Kathleen Hayden’s efforts to restore the Coyote Canyon heritage herd of wild horses locally in January 2013. Read article. But in July 2013, she was served with an eviction notice and forced to  give up the last descendants of San Diego’s wild horses. Despite a 2012  support  letter from Congressman Darrell Issa and a 2014 letter from a genetics expert confirming that the horses are rare and of historic significance as descendants of Spanish Colonial horses,  the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has done nothing to protect or return them--and now is not turning over the deed of transfer, Hayden says  Now she has penned an open letter to  the House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop questioning the legality of the transfer.

Dear Chairman Bishop,

Please investigate the transfer of the BLM Federal CA Coyote Canyon Wild Horse Herd area (20,000 acres)  to CA Anza Borrego Desert State Park.  In response to Ca State Senator Joel Anderson's request for the deed, Parks claim it doesn't exist.

April 6, 2017 (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

• El Cajon moves along on redistricti plans for election (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• ShotSpotter tells police only 1 in 4 shootings are reported (SD Union-Tribune)
• New and improved (and taxpayer funded) field turfs are still failing (Voice of San Diego)
• Rep. Hunter says he was not involved in criminal action (SD Union-Tribune)
• San Diego County makes Justice Dept. list for limited cooperation with immigration officials (SD Union-Tribune)
• Rescue cushion highlighted by man jumping over I-5 (KNSD)

STATE

• Are your housing costs sky high? A new fight is coming over California rent control (Fresno Bee)
• Could California use existing money for road repairs?  (Capitol Public Radio)
• Too young for juvie?  Calif. bill bars prosecution for kids under 12 (Sacramento Bee)
• Mojave Desert water project gets Trump administration approval  (KPCC)

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

April 1, 2017—East County Magazine has the exclusive scoop on astounding major stories breaking today:

• Hunter, Davis announce plan to cut taxes, bring innovative jobs to El Cajon
• La Mesa to gain new library—and a virtual city hall
• Mexico to pay for border wall
• Motorists launch “pot for potholes” initiative
• Homeless haven to go underground in San Diego
• Proposals roll in to replace Sun Valley golf course in La Mesa

Is truth stranger than fiction? You decide.  Click links above for individual stories, or  click this link  to view blurbs on each of these stories in our extra-special April 1st edition. Then to open each special report, scroll down and click “read more." (Trust us, you won't want to miss this news!) 

By Tom Christensen, County of San Diego Communications Office

Photo:  Greyerbaby / Pixabay

March 28, 2017 (San Diego) --Pregnant women, women who could become pregnant and couples considering pregnancy are advised to avoid traveling to areas with known Zika transmission after a baby with the severe birth defect microcephaly was born in San Diego County.

The County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency reports the mother was infected with the Zika virus while traveling in a foreign country where the virus is common.

By Miriam Raftery

March 21, 2017 (Jamul) – Final Cut Steakhouse offers a premier menu of artfully prepared dishes served up amid the glamour of vintage Hollywood. You can also savor spectacular scenic views through a wall of windows high atop the new Hollywood Casino Jamul-San Diego.

You don’t have to be a gambler to be a winner at Final Cut Steakhouse!

Report rock slides, boulders or other dangerous road conditions to the County Operations Emegency Call Center (858)565-5262. Help save lives!

By Miriam Raftery

Photos by Christina Dahners-Johnson:  Seasonal creek behind Lyons Valley Trading Post in Jamul had been dry for at least seven years before this storm.

February 27, 2017 (San Diego) – Flooding is wreaking havoc on rural roads and highways countywide.  In Mission Valley, the San Diego River has water cresting among the top 10 levels on record, with the ballfield at Petco Park and some parking garages currently submerged.

George Barnett, a member of the Alpine Community Planning Group, posted in the Ranter’s Roost forum, “ It’s raining like hell in Alpine…Viejas Creek is way outside   its normal channel and Via Viejas into the old ranch area is closed with the dam well over-flowing.  To my eye, on a dark and cloudy day, more water is coming down the creek than I recall seeing in maybe 10 years.”

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Dancers performed in front of ECPAC in its heydey.

February 9, 2017 (El Cajon) – The long-shuttered East County Performing Arts Center (ECPAC) may finally be reopened under management of Live Nation, which claims to be the global leader in live entertainment. According to the company’s website,  Live Nation operates in 7 nations, has produce shows in nearly 40 countries, and has a concert somewhere in the world every 20 minutes.

The El Cajon City Council will vote Tuesday, February 14^th at its 3 p.m. meeting on authorizing the City manager to negotiate a draft management agreement with Live Nation .  View agenda and attachments. 

Planning Commission meeting Feb. 10  to draft changes to zoning ordinance; next Supervisor hearing is Feb. 14 with final vote March 15

By Thea Skinner

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors moved on  Jan. 25th to have staff draft a ban prohibiting medical and non-medical marijuana facilities in unincorporated areas by April 15.  Existing and previously approved medical marijuana dispensaries would be phased out and shut down after five years.

A draft to repeal and replace the zoning ordinance regulating marijuana facilities will be on the Planning Commission agenda Feb. 10 at 9 a.m. in the County Operations Center Campus Chamber (5520 Overland Ave, San Diego. See map).  View the Planning Commission report.

The packed room gathered 31 individuals wishing to speak, 12 in favor and 19 in opposition, with two requests for group presentations. Eleven individuals registered their opinion with two in favor and nine in opposition.

By Miriam Raftery

Protest planned at 5 p.m. tonight at Lindbergh Field; immigrant attorneys warn demonstrators could be detained, caution non-citizens not to participate due to “grave” risks

January 29, 2017 (San Diego)—Multiple federal courts have issued orders temporarily blocking deportation of  legal residents detained at airports following President Trump’s executive order Friday, including a New York federal judge ruling on an ACLU suit that applies nationwide. While some remain detained and denied access to counsel per the ACLU, others were allowed to meet with immigration attorneys  and were soon set free at airports across the U.S., where large crowds gathered and greeted the arriving immigrants with cheers to welcome them to America (View video).

The court orders thus far protect only those already at U.S. airports or in transit. Other lawsuits are set to be filed Monday by civil rights and Arab-American groups seeking to overturn as unconstitutional the broader ban on admitting refugees as from seven mostly Muslim nations (Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Syria, Libya and Yemen)  listed as countries of concern by the State Department. 

The order also applies to  an estimated half million legal U.S. residents with green cards from those countries, as well as people who hold dual citizen in any of the seven nations as well as citizenship in U.S. ally nations including Canada and Great Britain.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo, right:  Cathy and Kayla Lechien at La Mesa trolley stop

Photo, left:  Women's marchers at the embarcadero in San Diego 

January 21, 2017 (San  Diego) – At the Spring Street trolley station in La Mesa, hundreds of East County residents converged to ride downtown and join this morning’s  Women’s March.

Major media outlets estimate some 40,000 marchers in San Diego joined millions more across the U.S. in what CBS reports was the largest protest in U.S. history.  Some participants estimate there were over 100,000 marching in San Diego; another 10,000 marched in North County. Other cities around the globe also drew huge crowds.

 Women and men,  young and old, straight and gay, white, black and Latino –and all shared one common goal:  forging a resistance coalition opposed to policies of President Donald Trump that would weaken rights and freedoms for  women, minorities, and many other American.

November 29, 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

• El Cajon takes urgent stand on marijuana (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Caught on camera: mountain lion in Lakeside neighborhood (10 News)
• Across the County, taxpayer-funded turf fields are falling apart while still under warranty (Voice of San Diego)
• Judge allows San Onofre waste lawsuit to advance (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Trump should renounce Muslim registry: America is better than that (San Diego Union-Tribune editorial)
• Hundreds of new downtown rentals approved(San Diego Union-Tribune)

STATE

• ‘Calexit’ movement launches (Los Angeles Times)
• Can your landlord just say no to marijuana now that Prop 64 passed? (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Government sued over offshore fracking in Santa Barbara Channel(Pacific Coast Business Times)
• UC, CSU Consider Raising Tuition For The First Time In 6 Years (KPBS)
• Numbers of international students in U.S. is at all-time high and California is top destination (Los Angeles Times)
• CalSTRS calculates total fees in likely first for public pension (Reuters)

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

Meeting Nov. 12 planned for communities of color concerned about the election outcome

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Estela de los Rios, past victim of a hate crime in El Cajon

November 11, 2016 (San Diego) – Maria, a maid and legal U.S. resident who has raised her daughter here,  tearfully put her elderly,  frail mother on a plane Wednesday night and said goodbye,  perhaps forever.  “She is going back to Mexico, before Donald Trump can deport her,” Maria told East Magazine.

President-Elect Trump has vowed to deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants in America—including those brought here as children and the parents of U.S. citizens.  Even children who were brought here as babies, who have never known any other home.  Even ill and elderly parents such as Maria’s mother,  who has survived cancer and suffers from  diabetes.  Maria fears she is too ill to survive long on her own in Mexico—but the prospect of her mother languishing in a detention camp was even more frightening.

November 2, 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

• Businessman donates $100,000 to El Cajon Valley High (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Father of man fatally shot by police establishes foundation for police reform (Los Angeles Times)
• Grossmont schools chief organizing campaign work for students, staff (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• In failing the homeless,  San Diego stands apart (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Toxic Plume Leads To Testing Of El Cajon Mobile Homes(KPBS)
• Raided by never charged, cannabis distributor seeks return of seized assets (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Resident says his tree-trimming case shows CPUC favors utilities (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• $47B Deal Could Help Qualcomm Move From Phones To Cars(KPBS)
• Educators getting trained to 'run, hide or fight'(San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Refinancing La Mesa to save $9 million(San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Ramona Unified School District Board:  Choose 2 (Ramon Sentinel)

STATE

• ‘Pot Prop’ 64: Clearing the haze on a complex measure (Orange County Register)
• Sexually transmitted diseases reach record high (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• SeaWorld Marine Rescues Remain Higher Than Usual (KPBS)
• DMV uncovers fake ID ring on Craigslist(San Diego Union-Tribune)

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