• Promote awareness of suicide as a public health issue;
• Share resources and information to help people who may be struggling;
• Encourage open conversations about suicide and mental health;
• Remember those who have been lost to suicide;
• And highlight the importance of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

East County News Service

Aug. 28, 2025 (Jacumba) -- The next first Saturday will once again be an evening for visitors and locals to shop, eat, drink and soak in the high desert.

The Jacumba Bathhouse is holding its next First Saturday bazaar from 5 to 9 p.m. on Sept. 6 at 44450 Old Highway 80 at Jacumba Street.

East County News Service

July 29, 2025 (Jacumba Hot Springs) -- Bad Vibes Good Friends and Jacumba Hot Springs Hotel will present Jacumbia Fest  on August 30 starting at 5 p.m.— a one-night-only celebration of Afro-Colombian rhythms, traditional and psychedelic cumbia from Colombia, Mexico and USA.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo:  5^th Supervisorial district candidates Kyle Krahel, John Franklin and Rebeca Jones.

July 27, 2025 (San Diego’s East County) – San Diego’s 5^th Supervisorial district will soon have a new representative.  Supervisor Jim Desmond, a conservative Republican, has announced plans to run for the 49^th Congressional district . The 49^th District, currently represented by Congressman Mike Levin, a Democrat, is a coastal enclave that includes Oceanside, Camp Pendleton and San Clemente.  

Three other state parks in San Diego County also recognized

East County News Service

Photos. left and right by Bob Kutschner: Wildflower fields at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

May 17, 2025 (San Diego’s East County) – Anza-Borrego Desert State Park has been named the best California state park for wildflower viewing in a new “Best of California State Parks”  poll released by the California State Parks Foundation. Anza-Borrego also won an honorable mention for best camping location.

Three other state parks in San Diego County also made the list.

By Karen Pearlman

April 25, 2025 (San Diego’s East County  – The Anza-Borrego Desert in inland San Diego County is captivating with its beauty and expansiveness, humbling and powerful in its quietness. A landscape of extremes -- sun-scorched earth and hidden blooms, rugged canyons carved by time, and sudden spring wildflowers when the rain gods have been kind -- the desert has a raw quality that strips everything down to the essentials of light, shadow, stone and sky.

Our desert region includes Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, famous for its spring wildflowers and rugged terrain; the city of Borrego Springs, the nation’s first “Dark Sky” community and ideal for stargazing; Agua Caliente State Park, known for its thermal pools; Ocotillo Wells, a wildly popular draw for off-road vehicles; and Jacumba Hot Springs, a town that has reinvented itself and become a destination on its own merits.

By Miriam Raftery

Photos by Karen, left and right:  Protest in Borrego Springs Saturday drew about 300 residents

April 6, 2025 (San Diego) –  An estimated 12,000 protesters in downtown San Diego turned out yesterday, according to San Diego Police, with other estimates far higher. The peaceful demonstration was part of the nationwide “Hands Off” rallies which drew millions of demonstrators against the dismantling of federal programs, mass firings, and erosion of rights under the Trump administration.

East County News Service

March 4, 2025 (Jacumba Hot Springs) -- A man is facing assault with a deadly weapon and other serious charges after a search of his property in Jacumba uncovered firearms, explosives and booby traps, says Lieutenant Jeff Ford with the San Diego County Sheriff’s department.

East County News Service

March 2, 2025 (Borrego Springs) – The Ram, a grassroots, nonprofit community radio station serving Borrego Springs is now online and can be heard here.

Funds sought to digitalize archived articles

Source:  San Diego History Center

February 12, 2025 (Borrego Springs) - The San Diego History Center and Desert Media Holdings Inc, owner of the Borrego Sun newspaper, have reached an agreement forthe transfer of the Borrego Sun archive ensuring the preservation of the San Diego County community’s history for future generations.

By Brooke Binkowski, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo:  County Supervisor Jim Desmond delivering his State of North County speech in June. (File photo courtesy of Desmond’s office)

January 16, 2025 (San Diego) - San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond announced that he will run for Congress.

By Jessica Brodkin Webb

January 7, 2025 (El Cajon) --In 13 days, President-elect Donald Trump could potentially begin to make good on his campaign promise to pursue mass deportations of immigrants and refugees living in the United States.

“As President I will immediately end the migrant invasion of America," Trump said in a Sept, 2024 speech and although he has not released specific details of how he might direct such a plan at a federal level, community leaders stand divided on how best to respond at the local level.

Under current California law, state and municipal governments are barred from working in conjunction with federal law enforcement agencies to actively pursue deportation for anyone who has not committed a serious crime. That approach stands in direct opposition to Trump’s proposed plan to conduct mass immigrant deportations.

El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells, in a letter to the Calif. Attorney General, says he plans to propose that his city fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities. San Diego’s Board of Supervisors majority, by contrast, has urged county authorities not to turn over any immigrants to federal authorities, while the County Sheriff has said she will take the middle ground and follow state law, cooperating only when immigrants have committed serious crimes.

Besides posing a challenge for local elected officials who must decide how they will answer to conflicting state and federal guidelines, an element of murkiness also exists for prominent community members and social service agency heads who spend many hours each week working directly with refugees.