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November 5, 2025 (El Cajon) – A judge has set bail at $1.5 million for Dani Korkis, 35 of El Cajon,who fled the scene after hitting a 12-year-old boy with his SUV, causing serious injury.
After his arrest, Korkis was initially released on a lower bail but failed to show up at an October 28 court hearing on a separate charge of evading police back in July.He was charged with reckless driving in July and again in August, before the Oct. 22 accident on Ballantyne Street that left the 12-year-old boy with a head injury that left him in a coma initially, ABC 10 News reports, though his condition is reportedly improving. The boy also suffered missing teeth and is wearing a wire to hold his remaining teeth, according to NBC 7.
Korkis now faces additional charges including felony hit-and-run.
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Nov. 4, 2025 (El Cajon) – El Cajon Police officers on Sunday rescued a woman who called 911 on Sunday afternoon to report that her husband had assaulted and strangle her, holding her hostage in an El Cajon motel room located at 1368 East Main St.
After police evacuated the victim, the suspect, later identified as Ruben Castro, 44, barricaded himself inside the motel room.
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Photo: rendering from ECPD depicts victim, reconstructed based on her skull
November 4, 2025 (El Cajon) — Twenty-seven years after her body was found partially decomposed in a ravine off Avocado in El Cajon, Alicia Ledezma Sanchez has been identified as the homicide victim, thanks to a match to DNA provided by her son. The case is a testament to the persistence of El Cajon Police Department’s detectives and volunteer Cold Case Unit, which persevered over decades to solve the case.
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The colleges offer award-winning programs that celebrate and honor veterans
Photo: Grossmont College student veterans
Source: Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District
November 4, 2025 (El Cajon) - Navy veteran Isaiah Nailon had one clear goal in mind when he enrolled at Cuyamaca College in the spring of 2018: taking the first step toward earning a bachelor’s degree.
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October 29, 2025 (El Cajon) -- On Thursday evening, October 23, a vehicle traveling westbound on Main Street in El Cajon struck a pedestrian who was crossing southbound. After the collision, the driver of the vehicle failed to stop and fled in the vehicle, says Lt. Joe Crawford with El Cajon Police.
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Photo, left: Vince Kattoula displays hookahs, advocating for more space to display them in retail stores
October 28, 2025 (El Cajon) – The El Cajon City Council voted Tuesday to deny a proposal that would have increased the allowable display space for tobacco products such as hookahs in retail stores that are not designated smoke shops.
The 3-1 vote leaves intact the city code requirement that licensed tobacco retailers are limited to 16 cubic feet of display area. The El Cajon Planning Commission recommended earlier this month to allow stores to double the permissible display area to 32 cubic feet. Councilmember
Phil Ortiz, who asked that the issue be brought forth to the Council, was the lone no vote. He advocated for the increased allowable space. Mayor Bill Wells was absent.
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By Rich Riel, business owner, former candidate for mayor of San Diego
October 27, 2025 (El Cajon) - Parkway Plaza is more than a mall—it’s a mirror. Once a bustling commercial hub, it now reflects the stagnation and missed opportunities that plague East County’s civic landscape. Crime, decay, and mediocrity have replaced ambition. And yet, the site sits at a strategic crossroads—adjacent to Highway 8, surrounded by transit corridors, and ripe for reinvention.
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La Mesa officials say to expect major traffic delays
East County News Service
Oct. 25, 2025 (La Mesa) -- A funeral procession is planned for fallen La Mesa Police Officer Lauren Craven starting at 7:30 a.m., Tuesday, Oct. 28, according to the La Mesa Police Department.
Craven, 25, was killed in the line of duty on October 20, 2025, after being struck by a drunk driver while assisting at another crash scene on Interstate 8. She was returning from the San Diego Central Jail when she came upon a collision involving several vehicles.
Craven stopped to render aid to the drivers involved in the initial crash, but while assisting, a 38-year-old man, who has been arrested on suspicion of DUI, struck Craven with his car. She died at the scene, along with 19-year-old De'Veonte Morris, one of the drivers from the first crash.
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Oct. 24, 2025 (El Cajon) -- Local public safety officials have arrested the person who is believed to have been the driver of a car linked to a hit-and-run collision on Wednesday night, Oct. 22 in El Cajon that put a 12-year-old boy in the hospital.
Dani Korkis, 35, of Lakeside was arrested by authorities and booked into San Diego County Jail on felony hit-and-run charges, according to a Friday news release from the El Cajon Police Department.
The 12-year-old boy, who was hit around 8 p.m. in the 300 block of Ballantyne Street, remains hospitalized and is in stable condition.
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October 24, 2025 (El Cajon) - With deep sadness, the Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD) announces the passing of former Superintendent Mike Fowler, who devoted nearly three decades of extraordinary service to East County students and families. He passed away following a courageous battle with brain cancer.
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El Cajon Police seek help to find white or silver SUV with front-end damage
East County News Service
October 23, 2025 (El Cajon) – Around 8 p.m. last night, a 12-year-old boy was struck by an SUV in the 300 block of Ballantyne Street, suffering major head trauma. The vehicle, described by witnesses as a white or silver SUV with front-end damage, fled the scene.
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Screenshot: Board President Gary Woods with Superintendent Kirsten Vital Brulte, defending their non-violence resolution in classrooms. “Trust is earned.” Jay Steiger, 2025
October 16, 2025 (El Cajon) -- The Grossmont Union High School District Board passed an amended policy limiting protests outside board meetings, adopted a resolution providing religious exemptions in classrooms, and adopted a policy on nonviolence in political discourse on school campuses.
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October 16, 2025 (El Cajon) - Olaf Wieghorst Museum and Western Heritage Center will host its first annual Fashion Show Fundraiser – “Boots and Belles: Fashion at the Wieggy” on November 8 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. The event will feature stunning designs of local artist and designer Dawn Hough Sebaugh, whose WALA Collection blends the color, creativity, and western spirit that defines our community.
Located in the heart of the art district in El Cajon, the museum stands as a tribute to the artist whose vivid portrayals of the American West captured the spirit of a bygone era. Olaf Wieghorst not only painted the West, but he also lived it. Of all the places he could have called home, he chose El Cajon, where he raised his family, connected deeply with neighbors, and truly began his artistic journey.
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October 13, 2025 (El Cajon) -- Don't let the name fool you -- Family Christmas Tree Farm is geared up for Halloween, too.
As autumn settles in over San Diego County, El Cajon's Family Christmas Tree Farm has rolled out its pumpkins and fall flavors even as it prepares for the winter holidays. It's been rated the 4th best Christmas tree farm in the nation by Yelp.
The 10-acre Christmas Tree Farm at 300 Pepper Drive has been serving the community since 1972, when it started its dedication to cultivating the Christmas spirit in East County.
For 50 years, the Stokes family has nurtured the land, the trees and the local tradition that draws families year after year.
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Weber Pierson's event will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 16, at the high school at 4191 Colts Way. You can RSVP here.
In an email shared with constituents of her District 39, Weber Pierson said she is holding the Town Hall to discuss how the newly passed California state budget "aligns with our shared values and fiscal realities."
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Image: On Facebook, a group seeking to recall GUHSD trustees posted a flyer calling tonight’s agenda items “frightful”, stating, “Here’s the tricks and not a treat in sight.”
October 9, 2025 (El Cajon, CA) – At its 6 p.m. meeting tonight, the Grossmont Union High School District board of trustees will consider adopting a policy to restrict by designating “no activity zones” outside of its meetings on public property where activities such as “picketing, leafletting, protest or other expressive activity” would be prohibited. The issue raises serious free speech and First Amendment rights issues.
The proposal would allow the Board or the Superintendent to establish the no activity zones, ostensibly to create a safe path of entry and exit, identified by markers such as cones or signs. However, it sets no size limit, potentially allowing the board to limit or ban free speech activities altogether outside buildings such as the Grossmont High School gymnasium where tonight’s meeting is being held and where for months, hundreds of teachers, students and parents have gathered outside to hold rallies, protests, picketing, signature gathering and other expressions of opposition to board policies such as mass firing of teachers and librarians.
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October 8, 2025 (El Cajon) – Last month, several dog owners in El Cajon got together to hold a birthday party for their dogs complete with music, cake, doggie gift bags, games and more. That event proved so much fun that organizers will be hosting a community Halloween party complete with dog costume contest, games and food for people, and a prize for the costume contest winner.
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October 8, 2025 (Crest) -- Every year, devastating wildfires sweep across the United States, threatening homes, landscapes, and lives. As more people live in wildfire-prone areas, communities like Crest are stepping up to reduce risk and strengthen resilience.
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An effort to recall El Cajon City Council Phil Ortiz (seated, left) is not moving forward.
By Karen Pearlman
Oct. 6, 2025 (El Cajon) – A grass-roots effort begun in 2024 to recall El Cajon City Councilmember Phil Ortiz has fizzled after organizers failed to turn in signatures as required by last Friday to qualify a recall for the ballot.
El Cajon City Clerk Angela Cortez said leadership of the group seeking to remove Ortiz from office told her on Friday, Oct. 3, that it was not moving forward on the recall, although as of 2 p.m. Monday, Oct. 6, the Recall Phil Ortiz website was still online.
The group behind the recall attempt, Latinos en Accion, did not turn in the required paperwork, Cortez told East County Magazine.
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Photo: a San Diego intersection where there are two automated license plate reader cameras on the streetlights. (File photo by Gabrielle Wallace/Times of San Diego)
October 4, 2025 (El Cajon) - California is suing El Cajon over the city’s lack of compliance with a state law prohibiting the sharing of license plate data with federal and out-of-state law enforcement agencies.
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October 2, 2025 (San Diego’s East County) – Ready to savor German beers and foods, kick up your heels to traditional German music as well as contemporary bands, enjoy games, carnival rides and vie for prizes? All of these opportunities and more can be found at Oktoberfest celebrations across East County include large festivals in La Mesa and El Cajon this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, as well as smaller Oktoberfest gatherings in Alpine and Julian on October 4.
Scroll down for details on Oktoberfest events across San Diego's inland region.
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October 3, 2025 (Rancho San Diego) — Miss Smarty-Plants will bring a “batty” show to the Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College on Saturday, Oct. 18 from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
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September 28, 2025 (El Cajon) - The Heartland Coin Club announces its highly anticipated Coin Show, taking place on Saturday, October 25, 2025 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the El Cajon Elks Lodge, El Cajon, CA. This event offers opportunity for coin enthusiasts, collectors, and curious minds to come together and explore the fascinating world of numismatics.
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Sept. 18, 2025 (El Cajon) -- Spooky fun is coming to downtown El Cajon with the annual HauntFest in October.
The community-centered event that typically draws more than 20,000 people, is set for 4 to 9 p.m., Friday, Oct. 17.
The city says that the annual free Halloween block party is the largest in San Diego County and features something for everyone.
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September 16, 2025 (El Cajon) – Sheriff’s deputies from the Lakeside substation responded to a call reporting an assault with a deadly weapon at 1:35 a.m. They found a man suffering from traumatic injuries inside an apartment at 425 East Bradley Ave. in unincorporated El Cajon.
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September 15, 2025 (Santee) – A driver suspected of being intoxicated was arrested September 9 for a hit-and-run collision that caused injuries in Santee as well as for reportedly striking multiple vehicles in El Cajon and Santee.
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Leslie Thompson (photo, left) of El Cajon speaks out about Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Sept. 9 El Cajon City Council meeting
By Paul Levikow
Sept. 11, 2025 – (El Cajon) Protestors showed up at the El Cajon City Council meeting again this past week to continue voicing opposition to the city’s resolution regarding Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
They also reminded Councilmember Phil Ortiz that their efforts to have him recalledfrom office are ramping up.
Their appearance came a day after the United States Supreme Court overturned a U.S. District Court Judge’s temporary restraining order in Los Angeles that barred federal agents from stopping people without reasonable suspicion.
The Supreme Court ruling allows agents to stop and detain people based on ethnicity, spoken language, type of work they do or their location.
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Sept. 10, 2025 (San Diego County) – The Cottonwood Sand Mine project in Rancho San Diego was rejected unanimously Wednesday by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.
In a packed board room, the supervisors heard from more than 100 speakers in a span of over two hours, including more than a dozen by phone.
The vote apparently means the end of a years-running saga for East County residents since sand mining along the Sweetwater River was first proposed seven years ago.
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September 5, 2025 (El Cajon) -- Local artists and galleries are coming together to host the 14th Annual Alley Cat Art Walkon Friday, September 12th from 4pm to 8pm in Downtown El Cajon. This free, family-friendly event promises fine art, live entertainment, boutique vendors, and more along Main Street and Rea Avenue.
Hosted by the art galleries, studios, museums, and small businesses in the historic Downtown El Cajon district, the Art Walk is a yearly celebration of the city’s flourishing creative scene. Along with special gallery shows, attendees can explore interactive art displays, artisanal craft booths while enjoying live music, beer on tap, and other entertainment. With all venues within walking distance, it’s easy to shop, discover new artists, and take in the range of artistic styles and mediums.
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East County News Service
The colleges offer award-winning programs that celebrate and honor veterans
East County News Service
By Rich Riel, business owner, former candidate for mayor of San Diego 
La Mesa officials say to expect major traffic delays
East County News Service 
Source: Grossmont Union High School District
El Cajon Police seek help to find white or silver SUV with front-end damage
By Alexander J. Schorr
Photo courtesy Family Christmas Tree Farm
East County News Service
By Miriam Raftery
By Diana Griffin
An effort to recall El Cajon City Council Phil Ortiz (seated, left) is not moving forward. 
By Jennifer Vigil, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association
East County News Service
Source: Heartland Coin Club
East County News Service
East County News Service
East County News Service
By Paul Levikow
East County News Service
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