By Miriam Raftery

August 25, 2020 (San Diego) – All local schools can reopen for in-person instruction starting September 1^st, San Diego County public health officials announced today.  The decision does not require schools to reopen, however. Each district will determine whether it wishes to resume in-classroom instruction, continue with online learning, or a combination of both.

The action, announced in a telebriefing with school administrators, comes after the county was removed from the state’s monitoring list on Tuesday, setting in motion a 14-day timeframe after which the state will allow in-class education to reopen.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo,left by Della Elliott:  A shrine to commemorate 21-year-old shooting victim Fabian Cerda has been created by community members at the site where he was fatally shot. 

May 24, 2020 (El Cajon) – El Cajon Police today announced the arrest of George Louis Garcia, 42, following a tense standoff in La Mesa with police from multiple law enforcement agencies. Garcia is charged in the shooting death of Fabian Esteban Cerda, 21, on August 18 in El Cajon.

According to Lt. K. MacArthur with El Cajon Police, Cerda became involved in an argument with Garcia, the former boyfriend of Cerda’s mother around 1:30 a.m. on August 18 in front of 1548 East Main Street in El Cajon. “He was shot several times and later died as a result of the shooting,” Lt. MacArthur says. The victim succumbed to his injuries in an ambulance en route to a hospital.  

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Cal Fire via Instagram

August 23, 2020 (San Diego) – More than 14,000 firefighters are battling wildfires that have charred nearly 1.3 million acres across California.  Since August 15, there have been over 615 new wildfires sparked by nearly 12,000 lightning strikes, including fires that are now among the largest in the state’s history.  Governor Gavin Newsom has requested help from firefighters as far away as Australia and Canada.

Today, President Donald Trump announced that federal disaster assistance will be provided through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for  Lake,  Napa, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties. The aid includes grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.    Federal funding is also available to the state, tribal, eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency protective measures in those counties.

 In addition, federal funding is available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: New power poles in Pine Valley are made of steel, not wood, for fire safety, as part of the upgrades that SDG&E has been installing across inland San Diego County.

Updated August 23, 2020 9:40 a.m. with responses from SDG&E.

August 22, 2020 (San Diego’s East County) – Amid a record-breaking heat wave with monsoonal thunderstorms, flash floods and lightning-sparked fires forecast as potential added hazards, SDG&E has announced plans to shut off power for hours during the heat of the day on Sunday and Monday across much of San Diego County.  

The outages are to upgrade wood poles to steel, among other equipment upgrades or maintenance planned.

The NWS has warned that the intense heat  this week can be life-threatening for those without air conditioning, yet the power outage will leave any residents who lack generators without access to safe, cool spaces amid the COVID-19 pandemic when many public, air-conditioned places are shut down.

Rural residents with electric well pumps will also be left without water for people or livestock to drink, as well as for fighting fires, as many rural residents equipped with tanks and hoses have done in past brush fires, unless they have invested in generators. Downed communications including internet and in some areas, phone service also leave residents unable to receive emergency alerts despite a high potential for emergencies during the extreme weather conditions.

East County News Service

Photo: Luis Ortega

August 22, 2020 (San Diego) – As Goodwill San Diego retail stores and donation centers reopen, program participants continue to be brought back to work. On March 15, 2020, the organization was asked to close due to the coronavirus pandemic. Prior to the shutdown, the nonprofit employed 1,400 community members.  Today, Goodwill San Diego employs 894 people in San Diego County, 47.2% of whom are persons with a disability or other barriers to employment.

"There is a lot of opportunity for you at Goodwill based on your skillset,” shared Luis Ortega. Luis graduated from high school and got his first job at Goodwill San Diego. “I really enjoy hanging and tagging clothing for now. I like seeing how our donors help those in need with their donations.”

By Miriam Raftery

August 21, 2020 (Washington D.C.) – Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Pete Gaynor has approved California for a FEMA grant under the Lost Wages Assistance program. FEMA’s grant funding will allow California to provide an extra $300 per week -- on top of its regular unemployment benefit -- to those unemployed due to COVID-19.  

But that’s only half the amount that workers were receiving before federal supplemental unemployment benefits expired July 31. 

By Miriam Raftery

Photo:  Bureau of Land Management image of smoke frm the CZU Lightning Complex Fire threatening Davenport, CA

August 21, 2020  -- Nearly 12,000 firefighters are battling nearly two dozen major fires and complexes across California, Cal Fire reports. Since the lightning siege started on Saturday, August 15, 2020 there have been nearly 12,000 lightning strikes. During this time-period, there have been more than 560 new wildfires, which have burned over 771,00 acres, burned over 660 structures and killed at least five people in northern California, including a former Channel 10 helicopter pilot.

Flames also devastated a historic redwood tree grove in Northern California.  “We are devastated to report that Big Basin State Park, as we have known it, loved it, and cherished it for generations, is gone,” the Sempivirens Fund, which supports the park, posted on Facebook yesterday. “ Early reports are that the wildfire has consumed much of the park’s historic facilities. We do not yet know the fate of the park’s grandest old trees.”

U.C. Santa Cruz has evacuated the campus after flames burned to within a mile of the university.

By Miriam Raftery

August 19, 2020 (Alpine) – Bobbi Brink, owner of the Lions, Tigers and Bears animal sanctuary in Alpine, has offered to aid in the rescue and relocation of all animals at G.W. Zoo. The U.S. Department of Agriuclture has suspended the exhibitor license for the facility also known as the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park featured on the Netflix docu-series “Tiger King.”

The owner, Jeff Lowe, “just announced that he has actually relinquished his license and will no longer be exhibiting animals,” Brink says. Lowe will be banned from exhibiting big cats, bears, primates or other USDA-regulated species at any other property as well as at G.W. Zoo.

The USDA suspended the license after inspectors in June found injured and sickly animals with dangerous and dismal living conditions including:

By Miriam Raftery

August 19, 2020 (San Diego) – Health experts are warning the public to steer clear of deadly plant extract, Oleandrin, being touted by financial backers of President Donald Trump as a potential “cure” for COVID-19.  There is zero proof that it works beyond a test tube (in a single non-peer reviewed study) and it has never been tested on humans.  

By Chris Jennewein, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo: Entrance to Amazon’s San Diego tech hub in University City. Courtesy Amazon

August 19, 2020 (San Diego) -- Amazon announced Tuesday it will create 200 new jobs in San Diego as part of a plan to expand technology hubs in six major cities.

By Miriam Raftery

August 18, 2020 (Lemon Grove) – The Sheriff seeks public help to locate Alonna Wintland. The 15-year-old was last seen leaving her home in the 8000 block of Lemon Grove Way and getting into the car of an unknown man on July 31.

She has blonde/purple hair, blue eyes, stands 5 ft. 2 inches tall and weighs around 235 pounds. She was last seen wearing a white shirt, beige shorts and sandals.

She has a history of running away, but left without her cell phone or debit card.

By José A. Álvarez, County of San Diego Communications Office

• Aug. 17: 89.8
• Aug. 16: 91.8
• Aug. 15: 94.7
  

By Miriam Raftery

August 17, 2020 (San Diego’s East County) – East County Magazine has won first and second place awards in the Society of Professional Journalism San Diego Pro Chapter’s 2020 Journalism Awards.  A list of awards was released today, except for special awards, which will be announced on August 24.