By Miriam Raftery

December 22, 2018 (San Diego’s East County) – Two storms are forecast to bring strong winds up to 60 mph, chilly temperatures and rain to our region starting Tuesday, Christmas morning, through Friday. Light snow may fall above 5,000 feet, with up to two inches of snow potentially bringing a whtie Christmas atop Mount Laguna and Palomar Mountain, our region’s highest peaks.

East County News Service

December 21, 2018 (Dulzura) -- A head-on collision in Dulzura killed two drivers last night around 9:50 p.m. on State Route 94 east of Barrett Smith Road.

A woman was driving a 2007 Ford Fusion eastbound, reportedly at a high rate of speed, when her vehicle crossed the center line and collided with a 2004 Honda Accord driven by a man, 35.  

By Miriam Raftery

December 21, 2018 (Washington D.C.) – President Donald Trump says he will shut down the government at midnight  unless the Repubilcan-controlled Senate passes a budget with $5 billion in funding for a border wall.  Trump claims this would be a “Democrat shutdown.”  The House already passed the measure yesterday down party lines.

But dozens of Senators have already left Washington for the holidays and it appears ulikely that enough votes will be mustered for passage.

Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming), chair of the Senate’s budget committee, has stated flatly, “No, he won’t have 60 votes over here.”

By Miriam Raftery

December 20,2018 (San Diego) – Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen today announced that Central American migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. must wait in Mexico until their hearing dates, except for unaccompanied minors. But the action is likely to be challenged in court—and thus far, federal courts have consistently ruled against the Trump administration efforts to restrict the rights of asylum seekers.

East County News Service

December 19, 2018 (Spring Valley) – A man was shot in the head last night around 10:30 p.m. but fortunately is expected to survive.  Shots were fired from a white four-door vehicle near Jamacha Blvd. and Grand Avenue in the La Presa area of Spring Valley.

Fortunately, the victim is expected to survive, Patch.com reports, citing Lt. Karla Menzies.

Source: Alpine-Mountain Empire Chamber of Commerce

Photo by Jenne Bergstrom, Alpine Library

December 19, 2018 (Alpine) -- A raging thunderstorm overhead added emphasis to the importance of having a backup electrical source during a free public forum at the Alpine Library.

Four experts provided information to homeowners and others during the Dec. 6 session, hosted by the library at 1752 Alpine Blvd.

Update December 20, 2018:  President Trump has signed the Farm Bill into law.

By Miriam Raftery

December 15, 2018 (Washington D.C.) – The U.S. Senate has passed a farm bill that now heads to President Donald Trump’s desk for signature.  The final version stripped out efforts by House Republicans, who had sought to imposeharsher work requirements on millions of food stamp recipients. The House version would have dropped about 1.5 million low-income people off the program.

By Paul Kruz, Contributing Editor

December 14, 2018 (El Cajon) -- Residents of El Cajon and the County of San Diego will have to wait awhile longer before the community's theater, shuttered for over a decade, will reopen for performances.

While performing an evaluation of the HVAC (heating/ventilation/air conditioning) system at the East County Performing Arts Center (ECPAC), experts have determined that the system will require complete replacement rather than an overall. Further investigation has found more age-related problems with the roof of the 1,140 seat theater.

By Miriam Raftery

December 14, 2018 (San Diego) – A bomb hoax targeted numerous of businesses, schools, newspapers, government facilities and individuals nationwide yesterday including at least a dozen locations in San Diego County.  The targets locally ranged from a trucking business in Lakeside to an attorney’s office in Kensington.

Attorney Julie Hamilton told ECM she received an email that included a demand for $20,000 in bitcoins or a hidden bomb would be exploded, similar to a threat reported across the nation.  “The email was very similar to other emails shown by other businesses. I didn't have to tell the investigator much, by the time they got to me they were well aware of the emails going to multiple businesses in the area,” Hamilton said.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo via American Friends Service Committee



December 13, 2018 (San Diego)—On Monday, 32 people, mostly faith-based leaders from across the nation, were arrested in a peaceful protest in support of migrants seeking asylum at the international border in San Diego.

While most were charged with not following officers' orders and quickly released, Matthew Leber from the American Friends Service Committee representing Quakers was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a Border Patrol agent and kept overnight. But he was released without charges after a video posted by the AFSC shows agents knocking down Leber and taking his backpack, countering officials’ version of what occurred.  View video:  https://www.facebook.com/CAIRNational/videos/338520756967150/

East County resident Jack Shu, president of Cleveland National Forest Foundation, witnessed the incident. “I was standing only 15 feet from Matt when he was arrested,” Shu told East County Magazine. “The media reported that he was arrested for assault when the truth is, it was the Border Patrol that escalated the situation and used physical force when it was not needed.”

Update December 26, 2018 -- Patient data was not on the missing hard drive, long-time Julian-Cuyamaca Fire Protection District Chief Mike Van Bibber has informed EMC. Patients' information was on a county server instead.

By Ken Stone

Reprinted with permission by Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo:  photo taken Tuesday after backup hard drive was discovered missing. Photo via Brian Kramer

December 12, 2018 (Julian) - Julian fire district officials and local authorities are looking into the possible theft of private medical information and employee records from a backup hard drive.

According to Julian-Cuyamaca fire board member Brian Kramer, the external hard drive with possibly years of data went missing Dec. 1 from a locked room at the Julian fire station on state Route 79.

By Ana Nita

December 11, 2018 (Santee) -- The battle over the Fanita Ranch urban development proposal in Santee entered a new phase once the City of Santee scheduled the scooping meeting at the end of November to gather public input on a revamped proposal. 

East County News Service

December 10, 2018 (San Diego) – Cities and counties throughout California must allow marijuana deliveries, even in jurisdictions where dispensary sales are banned. That’s the ruling issued last week by the state’s Bureau of Cannabis Control.

East County News Service

December 9, 2018 (Sacramento) - California Attorney General Xavier Becerra led a multistate amicus brief filed in support of a lawsuit brought by the ACLU, which challenges the Trump Administration’s efforts to prevent people who have not entered the country at a “port of entry” from applying for asylum in the United States. 

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Robert Gehr, left:  El Cajon Library closed temporarily due to flooding.

December 7, 2018 (San Diego’s East County) – Storms over the past two days brought much needed rain to our region, up to 3 inches in some areas.  But the downpour also causing flash flooding in many areas.

Several cars became caught up in rushing water up to four feet in southeast county, where major flooding occurred on Otay Lakes Road by Pio Pico RV Park and also on Highway 94 between the Jamul Casino and Jamul Estates.  Jan Hedlun, a motorist delayed due to the flooding, says  that 45 minutes after Cal Trans closed the highway, “There was no one directing traffic or telling stranded travelers to turn around and find another way home, as there has been during priori events. “No signs were being posted to prevent people from coming down Highway 94.” She asks why CHP or Border Patrol agents were not brought in to assist and why funding has not been allocated to fix the roads/drainage in these two recurring trouble spots.

In El Cajon, the County Library is closed today due to damage inside caused by flooding. 

Thunder, lightning and power outages also occurred across the region due to the storm.