East County News Service

June 25, 2017 (Borrego) – A private plane owned by Borrego Sun publisher Patrick Meehan broke apart during what the pilot described as a “nice and soft” landing last week.  The incident forced closure of Palomar Airport for several hours.

Meehan was not on board and there were no injuries.

By Miriam Raftery

June 24, 2017 (San Diego) – Robert Branch, a security officer charged with criminal offenses after he filed a civil rights lawsuit against the San Diego Sheriff’s Department alleging excessive use of force has been acquitted of all charges.  Branch’s evidence included a cell phone video he took as off-duty Sheriff’s detective Paul Ward choked him into unconsciousness in Del Cerro.

Branch, who is African-American, has said Ward swerved to block him from passing on an onramp, forcing him onto the shoulder, then pursued him for 10 miles before Branch pulled off I-8 in Del Cerro, where the confrontation occurred. Ward claimed Branch passed him on I-8 and nearly struck his vehicle.

By Suzanne Potter, California News Service

June 23, 2017 (Sacramento) --  Health advocates warn the Senate GOP bill to repeal and replace Obamacare would cause millions of Californians to lose their healthcare - by phasing out the Medicaid expansion and then capping the program altogether.

The "Better Care Reconciliation Act" or BCRA, lifts the government mandate for people to have insurance, and lets states allow insurance policies that exclude services like maternity and mental-health care.

Anthony Wright, executive director of the nonprofit Health Access California, says the bill would harm many different groups.  "It still eliminates the Medicaid expansion that 4 million Californians depend on," he says. "But it also has a harsher cap on the entire program, which 14 million Californians depend on - including a third of the state, half of all children, and two-thirds of all nursing-home residents."

The Senate bill also lets insurance companies charge Americans ages 50 to 64 five times what younger people pay, compared to the current limit of three times. And it lifts a ban on charging much higher premiums to people with preexisting conditions.

By Mike Allen

June 22, 2017 (Santee) -- Despite cutting their water use by nearly 30 percent over the past nine years, Padre Dam Water District customers were hit with another five years of higher rates by its board, which voted unanimously June 21 to trigger the new charges starting Nov. 1.

By Miriam Raftery

June 20, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) – Tuesday’s blistering heat wave set a new county record. In Ocotillo Wells, the temperature reached 124 degrees—the hottest temperature ever recorded in San Diego County, according to Noel Isla with the National Weather Service.

Source: Society of Professional Journalists

June 21, 2017 (San Diego) -- The San Diego Unified School District recently announced it will start deleting emails older than six months effective July 1, a change the district describes as a cost-saving measure. The San Diego chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is concerned this policy will significantly hamper access to important public information at a time when the public and the media already have problems obtaining information and records from the district.

By Rebecca Jefferis Williamson

June 21, 2017 (El Cajon) -- Run up three flights of stairs in heavy firefighter boots--in the heat wave.  To walk in someone else’s shoes, or firefighter’s boots, can be eye opening and “deepen” your respect for what these men and women firefighters are required to do.  The opportunity to learn what Heartland Fire & Rescue does on a routine basis was extended via their first-ever Fire Ops 101 class held Saturday, June 17^th, at their Thomas H. Owen Sr.  training facility in El Cajon. 

By Miriam Raftery

June 20, 2017 (Washington D.C.) – The US. Supreme Court has ruled that former Bush administration officials cannot be sued for allegedly violating Constitutional rights protecting against illegal search and seizures.  The case, Ziglar v. Abbasi, was filed by Muslim immigrants who allege that they were profiled based on their religion, arrested and detained in harsh conditions after the September 11^th terrorism attacks.  

By County News Center, County of San Diego Communications Office

June 20, 2017 (San Diego's East County) - Summertime is here and the Department of Animal Services (DAS) wants to remind everyone that these hot days can pose a danger to your pets.

By Miriam Raftery, East County News Service

June 16, 2017 (Lakeside)-- Helix Water District (HWD) received a long-anticipated $8 million check on June 16th, officially marking the end of a six-year legal dispute over a 460-acre parcel of land the water agency owned in Lakeside’s El Monte Valley. The land sale is the result of a 2014 court settlement between Helix Water District and the El Capitan Golf Club (now known as El Monte Nature Preserve LLC). 

The payment is good news for customers of the Helix Water District, where hefty rate hikes to balance budgets led to a ratepayer revolt and ouster of two incumbent board members last election.  But the final payment dashes hopes of El Monte Valley residents and Lakeside community planners opposed to El Monte Nature Preserve’s proposed   sand mining operation to extract 18 million tons of sand over 15 years from the El Monte Valley on the site.

East County News Service

June 19, 2017 (San Diego) - Today, the San Diego City Council voted 5-4 to put FS Investors' plan for a new soccer stadium and home for San Diego State football in Mission Valley on the 2018 ballot next November, the San Diego Union Tribune reports.

By Miriam Raftery

June 19, 2017 (San Diego) – The Department of Defense has released the names of seven sailors who were reported missing but have since been confirmed dead after the Navy destroyer USS Fitzgerald collided with a merchant vessel from the Philippines on Sunday, June 18^th at 2:30 a.m.

Story and photos by Miriam Raftery

June 18, 2017 (Cleveland National Forest) – Days after the Sheriff’s department issued an advisory urging hikers to avoid the Three Sisters Falls and Cedar Creek Falls trails during the current excessive heat warning, the department had to rescue eight hikers in distress on the Three Sisters Falls trail in Cleveland National Forest Saturday afternoon.

New law goes into effect July 7; summer concerts and movies in parks to begin soon

Source:  East County Community Change Project

June 17, 2017 (Lemon Grove) -- Alcohol and marijuana are about to be prohibited at Lemon Grove’s eight city parks, just in time for summer family fun, according to city officials. The city council voted unanimously in May to take local control and make parks off limits to the use of marijuana in any form and all alcohol. While California’s new law under Prop. 64 makes recreational marijuana use legal for adults over 21, it is not legal to do so in public places. The council thought it was important enough to include it in the law.

By Frank Gormlie; reprinted with permission from the OBRag

June 15, 2017 (San Diego) --Major news organizations – including the Washington Post – have announced that President Donald Trump is now under investigation for possible obstruction of justice by special prosecution, Robert Mueller.