By Suzanne Otter, California News Service

May 8, 2017 (Suunyvale, Calif.) - Water systems in California have the nation's ninth-worst record for violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act, according to a new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

East County News Service

Photo via @fox5sandiego on Twitter

May 7, 2017 (Spring Valley) - A man was rescued after being stranded in a culvert in Spring Valley thanks to today's rainstorm clung to shrubs and a fence while fast-moving water rushed below him, Fox 5 reports.

By Tracy DeFore, County of San Diego Communications Office

May 5, 2017 (San Diego) - How do you balance helping those who need it the most, meet the County’s daily obligations and build for the future? The answers are reflected in the County’s new budget.

Hunter and Issa cast deciding votes

By Liz Alper

May 5, 2017 (Washington D.C.) - On Monday, ECM reported that a bill that could repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, was heading to a rushed vote in the House on Thursday.  That bill, the American Healthcare Act, passed yesterday narrowly.

The bill passed by a four-vote margin with San Diego Republicans Duncan Hunter and Darrell Issa both voting in favor. Had they voted against, the vote would have been tied and the measure would not have passed.

Source:  Helix Public Outreach from Helix Water District

May 4, 2017 (El Cajon) - The Water Conservation Garden will be holding the second event in their Expert Forum series on Thursday, May 18th at 5:30pm.

A variety of panelists, including Helix Water District's Director of Water Quality, and points of view about drinking water quality will be presented, including ocean water desalination, the pros and cons of bottled water, recycled water and ways that our water is tested.

By Miriam Raftery

May 4, 2017 (Washington D.C.) – President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order today that would order the IRS to take a hands-off approach to churches that endorse political candidates. It also orders federal agencies to exempt some religious groups from a requirement to provide birth control to employees.  

But a third provision has been scrapped, which would have allowed businesses to discriminate based on sexual orientation and other moral grounds.

By Miriam Raftery

May 3, 2017 (Washington D.C.) – House Republican leadership is pushing for a rushed vote on a revised proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare and replace it – without bothering to wait for a nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis. But the American Medical Association (AMA), the nation’s largest doctors’ organization, has sent a Tweet warning patients to contact their representatives and urge a no vote.

By Jose A. Alvarez, County of San Diego Communications Office

Image via PhotoSpin

May 3, 2017 (Ramona) - High rental prices and low vacancy rates have made it extremely difficult for many San Diegans to find affordable places to live.

To help address the need, the County Board of Supervisors today approved spending $4.5 million towards the construction of two affordable housing developments consisting of 143 units. Those units, combined with an additional 118 units of Section 8 housing, will result in the creation of 261 new affordable housing apartments in the County.

Update May 4, 2017:  Two of East County's four mayors have pulled out of the East County Mayors Prayer Lunch, after the Freedom from Religion Foundation sent a letter to the mayors asking them to cancel their planned attendance. The First Amendment watchdog group, which learned of the prayer lunch from our report, contends that the event violates the Constitional requirement for separation of church and state. The foundation's letter hints at legal action.

View Part II of our investigation here. 

By Miriam Raftery

May 1, 2017 (El Cajon) – Multiple East County leaders are speaking out to voice opposition to David Barton, a debunked “Christian Nation” advocate, speaking May 4^th at an East County Mayors Prayer  Lunch at the Crystal Palace in El Cajon.   Barton has  long claimed that the Founding Fathers did not  support a separation of church and state. His book, The Jefferson Lies, was pulled off the market by its publisher after conservative Christian scholars exposed many falsehoods. 

Barton  is listed as an extremist on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s watch list for his virulent anti-gay views.  He has also drawn fire for anti-Muslim remarks and some stances views as racist. He has advocated to remove civil rights leader Martin Luther King and farmworkers organizer Cesar Chavez from school text books.

In a recent interview with Christian Broadcasting Network, he urged Christian Evangelicals that they have a Biblical “duty” to vote for candidates who will support anti-abortion judges and who oppose equal rights for LGTBQ individuals.  “It’s not your vote. It’s God’s vote,” he stated. On his  Wallbuilders Live radio show,  he claimed that the same “evil” responsible for the Holocaust is today responsible for the “homosexual lifestyle.”

Just who is behind inviting Barton to speak at a function with local governmental leaders is unclear.  But his appearance has prompted a backlash.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo:  1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, UCSB collection

April 29, 2017 (San Diego) – The Santa Barbara oil spill of 1969 was the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history at the time.  Three million gallons of crude oil contaminated the ocean and beaches with thick, black goo. Oil bubbled from the blown well and from cracks in the sea bed, killing countless sea birds, seals and other marine life. 

The last remaining oil derrick off California's coast is slated to be decommissioned,  Public News Service reported last week. But now an executive order by President Donald Trump could result in offshore oil wells again pumping in the waters off California.

Potential 500-megawatt renewable energy project at the San Vicente Reservoir site could help stabilize water rates as a new revenue source

Source:  San Diego County Water Authority

April 27, 2017 (San Diego) - The San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors today authorized the Water Authority, in conjunction with the City of San Diego, to begin seeking detailed proposals for a potential energy storage facility at San Vicente Reservoir. The project could help ease pressure on electric grids by producing locally generated renewable energy on demand, and also lessen upward pressure on water rates by providing a new source of revenue.

By Miriam Raftery

April 26, 2017 (San Diego) – A federal judge in San Francisco has blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order that required withholding of federal funds from sanctuary cities and states that shelter immigrants and decline to cooperate with federal authorities on deportation efforts.

By Miriam Raftery

April 24, 2017 (Lemon Grove) – A body found in Otay Valley Regional Park in Chula Vista has been identified as Kimberly Arteaga, Lieutenant Kenneth Nelson with the San Diego Sheriff’s homicide detail announced today.

East County News Service

Photo: San Diego Fire-Rescue

April 24, 2017 (San Diego) – Two hikers were rescued over the weekend off Cowles Mountain.

A 69-year-old woman suffered heat exhaustion and was airlifted off the trail on Saturday afternoon.  Then on Sunday, a second airlift was done to rescue a 25-year-old hiker who suffered an injury.  She was taken by ambulance to a hospital for non-emergency treatment, according to San Diego-Rescue Service.