By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Clip art; the actual "Duncan Thumpin'" costume has not yet been revealed

April 18, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) – Hopping down the bunny trail—and the campaign trail—Duncan Thumper will soon be popping up at Congressman Duncan Hunter’s events to draw attention to his campaign finance controversies that have sparked a criminal investigation by the Justice Department.

By Nick Pellegrino for East County Magazine

Photo courtesy Comedy Central

April 17, 2017 (Los Angeles) - Comedian Doug Benson is nothing close to an overnight success, yet after 20 years in show business, the former Grossmont College student is starting to gain notoriety after recently claiming the Tournament of Champion on the self-admitted, fake game show @midnight.

By Miriam Raftery

April 17, 2017 (San Diego)  –  The University of California has announced that it will halt its investments in private prison companies, removing $25 million in investments from Corrections Corporation of America, G4S, and GEO Group Inc., the Los Angeles Times reports.

East County News Service

April 16, 2017 (San Diego's East County) - Across the nation, tens of thousands of people in more than 100 cities held Tax Day protests on April 15^th – calling on President Donald Trump to release his income tax returns.  San Diego event organizers estimate that several thousands took to the streets locally, also urging Congress to subpoena Trump’s tax returns.

East County News Service

April 15, 2017 (Washington D.C.) – The U.S. on Thursday dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb ever deployed to destroy caves used by ISIS fighters in the Achin area of Afghanistan, the Pentagon confirms.  Some Afghan officials estimate that as many as 94 ISIS fighters and four commanders may have been killed, with no civilian deaths reported, according to NBC news.

East County News Service

April 14, 2017 (Alpine) — Diego, an emaciated baby bobcat dropped off at a pet hospital in Rancho Bernardo in late March and later taken to Lions, Tigers and Bears (LTB) sanctuary in Alpine has been moved again, this time to a northern California rehabilitation facility.

By Mike Allen

Photo:  San Miguel Fire & Rescue

April 13, 2017 (Spring Valley) -- The San Miguel Fire District continues to take the necessary steps to go back to being a stand-alone agency and cut the cord from Cal Fire, which currently provides its fire protection services.

By Miriam Raftery

April 12, 2017 (San Onofre) – Just days before an April 14 court hearing filed by Citizens Oversight seeking to force removal of nuclear waste from storage along the ocean near the closed San Onofre power plant, Southern California Edison has agreed to enter into negotiations to move the nuclear storage elsewhere.

East County News Service

April 12, 2017 (El Cajon) – A 22-year-old driver died last night after his vehicle rolled down an embankment and struck a steel pole supporting a billboard.  The fatal crash occurred shortly before 10 p.m. along westbound I-8 west of Los Coches Road in unincorporated El Cajon.

By Miriam Raftery

April 12, 2017 (Washington D.C.) – Neil Gorsuch begins his duties this week on the Supreme Court after the Senate invoked the ‘nuclear option’ to change long-standing Senate rules and block a filibuster by Democrats. All but two Democrats had agreed to vote against confirming Gorsuch, including California Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris.

East County News Service

April 11, 2017 (El Cajon) -- Grossmont Union High School District is seeking applications to fill a vacancy for a “community member at large” on the 11-member Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee (CBOC).

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by A. Fanous, St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Alexandria, before the bombing

April 11, 2017 (Alexandria, Egypt) – At least 45 people are dead following bombings on churches in two Egyptian cities, the New York Times reports.  The attacks which occurred on Palm Sunday targeted Christian worshippers.   The actions follow a December declaration by ISIS, or the Islamic State, terror group to slaughter Christians at the homes, places of worship and elsewhere in Egypt.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Oroville Spillway, Calif. Dept. of Water Resources

April 7, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) – It’s official:  Governor Jerry Brown today declared an end to California’s statewide drought, thanks to heavy winter precipitation.

But groundwater levels in some areas remain low, so the state will maintain some restrictions on water use to encourage conservation. Brown did not lift the drought order for Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Tuolumne Counties, where wells went dry and some residents continue to rely on trucked-in emergency water supplies.

Residents are asked to continue avoiding wasting water by hosing off sidewalks or watering lawns during or shortly after a rainstorm.

East County News Service

April 7, 2017 (La Mesa) -- April is recognized as National Distracted Driving Awareness Month.  In California, the Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), the La Mesa Police Department, CHP, local law enforcement, and community partners throughout the state are working together to make the roads safer by highlighting the dangers of being distracted while driving, especially by cell phones.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Tomahawk missile launch off U.S. ship, courtesy of the Pentagon

April 6, 2017 (Washington D.C.)— The U.S. today launched over 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles  at the Al-Shayrat Air Base in Syria, on orders of President Donald Trump. The base is believed to be where a chemical  nerve gas weapons attack was launched on April 4^th by Bashar al-Assad’s regime that killed scores of civilians, including possibly hundreds, including many children in Idlib.

Key political leaders on both sides of the aisle voiced support for the action,  though even some supporters argue that the Constitution requires a declaration of war by Congress  to take such action. Others voice concerns over a unilateral action that Assad could view as an act of war. Now  prominent Senators and Representatives in both parties are calling for Congress to reconvene and debate whether to declare war on the Syrian government, at a time when the U.S. is already waging war against ISIS.  Assad has also fought ISIS even as his country has been split by six years of civil war.