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.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo:  File photo, Mission Gorge Road along San Diego River bed in vicinity of where the crash occurred.

June 16, 2017 (Santee) – A driver suspected of being under the influence of alcohol has sustained serious injuries in a freak accident at 2:45 a.m.   The woman, 28, drove her Toyota Yaris sedan north on State Route 125 and went straight through a T-intersection at Mission Gorge Road, becoming airborne.

East County News Service

June 15, 2017 (Escondido)  -- Did you know your dog can be trained to recognize rattlesnakes by sight, sound or scent AND to avoid them? A course on rattlesnake avoidance training for dogs - featuring live rattlesnakes that have been disabled from biting - will take place on July 8^th in Escondido.

Source:  Caltrans

June 15, 2017 (San Diego) - Caltrans construction crews reopened State Route 78 (SR-78) to one-way traffic control between Indian Oaks Road and Weekend Villa Road shortly after 10 this morning.  One-way traffic control will remain in place until 3 this afternoon.

“President Trump has placed a death sentence for the Christians that currently face deportation to Iraq.” – Mark Arabo, President, Minority Humanitarian Foundation, San Diego

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Miriam Raftery:  Iraqis Chaldeans and Assyrian Christians at Santa Sophia's Church in Spring Valley held a mass to mourn the murder of  Iraqi Christians  in a Baghdad church in 2010.

June 15, 2017 (San Diego) -- A class action lawsuit has been filed against the federal government in Michigan seeking to halt deportation of Iraqi refugees to Iraq. The suit seeks protections for over 100 Chaldean Christian detainees,  as well as other religious minorities including Shiite Muslims, Kurds, and Yezidis who would could face persecution, torture or death at the hands of ISIS if returned to war-torn Iraq.

“Not only is it immoral to send people to a country where they are likely to be violently persecuted, it expressly violates United States and international law and treaties,” said Kary Moss, Executive Director for the ACLU of Michigan, in a statement on the ACLU website. “We are hoping that the courts will recognize the extreme danger that deportation to Iraq would pose for these individuals. Our immigration policy shouldn’t amount to a death sentence for anyone.”

East County News Service

June 14, 2017 (San Diego's East County) - A long duration heat wave is forecast to develop across the deserts in southern California beginning Friday and lasting through much of next week.  How hot could it get?  Temperatures could reach 114 degrees in Palm Springs.  Here in San Diego County, Borrego Springs could hit 108 degrees, Ramona 96 degrees and Alpine 94 degrees.