EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

March 28, 2018 (San Diego's East County) -- East County Roundup highlights top stories of interest to East County and San Diego’s inland regions, published in other media. This week’s top “Roundup” headlines include:

LOCAL

• County may join federal lawsuit challenging sanctuary state laws (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• March for Our Lives rallies massive in San Diego County, nationwide (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• New poll shows how San Diegans feel about gun control (10 News)
• New numbers show exodus from San Diego County and California (10 News)
• A trout farming experiment at Lake Cuyamaca (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• San Diego County deputy arrested in Riverside for lewd acts on a child (NBC 7)
• Fran Bera honored by hundreds in El Cajon (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• SD Assemblywoman Fined $4,000 For Campaign Finance Violations (KPBS)
• Every Year, Lakeside Teachers Can Get Paid to Retire (Voice of San Diego)
• Environment Report: Lawsuit Targets Smart Water Meters (Voice of San Diego)

STATE

• California utilities want customers to help pay wildfire damages. Will politicians oblige? (CalMatters)
• New Chinese tariffs could be a blow to California’s wine industry (SF Chronicle)
• California courts paid at least $500,000 to resolve sex harassment suits against judges and employees (Los Angeles Times)
• Work ceased for 10 days at San Onofre after loose bolt was discovered in radioactive waste container (San Diego Union-Tribune)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

LOCAL

Escondido, County may join federal lawsuit challenging sanctuary state laws (San Diego Union-Tribune)

…The San Diego County Board of Supervisors is expected to discuss the matter in closed session on April 17.

March for Our Lives rallies massive in San Diego County, nationwide (San Diego Union-Tribune)

About 90 minutes before the March for Our Lives demonstration was set to begin in downtown San Diego Saturday, 18-year-old Sydney Cummings was asked what she wanted people to take away from the march. “We’re not okay with the current gun legislation,” said Cummings, a senior at West Hills High...

New poll shows how San Diegans feel about gun control (10 News)

A new poll shows that a majority of San Diegans support stricter gun laws in the U.S. A Survey USA poll released Sunday morning shows that 71 percent of those asked in San Diego support stricter gun laws while 18 percent say they oppose tighter gun restrictions.

New numbers show exodus from San Diego County and California (10 News)

Based on the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, most of those leaving are lower income.  Some are middle income… San Diego’s median rent rose 3.9 percent to $2,548 compared to 2.8 percent in the rest of the country, according to Zillow. Home values rose 10.1 percent to $581,100.

A trout farming experiment at Lake Cuyamaca (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Inside the small boathouse at Lake Cuyamaca, about 1,200 small trout busily swim in six aquarium tanks. They represent a small-scale, fish-farming experiment with lofty goals. If the lake’s staff can make it work at Cuyamaca, General Manager Butch Paddock said, perhaps larger lakes in the county with greater resources can do the same, but on a much bigger scale.

San Diego County deputy arrested in Riverside for lewd acts on a child (NBC 7)

A San Diego County Sheriff’s Department (SDSO) deputy was arrested this week for a 2011 case involving alleged lewd acts on a child, officials confirmed. Deputy Sam Thomas Knight, Jr., 40, of Santee, was booked into the Cois Byrd Detention Center in the city of Murrieta, California.

Fran Bera honored by hundreds in El Cajon (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Nearly 400 people poured into Allen Airways Flying Museum in El Cajon on Saturday to pay honor to one of the pioneering women aviators in history, Frances Sebastian Bera.

San Diego Assemblywoman Fined $4,000 For Campaign Finance Violations (KPBS)

The state Fair Political Practices Commission fined San Diego Assemblywoman Shirley Weber $4,000 for failing to report large contributions in a timely manner during her 2014 re-election campaign.

Every Year, Lakeside Teachers Can Get Paid to Retire (Voice of San Diego)

For 262 teachers in the tiny 6,000-student Lakeside Union School District in East County, they don’t have to wait to get such an offer. For eligible Lakeside teachers, the option to get paid to retire is available every single year, thanks to language in the teachers’ union contract.

Environment Report: Lawsuit Targets Smart Water Meters (Voice of San Diego)

The lawsuit claims sewer customers from across the region are paying for water meters in the city for no good reason. 

STATE

California utilities want customers to help pay wildfire damages. Will politicians oblige? (CalMatters)

… The announcement from Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders said that due to recent devastating fires and mudslides, they would work together this year to “make California more resilient against the impacts of natural disasters and climate change.” Among the issues they promised to address: updating liability laws for utility companies. The innocuous-sounding statement belies a controversial idea: that Californians could eventually have to pay more for electricity because of last year’s wildfires.

New Chinese tariffs could be a blow to California’s wine industry (San Francisco Chronicle)

China’s announcement on Friday that it would impose new tariffs on U.S. goods came as unwelcome news to California vintners, who anticipate that the extra 15 percent charge on wine that China is planning could have disastrous effects on an increasingly important segment of their businesses.

California courts paid at least $500,000 to resolve sex harassment suits against judges and employees (Los Angeles Times)

 In response to a public records request by The Times, the Judicial Council, the rule-making body for the court system, said it paid $296,000 to resolve three sexual harassment complaints against judges and $225,000 to settle two lawsuits against court staff.

Work ceased for 10 days at San Onofre after loose bolt was discovered in radioactive waste container (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Southern California Edison halted work at San Onofre earlier for 10 days after crews discovered a loose bolt inside one of the canisters designed to store spent radioactive fuel at the waterfront site. Nearby residents are afraid the broken canister is indicative of larger safety problems at the...