EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

April 10, 2014 (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

• Firefighters worry about shortage in reserve fire engines (10 News)
• Ratepayer Group: Proposed Settlement Of San Onofre Nuclear Costs 'Theft' (KPBS)
• Hide and seek at Ocotillo (Eco Report)
• San Diego-Baja Rail Line Has New Boosters (KPBS)
• MWD adopts unnecessary rate increases for 2015 and 2016 while over-collecting $350 million from ratepayers (Scoop San Diego)
• Should feral cats be euthanized? (UT San Diego)

STATE

• Solar energy: Park Service says project would harm Mojave preserve (Press Enterprise)
• Tree poachers are destroying California’s redwoods (Salon)
• Senator Leland Yee indicted (Sacramento Bee)
• California water plan unveils hardships to come as drought persists (Sacramento Bee)

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

LOCAL

Firefighters worry about shortage in reserve fire engines (10 News)

San Diego firefighters are worried about a shortage of reserve or backup fire engines. City Council is scheduled to hear the findings of an independent audit regarding the city's fleet maintenance division at its meeting Tuesday. Union leaders say the city is down to just four reserve engines. The union president, Frank De Clercq, maintains the standard is one reserve for every front line engine. That is 47 engines.

Ratepayer Group: Proposed Settlement Of San Onofre Nuclear Costs 'Theft' (KPBS)

A ratepayer group [Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight] said the proposed settlement of costs related to the failed San Onofre nuclear plant is a bad deal for customers.

Hide and seek at Ocotillo (Eco Report)

…The last couple of weeks, the  workers appear to have been making repairs. They  hide when residents approach, which only makes people suspicious…he hide and go seek took a more serious turn on April 2, when the workers came in the dark. This just roused suspicion. As you can see in the video below, a worker was taking pictures of the blade when Jim started filming him at 4:30 am.

San Diego-Baja Rail Line Has New Boosters (KPBS)

Tijuana and San Diego business leaders are putting cross-border rail service at the top of their priority list.

 MWD adopts unnecessary rate increases for 2015 and 2016 while over-collecting $350 million from ratepayers (Scoop San Diego)

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California on Tuesday raised rates for 2015 and 2016 despite having projected cash reserves of $840 million – an amount that is $352 million above its board

Should feral cats be euthanized? (UT San Diego)

Are feral cats such a menace to birds and other wildlife that they should be captured and euthanized? That’s largely the debate spinning within conservation circles since the American Bird Conservancy, along with 200 other conservation groups including San Diego Audubon Society, recently sent a petition to the Department of the Interior.

STATE

Solar energy: Park Service says project would harm Mojave preserve (Press Enterprise)

The National Park Service has lodged strongly worded objections to a proposed 6.5-square-mile solar development about a half-mile from the Mojave National Preserve, saying the project would harm wildlife and suggesting that it be built elsewhere.

Tree poachers are destroying California’s redwoods (Salon)

Rank California’s redwoods among the rhinos and elephants: a growing poaching crisis threatens the already endangered trees.

Senator Leland Yee indicted (Sacramento Bee)

Marking the next step in a sweeping FBI operation that has implicated suspended Sen. Leland Yee, a federal grand jury has indicted Yee and 28 others. The indictment charges Yee with honest services conspiracy, wire fraud and conspiracy to deal in and import firearms. If convicted on all counts, Yee faces a sentence of 125 years in federal prison and $1.75 million in potential fines.

California water plan unveils hardships to come as drought persists (Sacramento Bee)

A new drought operations plan, unveiled Wednesday by California and federal officials, warns of threats to endangered salmon, drinking water quality.