EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

October 3, 2013 (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

• Highway 67 barriers considered (U-T San Diego)
• Accretive plays hardball with planning groups (Valley Center Press--Opinion by David D. Ross)
• Autopsy scheduled for woman whose body was found on Barona reservation (10 News)
• Miramar air show cancelled at last minute (U-T San Diego)
• Vons store hit with tobacco sales suspension in El Cajon (U-T San Diego)
• Campo residents fight plan to move violent sexual predator into their neighborhood (10 News)
• City Investigates Foul Odor Near River in Santee (Santee Patch)
• Fired teacher sues San Diego diocese (U-T San Diego)
• La Mesa tracks down graffiti (La Mesa Courier)
• Mission Trails Regional Park out of control? Wildlife Agencies say it is (Mission Times Courier)
•  Jamul Groups Sue to Derail Casino (UT San Diego)
• Casino planned for Jamul, CA faces challenges (Courthouse News)
• San Diego Researchers Lead The Way In Early Warning Earthquake Sensors (KPBS)
• SANDAG OKs $200M for bike projects (U-T San Diego)

STATE

• California report says truancy may cost state billions (Sacramento Bee)
• Brown Signs Bill Ending Current Standardized Tests (KPBS)
• Quarantine for citrus pest grows in central Calif.

Click “read more” and scroll down for excerpts and links to full stories.

LOCAL

Highway 67 barriers considered (U-T San Diego)

State Route 67 between Lakeside and Ramona has been the scene of numerous, horrific head-on collision over the years. Now the state’s transportation department is studying whether to build median barriers along a 12-mile stretch of the highway between Willow Road in Lakeside and Shady Oaks Drive in Ramona — an idea talked about for decades but always rejected for various reasons.

Accretive plays hardball with planning groups (Valley Center Press--Opinion by David D. Ross)

The Accretive Group, which wants to build a 1,743 home development (Lilac Hills Ranch) along the I-15 Corridor that would bust open the recently adopted County General Plan, has shown itself more than willing to play hardball with its many critics …It wants to intimidate all opposition into quietus.

Autopsy scheduled for woman whose body was found on Barona reservation (10 News)

An autopsy was scheduled Thursday to determine whether the body found on the Barona Indian Reservation near Ramona was that of a missing Serra Mesa woman, authorities said. The body was found in the vicinity of San Vicente Oaks Road and Wildcat Canyon Road about 3:15 p.m. Wednesday, according to San Diego County sheriff's Lt. Clayton Lisk.

Miramar air show cancelled at last minute (U-T San Diego)

Annual Marine air fest at Miramar finally snuffed by government shutdown

Vons store hit with tobacco sales suspension in El Cajon (U-T San Diego)

The Vons store on Avocado and Chase avenues will not be able to sell tobacco for a three-month period starting Oct. 1 because it sold the product to minors in violation of the city's code. For the past 10 years, the city has enforced strict laws against the sale of tobacco to minors. Three times since 2009 the Vons store sold tobacco products to a customer under the age of 18.

Campo residents fight plan to move violent sexual predator into their neighborhood (10 News)

Neighbors plan to fight Douglas Badger's placement

City Investigates Foul Odor Near River in Santee (Santee Patch)

The likely cause: Elevated water temps and nutrients trigger algae blooms, which then cause fish to die due to low oxygen levels.

Fired teacher sues San Diego diocese (U-T San Diego)

 A former teacher who lost her job after her estranged husband, who she said was abusive, showed up at school prompting a lockdown filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego.

La Mesa tracks down graffiti (La Mesa Courier)

Graffiti pops up in nearly every community, but in La Mesa it is unlikely to stick for more than a day or two thanks to the community’s aggressive approach to graffiti

Mission Trails Regional Park out of control? Wildlife Agencies say it is (Mission Times Courier)

 State and Federal wildlife officials have told the City of San Diego that people have  run amok in the park, creating trails where none were intended, endangering protected  plants and animals, and totally

Jamul Groups Sue to Derail Casino (UT San Diego)

In 2009 U.S. Supreme Court (Carcieri v. Salazar) ruled that Indian lands for gambling are restricted to tribes that existed when the Indian Regulatory Act was enacted in 1934. The Jamul Indian Village was not recognized until after 1980.

Casino planned for Jamul, CA faces challenges (Courthouse News)

The Jamul Indian tribe cannot build a mega-casino in San Diego because the site was improperly characterized as a reservation, a Christian church claims in Federal Court.

San Diego Researchers Lead The Way In Early Warning Earthquake Sensors (KPBS)

Under a statewide earthquake alert system, San Diegans would be warned approximately 20 seconds before the shaking began of a large earthquake on the southern San Andreas Fault. The early warning technology was designed with the help of researchers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

SANDAG OKs $200M for bike projects (U-T San Diego)

Plan would help finish 'high-priority' bikeways within a decade.

STATE

California report says truancy may cost state billions (Sacramento Bee)

California must act to reduce rampant truancy that saw an estimated 1 million elementary students absent in the last school year and may cost the state billions of dollars through increased crime and poverty, according to a study released Monday by the state attorney general's office.

Brown Signs Bill Ending Current Standardized Tests (KPBS)

California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill ending the traditional standardized tests that the state's public school students have taken in reading, math and social science since 1999.

Quarantine for citrus pest grows in central Calif.

(SacBee) -- The California Department of Food and Agriculture now has a quarantine measuring 86 square miles in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley citrus belt...Additional smaller quarantines are in place in neighboring Fresno and Kern counties.  The Asian citrus psyillid is capable of carrying a disease commonly called citrus greening. It turns fruit bitter before killing the tree… All of Southern California is under a state quarantine.