ECM ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

September 23, 2023 (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 round-up stories include:

LOCAL

• Up for parole | Convicted Santana High School shooter has a chance at freedom   (CBS 8)
• COVID-19 hospitalizations are on the rise in San Diego County. Here's what you need to know  (KPBS)
• New jail-death lawsuit accuses sheriff’s deputies of being involved in drug sales behind bars (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• More antisemitic flyers dropped in Del Cerro neighborhood (KPBS)
• Video footage of fatal La Mesa police shooting released (10 News)
• State Legislature Steps Into San Diego’s Water Divorce Debate (Voice of San Diego)
• Newsom sends more CalGuard members to border in effort to halt the flood of fentanyl (Los Angeles Times)
• Once smeared as a security risk who would ‘infiltrate’ Congress, he’s a Navy officer now (Los Angeles Times column)
• Tijuana official explains why hundreds of migrants are back at the border
• Disgraced ex-Supervisor Fletcher describes relationship with woman suing him in court docs 
• City of San Diego to unveil mattress disposal program at Miramar Landfill  (10 News)
• Woman sentenced 18 years to life for shooting woman found dead in Bonita (10 News)
• The Learning Curve: Students Could Soon Earn Degrees Without Going to Class (Voice of San Diego)
• It's about to get easier to pay MTS bus and trolley fares(KPBS)

STATE

• CSU Board Approves Five-Year Annual 6% Tuition Hikes (Times of San Diego)
• Appeals court will hear challenge to California's new rooftop solar rules  (KPBS) California health care tax proponents go to the ballot (Politico)
• US judge strikes down California ban on high-capacity gun magazines( Reuters)
• California scales back electric car rebates to focus on lower-income car buyers (CalMatters)
• Schiff and Porter increasingly dominate race for Senate, poll shows (Los Angeles Times)
• CA Moves To Legalize Magic Mushrooms And Other Psychedelics (Patch)
• California voters oppose cash reparations for slavery descendants by 2 to 1: Poll (Washington Times)

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

LOCAL

Up for parole | Convicted Santana High School shooter has a chance at freedom   (CBS 8)

The Santana High School shooting is San Diego County’s worst school shooting in history.  After serving nearly 23 years in prison, having spent more than 70% of his life behind bars, San Diego's deadliest school shooter Andy Williams is eligible for parole.  His parole hearing is set for March 2024. 

COVID-19 hospitalizations are on the rise in San Diego County. Here's what you need to know  (KPBS)

The county reported a seven-day average of 147 people hospitalized for COVID-19 last week — almost double what was reported in July. It has the second-highest number of hospitalizations among all California counties behind Los Angeles, according to state data.

New jail-death lawsuit accuses sheriff’s deputies of being involved in drug sales behind bars (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Sheriff’s deputies have tolerated illegal drugs inside San Diego County jails and profited from their sale and distribution for years, according to a new lawsuit filed by the relatives of a man who died in custody last year…The lawsuit cites no specific evidence to support its claims. The Sheriff’s Department on Wednesday rejected any allegation that deputies allowed drug trafficking inside county jails.

More antisemitic flyers dropped in Del Cerro neighborhood (KPBS)

Neighbors in a Del Cerro community awoke again Monday to find antisemitic flyers littering their street. This time? The flyers promoted misinformation about 9/11.

Video footage of fatal La Mesa police shooting released (10 News)

Authorities Thursday released video footage of a police shooting that left a gun-wielding burglary suspect dead two weeks ago in a neighborhood near the junction of Interstate 8 and state Route 125 in La Mesa.

State Legislature Steps Into San Diego’s Water Divorce Debate (Voice of San Diego)

If passed, AB 530 would require a countywide vote before any water district could buy water from a different county.

Newsom sends more CalGuard members to border in effort to halt the flood of fentanyl (Los Angeles

Times)

With the majority of fentanyl and other narcotics in the United States entering through California’s southern border, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday he would be beefing up the California National Guard presence along the border immediately to try to stem the flow. Fentanyl is “ripping families and communities apart,” he says.

Once smeared as a security risk who would ‘infiltrate’ Congress, he’s a Navy officer now (Los Angeles Times column)

Last week, out of the blue, I got a text from Ammar Campa-Najjar. The two-time San Diego County Democratic congressional candidate wanted to let me know that he’d just been commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserves, assigned to the Pacific Fleet…The 2018 campaign will live in infamy, as Hunter’s overtly racist accusations against Campa-Najjar, who converted from Islam to Christianity in high school, made national news.

Tijuana official explains why hundreds of migrants are back at the border

They're coming from all over Latin America, Europe, and Africa. Many fly into Tijuana and cross the border from there…."In Europe it's very hard to apply for asylum and some people want to come to the United States and find this sure route, the Tijuana route," said Enrique Lucero at Tijuana Migrant Affairs….Lucero says the situation is a repeat from May, when unprecedented amounts of migrants arrived right before Title 42 ended. Around that time, the Biden administration announced plans to send 1,500 soldiers to the border for 90 days to help with the influx. Lucero says that's when the situation improved…. He believes this influx is happening because the 90 days has now passed.

Disgraced ex-Supervisor Fletcher describes relationship with woman suing him in court docs 

Motions filed by Fletcher’s attorney last Friday maintain that Fletcher never harassed Figueroa and that her lawsuit relates to a few isolated encounters between two consenting adults. The court papers also state that Fletcher had no power over Figueroa’s salary or work schedule, and had nothing to do with her termination and that her job “required very little, if any, direct interaction with Mr. Fletcher.” The motion goes on to say, “Indeed, the evidence will ultimately reveal that Plaintiff actively pursued Mr. Fletcher for over a year...”

City of San Diego to unveil mattress disposal program at Miramar Landfill  (10 News)

The new program, in conjunction with the Mattress Recycling Council, allows San Diegans to drop off mattresses and box springs at the new collection site, located on the east side of the entrance of the landfill on Convoy Street.

Woman sentenced 18 years to life for shooting woman found dead in Bonita (10 News)

Evaline Janet Lemus, 32, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the shooting death of 22-year-old La Mesa resident Kimberly Gutierrez, whose body was found near a cul-de-sac at the end of Quarry Road on Oct. 20, 2021 .

The Learning Curve: Students Could Soon Earn Degrees Without Going to Class (Voice of San Diego)

As California community colleges dip a toe into the competency-based education model, Southwestern College’s forthcoming degree in automotive technology may be a sign of things to come. Instead of going to class and turning in homework, students will have to pass a series of assessments to prove they are competent in the college’s four general education fields like language and rationality and natural sciences and the major field….

It's about to get easier to pay MTS bus and trolley fares(KPBS)

The transit agency's board of directors voted to allow fare payment by tapping a credit card or smartphone.

STATE

CSU Board Approves Five-Year Annual 6% Tuition Hikes (Times of San Diego)

Tuition for California State University students will increase by 6% annually for five years beginning in 2024-25 under a plan approved Wednesday by the university’s Board of Trustees. Under the schedule, the annual undergraduate tuition for CSU will increase from the current $5,742 to $6,084 in the 2024-25 school year. The total would jump to $6,450 the following year, then to $6,840 in 2026-27, then to $7,248 and ultimately to $7,682 in 2028-29.

Appeals court will hear challenge to California's new rooftop solar rules  (KPBS)

Three groups challenged the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) decision to slash the value of electricity generated from solar panels and install $15 monthly fees for residents who add solar panels to their rooftops.

California health care tax proponents go to the ballot (Politico)

 The coalition that secured a $36 billion tax deal to pump more money into Medi-Cal wants to make it harder for future administrations to spend that revenue elsewhere.

US judge strikes down California ban on high-capacity gun magazines(Reuters)

A federal judge in California on Friday declared that state's ban on magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition unconstitutional, saying it violated the Second Amendment rights of firearms owners.  U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez in San Diego said California's "sweeping ban" went too far by preventing people from using magazines for lawful purposes, including self-defense.

California scales back electric car rebates to focus on lower-income car buyers (CalMatters)

 Now that electric cars are mainstream, higher-income Californians will no longer qualify for state subsidies. Lower-income buyers could get up to $12,000.

Schiff and Porter increasingly dominate race for Senate, poll shows (Los Angeles Times)

California has more registered Republicans than any state in the union, but that doesn’t mean one of them will make it to the runoff for the state’s U.S. Senate seat. Six months ahead of the March 5 primary, two Democrats appear likely to face off next year to decide who will replace longtime Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, according to a new UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by The Times.

CA Moves To Legalize Magic Mushrooms And Other Psychedelics (Patch)

If approved, the law would go into effect Jan. 1, 2025. The Assembly voted 42-13 in favor of Senate Bill 58, which would remove criminal penalties for personal possession and use of limited amounts of psilocybin and psilocin, dimethyltryptamine — also known as DMT — and mescaline, with the exception of peyote. The bill would also trigger a regulatory process to craft policy proposals for the therapeutic use of psychedelics.

California voters oppose cash reparations for slavery descendants by 2 to 1: Poll (Washington Times)

A University of California Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll of 6,030 registered state voters found that 59% are against paying monetary reparations to Black residents descended from slaves, while 28% support the plan and 13% have no opinion. . .The results echoed those of a 2021 national poll by the Pew Research Center that found 68% of U.S. adults opposed and 30% supported reparations for slavery descendants.

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