Judicial finding that Kalashos engaged in cyber-harassment, defamation and other intimidating actions comes within days of ECM reporter Paul Kruze filing a police complaint alleging that Councilman Kalasho threatened him with an attack dog and defamed him on social media.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Ben and Jessica Kalasho at  a Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce event, before the U.S. Patent and Trademark office forced them to change the name of the organization due to trademark infringement.

July 6, 2018 (El Cajon) – Superior Court Judge Timothy Taylor has issued a judgment granting a motion  filed by beauty pageant contestants and a taco shop owner against El Cajon Councilman Ben Kalasho and his wife, Jessica. The ruling allows documents and a supporting declaration  submitted by plaintiffs’ lawyers to be admitted as facts at trial and  most damning, orders evidence of the following admissions to be submitted  at trial as true facts--meaning the Kalashos cannot dispute the accuracy of these findings in court:

• Kalasho, his wife and their entities created fake nude photos of Miss Middle East pageant Queen Zhala Tawfiq and published them online “intending to cause and causing Ms. Tawfiq severe emotional distress.”
• Kalasho propositioned pageant contestant Paris Kargar, offering sex in exchange for assuring she won the 2016 Miss Middle East pageant. He made statements indicating her declining this proposition cost her a fair shot at the title.
• Kalasho whispered in Kargar’s ear, “You are so f*cking hot, I cannot take my eyes off you.” He also made comments about her breasts jiggling as she walked down the runway.
• Kalasho conducted one-on-one recorded interviews with 2016 contestants including Tawfiq and Karger, but destroyed these videos after the lawsuit in which Kargar contends she was harassed during her interview.
• Kalasho,his wife and his entities created multiple alias Facebook profiles used to make defamatory posts against Tres Taqueria, including fabricated poll results and false claims of food poisoning after the restaurant owner refused to post Kalasho campaign signs.
  

By Jonathan Goetz

Photo:  Lemon Grove Management Analyst Miranda Evans, smiling, received flowers for her self-taught videography in Lemon Grove's 40th birthday year of celebration and history minutes.

July 5, 2018 (Lemon Grove) -- It wasn’t all flowers Tuesday as the City Council discussed roads, sidewalks, a memorandum of understanding with firefighters and bringing various proposals before voters in order to raise revenue for the City of Lemon Grove, which is forecasting a budget deficit.

East County News Service

June 28, 2018 (San Diego) – Earlier this month, members of Congress visited detention facilities holding boys separated from their immigrant parents at the border. But thus far, no members have been allowed to go inside facilities holding girls who were taken from their mothers or fathers, and no photos have been released showing girls inside the detention centers including one in Lemon Grove.  Now San Diego Congresswoman Susan Davis has signed a letter along with over 50 Democratic women members of Congress pressing the  Secretaries of Homeland Security (DHS) and Health and Human Services (HHS) to release details about immigrant children separated from their parents. 

By Miriam Raftery

June 27, 2018 (San Diego) – San Diego’s County Board of Supervisors has unanimously approved a budget of over $6 billion budget for the new fiscal year starting July 1^st, an increase of 8.4 percent over last year.

By Miriam Raftery

June 21, 2018 (San Diego) – East County legislators and California’s state attorney general are taking action in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order to end separation of immigrant children and parents. Some argue that the directive does not go far enough to protect children and babies, since they could still be detained with parents and since it’s unclear how or when youngsters already taken from parents will be reunited.

Trump's reversal came after audiotape of terrified, crying children at a detention facility was released by ProPublica and after a judge sharply criticized the Trump administration upon learning that records were not kept when some children were taken from their anguished parents, who have been unable to get any information on their children's whereabouts 

"I can’t understand this," the exasperated judge reportedly told the attorney. "If someone at the jail takes your wallet, they give you a receipt. They take your kids, and you get nothing? Not even a slip of paper?”

By Miriam Raftery

 June 17, 2018 (Santee) – Activists in Santee are spending Father’s Day  gathering signatures on two petitions on issues impacting Santee and Mission Trails Regional Park areas.   

 The first aims to put the Santee General Plan Initiative on the ballot to require voter approval of development projects larger than the general plan currently allows.  The second calls on the California Public Utilities Commission to halt SDG&E’s proposed gas pipeline. Click links in this paragraph to read ECM’s prior articles on these issues.  Below are details on where you can find petition gathers and rallies: 

Does photo released by Germany’s Chancellor show a bold president standing up for U.S. interests, or a petulant outsider betraying America’s strongest allies and being scolded by a powerful woman leader?  It all depends on your perspective.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Jesco Denzel, posted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel via Instagram

June 12, 2018 (Berlin) – Hours after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced at a news conference that leaders of all seven nations at the G-7 summit signed a communique agreeing on a broad range of economic and foreign policy goals, a statement affirmed other allied leaders, President Donald Trump sent tweets aboard Air Force One blasting apart the reputed deal. Trump accused Trudeau of “false statements” and said he has instructed Congress “not to endorse the Communique.”

Further frustrating allies, Trump also called for Russia to be readmitted to the G-7. Russia was kicked out for its backing of the Crimean invasion, a violating of international law, the New York Times reports.

By Miriam Raftery

June 8, 2018 (San Diego) – Superior Court Judge Gary Kreep, who was censured for 29 counts of judicial misconduct, failed to win reelection outright, earning only 31.5% of the vote – far short needed for a majority.  He will enter a run-off race in November against Deputy District Attorney Matt Brower, also a judge advocate in the military, who earned 21.7% of the vote in the five-man race.

Brower is rated as qualified by the County Bar Association, which rated Kreep as lacking qualifications.

By Miriam Raftery

June 8, 2018 (Sacramento) – Republican fears of being shut-out of the gubernatorial race in California did not come to pass. The November run-off election will pit Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, against John Cox, a Republican businessman. 

The two have dramatically different visions for California's future, giving voters a clear choice.  Having a Republican on the top of the ticket is also expected to help the GOP with turnout in November, a factor that could help the party's down-ticket race candidates as well in California, a state dominated by Democrats who currently hold every statewide office and control both houses of the Legislature.

By Ken Stone, credit to Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo:  Diane Harkey (left) with a supporter at Golden Hall in downtown San Diego. Photo by Chris Stone

June 6, 2018 (San Diego) - In a race Democrats are eager to win to increase their strength in Washington, Republican Diane Harkey grabbed the lead Tuesday evening in the battle to replace retiring Rep. Darrell Issa, but a Democrat appears bound to challenge her in the November runoff.

By Miriam Raftery

June 6, 2018 (San Diego) – California voters, by strong margins, approved four ballot initiatives on yesterday’s ballot, with only Prop 70 failing to win passage.

Update June 6, 2018 -- With 100% of precicnts counted and only late mail-in and provisionals remaining, Munoz is up with 56.73% over Lund with 43.07%.

By Miriam Raftery and Jonathan Goetz; photo by Jonathan Goetz

June 5, 2016 (San Diego's East County) -- Incumbent County Board of Education member Alicia Munoz has fended off a challenge by East County Chamber of Commerce president and community college instructor Eric Lund.  Munoz, who had heavy backing from the American Federation of Teachers, has 57.46% of the vote over Lund's 42.34%, with 20% of precincts reported.

"It's been a good learning experience. This is my first time running and I'll be more prepared next time," Lund told East County Magazine.

 By Miriam Raftery

Jonathan Goetz contributed to this report.

 June 6, 2018 (San Diego) – District Attorney Summer Stephans and Sheriff Bill Gore looks likely to win reelection. 

With 15.3% of votes counted, she has over two-thirds of the votes at 64.53%.  Challenger Genevieve Jones-Wright, a progressive Democrat, has only 35.32% of the vote.

Sheriff Gore has 57.2% of the vote vs. Dave Myers, a Democratic Challenger from within Gore's own department, who has 42.6%. 

Update June 6, 2018 -- Across both San Diego and Riverside County, with 100% of precincts tallied but not late mail-in or provisional ballots, according to the Califiornia Secretary of State the results are:  Randy Voepel 44.5%,  James Elia 31.3%, and Larry Wilske 24.2%.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Jonathan Goetz, who also contributed to this report

June 5, 2018 (San Diego's East County) -- In the 71st Assembly district held by  Republican Randy Voepel, with 15.3% of precincts counted, Voepel is on top in San Diego County with 44.13% but Democratic challenger James Elia is in second with 32.2% of the vote among the roughly 34,000 ballots tallied so far. 

Republican challenger Larry Wilske, a retired Navy Seal, had attacked Voepel with accusation of stolen valor, claiming Voepel inflated his military record.

In conservative Riverside County, which has a small percentage of voters, Wilske is actually ahead of the incumbent. Among Riverside's roughly 3,000 votes counted thus far, Wilske has 35.26%, followed by  Elia at 33.17%, and Voepel at just 31.57%. Voepel has strongest name recognition in East County, where he formerly served as mayor of Santee.

"We laid it all on the line, we've knocked on as many doors as we can and we look forward to the end of the night and we're confident we're going to November," Elia, an accountant, said tonight.

June 5, 2018 (San Diego) -- On election night, we all want to know who won what race and which proposition passed – and as soon as possible! But the June 5 gubernatorial primary election results may take a little while to come in. Here’s why.

• A high number of registered voters: San Diego County has over 1.69 million registered voters.
• 1,444 polling places across the county.
• More mail ballots than ever before were issued by the Registrar’s office, over 1.1 million.