April 1, 2015, 2015 (San Diego’s East County)--This week’s Destination East County includes egg-stravaganzas, an Easter bunny train and a harmonica festival.

We’ll also have a preview of coming attractions including a baroque music concert at Cuyamaca College, the Taste of Julian country culinary tour, the world famous Romeros brothers performing classical guitar music, and a Flash Jam featuring hundreds of musicians playing old-time fiddle music across the town of Julian.

March 19, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Weighing medical privacy rights vs. public safety (CBS)
• Kaiser to search for causes of autism in large-scale study (San Francisco Chronicle)

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• Why is our solar system so strange? Blame Jupiter, say astronomers. (CS Monitor)
• Scientists Discover A New Form Of Ice — It's Square (NPR)
• Fukushima cleanup: What to do with a torrent of radioactive water (CS Monitor)
• AAA: Distracted Driving A Factor In 58 Percent Of Teen Crashes (KPBS)

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

The Local Power Channel on TheECOreport.com Will Be Dedicated to Locally Run Utilities (Community Choice Aggregation/CCA's), and Democratic Energy Initiatives.



April 3, 2015 (San Franciso and Vancouver): The ECOreport (http://theecoreport.com/) has partnered with Local Power, Inc., inventor of community choice aggregation (CCA), in a web based education initiative to inform communities about the benefits of CCA's to enable locally controlled electric power, rapidly scaled up renewable technologies, and dramatically increased energy efficiency. The Local Power Channel, on the ECOreport website, will be dedicated to education and information about the topic of community choice aggregation.

By Miriam Raftery

March 31, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) - Farm workers in the Valley of San Quintin in Baja California, Mexico staged a strike last week, including many Native Americans protesting low pay and deplorable working conditions.

April 1, 2015 (La Mesa)—All the Perks Espresso Café has announced a 15-day fundraiser to benefit young, disadvantaged families of U.S. soldiers. From April 1 through April 15, the coffee shop at 8046 La Mesa Blvd. (in the La Mesa Springs Shopping Center) will donate 10% of sales to Support the Enlisted Project (STEP). The shop will also be a collection point where customers can drop off donated diapers, wipes, clothing, toys, household items, infant car seats, strollers, cribs, high chairs, items for new families, retail and grocery gift cards.

By Miriam Raftery

April 1, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – Unfortunately, this isn’t an April Fool’s joke. The Sierra snowpack is “the worst in a century,” according to Jeff Anderson, snow surveyor for the U.S. Conservation Source.

By Kathy Carpenter, Associate and Youth Reviewer, SDTheatreReviews

Presented by Young Actors' Theatre at the Encore Theatre in Spring Valley March 20-29

Photo: Syrian monastery in Tikrit, public domain image from Wikipedia

April 1, 2015 (San Diego’s East County)—Iraqi forces backed by U.S. air strikes have been pummeling the city of Tikrit in Iraq, seeking to wrest control away from Islamic State terrorists, or ISIS.  Now the Iraqi Defense Minister Khalid al-Obeidi has declared a “magnificent victory” in the offensive.

March 30, 2015 (Lakeside)—The Lakeside Community Planning Group announces a vacancy to fill; Laura Cyphert cited travel commitments in her resignation letter.

A little April Fool's Day Fun.

By Horse Feathers

April 1, 2015 (Jamul) – The Jamul Indian tribe today made a surprise announcement, revealing that it has abandoned plans to build a Hollywood-themed Casino and instead reached an agreement with the National Football League (NFL) and Chargers to build a new sports stadium on its six-acre Jamul Indian Village site.

The team will play its nine home games at the state-of-the-art stadium equipped with deluxe sky boxes and adjacent high-rollers lounge, plus seating for 79,000 fans.

Since the stadium will be on tribal land, there won’t be a problem betting on games.  In fact slot machines and gaming tables will be installed throughout the stadium including in the parking lot, where each parking space will be equipped with its own slot machine for ‘tailgate party gambling.’  Inside, each stadium seat will be equipped with “place your bet” buttons.

A little April Fool's Day Fun.

By Barry Pickens

April  1, 2015 (La Mesa)—After months of torn-up streets for revitalization of La Mesa’s downtown village, the city has unveiled its new landscaping plan.

“Today we are pleased to announce an Edible Forest for La Mesa,” said Mayor Mark Arapostathis, plucking a ripe apple off a newly planted tree beside city hall.  “All residents are welcome to help plant, harvest, and savor the fruits of these labors.”

One side of La Mesa Boulevard will be planted in grapevines and the other side will feature hops vines, thus sustaining the city’s burgeoning winemaking and craft brewery businesses.  There will also be a community vineyard and hops haven outside the La Mesa community center.

Officers to offer full service---pumping gas and washing windows

Photo credit: Nita Jatar Kulkarni

March 31, 2015 (El Cajon)--The El Cajon Police Department, along with other law enforcement agencies, is helping to launch a two month “Icon” promotion across Southern Californian on behalf of the Special Olympics.

State’s own defense lawyers could do the job for $30 to $65 an hour

By Miriam Raftery

March 30, 2015 (San Diego)—As we reported last week, the California Public Utilities Commission’s Chairman, Michael Picker, unilaterally authorized the PUC to pay a criminal defense firm to mount a defense for the PUC’s former chairman, Michael Peevey and others  who are the targets of both state and federal investigations. Picker initially authored $49,000 and then bumped it up to $5.2 million – a 100-fold increase.