By Jamie Reno, originally posted May 13, 2013

May 18, 2013 (San Diego) – In a rather unexpected rejection of Southern California Edison’s efforts to restart the shuttered San Onofre nuclear power plant north of San Diego, the Atomic Safety Licensing Board (ASLB) ruled today that the two reactors can not go back online before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) holds a formal license amendment proceeding with full public participation.

A three-judge panel of the ASLB granted a petition from Friends of the Earth, an environmental organization, asking the NRC to require Edison to undergo a license amendment process before a judge, including public hearings, sworn testimony from expert witnesses and rules of evidence.

By Jamie Reno

January 31, 2013 (San Diego) – Last summer, as I was nearing the end of a grueling three-set tennis match in 90-degree heat, I felt a very sharp pain in my left side, below my heart, and then just collapsed on the court. It was easily the most painful thing I've ever experienced. I could barely move.

I wasn't sure if it was a heart attack, a ruptured spleen, a tumor, or what. All I knew is that it hurt like heck and that it was probably something serious. With the help of my tennis partner, I made it to the car and then to the hospital, where, after hours of blood tests and scans, the ER doctors finally discovered the problem: multiple blood clots in both lungs.

http://therenodispatch.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-i-survived-multiple-bloo...

By Jamie Reno

January 26, 2013 (San Diego) – The operator of the San Onofre nuclear power plant in Southern California made critical errors in the design of the plant's replacement steam generators and, as a result, the public was put in great danger last year, according to expert testimony Wednesday by an internationally renowned nuclear engineer at a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) hearing.

The chilling testimony, which was presented to the NRC Petitions Review Board, was accompanied by evidence showing that plant operator Southern California Edison should have been required to go through a license amendment process before installing the new steam generators in 2009 and 2010.

http://therenodispatch.blogspot.com/2013/01/design-flaws-at-california-n...

By Jamie Reno, The Reno Dispatch

January 10, 2013 (Washington, D.C.) – The U.S. Supreme Court has announced that it will not hear arguments in an historic lawsuit filed by two veterans groups in 2007 against the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The lawsuit, Veterans for Common Sense v. Shinseki, demanded that the VA fix its broken mental health care system.

Last May, a federal appeals court in California voted 10–1 to dismiss the case, ruling that only Congress or the president has the authority to direct changes on how veterans are treated. The decision overturned a 2–1 ruling in 2011 by the same court, which said that the department’s “unchecked incompetence has gone on long enough,” and permitted the plaintiffs to ask a federal judge to order changes in the VA.

http://therenodispatch.blogspot.com/2013/01/breaking-news-supreme-court-...

January 8, 2013 (San Diego) – Will there be no more nukes in Southern California? That now appears to be a very real possibility. It's been a year now since a radioactive steam leak lead to the closure of the two aging reactors at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), which is located between San Diego and Los Angeles. The power plant is not expected to reboot any time soon, if ever.

Last month, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a Request for Additional Information to Southern California Edison, the plant's majority owner, for its review of the company’s restart idea, asking the utility to provide evidence that reactor Unit 2, which Edison wants to reboot, can be operated safely.

http://therenodispatch.blogspot.com/2013/01/breaking-news-is-nuclear-pow...

January 2, 2013 (San Diego) – What has sadly been lost this week amid all the chatter about the so-called fiscal cliff is the fact that members of Congress are already threatening to throw our veterans under the bus. And it is nothing short of despicable.

Back in September, I reported for Newsweek/The Daily Beast that an unidentified Senator tried to block disabled veterans and their survivors from getting a cost-of-living adjustment to their benefits. The Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) increase for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits, which typically passes the House and Senate without opposition, was cleared by Senate Democrats but was unconscionably placed on a “secret hold” by an unidentified Republican senator.

http://therenodispatch.blogspot.com/2012/12/will-congress-throw-veterans...

January 2, 2013 (San Diego) – I just watched the poignant new film Promised Land, which will be released nationally on Friday, and as I watched I couldn't help but wonder: Would President Obama like this movie? Is it something he would embrace, or dismiss?

As you may have read, Promised Land, which is written by and stars Matt Damon and John Krasinski, is a cautionary tale about hydraulic fracking, the relatively new and controversial process of injecting water, sand and a variety of chemicals, some of them toxic, deep into the ground to free natural gas trapped in rock.

http://therenodispatch.blogspot.com/2013/01/would-president-obama-like-n...

January 2, 2013 (San Diego) – Talk about your Friday Night Lights. It was 35 years ago that arguably the greatest high school football game in America was played, and the greatest high school rivalry was born. And the game wasn't played in Texas. Or California. It was played in Central Iowa.

The game in 1977 between the Valley Tigers and the Dowling Maroons, both of West Des Moines, Iowa, was epic. It created a high school rivalry that USA TODAY recently called one of the greatest in the nation. Well, I say it is the best in the nation.

http://therenodispatch.blogspot.com/2012/12/west-side-story-greatest-hig...

December 27, 2012 (San Diego) – Many lives have been saved by a personalized vaccine for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer called BioVax ID. But inexcusably, BioVax ID, which has been around since 1994, remains unapproved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is unavailable to many patients.

The FDA says it denied a request for accelerated approval for this vaccine from the company, Biovest, because the vaccine does not fill an unmet need. But patients and patient advocates I've spoken to across the nation strongly disagree.

http://therenodispatch.blogspot.com/2012/12/cancer-vaccine-saves-lives-b...

November 11, 2012 (San Diego) – Veterans Day is a day to remember and honor all American men and women who served our country. But this year, it's also a day to reflect on just what impact last week's election will have on America's 22 million veterans.

In his stirring victory speech late Tuesday night, President Obama passionately reminded the nation how important it is to support our warriors and their families. He reiterated that support today in a speech at the Arlington Memorial Cemetery's Memorial Amphitheater, saying, "No one who fights for this country overseas should ever have to fight for a job, or a roof over their head, or the care that they have earned when they come home."

Full column:  http://therenodispatch.blogspot.com/2012/11/what-does-this-election-really-mean-for.html

By Jamie Reno

Despite the fact that we have been a nation at war for more than a decade, sadly, and surprisingly, the plight of America's veterans has not by any measure been a front-burner issue in this presidential election. But it's not too late for you to make it one.

Full column:  http://therenodispatch.blogspot.com/2012/11/election-eve-question-wholl-be-better.html

By The Reno Dispatch Guest Blogger Martin C. Winer

November 3, 2012 (San Diego) -- One of the most devastating diagnoses a patient can receive is cancer, which can sometimes mean years of chemotherapy, radiation and/or surgery affecting the patient’s quality of life. As a result, patients often look to the Internet hoping to find an alternative that will restore their health with greater speed and fewer side effects.

A simple Internet search produces a plethora of results with great promises but little backing research. Separating the silver from the dross often requires a graduate degree, so typically, the patient, in frustration, brings a ream of printouts to his or her oncologist, who usually hasn’t heard of half of the remedies or at best rolls his or her eyes at them. 

http://therenodispatch.blogspot.com/2012/10/what-is-dca-real-story-behin...

October 16, 2012 (San Diego) – Not a banner day for our beloved democracy when a legitimate candidate for President of the United States is arrested simply for practicing her right to free speech.

But so it goes...

Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala, the Green Party presidential and vice-presidential nominees, were just forcibly prevented from entering the grounds of tonight's presidential debate and arrested by local police.

http://therenodispatch.blogspot.com/2012/10/breaking-news-green-party-ca...

By Jamie Reno

The Reno Dispatch

Oct. 11, 2012 (San Diego) -- As a 16-year cancer survivor and longtime patient advocate, I was excited to learn that Caribou Coffee, one of the leading branded coffee companies in the country, has formed a new partnership with CancerCare, a non-profit organization that for nearly 70 years has provided a variety of free support services for cancer patients and their loved ones.

http://therenodispatch.blogspot.com/2012/10/cancercare-and-caribou-coffe...

By Jamie Reno

Exclusive for the Reno Dispatch

October 8, 2012 (San Diego) – Last week, Randy Hamud, the attorney, author and civil rights activist who represented several of the friends of the three 9/11 hijackers who lived in San Diego, wrote an op-ed piece for the U-T San Diego newspaper in which he addressed whether the now-infamous 14-minute video ridiculing the Muslim Prophet Muhammad was an exercise of free speech, or an incitement to violence that should not be granted First Amendment protection.

http://therenodispatch.blogspot.com/2012/10/only-in-america-civil-debate...

By Jamie Reno

The Reno Dispatch

September 25, 2012 (San Diego) -- I've been openly critical of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for its massive backlog of disability claims, entrenched bureaucracy, and other problems. The VA has a long, long way to go.

But that doesn't mean I don't recognize that there are many people at VA who are dedicated to veterans, and many programs that help veterans survive and thrive.

By Jamie Reno

The Reno Dispatch

OK, let's cut to the chase: How are America's veterans really doing overall? While that question has no simple answer, what I can say is that there are a number of positives to share - but at least one very large negative.

In a briefing last week, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) candidly shared with the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee what it considers its greatest successes as well as its most urgent problems.

By Jamie Reno

The Reno Dispatch

September 24, 2012 (San Diego)--My trusted veteran sources tell me that we may soon know if Veterans for Common Sense v. Eric K. Shinseki, the historic lawsuit filed by veterans advocates against the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) way back in 2007, will be heard by the Supreme Court.

By Jamie Reno

The Reno Dispatch

Sept. 19, 2012 (San Diego)-- I'm not a bleeding-heart liberal. I certainly recognize that the violent anti-American protests this week throughout the Middle East and beyond in response to a stupid video denigrating the Muslim religion are a real threat to the United States and need to be taken very seriously.

By Jamie Reno

Several years ago I wrote a story about my two best friends - one a Christian conservative Republican ex-Marine, the other an agnostic liberal Democrat college professor. In the piece I described how much I admired both of them but always seemed to find myself in the middle. 

Well, they're still my best friends... and I'm still in the middle. My liberal friend still thinks I'm too conservative, and my conservative friend still thinks I'm too liberal. 

See more:

Viejas invests in a gem By Jamie Reno Exclusive for East County Magazine March 23, 2009 (San Diego)--As a wide-eyed young journalism student making my way across the San Diego State University campus for the first time in the Fall of 1984, I was energized by the thought that I was about to attend a top-notch J school and at the same time get the opportunity to watch some high-quality Division One college basketball. I'd previously played one unspectacular year of baseball at a city college and my competitive athletic days were pretty much done. I was ready now to just be a red-and-black-blooded fan of Aztecs sports, especially basketball. I already had a severe case of March Madness, and it was only September.

Jamie Reno suggests a novel approach to California's state budget
crisis

December
19, 2008 (San Diego) — This morning I've been boning up on our
state's massive budget problems and the unthinkably deep cuts that loom. It's
not a pretty picture. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's underlings are reportedly
already telling labor unions that the governor will order two-day-a-month unpaid
furloughs for state employees beginning in February to help the state save
money. And that's just the beginning. I'm sure more painful mandates and sacrifices
are coming.

An Iowa native & SDSU Alum on the Firing of Chuck
Long

By Jamie Reno
Exclusive for East County Magazine

November 25, 2008 (San Diego) — The announcement this week that San Diego
State University head football coach Chuck Long was fired stirred up wildly
mixed emotions in me. On the one hand, as a rabid San Diego State football
fan who attended SDSU in the 1980s and is sick and tired of losing seasons,
I was ecstatic. Get rid of the guy! On the other hand, as someone
who has idolized Long for the last 25 years, I was crushed. How could they
fire my hero?

By Jamie Reno
Exclusive for East County Magazine

October 15, 2008 (Tierrasanta) - Morning has broken. As the sun rises over the East County, a sense of calm permeates my body. Yesterday morning, when I started writing this column for East County Magazine on the new fire threats, it was a different story. I was filled with anxiety. The theme of the piece I was about to write had pretty much been decided for me: Oh, no, here we go again!