By Brooke Binkowski, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo: Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Labor Foundation, AFL-CIO, speaks while flanked by Democratic and Republican local leaders.

October 31, 2024 (San Diego) -  Saying he lacks ethics and integrity, local elected officials and community leaders gathered in Scripps Ranch Wednesday to offer an “anti-endorsement” of far-right Republican candidate and AM radio personality Carl DeMaio, a former San Diego City Council member and two-time congressional candidate.

By Miriam Raftery

October 15, 2018 (Washington D.C.) — A budget proposed by House Republicans would cut Medicare, the federal healthcare program for senior citizens and the disabled, by $537 billion.

That violates a campaign promise made by Donald Trump when he was running for President and pledged, “Republicans believe that a Medicare program that was created for seniors and paid for by seniors their entire lives should always be protected and preserved.”

By Miriam Raftery

January 3, 2017 (Washington D.C) –The first action of the 115th Congress was a closed-door vote by House Republicans to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics’  (OCE) independence and oversight powers.  But hours later,  after media reported on the action and members received a flood of calls from angry constituents, a new vote was held to scrap that plan and keep the OCE intact, for now.

The OCE was created in 2008 by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in response to the corruption scandal involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was later convicted of multiple felonies.  The House Ethics Committee did nothing about that scandal. Nor did it take any action against Randy “Duke” Cunningham, a San Diego Congressman sentenced to a decade in prison for bribery and corruption charges. It also took no action against Congressman Bob Filner when he was charged with trespass after pushing past a TSA agent at an airport.

In light of the House Ethics Committee’s impotence, the OCE  was created to conduct independent investigations, including probes based on tips from staffers, the public and anonymous sources.  

February 21, 2013 (San Diego’s East County)--ECM World Watch helps you be an informed citizen about important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a wide variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

NATIONAL

• States join battle over drone fights (The Hill)
• The Voting Rights Act: Under fire (Ebony)
• Sequestration could mean across the board pain (CBS)
• FTC advises consumers to keep eye out for unauthorized charges on credit card bills (ABC)
• Kerry comes out swinging on climate change (The Hill)
• Pentagon informs Congress of plans to furlough 800K civilian workers (The Hill)
• In US, big strides in reducing domestic violence (CS Monitor)
• Farmer's Fight With Monsanto Reaches The Supreme Court (NPR)
• Who will clean up after the nuclear plants? (Christian Science Monitor)
• Alaska brewery plans to use beer as source of green energy (Fox)

WORLD

• Meteor blast injures 1,000 in Russia (CNN)
• Ozone hole shrinks to new low (Christian Science Monitor)
• Journalist rips ‘pro-life’ Republicans for seeking to cut infant nutrition program (Raw Story)
• GOP lawmakers propose $30 million a year to fund cops in schools program (The Hill)
• India farmers’ rice revolution (UK Guardian)
• U.K. Slaughterhouses Raided As Europe's Horse Meat Scandal Widens (NPR)
• A glimpse of Mexico's new crime fighting strategy (Christian Science Monitor)
• Chernobyl hit by roof collapse (BBC)
• The Afghan Battle Over A Law To Protect Women (NPR)
• Foreigners arrested for trying to spread Christianity in Libya (Reuters)

Read more for excerpts and links to full stories.

November 8, 2012 --  (San Diego’s East County) – ECM World Watch helps you be an informed citizen about important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflecting all voices and views, we include links to a wide variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S.

• Obama makes history, again (CNN)
• After election, overtures from Republicans on debt (Washington Post)
• House Speaker says he’ll consider tax increase (SF Gate)
• Big gains for women in 2012 (CNN)
• Obama to weigh energy boom, climate change in second term (Reuters)
• After Romney losses, GOP soul searching begins (CBS)
• Hope and change part II (NY Times opinion)
• Marijuana legalization victories could be short-lived
• New York City crime down by a third in wake of superstorm  (Reuters)
• Study: Stem cells from strangers can repair hearts (Sacramento Bee) 

WORLD

• Russia set to redefine treason, sparking fears (NPR)
• Insight: Putin's Russia - more fragile than it looks (Reuters)
• Day of the Dead takes on new meaning for families of Mexico's disappeared (Christian Science Monitor)
• Islamists protest in Cairo, call for Sharia law (Jerusalem Post)
  

• 7 U.S. soldiers wounded after Afghan naval base attacked (Reuters)
• Cruiseline: 22 passengers robbed in Mexico resort (CNN)
• National gas prices up 18 cents in last two weeks (San Francisco Chronicle)
• House GOP leaders announce vote on jobs creation package as early as next week (The Hill)

• Romney wins Michigan, Arizona, in big night (CNN)
• Presidential race highlights California GOP convention (KPBS)
• Obama mocks GOP on gas price issue (USA Today)
• Poll: Romney overtaking Santorum nationally (The Hill)
• UAW to protest Romney at Daytona 500 (Detroit News)
• Maher donates $1 million to Obama super pac  (USA Today)
• Santorum says he “almost threw up” after reading JFK speech on separation of church, state (Washington Post)

• Karzai urges Afghans to avoid violent retaliations over Koran burnings  (Washington Post)
• Children left behind in world’s city boom: UNICEF (RawStory)
• Nigeria unrest: Suicide bomb targets church in Jos (BBC)
• Iran poised for big nuke jump (UT San Diego)

• FDA adds new safety warnings to statin drugs (USA Today)
• Why doctors die differently (Wall Street Journal)