January 16, 2013--(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 top “Roundup” headlines include:

STATE 

• Calif desert aquifers contain high chemical levels (Sacramento Bee)
• California Poverty Rate Highest in Nation Based on New Census Department Figures(Huffington Post)
• Judge continues to block part of Calif. Initiative on human trafficking  (Sacramento Bee)
• Calif. teachers fund moves to divest from firearms (Sacramento Bee)
• Pilfering plastic a booming industry in Calif. (Sacramento Bee)
• Can San Andreas Break At Once? Study Says Maybe (AP)

LOCAL//REGIONAL

• Gillespie Field Expansion Brings Promise And Controversy(KPBS)
• Filner’s agenda for change tempered by finances (U-T San Diego)
• Murder rises second year in row U-T San Diego)
• DA: La Mesa doctor is a fake (U-T San Diego)
• Date set for power plant implosion (UT San Diego)
• Steps taken for possible restart at Cal nuke plant (Sacramento Bee)
• Ground rules set for Somali terrorism trial (U-T San Diego)
• How Will Junior Seau's CTE Diagnosis Affect The Next Generation? (KPBS)
• Local college students turning to ‘sugar daddies?’ (U-T San Diego)
• FBI Says Crime Rates Increased Across San Diego Area In First Half Of 2012 (KPBS)
• San Diego Lawsuit Says Blue Cross Illegally Targeting HIV/AIDS Patients (KPBS)
• City Heights Stuck in the Middle of Filner-Gloria Spat (Voice of San Diego)
• San Diego Will Take A $40 Million Hit On Pension Costs (KPBS)
• San Diego Ordinance Would Require Businesses To Increase Recycling (KPBS)
• Shames sues UCAN for libel (U-T San Diego)

Read more for excerpts and links to full stories.

October 11, 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.

• Mitt Romney's Climate Change Remarks On 'Meet The Press' Outrage Environmental Activists 
• Meningitis-linked steroid may have been responsible for 13,000 cases in US (Reuters)
• Meningitis outbreak: steroid maker recalls all shots (Med Page Today)
• NY 9/11 judge okays$6 billion vs. Iran, Taliban, Al Qaeda (UT San Diego)
• Should TV stations refuse to air political ads that make false claims? (NPR)
• Supreme Court to hear Monsanto seed dispute (Huffington Post)
• Your right to resell your own stuff is in peril (Wall Street Journal Market Watch)

WORLD

• Drug ‘may’ prevent stroke damage (BBC)
• Libyan leader passes vote of no confidence dismissing leader (Reuters)
• Egypt’s hard-line Islamist party unravels (UT San Diego)
• Gauging poverty from Appalachia to Africa (Christian Science Monitor)
• Hamas election boycott leaves Palestinians with only one choice (Christian Science Monitor)
• Israel strikes Gaza after exchange of air strikes (Christian Science Monitor)
• France’s Hollande vows more security to allay Jewish fears (Reuters)

Read more for excerpts and links to full stories.

• Returning migrants boost Mexico’s middle class: net immigration to U.S. now zero (Washington Post)
• Pressure mounts to stop China’s forced abortions (USA Today)
• Syria says could use chemical arms against foreigners (Reuters)
• Tax havens: Super rich ‘hide’ 21 trillion (BBC)
• Murdoch resigns from his British papers’ boards (NY Times)

• Poverty issue missing on presidential campaign trail (OpEd News)
• Offshore jobs play role in campaign and economy (KPBS)
• Romney walks political tightrope on foreign policy (CNN)
• What happens to current nursing home residents if House Budget Resolution becomes law? (Medicare Advocacy)
• White House threatens to veto GOP drilling bill (The Hill)
• Solar trade war hurts Chinese imports (Technology Review)

By Miriam Raftery

October 4, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) – When we launched East County Magazine in 2008, we published a story on the high rate of poverty in El Cajon, which was then 20.6%. Today, it’s soared 50%, to 29.7%--by far the highest of any city in our county. But a growing number of individuals and families throughout the San Diego region are falling into poverty, with children being especially hard-hit, according to new Census data recently released.

Countywide, the poverty rate grew to 14.8% in 2010, up from 12.6% in 2009. More than one in ten children (11.6%) are living in poverty locally.

Nothing but the truth! 

By Walter Davis

December 23, 2009 (San Diego)--Richard struggles with the large blue recycling receptical in his effort to find plastic bottles or treasured aluminum cans to fetch money to help put his child through college. Employed, he is an honorable man; he is honest, caring, devoted – determined to provide the best for his family. He never imagined he would be going through his neighbors’ trash to support his child in school.

New Census data show 850,000 county residents living in economic hardship
 

September 29, 2009 (San Diego)--Poverty in San Diego County shot up in 2008, rising at a much faster pace than in California or the nation. This plunge in quality of life for many San Diegans is documented in U.S. Census data released today.

The data shows that 850,000 county residents--29% of the population--were living in economic hardship in 2008, according to analysis by the Center on Policy Initiatives. That measure, using a threshold double the federal poverty level, is a more realistic gauge in cities like San Diego where living costs such as housing and fuel are higher than the national average, CPI reports.

"The starkest case is that of El Caj on, which has 21% living below the poverty rate (compared to 12.6% countywide)," said CPI director of research Murtaza Baxamusa. "One in five is pretty dire. El Cajon, in terms of poverty, is the worst city in the County...The City of El Cajon really needs to examine their public policies and their investment in people."  Even worse, nearly half (46%) of all people in El Cajon are living in economic hardshp, using the threshhold of double the poverty level.