By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Facebook/Camp Pendleton Scout

May 15, 2014 (San Diego) 1 a.m. – Wildfires have scorched 9,196 acres, the County Emergency Services Department has announced. Alert San Diego has sent 121,878  notices to residents to evacuate or prepare to evacuate.

Several major fires continue to burn in north San Diego County tonight and several structures have been lost.  Below are updates on each of these incidents.

By Miriam Raftery

March 14, 2014 (San Diego's East County)--Dozens of school districts closed tomorrow due to the wildfires, air quality issues and road closures. These include Cajon Valley, Escondido, Grossmont Union High School District, Lakeside, La Mesa-Spring Valley, Lemon Grove, Poway, Ramona, Santee, and San Pasqual school districts in the inland region as well as San Diego Unified.  For additional closures http://www.sdcoe.net/news/Pages/2014-school-closure-update.aspx

California State University San Marcos remains closed after today’s evacuation and graduation ceremonies set for tomorrow will be rescheduled.

Photo: Interior Secretary Sally Jewell thanks a Golden Eagle hotshot firefighter from the Bureau of Indian Affairs

By Nadin Abbott

Photos by Nadin and Tom Abbott

May 8, 2014 (Spring Valley) The number of fires this year is higher than normal.  Interstate 8 has closed due to fires twice already this year during the Gun Fire at Mount Laguna and the Jacumba fire just this week.  Drought and climate change are key factors, officials warn—and this could be our worse wildfire season on record.

“The drought is expanding throughout the state of California” as well as the Southwest region, said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell during a Wildfire Awareness Week event at CAL FIRE Headquarters in Spring Valley on May 6th. 

She cited a new report just issued by the White House, noting that climate change “increases the risk from drought.”

By Miriam Raftery

May 3, 2014 (Deerhorn Valley) – A 17-month-old child was bitten three times in the abdomen by a rattlesnake yesterday afternoon while playing in on a patio at a home near Barrett Lake in Deerhorn Valley.

NBC reported that the incident was reported at 4:20 in the 20000 block of Manzanita Way.   The Deerhorn Valley Antler indicated that Mercy Air flew out of the area at approximately 5 p.m. with the young patient on board.  The child was taken to Rady Children’s Hospital.

Fortunately, the toddler is recovering, according to his older sister , Jessica Taylor. She posted on the Deerhorn Valley Facebook page this morning that her brother is being treated with anti-venom and is expected to  be fine.  She added, “He’s a tough little guy!”

Elected officials suppressed key report, failed to halt project or recover taxpayer dollars

“It was heartbreaking to see this project desecrate such a historically and culturally significant landscape, and it’s even worse when you find out that it was built on false claims by the developer, and with the assistance of the BLM. "-- Anthony Pico, Chairman, Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians

An East County Magazine special investigation

By Miriam Raftery

April 30, 2014 (Ocotillo) – An international wind energy expert has concluded that Pattern Energy appears to have defrauded the federal government in order to obtain lucrative tax subsidies for a wind energy development in southern California that has failed to live up to the developer’s claims.

“I believe we have a clear case for the False Claims Act,” Nicolas Boccard told East County Magazine, after reviewing full first-year wind production data for the Ocotillo Wind Energy Facility on U..S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) public land.  The project produced only about half of the energy that Pattern claimed it would produce—far below levels deemed viable for a wind project, a second expert confirms. 

These dismal results are no surprise to Boccard, who predicted in a report written before construction of the project was  completed that Ocotillo lacks sufficient wind speeds to sustain a viable wind energy project.

So were Pattern's lofty wind speed claims nothing more than spin?

Measure could have ripple effect across region, including East County

By Miriam Raftery

April 27, 2014 (San Diego) –San Diego is the fifth most expensive city in America to live in, according to the New York Times, which reports it takes 41.4% of gross income on average just to pay rent in San Diego.  An estimated 200,000 people in the city of San Diego earn minimum wage and about 300,000 households in  our region have incomes too low to meet basic expenses, according to the Center on Poilcy Initiatives.

Aiming to help those who are struggling to make ends meet, Councilman Todd Gloria is asking the City Council to approve a ballot initiative that would raise the minimum wage.  If approved by voters in November, the measure would raise the minimum wage citywide to $11.09 an hour in July 2015, $12.09 in July 2016 and $13.09 in July 2017, with cost of living increases after that.  The measure would boost incomes by 30 percent for the lowest  paid workers. It would also require employers to provide five paid sick days to workers.

By Jessica Richmond

Listen to our radio interview with Fotios “Frank” Tsimboukakis here:  https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/sites/eastcountymagazine.org/files/au...

April 12, 2014 (San Diego’s East County) - The race for California’s 38^th State Senate district seat has been heating up since the arrival of Fotios “Frank” Tsimboukakis.  He has made it a point to challenge incumbent Joel Anderson on many key issues—including taking a stand against environmentally harmful energy projects in East County. Tsimboukakis has testified in public hearings against industrial solar and wind projects, as well as the Quail Brush gas-fired power plant, while Anderson has been largely silent on these controversial plans, critics have pointed out.

Tsimboukakis has also proposed plans to make college tuition free, cut wasteful spending, and convene public hearings on funding firefighting, with an eye toward possibly repealing or amending state fire fees.  He has also pledged to hold regular town hall meetings in the district to hear from voters, faulting Anderson for not hosting town halls for constituents to share their views.

By Miriam Raftery

April 5, 2014 (San Diego) –“The San Diego County Planning Commissioners and Board of Supervisors have an obligation to look out for the greater good of the people of San Diego,” Timothy D. Schoechle, PhD, an international consultant on smart grid expert technology, engineering expert, and author of the report Getting Smarter About the Smart Grid wrote in his comments to the County’s planning director opposing Soitec’s plan to industrialize rural East County with massive solar modules that other experts have said could destroy the entire ecosystem of the region.

Instead, Dr. Schoechle lays out a detailed case for a saner, safer alternative—and why current government policies are polar opposites of what’s needed to protect the public against rapacious energy corporations.

By Miriam Raftery

March 27, 2014 (San Diego)—After the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Stations (SONGS) were shut down in 2012 due to faulty steam generators, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE) continued to charge ratepayers for the costs associated with replacing those generators.  Edison later announced permanent decommissioning of the nuclear facility in June 2013 due to serious safety problems.

Ratepayers will be receiving refunds from SDG&E and Edison for those charges, if a joint settlement agreement announced today is approved by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).  The settlement was reached SCE, the CPUC Office of Ratepayer Advocates, and The Utility Reform Network (TURN).

March 20, 2014 (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:

LOCAL

• San Diego Opera to cease operations (10 News)
• Ramona couple found not guilty in pot case (UT San Diego)
• Director walks out – again (Ramona Sentinel)
• San Diego Police Helping End Gang Retaliation With Text Messages (KPBS)
• State police departments using cell-phone trackers (SD Reader)
• Lawmakers report gift intake (UT San Diego)
• 131 suggestions for a better La Mesa (La Mesa Today)
• Wood to metal power poles throughout the Cleveland National Forest (The Alpine Sun)

STATE

• University of California regents debate lifting tuition freeze (Sacramento Bee)
• Requests To Carry Concealed Guns Surges In California (KPBS)
• California Republicans strongly back Tea Party candidate at state convention (RawStory)

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

By Miriam Raftery

March 17, 2014 (San Diego’s East County) – Could big energy projects proposed in East County lead to the decimation of federally endangered Peninsular Bighorn Sheep? 

From 1972 to the present, the Carrizo Gorge band of these bighorns has plummeted from about 120 sheep to less than 40.  “Off-road vehicles, trespassing cattle, poaching in the 1960s and ‘70s, drought, disease and Mountain Lion predation have worked together to push this population o the edge. We hope we can save this group before it is too late,” Mark Jorgensen, advisor to the Bighorn Institute and former Superintendent of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park wrote in the Desert News.

In his comments submitted on  four solar projects proposed by Soitec in Boulevard, Jorgensen writes that “Construction of yet another group of solar projects will further impede the free movement of wildlife by reducing habitat connectivity and ruining wildlife corridors.”  He further notes that Soitec’s sites are very near lands purchased and set aside specifically to protect species  the endangered bighorn, golden eagles and other species in peril.

By Miriam Raftery

March 16, 2014 (San Diego’s East County) – “My wife, Robyn, died when she fell asleep while driving on April 6, 1999 in Texas,” retired California Highway Patrol Officer Phil Konstantin recalls. “She was driving back to San Diego from Florida, where she had just picked up a car from her mother.” 

Since then, Konstantin has championed the cause of warning others about the dangers of driving drowsy.  In 2005, the California Legislature proclaimed April 6th—the date Robyn Konstantin died –as Drowsy Driver Awareness Day. 

On Monday, March 17, Konstantin will be a guest on the East County Magazine Radio Show. Tune in at 5 p.m. on KNSJ 89.1 FM.

“I have always found it to be ironic that one of my duties  as  a California  Highway Patrol officer was to inform the public of the  dangers of driving  while drowsy. Yet, this is how my own wife died,” Konstantin says. “She was  an  excellent  driver. This just proves it can happen to anyone.” Ironically, she   drove past a freeway  rest area just moments before her crash, he added. You can learn more at his website: http://drowsydriverawarenessday.com and by scrolling down in this article.

By Miriam Raftery

San Diego State University Professor Emeritus Phil Pryde, editor/author of Environmental Resources and Constraints in the Former Soviet Republics, shared insights into the unfolding crises in the Crimea and Ukraine.  What are the implications of the upheaval and impending eleciton for the region and the world?  

ECM editor Miriam Raftery and intern Jessica Redmond interviewed Professor Pryde for KNSJ radio. Listen to the interview:

By Miriam Raftery

March 13, 2014 (San Diego) – Mayor Bob Filner was the latest of several San Diego mayors who resigned under public pressure. Filner pled guilty to a felony count and two misdemeanors following a long string of complaints by women alleging sexual harassment. But there was no legal requirement for a disgraced or disabled mayor to leave office, under San Diego’s Charter. In fact, the charter allows removal of a Mayor or other city official only through death, resignation or recall.

 Now the San Diego County Grand Jury wants to see that changed. Today, the Grand Jury issued a report recommending that the City Council identify additional reasons for removing a public official and place a proposal to amend the City  Charter on the ballot for voters to decide in a future election.

February 28, 2014 (Santee) – Are you ready for a rollicking evening of New Orleans-style festivities including the award-winning Bayou Brothers band, Cajun/Creole dinner feast, masks and beads for all guests, prizes drawings and silent auction with thousands of dollars in prizes?   Then you won’t want to miss our East County Mardi Gras party March 12 from 6-10 p.m. at Pinnacle Peak restaurant, 7927 Mission Gorge Road in Santee!   

Hear our radio interview with the Bayou Brothers (and some lively music) here: http://kiwi6.com/file/lk1mwrss4u