June 4, 2024 (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 round-up stories include:
LOCAL
- Shark scientists use new DNA technology to track great whites after San Diego attack (NBC San Diego)
- Nearly four years after protests took a violent turn in La Mesa, the healing continues (San Diego Union-Tribune)
- San Diego wants twice as many people in 2 popular neighborhoods. Its controversial plans could get OK’d this week. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
- San Diego Padres player Tucupita Marcano banned for life by MLB for betting on baseball (10 News)
- Auditors Flag SDG&E’s Soaring Costs to Bury Power Lines(Voice of San Diego)
- 20 years of the Lebanese Festival in El Cajon (10 News)
- Morning Report: Gloria Pushes Back on Countywide Water Rate Hike (Voice of San Diego)
STATE
- Recess is a right next year in California. Are school districts ready? (KPBS)
- CA Among Worst States For Tick-Borne Illness: Ranking (Patch)
- Sacramento Report: Flurry of Votes Decides Which Bills Move on, and Which Die (Voice of San Diego)
- California Sen. Alex Padilla convinces colleagues to vote against bipartisan border bill (Los Angeles Times)
- Former California water official pleads guilty to conspiring to steal water from irrigation canal (KPBS)
For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.
LOCAL
Shark scientists use new DNA technology to track great whites after San Diego attack (NBC San Diego)
Around the time of Sunday's incident, shark experts detected about four sharks in the Del Mar beach area.
Nearly four years after protests took a violent turn in La Mesa, the healing continues (San Diego Union-Tribune)
Many structures damaged during the 2020 civil unrest have been rebuilt, but for some people, the pain lingers in this East County community.
San Diego wants twice as many people in 2 popular neighborhoods. Its controversial plans could get OK’d this week. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
Controversial proposals to double the populations of Hillcrest and University City by allowing more high-rise housing will be debated this week by San Diego’s Planning Commission….
San Diego Padres player Tucupita Marcano banned for life by MLB for betting on baseball (10 News)
Padres minor league pitcher Jay Groome suspended 1 year for violating league's gambling policy
Auditors Flag SDG&E’s Soaring Costs to Bury Power Lines(Voice of San Diego)
As part of SDG&E’s new 20-year contract with the city, in which San Diego placed new demands on their energy grid builder, the company agreed to be audited every two years…. [Auditor] Crowe found that SDG&E’s final bill to the city for at least one project was 81 percent higher than the company’s initial estimate to do the work….That’s because the company didn’t include its “overhead costs” in the initial estimate, the consultants wrote.
20 years of the Lebanese Festival in El Cajon (10 News)
Every year on Memorial Day weekend, people gather in El Cajon to celebrate the Lebanese culture and heritage. The Lebanese festival has grown over the last twenty years and is now a huge three-day event for the Arab community in East County.
Morning Report: Gloria Pushes Back on Countywide Water Rate Hike (Voice of San Diego)
It’s been a rainy couple of years – and that means the region’s water importer and seller is hurting for cash. To help cover that gap, among other growing costs of its massive water infrastructure system, the San Diego County Water Authority proposed increasing water rates by up to 39 percent in the next two years. In response, the city of San Diego, the Water Authority’s biggest customer, said “hell naw.”
STATE
Recess is a right next year in California. Are school districts ready? (KPBS)
A big shift is coming to California schools im the fall: recess as a right, not a privilege. Changes to state law mean all elementary school students should be getting more time to play every day. But as KPBS’s Kori Suzuki reports, many San Diego schools still aren’t ready to talk about how they’ll meet those new requirements.
CA Among Worst States For Tick-Borne Illness: Ranking (Patch)
California is one of 12 states with a yearlong tick season and is the fourth-worst state in the country for tick-borne diseases.
Sacramento Report: Flurry of Votes Decides Which Bills Move on, and Which Die (Voice of San Diego)
San Diego lawmakers move ahead with bills on homelessness, coastal issues and AI. One youth mental health bill was repurposed as transgender student privacy legislation.
California Sen. Alex Padilla convinces colleagues to vote against bipartisan border bill (Los Angeles Times)
In an impassioned Senate floor speech, Padilla criticized the legislation as inadequate and encouraged his fellow senators to “do what’s right for Dreamers, farmworkers and other long-term undocumented members of our communities.”
Former California water official pleads guilty to conspiring to steal water from irrigation canal (KPBS)
A former California water official has pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal water in a deal with federal prosecutors in the state's crop-rich Central Valley…. / He also pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return. / Falaschi was accused in a case that alleged that more than $25 million in water was stolen over two decades when it was siphoned from a federal irrigation canal through a secret pipe and sold to farmers and other water districts.
