East County News Service
January 8, 2025 (La Mesa) -- Forty-seven years after Wait Until Dark premiered on Broadway, Jeffrey Hatcher has adapted Frederick Knott's 1966 original, giving it a new setting. In 1944 Greenwich Village, Susan Hendrix, a blind yet capable woman, is imperiled by a trio of men in her own apartment. As the climax builds, Susan discovers that her blindness just might be the key to her escape, but she and her tormentors must wait until dark to play out this classic thriller's chilling conclusion.
Lamplighters Theatre in La Mesa will present this updated twist on the classic thriller starting January 10 through February 2. Show times are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m., except on Saturday, January 18, there will bea 2 p.m. matinee only.
For tickets, visit https://www.lamplighterslamesa.com/
Source: SDG&E
January 25, 2025 (SDG&E) – San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) announced this evening that power has been fully restored to all customers affected by recent Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS). Over 19,000 customers were impacted in dozens of local communities. These shutoffs were implemented as a wildfire prevention measure in response to unprecedented weather conditions that led to prolonged high-fire risk.
“SDG&E recognizes that being without power can be incredibly frustrating and tiring. We sincerely thank our customers for their patience and understanding over these last three weeks as we took proactive steps to minimize the risk of catastrophic wildfires,” a press release from SDG&E states. ”We don't make the decision to implement shutoffs lightly. These measures are crucial for safeguarding lives, property, and entire communities during times of extreme fire risk."
Record-Breaking Conditions
The weeks-long weather event brought a rare combination of extreme Santa Ana winds, with gusts exceeding 100 mph in some places, critically low humidity levels and a historic lack of rain in the region.
By the Numbers Since January 7:
- Historic weather: San Diego County has experienced the driest start to the rainy season in the past 174 years.
- Advanced monitoring: SDG&E has 222 of the nation’s most sophisticated weather monitoring systems that are continuously tracking wind speeds and wildfire conditions. These systems, combined with millions of historical weather data points, help us make informed decisions about which communities are most at risk.
- Record-breaking winds: Wind speeds in the county reached record highs of over 100 miles per hour, with 62 wind-gust records broken at SDG&E’s weather stations.
- Community support: SDG&E opened 12 Community Resource Centers, offering services like Wi-Fi, food, and charging stations for phones and medical devices to support our impacted customers.
Update 8:46 p.m.-- The fire is now 600 acres, per Watch Duty App. No structures are currently threatened.
By Miriam Raftery
Photo, left, by Jeff Caton, taken from the intersection of Fletcher Parkway and Cuyamaca St. in El Cajon this evening.
Photo, right: Border 2 Fire viewed from HP Wren Otay Mountain West camera
January 23, 2025 (San Diego’s East County) – The Border 2 Fire burning on Otay Mountain has swelled to 566 acres as of 7 p.m. tonight. The flames are visible as far north as Escondido and Ramona. There is zero containment as yet.
The fire which began early this afternoon was burning at a “dangerous” rate of spread, Watch Duty App reported, however this evening Cal Fire indicates it is growing at a moderate rate as winds have lessened.
No evacuation notices have been sent out by the County, though campers at Pio Pico and Thousand Trials have posted on social media that they were advised to evacuate or prepare to evacuate.
Alta Rd. is closed to traffic south of Otay Mesa Rd., per Watch Duty app.
View our earlier coverage:
https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/border-2-fire-otay-mountain-spreading-dangerous-rate
Sign up to receive our free East County Wildfire & Emergency Alerts via email at https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/wild-fire-alerts. You can also follow EastCountyAlert on Twitter.
East County News Service
Image: Creative Commons via Bing
January 23, 2025 (San Diego) - A woman, along with an incarcerated person, have been arrested on suspicion of mailing drug-laced letters to a San Diego County jail, says Sergeant Aaron Brooks with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Detention Investigations Unit.
Deputies assigned to the Sheriff's Mail Processing Center intercepted fictitious legal mail intended for Aaron Beek, 45, who is in custody at the George Bailey Detention Facility in Otay Mesa. Upon closer inspection, deputies located materials they believed to be soaked with narcotics.
The Sheriff's Detention Investigations Unit (DIU) began a criminal investigation, which identified Jacqueline Richardson, 44, as responsible for mailing the packages containing the drugs to Beek at the George Bailey Detention Facility.
On January 16, DIU Detectives served a search warrant at Richardson's home in San Diego. During the search, detectives found evidence related to the mail case and additional narcotics such as powdered fentanyl, M30 fentanyl pills and methamphetamine.
Richardson was arrested on numerous charges, including sending a controlled substance into jail and possession of a controlled substance. She was booked into the Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility in Santee.
Beek, who remains in Sheriff's custody, was rearrested on criminal charges related to sending a controlled substance into jail.
Sending a controlled substance into a jail is a felony with a penalty of up to six years in custody.
Update 5:05 p.m.-- The #Border2Fire is now 248 acres and still 0% contained. Winds have shifted toward campgrounds with campers at Pio Pico told to evacuate and Thousand Trails campers receiving a warning to be prepared, per social media posts from campers at these sites.
update 4 p.m.-- The fire is now 148 acres per Watch Duty app and is large enough to be visible from space. (Photo, right, via NASA)
Update 3:45 p.m.-- The fire is now 50 acres and 0% contained, per Cal Fire.
By Miriam Raftery
Photo by Barry Jantz: Border 2 Fire viewed from Jamul, with Jamul Casino in foreground.
January 23, 2025 (San Diego's East County) -- The #Border2Fire that started within the hour on Otay Mountain is now 20 acres and burning at a "dangerous" rate of spread, per Watch Duty App. Cal Fire lists the size as 10 acres with potential for 200 acres.
The fire started near Otay Truck Trail in the Otay WIlderness area. Infrastructure on the mountain is threatened, per Watch Duty App.
The incident commander has requested major resources including two large air tankers, helicopters, and 10 additional engines.
Sign up to receive our free East County Wildfire & Emergency Alerts via email at https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/wild-fire-alerts. You can also follow EastCountyAlert on Twitter.
By Miriam Raftery
January 23, 2025 (Washington, D.C.) – A federal judge appointed by conservative Ronald Reagan called President Donald Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship “blatantly unconstitutional.” U.S. District Judge John Coughenour issued a temporary restraining order to block the order from taking effect, Associated Press (AP) reports. The case was filed by Washington state and others. Plaintiffs argued that the Constitution’s 14th Amendment and Supreme Court case law have cemented birthright citizenship, KQED reports. The judge’s order applies nationwide, while this and other cases are litigated and appealed. A total of five lawsuits have been filed over the issue by 22 states including California, as well as by immigrant rights groups and the American Civil Liberties Union.
“I’ve been on the bench for over four decades. I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” Coughenour said during the hearing, CNN reported.
Trump’s order seeks to end citizenship from being issued to children born in the U.S. if the parents are not in the U.S. legally In addition, his order would prohibit citizenship from children born to a mother who is in the U.S. on a temporary and legal basis, such as student, work, or tourist visas, unless the father is a citizen or lawful permanent resident. The order would take effect in 30 days, on Feb. 19, and apply to children born on or after that date.
The order is in direct contradiction to the U.S. Constitution’s 14th amendment, which states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” Trump’s order contends that children of undocumented immigrants as well as children born to mothers here on a temporary basis are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the U.S.
The 14th amendment was adopted after the Supreme Court’s ruling in the controversial Dred Scott v. Sandford case back in 1857, in which justices held that children of slaves were not entitled to citizenship. After passage of the 14th Amendment, a later Supreme Court case in 1898 ruled that Wong Kim Ark, an American citizen born in San Francisco, was wrongly denied reentry to the U.S. after a trip abroad and affirmed the Chinese-American man’s right to citizenship.
View our prior coverage of Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order:
CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters
Photo: Saul Muñoz, 53, waits for any job opportunities in front of a Home Depot in San Diego on Jan. 20, 2025. Photo by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters
January 23, 2025 (San Diego) - Undocumented immigrants and their California families braced for the worst — and many told CalMatters they would go underground — as newly sworn-in President Donald Trump began issuing executive orders to enable what he promises will be the most massive deportation in U.S. history.
“It’s draining my energy a lot, thinking of what’s going to happen and not knowing exactly what’s going to happen with me and my family and my daughters,” said Frank, a resident of northeastern Los Angeles who asked to be identified only by his first name because of his ongoing immigration case.
Advocates reported hearing from parents who were considering keeping their children home from school this week. Some neighbors said they will dispatch their children to shop for groceries and run errands, so they can mostly stay inside the house.
“I plan to just stay very local, no unnecessary trips, and thank God my work is close to my house,” said Frank, who is a restaurant cook and came to this country without federal authorization from El Salvador about 20 years ago.
Kathleen, his wife of seven years and a U.S. citizen, called the situation “terrifying” and said she was worried about him and “what I would be left to deal with and having to take care of our kids on my own.”
In his inaugural speech, President Trump previewed a planned series of executive orders that he began rolling out later in the day. This evening he officially declared a national emergency at the southern border that “requires use of the Armed Forces” — a move for which he can expect to face legal hurdles.
“All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came,” Trump continued in his inaugural address, without providing details yet about how he could miraculously end all illegal entry. His tally of noncitizens with criminal convictions is far higher than that reported by federal immigration authorities.
The Republican president also said he planned to reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy in place during his first term, which forced asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their U.S. court hearings to present their immigration cases.
“I will end the practice of ‘catch and release,’ and I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country,” he continued.
As expected, he issued an executive order designating Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. “And by invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, I will direct our government to use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks …” he said.
And he signed yet another order to revoke birthright citizenship — the right enshrined in the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing citizenship to anyone born in the country or its territories regardless of their parents’ immigration status. Trump wants the Supreme Court to reinterpret the provision.
Eighteen states, including California, filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Massachusetts Tuesday, challenging the order on grounds that it violates the Fourteenth Amendment and the Immigration and Nationality Act.
“I am deeply disappointed that we’re here, and also not at all surprised,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta at a press conference. “This isn’t some theoretical legal disagreement. It would strip Americans of their most basic rights.”
Bonta and the other attorneys general are asking the court for an immediate injunction to stop the order from taking effect on Feb. 19 while they litigate the case. Bonta acknowledged that the case could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
“As president of the United States, you have a lot of authority,” Bonta said, “but it is not unlimited.”
By late afternoon Monday on the West Coast, several hundred protesters began marching from San Diego’s Balboa Park to the Hall of Justice, chanting, “When immigrant lives are under attack, what do we do? Stand up fight back!”
“I’m worried about migrant people because this will be really hard for the next four years. It was before too, when Trump had power the last time. It was really crazy for us right there on the border, and we expect the same thing right now or worse,” said Alejandro Ortigoza, 50, the leader of Armadillos Busqueda y Rescate, a group that goes out into the desert to search for the remains of missing migrants.
Yet even as the new president was declaring a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, people whose lives straddle it mostly carried on with business as usual.
Lighter than normal foot traffic continued through the “pedestrian east” crossing at San Ysidro as people calmly headed for the trolley under the familiar noise of a helicopter circling above.
In the Home Depot parking lot in Imperial Beach, day laborers gathered as they usually do, seeking odd jobs helping San Diegans move or clean up their lawns. They said they cross the border every day from their homes in Tijuana and didn’t expect Trump’s executive orders would heavily affect them. Still, several planned to carry documents proving they are naturalized U.S. citizens everywhere they go.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Juan, a 60-year-old from Sinaloa, Mexico, and a naturalized U.S. citizen who lives in Tijuana and crosses the border daily to work. “It’s not convenient for the U.S., nor for Mexico, to close the border. It won’t benefit either country.”
“I think Trump is very racist….and he’s not right in the head,” he added.
Juan declined to give his last name out of fear of retaliation or harassment for sharing his negative opinion about the president. He keeps proof of his legal status ready. “I always bring my certification, saying I’m naturalized everywhere I go. I have it in my backpack always.”
Photos, right: First: Workers wait for job opportunities in front of a Home Depot in San Diego on Jan. 20, 2025. Last: Travelers walk towards the Mexico entrance of the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego on Jan. 20, 2025. Photos by Adriana Heldiz, CalMattersSaúl Muñoz, a 53-year-old construction worker who lives in the Otay area of Tijuana, predicted an increase in human rights violations under Trump.
“If they remove all the (people who are) undocumented, then yes, we’re going to have more work, but they’re going to want to pay the same as they did before, they’re going to want to pay us less,” said Muñoz. “So, really, who is going to benefit?”
“Throughout the Trump administration, we’re going to see horrors in terms of the attacks that immigrant communities are going to suffer. President Trump will put 5.1 million U.S. citizen children at risk of family separation,” said Kerri Talbot, co-executive director of the Immigration Hub, a national pro-immigrant advocacy group based in D.C.
The most recent New York Times / Ipsos poll of Americans, conducted earlier in January, found that 55% either strongly or somewhat support mass deportations of people living in the United States without authorization.
Public support for deportation was even stronger in certain circumstances: 87% of those surveyed backed deporting those who are “here illegally and have criminal records,” and 63% backed removing those who are “here illegally and arrived over the last four years.”
But just 41% of those surveyed supported ending “birthright citizenship for children born to immigrants who are here illegally.” And only 34% wanted to stop deportation protections for “immigrants who were children when they entered the country illegally.”
It’s not like Trump’s actions today hadn’t been telegraphed far in advance — on the campaign trail, he repeatedly promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. By the end of last week, Trump’s Incoming “border czar,” Tom Homan, was telling Fox News that large-scale raids are set to begin as soon as Tuesday.
“There’s gonna be big raids all across the country. Chicago is just one of many places,” said Homan, the former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “On Tuesday, you’re going to expect ICE … ICE is finally going to go out and do their job. We’re going to take the handcuffs off ICE and let them go arrest ‘criminal aliens.’ That’s what’s going to happen.”
The administration’s plans are likely to encounter significant legal challenges and logistical obstacles, including the challenge of housing millions of detainees before they can be removed.
Threatening to yank California’s federal funds — again
One of Trump’s immigration orders today also threatened to pull federal money from “sanctuary jurisdictions” that limit collaboration between local law enforcement and federal immigration agencies.
“The Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall, to the maximum extent possible under law, evaluate and undertake any lawful actions to ensure that so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions, which seek to interfere with the lawful exercise of Federal law enforcement operations, do not receive access to Federal funds,” one order states. “Further, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall evaluate and undertake any other lawful actions, criminal or civil, that they deem warranted based on any such jurisdiction’s practices that interfere with the enforcement of Federal law.”
The returning president has long derided California for declaring itself a “sanctuary state” for undocumented immigrants – a move the Democratic-controlled Legislature made during his first term — but the reality is more nuanced. Known here as the California Values Act, the law exempts from its protections people convicted of violent crimes or serious offenses such as felony drunk driving, for example, and allows California state prisons to regularly coordinate with ICE about upcoming release dates for prisoners eligible for deportation.
California went to court during Trump’s first term to beat back his intent to withhold a few federal grants from the state for its failure to fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities. In 2018, a federal judge ruled in California’s favor, saying the president’s move was unconstitutional.
In December, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 3-1 to prohibit county agencies from using local resources to assist federal immigration enforcement, including cooperation with ICE. But San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez said she will not comply with the county’s new policy, saying the county board does not set policy for her department.
Days before Christmas, a conservative organization led by Trump adviser Stephen Miller sent letters to California leaders and former San Diego County Supervisor Nora Vargas warning they could go to prison over sanctuary policies that protect undocumented residents.
Homan has said he plans to target not just people with criminal records but anyone who may be nearby.
“You’re going to concentrate on the worst first, public safety threats first. But no one’s off the table. If they’re in the country illegally, they’ve got a problem,” Homan said on Fox News this weekend.
In San Diego, local organizations have been holding private “Know Your Rights” events in the months since Trump’s election.
Gina Amato Lough, the directing attorney for Public Counsel’s Immigrants’ Rights Project in Los Angeles, stressed that constitutional rights apply to everyone, whether they are in the country legally or not.
“I do think it’s really important for people to exercise their constitutional rights,” she said. “If you’re at home and ICE shows up at your door, you don’t have to open the door.”
In another case among the exhaustive list of California legal challenges to the first Trump administration, the University of California in 2020 prevailed in a suit that preserved the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. The program’s purpose: to shield from deportation immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children.
Economic impact
Trump’s executive orders are expected to have financial and economic impacts, costing billions of dollars and disrupting local communities while doing little to address real immigration challenges, advocates warned. Advocates and academics cautioned Trump’s pledged policies will ultimately weaken the country by undermining the contributions of immigrant communities.
“Economically, the entire country is going to be deeply affected negatively,” said Cecilia Menjívar, a professor of sociology at UCLA. “I think it’s super important to recognize that it’s not only undocumented immigrants we’re talking about. Lawful permanent residents, naturalized citizens, all immigrant labor, all immigrants, all foreign-born, contribute vitally to critical sectors of the entire economy of the country: health, services, hospitality, care for children, care for the elderly, high tech, you name it.”
“Importantly, for California, recovery from disasters: It’s immigrants who clean up and rebuild,” Menjívar added.
The California Welcoming Task Force, a binational coalition of immigration organizations active in the border region, estimated the removal of 7 to 8 million undocumented workers in the U.S. would exacerbate already-worsening labor shortages.
Photo, left: people wait outside the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego on Jan. 20, 2025. Photo by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters“The impact on numerous industries, such as construction, agriculture, healthcare and hospitality, would be catastrophic,” the group wrote in an email today. “A deportation effort of this scale would also cost hundreds of billions of dollars in California alone, with millions more spent annually to fund immoral and unsafe detention camps.”
On the south side of the border
At a protest in the Mexican city of Tijuana on Sunday, activists hung anti-Trump signs and a Trump piñata along the border wall at Playas de Tijuana. Earlier, students from Universidad Autónoma de Baja California of Ensenada painted hearts and messages of love and acceptance on the steel bollards of the border wall.
Trump ended the Biden administration’s CBP One, a mobile application that allows migrants outside the U.S. to request an asylum appointment at a port of entry. CBS News reported about 270,000 migrants are waiting in northern Mexico, hoping to get an appointment or make their appointment before Trump cancels the program.
Cutting off their legal pathway may lead to an increase in irregular crossings, border experts warned. During the last Trump administration, makeshift encampments formed along the border as migrants waiting to cross into the United States became increasingly desperate, lacking food, water, shelter and being targeted by criminal groups in northern Mexico. That led to an increase in people making more desperate attempts to cross the border in more dangerous ways.
Nigel Duara contributed to this story.
CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters
Photo: Viejas will host a party at The Park on New Year's Eve. Photo courtesy Viejas Resort
December 29, 2024 (San Diego) - San Diego County residents have myriad opportunities to ring in 2025 with New Year's Eve celebrations across the region.
First Nation casinos across the county will be part of the variety of New Year's Eve events welcoming 2025:
Jamul Casino guests can immerse themselves in shimmering lights and disco beats with "Shimmer & Shake." Festivities include a "Noon Year's Eve," with $20 free play for active players at noon, a Champagne Toast Mystery Game from 6 a.m. until midnight, Surf & Turf endless dining from noon to midnight at Tony Gwynn’s Sports Pub, a VIP dinner from 7 to 9 p.m. for invited guests at Prime Cut, a VIP Countdown featuring B.I.G. from 8 p.m. until 1 a.m. New Year's Day and live entertainment across multiple venues. For more information, visit https://www.jamulcasino.com/nye2025/
Viejas Casino & Resort is hosting an elegant New Year's Eve bash in "The Park" from 8 p.m. to midnight for invited and qualified myViejas Players Club members. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Registration is from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. The For more information, visit https://viejas.com/myviejas-events/new-years-eve-bash-2025/
Sycuan Casino Resort offers an evening filled with an evening Bingo session with a $75,000 "Blackout Gam," balloon drops, party favors, "hot seats," live music and more. For more information, visit https://www.sycuan.com/promotions/new-years-eve-celebration-2024/
Barona Resort & Casino will have a celebration from 4 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. for its Diamond and Platinum members with a 1980s vibe, with "Party People games," party favor giveaways starting at 8 p.m. in the VIP Eatery, and a countdown to midnight with a toast. For more information, visit https://www.barona.com/promotion/vip-new-years-eve-celebration/
Pala Casino is holding a "Get Your NYE On" event, offering live entertainment at its Center Bar, including performances by Forward Motion from 12:30 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. and Dudes of San Diego from 4:45 p.m. to 8:25 p.m. There will be an "Electrified Dance Party" from 9 p.m. until midnight, with a New Year's Day countdown starting at 11:45 p.m. For more information, visit https://www.palacasino.com/promotions/new-years-eve
Downtown San Diego:
"Big Night San Diego," will be hosted at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront. An all-inclusive event, it will feature multiple party areas, live bands, DJs and a "silent" disco. Tickets include drinks and buffet options. For more information, visit https://www.bignightsandiego.com/tickets/
A "Glitz & Glam NYE Party" will be held at Hard Rock Hotel San Diego. The expansive event will span multiple floors with a variety of music genres, live entertainment and VIP options. The event will include 60,000 square feet of event space and celebration across three floors, including the rooftop, and four rooms. For more information, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/glitz-glam-new-years-eve-party-at-hard-rock-hotel-san-diego-tickets-1071225346849
"FNGRS CRSSD Proper NYE NYD" will be held at PETCO Park with techno and house music. A two-day event starting at 4 p.m. Dec. 31, it features artists including Boys Noize, Green Velvet, Marsh and Sweet Like Chocolate. For more information, visit https://www.propernye.com/
A "New Year's Eve in Paradise" will be held in a lobby pop-up bar at the Margaritaville Hotel from 6 to 9 p.m. live music, dancing and drinks. For more information, visit https://www.margaritavilleresorts.com/margaritaville-hotel-san-diego/live-entertainment/nye-in-paradise
On the waterfront:
Gatsby's Yacht is offering a "San Diego New Year's Eve Party Cruise," sailing guests from 9:30 p.m. until 1:30 a.m. New Year's Day on a luxury yacht on two decks with live DJs and panoramic views of San Diego's skyline. For more information, visit https://vipnightlife.com/events/2025-san-diego-new-years-eve-party-cruise-gatsbys-yacht/
City Experiences' City Cruises San Diego will have a four-hour New Year's eve plated dinner cruise on San Diego Bay, with a live DJ, and stunning views of the city skyline. Boarding is at 8 p.m.; the cruise is from 8:30 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. New Year's Day. For more information, visit https://www.cityexperiences.com/san-diego/city-cruises/new-years-eve-premier-dinner-cruise/
SeaWorld San Diego will have a New Year's eve celebration starting at 5 p.m., to include DJ Perry at the Sky Tower area, champagne pop-up bars across the park and a New Year's Day countdown. A fireworks display is set for 9 p.m., and there will be access to the park's attractions and shows. For more information, visit https://seaworld.com/san-diego/events/new-years-eve/
A New Year's Eve Bar Crawl and Party in Pacific Beach will go through eight parties during the night with exclusive drink specials. Check in starts at 8 p.m. at The Beverly Beach Garden. For more information, visit https://www.nasstive.com/pacificbeach/newyearseve/
Elsewhere:
The Encore Event Center and SDCCC is holding the "'Nuff Said New Year's Eve" party with celebrity host Mark Christopher Lawrence. The evening features a VIP dinner and a show featuring music by The Long Run - TLR, a tribute band celebrating music of The Eagles. There will also be stand-up comedy, a DJ and a midnight champagne toast. For more information, visit https://newyearpartysd.com/index.html
Image Credit: Shutterstock
January 13, 2025 (Julian) - A deer mouse collected on Jan. 3, 2025, in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, has tested positive for the potentially deadly hantavirus.
Finding hantavirus in wild rodents is not uncommon in San Diego County, there were a total of 25 cases in 2024. However, people rarely come into direct contact with infected animals because wild rodents naturally avoid humans.
While exposure to hantavirus is rare, people should be careful around wild rodents as there is no cure or vaccine for hantavirus.
Symptoms of hantavirus usually develop between 1 to 8 weeks after exposure and include:
- Severe muscle aches
- Chills, fever or fatigue
- Headache or dizziness
- Nausea, vomiting or stomach pain
- Difficulty breathing
If you think that you may have been exposed to hantavirus, seek medical attention immediately.
Preventing Infection
People can be exposed to hantavirus when wild rodents invade their living area. Infected rodents shed the virus in their urine, feces and saliva. Once the matter dries, it can be stirred into the air where people could inhale the virus.
If people find wild rodents, nests or signs of them in their living spaces, they should always use “wet cleaning” methods — using bleach or other disinfectants, rubber gloves and bags. They should NOT sweep or vacuum, which could stir hantavirus into the air where it could be inhaled.
Avoid Exposure to Hantavirus
- Seal up all external holes in homes, garages, and sheds larger than a dime to keep rodents from getting in.
- Eliminate rodent infestations immediately.
- Avoid rodent-infested areas and do not stir up dust or materials that may be contaminated with rodent poop and urine.
- Clean up rodent poop and urine using the “wet cleaning” methods described below.
“Wet-cleaning” Methods
- Do not sweep or vacuum infested areas.
- Ventilate the affected area by opening doors and windows for at least 30 minutes before starting to clean.
- Use rubber gloves. Spray a 10 percent bleach solution or other disinfectants onto dead rodents, rodent poop, nests, contaminated traps and surrounding areas, then let the disinfectant stand for at least 15 minutes before cleaning.
- Clean with a sponge or a mop that has been soaked in disinfectant.
- Place disinfected rodents and debris into two plastic bags, seal them and discard them in the trash.
- Wash gloves in a bleach solution, then soap and water, and dispose of them using the same double-bag method.
- Thoroughly wash your hands with soap and water.
For more information, contact the County Department of Environmental Health and Quality (DEHQ) at (858) 694-2888 or visit the DEHQ hantavirus web page.
By Mike Allen
Photo: Workers at GKN opening ceremony
December 18, 2024 (El Cajon) -- The site that was once planned as an Amazon warehouse is taking shape to house some of the most sophisticated machinery in the world, as well as the skilled workers to run it.
Just across the street from Gillespie Field at the confluence of Cuyamaca Street and Weld Avenue is the new home for GKN Aerospace, a top tier aircraft components supplier and refurbisher of engines for such customers as Pratt & Whitney, Rolls Royce, General Electric and Boeing.
GKN has been operating in El Cajon for more than 70 years, but its two segments, OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and Repair Solutions, have been growing at such a nice clip, soit needed added room.
“We’ve outgrown that campus and needed a little more space so we decided to move the repair solutions here,” said Eric Viklund, vice president of strategic growth. The company held an opening day ceremony on December 17.
A “little” translates to about 162,000 more square feet or about a third of the new Weld Distribution Center that began construction some two years ago. Viklund said the plan is to relocate some 300 employees to the new facility, and hire another 50 workers next year. At the current West Bradley Avenue site, there are about 850 total employees, making it among the largest employers in East County.
GKN Aerospace said it spent about $55 million on the project both in construction and new machinery to maintain the competitive edge it has with its customers, which are most of the world’s airlines.
When you’re talking about that size of an investment, it isn’t done lightly and not without considerable research on the best location for the expansion, said Joakim Anderson, president of GKN Engines. But after going through the process, the company determined El Cajon, the site where it was already doing maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) work for the last 40 years made the best sense, he said.
“We’ve done repair work here for 40 years and it’s time to take it to the next level” Andersson said.
He noted the growth of commercial airline traffic is the key driver to the local expansion. Today, some 25,000 jets are flying the skies, but over the next two decades, “we think that’ll be 50,000,” he said. “That’s 100,000 engines.”
To give a value on what the aerospace industry means to the San Diego region and state, State Sen. Brian Jones (photo, second from right) noted in his speech that it employs more than 500,000 people, generates some $100 billion in revenue and about $7 billion in state and local taxes. “When aerospace does well, all sectors of the California economy benefits,” Jones said.
In a tour of the still unfinished warehouse floor, project manager Aaron Parkinson (photo, left) showed visitors the various steps that jet engine blades go through before being returned to the airline customers. The MRO work, which included the use of robotic machinery on the engine blades and other components “is our bread and butter. We do about 50,000 to 60,000 blades a year,” he said.
An average blade may cost about $150,000, although those made for the defense department, say for an F-35 jet, will run more than $1 million, so the industry’s emphasis is on maintaining aircraft equipment quality. A typical blade needs maintenance every six to seven years.
GKN is constantly reevaluating its systems and upgrading its technology in an effort to maximize the performance and longevity of the engine’s parts while minimizing the heretofore disposal of certain parts, Parkinson said.
“Our goal is to stop throwing components away.”
Both GKN executives and elected officials speaking at the ceremony noted the success the company has attained is largely the result of its dedicated and skilled workers, several hundred of whom were in attendance.
Assemblyman Chris Ward said the company’s expansion was mostly due to the company’s local workforce. “This is about the people here who are going to be able to make the business grow, and your investment is going to have a profound impact on this region, creating a lot of well-paying, high skilled jobs,” Ward said. On the firm’s website, he said there are openings for machinists, programmers, engineers and electricians.
Chris Blessum, GKN’s HR director, said the positions for the bulk of the staffing excluding management at the new facility pay annual salaries ranging from $55,000 to more than $130,000.
To help GKN get many of these jobs filled, the state of California’s Employment Training Panel recently awarded a $785,000 grant to the company.
While GKN Aerospace keeps a low profile locally, it’s known worldwide as a supplier of both aircraft parts that range from engine components, wing and fuselage parts, electrical systems and windows, and a dominant player in the MRO space. It competes in both the civil and defense realms. As a subsidiary of Melrose PLC, a London stock exchange traded company, GKN is on track to surpass 3 billion pounds in revenue this year with the repair solutions segment alone exceeding $100 million next year.
GKN’s roots can be traced to the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution in England, when the Dowlais Ironworks Co was founded in 1759 in Wales. The first products revolved around making iron parts for Britain’s new railroads and bridges, but also included cannon balls during the Napoleonic Wars. Ever evolving and shifting through the various changes inherent in technological progress, the company also acquired and merged and at one point in the 1900s was known as Guest, Keen & Nettlefolds, Ltd.
Today, GKN Aerospace operates from 31 locations in 12 countries, employing some 16,000 workers, including its newest site in El Cajon.