News

By Miriam Raftery 

Photo: Elon Musk and Donald Trump in Nov. 2024, via Speaker Mike Johnson

February 4, 2025 (Washington, D.C.) – Donald Trump authorized Elon Musk’s unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to take total control of the U.S. Treasury Department’s payment system, locking out federal employees.  DOGE’s young tech workers gained access to the private data of nearly every American including taxpayers, Social Security and Medicare recipients, government employees, student and SBA loan recipients and federal contractors in direct violation of laws intended to protect sensitive data.  The information accessed by Musk’s team includes Social Security numbers, bank accounts, addresses and other data that if in the wrong hands, could lead to identity theft and looting of accounts.

By Michael Howard

February 3, 2025 (La Mesa, CA) - The La Mesa City Council, during its Tuesday January 28, 2025 meeting, voted unanimously to increase city fees by 24.7%.

"Some fee schedules are increasing higher than normal,” Assistant to the City Manager Lyn Dedmon admitted to the Council members when the increases were presented for their vote.

City “user fees,” which are the fees charged to the users of certain city provided services, are not meant to be a source of revenue, per the city’s policy.  Rather, the purpose of the fees are to recover the costs of providing the services that the city provides. 

City services range from building permits to city-owned community pool swim passes, along with countless other engineering, planning, public works, and community services in between.

According to a report commissioned by the city to study the fee schedule, La Mesa only recovered  59% of the cost it takes to provide its services in fiscal year 2023-2024. Total costs were $7,626,128, but the city collected only $4,469.581.

East County News Service

Update Feb. 4, 2025 -- Supervisor Joel Anderson has launched a petition to oppose Snavely's placement in Julian. You can sign his petition here.

February 1, 2025 (Julian, CA) – San Diego County Superior Court has ordered the conditional release of Gary Snavely, a sexually violent predator (SVP) at 3452 Wynola Road in Julian.  The public can submit comments from Feb. 3 through Feb. 16; hearing set for March 7.

Snavely was convicted of molesting two girls ages 8 and 9 in Orange County back in 1987. In 1996 he was convicted of failing to register as a sex offender in San Diego County and went back to prison.  After his release, he was placed in Jacumba in 2008 but after he abused his psychotropic medication and lied to his supervising staff he went back to Coalinga state hospital, though he was not accused of committing new crimes. Violations included failing to remain appropriately clothed at all times on his property while in public view, and failing to report any and all instances of sexual thoughts and fantasies involving sexual deviance to treatment staff.

East County News Service

January 31, 2025 – Annette Smith, 58, of El Cajon has been arrested on suspicion of mailing a narcotic-laced greeting card into a San Diego County Jail.

In December 2024, deputies assigned to the Sheriff's Mail Processing Center intercepted a greeting card intended for Alicia Abungan, 52, who is in custody at the Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility in Santee. While inspecting the card, deputies noticed it had the appearance of being soaked in narcotics.

The Sheriff's Detention Investigations Unit began a criminal investigation, which identified Smith as responsible for mailing the greeting card containing narcotics.

By Miriam Raftery

January 31, 2025 (San Diego) -- A two-count indictment was unsealed in federal court today charging San Diego Sheriff’s Deputy Jeremiah Manuyag Flores with violating the civil rights of a man in pretrial custody at the San Diego Central Courthouse. Flores is accused of using excessive force that caused a spinal cord injury, then writing a false report to cover up his illegal actions.

He is charged with depriving the individual – identified in the indictment as 57-year-old J.P. – of his right to due process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and of falsifying a record in a federal investigation. If convicted on both counts, he could face up to 30 years in prison and be fined up to $500,000, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

By Miriam Raftery

Photos by Robert Gehr

January 31, 2025 (El Cajon) – After voting to repeal a long-unenforced ban on dog walking downtown, the city of El Cajon has installed “doggie pots” and poop disposal bags to help dog owners cleanup after their pets.

By Miriam Raftery

January 30, 2025 (Lemon Grove) – Eleven people have applied to fill a vacancy on the Lemon Grove City Council created when former Councilmember Alysson Snow won the mayoral election.  The City Council will interview the applicants during the Feb.4 Council meeting at 6 p.m. at the Lemon Grove Community Center. View the full agenda including candidate applications: https://events.lemongrove.ca.gov/council.

The Council previously approved filling the vacancy via appointment, to avoid a costly election. The appointee chosen will serve the remainder of the term, which expires in December 2026.

Applications included detailed questions about candidates’ backgrounds and goals, though some did not identify policy objectives.

The applicants, in order of their interview times, are as follows, along with highlights from their applications:

By Miriam Raftery

View video of full Council hearing (Immigration agenda item begins at 37 minutes.)

January 29, 2025 – Emotions ran high during yesterday’s El Cajon City Council meeting, where a packed chamber heard testimony from 88 members of the public over a proposed over immigration enforcement resolution, followed by a heated Council debate that divided the all-Republican members during a hearing that ran over five hours.

The measure introduced by Mayor Wells, a revision from a version heard two weeks ago, aims to authorize El Cajon police to comply with federal immigration enforcement officials within the limits of state law and the Constitution for the purpose of removing violent criminals.

But the action comes on the same day that the White House Press Secretary indicated that the Trump administration views all undocumented immigrants as “criminals” even though crossing the border itself is a misdemeanor on the first offense, not a felony or violent crime.

Sweeps by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have begun nationwide, picking up many immigrants with no criminal record—including an El Cajon man with no criminal record who was awaiting his asylum hearing when arrested  this week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at his home in front of his five-year-old daughter, Councilman Michelle Metschel revealed in an impassioned speech.