Riverside County

4 citrus disease pests found in Fallbrook

During routine pest trapping in Fallbrook this week, state agricultural inspectors detected bacteria on an insect that can cause a plant disease. It is not harmful to people or animals, but is deadly to citrus trees and is a dangerous agricultural threat, they said. California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) inspectors on December 28 collected a group of four adult Asian citrus psyllids (ACP)…


COVID-19 ain’t so good for poor people

 Over the course of the pandemic, COVID-19 infections have battered high-poverty neighborhoods in California on a staggeringly different scale than more affluent areas, a trend that underscores the heightened risks for low-wage workers as the state endures a deadly late-autumn surge. A California Healthline review of local data from the state’s 12 most populous counties found that communities with relatively high poverty rates are…


Dolores Huerta honored by CSUSM office

The summer before the start of their freshman year at Cal State San Marcos, while many of their peers are going on vacations or relaxing at the beach, a group of students takes an immersive six-week course that prepares them for the rigors of college. These recent high school graduates are part of the College Assistance Migrant Program, or CAMP, which aims to help students from migrant…


Old West theme parks paint a false picture

In 1940, just a year before Pearl Harbor plunged the United States into a world war, Walter and Cordelia Knott began construction on a notable addition to their thriving berry patch and chicken restaurant in the Orange County, California, city of Buena Park. This new venture was an Old West town celebrating both westward expansion and the California Dream – the notion that this Gold…


Quakebot sez…3.7 tremor rocks Temecula; 3.6 tremor hits Ramona two days later

A few people felt it. Other people didn’t. Some said L.A. earthquakes have felt stronger in Wine Country. Some said they and their cats were scared for an hour after feeling the tremor. The tie-breaking quote, however, came from Quakebot, a computer application that monitors the latest earthquakes detected by the U.S. Geological Survey. A magnitude 3.7 earthquake was reported Friday at 9:41 p.m. Pacific…


SDG&E pulls plug cause of Santa Ana winds

As if 2020 weren’t bad enough, thousands of local residents got their power cut late Wednesday and early Thursday by San Diego Gas & Electric. And the worst may be yet to come. SDG&E initially pulled the plug on about 24,000 customers with another 94,000 in the crosshairs. That number quickly grew to 61,609 without power as of 2:30 a.m. Thursday, and possibly through Monday,…


Valley Fire victims suffering 3 months later

Nearly three months after San Diego County’s most destructive fire of 2020 burned down her Lawson Valley home, 78-year-old Eileen Menzies spends her days sifting through the rubble she has yet to completely clear from her property. A neighbor whose new hemp farm was nearly destroyed is meeting with lawmakers in hopes of improving agricultural insurance in fire-prone areas. And two miles across the hills…


Sierra Club North County blasts Harvest Hills

The Sierra Club North County Group took to social media Monday, Nov. 23 with a video release lambasting the proposed  $58 million Harvest Hills development proposal at San Pasqual Valley near the San Diego Safari Park. “We are ready to re-ignite the fight to halt sprawl development in Escondido and to Stop Harvest Hills,” said Laura Hunter, Chair of the Conservation Committee of the Sierra…


Farmers, ranchers seek better wildfire policies

“Hours had passed and the fire’s coming down the hill; it had just taken us over, so we start packing what we could as we watched my son’s house burn and our whole hemp farm burn right in front of our own eyes. It was a devastating experience,”  — Jamul hemp farmer Eddie Campos described watching his crop and homes burn, saying his initial 911…


Pot wins big across county, state ballots

Election Day not only ushered in marijuana legalization wins in five states, it also brought more than two dozen victories at the city and county levels in California, opening the door to new local markets for cannabis businesses up and down the state. All told, there were at least 37 marijuana ballot questions in 35 cities and counties, according to tallies by California NORML and…