San Diego County

UC program aids in citrus disease fight

At war with the Asian citrus psyllid since it was found in North San Diego County in 2008, California citrus growers and packers have had unprecedented success in slowing the spread of the tree-killing bacteria the psyllid can carry. People in the citrus business say part of that success relates to the testing and distribution of clean citrus plant material through the University of California,…



SD County ag reverses two years of decline

Agriculture values in San Diego County returned to their growing ways in the latest annual County Crop Report, increasing by 2.63 percent to nearly $1.75 billion after two years of decline. The report was released Monday, Oct. 2. Total production values were led, as they have been for the last decade, by ornamental trees and shrubs like crepe myrtles and bottle brushes, indoor plants like…


Wasted days and wasted nights on SR 78

And maybe someday we will find, that it wasn’t really Wasted time Mm,hm Oh hoo, ooh, ohh, Ohh, ooh, mm. — Eagles “Wasted Time” With great fanfare, SANDAG in 2012 broke ground for a $41 million road widening project on State Route 78 near Interstate 15 as well as around Nordahl Road “to ease traffic congestions during morning and afternoon commuting hours.” Guess what? It…


Oh-oh heat wave…We give in already

(Editor’s Note: The Great Heat Wave chilled out on Sunday just in time for a day supposedly honoring labor, yet consisting of no work. Temps dipped below 100 degrees everywhere in San Diego County,  big change from the day before when 20 local places broke the 100 degrees barrier. What happened? Tropical Storm Lidia sucked in a high pressure system bringing with it desert air….


Back to school: Cal State San Marcos opens year with record enrollment

The fall semester at Cal State San Marcos kicked off Monday with nearly three dozen new faculty, several new programs and the highest enrollment in campus history. President Karen Haynes, the most senior president in the CSU system, opened the 2017-18 academic year with her 14th CSUSM Convocation address on Thursday, Aug. 24. Speaking to hundreds of CSUSM faculty and staff members, she highlighted recent…


Heat wave on the way week of Aug. 25-31

We’re having a heat wave. Record-breaking heat is expected to descend upon Southern California Monday, with temperatures ratcheting up over the next three days and remaining high but tapering off just a bit through the end of the week. Highs in El Cajon and Escondido are expected to reach 102, which would match the records in both cities for the date. The National Weather Service…


Carbon farming at Land of Milk and Honey

Montado Farms in Santa Ysabel, operated by Kevin Muno and partners, also known as The Land of Milk and Honey, is on the frontier of a new farming technique dedicated to using soil to remove carbon dioxide from the environment and help reverse the effects of climate change. With a grant administered by San Diego Food System Alliance, Montado Farms is the southernmost outpost in this…


Traffic more hassled headed down I-15

According to traffic volume counts collected by the state, traffic has increased on the winding stretch of the 15 that runs past Rainbow and Fallbrook by almost 6 percent since 2013 alone. That translates to thousands of additional cars on that stretch and 20,000 plus south of the Highway 78 merge in Escondido. TRAFFIC VOLUME The annual average daily traffic volume between Temecula and Escondido along Interstate-15…


Drive Tales: ‘It’s upside down, so what?’

Drive tales One of my many jobs right now is delivering packages for Amazon Prime Now. It’s a little different from Amazon Prime where packages are delivered at Amazon’s choosing by USPS, UPS, and FedEx. With Prime Now, YOU choose when you want your goods delivered. You can choose any two-hour window between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m., seven days a week at no extra…