Home Care In El Cajon, CA

Play/Pause

Mute/Unmute

Embed video

Playback Speed

Video Quality

Embed video

Copy the code below to embed the video.

<div _="@=1322,dis=none"><div _="@=1323,dis=none"></div></div> Copy

Playback Speed

2

1.75

1.50

1.25

Normal

0.50

Video Quality

Play/Pause >>

Mute/Unmute

0:00 / 0:00

Settings Closed Captions Picture in Picture Cast Fullscreen

Play/Pause >>

Mute/Unmute

0:00 / 0:00

Settings Closed Captions Cast Fullscreen

EL CAJON, Calif. (CNS) - El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells on Tuesday called on the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) to conduct an independent investigation into the South Bay Expressway possibly incorrectly charging tens of thousands of motorists.

That figure is quoted in a lawsuit filed Friday by Lauren Warrem, the former director of accounting at SANDAG who was fired Nov. 7. Her lawsuit alleges retaliation and wrongful termination and also that SANDAG charged the wrong accounts on the 10-mile stretch of state Route 125, which serves as a toll road.

"I was completely blindsided. Just, even today I'm trying to reconcile how and what happened," Warrem told ABC 10News reporter Natalie Chuck.

The lawsuit claims "Examples of these errors include money being deposited into the wrong account or an incorrect account being charged."

For example, money one customer added to their account could have been deposited into a different customer's account. Plus, other customer's charges could have been inappropriately applied to a different customer's account.

"We are not able to comment on personnel matters or possible litigation," Hassan Ikhrata, SANDAG executive director, told the Times of San Diego. "Regarding the remaining questions, management has advised our auditors and the board that there are concerns with the new operational system on the SR 125 and are taking active steps to address these matters."

SR-125 stretches from Santee in the north to Otay Mesa, nearly to the U.S.-Mexico border. The portion that runs through Chula Vista is a toll road. Warrem claimed that as many as 45,000 people were incorrectly charged while using the expressway.

"Regrettably, it has become apparent that both the SANDAG Board and the public have experienced a decline in confidence in the agency due to a perceived lack of transparency from SANDAG management," Wells wrote in a letter to Nora Vargas, chairwoman of the SANDAG board, and Ikhrata. "To help restore confidence, I call for an independent investigation from an outside entity. The primary objective of this investigation is to comprehensively understand and disclose the root cause(s) of the challenges facing the toll operations."

Wells asked Vargas to place the matter on the agenda for SANDAG's Dec. 8 Board of Directors meeting, and to call on the board to hire an outside organization to determine if there has been financial discrepancies related to the South Bay Expressway, and if so, who knew about them and when.

In a statement to ABC 10News, a spokesperson for SANDAG says in-part:

"SANDAG management has kept the Board updated on this matter and as a result of those conversations, the Chairwoman had already asked for this item to be brought to the Board on December 8th."

SANDAG spokesperson

Wells serves as a member on the board, which features at least one representative from every municipality in the county and two from the city of San Diego and the County Board of Supervisors.

Ikhrata, who took over as head of the regional transportation planning agency in 2018, submitted his notice of resignation in July. His last day will be Dec. 29.

Copyright 2023, City News Service, Inc.

Copyright 2023 Scripps Media, Inc. City News Service contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Local In Your Neighborhood Listen: NBC 7's Podcasts NBC 7 Responds NBC 7 Community Down to Earth With Dagmar Politically Speaking Military Weather Investigations Submit a tip California SportsWrap San Diego Padres U.S. & World Videos Entertainment In Your Neighborhood California Live Worth The Trip

About Us Our News Standards Submit a Consumer Complaint Submit Photos and Video Contests Our Apps Newsletters Cozi TV

To most, it appears that homelessness is rampant in almost every community in San Diego County without a viable solution being presented.

Homelessness is a complex situation, and I could go on for hours about causes and possible solutions. However, today, I wanted to discuss the broken and disjointed system we have to address homelessness in our region.

I appreciate the work the San Diego Taxpayers Education Foundation has been doing to expose the weaknesses in our homeless approaches.

A study revealed that between 2015 and 2022, $2.37 billion in funds went from local governments to homeless service providers. El Cajon staff recently identified at least 65 homeless service providers in San Diego County. Clearly, there is a strong financial incentive to keep homelessness a problem. How can a region spend nearly $2.4 billion over a few years, and the homeless problem has worsened substantially?

First, we fail to address the real problem—mental health and drug addiction. But, also, the system by which we govern these billions of dollars is broken.

Most Federal and State resources are funneled through the two largest jurisdictions in the region—the City of San Diego and the County of San Diego. They are followed by the Regional Task Force on Homelessness, which serves as the Continuum of Care for the San Diego Region. The regional Task Force oversees millions in homeless funding. However, this regional organization’s boards comprise only two elected officials—one from the City of San Diego and one from the County.

Remember, these two organizations already receive the most direct homeless funding. The rest of their boards are made up of service providers.

Interestingly, the organization meant to represent the region only has elected officials from the two largest governments in the County, while the other 17 cities do not have any representation.

It is also interesting that board members come from agencies and organizations that receive funding from the task force.

Restructuring these two boards is critical to ensure more transparency and equity in how money is spent in our County.

Second, it is unclear to me how success is being measured. Inputs are an essential measurement by the County and the Regional Task Force. However, we know governments funded according to inputs have little reason for better performance. However, if funding were tied to outcomes, governments become pretty good at figuring out the right solutions.

Those deciding how billions of tax dollars are spent should be accountable to voters. It is time to restructure how we govern the Regional Task Force. Second, the billions of dollars flowing to our region should be more equitably divided, focusing on getting people off the street and into permanent housing.

Until these two issues are addressed, we will continue to feed the homeless industrial complex while homelessness problems escalate.

Description: The Biden administration and California state officials unlawfully suspended Church of Compassion and Dayspring Christian Learning Center from participating in a federal food program because of their religious beliefs.

Govt pulls funding for CA church, preschool serving low-income, immigrant families

State, fed officials unlawfully suspend Church of Compassion, Dayspring Learning Center in El Cajon from participating in federal food program

SAN DIEGO – On behalf of an El Cajon church and preschool that serve low-income, immigrant families, attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom, the National Center for Law and Policy, and Advocates for Faith and Freedom filed an amended complaint and a motion for preliminary injunction Friday against the Biden administration and California state officials for unlawfully suspending Church of Compassion and Dayspring Christian Learning Center from participating in a food program simply because of their beliefs about human sexuality.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture administers the Child and Adult Food Care Program nationwide, providing funding to California and other states. The Biden administration radically expanded its interpretation of the definition of “sex” in Title IX to include sexual orientation and gender identity, and following that change, California’s Department of Social Services and the USDA issued new government mandates that prevent houses of worship and religious organizations that maintain traditional religious beliefs regarding human sexuality from continued participation in the program.

“The government is withholding food from families in need simply because their children attend a Christian preschool. This violates the U.S. Constitution and multiple federal laws that protect Church of Compassion and its preschool to operate according to the dictates of their faith,” said ADF Senior Counsel Jeremiah Galus. “Ironically, in the name of combatting discrimination, government officials have excluded the church and preschool from serving the El Cajon community based solely on their religious beliefs and exercise. This is antithetical to the First Amendment’s promise of religious freedom and only hurts needy families and children.”

Church of Compassion owns and operates Dayspring, a Christian preschool and daycare center. The church and preschool participated in the food program for nearly 20 years, receiving around $3,500-$4,500 a month to help feed impoverished students in its daycare and preschool daily during the school year and summer. El Cajon, where the church and preschool are located, has a large immigrant population and many of the families served by the church and preschool qualify for free meals under the food program.

Dayspring serves all families and children, including several LGBT families who understand and appreciate the religious instruction their children receive at the preschool. While the church and preschool serve all families, they do not teach or promote all messages.

Yet government officials demanded that Church of Compassion and Dayspring fully comply with new “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” nondiscrimination provisions, including in their religious employment practices, or forfeit the right to receive public funds used to feed needy children. Because the church and preschool’s religious beliefs and practices conflict with the new mandates, government officials unlawfully suspended them from the food program on Dec. 29, 2022.

The lawsuit explains that, by implementing the new mandates, state and federal government officials sought to force the church and preschool to surrender their sincerely held Christian beliefs and practices regarding human sexuality, including their right to hire those with shared beliefs. The government mandates also subject the church and preschool in all aspects to Title IX, including bathrooms, dress codes, and pronoun usage. The suit claims the new government directives violate the Free Exercise, Free Speech, Freedom of Association, and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment, as well as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and Administrative Procedure Act.

Dean Broyles of the National Center for Law and Policy and Mariah Gondeiro and Julianne Fleischer of Advocates for Faith and Freedom first filed the case, Church of Compassion v. Johnson, on behalf of the church and preschool in March. The attorneys are three of more than 4,700 lawyers who are part of the ADF Attorney Network.

In a similar case last year, Grant Park Christian Academy v. Fried, ADF attorneys successfully advocated on behalf of a Christian school in Florida that sued the Biden administration for threatening to pull the school’s lunch program funding because of its religious beliefs.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

# # #

San Diego’s East County residents now have a more convenient and accessible option to address their urgent medical needs without going to the Emergency Department of a hospital.

That’s because a $1 million grant from Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan has helped build - and open the doors to - the El Cajon Urgent and Cardiac Care Center operated by Family Health Centers of San Diego (FHCSD), the county’s largest health center system serving the region’s low-income residents. The new Center delivers on both organizations’ commitment to high-quality, accessible, affordable, high-tech, and high-touch health care.

Leaders from Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan and Family Health Centers of San Diego recently celebrated the grand opening of the new Center, which bridges a critical gap in access to urgent medical and cardiac care services for San Diego’s traditionally underserved rural East County area.

This is the only cardiac urgent care center in California with care capabilities for patients presenting with mild to moderate chest pain, according to Dr. Mehran Moussavian, FHCSD’s cardiologist and CEO of the Cardiovascular Institute of San Diego.

Kristen Cerf, CEO of Blue Shield Promise, was among the participants at the grand-opening celebration and spoke about the Center’s importance in addressing community health and improving access to care.

“We hope that anyone – regardless of income, health plan affiliation, or where they live – will walk through these doors and receive access to urgent and life-saving care,” she said. “When we support healthy communities, we create healthier outcomes for every individual. The services at this center are an expression of heart-felt care for these diverse East County communities and people in critical need of urgent care interventions.”

As part of a small, national pilot program that diverts patients who call 911 and don’t need to be seen at a hospital, the new Urgent and Cardiac Care Center eases the strain on local Emergency Departments by reducing avoidable visits and saves lives by reducing travel time for residents in crisis and when time is of the essence. It brings important new medical services to the FHCSD, which has provided primary and pediatric care, women’s services, radiology, vision, dental, mental health, and cardiac specialty care since 2017.

Sharing in the grand opening event were Jeff Gering, senior vice president of support services, Family Health Centers of San Diego; Dr. Mehran Moussavian, CEO, Cardiovascular Institute of San Diego; and Marguerite Paradis BSN, RN, MHA, Assistant CNO & Neurosciences Director, Sharp Grossmont Hospital, which contributed $100,000 to the center.