San Diego County

The chairman of the Jamul Indian Village and longtime tribal activist was killed in a motorcycle accident, authorities said. William C. Mesa, 57, was killed when his bike hit a utility pole about 5 p.m. Saturday on Lyons Valley Road in Jamul, east of San Diego, police said.

A plan by a private company to build a $320-million desalination plant along the coast of northern San Diego County was unanimously approved Wednesday by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board. Proponents say the plan could provide more than 56,000 acre-feet of drinkable water by 2012, enough to satisfy the needs of more than 100,000 families.

Even as firefighters continue fighting the Station fire, the largest brush fire in Los Angeles County history, an emotionally charged issue is flaring over how to avoid a repeat of the disastrous 2007 fires in San Diego County. On Thursday, the Public Utility Commission is set to vote on a San Diego Gas & Electric Co. proposal to turn off power to some back-country areas during fire-prone times of high winds and low humidity. The fires, which burned more than 200,000 acres and destroyed more than 1,500 homes, were caused by sparking electrical wires blown down by unusually fierce Santa Ana winds.

A rescue helicopter airlifted a woman from an icebound freeway Friday after a surprise snowstorm left her with severe hypothermia. The storm lashed San Diego County with rain and snow, stranding as many as 500 motorists on a mountain freeway and pouring mud down onto another roadway but causing no major damage. The Border Patrol said the 21-year-old woman was found with her boyfriend about 10 a.m. along Interstate 8 near the Pine Valley Bridge, about 40 miles east of San Diego.

Edward D. Goldberg, a marine chemist at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography who studied the effects of ocean pollution, died March 7 at his Encinitas home in northern San Diego County after a long illness, the institute announced. He was 86. A member of the Scripps faculty since 1949, Goldberg helped develop the federally funded Mussel Watch program in the 1970s to measure the levels of contaminants in mussels and other shellfish that concentrate pollutants in their tissue.

A mobile home park company controlled by Sam Zell, chief executive of Tribune Co., is locked in a defamation lawsuit against a San Diego County supervisor who accused the company of rent-gouging elderly tenants and lying about making repairs. The dispute began in 2002 when Supervisor Dianne Jacob made comments about the company to tenants and reporters, and to Zell in a letter. The company, Equity LifeStyle Properties Inc.

The attack was swift and deadly. A shark expert who examined the mangled body said the bite marks showed the classic pattern of a great white: Strike from underneath and then retreat quickly. Despite attempts by lifeguards at resuscitation, retired veterinarian Dave Martin, 66, a dedicated triathlete who swam every Friday with other fitness buffs, was declared dead just minutes after he was pulled from the water.

Hundreds of homeowners facing foreclosure have fallen victim to scam artists who told them they could hang on to their properties by placing them in phony "land grants," authorities said Thursday as they announced the breakup of the alleged scheme. In a joint announcement, California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, San Diego County prosecutors and the FBI said they had shut down Federal Land Grant Co.

Here in the Republican stronghold of eastern San Diego County, Duncan Hunter the son is attempting to succeed Duncan Hunter the father in the 52nd Congressional District. The elder Hunter is leaving Congress after 14 terms and a failed try this year for the GOP nomination for president. When he first ran for Congress in 1980, he was a 31-year-old combat veteran from Vietnam. His son is a 31-year-old combat veteran from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Plascencia family boasts the brand name for fine dining in Tijuana. Their showcase restaurant -- Villa Saverios -- is a foodie destination, its elegant dining room a gathering spot for the city's political and social elite. But the family's success has also drawn other attention. Three years ago, gunmen tried to kidnap chef Javier Plascencia's younger brother. A year later they tried again but, in a case of mistaken identity, snatched the wrong man. Enough close calls, the family decided.