SAN DIEGO – Detectives Monday night found the man who placed a classified ad that offered a free baby boy on Craigslist. The 19-year-old told detectives he placed the ad over Thanksgiving as a hoax. Two people who saw the ad before it was removed from the Web site called police. Police said the District Attorney's Office was trying to determine if a crime had been committed, but that “it appears unlikely.”
SOLANA BEACH – The City Council decided Wednesday to let residents vote on whether the city should restrict the size of new homes in some areas west of Interstate 5 to preserve the quaintness of the city. A referendum on the Neighborhood Preservation Ordinance will go before voters March 6.
LIVE OAK SPRINGS –The state Public Utilities Commission approved a 320 percent rate increase Thursday for Live Oak Springs water system customers, but it spread the increase over two years. The resolution was approved without discussion at the commission's meeting in San Francisco. Rate increases vary depending on the type of connection, but a typical residential customer's bill will go from $12.25 per month to $50.61. Nazar Najor, the operator of the system, serving 138 customers, had sought a 420 percent increase to pay for repairs required by the county. The system has a decades long history of problems such as leaky pipes and unsafe water.
SANTA YSABEL – Firefighters were able to prevent what could have been the county's next huge fire last week, making a daring decision to attack the Open fire head-on while it was in a valley just north of state Route 78 and about a mile west of state Route 79. More than 370 firefighters from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, U.S. Forest Service, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, East County Strike Team and other local agencies battled the wildfire. Forty engines, 13 hand crews, four helicopters and six air tankers also were used. There were no injuries and no structures lost to the fire, which officials feared could scorch 25,000 acres, burning into Ramona or beyond. With the quick action, the fire never made it out of the valley. It burned about 300 acres.
SAN DIEGO – The new Serra Mesa-Kearny Mesa library opened Saturday, and for $8.9 million, book lovers are getting three times more space in the 15,600-square-foot building, designed by architect Rusty Coombs of Santee. The new dimensions might seem like an embarrassment of riches to Serra Mesans: 80 parking spaces instead of 11; 40 computers instead of four; 54,000 books and other titles instead of 40,000. The site on Aero Drive puts it between the two neighborhoods that provided the funding through developer impact fees.
