Quake Rattles Parts of San Diego County

Earthquake in East County

East County and the Coachella and Imperial valleys rumbled with a series of earthquakes centered at the southern end of the Salton Sea Saturday.

A magnitude 3.0 temblor started the latest sequence of shakes. It struck at 1:46 a.m., and its epicenter was on the Salton seashore 3 miles west- southwest of Niland, according to automated seismographs operated by the USGS and the Southern California Earthquake Center.

That location is 40 miles southeast of Indio, or 110 miles east- northeast of San Diego. The 3.0 temblor was followed by a series of smaller microquakes.

There were no reports of damage in the area, which sits at the southern end of the San Andreas Fault system and is rattled by quakes regularly.

Suspected Infection in Kindergartener

A kindergartener who attends Poinsettia Elementary School in Carlsbad is suspected of being infected with bacteria that can cause meningitis and other serious illness in children and adolescents, the county Health and Human Services Agency reported Friday.

The student is believed to be carrying a type of meningococcal germ that can infect the blood and cause inflammation of the tissues covering the brain and spinal cord.

The child's most recent day at school was Jan. 30, and no symptoms of related disease have been reported in any other students at the school, county officials said. The time between exposure to the disease and the onset of symptoms is usually three to four days, with a range of two to 10 days.

Because no other cases have surfaced, officials are not recommending preventive antibiotics for pupils at the school, but are urging all parents to make sure that their children have received appropriate vaccination.

Read the full story on .

Ship Named After Giffords

One of the new littoral combat ships that will be based in San Diego will be named after retired Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was wounded in the Tucson shootings last year, the Navy announced Friday.

"I am pleased to honor Gabrielle Giffords and the people of Arizona with the naming of this ship," Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said during a ceremony in a Pentagon courtyard. "Giffords and the ship's sponsor, Roxanna Green, are sources of great inspiration and represent the Navy and Marine Corps qualities of overcoming, adapting and coming out victorious despite great challenges."

Green is the mother of 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green, one of six killed in the mass shooting at a meeting the Democratic lawmaker was holding for constituents last January.

The alleged gunman, Jared Loughner, is awaiting trial in a case overseen by San Diego-based U.S. District Court Judge Larry Burns.

Giffords, the wife of astronaut Mark Kelly, recently resigned from Congress to focus on her recovery.

Littoral combat ships are a new class of vessel designed for warfare in coastal waters, and the Navy plans to base all of them in San Diego. Delivery has been delayed by structural and mechanical problems.

The vessel will be the 16th named after a woman and 13th after a living person, according to the Navy. Mabus did not say when the ship would be built.

-City News Service