When Bonnie Dumanis talks, legislators listen.
As the fourth part of our series about the district attorney’s tenure at the top puts it, political leaders have lauded her as “an innovator with the statewide political clout to turn her ideas into reality.” Case in point: she spearheaded a state program that helps prisoners create plans for their lives when they aren’t behind bars.
Dumanis also has fans in unusual places: among public defenders and at an institute that tries to help free innocent prisoners.
Tomorrow: Why the DA’s budget grows as others wither.
In other news:
- Hello, I must be going: The San Diego school district has lost three top bosses in four years. The school board is wrestling with the best strategy to disable the revolving door and, as we explain, there’s talk of a fully open search.
“That, in turn, could push less traditional candidates to the fore and move the district away from the polished career superintendents normally turned up by headhunters,” we report. - Add this to that big fat pile of unusual things that you’ve learned from reading our work: in California, convicted arsonists have to register with the local authorities for life. It’s not just a bureaucratic exercise: Investigators can use the information to link unsolved arson cases to local convicted arsonists through patterns. San Diego cops apparently haven’t updated their database for years, but things are changing.
- Political consultant Tom Shepard is the latest local personage to tackle a list of questions about the future of San Diego. He tells Scott Lewis that he longs for the old days when the city was well run and points to the state Legislature as an example of why term limits — which are in place there — are anything but a fix-it proposition.
- Who are we, and why are we here? That first question is easy enough to answer: Just check our driver’s licenses. (Just don’t look at the pictures. Sheesh.) The second one is a bit more complicated: What’s voiceofsandiego.org about? Instead of giving you some high-falutin’ verbiage about journalism and community, we’re letting our work speak for itself: Check out a list of 15 of our most influential stories and series from 2009.
- Our Photo of the Day captures a sun-splashed landing at Lindbergh Field. Today’s photo soundtrack is by Emmylou Harris, who “got on this airplane just to fly,” but has other things on her mind.
- The nation’s largest title insurance company, Fidelity National Financial, didn’t disclose to investors that two of its units and several employees were accused of playing a role in an elaborate San Diego mortgage fraud scheme, The New York Times reports. The paper says “the legal adventures that gave rise to the San Diego cases would keep ‘Law & Order’ rolling for months” and focuses on whether the company violated securities laws by not disclosing lawsuits and liabilities associated with the case.
- A correction: Earlier this week, I referred to William Gore as acting sheriff. In fact, he was appointed to the position of sheriff last summer. Also from the oops file: yesterday’s Morning Report inadvertently left out a link to a CityBeat story about cutbacks to local review boards. We’ve written about this issue too, by the way.
- The organization that runs San Diego’s annual gay pride parade and festival is in an unfestive mood: It’s been rocked by an executive director’s firing, a flurry of angry resignations and a financial “indiscretion.” (Uptown News)
- Finally, if you hang around a doctor’s office, you might hear this phrase: “evidence-based medicine.” It’s a buzzword that refers to treating patients with strategies based on research. This raises the obvious question: What on earth were they doing before?
- This brings us to “priority-based budgeting,” which San Diego school leaders are embracing as they deal with a major financial crunch. Budgeting based on priorities is new? We explain.
That’s it for today. If you’re reading this over breakfast, please enjoy your sustenance-based meal.