The Morning Report
Get the news and information you need to take on the day.
The new chief of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board has to deal with a lot of you-know-what. Along with litter, dirt and all the other gross things that end up in local waterways.
In this weekend’s question-and-answer interview, we talked to Dave Gibson about buried pollution in the bay, U.S.-bound trash from Tijuana and whether self-monitoring is the same as foxes guarding the (polluted) henhouse.
He also has a blunt answer about whether he’d eat fish caught in the San Diego Bay.
- “In a clear sign that District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis has lost the support of cops and deputies, an umbrella group for 22 San Diego County law enforcement unions overwhelmingly rejected her request for an endorsement,” we report.
It seems that Dumanis disappointed cops in a couple high-profile cases. Dumanis, however, has no opponent so far in the upcoming election.
- So did more than one San Diego school board member really want to get rid of the superintendent job? Depends on which local commentator you ask: Geez Louise, of course they weren’t, says one. Pshaw and fiddlesticks, says another. (These are rough translations.)
Whatever the case, the idea is a non-starter, although it sure got plenty of attention. (“Everyone who cares about San Diego’s future should be alarmed,” hyperventilated the U-T in an editorial that failed to accurately predict what would happen. A U-T columnist boldly hints that the edtiorial made board members change their minds.)
- Which local politician should you be the most afraid of messing with? Some might say County Supervisor Dianne Jacob. As columnist Scott Lewis writes, “she has a penchant for getting fierce with the very wealthy and powerful.”
- In a quick interview with Lewis, Jacob discloses the top problem she’d fix immediately in East County (it may surprise you), anticipates a big year in solar energy in the region (who knew?), and takes SDG&E to the woodshed for a thwacking. She also punts (just about literally) on a question about the most inspiring local leader.
- The Photo of the Day is a 2008 shot of two people communicating through a fence at Border Field State Park. If these folks have a case of the “Lovesick Blues,” today’s photo soundtrack by Patsy Cline is appropriate.
Elsewhere:
You’ve heard of the royal “we”? Meet the county supervisorial “I.”
County Supervisor Bill Horn tells the U-T that he mixed up pronouns — referring to his staff as “I” — in a now-infamous comment to an NCT reporter that set off a giant flap over whether he wrongly talked to a developer before a big vote on a housing development. He tells the NCT something similar.
Critics want an investigation. If it happens, it looks like it’ll hinge on the definition of what “I” is.
The development, by the way, has a new lease on life, at least for the moment: County Supervisor Ron Roberts wants the board to take another look at it after a tie vote (when he was out of town) and those accusations of Horn shenanigans. (NCT)
The Coffee Collection: Stories to read over a cup of joe
An Innie Instead of an Outie: San Diego school leaders would like their next superintendent to stick around for more than, say, an afternoon. Talk about high expectations! So what needs to change?
Batter Up: The business of doughnuts is crumbling, and local Cambodians have the most at stake.
(The writer of these stories, by the way, says he’s eaten something like nine doughnuts this week and thinks that’s a lot. Amateur!)
Quote of the Week: “You think we wanted to do this? We did this because when we came, we had to find something to do, and this is what we were able to learn from our friends and family.” — Chy Yam, owner of North Park’s Golden Donut, where the Morning Report went the other night after reading too darned much about doughnuts already.