Tomorrow is Election Day. It’s a primary election so it’s the semi-finals, basically, of what could be called the San Diego Power Tournament. Some of Tuesday’s contestants just want to survive to fight another day while others might win by so much, they don’t need to bother with the finals.
Then of course, there are the ballot measures. Nothing like getting the kids off to school, eating a full breakfast and then going to make a law or two, is there? Savor it.
While we assume you’ve read every single story we have posted on the big Tuesday votes, we recap our coverage just in case you haven’t.
Randy Dotinga runs through all of our stories in his typical breezy style. Give it a read and click on any of the links to get yourself ready. Also, stay tuned for our nearly round-the-clock Election Day coverage. We’ll be live-blogging reactions and observations.
It may not be the NCAA Final Four, but to those who care about San Diego’s quality of life, these decisions are pretty exciting to watch.
In other news:
• Not long ago, former San Diego Schools Superintendent Terry Grier got a little grief for using federal money directed to help disadvantaged to lobby the federal government and feast on exotically named meats.
Now, the school board is staring at an overwhelming budget deficit and it’s laying out plans to use some of that same money to pay for ordinary needs at schools. In other words, money sent from the feds to help with the needs of poor students could be used to fund jobs like school counselors and graduation coaches. Until this year, the board paid for these jobs with the ordinary, day-to-day operating budget.
There’s only one problem: A state official and critics of the idea say it could violate federal law because that money’s supposed to be a cherry on top to help poor schools above and beyond district funding. It’s not supposed to go for ordinary expenses the district would otherwise cover.
• It’s the first Monday of the month so you know it’s time for the new installment of People at Work, our series about a random San Diegan and what he or she does for a living. This month, Kelly Bennett profiles Maria Tinnin, an aquatic instructor.
Though Tinnin is a highly sought after swim teacher for young kids, she’s also suffering from severe arthritis. She struggles to walk and get around. But in the water, she can glide and relax. You can imagine, then, how hard she works just to give herself as much time in the pool as she can. It’s a great story.
• In case you missed it, Saturday, the Weekend Report and summary of what we learned last week was particularly full of interesting stuff. I’d give it another glance if you can’t quite bring yourself to start working on a Monday yet.
Elsewhere:
• The New York Times came to town to do a piece on Vyomesh I. Joshi and his effort at Hewlett Packard’s San Diego lab to develop printers for use with mobile smart phones.
The Times lays out Joshi’s challenges: “The hardest part may be convincing consumers to change their behavior and adopt the new tools. People who once printed out directions now have navigational devices, and things like boarding passes and tickets are starting to give way to their digital equivalents on smartphones.”
• The U-T has a profile and Q&A of Jim Avery, the vice president of power supply at SDG&E. It stands out because of the smart focus on the central question facing Avery and all San Diegans worrying about our energy supply: Where and how are we going to get more renewable sources of electricity?
• Will the Mountain West Conference, the athletic association that includes San Diego State University, expand? Perhaps invite Boise State to the league? SDSU President Stephen Weber was in Wyoming talking about it.
• Happy Birthday to the Old Globe (U-T).
• Finally, San Diego State’s Martha Lauzen, the executive director of the Center for the Study of Women in TV and Film, was quoted in a Houston Chronicle piece about a new breed of motherly characters featured in TV sit-coms.
The paper writes: “Contrasting starkly with such ’80s sitcoms as ‘Family Ties’ and ‘The Cosby Show,’ in which the moms were accomplished career women as well as expert nurturers, a host of TV mothers are now yelling, smothering or just plain neglectful.”
Lauzen says that’s probably closer to reality and it may be a sign that more mothers are part of the production of these shows.
Or that their producers just had yelling, smothering and/or just plain neglectful mothers.
But I’m no professor.
Correction: The original version of this implied that the district is using these federal funds for ordinary needs at all city schools. It’s only at some of them.
— SCOTT LEWIS