The Morning Report
Get the news and information you need to take on the day.
Don’t forget our next Meeting of the Minds culture event, tonight at Liberty Station in Point Loma.
You’ll learn about products that got their start here. No, not the Flowbee. We’re talking public art, WD-40, sound art, photos from Mars and more.
Get information about tickets here (it’s free for VOSD members) and get a run-down of the program here.
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The City Council really likes SeaWorld. Boy howdy, does it like SeaWorld. Yesterday, with the ides of March already behind us, the City Council unanimously named this SeaWorld San Diego Month.
We’ve been focusing on what the park means to the community. In a new story, we take a larger look at the moral issues surrounding SeaWorld’s reliance on killer whales in captivity.
The community’s effort to understand these uncomfortable moral questions has sparked a lot of passion and anger — and it’s no wonder, Lisa Halverstadt writes: “They “hit at the heart of how we spend our money, entertain our children and interact with the world around us.”
Changing Paths for Gang Members
In a Q-and-A, we talk to Cornelius Bowser, a local church bishop, about the former gang member’s efforts to turn around the lives of kids. We heard from him earlier this week in a story about the use of texting to fight gang violence.
Bowser makes the case that a much narrower slice of the so-called “at-risk youth” population should be the focus of gang intervention resources. The real people to target, Bowser says, are “high-risk youth” — the kids “who will 100 percent join a gang if someone doesn’t intervene in their life” as opposed to kids who just happen to live near gangs but aren’t necessarily interested in joining one.
Felony Plea in South Bay Scandal
A South Bay school board member has pleaded guilty to a felony count of conspiracy in the region’s sprawling corruption scandal. Pearl Quinones, whose Sweetwater district runs middle and high schools in South Bay, tearfully tells NBC San Diego that she can’t afford a lawyer anymore.
“More than a dozen school officials from the Sweetwater, San Ysidro and Southwestern College school districts face charges including bribery and perjury in the case that involves officials accepting gifts and other favors in exchange for votes on mult-million dollar construction contracts,” the station says.
• Meanwhile, a lawsuit says the Sweetwater district used public funds to hire a private eye. (10News)
Deleting That Email Deletion Policy
Mayor Kevin Faulconer officially put the kibosh on a policy to delete all city emails older than a year. KPBS reported Faulconer said this was “just one of the first steps” in his effort to ramp up transparency in city business. For some background on the policy (and ensuing uproar from open government advocates), peep our overview.
Quick News Hits
• VOSD tech blogger Blair Giesen examines the contention by Forbes, based on some peculiar criteria, that San Diego is the nation’s top spot for start-up businesses.
The ever-upbeat Giesen believes the ranking. He writes that “San Diego is No. 1 for a reason,” but acknowledges there’s still things to improve.
• The weekly VOSD Culture Report has hotspot Adams Avenue on its mind: It’s the site of an unusual art fair called Transannual. We also take note of art that’s positively criminal (shades of San Diego’s onetime Museum of Death), an art space departure in Barrio Logan, and something called architecture porn (sounds painful).
And, of course, Culture Report writer Alex Zaragoza reminisces about the usual topics: unfortunate hair design and devil-may-care cigarette experimentation. (I won’t have what she’s having.)
• The Inewsource investigative journalism outfit is suing North County’s public transit system in search of an internal assessment of its management.
The report could shed light on what Inewsource says is a high management turnover rate and “an alleged culture of intimidation” that may be to “blame for much of the (agency’s) recent safety, compliance, budgetary and operational deficiencies.”
• UCSD’s chancellor has announced a scholarship program that will benefit Reality Changers, the local organization that helps troubled kids find a route to college.
We profiled Reality Changes recently and talked to the chancellor about his plans to boost higher-ed opportunities.
• Wishing a happy 47th wedding anniversary to my parents, who celebrated — I’m not making this up — at an Olive Garden in North County last night.
Here’s to unlimited years and/or breadsticks.
Randy Dotinga is a freelance contributor to Voice of San Diego and vice president of the American Society of Journalists & Authors. Please contact him directly at randydotinga@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/rdotinga.
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