A lawsuit filed against the San Diego Police Department by a victim of one officer’s sexual misconduct has tentatively ended. Lawyers on both sides declined to release information about the settlement. Liam Dillon reminded us how the big question is whether the department will end up with new oversight.
The plaintiff was pushing for some kind of investigation and monitor.
“Department brass missed numerous red flags about Officer Anthony Arevalos, the cop who was convicted of soliciting sexual bribes from Doe and other women,” Dillon reported.
• The case is settling just two weeks before it was set to go to a trial, U-T San Diego reported, which was set to pull in numerous police officers and other victimized women to testify.
La Jolla Schools Unleashed
La Jolla schools will have more flexibility in hiring and curriculum decisions going forward, Mario Koran reported. It’s something close to what activists have been pushing for a long time and they found a way to make it fit with the district’s drive toward making neighborhood schools more attractive.
Private Public Records
One month after the California Supreme Court took on an appeal over whether public records passed through private email accounts or devices should remain open to public inspection, the San Diego City Council sided with City Attorney Jan Goldsmith to pay for his legal expenses in a lawsuit over the same issue, the U-T reported.
While it’ll probably be 2015 before the state’s Supreme Court rules on their case, Goldsmith’s lawsuit defense has already begun. With the City Council voting to pay for his defense, San Diegans are now in the position of paying to defend a politician who claims San Diegans have no right to obtain the records of public business he has conducted over his personal devices and accounts.
Goldsmith’s office recently coughed up around 1,000 emails relating to city business that went to his personal account, but noted he wasn’t legally required to do so.
Secret Public Records
On the topic of the public’s interest, the Public Utility Commission decided to withhold an expert report on what went wrong at the San Onofre nuclear power plant. Full disclosure of that report wouldn’t be in the public’s best interest either, according to a PUC attorney.
Shortly after denying the request to release the report in defense of the public’s best interest, the PUC released the report.
News Nibbles
• Del Mar racetrack suspended racing for three days after another race horse was badly injured, bringing the total number of race-related deaths to eight, according to NBC 7.
• As redevelopment funds continue to dry up, Civic San Diego thinks buying some strip malls and office buildings in poor neighborhoods might generate the cash the agency wants to survive. (U-T)
• GOP gubernatorial candidate Neel Kashkari surreptitiously dropped into Fresno for a whole week, looking for a job and trying to prove a point. In the meantime, he tried to mimic the homeless lifestyle. (KPBS)
• Immigration courts in Southern California have turned up the speed in which people detained after crossing the border illegally get their first day in court. (KPBS)
• Police announced a girl dressed as Roger Rabbit at last week’s Comic-Con was the victim of a fall, not an assault, as had been widely reported. (NBC 7)
• A decades-long relationship between Southwest Airlines and SeaWorld will come to an end. (AP)
• The San Diego County Tax Collector is very pleased with the 99 percent collection rate for property taxes this year. (Fox 5)
• The OB Rag broke down a list of all the broadcast TV news stations in San Diego, who owns them, and what biases the Rag thinks those stations have.
Water-Shunning Lawn Creatures
The Southern California Water Committee unveiled an advertising campaign on Thursday that you’ll probably be seeing for a while. A cute little furry green guy named Lawn Dude will be urging onlookers to conserve water. “Don’t Hose Me, Man,” pleads the little grass man, a slogan oddly lifted from the disturbing stun-gun incident-turned-internet meme “Don’t tase me, bro!”
You can follow Lawn Dude on Twitter at @Lawn_Dude. He surely won’t be green for very long, with that attitude.
Seth Hall is a local writer and technologist. You can email him at voice@s3th.com or follow him on Twitter: @loteck.