The June primary will shortly be upon us.
In a bizarre twisting of rationale, the Union-Tribune has endorsed write-in candidate Ronald Reagan for president, not wanting to advise against voting “because that’s a waste.”
Our round-up of this season’s most prominent local election contests doesn’t include any suggestions on how to vote, but Andrew Keatts does take readers through each race and two big local ballot measures, explaining the key issues at play. The District 1 race, Keatts writes, “was simple, up until it wasn’t.” There, Barbara Bry and Ray Ellis face off, with the most noticeable difference being their views on the minimum wage increase. Meanwhile, three other candidates, including the husband of outgoing Councilwoman Sherri Lightner, threaten to pull enough votes to force the race to a November run-off.
Over in the crowded race for city attorney, Keatts anticipates the lone Republican, Deputy District Attorney Robert Hickey, will pull enough support to make it through to November. Hickey’s Democratic opponents Rafael Castellanos, Mara Elliott and Gil Cabrera all wield distinct advantages in either support or experience. And attorney Bryan Pease continues his outsider campaign, when he’s not busy protesting, being arrested and suing the city for it.
Talking School Choice
In the latest episode of our Good Schools for All podcast, we’re talking about kids who go to schools outside their home neighborhood and the 42 percent of parents who choose to send their kids far and wide for education. “School choice,” which allows many parents to send their kids to other communities for school, is a hot topic in education. Almost as hot as the other topic we’re talking about: college readiness. Barrio Logan College Institute Executive Director Jose Cruz jumps in to talk about the needs of low-income students.
Arts Commission: San Diego Explained
The San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture advises the mayor on endeavors in public art, spreads money around to local art projects and directs the city’s public art projects. It’s run by volunteers, and the commission has long asked for additional funding to support public art. Kinsee Morlan joined NBC 7’s Monica Dean to break down where the commission’s money comes from and how much they expect to receive in the upcoming budget in our most recent San Diego Explained.
Clinton Speaks Warns the World from San Diego
Hillary Clinton visited San Diego’s Balboa Park on Thursday to give a what was billed as a foreign policy speech, but which quickly became a treatise on Donald Trump’s unfitness to be leader of the free world. “Clinton did not delve into the details of her own policies but focused instead on how she views his shortcomings,” the Washington Post writes.
Judge for yourself, here’s the video the speech.
• Meanwhile, Donald Trump doubled down on his attacks of a San Diego judge who is overseeing a lawsuit against Trump University.
Union-Tribune, U-tronc?
The news behemoth Gannett is still aggressively trying to buy the Tribune Publishing, which owns the San Diego Union-Tribune. But in a twist on Thursday, Tribune renamed itself tronc Inc.
Companies that purposely spell their name with all lowercase letters wreak havoc among editing desks, but “tronc Inc.” is the actual name of this newly renamed company, which describes itself as a dizzying mixture of buzzwords that include content, curation, monetization and leveraging. They will be powered by artificial intelligence, they claim, and the new name is short for Tribune online content.
Fortune reports that all this silliness has resulted in at least one shareholder lawsuit against the company, and also notes that “tronc” is actually French for “donation box,” which is more commonly referred to as a tip jar. “There are many different types of tronc, but all are run by a troncmaster,” notes the website wmtllp.com. Undeterred by bizarre maneuvers with French influence, Gannett is still seeking to be the troncmaster.
Mascot Trouble Redux
Every few years, San Diegans ponder whether the use of the Aztec mascot at San Diego State University promotes racism. KPBS explores the question anew using an exhaustive history of the mascot at SDSU written by one of the school’s own lecturers. “The mascot was born out of racism and should be canned,” argues Ozzie Monge, the thesis’ author.
News Nibbles
• Got a non-emergency problem you want to report to the city? San Diego’s got a new app for that. (NBC 7)
• Sports Illustrated peers into the final days of Tony Gwynn and how the famous baseball player dealt with cancer that wouldn’t relent.
• This week, a group of local architects published an op-ed in which they expressed concerns about unaddressed cost overruns and environmental impacts should the city try to put a stadium in East Village. (UrbDeZine)
• A rush of Haitian and African migrants are camped on the Tijuana side of the U.S/Mexico border, awaiting their chance to apply for asylum. (KPBS)
• The ACLU is taking up the cause of The Koala and other student publications associated with UCSD by suing to reinstate funding for those publications. (Union-Tribune)
• This house in Mira Mesa contained so much hoarded stuff, police think the resident must have entered and exited the house via kitchen window. (L.A. Times)
• There’s been a mysterious beer tainting in San Diego, the details of which are being kept under wraps. The offending tainter of the beer has been brought to justice. (NBC 7)
Seth Hall is a local writer and technologist. You can email him at voice@s3th.com or follow him on Twitter: @loteck.