These were the most popular Voice of San Diego stories for the week of Apr. 29-May 5.
1. San Diego Is Awash in Craft Beer – and Its Sticky, Smelly Byproduct
Some new craft brewers are struggling to find ways to dispose of spent grain, the thick, mushy residue each batch of beer leaves behind. Some farmers will take it, but many of them have so much that they’re turning new breweries away. (Kinsee Morlan)
2. Chula Vista Sees Homelessness Drop Following Measure Targeting Large Vehicles
The annual homeless census showed a drop in homelessness in Chula Vista – likely in large part because of a change in how the city polices RVs parked on the street. Advocates warn those policies simply move people elsewhere, instead of actually solving homelessness. (Lisa Halverstadt)
3. Under New SDG&E Plan, Customers Who Leave Could Keep Paying for Decades
SDG&E, Southern California Edison and PG&E rolled out a new plan last week for how much and how long they can keep charging people who switch to buying power from a government-run agency known as a community choice aggregator, or CCA. (Ry Rivard)
4. Zimmerman Blames SDPD’s Struggle to Recruit on the Media — Again
There may not be one single explanation for SDPD’s failure to hire enough officers, but there is one reason Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman keeps returning to: scrutiny from the media. It’s an argument she’s made many times – and one for which she’s consistently declined to provide evidence. (Andrew Keatts)
5. Sacramento Report: A Social Media Star Is Born in the Assembly
Bond watchdogs are urged to show their teeth, Atkins urges lawmakers to “do something big” on health care and more in our weekly roundup of news from Sacramento. (Sara Libby)
6. Lilac Hills Ranch Is Still Alive
Voters roundly rejected a measure in November that would have greenlit the sprawling Lilac Hills Ranch project near Valley Center. But Accretive Investments, the project’s developers, submitted paperwork last week to San Diego County’s planning department that could keep the project alive. (Maya Srikrishnan and Andrew Keatts)
7. Opinion: District Layoffs Will Push More Families to Charters and Private Schools
San Diego Unified’s layoffs, especially at unique magnet schools, are not the right solution to the district’s problems. (Christen Bernabe)
8. When Deportations Leave Children Stranded, a Messy System Takes Over
In most situations, family members or friends of deported parents step up to take care of the kids, often without knowing how long the responsibility will last. But when no caregiver can be found, the system gets complicated. (Mario Koran and Adriana Heldiz)
9. New San Diego Unified Data Offers Clearest View Yet of How Many Students Left for Charters
New records obtained by Voice of San Diego quantify for the first time how many struggling students in the class of 2016 left district high schools and how many of them were not on track to graduate. The records also reveal which schools students left. Top among them were high schools in poorer areas like Lincoln High and Morse High. (Mario Koran)
10. DA Candidate Fields Our Biggest Criminal Justice Questions
Summer Stephan is the leading candidate to replace District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis. In a wide-ranging interview on rape kits, police body cameras, ICE in local jails and more, Stephan crept closely to the line of saying she’d do things differently than Dumanis but never crossed it outright. (Sara Libby)