Morning Report: Notes From a Year of Legal Pot

Harbor Collective is a medical marijuana dispensary located in downtown San Diego. / Photo by Kinsee Morlan

This year marked the first year of marijuana legalization in California.

Though marijuana policy — at the state, county and city levels — was new terrain, it also often led to debates that seemed rooted in the past, write VOSD’s Jesse Marx.

“The marijuana industry exists at the crossroads of two competing values,” he writes. “On the one hand, consumers want access to an open and affordable marketplace. But bringing the industry out of the shadows and ensuring that it’s run by competent people requires a heavy degree of oversight and control.”

Marx lays out some of the big takeaways from pot’s first legal year. They include uncertainty over who really owns certain pot businesses, continuing inequality among who’s allowed to prosper from the industry and lingering chaos from the all-cash nature of the industry.

A List of Lists

There’s been some solid journalism in San Diego this year.

VOSD contributor Randy Dotinga took a look at some of the best reporting that has come from our colleagues in San Diego and beyond this year.

Some highlights include an investigation into the county foster care system, many stories of sexism, sexual harassment and sexual abuse, and pieces probing San Diego’s role in big climate debates.

VOSD reporters and staffers also laid out our favorite stories we worked on in 2018. They cover everything from school sexual misconduct cases to how SoccerCity and SDSU’s partnership fell apart to a look into how the city came to acquire an indoor skydiving facility for the homeless and more.

The end of the year, as you might have noticed, is the best time of year for lists. Fittingly, NBC 7 also has several handy year-end round-ups:

Here are five of the biggest court cases in San Diego County this year that you’ll want to keep watching in 2019.

San Diego is one of the biggest drug-smuggling hubs along the U.S.-Mexico border. Here’s a round-up of the biggest busts Customs and Border Protection has made at our border this year.

A bunch of new state laws will be going into effect on Jan. 1. Here is what you need to know about them.

How the Shutdown Is Impacting San Diego

The government shutdown is having many impacts locally. San Diego, a military hub on the U.S.-Mexico border, has many federal employees who may be working for IOUs or simply furloughed. The situation will result in hardship for local federal workers who will have to forgo paychecks, as a representative from the local Border Patrol union pointed out to 10News.

It also impacts people who interact with federal agencies, like local journalists. The Union-Tribune’s Wendy Fry tweeted Wednesday that she received this response to her media requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection: “All of ICE’s public affairs officers are out of the office for the duration of the government shutdown. We are unable to respond to media queries during this period because we are prohibited by law from working.”

Cabrillo National Monument has also been closed due to the shutdown, KPBS reports. Bathrooms in Mt. Laguna are also closed, according to NBC 7.

Then there are the nationwide impacts that will be felt in San Diego and elsewhere. Food programs like SNAP, WIC and federally funded school lunch programs may only be able to remain afloat through January and February. The staffing of the federal office that oversees those programs could be cut by 95 percent by the fifth day of the shutdown, CNN reports.

The shutdown is also affecting the family separation case in federal court in San Diego. Government attorneys this morning asked Judge Dana Sabraw to stay the case deadlines in light of the shutdown, according to Courthouse News’ Bianca Bruno.

Health Happenings

San Diego saw 730 salmonella cases so far this year, the highest number in at least 25 years. (Union-Tribune)
Immigrant parents in San Diego County are disenrolling their U.S. citizen children from health care coverage out of fear of a looming Trump administration proposal that targets legal immigrants who use public benefits. (KPBS)
State health officials are moving forward with a study on how non-English speakers are accessing interpretation services when they need medical care – two years after a 2016 law written by then-Assemblywoman Toni Atkins mandated it. (KPBS)

Quick News Hits

Rachel Ortiz — the founder of the Barrio Station youth program, which offers programs to disadvantaged youths — was granted a Christmas Eve pardon by Gov. Jerry Brown. Ortiz spent a year in state prison and four years on parole for a felony drug conviction 40 years ago. (NBC 7)
Experts say that audits and strong processes and procedures are necessary to prevent the kind of fraud state officials suspect happened at Sweetwater High School District. Those things didn’t appear to happen at Sweetwater. (Union-Tribune)
A new mixed-use project that will include 10 low-income housing units and space for immigration-related services, a youth barista training program and a visual arts and theater space broke ground in San Ysidro. (Union-Tribune)
Yes, you can find snow in San Diego sometimes. From Palomar Mountain to Laguna Mountain, San Diego mountains were dusted with snow on Christmas Day. (CBS8)