These were the most popular Voice of San Diego stories for the week.
1. County Ed Office Takes Control of Sweetwater’s Board
The San Diego County Office of Education has enacted the power to overturn any of the Sweetwater Union High School District board’s decisions – known as “stay and rescind” – due to the district’s ongoing financial crisis. (Will Hunstberry)
In their zeal to determine who leaked documents to Voice of San Diego, SDPD and the city attorney’s office breached a suspect’s right to attorney-client privilege and broke the State Bar’s rules of professional conduct, an appellate court confirmed in a ruling this week. Andrew Keatts
3. Politicians Point Fingers as Migrant Shelter and Public Health Crisis Looms in San Diego
Federal authorities have released thousands of migrant families in San Diego over the past two months, and thousands more could be on the way. The groups maintaining makeshift shelters for them are raising the alarm that they have neither the space nor resources to handle the numbers they have – let alone more. (Maya Srikrishnan and Lisa Halverstadt)
4. Border Report: Once Deported, This Mom Will Spend Christmas at Home in the U.S.
For the first time in more than a decade, Emma Sanchez will be able to give her three sons what they wanted for Christmas. (Maya Srikrishnan)
5. State Investigators Say There’s Evidence of a Financial ‘Cover-Up’ in Sweetwater
Sweetwater Union High School District officials have denied repeatedly they knew anything about the district’s overspending until it suddenly came to light last September. But a new state report suggests some district employees may have committed criminal fraud. (Will Hunstberry)
6. Takeaways From Legalization’s First Year
The marijuana industry exists at the crossroads of two competing values. 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. (Jesse Marx)
7. Water Department Refunds Over Billing Errors Have Skyrocketed
Over the past year, San Diego’s water department refunded over $650,000 to hundreds of customers who received unjustifiably high water bills. The number and cost of refunds has dramatically risen in recent years, according to an analysis by Voice of San Diego and NBC 7 Responds. (Ry Rivard)
8. Politics Report: The 12 Days of … San Diego Politics in 2018
Here are the 12 noisiest political days of the year for a region in which doing something – anything! – seems to require a Christmas miracle. (Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts)
9. County Inaction Exacerbated Hepatitis A Crisis, Audit Finds
A state audit concludes that local officials failed to adequately plan for and quickly ramp up their response to the 2017 hepatitis A outbreak that eventually led to 20 deaths and sickened nearly 600. (Lisa Halverstadt)
10. Sacramento Report: Bates Moves to Kill Motor Voter Program
Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez’s 2015 motor voter law is one of the most high-profile pieces of legislation she’s passed in a career full of them. Now, after a series of errors implementing the law, another San Diego lawmaker has introduced a plan to kill the program. (The VOSD Team)