Jalitza Cardona’s life in the Navy felt like a relentless march of awful events.
While she was still in training, she was sexually assulted by another sailor, who was later cleared of wrongduring. The anger, frustration and pain from that assault turned into depression, and it made it impossible to get out of bed. Her shipmates taunted her and called her crazy.
Then, when she started seeing a counselor, she was shamed for it. She felt alone.
Today, she’s thankful that when she took a handful of pills, they did not bring about what she intended.
A new analysis by Voice of San Diego found that for young women in the armed forces to consider suicide — and act on it — is far more common than their civilian peers.
Will Huntsberry writes that the trend is even more grave for young women than young men, who were nearly twice as likely to die by suicide as their civilian peers in 2020, Voice’s previous reporting showed. But the suicide rate for young men was lower in previous years. For young women, it has consistently been well above civilian women.
One expert cautioned against pointing to one event as the cause for suicide. Instead, they stressed the overarching pressures unique to women in service.
Click here to read the story in its entirety.
What’s Up With the National City Mayoral Race?
The National City mayoral election this November features a rare set of circumstances.
Mayor Alejandra Sotelo-Solis won four years ago with the support of both the San Diego Democratic Party and the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council. But is now seeking re-election without the support of either.
That’s after the Democratic Party this week officially endorsed National City Councilman Jose Rodriguez in his bid to unseat Sotelo-Solis. In the spring, Rodriguez got the support of the county’s largest organized labor group.
Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts get into what that means in the latest Politics Report.
Also in the Politics Report: The San Diego City Council on Tuesday will consider the mayor’s proposal to settle the city’s lawsuit against Cisterra, the firm that acted as the landlord/seller of the two buildings downtown the city ended up leasing-to-own. There’s a lot of opinions out there, and our nerdy politics nerds read them for you. Here’s a rundown.
How Much Poo Is Too Much Poo?
San Diego was first in the nation to deploy a new technology to test the safety of our ocean water. And Imperial Beach and Coronado are grappling with the results.
The tests use a new method to count the amount of bacteria found in the gut of warm-blooded mammals, including humans (e.g., feces).
The word poop is funny, obviously, but this is deadly serious for local beach cities — which may not only face economic hardship from having their beaches closed, but the test results suggest beachgoers could get seriously sick. In the latest episode of the VOSD Podcast, our hosts discussed the rollout of these new tests and a lot of confusion that followed.
Plus: A viral interview with a local school leader. And a new documentary about Barrio Logan’s pollution struggles.
Get the full episode here. Or mash that play button in your favorite podcast app.
In Other News
- Just as Comic-Con wrapped up its final day, another San Diego tradition started with big, fabulous hats at opening day at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. The Union-Tribune’s photo journalists were at both events to document the excitement.
- KPBS reports that this summer’s wave of COVID-19-related hospitalizations is proving to be different than others because most patients are arriving with less severe illness.
- CBS reports that white shark sightings are on the rise in San Diego County in recent years.
The Morning Report was written by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña and Nate John.