Earlier this year, regulators simultaneously raided three locations of a local preschool chain, which openly acknowledged it wasn’t following the state’s mask mandate. They separated students from teachers and interviewed children as young as one years old – even though the preschools’ owners had already admitted they weren’t masking kids.
After Voice of San Diego broke the story, conservative media went wild, raving about unhinged California bureaucrats, once again taking their powers to extremes.
Well, about that… Regulators are quietly hinting that just maybe, just this one time, conservative media might have, kind of, gotten it right.
After raiding the facilities, regulators issued Aspen Leaf Preschool the severest type of citation, along with several others. Recently, they dropped every citation they issued.
State officials did not respond to a request for comment. But as Will Huntsberry reports, there are two reasons that could explain why they dropped the charges.
Voice of San Diego Has You Covered On Election Prep
Our election hub has everything voters need to know about the most heated races in the region.
The race for the San Diego City Council District 6 seat is the only one in which an open seat is up for grabs. But regardless who wins, the last seat held by Republicans on the council will be flipping blue. Kent Lee and Tommy Hough have tussled on issues like the trash collection ordinance.
There are two high profile races for mayor in National City and Chula Vista. The Chula Vista race pits longtime political hopeful Ammar Campa-Najjar, a Democrat, against Republican Chula Vista Councilman John McCann. It’s a race that has featured plenty of barbs, and even private investigators. The pair duked it out in a spicy debate at Politifest South.
Visit our San Diego Election Hub here.
Races to Watch in North County
North County reporter Tigist Layne has all the deets on the North County races and other news she’s watching right now in her latest newsletter.
The Catherine Blakespear – Matt Gunderson race for the 38th State Senate District seat that everyone is talking about will finally come to a head on Tuesday, and so will the tight race for the 74th Assembly District.
Also, President Joe Biden is stepping in to help Mike Levin in the 49th Congressional Race. This comes after recent polls called the race a “toss up.”
Read about that in the North County Report.
Chula Vista Has a New Tech, Privacy Policy. What That Means.
The Chula Vista City Council approved new rules this week intended to guide officials on how they can use and acquire surveillance technology.
For years, bigger cities across California have been grappling with how to implement technology into their day-to-day operations while being open about the risks to civil rights and liberties.
And Chula Vista is no different. The city faced public push-back over a Union-Tribune report in late 2020 revealing that officials had shared license plate data with federal immigration authorities.
Chula Vista pressed ahead Tuesday with a policy aimed at boosting awareness and transparency of surveillance gear. But it’s not everything advocates wanted.
Read more about the new policy here.
In Other News
- An armed security team hired by the development company that owns the California Theatre entered the building early Wednesday morning to clear out anyone still living inside after two years of complaints by the city and neighbors. After two hours inside, they didn’t find anyone still living there. (Union-Tribune)
- Vista’s city manager has resigned after the city council approved a change to the way the city hires department managers. The city’s fire chief also resigned and is expected to leave his job Thursday. (Union-Tribune)
- County and city officials have a new $700 million plan to revitalize the area around the San Diego River. Long term, the plan would create bike paths, trails and riverfront dining from Ocean Beach potentially all the way to Julian. (CBS 8)
The Morning Report was written by Will Huntsberry, Jakob McWhinney, Tigist Layne and Jesse Marx. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.