Otay Ranch High School in Chula Vista on Feb. 17, 2023.
Otay Ranch High School in Chula Vista on Feb. 17, 2023. / Photo by Ariana Drehsler

In 2017, Grossmont Union High School District managed to fire Joshua Allen Barney for inappropriately touching and making inappropriate comments to a student in his weightlifting class. Still, Barney found his way back into a classroom.

In the years following his firing, a state commission that oversees teacher performance and a trial court found that his conduct was inappropriate and that he was likely to engage in similar behavior. Just last year an appellate court upheld that decision. 

But in late 2022 Barney was hired as a P.E. teacher by Sweetwater Union High School District. That’s partly because his new employer didn’t contact his previous employer. But also because after the state commission that oversees teacher credentialing found probable cause to revoke his credentials in 2019, the state Attorney General’s Office chose not to prosecute his case. 

That decision left Barney’s credentials in place, which left him free to find another teaching job. Now, he’s been suspended again and yet another investigation has been launched.

Read the entire story here.

More Vendor Rules on the Horizon

Street vendors along the Embarcadero will need a permit to operate beginning in May.

The Port of San Diego adopted new rules to control the number of vendors in the area and limit places where they are allowed to set up. NBC 7 reports that the new rules establish a lottery system that vendors must enter to take one of the 36 spaces reserved for selling merchandise or food.

Similar to complaints raised in the city of San Diego about vendors in public spaces, visitors at the Embarcadero have taken issue with the vendors creating crowds, noise and more.

County: No New Hep A Cases For Now

County health officials aren’t reporting new hepatitis A cases a week after revealing a small spike in the virus.

After further testing, county spokesman Tim McClain said the county has tallied four hepatitis A cases so far this year, down from the five it initially reported last week. Three of the four cases were among unhoused residents, including one who passed away. The county typically sees two to three cases a month.

The county flagged the spike in the wake of a 2017-2018 hepatitis A outbreak that sickened nearly 600 people and left 20 dead, including more than a dozen who were homeless.

Given past experience, officials say they are being proactive and coordinating in ways they initially didn’t in 2017.

You can read the entire story here.

In Other News

The Morning Report was written by Jakob McWhinney, Lisa Halverstadt and Will Huntsberry. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafana.

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