SeaWorld’s nightly fireworks shows over Mission Bay have faced criticism in the past, but this time, the call to limit them is coming from San Diego City Council President Joe LaCava.
Some background: SeaWorld San Diego hosts nightly fireworks shows during the summer months and during major holidays. That’s roughly 150 nights a year of fireworks shows.
Environmentalists have tried for decades to get the park to reduce its use of fireworks or eliminate them in favor of drone or laser shows, but those calls were reignited after the area saw a spike in bird deaths following consecutive days of firework shows during the Fourth of July.
Since then, two prominent environmental groups have threatened to sue SeaWorld, but it doesn’t look like SeaWorld is going to budge.
LaCava told our MacKenzie Elmer that he hopes to figure out a way for the city to limit SeaWorld’s fireworks shows using its lease agreement with SeaWorld.
Border Report: About San Diego’s New Sanctuary Policy
Last month, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution that took its “sanctuary” status to the next level, and the new rules are ruffling some feathers.
The state of California already has law in place that forbids local police from taking certain actions to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
But on Dec. 10, the board adopted a policy that goes one step further: It prohibits local law enforcement from doing anything that would help immigration officers arrest people for potential deportation, regardless of serious crimes like murder, rape, drug trafficking, etc.
State law allows certain information to be shared with ICE, specifically when it’s related to serious crimes.
Now, Sheriff Kelly Martinez is refusing to comply with the county’s new policy, opting instead to keep following the state’s regulations.
New, Ominous Chapter in Padres Story Begins
Just about everything that could go right for the Padres has been going right. The franchise hit a single season attendance record last year. It completed a major makeover of stage area and park behind Petco Park. It’s brought in record revenue from its non-baseball events.
The team is competitive, entertaining and regularly in the mix to land big stars. All that was missing was a championship — one that was the dream of late Padres Chairman Peter Seidler, who had the controlling share of the ownership group.
Strife has come: Seidler’s death has led to a dispute between his widow Sheel Seidler and his brothers Matthew and Robert Seidler. Sheel Seidler has now filed a lawsuit seeking control of the team. She accuses the brothers of fraud and breaking their fiduciary duties to the trust Peter Seidler left behind.
The Padres had recently announced that another brother, John Seidler, was going to take over the controlling stake of the franchise. Major League Baseball still needs to approve the decision.
Sheel Seidler wants to prevent it from happening. You can read her lawsuit here.
“Peter made clear that the Seidler Trusts, and their assets, were to exist for Sheel’s sole benefit during her lifetime. Yet time after time, Defendants have treated those assets as their own, to the detriment of the Trust and Mrs. Seidler,” the lawsuit claims.
The counter: The brothers released an statement through a spokesperson.
“Peter had a clear estate plan. The plan specifically named three of his nine siblings, with whom he had worked closely for many decades, as successor trustees of his trust and Peter himself prohibited Sheel from ever serving as trustee. The trustee is exclusively responsible for designating the San Diego Padres’ next Control Person,” it read.
In Other News
- San Diego County Supervisors will decide on Jan. 14 how to fill the seat left vacant by Nora Vargas, the former District 1 supervisor and board chair who abruptly resigned last month. (Union-Tribune) The board is scheduled to select a new chair on Tuesday. (KPBS)
- SDG&E has notified almost 65,000 customers that it might temporarily turn off their power to reduce the risk of wildfires during the upcoming Santa Ana windstorm. (Union-Tribune)
- Seven of California’s Native American tribes filed a lawsuit last week against dozens of small non-tribally owned casinos in an effort to stop these private casinos from offering “banked” games such as blackjack. The tribes say they have exclusive rights to such games. (Axios San Diego)
- The head of San Diego’s Roman Catholic Diocese has been tapped by Pope Francis to lead the Metropolitan Archdiocese in Washington D.C. (Union-Tribune)
- A former detective is suing the San Diego Police Department for allegedly covering up domestic violence by her then-husband, Sergeant Mitchell Ford. She also alleges that the SDPD retaliated against her for reporting the abuse. (KPBS)
The Morning Report was written by Tigist Layne and Scott Lewis. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña and Scott Lewis.