On Friday, our Jakob McWhinney revealed that a creep ex-cop, convicted of assaulting women, was working as a chaplain for an organization that ministers to cops in crisis.
The outrage swiftly followed.
State Sen. Catherine Blakespear told us the news of Ricky Fisher’s new job “literally made my blood boil.” She said she “could not even conceive of the judgment that went into the decision” to hire him.
The piece kicked off a flurry of activity. Blakespear called Sheriff Kelly Martinez, DA Summer Stephan and other local legislators. They all wanted Fisher out, Blakespear said.
Ultimately, Martinez seems to have dealt the final blow. She called the Christian Law Enforcement Fellowship to let them know it was “disgraceful” to have hired Fisher. The organization’s president apologized; Fisher left.
“For him to be associated with law enforcement in a chaplaincy role was very offensive to me,” Martinez said. “I’m grateful that they did remove him from the organization… I don’t think they really understood or recognized the harm that an action like this would make.”
Read the full story here, which includes new information and quotes.
The Learning Curve: Mold Issues at School for Homeless Kids Not New, Source Says
Earlier this week, Voice broke the news that officials vacated a school for homeless kids in response to concerns about mold.
Now an anonymous tipster has told NBC San Diego signs of mold were apparent at the school at least a year ago.
“Classrooms have smelled bad and had excessive moisture, dehumidifiers filled up quickly, papers left in rooms became soaked and air-conditioning units leaked,” NBC says the source told them. “The source also said people frequently became sick and that air quality testing last year found aspergillus, a form of mold, in one of the offices.”
Neither officials at the County Office of Education, which runs the school, nor the nonprofit that owns the building and leases it to the county would comment on details about the mold concern.
Read the Learning Curve newsletter here.
National City Takes First Step Toward Ending Budget Crisis
The National City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a plan to begin digging the city out of a budget crisis that could render the city insolvent in as little as four years.
The plan calls for freezing new hires, redeveloping parts of the city’s bayfront, attracting more tax-generating businesses, raising business taxes and rebuilding the city’s rapidly dwindling emergency reserve funds.
Councilmembers also voted to hire a consultant who pledged to use AI to comb through city finances in search of savings and revenue opportunities.
The plan’s most controversial element, undoubtedly, will be a call to renegotiate city employee contracts and slow the pace of future cost-of-living raises.
Councilmembers approved a series of large pay raises in the past few years. Those raises were a major reason the city started spending unsustainably.
On Tuesday, councilmembers committed themselves to fiscal restraint and sounded a note of contrition.
Councilmember Marcus Bush, who is running for mayor, said councilmembers bore the blame for approving the raises without identifying how to pay for them.
“That’s on us,” he said.
Scam Loverboy in Football Helmet Knows What Sells Online: San Diego
Don’t hate the player.
Federal prosecutors last month charged a scam artist with allegedly bilking more than two dozen women out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in a scheme involving disguises, sham romances and fake investments, the Union-Tribune reports.
The key to it all? The glitzy beauty of sunny San Diego.
Daejon Labrayae Love, 35, wooed unsuspecting women by posing online as a wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers, prosecutors say. He told victims he was fabulously wealthy, owning a stable of luxury cars and high-end real estate.
As proof of all this, Love allegedly filmed a series of videos on the beaches of San Diego.
The videos are unintentionally hilarious. One supposedly shows Love running shirtless on Mission Beach wearing a 49ers helmet and catching passes.
Love allegedly told his victims he owns houses in Coronado, Point Loma and El Cajon.
“San Diego is beautiful, really, really nice,” he allegedly says. The El Cajon thing should have been a tip-off, tbh.
As you might imagine, the Fake 49er Lover is now a meme.
He even fooled AI, which reports in internet searches that Love “is a bona fide 49ers player.”
In Other News
- Get ready for big waves, sticky weather and possible rain this holiday weekend as outlying effects from a hurricane off the coast of Mexico arrive in San Diego. (Union-Tribune)
- Police fanned out in downtown’s Gaslamp Quarter over the weekend to prevent a repeat of a massive brawl that erupted the previous weekend near the intersection of 5th Avenue and F Street. In a nod to the district’s party-hard reputation, police called the deployment “Operation Last Call.” (Times of San Diego)
- Sailors onboard the beleaguered San Diego-based aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln stepped ashore for the first time in nine months Wednesday when the carrier docked at a port in Thailand. The carrier, which has been helping fight the war in Iran, has been at sea 10 months. There are reports of food shortages, equipment breakdowns and worsening morale. (Union-Tribune)
- Candidates for National City Council discussed everything from rising rent and ADU’s to a new minimum wage last week. (inewsource)
- An Imperial County Superior Court judge this week issued a tentative ruling that could halt construction of a controversial data center project pending a comprehensive environmental review. The project has drawn fierce pushback from local residents. (KPBS)
- San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez on Tuesday touted a series of jail reforms she said have modernized employee practices and reduced deaths in county jails. Six people died in county jails so far this year, compared with 22 in 2022, the year before Martinez became sheriff. (Union-Tribune)
The Morning Report was written by Jim Hinch and Will Huntsberry. It was edited by Will Huntsberry.