San Diego news and info you need to start your day. Weekdays
End of a Nat City Era
National City Mayor Ron Morrison drives around town in a black Ford Mustang with a license plate reading, “NATCITY.” For 34 years, he has defined politics in his scrappy, diverse, working-class hometown. His surprise retirement announcement last weekend marks the end of an era in an urban linchpin of San Diego’s industrial economy. But Morrison…
Email Purges Complicate Contractor Criminal Case
The county has a policy of automatically purging most emails after two years – and that could affect a criminal case involving a former county contractor. Refresher: Our Lisa Halverstadt has reported extensively on county actions tied to what ultimately became a criminal case against the former COO of Harm Reduction Coalition of San Diego.…
Substitutes Are Staffing a Lot of Special Ed Classes
At some San Diego Unified Schools, students with disabilities spend more than half of the school year being taught by a revolving door of substitute teachers. District officials say there’s a severe shortage of special education teachers nationwide. Nonetheless, parents of these children feel like the district failed them. The numbers: Our Jakob McWhinney reviewed…
National City Mayor Is Retiring
National City Mayor Ron Morrison on Friday said he would not seek re-election in November, ending a 34-year career in city politics. He held a press event Saturday morning. His departure from the mayor’s office marks the end of an era in National City, where Morrison has been a political fixture for more than three…
It’s Not Easy to Give the County Money
A company that worked with an ex-county contractor now embroiled in a criminal embezzlement case really, really wanted to give the county $170,000. Since May, vending machine company SMRT1 Health Solutions has been trying to hand the county funds that the Harm Reduction Coalition prepaid that it didn’t ultimately earn once the county cancelled the…
Del Mar Wants AG Investigated
The Del Mar City Council on Monday held a hastily scheduled meeting in the middle of the afternoon that lasted 10 minutes and included one agenda item. That item was the Council voting 3-0 to request a formal investigation by county and federal prosecutors into state Attorney General Rob Bonta and a member of the…
Unsafe Traffic? No Problem for Lobbyists Pushing Gas Station
When local gas station mogul Joseph Brikho and his family purchased a 1950s-era service station in East Village, he had big plans. He wanted to double the size of the convenience store and even add a drive-through lane for drinks and snacks. But over the next six years, he ran into rejection after rejection from…
Mount Hope Residents Fight for City’s Attention
Residents of Mount Hope, a neighborhood in southeastern San Diego, are used to being overlooked by the city. They know the good and bad of the neighborhood. It is a place of family and community, but also a place with a history of crime and drugs. And today, it has some of the highest concentrations…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.