San Diego News Fix

Facebook removed, then republished, then again removed the 22,000-member Defend East County group from its social media site Saturday.The group’s founder and administrator Justin Haskins announced in a post to a separate Facebook group Saturday morning that the group was gone. However, by 7 p.m. the group was back. By 8:00 p.m., the group again disappeared from the site and remains so as of Monday morning. Neither Facebook nor Haskins responded to requests for comment Saturday.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/east-county/story/2020-10-31/controversial-group-defend-east-county-removed-by-facebook

San Diego Union-Tribune archivist Merrie Monteagudo discusses several local ghost stories. Episode from 2019.

In the final episode of our election series, hear the latest on early voting and how the U-T plans on covering the election.https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/2020-election-dashboard-san-diego

State and local public health authorities have been very clear that trick-or-treating is strongly discouraged this year due to the ongoing threat of the coronavirus pandemic.Parents who are asking whether the candy will be safe if they let their kids go trick-or-treating this year, then, are asking the wrong question. The proper focus, Knight and Rohwer say, is the face, not the candy bowl.https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/story/2020-10-30/people-not-candy-seen-as-the-biggest-risk-for-trick-or-treaters-this-year

La Jolla residents are calling for the removal of two La Jolla Parks & Beaches Association board members following comments they made about social justice-themed chalk drawings during a September meeting.The drawings were created during “Chalk Up” events on the Fay Avenue Bike Path this summer. The events, which started in July, were organized by a group of parents who said they wanted to their children to have an outlet to express themselves about the Black Lives Matter social justice movement through art.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/story/2020-10-28/black-lives-matter-chalk-art-sparks-controversy-within-la-jolla-parks-board-members-vow-to-work-for-inclusivity

North County Transit District plans to install fences along miles of railroad track in three coastal cities by the end of this year, an idea many residents, especially in Del Mar, have fought for years.The transit district, in a report released this month, said the 6-foot-tall, chain-link fence will be placed in the areas where people most frequently trespass on the track right-of-way, resulting in death or injury, damage to the railroad system and delays in service.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/north-county/story/2020-10-18/residents-fight-plan-to-fence-coastal-railroad-tracks

They are perhaps the most distinctive features of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station — the pair of containment domes from Units 2 and 3, rising nearly 200 feet above the ground on the northern edge of San Diego County that every motorist sees on the drive along Interstate 5.But in about six years, the twin domes will be gone — obliterated — provided the schedule holds true for dismantling the now-shuttered plant, known as SONGS

That urgent desire for a sense of safety and a return to normalcy has fueled an unprecedented search for a vaccine against the worst pandemic humanity has faced in a century.CEOs of Pfizer and Moderna, two of the vaccine developers furthest along in that search, have said they could request emergency-use authorization for their COVID-19 vaccines by late November and December, respectively, depending on results from trials that have enrolled tens of thousands of volunteers (including San Diegans).On Wednesday, Health and Human Services secretary Alex Azar said there could be enough doses of a COVID-19 vaccine for those most vulnerable to the disease by the end of 2020, with enough vaccine for all Americans by early April.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/story/2020-10-25/were-getting-closer-to-having-a-covid-19-vaccine-hold-onto-that-maskAlso: https://go.sandiegouniontribune.com/trials-of-the-century/p/1

On the latest special election episode, Daniel Wheaton and Micheal Smolens discuss key races in the city of San Diego: mayor, city council, Measures B and E. Visit our election dashboard: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/2020-election-dashboard-san-diego

Nearly 10,000 students returned to class in person this week at Vista Unified School District as campuses reopened after more than a half-year of remote learning. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/north-county/vista/story/2020-10-22/with-face-masks-and-hepa-filters-vista-students-return-to-school

Tensions build as theme parks, from Disneyland to Legoland, push to reopen after being closed seven months because of the coronavirus pandemicRead more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2020-10-21/california-theme-parks-push-back-against-new-state-guidelines-suggesting-that-legal-action-is-possible

Frustrated with the state of COVID-19 restrictions in California, parents have taken to bringing their children to sporting tournaments in Arizona That state has a more lax approach to such gatherings. Citing comparatively low transmission rates among athletes and at outdoor gatherings, many San Diego parents have decided to let their children play.California is also losing much-needed revenue from letting these games slip out of state, something that league leaders hope will make the state reconsider the rules. Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/story/2020-10-19/youth-sports-economic-impact-california-shutdowns-coronavirus-arizona-baseball-soccer-surf-cup

The freeway-adjacent, mostly industrial town is what supporters of a November initiative, Measure E, view as a classic fixer-upper, meaning with ample investment it could be transformed into a community where people want to live and recreate. Yet the area’s proximity to the water is a quality that makes it attractive to would-be investors while simultaneously inhibiting their interest. That’s because the Midway District, either accidentally or intentionally depending on who you ask, finds itself in San Diego’s coastal zone, subject to a 30-foot building height limit.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer began meeting with the former owners of the high rise at 101 Ash Street in 2014, a full year before Sempra Energy vacated the property, according to a new cache of emails released by the city under the California Public Records Act.The communications also show the building’s previous owners, Sandor Shapery and Douglas Manchester, enjoyed access to the mayor and his senior aides, allowing them to market their building to city officials.“Does the shortened 25-year lease option improve the look of the proposal?” Shapery representative Richard Ledford wrote to Faulconer’s then chief of staff, Stephen Puetz, in July 2014. “May we set that second meeting with the mayor on this issue?”Taken together, the 80-plus pages of emails show more clearly how the city came to enter what is now considered one of the worst land deals in the history of San Diego governance.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/watchdog/story/2020-10-19/newly-released-emails-show-faulconer-top-aides-overruled-city-real-estate-director-on-ash-street-property

On this special election episode of San Diego News Fix, we break down key Congressional races, the County Board of Supervisors and a housing measure in Santee.Visit our elections dashboard: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/2020-election-dashboard-san-diego

ImmunityBio, an El Segundo-based biotech firm headed by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, said Thursday it had received approval from the Food and Drug Administration to begin preliminary testing of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate.https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/california/story/2020-10-15/soon-shiong-phase-1-trial-coronavirus-vaccine

Starting this school year San Diego Unified will eliminate non-academic factors, such as student behavior, from academic grades, following a unanimous vote by the school board Tuesday to overhaul the district’s grading practices.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/education/story/2020-10-15/san-diego-unified-changes-grading-protocols-to-be-more-equitable

California’s 50th District Congressional Candidates, Darrell Issa and Ammar Campa-Najjar, stirred controversy after virtual Q&A sessions with the local Defend East County Facebook group.Their appearances Friday on the group’s Facebook Live sessions have drawn criticism from some activists and experts who study extremism.Appearing alongside the East County group’s founder, Justin Haskins, Issa seemed to promote citizen groups taking up arms to “defend their communities,” days after a thwarted plot by self-styled militia members to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and weeks after a counterprotester in Kenosha, Wis., shot and killed two people and wounded a third.Read the story: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2020-10-13/50th-candidates-appear-with-group-that-trafficked-in-racism-and-conspiracies-issa-promotes-taking-up-arms

Watching, yes. Interfering, no.President Donald Trump’s repeated calls to his supporters to monitor election polling places for fraud have raised questions about what is allowed, and what isn’t, as San Diego County residents begin casting their ballots for the Nov. 3 election.Observers, as they are known in California, have long been part of elections here. Usually they are campaign insiders or political-party volunteers, and they rarely draw public attention as they quietly watch what goes on in polling places or at the Registrar of Voters, where ballots are processed and tabulated.

For Central American migrants fleeing gang violence, winning protection in the United States can be particularly difficultRead the story: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/immigration/story/2020-10-11/us-asylum-system-gang-violence-hondurasThe rest of the series: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/returnedPrevious episodes: Returned Part II: Who gets asylum? | Kate Morrissey https://art19.com/admin/series/eda62611-1093-4bef-a541-36a48c7289b5/content/episodes/e9541525-b629-4b2a-9d4f-05c5276907a8Returned Part 1: What it takes to make a case under the US asylum system https://art19.com/admin/series/eda62611-1093-4bef-a541-36a48c7289b5/content/episodes/a2fb8dc5-8590-4c6c-89c0-2fd0f6fe9a67

In preparation for the election, The San Diego Union-Tribune's editorial board is publishing a series of endorsements on many local races. On this special election episode of San Diego News Fix, you'll hear from two members of the board: Matt Hall and Laura Castadñeda about how the process works and how the opinion team highlights community voices.Key links:Election dashboard: sandiegouniontribune.com/electiondashboard2020 Endorsements: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2020endorsementsCandidate interviews: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/san-diego-election-2020-candidate-interviewsCommentary on propositions and measures: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/2020-election-commentary-on-propositions-and-measures

San Diego City Council President and Congressional candidate Georgette Gómez reported no salary on her federal tax filing in 2017 despite earning more than $90,000 from her job on the council. Gómez, who is facing fellow Democrat Sara Jacobs in the November runoff for the 53rd District congressional seat, through a spokeswoman blamed the errors on her tax preparer and pledged to amend at least one of her returns. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/watchdog/story/2020-10-08/city-council-president-georgette-gomez-failed-to-report-more-than-100-000-in-income-on-taxes-records-show

A report from three key state groups analyzing what caused a pair of blackouts in mid-August largely conformed to reasons previously cited by California’s grid operator — that a combination of factors, including a sweltering heatwave, pushed the state’s power system to its edge, leading to the first statewide outages in nearly 20 years.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2020-10-07/report-a-combination-of-factors-led-to-californias-rolling-blackouts-in-august

Assemblyman Todd Gloria and Councilwoman Barbara Bry are in a virtual dead heat among likely voters in the runoff for San Diego mayor, according to a San Diego Union-Tribune/10News SurveyUSA poll released Tuesday.Gloria leads Bry 39 percent to 38 percent, which is within the poll’s 5.3 percent margin of error. That leaves nearly a quarter of likely voters still undecided, with mail voting already underway and Election Day on Nov. 3.More on the poll: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2020-10-06/new-poll-shows-bry-gloria-in-near-dead-heat-as-race-for-san-diego-mayor-enters-final-stretchDavid's Mayoral race preview: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2020-10-04/battle-for-san-diego-mayor-focused-on-housing-vacation-rentals-future-of-sports-arena-areaPhoto Essay, The Lost Campaign: https://go.sandiegouniontribune.com/the-lost-campaign/p/1

Starting with Tuesday’s test, an additional score is now being published. This new number, dubbed a “health equity metric,” calculates a test positivity rate for the most disadvantaged quartile of census tracts in each county. The positivity rate for this subset of a county’s overall population must also meet the positivity rate requirements for a less-restrictive tier before a county will be allowed to move up.The state’s health equity score for San Diego County in Tuesday’s report is 6.2 percent, a full 2.7 percentage points greater than the region’s overall positivity rate of 3.5 percent. To qualify for the orange tier, counties must have their positivity rates below 5 percent for two consecutive weeks.

The city of San Diego has terminated its contract with the service provider running its Housing Navigation Center downtown.City officials said they will take it over next month and rename it and they will base its homeless services on programs they said have been successful in the temporary shelter in the San Diego Convention Center.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/homelessness/story/2020-10-01/city-to-take-over-navigation-center-ousted-service-provider-says-system-was-unworkable

If you're a registered voter in San Diego County, you'll be seeing a ballot in your mailbox this week. On the first special election episode of San Diego News Fix, Daniel Wheaton speaks with politics reporter Charles Clark about how this election will be different — and what to expect.

President Donald Trump said late Thursday night that he and his wife, Melania, have tested positive for COVID-19 and that they have gone into quarantine. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/science/story/2020-10-01/trump-tests-positive

More than five weeks after the first schools in San Diego County were allowed to reopen, most of San Diego County’s school districts have either reopened or have opening dates set for October.Many are reopening first by bringing back the youngest students or by offering hybrid learning, where students attend for part of the week or day and continue with distance learning part time.Grossmont Union High is phasing in reopening by first having students attend in-person one day a week. Santee and Poway are having students attend for half a school day. Still others are like Alpine Union, which has students attend in-person a couple of days a week.When looking at timelines for districts reopening, it’s clear that district size matters. Most of the districts that have reopened are small.

A San Diego police officer has been suspended without pay amid allegations that he posted a photo on social media that appeared to make light of a makeshift memorial for a man the officer and a partner fatally shot in late June, police Chief David Nisleit announced Tuesday.The chief also said Officer Jonathon Lucas, who has been on the force for about four years, was stripped of his police powers — forced to give up his gun and badge — while the Police Department investigates the matter.

This summer, it seemed the planets might be aligning to repeal California’s 24-year-old ban on affirmative action.Widespread street protests over the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis had fueled a national reckoning with racism, discrimination and other social-justice problems. Poll after poll of public opinion showed rising acknowledgement of racial inequality and the need to address it.The novel coronavirus was having a disproportionate impact on people of color.And California was in a sustained demographic and political shift — more diverse, less conservative — away from what it was in 1996, when voters approved Proposition 209, a constitutional amendment outlawing racial or gender preferences in public employment, education and contracts.

Hoping to make a splash in downtown’s real estate market, a celebrated biotech office developer has purchased more than 8 acres of waterfront land to create a life science city along San Diego’s Bay.Friday, the newly formed IQHQ real estate investment group, started by storied life science builder Alan Gold, completed its acquisition of around two-thirds — or five city blocks — of the development site known as Manchester Pacific Gateway. The transaction paves the way for what IQHQ is calling the San Diego Research and Development District, or RaDD, as a massive lab-filled campus where ground-floor retail and unrivaled bay views work to recruit the biggest names in the pharmaceutical industry.

Logic dictates construction during a global pandemic would halt. But, the economic effects of COVID-19 are anything but logical. The transformation of downtown San Diego’s skyline has continued at a furious pace throughout the crisis, so much so that a visit to some parts can feel like you accidentally walked into a massive construction zone. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/real-estate/story/2020-09-25/downtown-san-diego-construction-continues-at-furious-pace-will-it-last

Several hundred people marched through downtown San Diego Wednesday night to protest a Kentucky grand jury’s decision not to indict any Louisville police officers for the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor.Led by a “wall of moms” in matching yellow T-shirts, demonstrators marched down Broadway chanting Taylor’s name along with other social-justice slogans.

The San Diego Padres have won the opportunity to turn four city blocks, currently used as a Petco Park parking lot, into an urban square where technology workers commingle with artisans and baseball fans.Wednesday, city officials announced that the Padres and its development partners, Tishman Speyer and Ascendant Capital Partners, were picked over challenger Brookfield Properties to redevelop the 5.25-acre plot of land known as Tailgate Park.The selection brings to an end a competitive bidding process that started in December and paves the way for the city to offload the long-held asset as is required by the state.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/growth-development/story/2020-09-23/in-bid-for-tailgate-park-padres-beat-brookfield-with-1-4b-office-focused-proposal

The COVID-19 pandemic has largely been a story of numbers.Daily reports tell us the number of new cases, the number of hospitalizations, the number of outbreaks and the number of deaths.The numbers are a dispassionate, point-in-time measure necessary to track the footprint of the deadly coronavirus as it continues its advance into homes, businesses, churches, even hospitals.But they can’t quantify the sense of loss that has pervaded life since the pandemic began six months ago — the loss of intimacy, tradition, confidence, and economic well-being.

San Diego State University is reeling from a calamitous outbreak of COVID-19. Is the same thing about to happen at UC San Diego?The answer will begin to emerge this weekend as 7,500 undergraduates start to move into meticulously cleaned dorms on the sprawling La Jolla campus for the start of the fall quarter.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/education/can-usd-ucsd-succeed-where-sdsu-failed-to-fight-covid-19

Generation Z is transforming America's culture and identity. And its members are just getting started. "Hello Gen Z" is a podcast from The San Diego Union-Tribune with the goal of hearing directly from them. https://go.sandiegouniontribune.com/hellogenz/p/1

The COVID-19 pandemic will cost San Diego about $300 million in tax revenue by next summer, including $48 million in hotel tax losses. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2020-09-16/san-diego-estimates-300m-tax-revenue-loss-during-covid-19-pandemic

A former sheriff’s captain charged with selling “off roster” guns available only to law enforcement admitted to long-standing corruption in a plea agreement Tuesday. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/courts/story/2020-09-15/former-sheriffs-captain-pleads-guilty-to-illegal-off-roster-gun-sales

A smell of death drapes over the unfinished two-story house on Calle Loma Alta on Tijuana’s eastern side. Neighbors report sometimes hearing screams coming from the abandoned property.Inside, the floor is littered with empty Coca-Cola bottles and dozens of children’s toys and grade school notebooks. Clothes are piled everywhere. Partially burnt mattresses cover the door frames to several rooms.In one, wooden planks are nailed to the floor with heavy chains piled on top. Stacks of different size stones are nearby with chains also attached to the rocks. A boulder, twice the size of a basketball, is marked with chiseled incisions.Spray-painted in red in the corner are the words “Te Amo.” I love you. Two Virgin de Guadalupe plaques are propped against the wall above the television set, illuminated by a working light bulb.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/border-baja-california/story/2020-09-13/parents-dig-for-hours-but-are-unable-to-find-the-buried-remains-missing-teenager

North County school districts are moving toward reopening campuses, with phased plans for in-person instruction that focus on the youngest and most vulnerable students first.Vista, Poway and Oceanside have announced plans for opening campuses to small groups of students this month, including special education students, English learners, and others who need additional help or receive specialized instruction.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/north-county/story/2020-09-13/north-county-schools-to-start-phased-reopening

Union-Tribune reporter Gary Robbins talks about COVID-19 at SDSU and whether the more than 500 cases there will put us back to Tier 1. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/story/2020-09-10/covid-cases-increase-at-sdsu-countywide

San Diego’s controversial Smart Streetlight cameras will be shut off, drawing applause from social justice activists, but removing police access to a tool they say helps solve violent crimes.Mayor Kevin Faulconer on Wednesday ordered that the more than 3,000 cameras installed on streetlights throughout San Diego be turned off until the city crafts an ordinance to govern surveillance technology.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2020-09-09/mayor-orders-san-diegos-smart-streetlights-turned-off-until-surveillance-ordinance-in-place

With Election Day two months away, a poll released Tuesday shows the race for the 50th Congressional District is anyone’s game, with Republican Darrell Issa and Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar in a statistical tie in the traditionally Republican stronghold.A San Diego Union-Tribune/10 News poll of 508 likely voters conducted by SurveyUSA shows Issa, a former congressman, leading with 46 percent, slightly ahead of business owner and San Diego State University lecturer Campa-Najjar, who polled at 45 percent.“The contest between Republican Darrell Issa and Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar is anyone’s guess, with way too many variables in play to begin to handicap the winner,” SurveyUSA pollsters wrote.About 9 percent of voters said they remain undecided in the poll conducted Friday through Monday. It has a margin of error of 5.4 percentage points.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2020-09-08/50th-district-contest-is-anyones-guess-with-issa-and-campa-najjar-in-a-statistical-dead-heat-per-new-poll

While skies were overcast and temperature cooler in East County Tuesday morning, officials warned that a wildfire that has scorched more than 17,000 acres and destroyed nearly a dozen homes and 25 other structures is not letting up and is expected to flare up again tonight.“I want to be very clear in my message,” said Cal Fire San Diego Chief Tony Mecham at a news conference at Viejas Casino and Resort. “We have a sleeping giant in the backcountry.”The National Weather Service has issued a red flag fire weather warning for most of San Diego County through 8 p.m. Wednesday.Santa Ana winds blowing up to 50 miles an hour were expected to hit around 8 p.m. — pushing the fire from east to the west — and Mecham and other officials warned residents to be prepared.

With an intense heat wave bearing down across California throughout the Labor Day weekend, the state’s grid operator has issued a Flex Alert calling on electricity consumers to voluntarily conserve energy so that the demand for power does not outstrip supply.The Flex Alert will be in place statewide from Saturday through Monday from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. each day.https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/energy-green/story/2020-09-03/californias-grid-operator-orders-a-flex-alert-ahead-of-labor-day-heat-wave

The executive director of the San Diego Association of Governments, the county’s leading transportation and planning agency, approved hundreds of thousands of dollars in severance payments to former employees without telling the board of directors, a new audit has found.Hasan Ikhrata, who took over as SANDAG’s top executive in December 2018, also allowed an employee to redeem unused sick time for more than $110,000, even though the unidentified worker was not entitled to the money, auditors said.And another payment — made while the compensation and compliance audit was under way — authorized a $60,000 severance to a senior official after the official voluntarily resigned.“The material findings disclosed within the report were a result of significant weaknesses in SANDAG’s governance and system of internal controls,” independent performance auditor Mary Khoshmashrab wrote to board chairman and Poway Mayor Steve Vaus last week.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/watchdog/story/2020-09-02/internal-audit-finds-sandag-leadership-exceeded-authority-approved-improper-payments

Councilwoman Barbara Bry and Assemblyman Todd Gloria have nearly even support among likely voters in their runoff to become San Diego’s next mayor, according to a San Diego Union-Tribune/10News SurveyUSA poll released Tuesday.Bry, who finished 66,000 votes behind fellow Democrat Gloria in the March primary, leads Gloria 37 percent to 34 percent. But her lead is within the poll’s 5.3 percent margin of error, and 29 percent are undecided.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2020-09-01/new-polls-shows-bry-with-slim-lead-over-gloria-in-san-diego

Despite cries from some to go faster and others to go slower, Dr. Wilma Wooten largely stuck with the state’s new rules announced Friday allowing a wide range of businesses to resume varying levels of indoor activity.There were a few new public health orders announced Monday, including one that all businesses now reopening keep logs with names and phone numbers of everyone they serve to make it easier to track people down quickly if a COVID-19 outbreak is detected.Overall, Wooten’s take on the now-underway move back indoors seemed to be: Now it’s up to you.Continuing to meet the state’s requirements for fewer and fewer local cases, she said, will come down to whether the community can collectively hew to long-standing facial covering, hand-washing and distancing requirements even as they begin to move more freely.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/story/2020-08-31/indoor-businesses-reopen-across-the-county-but-some-say-new-rules-too-restrictive