San Diego News Fix

Death at the hands of law enforcement has come under renewed scrutiny in the weeks since a Minneapolis police officer spent eights minutes, 46 seconds with his knee pressed down on George Floyd’s neck as Floyd lay on the ground. The officer was White, Floyd was Black. Since late May, people have taken to the streets across the country to protest police bias and racial injustice, and to demand reforms.The demonstrations shine a spotlight on long-running tensions between law enforcement and communities of color, even in San Diego County, where residents say they are over-policed.Police say race is not a factor in the split-second decisions to use force, but rather they consider the totality of circumstances.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2020-06-21/in-20-years-217-people-have-died-in-encounters-with-san-diego-area-law-enforcement

School districts are getting ready to reopen this fall, and many plan to let parents choose what kind of schooling they want for their kids — normal in-person school, online learning, or a blended model that combines both.A county health order issued Monday allows schools in San Diego County to hold classes on campus as long as they comply with state reopening guidelines and post detailed reopening plans.Several San Diego County school districts anticipate some version of blended learning, with part of their instruction taking place on campus in smaller than usual classes and the rest occurring at home online.Some districts say they may also offer a parallel track consisting exclusively of online instruction for students who need stricter health protections or whose parents prefer a more cautious approach.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/education/story/2020-06-16/san-diego-schools-move-forward-with-reopening-schoolsRelated: County officials to schools: Prepare for students to wear masks

In a striking rebuke to President Trump, the Supreme Court on Thursday rejected his plan to repeal the popular Obama-era order that protected so-called Dreamers, the nearly 800,000 young immigrants who were brought to this country illegally as children.Led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., the court called the decision to cancel the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, arbitrary and not justified. The program allows these young people to register with the government, and if they have clean records, to obtain a work permit. At least 27,000 of these DACA recipients are employed as healthcare workers.Trump had been confident that high court with its majority of Republican appointees would rule in his favor and say the chief executive had the power to “unwind” the policy.

In San Diego, police agencies for years had insisted that the restraint was necessary.But within 48 hours of San Diego’s decision, every department in the county announced it, too, was banning use of the hold. Sheriff Bill Gore, whose department employed Ward, initially said the department would continue to use it. But the next day he reversed course and said while he still believed the hold is safe he would follow suit.Read the story: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2020-06-16/banning-carotid-restraint-motivated-by-politics-more-than-policy-reformers-say

Life inside San Diego’s largest homeless shelter can be tranquil, relaxing and friendly.And it could be a place where women are frightened by men who leer at them. Where possessions often go missing. Where sleep is disturbed every night by the sound of someone screaming.Perhaps it’s no surprise that 1,300 people living at the city’s largest homeless shelter — in the San Diego Convention Center — are not going to have a shared experience.Depending on who you ask, the bathrooms are either horrible or the best part of the shelter. The effort to find people permanent housing is either running smoothly or at a snail’s pace. The days can be tedious or can be pleasant and peaceful.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/homelessness/story/2020-06-13/1-300-under-one-roof-at-convention-center-shelter

Will life in the neighborhood around Euclid and University avenues quickly return to normal? Or will it take weeks, or months?Read the story: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/story/2020-06-14/reopening-san-diego-coronavirus-diary

After almost three long and lonely months, San Diego County residents are legally cleared to meet their friends for a drink, take a date to a museum or the zoo, visit a campground with the family and hit the gym to work off those quarantine pounds.Today marks the biggest reopening since county health officials began shutting down businesses and events in mid-March to curb the spread of the coronavirus, and it marks a return to some of the most-missed social connections and activities.But the slow return to normalcy does not mean things are quite normal. Many institutions will not be ready to open today. When they do, expect to make a reservation for the gym or a museum, don’t expect to see any animal acts at the zoo, and you might have your temperature checked when you enter many places, including some that are going to seem rather empty because of new capacity restrictions.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/story/2020-06-12/the-worlds-reopening-heres-what-to-expect

Mayor Kevin Faulconer announced Wednesday that San Diego Police Department officials are developing a new de-escalation policy, which a department spokesman said should be implemented by next week.The Police Department currently trains its officers in de-escalation techniques and has language addressing the approach — emphasizing that officers do all they can to avoid a physical confrontation — in its use-of-force procedure. But the new standalone policy “will be more robust,” Faulconer said during a Wednesday afternoon news conference.Faulconer said the new policy will give “officers clear rules of the road on how to safely control a situation, and resolve it, with lower levels of force.”

La Mesa police on Tuesday released a step-by-step account of what happened when a peaceful protest against racial injustice and police brutality more than a week ago turned into riots marked by fires, vandalism and looting.The timeline was pieced together from entries La Mesa police dispatchers made in a computer system as the May 30 protest unfolded in the heart of the city. It paints a picture of a large demonstration that gradually turned violent, at first within pockets of protest crowds, then more widespread as night fell.The information is the clearest, albeit incomplete, account to date from La Mesa police of how they say the unrest unfolded and how law enforcement officers responded.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2020-06-09/la-mesa-releases-account-of-protest-that-turned-riotous

When Ariel Gibbs arrived last Sunday morning at the Hall of Justice, the place where her protest was set to begin in downtown San Diego, she paused and turned to a friend.“Wow,” she said.She could not believe how many people showed up to march alongside her to demand justice for George Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer in Minnesota knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.By 10 a.m., there were about 100 people present. Throughout the day, the crowd that gathered would grow to more than 1,000.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2020-06-07/as-protests-continue-across-the-county-a-new-generation-of-organizers-is-emerging

Protest signs are meant to be provocative, but these were especially so: “Abolish the police.”They showed up in San Diego and across the country over the past two weeks as thousands of Americans took to the streets to condemn the May 25 killing in Minneapolis of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, by a white police officer who knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes during an arrest over a counterfeit $20 bill.As far-fetched as the protest signs seem, they are part of a growing national debate that’s moved beyond the usual calls for change — better training, more diversity, increased accountability — to openly question the fundamental purpose of police in society.Are the officers guardians, or are they warriors?

Mayor Kevin Faulconer and his appointed police chief, David Nisleit, on Monday announced SDPD will immediately stop using the carotid restraint.The neck hold used to subdue people has come to be viewed as dangerous and unnecessary, and minority groups in particular have condemned it. Other police departments increasingly have abandoned the practice.San Diego police officials had continually defended the tactic, as they did in an in-depth article last year by Lyndsay Winkley of The San Diego Union-Tribune.The reversal was stunning enough. But Faulconer wasn’t done. Later on Monday, as protesters again marched downtown, he threw his support behind a 30-plus-year effort to establish an independent commission to investigate alleged police misconduct and examine police practices.“That is moving forward,” the Republican mayor said at a news conference. “It will be on the ballot. . . I look forward to giving it my full support.”Read the column: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/columnists/story/2020-06-03/column-san-diego-moves-quickly-toward-police-reforms

San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore has requested the help of the California National Guard to support police in La Mesa and deputies around the county amid continuing protests calling for racial justice and police reform, according to sheriff’s officials.“San Diego County has requested the National Guard (to) assist with security in the region due to the recent civil unrest,” La Mesa city officials said in a statement Wednesday night. “A portion of them will be responding to La Mesa this evening. You may also see them throughout the county.”Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2020-06-04/sheriff-national-guard-troops-to-help-protect-critical-infrastructure-free-up-officers

San Diego's protests following the death of George Floyd continue. The region is not immune to police brutality and racism, communities reporter Andrea Lopes-Villafaña discusses the state of things in the county.Follow the movement here: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/topic/george-floyd

On the heels of protests over the death of George Floyd, the San Diego Police Department announced it would stop using a controversial neck restraint that a U-T analysis found is disproportionately used on black San Diegans.Floyd, a black man, died after a white officer in Minneapolis knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.Learn more from Public Safety reporter Teri Figueroa and Watchdog reporter Lyndsay Winkley.Read more here: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2020-06-01/san-diego-police-end-use-carotid-restraint-effective-immediately

After spending most of the afternoon in a standoff with police in downtown San Diego, protesters calling for justice for black people killed by police found a place to breathe.They suddenly turned away from the officers who had fired tear gas, flashbangs and less-lethal ammunition at them and made their way to the County Administration Building, where the group of roughly 1,000 held a moment of silence for more than six minutes.Speakers called for unity and end to racial inequity in policing.“Black lives matter now and forever,” one man said, addressing the crowd through a megaphone.

The more upbeat tone in San Diego has been mirrored across the state. All 160 dealers who responded to a survey released Wednesday by the California New Car Dealers Association said their showrooms are open and 94 percent reported increased traffic.“There’s a lot of pent-up business,” said Campos, who estimated his dealership has brought back about 90 of the roughly 100 employees it laid off or furloughed. “Customers are tired of being locked up indoors, they’ve been wanting to buy a car for months.”But the survey also highlighted the financial impact of the shutdown. Since mid-March, 54.5 percent of the dealers reported decreases in sales of between 30 to 60 percent. Another 25 percent said sales had fallen between 60 and 80 percent.“Those are Great Recession numbers,” said Brian Maas, the president of the new car dealers group. “And it took 2 1/2 years for that drop to occur and this happened in eight weeks.”Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2020-05-29/heres-how-san-diego-car-dealers-are-selling-cars-now-that-theyre-emerging-from-pandemic-lockdown

Most of what we know about COVID-19 comes after people are infected, but current science suggests that fecal matter can show where outbreaks hit before people become symptomatic.

The Del Mar Fairgrounds needs you, according to a new website saveyourfairgrounds.com created to spread the notion that without financial assistance the state-owned property could be closed.Fairgrounds officials are urging residents to write their elected officials in support of $20 million the 22nd District Agricultural Association, which runs the facility, has requested in federal economic aid for state and local agencies affected by the COVID 19 pandemic.If you need a sample letter, the website provides one. Same with email and tweets. Or you can telephone your representative, share your fairgrounds photos, or buy a fairgrounds printed tee-shirt. The talent that normally markets the San Diego County Fair, cancelled this year because of the pandemic, is recruiting people to help push for financial aid.

It was a Memorial Day unlike any in memory. But the spirit was the same.Be it donning masks and watching video on a flight deck without crowds, joining a parade of cars, or feeding hungry veterans, San Diego County — home to the highest concentration of the nation’s military personnel — honored its fallen heroes Monday with socially-distant, pandemic-shaped tributes.“It’s not about the audience, it’s not about the pomp and circumstance,” Navy Rear Admiral Bette Bolivar said during a gathering at the USS Midway Museum. “It’s about what’s in your heart and honoring those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.”And San Diego’s beaches — the region’s other usual Memorial Day gathering site — saw plenty of people, including some who had to be shooed along for trying to get together in defiance of state and county orders.

Before San Diego County could allow some restaurants and shops to welcome customers again, it first had to show state officials in myriad ways that it was prepared to handle a broader reopening of society amid the coronavirus pandemic.That proof is contained in a 188-page application filed with the state, full of details on health care system capacity and the steps the county has taken to both combat the outbreak, and get prepared if infections surge again.While county officials have kept up a steady stream of information on the pandemic, primarily through news conferences held daily for more than a month up to this week, the report provides a new level of detail — including specific metrics surrounding case totals and hospital capacity that, if triggered, could prompt authorities to scale back the reopening, or even plunge the county back into lockdown.Read the story here: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/story/2020-05-21/county-stage-2-plan-detailed-readiness-to-reopen-triggers-that-could-lead-toThe full report: https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/44/65/4a08ea09451fa513d37c80b4f39b/cosd-covid-attestation-and-containment-final-rev-05-19-2020.pdfProgramming note: The next episode will be Tuesday.

A brigade of ambulances, in the air and on the ground, worked through the day Wednesday to take the pressure off of El Centro Regional Medical Center, which has found itself at ground zero in a cross-border surge of COVID-19 patients that threatened to overwhelm the inland region’s two main hospitals.Officials announced Tuesday morning that they were diverting all ambulance deliveries of additional COVID-19 patients to facilities in San Diego and Riverside counties, but those measures had been removed early Wednesday at El Centro Regional and neighboring Pioneers Memorial Hospital in nearby Brawley.Hospitals all along California’s southern border have seen increasing emergency traffic and hospital admissions in recent weeks, and many have linked the slow surge to significant and deadly outbreaks underway in Mexico.While COVID-19 patient counts have been up and down at hospitals in Chula Vista, a clear and fierce surge arrived in Imperial County over the weekend, flooding emergency rooms for days.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/story/2020-05-20/help-on-the-way-imperial-hospitals-drop-covid-diversion-even-as-they-continue-transferring-patients

What is happening in the luxury market does not reflect housing as a whole in San Diego County. While the median home price has hardly moved since the crisis began, around $590,000, housing insecurity has only increased in recent months as thousands of San Diegans have lost jobs and reported trouble paying rent.Read about an estate for sale in Alpine: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2020-05-18/looking-to-escape-covid-check-out-this-8-9m-ranch-in-alpineWatch the video here: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/1fenmrn9kom-123

San Diego County supervisors gave the go-ahead Tuesday for the county to accelerate its entrance into Stage 2 of reopening, which will allow retail shopping and restaurants to cater to in-person patrons while abiding by social-distancing guidelines to stem the spread of the coronavirus.Additionally, the board voted 4-1 to make a request to the governor to launch a pilot program for reopening some Stage 3 activities in the county as well including some youth sports and clubs, outdoor religious services, research labs, and therapeutic and peer support groups of less than 10 individuals.The pilot, if approved by Gov. Gavin Newsom, would also allow salons and fitness facilities in San Diego County to operate at 25 percent capacity by appointment only, as well as open up pools at HOA/Condominium/Apartment complexes at 25 percent capacity.Supervisor Nathan Fletcher was the lone supervisor to vote against pursuing the pilot program, saying that since the county hadn’t yet fully implemented Stage 2, it wasn’t time to move toward Stage 3.

Faced with a new threat in the line of duty, police officers and sheriff’s deputies have had to adjust to unprecedented work conditions. Tasked with responding to constant violations of ever-changing county orders — like unpermitted activity at beaches and parks, even sizable protests against the orders — in addition to the usual crimes, they gear up in masks and gloves, among other precautions, to subdue the unseen culprit behind the pandemic.

Ellen Ochoa is a local and graduate of San Diego State University who became an astronaut and director of the Johnson Space Center. On this episode, she talks about her early days with NASA, how she lived and worked in space, where NASA is headed next and more.Subscribe to Name Drop here: https://link.chtbl.com/follow

UC San Diego says it got off to a solid start during its first week of mass testing students for the novel coronavirus, with more than 300 undergraduates volunteering for the program by late Thursday. The figure could rise to around 500 — the goal for the week — when Friday’s figures are calculated.The university hopes to test up to 5,000 of its residential students during a three-week period. The so-called “Return to Learn” project is part of an effort to largely open the campus to in-person classes during the fall quarter, which begins in September.UCSD is the first major research university in the U.S. to begin mass testing students for a virus that has killed nearly 90,000 people nationwide. Students must volunteer for the self-administered tests, which generally take less than 10 minutes to complete. Results are typically available with 24 hours.Campus officials are using social media and word-of-mouth campaigns to recruit students for the program, which might be offered to all of UCSD’s 65,000 students, faculty and staff if it proves to be successful.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/education/story/2020-05-05/uc-san-diego-to-mass-test-its-students-for-the-novel-coronavirus

It was another Wednesday in California’s long lockdown spring, and late in the day Gov. Gavin Newsom signed off on Executive Order N-54-20.The four pages of text began with seven “whereas” clauses laying out the reasons and purpose for what followed: a dozen densely worded paragraphs, suspending timelines and waiving requirements embedded in obscure corners of state regulations, from the Vehicle Code to the Public Resources Code.The April 22 order was one of more than three dozen such orders Newsom has churned out since March 3, when he declared a state of emergency because of the coronavirus pandemic that has since killed 2,546 residents and sickened tens of thousands more.With the Legislature not in Sacramento since mid-March, Newsom has effectively been a one-man government, and the executive orders have largely been the vehicle he has used. The Assembly returned on May 4 and the Senate is due back Monday which will likely bring governance back to something resembling what it was before the pandemic with more input from legislators.

For years the East County city of Santee has tried to fix its image.Racial incidents have occurred in the community, earning it the nickname “Klantee” Local leaders have been trying to prove that these monikers aren’t representative of the community, but two recent incidents have made that more difficult. A man went shopping in a Santee Vons wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood, and another person wore a mask adorned with a swastika.During this pandemic, racial and anti-Semitic actions are particularly troubling because economic downturns and other disasters have preceded systematic targeting of minorities in the past.

A group calling itself We Have Rights has recently started organizing large back-to-work protests throughout California, calling on state and local leaders to end social-distancing orders aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus.The group, which popped up in just the last two weeks, has a professional-looking website and growing social media presence, which provide details for upcoming events, instructions for dealing with the media, highly produced Instagram videos, as well as T-shirts and other branded merchandise for sale.The campaign — which turned out hundreds of anti-lockdown protesters from San Diego to Sacramento starting May 1 and continuing through this weekend — also has had a charismatic front woman with something of a controversial past: 38-year-old Vivienne Nicole Reign.Reign, who has been living with her husband in a $3 million home in Newport Beach, according to legal documents, is currently embroiled in legal challenges concerning several neuropathy treatment clinics she owns and operates with a chiropractor. The defendants have maintained their innocence, denying claims brought by former clients of medical negligence, financial elder abuse and fraud.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2020-05-10/woman-spearheaded-californias-back-to-work-protests

Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the past week has released 65 more detainees from Otay Mesa Detention Center who are medically vulnerable to COVID-19, a government attorney said during a court hearing Friday.There are still more inside. Under court order in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, ICE identified a list of 131 people total in its custody at the facility who are medically vulnerable.The agency had released two detainees by its first check-in with U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw on Monday. Sabraw had ordered ICE to review cases at the facility — which has the biggest outbreak in San Diego County as well as in immigration detention nationwide — and release as many of the medical vulnerable as possible.Some of those who haven’t yet been released are waiting for medical clearance because they either have already tested positive for the novel coronavirus or they are waiting for results. Two still need sponsors to live with in order to be released.Read more:

Jon Foreman is a musician, writer, surfer, philanthropist and San Diego local. In this episode, he talks about the early days of Switchfoot, how he stays creative, his favorite surf spots and more.Subscribe here: https://link.chtbl.com/follow

Publicly funded testing for COVID-19 in San Diego County had been reserved for people who had been referred to a testing site by a medical provider. That changed Tuesday when new state-fund testing sites opened in Escondido, Grossmont College in El Cajon and at a closed Sears in Chula Vista.Expanding tests to people without symptoms will be a way for the county to better track the spread of the virus, and the new sites together have a capacity of performing almost 800 tests daily.The state contracted with Optum, which is part of UnitedHealth Group, to find 80 locations in California for the sites, and Optum has contracted with labs to get results from samples collected. The wait for results usually is 48 to 72 hours.

In recent weeks, mammoth ocean liners have been moving in and out of San Diego’s downtown harbor, a welcome sign, in normal times, of a thriving cruise industry pumping tens of millions of dollars into the local economy.But these are not ordinary times.Far from signaling prosperity, the three Celebrity and Disney ships that are intermittently parked alongside San Diego’s waterfront are grim reminders of a global industry abruptly idled by the coronavirus, sickening people on land — and at sea. Instead of readying the ships docked here for future voyages to the Mexican Riviera and Panama Canal, the cruise lines are grappling with how to return hundreds of crew members still on board to their home countries in the Philippines and India. A few of the crew remain infected with the COVID-19 illness.Where the Port of San Diego had forecast about 104 cruise calls accounting for 338,000 passengers through the end of its current cruise season this month, those numbers have now plunged by 30 percent since cruising was closed for business March 14 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The economic hit is estimated to be more than $50 million.While the CDC’s extended “no sail order” isn’t due to expire until the end of July — well ahead of the scheduled fall start of San Diego’s new cruise season — no one really knows for sure when cruising, in whatever revamped form it takes, will resume. Major cruise lines last week began canceling many summer and fall sailings but not in San Diego.Long before the coronavirus crash, port officials here had been anticipating a robust 135 cruise calls, accounting for close to half a million passengers, for the 2020-21 cruise season.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Monday announcement about the reopening of some retail businesses by Friday had both shoppers and shop owners anticipating a swift change in San Diego County.But concerns are rising as to whether any changes will come to fruition.Newsom announced yesterday that low-risk retail companies such as bookstores, music stores, toy shops, florists, sporting goods retailers and others can reopen for curbside service Friday under guidelines to be announced Thursday.This has led to some confusion, though, as many aren’t clear which stores are considered low-risk and which aren’t — and no clarifications will be made until the day before shops are allowed to reopen, government officials said.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/retail/story/2020-05-05/are-san-diegos-retail-stores-actually-reopening-friday-countys-new-guidelines-may-not-change-much

County data show that the total number of daily emergency visits for all local hospitals since mid-March, when stay-at-home orders took effect, has dropped 40 percent on average when compared to rates for the same time frame last year.Though it is unclear exactly how many are paying the price, a recent spike in death-related emergency calls in San Diego County, despite the overall death rate appearing to hold steady, suggests that the individual reports emerging from the front lines, not just in San Diego but nationwide, are important warning signs that people are delaying needed medical care during the pandemic.No one in public health seems to disagree. Just last week, Dr. Eric McDonald, the county’s epidemiology director, made a heartfelt plea during a daily COVID-19 briefing for patients not to ignore worrying symptoms. Similar pleas have been made by other public health officials, including Dr. Nick Yphantides, the county’s chief medical officer, and by individual hospitals and health care systems.County data show that, from March 15 through April 26, hospitals throughout the county handled an average of 1,129 fewer emergency cases per day compared to 2019. It adds up to more than 48,000 fewer emergency visits than were seen across all local hospitals during the same span in 2018 and 2019.Read more here: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/story/2020-05-04/covid-fear-hurting-san-diegans-in-need-of-emergency-care

While county residents are told to stay inside during the COVID-19 outbreak, thousands of people still have no home in which to shelter. Instead, they are sleeping in doorways, in canyons and sometimes crowding together on sidewalks.While San Diego County’s homeless population has not been hit hard by the virus, with no deaths from COVID-19 and a small percentage testing positive for the coronavirus, the population is considered especially vulnerable because many are older and in poor health.On the streets of downtown San Diego or in riverbed encampments, many are very aware of the health risk and are wearing facial coverings and washing their hands whenever possible. Others shrug when asked if they are concerned, with some saying they feel safer outdoors and others dismissing the outbreak as unreal.Read more here: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/homelessness/story/2020-05-04/county-works-to-protect-unsheltered-homeless-from-spread-of-coronavirus

“Name Drop San Diego” is a new, weekly podcast from The San Diego Union-Tribune that celebrates the people who have shaped San Diego and been shaped by it. Each episode, you’ll get an up close and personal look at a San Diegan you should know, or meet a fascinating new personality to name drop to your friends. In Season 1, just to name drop a little, you’ll hear from Jon Foreman, the lead singer of Switchfoot; Ellen Ochoa, the first Hispanic woman in space; and Ralph Rubio, founder of the SoCal staple, Rubio’s Coastal Grill. You’ll learn a lot. You’ll learn where Foreman’s favorite surf spots are and what Ochoa took with her into space. Our guests will also name drop other San Diegans they think you should know. “We’d play shows all over San Diego and all the other bands would be cheering each other on,” Foreman said in an upcoming episode about how San Diego made an impact on Switchfoot’s early success. “San Diego always felt like a comradery and that is a huge part of why we are who we are, that we felt the support of our hometown, our peers, our heroes…” The Union-Tribune’s Abby Hamblin and Kristy Totten will be your hosts for these compelling conversations with interesting and inspiring people who live in San Diego or who left to influence other places worldwide. Join us as we get to know the people who make San Diego proud.Subscribe here: https://link.chtbl.com/follow

In San Diego County there's a racial disparity in who is testing positive for COVID-19. As of Thursday afternoon, 52 percent of all cases were among Hispanic and Latino people, despite being only 35 percent of the population. See more detailed case data here: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/tracking-coronavirus-cases-san-diego-county

Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to start next school year earlier, as soon as late July, but San Diego school leaders emphasize that’s not going to happen unless a lot of other things happen first — including ramped up coronavirus testing, plans for physical distancing and even blended learning in schools.“Just putting out there a specific starting time is probably not helpful,” said San Diego Unified School Board Vice President Richard Barrera. “What’s more helpful is to keep emphasizing these are the conditions that need to be in place before we can start to reopen.”Some school leaders voiced skepticism of the idea. Poway Unified Superintendent Marian Phelps told families in a message Wednesday that an earlier school year is not likely.“We have some major questions that need to be answered before we consider physically re-opening schools, such as maintaining the health and safety of our students and staff,” Phelps said. “Additionally, school calendars take a great deal of planning and coordination; any changes also could have major fiscal implications.”Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/education/story/2020-04-30/governors-suggestion-for-early-school-year-draws-mixed-reactions

Wearing a mask is mandatory when you are outside starting May 1 in San Diego County. Reporter Pam Kragen discusses the details of the new rules, as well as provides suggestions about where to get masks or facial coverings.

North County leaders want the region to push harder against the state’s mandatory stay-at-home order that forced many nonessential businesses to close.During a Tuesday teleconference, county Supervisor Jim Desmond and five mayors stressed the toll the coronavirus pandemic has taken on their economies.People are suffering without jobs, they said, and shuttered businesses are more than willing to use the same precautions currently being employed by essential businesses like grocery stores to reopen safely.“If you go to Walmart right now, you’re not having your temperature taken, but you’re maintaining social distancing, you’re wearing a mask, you’re following the rules,” said Oceanside Councilman Chris Rodriguez, adding: “Business are creative, and they’re going to follow the rules because we all need to work together to get through this. ... We have to demand from the state to allow these businesses that are essential to our economy to open.”Currently, the state’s health order dictates which businesses can be open. Although no county decision could lawfully supersede those regulations, officials could more aggressively lobby that Gov. Gavin Newsom allow the region to decide for itself how and when it reopens.“The state has granted local authority in certain areas,” Desmond said. “We’ve seen that with real estate agents, we’ve seen that with gun stores … so this is to put North County on the record saying, ‘We’re ready to do what it takes to start opening businesses.’ ”Rodriguez went further, suggesting the region should be prepared to get creative should the state choose not to lift existing regulations.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday criticized Californians who defied the statewide stay-at-home order and flocked to beaches this past weekend, saying that ignoring restrictions could prolong the spread of the coronavirus in the state.Newsom’s comments come after thousands of beachgoers descended on the coast in Orange and Ventura counties despite his pleas last week to avoid the temptation of doing so during the warm weekend.“This virus doesn’t take the weekends off,” Newsom said during his daily COVID-19 briefing in Sacramento. “The only thing that will set us back is people stopping to practice physical distancing and appropriate social distancing. That’s the only thing that’s going to slow down our ability to reopen this economy.”

As the number of COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the South Bay, local officials want to see more testing to slow the spread.“At this point, we are losing our patience,” said Chula Vista Mayor Mary Casillas Salas during a Thursday news conference. “We want answers and we want to know specifically what is being done in the county and state level to protect our citizens.”The mayors of National City and Imperial Beach, as well as San Diego Councilwoman Vivian Moreno, who represents District 8, joined Salas in shining a spotlight on what is going on in the southern half of the county.“What’s clear is that residents of south San Diego County are suffering disproportionately from this crisis,” said Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina. “We want to make sure that all of our residents are protected.”Read more here. Also, read more about how hospitals in Chula Vista are faring, here

U-T Sports columnist Mark Zeiger argues that outdoor recreation should be the next phase of reopening, in order to keep San Diegans healthy. Read the column here.

The local death toll jumped by 15 souls Tuesday, as the new case count in San Diego County hit triple digits for the first time since April 4, according to the latest daily COVID-19 update from the county health department.Though the newly announced deaths did not occur on a single day, they none-the-less show that talk of rapidly opening shut-down parts of the economy and sidelined social and recreational resources too quickly should be expected to backfire, officials said.County supervisor Nathan Fletcher made his daily effort to convey that those keeping these orders in effect in the face of public protest over the weekend are doing so out of a desire to prevent a deadly resurgence in cases such has the one now underway in Singapore.“They’re not out of a desire to infringe; they’re out of a desire to protect,” Fletcher said.Read more here.

Unprecedented times led to an unprecedented event in the energy sector Monday.For the first time in U.S. history, the futures price for domestic crude oil not only dropped to zero, it fell into negative territory. In essence, buyers paid sellers not to deliver oil because there is no place to store all the crude that has piled up around the world, including California, as the COVID-19 pandemic has decapitated demand.With no specific timeline in place to lift coronoavirus restrictions, fuel experts say gasoline prices will continue to fall — although there are few drivers in position to take advantage of it — and oil producers in the Golden State say they face an increasingly uncertain future.Read more here.

As scientists and doctors scramble to track the scope and severity of COVID-19, antibodies have become something of a buzzword.Here are five things you need to know about coronavirus antibodies, including how and why scientists — many of them in San Diego — are studying them, and why some think they might be the key to reopening the economy.Read more here.*****Listen to Victoria Robertson's porch concert here.

San Diego is closed for business — but it won't be forever. Recently announced federal guidelines suggest that some doors will open sooner rather than later, leaving local proprietors and landlords in the tricky position of needing to make room for radical change right away.In a press conference Thursday, President Donald Trump revealed a three-phase plan to reopen businesses, starting when each state meets a threshold of coronavirus case decline. Reopening would begin with restaurants, movie theaters and sporting venues. Later on, worksites and schools will reopen — all with appropriate social distancing. Some states, like Texas and Florida, are expected to begin reopening as early as late April, while others will wait longer.That means, across the county, human resource staffers and business owners are already huddling remotely to write a new rule book for returning to work or play. They have large blanks to fill in because there's only one certainty: Leave-your-home life will, for the foreseeable future, be different than what we experienced in the days before COVID-19 upended everyday life.

With less than half the scheduled flights taking off here in early April and more of the same anticipated as the coronavirus scare plays out across the world, San Diego’s international airport is facing a deep dive in monthly revenues that is forcing it to slash expenses and possibly delay the start late next year of a $3 billion project to expand its aging Terminal 1.The airport’s largest airline, Southwest, has already cut by half the number of flights scheduled across its system in June, and by Wednesday, all three of San Diego’s once-popular overseas flights — to London, Frankfurt and Japan — will have ended.Even more startling are stats released by the Transportation Security Administration, which reported that officers screened just 102,184 people at U.S. airport checkpoints on Monday — a nearly 96 percent drop from the nearly 2.5 million who went through security on the same day in 2019. No figures are available by airport, but in San Diego, a little more than 400,000 passengers boarded planes during the month of March, compared to well over twice that a year earlier, the Airport Authority reported.Read more here.