A California appeals court today confirmed most of a 2014 decision that the San Diego Association of Governments, or SANDAG, failed to reduce climate pollution and assess public health risks of a transportation plan that invests heavily in freeways and subsidizes sprawl at the expense of public transit. Although the California Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that SANDAG’s assessment of the plan’s long-term climate…
There were no fireworks at the seventh biennial San Diego County Democratic Convention on Saturday, Oct. 21 at Escondido’s California Center for the Arts. The old cliché of organizing Democrats being akin to herding cats did not apply to this particular gathering. Some people–gasp!–were even having fun. The trauma of Trump has eased, and what I saw were a bunch of folks bound and determined…
In the past 12 months, San Diego County’s congressional delegation and the people who work for them have taken 17 trips paid for by nonprofits, think tanks and private companies. In all, $37,525 was spent on travel to places that include England, Austria, Azerbaijan, New York and Seattle. The privately funded travel is legal. Congress members and their staff just have to file a disclosure…
Not all bananas are created equal. When it comes to organic bananas, Mayra Velazquez de Leon knows that for everyone to understand this, consumers are going to have to strengthen their awareness and education about organic agricultural sustainability, the identifiers of true organic foods and environmental preservation. “Organic really is the whole picture,” she told The Produce News earlier this month. “It is about protecting…
If you wish to inspect the front lines of the conflict between Donald Trump and California, head for San Diego. Yes, it’s true that the Golden State’s fight against the president has so far taken place in the courts and in cyberspace. And, sure, challenging The Donald’s legitimacy is not a mere local pastime but an all-consuming statewide prizefight. But as a matter of geography,…
In a rainy season, Lake Hodges Dam last overflowed in February-March 2011 — it also overflowed in February 2005 — but despite the record rains this season, it looks to be standing tall and holding firm. The lake was at 75 percent capacity as of last week, according to the City of San Diego’s Public Utilities Department that has owned and operated the reservoir and dam…
Despite overwhelming voter approval in 1992, three separate city attorney recommendations and an inewsource investigation, the city of San Diego is still not following a law mandating government transparency. After recent follow-up questions from inewsource, however, three city council members have agreed to address the issue. Section 225 of the city charter requires every person or entity doing business with the city to make a “full and complete disclosure of the…
When Jim Floros started his job as president and CEO of the San Diego Food Bank at the beginning of 2013, he says the nonprofit served about 330,000 people a month. The divergence between poverty and employment points to deeper problems in the San Diego region’s economy. That number has since grown to 370,000. That might seem odd given that San Diego County’s unemployment rate fell…
As 2016 draws to a close, the reporters and editors of inewsource are highlighting our favorite stories of the year. They ranged from a look at the student homelessness crisis in San Ysidro to investigations into the complex machinations of the powerful California Public Utilities Commission. These stories are also a template for the kind of fearless and data-driven investigative journalism we plan to do even more…
Local congressional candidates and their supporters bought more than $4.7 million in broadcast TV advertising in the general election, largely in the 49th District where incumbent Republican Darrell Issa squeaked past Democratic challenger Doug Applegate for another term. The Issa and Applegate camps bought a total of almost $3.7 million in ads on San Diego’s five major broadcast channels: CBS 8, ABC 10, NBC 7, Fox 5…