“It’s amazing that it took so long for this to be settled. It seemed pretty clear from the beginning that the Ed Code was being violated.” —Romero Maratea, Escondido Elementary Educators Association president What’s in a name? Escondido Union School District officials had an interesting, albeit illegal, solution to a lack of resource specialists and a state-mandated caseload limit of 28 students per educator: Just…
(Editor’s Note: We will be updating coronavirus information on a regular basis. This report is for Thursday April 23, 2020. It is not intended as a comprehensive source, but aims to highlight resources and news of interest to the community.) San Diego County cases rise dramatically The angel of death descended on San Diego County yet again as the local death count hit 96 person…
The newly-formed Front Line Appreciation Group (FLAG) San Diego chapter has delivered more than 1,000 meals prepared by local restaurants to healthcare workers in the first week since its founding on April 6. FLAG San Diego is solely dedicated to providing an urgently-needed boost to two groups heavily affected by the coronavirus: healthcare workers on the front lines and local restaurants. The premise is simple:…
San Diego County and California prisons and jails were being emptied of prisoners this week, part of a dramatic release of inmates aimed at slowing the spread of the virus, which can race through institutional populations with deadly impact. The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department released around 400 inmates without bail Wednesday and Thursday in compliance with a state order to reduce prison populations to prevent…
With coronavirus ravaging the land from sea to shining sea and then some, and the need to socially isolate and avoid crowds, was there any doubt the San Diego County Fair would happen. Nope, and it became official this week as the 2020 San Diego County Fair website magically transformed into the 2021 San Diego County Fair page proclaiming in large white letters: “We’ll see…
San Diego County officials have held daily news conferences since the beginning of March to update the public on the coronavirus pandemic. Almost every day, they provide the latest numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths, recite the newest guidelines and rules for residents to follow, and explain the ever-changing steps they’re taking to curtail the spread of the highly contagious virus and the deadly disease…
Loss of business due to mass closures of restaurants, schools and corporate cafeterias in response to COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders has small farms looking to collaborate as they try to adapt to the crisis by finding new markets and changing sales strategies, according to Ching Lee, an assistant editor of Ag Alert, published by the California Farm Bureau. During a webinar last week aimed at helping…
In an unusual move necessitated by last week’s prodigious record-setting rainfall, Lake Hodges Reservoir this week opens its valves sending millions of gallons of water down the San Dieguito Riverbed towards the Pacific Ocean. The city of San Diego, which owns the reservoir and dam, is sending about 923 million gallons of water from the reservoir down the old riverbed through Saturday. And, as they…
Rain, rain, and more rain roared through San Diego County like a freight train with no brakes this week and contrary to past storm trajectories refused to depart without causing mayhem and consternation. As if coronavirus weren’t bad enough, at least the record April rain made sheltering in place a more attractive alternative to wandering around outside. Riffing off T.S. Eliot’s “April is the cruellest…
Tie a yellow ribbon Tie a yellow ribbon round the ole oak tree first appeared in a 1973 hit song by Tony Orlando & Dawn. It was a reference to an unnamed prisoner, according to Dr. Jack Santino, a folklorist. Yellow ribbons became a national obsession during the 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis as trees across the nation were decked out in them to show solidarity…