In three years, James Woo racked up more than $200,000 in personal credit card debt while fronting the cost of flights, meals, hotels and trade show bookings for his employer, a CBD product company based in Escondido. Then in 2020 the company abruptly fired him without paying him back, according to court documents. Woo filed a wage theft claim with the state and sued the…
Steve has been living in his Encinitas home since 2017. When he moved there, it was advertised as a “beach cottage,” but in reality it’s just a 325-square foot, one-bedroom trailer. The fifty-one year old, who requested inewsource withhold his last name, lives there with his youngest son, who is 12. He settled there after he got the opportunity for his child to live with…
A key part of the state’s 2017 gas tax increase aimed at fixing local roads has generated more than $125 million for the San Diego region, but most of the money remains unspent. Records obtained by inewsource show only about $50 million of the gas tax money from the Local Streets and Roads program had been spent through the middle of last year. Those are…
Farmers who grow San Diego County’s most valuable crops may miss out on federal cash for coronavirus-related losses because some of their agriculture products — primarily flowers, nursery plants and exotic fruits — are not included in the relief program. The growers are pushing to get their specialty crops added to the government’s eligible list, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture appears willing to hear…
Hundreds more Imperial County residents will soon be able to get checked for COVID-19 after state officials designated the area a “testing desert.” County officials said Monday the state is expected to open a local testing site by May 4. The site will be able to test 130 residents a day, said Dr. Stephen Munday, the county’s health officer. Only about 1,600 of Imperial County’s…
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…
Almost two-thirds of the county’s homeless population is in the city of San Diego. But homelessness is a problem throughout the region – from the South Bay to North County. The homeless shelters in these communities, one of which was struggling financially even before the novel coronavirus pandemic, are now being stretched thin as they scramble to meet the needs of the vulnerable people they…
Palomar College President Joi Lin Blake, who’s been on paid leave since December for unknown reasons, has agreed to quit and will walk away with more than $600,000 in pay and severance. The resignation agreement, finalized Wednesday when Blake’s attorney signed it, allows her to continue on paid leave until she officially steps down on June 30. The college district’s governing board voted 3-1 to…
Fire incident calls tied to homelessness are on the rise in San Diego. Last year, they made up nearly 13% of all fire-related calls. “We’re addressing it as best we can,” said Assistant Fire Chief Chris Webber, who added that the growing homeless problem is “no secret.” While the number of all fire calls has fluctuated over the past five years, fire calls that mentioned…
The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System plans to spend $34 million for a new “tap-and-go” fare collection system that will replace one that some riders find inconvenient and that the agency says is outdated. MTS will pay for the new fare system with federal money and funds from a quarter-cent state sales tax that’s dedicated to transit projects. A spokeswoman for the North County Transit…