California taxpayers spend $717M annually subsidizing benefits for fast food workers, new report claims
Workers use report release as opportunity to repeat call for higher wages
A host of activists gathered this afternoon (October 15) outside a Mission Valley McDonald’s restaurant touting the release of a new study from the University of California, Berkeley, finding that $7 billion is spent by taxpayers each year on providing …
County funds new access point to Otay Valley Regional Park
Local officials including County Supervisor Greg Cox and interim Mayor Todd Gloria gathered in Chula Vista over the weekend for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of a new publicly-funded parking lot sited on private property that will allow …
La Jolla hotel burglar still fighting for new trial
Thief was sentenced to 38 years in 2006
Seven years after being sentenced to prison for a series of La Jolla hotel burglaries, Donald McNeely is fighting for a new trial because the foreman on his convicting jury failed to disclose he had worked as a lawyer and …
Hueso-backed bill expands research into viability of water recycling
California Senate Bill 322, sponsored by state Senator Ben Hueso, was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown this week. The bill will expedite the research and development of water recycling efforts, dubbed “toilet-to-tap” programs by skeptics. “Finding ways to …
Bittersweet ending to health care battle
Patient wins own case for access to nurses, but no precedent for others set
After a lengthy battle with California’s Department of Health Care Services dating back to 2010, Chula Vista resident and muscular dystrophy patient Raul Carranza announced today (October 8) that he has reached an agreement with the state that will restore …
Urban Corps gets Carlsbad power washing contract
Group will clean streets three times weekly for the cost of private contractor's semi-annual visits
A new partnership with the Urban Corps of San Diego County will lead to much more frequent pressure washing of sidewalks and the local seawall, the City of Carlsbad says. Under a previous contract with a private company, the Carlsbad …
Operator of marijuana collectives sues lawyer who helped set them up
Counsel allegedly assured owner of two pot shops that federal agents would leave him alone
Ronnie Chang, a medical marijuana dispensary operator, has sued his former lawyer Jeff Lake in state court, claiming that Lake assured him that California state law would shield him from prosecution, only to have his shop raided by federal agents …
Suspected sexual predator arrested
Evidence gathered from cell phones seized in 2012 prostitution raid
A 70-year-old man was arrested near La Jolla Tuesday (October 1) as part of a prostitution sting operation dating back to June of 2012. Last year, Michael Lustig was arrested in an Encinitas hotel sting aimed at catching “johns” soliciting …
Peters, DeMaio posturing around government shutdown
Election remains more than a year out
Lest any constituents of California’s 52nd Congressional district forget that there’s an election just 13 months away, Scott Peters, the sitting Democrat, and Carl DeMaio, who’s been building his candidacy virtually since losing the mayoral race in 2012, have issued …
State officials, local politicos roll out Covered California state health care exchange
Despite the federal government shutdown triggered by an argument over funding for the Affordable Care Act, popularly dubbed Obamacare, California is moving forward this morning with the launch of Covered California, the new statewide insurance exchange called for under the …
Poverty level likely higher than official Census estimates
Study shows cost-of-living-adjusted rate would be 50% higher than official San Diego estimates
New data from the Public Policy Institute of California suggests that 8.1 million Californians, or 22 percent of the state’s population, lives in poverty. These numbers contrast the official U.S. Census Bureau numbers, which put statewide poverty levels at just …