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El Centro Regional seeks $40 million state loan to stay afloat, but will face competition
Imperial County’s largest hospital is seeking a $40 million state loan in its latest attempt to keep doors open. But the El Centro Regional Medical Center will be forced to compete with other facilities across California that are also grappling with shaky finances: Requests to the $300 million emergency loan program already exceed the available funding.
Heavy rainfall makes for high fire risk. But San Diego lagging on removing brush
San Diego is behind on removing brush from city property, putting land with a high chance of catching fire at risk, according to a roughly 40-page internal audit released last week. The report from City Auditor Andy Hanau’s office also found that officials have failed to maintain improvements on problems...
‘I question humanity’: Doctor testifies against UC San Diego in massive trial
Nearly every detail of the bitter conflict is under debate, but one point is hard to dispute: A San Diego doctor’s life has been upended since he chose to take on his $47 billion employer. Dr. Kevin Murphy, a former department vice chair and oncologist at UC San Diego,...
San Diego Unified wants to help students beyond the classroom. Is it working?
San Diego Unified will soon triple its number of campuses that offer on-site wraparound services, from health care to food pantries, for some of the district’s most vulnerable students. They’re known as community schools: Through family engagement and partnerships with service providers, the district hopes kids will miss fewer...
Child care centers in San Diego, Imperial counties among thousands yet to comply with lead testing
Despite a California law requiring expanded lead testing for the first time at child care centers, thousands of facilities remain untested, potentially putting the health of children across the state at risk. More than 7,800 facilities — 54% of California’s child care centers — have yet to test for lead...
Is there lead in the water at your child care facility? Search our database of California results
More than 6,000 child care centers have complied with a California law to test for lead in their drinking water. A quarter of them found levels higher than the state limit — and thousands more have yet to test. Under a 2018 bill, facilities were required to conduct lead...
inewsource hosts community forum on homelessness in San Diego
All of us at inewsource thank our readers and neighbors for attending our recent Homelessness and Displacement Community Forum. The event successfully brought together housing advocates, people who have experienced homelessness and members of the public who are concerned about the challenges the city of San Diego faces with thousands of people living in public places, including sidewalks, along river beds and in canyons.
Migrants detained in San Diego County don’t have legal access as Biden promised, attorneys say
A U.S. Border Patrol temporary holding facility in San Diego County is restricting access to legal counsel for what could be hundreds of migrants detained there, attorneys say. Officials with the federal agency are, in some instances, forcing detainees to choose between calling family, sponsors in the U.S. or legal...
Car towed? Here’s where San Diego police tow cars for reasons unrelated to public safety
An inewsource analysis found San Diego police continue to tow cars for reasons that have nothing to do with public safety months after officials were warned the practice disproportionately hurts low-income and unhoused people. Researchers call them “poverty tows,” which are the result of expired registrations, 72-hour parking violations and...
Police continue towing low-income San Diegans’ cars months after audit raised concerns
Last November, an audit raised alarms about the San Diego Police Department’s vehicle towing program disproportionately hurting low-income and unhoused people. Officers routinely order vehicles to be hauled away for what researchers have called “poverty tows” — which include expired registration, 72-hour parking violations and unpaid tickets — even when there is no risk to public safety, the city audit said.
‘We can’t keep up’: Thousands of San Diego streetlights will remain broken — and it could get worse
San Diego city staff say that while they’ve made great strides to address a growing backlog of broken streetlights, those efforts won’t be enough to solve the problem that’s been years in the making. Thousands of streetlights in need of repairs will remain broken despite the city...
Spies, stolen records, secret inventories — here’s what’s coming in a major UCSD trial
The opening statements had the makings of a thrilling detective novel. The attorneys promised the jury a dramatic trial that would expose the work of spies, secret inventories, deceitfully written letters and the mysterious theft of a key document from a locked office. At the same time, the four hours...
Authorities finding more fentanyl at San Diego’s U.S.-Mexico border than ever before
Authorities seized nearly 3,000 pounds of fentanyl in San Diego County between March and May, marking a 300% increase from the same time last year in an “unprecedented two-month fentanyl-enforcement surge” along the southwest border, officials announced last month. That means San Diego County, called an “epicenter” for...
Mayor Todd Gloria’s homeless shelter strategy is mostly unfunded. Here’s what it could cost
Mayor Todd Gloria sold the San Diego City Council on a controversial camping ban using a homeless shelter expansion strategy that mostly hasn’t been funded yet. Councilmembers voted 5-4 Tuesday during the second and final public hearing to make it illegal to camp citywide if shelter beds are available, and anytime, regardless of shelter availability, near schools, parks, transit hubs and along waterways.
Judge says San Diego’s prosecution of unhoused resident using trash can law can continue
A San Diego Superior Court judge ruled Friday that a misdemeanor charge of blocking a sidewalk should move forward against a 59-year-old woman experiencing homelessness. Responding to a request to dismiss the case, Judge Yvonne Campos rejected all four claims that the woman’s constitutional rights had been violated. The case is set for trial Aug. 18 and a conviction could carry up to six months in jail, as well as $1,000 in fines.
San Diego doctor and UCSD kick off 6-week trial over $10M donation
A prominent San Diego oncologist and the University of California are in court, arguing over claims of fraud, whistleblower retaliation and misuse of a massive $10 million gift — one of the largest-ever donations for a UCSD employee’s research. A former UCSD vice chairman, Dr. Kevin Murphy, has...
San Diego County fixed a paperwork issue to avoid his eviction. But what about his $9,000 in unpaid rent?
A Santee native who risked falling back into homelessness because of paperwork issues with his public housing assistance has averted eviction from his downtown San Diego studio for now. But his luck could change: Questions remain about who will pay the thousands of dollars in back rent that he thought...
inewsource welcomes new board members
Inewsource’s Board of Directors elected three new members this month, further expanding the expertise and experience of our board. Sarah Bakhiet, Stephanie Bergsma and Karen Liu will start three-year terms on July 1. “We are thrilled to welcome back Stephanie Bergsma to the board,” inewsource Board Chair Sandra Timmons...
New tools for accessibility & engagement
Writer’s note: Hi, I’m Giovanni Moujaes, product manager here at inewsource. If this post is your first exposure to our organization, I’m honored. If not, I hope you’ll be able to compare your experience last year to this year and share your feedback with us. Thanks for your readership.
Coverage Areas that set us apart
Welcome to the new inewsource site experience! We are so happy to have you. In refreshing the website, we wanted to ensure that the updates reflect what readers are looking for out of news in 2023. We decided to alter our coverage areas to fit the current media landscape and the interests of our audiences, setting ourselves apart from other news outlets.
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