San Diego News Fix

More than 79,000 people have disappeared in that country, the vast majority since 2006 when former president Felipe Calderón launched Mexico’s war on drugs. Tijuana, a sprawling metropolis of 2.1 million people, became a front line as cartels fought to secure lucrative trafficking routes into the United States. More recently, neighborhoods on the city’s outskirts have been drawn in as low-level drug dealers fight and die for the right to sell methamphetamine on local street corners.Read the story: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/border-baja-california/story/2020-12-30/missing-mexico-voicesWatch the documentary: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/border-baja-california/5akz3ztqcvq-123

San Diego based service members faced a number of challenges in 2020. Military reporter Andrew Dyer walks us through this eventful year.Read the story: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/military/story/2020-12-30/2020-a-year-of-travails-and-tragedy-for-san-diego-military-community

A series of key trades shows that Padres' GM AJ Preller plans on making the team a serious contender next year.

The U.S. has always resisted protecting refugees at its border. The incoming Biden administration will have to decide whether to break with that past.Read the story: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/immigration/story/2020-12-27/how-could-asylum-system-be-reimaginedThe rest of the series: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/returnedPrevious episodes:Returned Part III: A legitimate fear of death doesn’t always matter in the US asylum system | Kate Morrissey https://art19.com/shows/the-san-diego-news-fix/episodes/83753631-407a-4ea8-b80f-1d5e74b0bbeaReturned Part II: Who gets asylum? | Kate Morrissey https://art19.com/admin/series/eda62611-1093-4bef-a541-36a48c7289b5/content/episodes/e9541525-b629-4b2a-9d4f-05c5276907a8Returned Part 1: What it takes to make a case under the US asylum system https://art19.com/admin/series/eda62611-1093-4bef-a541-36a48c7289b5/content/episodes/a2fb8dc5-8590-4c6c-89c0-2fd0f6fe9a67

Barred from sailing for the last nine months because of the pandemic, several cruise ships are making their way to San Diego this month, but don’t expect to see thousands of passengers boarding or disembarking from the ocean liners.Read the story: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2020-12-23/cruise-ships-return-to-san-diego-after-long-absence-because-of-covid-but-no-passengers-allowedAlso read: ‘We called it Voyage of the Damned’: Days of despair on the Grand Princess

President Donald Trump on Tuesday granted a full pardon to former Republican congressman Duncan Hunter, who had pleaded guilty to illegally spending campaign money for his personal use.Hunter was sentenced in March to 11 months in prison, but he has been allowed to postpone serving his term in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. He was supposed to begin serving his sentence in January.The White House announcement said the pardon came at the request of “many” members of Congress and is supported by former Commissioner of the Federal Election Commission Bradley Smith.

Although health officials regularly release information about the number of COVID-19 outbreaks that are being investigated across the county, the specific locations have usually been kept a secret.Until now.On Monday, the public media station KPBS published an investigation that revealed the addresses of 1,006 outbreaks that occurred between March and December.

The richly luminous planets Saturn and Jupiter will be so close in the sky on Monday night they’ll appear to meld together with a starkness that has not been widely seen on Earth since the 13th century.The paths the planets follow around the sun will bring them into rough alignment shortly after the sun sets in the southwest, creating what astronomers call a “grand conjunction.”

Over the past eight months, the Marine Corps, like each military branch, has been forced to adapt to minimize the spread of COVID-19. At its San Diego boot camp, that means quarantines, coronavirus screenings, social distancing and masks.The San Diego Union-Tribune followed recruits of Alpha Company — from the time they got off the bus at boot camp until they got back on those buses as Marines — to document how training has changed and how it’s stayed the same amidst the greatest public health crisis in a century.

A San Diego Superior Court judge on Wednesday ruled two strip clubs can remain open and operating during the most recent COVID-19 shutdown orders from the state, in a ruling that appeared to extend to the county’s beleaguered restaurant industry and allow those businesses to reopen to some extent.The ruling by Superior Court Judge Joel Wohlfeil came in a case filed by two San Diego strip clubs. And while the clubs prevailed in earning an injunction that allowed them to continue to offer live dancing, the judge went a significant step further and said the injunction can apply across San Diego’s restaurant sector that has been crushed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Severe impacts on local emergency departments have forced paramedics to wait for hours before they can deliver their patients, prompting unprecedented changes to San Diego County ambulance bypass procedures Tuesday.The change came as intensive care capacity across the state continued to dwindle, prompting local hospitals to reach out to Sacramento for staffing help even as the first batches of vaccine began to arrive.Read more here: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/story/2020-12-15/governor-says-covid-19-deaths-have-activated-a-grim-supply-chain

The San Diego Union-Tribune and the Women’s Museum of California are celebrating a century of female achievement in San Diego to mark the 100th year of women’s suffrage in America.Explore the full series here: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/phenomenal-women-series

In total, San Diego County will initially receive 28,275 doses of vaccine. Each dose will be given to hospital health care workers at highest risk of exposure to the coronavirus — including doctors, nurses, custodians and security staff who are regularly in contact with COVID-19 patients. Because Pfizer’s vaccine requires two doses, those who get the vaccine will need a booster shot about three weeks later when another vaccine shipment arrives.

Todd Gloria takes over as San Diego's first mayor of color while City Council chooses a new president.

A second-straight day with San Diego County’s intensive care beds at 80 percent occupancy prompted questions Wednesday about when crisis measures will be necessary.While officials with the county health department made it clear during their regular weekly COVID-19 briefing that we’re not there yet, they also declined to set a firm break point beyond which hospitals will need to begin making decisions about who receives care in a proper room and who must be cared for in a less-than-ideal setting.

A controversial and unprecedented land deal that would have allowed a housing development on 219 acres of ecologically prized land in San Diego County was defeated Tuesday.The California Wildlife Conservation Board voted five to one, with its chairman Chuck Bonham abstaining, to deny a proposed land exchange between the state and developer group GDCI Proctor Valley, L.P.

Distance learning is a constant fight to find all their students and just have them come to class. They’re trying anything from jokes to poetry to being more forgiving in grading.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/education/story/2020-12-06/for-many-teachers-distance-learning-is-a-constant-fight-to-get-students-to-participate

The smartphone-based COVID-19 exposure notification system that was piloted by UC San Diego and other state universities will be made available to all Californians this week.State officials hope the blue-tooth based technology will help slow the transmission of the novel coronavirus by quickly notifying people when they’ve been exposed to someone who later tested positive for the disease.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/story/2020-12-07/smartphone-based-covid-notification-system-coming-to-all-californians-governor-says

Tens of thousand of SDG&E customers lost power late Wednesday evening and Thursday morning as Santa Ana winds combined with dry weather conditions led to high wildfire risk. By Friday, the number of customers without power had dropped, but the utility has warned that outages may return soon.

Santa Ana wind conditions may spark fires countywide in the next few days.