San Diego News Fix

The bad old days — and nights — of rotating power outages in California are back for the first time in nearly 20 years. And they could be back in a big way for the next few days.But unlike 2001 when market manipulation from rogue entities like Enron were at the root of rolling blackouts, grid operators blame these outages on a combination of reasons that include finding sources to back up energy sources that compose the current grid in the state and a heatwave that not only affected all of California but its neighboring states as well.“We are scouring every corner of our world to find additional load reductions and generation,” said Steve Berberich, the CEO of the California Independent System Operator, known as CAISO for short. The scale of the outages statewide could be in the millions, Berberich acknowledged.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/energy-green/story/2020-08-17/california-experiences-first-rotating-power-outages-in-19-years-what-happened****The San Diego Festival of Books i

A Facebook group that organized after a Black Lives Matter protest in La Mesa turned destructive has ballooned to more than 20,000 members.Called Defend East County, it has become an active online community of people who say they want to protect their cities, but it’s also a place where conspiracy theories, racist banter and calls for violence persist.Recently, videos of self-styled “patriots” in other cities punching and kicking Black Lives Matter protesters received hundreds of “likes” on the Defend East County page, as did a video of a car running over protesters.Some people affiliated with this and other East County community Facebook groups have counterprotested at area Black Lives Matter marches and, in at least five recent cases, have engaged in verbal and physical altercations. The latest verbal conflict occurred Tuesday at a march in La Mesa.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/watchdog/story/2020-08-16/inside-the-20-000-strong-defend-east-county-facebook-page-grown-as-a-reaction-to

San Diego rents are falling for the first time since the Great Recession.The average rent throughout the region was about $1,850 between April and June.That’s less than a percentage point decrease over the previous quarter, but the downward trend is notable.Rents in San Diego have been on a seemingly unstoppable upward climb in recent years.Now COVID-19 has, at least for now, changed that.

In the days after he became the first San Diego County business owner criminally charged for defying coronavirus-related health orders, Ramona gym owner Peter San Nicolas took to Facebook to decry the “Covid police” treating business owners “like common criminals.”On Tuesday night, San Nicolas held an informal town hall-style meeting outside the Ramona Fitness Center for himself and other business owners to voice their frustrations with state and local shutdown orders.The meeting came eight days after San Nicolas learned that San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan had charged him with five misdemeanors — each punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine up to $1,000 — for refusing to shut down his gym.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2020-08-12/gym-owner-charged-criminally-rallies-ramona-against-covid-19-police

For months, authorities have treated the Public Health Order with a somewhat lasseiz-faire attitude.While some egregious violations have been prosecuted, county leaders now plan a more intense crackdown, just as quarantine fatigue and economic stress are deepening.***Register for A Path Forward: https://events.handbid.com/auctions/a-path-forwardBuy their books: https://www.warwicks.com/event/a-path-forward-2020

Scientists are carefully monitoring a swarm of small earthquakes that erupted on Monday in the Salton Sea below the southern tip of the dangerous San Andreas fault.They are concerned about the possibility that the swarm could trigger a larger event, a phenomenon that has occurred in that region in the past.Scientists said Monday afternoon that there’s a less than 1 percent chance that the swarm will produce a 6.0 or larger quake within the next month. But the location of the swarm is worrisome due to its closeness to the San Andreas.

Later this week, a COVID-19 testing site will open up just outside PedEast, where tens of thousands of pedestrians cross into the United States from Mexico every day.The location is thought to be the closest testing location to the U.S.-Mexico border in any state, and is the result, the county says, of a data-driven, community-led strategy that aims to slow the spread of COVID-19 in South Bay communities.Officials have long known that the pandemic has disproportionately affected the South County region, where cases continue to climb. Factors that contribute to these increases include long-standing disparities in access to health care, a large population of essential workers and a lack of affordable housing.Proximity to the border also plays a role, county officials said.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/story/2020-08-09/new-testing-site-at-pedeast-crossing-first-of-its-kind-along-u-s-mexico-borderContact the reporters: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-lyndsay-winkley-staff.h

City leaders are hotly debating who should provide gas and electric services to San Diegans. The city’s so-called franchise agreement with San Diego Gas & Electric is expiring in January after 50 years.Now, it seems just about everyone wants a say in what the next long-term deal looks like. Should the city renew its contract with SDG&E? Or go with another company? How long should the new agreement be? And how much money should the city ask for?Or should the city simply explore running its own electric and gas system, like they do in Los Angeles and Sacramento?

Reporter Brittany Meiling discusses her column about why she leased out commercial office space during the pandemic: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2020-08-04/wfh-is-not-working-why-im-paying-for-a-office-space-outside-my-apartment

Cybele Thompson, the career real estate professional San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer recruited in 2014 to manage the city’s portfolio of property and leases, has become the latest official to leave her job after a report about the troubled acquisition of a downtown high rise.Thompson will leave Wednesday, one week after an independent review found serious deficiencies in the city’s 2016 plan to acquire the former Sempra Energy headquarters at 101 Ash Street, according to her letter of resignation dated Monday.The departure is the second for a high-profile city official involved in the Ash Street transaction. Earlier this year, former Deputy Chief Operating Officer Ronald Villa retired amid questions of how the property was handled.A report from the Mayor’s Office last week said it could cost $115 million or more to rehabilitate the Ash Street office tower to a condition that would be safe for city employees to occupy — a stunning amount for a building appraised at $72 million a few years ago.

The nine service members killed in a sinking amphibious transport near San Clemente Island Thursday were young men, ages 18 to 23, junior in rank and assigned to the same unit, the Marines said.Cpl. Wesley Rodd, 23, of Harris, TX, was the oldest. Pfc. Bryan Baltierra, 18, of Corona, the youngest.All were attached to Bravo Company, Battalion Landing Team 1/4 at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. Baltierra had just completed his first year in the Corps, having reported to boot camp in San Diego on July 29, 2019.On Thursday the 16 troops were returning from training on San Clemente Island, about 70 miles west of San Diego, when their 26-ton assault amphibious vehicle began taking on water. Two other AAVs also had been returning and helped with the rescue.Read the story: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/military/story/2020-08-03/9-troops-killed-in-marine-amphibious-transport-sinking-ranged-in-age-from-18-23Latest update: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/military/story/2020-08-04/sunken-marine-amp

We’re about one week away from “Shark Week” but, as it turns out, it’s always Shark Week along the San Diego County coast. It’s been a fact of life that these creatures live here, but now we’re starting to learn more about the lifestyles of younger sharks, who until now, may have gone unnoticed.This research not only deepens our understanding of these animals, but also may be key in finding out ways to prevent shark attacks.Read the story: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/environment/story/2020-08-01/white-sharks-swim-among-us-at-san-diego-beachesContact the reporter: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-deborah-sullivan-brennan-staff.html

Shopping malls and other retail centers badly impacted the ongoing coronavirus pandemic are taking a cue from the restaurant industry — moving operations outdoors wherever possible. Empty parking lots are being converted into drive-in movie theaters, lawns into art studios, and street corners into outdoor markets.

Throughout the entire pandemic, there was optimism that things would go back to normal in the fallWith the fall semester weeks away for colleges and universities, it’s clear that things aren’t normal. While schools elsewhere have decided to risk in-person instruction: California hasn’tHere’s what the fall 2020 semester will look like.

With 14 additional COVID-19-related deaths announced Tuesday, July became the deadliest month for the coronavirus pandemic in San Diego County since it started in mid-February. The news came amid fresh requests for deeper information on how local communities of color are being disproportionately affected by the disease.According to county records, 161 of the region’s 547 total COVID-19 deaths occurred in July, 12 more than were reported in May, the previous month with the most fatalities. The median age of those who have died of the disease is 78 with the vast majority having other health problems that made them more susceptible to severe illness.Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/story/2020-07-28/july-is-now-deadliest-month-of-pandemicContact the reporter here: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-paul-sisson-staff.html

It started as an issue with parking on a Logan Heights block.Now tensions between a largely Latino neighborhood and a long-standing, Latin-only Catholic Church have spilled over into social media conflicts, threats and calls for police intervention, evidence of a disconnect between a church and its neighbors.Logan Heights is a predominantly residential single-family home neighborhood where Latino residents make up more than half the population. It’s bordered by the Barrio Logan community and Interstate-15. About 74 percent of households there earn less than $60,000 a year, according to the San Diego Association of Governments, or SANDAG.St. Anne Catholic Church holds Mass in Latin there seven days a week and has a large following of parishioners, mostly from outside the neighborhood. The church belongs to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and, before pandemic restrictions stopped indoor Masses earlier this month, its attendance averaged more than 200 people, the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego said. No

More people viewed parts of the online-only Comic-Con International this weekend than are normally allowed in the crowded San Diego Convention Center.San Diego’s biggest event was forced to go fully on the Internet for its 51st year because of COVID-19. More than 300 panels, which would normally be spread out throughout the center and parts of downtown, were uploaded steadily on YouTube over five days. All were free to view.

San Diego businesswoman Gina Champion-Cain, charged a year ago with securities fraud in a civil case, pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to criminal charges of conspiracy, securities fraud and obstruction of justice in connection with a $400 million Ponzi scheme.Champion-Cain, who will be sentenced Oct. 13, declined to comment to the Union-Tribune as she walked out of the courtroom, her attorney by her side. The maximum prison time for the three charges is 15 years, although Champion-Cain has agreed to cooperate with the probe into the scheme she orchestrated, which investigators are still unravelling, and that could earn her a reduction in her sentence.Champion-Cain remains free on $100,000 bond.

San Diego’s Comic-Con International isn’t happening this year … at least not in person. After the convention’s 51st edition was canceled earlier this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers decided to bring it back as the entirely digital Comic-Con @ Home.Between Wednesday and Sunday, this year’s SDCC features more than 350 (mostly prerecorded) panels highlighting upcoming television shows and movies with the help of their stars and filmmakers. Panels will stream for free on YouTube and are open to all.In addition, the convention’s regular merchandise exclusives will be available, with a virtual convention floor accessible via their website. More than 700 vendors will be a part of the virtual convention floor. It opens Wednesday at 9 a.m. Pacific.