San Diego News Now

The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department has issued an emergency brownout because of COVID-19. This means several units are being shut down temporarily because dozens of firefighters are in isolation. Meanwhile, for the second time in the last few months, someone has spray-painted hateful graffiti at San Dieguito Academy in Encinitas. Plus, a new variety of THC takes advantage of a “legal loophole.”

New Year’s Eve was a COVID-19 test date for San Diego Unified students. Each student was sent home before the holidays with two COVID-19 self-swab tests, to be used Friday and then again Monday morning to confirm negative results before returning to in-person classes. Meanwhile, a new law goes into effect as of January 1 that requires all wholesalers, grocery stores and food businesses to donate t...

A dramatic surge in COVID-19 cases continued Thursday, with a new daily record of 5,976 infections. Public health officials are urging residents to keep New Year's celebrations small. Meanwhile, the trash truck driver strike at Republic Services is two weeks old, with no sign of progress in negotiations. Now, Mayor Todd Gloria is urging residents with trash piling up to contact the company directl...

An investigation is continuing into the crash of a small airplane that took off from John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana and slammed into a neighborhood near El Cajon, killing two nurses and two pilots aboard. Meanwhile, gyms in San Diego are seeing more business than ever before as the pandemic has spurred a fitness craze. Plus, the pandemic has been hard on kids, and parents as well. KPBS looks at t...

The small airplane that crashed in a neighborhood near El Cajon was carrying four people and all were killed in the crash. Meanwhile, Tuesday night’s Holiday Bowl at Petco Park was canceled hours before the game kicked off due to covid-19 protocols. Plus, marriage and family therapist Shanette Smith speaks to KPBS about the holiday blues.

Waste management company Republic Services and Teamsters Local 542 sat at the bargaining table on Christmas Eve but they failed to reach an agreement - thus waste is piling up in a few neighborhoods. Meanwhile, The San Diego Unified School District is teaming up with two community organizations as part of a public outreach campaign on behalf ofCOVID-19 vaccines. Plus, personal income in San Diego...

Roughly 300 businesses in the border community of San Ysidro have closed during the pandemic. Those lucky enough to stay afloat are welcoming their old customers back. Also, we begin a series on new California laws taking effect in 2022. Plus, as new state wildfire hazard maps are released in the next few months, more and more homes may be shown to be at risk.

The new omicron variant is spreading rapidly and both testing and positivity rates are way up in San Diego, and long lines at local testing sites. Meanwhile, Petco Park in downtown San Diego is hosting the 43rd annual Holiday Bowl on Tuesday. The North Carolina State football team is scheduled to arrive in San Diego Thursday to begin a series of practices and activities leading up to facing UCLA i...

On Monday, a San Diego Superior Court judge ruled that the San Diego School district vaccine mandate contradicts state law. On Tuesday, the district’s board voted unanimously to appeal. And then, repairs begin on the iconic Ocean Beach pier. Plus, an update on the holiday covid-19 situation with a local public health expert.

Hundreds of sanitation workers are on strike in San Diego county, leaving garbage piling up in Chula Vista and Clairemont Mesa. Contract negotiations between sanitation company Republic Services and the local union broke down on December 17. It is Christmas week and–no surprise–traffic is up at the airport. But the threat of the omicron variant looms over California and the entire country. Plus, a...

A closer look at that feasibility study that found MTS could link the trolley to the airport within 10 years. Plus: the Omicron variant is expected to spread fast in San Diego and everywhere else, a judge ruled against the San Diego Unified School District Monday in a lawsuit challenging its vaccine mandate for students, local booksellers give you some holiday gift ideas and more of the local and...

The battle over the cost of solar is still going on, even though regulators have weighed in. Plus: a protest to push for housing instead of handcuffs when it comes to the treatment of people experiencing homelessness, how a new homeless shelter is helping those struggling most, a safe meetup place for online buying and selling, what San Diegans think of the term “Latinx” and more of the local and...

The independent redistricting commission finalized its map of new city council districts this week. The new map unites some neighborhoods into a single council district but also splits up other communities. Critics claim the new map dilutes the voting power of minorities. Meanwhile, what’s next in the USS Bonhomme Richard arson hearing. And, James Bond: The Musical returns to the Coronado Playhous...

California public schools will soon offer free transitional kindergarten for all 4 year olds. It will be a big help to working parents but it may have unintended consequences for childcare providers. Meanwhile, a former Pier 1 Imports building in the Midway community has become the city’s latest homeless shelter. The city owned facility has 44 beds and will have 24-hour staffing through a contract...

In 2019, San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan introduced a new training program aimed at reducing police shootings. While some officers have yet to be trained, there is hope it has sparked the beginning of a culture change in police departments. Meanwhile, the sheriff’s department said former inmate Mark Armendo did not contract COVID-19 in the county jail. A new medical examiner’s de...

With 75 percent of residents vaccinated, San Diego has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country. But county public health officials here still anticipate a surge in coronavirus cases over the holidays. Meanwhile, Navy prosecutors weigh their evidence against a sailor charged with arson in the fire that burned the USS Bonhomme Richard. Plus, for businesses along the U.S. Mexico Border, i...

The California Public Utilities Commission is close to unveiling changes that could make installing rooftop solar more expensive for consumers. Meanwhile, a local environmental group says people are harassing the sea lions in La Jolla. And, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria talks about his first year in office and what’s ahead in year two.

A combination of federal, municipal and private tracking systems has turned the border city of Chula Vista into one of the most surveilled cities in the country, according to privacy advocates. Now a new high tech operations center for the local police department will work to integrate all the data coming in from police activities. Meanwhile, a group of mostly low-income tenants and their advocate...

San Diego’s regional planning agency has drafted a regional transportation plan for the future that seeks to shift San Diego County away from cars by building massive improvements to public transit infrastructure. But critics say the plan is unrealistic and too expensive. Meanwhile, advocates say Chula Vista is now one of the most surveilled cities in the country. Plus, the U.S. surgeon general wa...

Thousands of catalytic converters have been reported stolen in San Diego County in the past year. Meanwhile, Barrio Logan, the heart of San Diego’s Chicano and Latino community, could soon adopt and implement a new community plan. It would be the first update to the community’s growth and development plan in 43 years. Plus, the National Guard are being asked to do many, many different things from...

Fentanyl overdoses in 2020 in San Diego county were more than four times higher than in 2018, and numbers for 2021 so far show the trend continuing. Meanwhile, California has distributed rent relief to less than a third of the 400,000 people who have applied to its assistance program. Plus, this state has arguably some of the strictest gun control in the country, and yet California often fails to...

A recent inewsource investigation into the VA has sparked interest from lawmakers in Washington DC. Last week, senators grilled the head of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs about charges the VA is restricting veterans’ access to health care. Meanwhile, one of the most-trafficked thoroughfares in Del Mar might get a boost from the federal infrastructure bill. Plus, a major construction proje...

Tijuana City officials and advocates for asylum seekers say the restart of the controversial Trump-era program will make an already inhumane situation at the border worse. Meanwhile, Voice of San Diego reporters looked back on the first year of the pandemic and discovered that people with lower levels of education in San Diego were much more likely to die from the virus. Plus, when state lawmakers...

The first case of the omicron covid-19 variant in the US has been reported in San Francisco. Meanwhile, the state of California reports that half of its community college students are facing food insecurity. Plus, rules to protect outdoor workers in this state from wildfire smoke are rarely enforced.

Investigators of police use-of-force cases often go easy on their own colleagues during interviews after a shooting incident, experts say. Those interviews differ significantly from ones conducted with suspects or victims of those shootings, according to records obtained by KPBS. Meanwhile, Filipino community members are considering legal action against National City, arguing that district electio...