Month: December 2024

By Christine Haslet

Last Friday, December 20th, in  courtroom 63, in downtown San Diego, California ~ the long-awaited verdict was handed down by Judge Katherine Bacal.  I sat nearby,  as one of the plaintiffs,  82 year old Wendy Aragon from Pet Assistance Foundation wiped a tear from her eye.

The verdict is a culmination of years of work.  Local San Diego animal rights attorneys,  Parisa Ijad-Maghsoodi and Bryan Pease, founders of the small, but mighty law firm, PeaseLaw.org fought one of the world’s largest law firms, 800 strong, O’Melveny & Meyers on behalf of San Diego’s lost, friendly cats being dumped on the streets to die.

As we sat in the courtroom, it was odd, because after months of seeing groups of attorneys appearing on behalf of their defendants, San Diego Humane Society,  not one single attorney appeared in court for the ruling, but instead phoned it in. One single lonely employee sat by herself on the defendants side of the courtroom.

By Kat Schuster / San Diego Patch / Dec 18 — 19, 2024

Applications for California’s e-bike incentive program opened this week to encourage residents to reduce their carbon footprint and improve their physical health.
The state is offering vouchers of up to $2,000 to go toward the purchase of a new electric bike and any accessories needed, such as a helmet and a bike lock.

E-bikes, equipped with electric motors to assist with pedaling, have become a popular choice for commuters looking to improve their health while reducing time spent in a vehicle. Because the rider still pedals, e-bikes offer physical activity benefits while also minimizing some of the challenges associated with commuting on a traditional bike.

From Mexico News Daily / December 16, 2024

The Maya Train railroad, which connects cities and towns in the states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo, is now fully operational.

Exactly one year after passenger trains started running between Campeche and Cancún, President Claudia Sheinbaum on Sunday inaugurated sections 6 and 7 of the 1,554-kilometer-long railroad.

Passengers can now complete a loop around the Yucatán Peninsula given that the sections linking Tulum, Quintana Roo, to Escárcega, Campeche, are open.The railroad has stations in or near the cities of Palenque, Campeche, Mérida, Valladolid, Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Chetumal, among others, and passengers can access a variety of other tourist attractions including archaeological sites, cenotes (natural swimmable sinkholes) and beaches.

By Steve Price / CBS8 / December 19, 2024

The collapse of a bipartisan stopgap spending deal to prevent a government shutdown could have significant ramifications for San Diego County, particularly in addressing the ongoing Tijuana sewage crisis, according to Congressman Mike Levin.

The 1,500-page spending measure, which would have funded the federal government through mid-March, included $250 million to help fix the South Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant and deal with cross-border pollution. “This is a very big deal,” Levin said. “There was $250 million in there to help fix the South Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant. To finally deal with that cross-border pollution. That was in the bill.”

As a government shutdown looms, it has become crystal clear that the richest man in the world is holding America hostage over his stalling of a House agreement on a spending plan. President Elon Musk now appears to be running the government, somebody who’s never been elected to anything in America.

The US is hours away from a government shutdown unless Congress agrees on such a . The House failed Thursday to pass a new Donald Trump-backed GOP proposal to fund the government into March, ratcheting up the threat of a shutdown ahead of the midnight deadline.

In a last-minute bid to avert a shutdown, House GOP leaders are now eyeing a strategy that would allow lawmakers to take separate votes on funding the government and raising the debt limit. GOP members are expected to meet this afternoon to discuss the latest proposal, according to lawmakers and aides.

Trump said Friday morning that if there has to be a government shutdown, he wants it to occur while Joe Biden is president. Trump tanked an original bipartisan deal unveiled Wednesday.

By Katie Kepler / The Point / Dec 11, 2024

As the school year nears its end for students at Point Loma Nazarene University, the south side of Ocean Beach (OB) blossoms with new beginnings. On the corner of Narragansett Avenue and Sunset Cliffs Boulevard, Ultreya Coffee and Tea opened its doors on Nov. 16 as the newest coffee shop in OB.

On the front of the shop, the corner cafe displays its catchy slogan: “Coffee + Cute Things.” [It’s located at 1785 Sunset Cliffs Blvd]

For co-owners Lianne Freund and Danielle Riggins, opening a shop has been a fulfilling but strenuous journey.

“We did everything ourselves,” Freund said. “[Riggins] built the whole bar, we painted the walls.”

By Rachel Dobkin / Newsweek / Aug. 28, 2024

United States wildlife officials finalized a plan in late August to kill a little over 450,000 invasive owls from the Pacific Northwest.

In a plan by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to significantly boost efforts to get rid of barred owls crowding out native owls in forests along the upper West Coast, trained shooters will target the invasive species over a period of 30 years across a maximum of about 23,000 square miles in California, Oregon and Washington.

U.S. officials hope to kill up to 452,000 barred owls, which in effect will stop the decline of northern spotted owls, a federally protected threatened species, and California spotted owls. California spotted owls were proposed for federal protection last year and a decision is still pending.

By Jake Johnson and Eloise Goldsmith / Common Dreams / Dec 19, 2024

The Teamsters launched what the union described as “the largest strike against Amazon in U.S. history” on Thursday morning to protest the e-commerce behemoth’s unlawful refusal to bargain with organized drivers and warehouse workers across the country.

Workers in New York City, Atlanta, San Francisco, and other locations are expected to participate in Thursday’s strike, with more facilities prepared to join if Amazon’s management doesn’t agree to negotiate contracts with unionized employees.

The union said Wednesday that Teamsters locals are also “putting up primary picket lines at hundreds of Amazon Fulfillment Centers nationwide.”

By Arturo Castanares / La Prensa San Diego / December 18, 2024

A new lawsuit claims the City of San Diego is violating its policy to protect the public from over-reaching surveillance equipment deployed by police without proper approval or transparency.

Three privacy advocates -Lilly Irani, Seth Hall, and Mat Wahlstrom- filed suit after the San Diego Police Department used surveillance systems at the Same Diego Pride Parade and Comic-Con without disclosing their use locations as required by law.

The lawsuit also claims SDPD improperly invoked an exemption for “exigent circumstances” without demonstrating an imminent or emergency threat, as mandated by the City’s TRUST ordinance.

Ocean Beach pub and lounge hopes to open in early spring 2025

By Beth Demmon / San Diego Magazine / December 18, 2024

Ocean Beach has always existed in its own world. It’s precisely that weird, wacky, wild, and wonderful world that business partners Kyle Jaworski and Sebastian Widman want to invest in by opening The Jetty at 4934 Voltaire Street in spring 2025.

“We want to be a place for people in town,” says Jaworski. “Ocean Beach is a very unique community, and a unique market where it’s important that you cater to the locals.”

Jaworski says The Jetty is not a gastropub but is reluctant to define exactly what it will be. He calls it a beach pub-meets-lounge with an “eclectic menu”