Month: March 2025

As tariffs on Canada and Mexico go into effect on Tuesday, March 4, local San Diego industries prepare to suffer. From the building industry and new homes to the city’s craft beer businesses, all expect to be hurt.

Even while U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sunday, March 2 that Trump will determine whether to stick with the planned 25% level or not, San Diego will undoubtedly be affected negatively.

For example, Nat Bosa is a developer whose company, Vancouver, Canada-based Bosa Development, is in the middle of construction on a 389-unit condo tower called Andia in downtown San Diego, with plans to build a 211-unit apartment building next to Children’s Park. He is flabbergasted at the looming tariffs.

Bosa told the U-T, “To have the illusion (tariffs) would not cost us more money is absolute insanity. Right now, we have no idea to what extent.”

By Brooke Binkowski / Times of San Diego / March 3, 2025

A Lithuanian man who was attempting to row from San Diego to Brisbane in order to raise awareness for Ukraine was rescued in the South Pacific by the Australian Navy Sunday after he ran into a tropical cyclone.

Aurimas Mockus, 44, set off from Shelter Island last October. He said at the time that he was doing in order to honor the thousands of people who have died in the Russia-led war in Ukraine and to remind the world to continue to pay attention to the ongoing violence there.

By Eric S. Page / 7SanDiego / February 28, 2025 •

A fire on the beach in OB seems relatively innocent enough, typically, but when police stopped by recently to check out what they called an illegal beach fire, they made a shocking discovery.

Two men were kicking sand on the flames when officers from the Western Division Beach Team approached early one morning last month, SDPD posted on Wednesday, Feb. 26, on Instagram, and were also trying to conceal containers of alcohol.

One of the men, who the officers said they recognized, was arrested on drug charges, police said, but his companion gave them some sort of fake ID and was subsequently taken into custody.

Further investigation of the man turned up an identification — Christopher Blevins, 45, of New Jersey — and a criminal warrant.

It turns out that the New Jersey native had been charged on Jan. 3 with second-degree desecration of human remains and third-degree hindering apprehension in Cape May County, prosecutors said.

And now, you can add first-degree murder to that.

After recovering more than 15 tons of wreckage from the crash of an unoccupied fighter jet that hurtled into the San Diego Bay last month, crews Sunday planned to remove the heavy equipment used in the effort, according to the U.S. Navy Third Fleet command.

This will allow civilian boaters to regain access to the Shelter Island basin two weeks after the crew of the EA-18G Growler safely ejected during an apparent mechanical emergency, officials said.

Speaking about weather — did you see our first post of snow at Mt Laguna?

Today’s Axios San Diego looks at the NOAA layoff risk and what it means for us in San Diego. The brief report by Andrew Keatts, Andrew Freedman and Kate Murphy concluded that “it’s not yet clear how cuts to the weather and climate agency will affect San Diego,” despite the Trump administration laying off about 800 so-called “probationary” workers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last Thursday, Feb. 27.

They found that “as of Friday afternoon, Axios learned there were no cuts to the local NWS office, where 22 employees are responsible for around-the-clock forecasts for the San Diego region.” This is good news because “The coverage area it is responsible for is home to the third largest population of any NWS field office in the country.”

Mt Laguna at 8 a.m. this morning, Monday, March 3, 2025. This is at 6,000 feet. This is definitely more than hail. You saw it first here.

In an unexpected development, the First United Methodist Church (FUMC) of Mission Valley has decided to abandon plans to sell the historic Point Loma United Methodist Church property to developers for affordable housing.

The shift comes after a recent meeting between the FUMC task force overseeing the initiative and Bishop Dottie Escobedo-Frank, who represents the California-Pacific Conference (Cal-Pac) of the United Methodist Church