Author: Source

From Voice of San Diego / October 12, 2026

With fewer than two months left in the exclusive negotiating agreement between the city of San Diego and the Midway Rising development team, the City Council will begin discussing the actual deal staff has hashed out.

The Land Use and Housing Committee will consider the proposed lease and details of the deal at a special meeting Friday, Oct. 16.

Friday, October 9, city staff released its report on the proposal, which you can read here. The city claims it will be the largest affordable housing project in the state of California.

Come inside to find all the No King events from across San Diego County. Volunteer-led events will help residents register, check their registration status, and make a plan to vote ahead of the November election

On Saturday, Oct. 17, volunteers across San Diego County and Temecula will hold 21 “No Kings: Vote Early” events, marking what organizers call the next phase of the “No Kings” movement: channeling the power communities have built over the past year directly into the ballot box.

No two communities are the same, and each location has designed its own event around its own neighborhood, from library walk-to-vote routes to mutual-aid donation drives, as part of a broader election-protection effort to help every eligible voter register, check their status, and make a plan to vote before the November election. The Oct. 17 events take place just two days before California’s Oct. 19 voter-registration deadline.

Events are scheduled in Alpine, Balboa Park, Borrego Springs, Carmel Valley, Chula Vista, El Cajon, Fallbrook, Julian, La Jolla, La Mesa, Mira Mesa, University City, Ocean Beach, Oceanside, Ramona, Rancho Bernardo, Scripps Ranch, Temecula, Valley Center and Vista.

BACKGROUND 

Unlike past “No Kings” mobilizations, there is no single mass rally planned for Oct. 17 in downtown San Diego. The upcoming “No Kings: Vote Early” day is designed differently on purpose.

The following is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect that of the OB Rag.

It’s About County Measure A on the November 2026 Ballot

By Lu Rehling

My decision to vote NO on Measure A might have been easier to make if that single measure did not include three quite distinct types of changes to the San Diego County Charter, each with its own major long-term consequences. That bundling was the choice of the Supervisor who initiated the measure, Terra Lawson-Remer (the Board Chair), supported by her fellow Democrats on the Board, Monica Montgomery Steppe and Paloma Aguirre.

Their crucial decision to pass a bundled measure on to voters was pretty obviously political: A way to help the medicine of an unpopular extension of term limits go down by adding in a spoonful of sugar—promises about ethics oversight and increased accountability.

If those promises stood up to scrutiny, I might be casting a reluctant yes vote on Measure A, despite my mixed feelings about the term limits provision. However, we all know how political promises can go south once an election is over, so a closer look is in order.

Here are the THREE major provisions of Measure A:

By Debbie L. Sklar / Special to the OB Rag

Before San Diego had satellites, cellphones, or the internet, the Navy was sending messages across the Pacific from a small wireless station high on Point Loma.

The station used a Massie-type spark transmitter — primitive by modern standards but part of a revolutionary technology that allowed ships and shore stations to communicate without wires. It was placed in service on May 12, 1906.

Getting the equipment to Point Loma was an undertaking. According to the Naval History and Heritage Command, the transmitter was unloaded at San Diego’s Santa Fe wharf and hauled up the peninsula by horse-drawn wagon. The journey took nine hours, and the equipment was installed in a small building overlooking the ocean.

The station initially used the call sign TM. It was later assigned NPL, a call sign that remains associated with the Navy’s San Diego radio operations.

The new station helped extend the Navy’s communications network along the West Coast. Wireless allowed operators to exchange messages with ships at sea, reaching far beyond the limits of ordinary wired communications.

By JW August / The SD Monitor

The work of a dozen artists, Black, white, Latino, can now be seen on large murals painted on underpasses along Imperial Avenue in San Diego.

The paintings speak to the history and the culture of the neighborhoods that surround them.

The new artwork is visible to anyone driving on the Imperial Avenue underpass at Interstate 15, or on the same street at the 19th Street underpass at Interstate 5.

Some 280,000 vehicles a week pass these two sections of Imperial, according to the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Census Program.

A ribbon-cutting commemorating the murals was held Saturday at 37 20th Street and included live music and refreshments.

Four years in the making, the project was made possible when Caltrans approved $270,000 in funding that would go toward paying artists from the local community to create colorful and vibrant impressions of their communities.

These photos were taken around 10 am on Saturday, October 10, by former OBcean Scott Kessler.

From Pt Loma & OB Democratic Club

Meet & Greet with Nicole Crosby Tuesday, October 13, 5:30pm
Join Gale and Jim Hill and get to know Nicole, candidate for District 2

Pt Loma & OB Dems clubmember Gale Hill and her husband, Jim, are hosting a meet and greet with District 2 City Council candidate Nicole Crosby on — Tuesday, October 13, at 5:30 PM

Gale & Jim have invited us to join them to meet Nicole, hear her perspective on the issues facing District 2 and San Diego, and join the conversation.

By Shelby Bremer / 7SanDiego / October 8, 2026 

ICE has launched a 45-day enforcement surge in California, according to a new report that says the crackdown began in San Diego, where community organizers say they’ve seen an uptick in agents on the streets.

The Washington Examiner reports the effort is called “Operation Safe California,” citing a source who said officers were “told to go after anybody,” including those without a criminal history.

ICE and the Department of Homeland Security – which marked record-high monthly arrests multiple times this past summer – did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The unannounced nature of the enforcement effort seems to be a continuation of the marked shift under DHS Sec. Markwayne Mullin away from very public displays like the operations that rolled into Minneapolis and other cities across the country.

Organizers in San Diego said Thursday they’ve already seen an increase in enforcement on the ground, spotting more agents in vehicles with out-of-state license plates, as well as near schools – including an incident with a student outside Hoover High School.

“There’s been a massive surge. We’re getting phone calls from all around the city,” said Mea Dominguez, who’s part of the City Heights Defense Committee, a group that coordinates mutual aid for families impacted by detention and documents the presence of ICE. She said City Heights has been particularly impacted, but they’re getting calls now “every 10 to 15 minutes” from all across the region.

by Nadia Lathan / Cal-Matters / October 7, 2026

Want to know who’s who in Republican politics? Look no further than the megadonors bankrolling California’s voter ID initiative.

Illinois billionaire packing supply magnate Richard Uihlein, who has poured tens of millions of dollars into conservative causes, has contributed $17 million to the campaign for Proposition 39, a GOP-backed ballot measure to require voters to show a driver’s license or other government ID to vote.

Uihlein’s involvement and that of other deep-pocketed Republican donors is a signal that conservatives view Prop. 39 as a test of support for future battleground states in the broader push by President Donald Trump to tighten voter restrictions.

Uihlein is joined by Airbnb co-founder and current White House official Joe Gebbia, who on Wednesday gave $8 million to the campaign. Southern California businessman Steven Bray is another top donor, having loaned the campaign more than $3 million and given $50,000 outright. The right-wing political group Reform California, tech entrepreneurs Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and former Robert F. Kennedy Jr. presidential running mate Nicole Shanahan are also major donors. Combined, they have helped the campaign rake in more than $36 million —  $13 million more than their opponents a month from Election Day.

By Kathryn Burton

Proposition 45, on the ballot for the November 3 general election, would weaken critical environmental and public health protections currently in place by fast tracking development projects.

It would severely limit public participation in the process while making it easier for high polluting, corporate backed developers to poison our environment with no mechanism to fund cleanup. That would be left to the taxpayers. The nonpartisan California Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates that fast tracking polluting projects could cost taxpayers $100 million or more annually due to environmental harm and cleanup.

The California Environmental Quality Act currently requires state and local public agencies to identify, disclose, and minimize the potential negative environmental damage from proposed projects before approving them. It encourages public input on projects effecting the local community by exposing negative impacts. (For example, increased pollution, increased traffic, destruction of wildlife habitat.)

By Kit-Bacon Gressitt /  KB Gressitt Weekly Update / Oct. 7,, 2026

My friend said, “It’s not her fault, but . . .” and I gasped.

In the wake of four rapes and one sexual assault reported at Cal State University San Marcos this September, and the filing of the Cornell University gang rape civil case, chatter on every platform has been plentiful. Informed and otherwise.

None of it is surprising.

Those who are enlightened grasp the opportunity to educate the public.

“We must teach people to honor affirmative consent, but states’ definitions differ.”

“We must provide more security around residential halls, but that won’t stop rape by acquaintances.”

“We must help survivors seek justice, but so many are harmed by the process.