OB Rag

By Jim Kempton / Surfer.com / December 31, 2024

Wading into the Pacific Ocean on a clear cold New Year’s Eve in 1926, Faye Baird was more than a little nervous. For starters, she was carrying a ten-foot, 110-pound redwood surfboard on her back as she entered the shoreline. There was no wetsuit to seal out the 59-degree temperature on both land and sea—only a scratchy wool bathing suit. The winter sky had darkened early and was now turning a shade of blue-black.

Joining her—and already neck deep in the surf—was her partner Charlie Wright, a lifeguard from Ocean Beach just a few miles south. He was carrying two lit waterproof flares above his head, trying to get as far past the shorebreak as possible to prevent the torches from getting soaked before they reached the outside lineup. In the moonlight, Faye could see head-high waves rolling through on her right. But what gave her the most pause were the hundreds of people packing the Promenade, crowding the dunes. Hundreds more were following her to the water’s edge.

By Hunter Clauss / Los Angeles Times / Dec. 21, 2024

More than half of cannabis smoking products in California’s legal market contain chemicals that are not being monitored for public safety, my colleague Paige St. John reports in a new Times investigation that looked at hundreds of product tests and industry surveys.

The investigation raises significant questions about health threats to consumers and the state’s ability to monitor cannabis products, issues that have emerged as California’s $5-billion legal cannabis market struggles to overcome a resilient black market and growing competition from other states.

Here are three big findings from Paige’s investigation.

By Wendy Fry and Jeanne Kuang / CalMatters / Dec. 27, 2024

California’s southern border, long ‘ground zero’ in the fight between federal and local officials over immigration policy, is now at the center of renewed controversy over how far local leaders can go to protect people from deportation.

After San Diego County took steps earlier this month to strengthen safeguards for undocumented residents, an organization led by President-elect Donald Trump’s adviser Stephen Miller sent a letter warning that elected leaders and employees of “sanctuary” jurisdictions could be “criminally liable” if they impede federal immigration enforcement.

by Crystal Niebla / Times of San Diego — inewsource /December 26, 2024

San Diego officials are one step closer to eliminating a controversial zoning rule that singles out parts of the city’s southeastern neighborhoods.

The Planning Commission this month voted 5-1 to recommend removing a footnote quietly added to the municipal code in 2019 that allows developers to build single-family homes at a higher density in Encanto.

Some residents supported the removal of the footnote. But others urged the commission to reject the proposal as written because it was not retroactive, raising concerns about whether two projects already under consideration would be able to move forward with higher density.

Robert Campbell, vice chair of the Chollas Valley Community Planning Group, which has been demanding a removal of the footnote for months, said he has mixed feelings about the commission’s vote.

by Chris Jennewein / Times of San Diego / December 28, 2024

Mayor Todd Gloria has added his voice to growing community opposition to a proposed 23-story hotel and residential tower in Pacific Beach.

“While I am a staunch advocate for affordable housing, this project is an extreme application of the state Density Bonus Law that fails to meet the spirit or intent of California’s affordable housing policies,” he said in an email update to constituents just before Christmas.

The mayor noted “significant community concerns,” and added, “I share many of the reservations about the project.”

By Dani Miskell / 10News / Dec. 28, 2024

A local martial artist is set to receive three World Championship Titles in Sport Karate after competing in tournaments across the country in 2024.

At her last competition of the year in Toronto, Abigail Hunck,13, and her father, Michael, tallied all her points from the 12 competitions together, and the total number determined she met the threshold to win three World Championship Titles for the three divisions she competed in.

By Arturo Castañares / La Prensa San Diego / December 29, 2024

When San Diego County Supervisor Nora Vargas announced last week that she will not be taking office for her second term on January 6th, she set into motion political maneuvering among possible replacements for a coveted political seat that has only been up for grabs once in the past 29 years.

Vargas, who claims she’s resigning to protect her personal safety, is stepping down just weeks since winning re-election to her second four-year term after first being elected to the seat in 2020 to replace Supervisor Greg Cox who had held the position since 1995.

The five-member Board of Supervisors oversees the functions of over 20,000 employees and approves an annual budget of over $8.4 billion.

Family of girl hit by lifeguard on a Jet Ski sues city for negligence

By David Garrick / The San Diego Union-Tribune / December 30, 2024

Controversy continues to grow over the use of devices commonly known by the brand name Jet Ski at San Diego’s beaches and bays.

Amid an ongoing crackdown by San Diego lifeguards on unlicensed rentals of the devices on Mission Bay, a family is turning the tables by blaming a city lifeguard for running over their daughter in La Jolla Cove with a Jet Ski.

 AB 2234 goes into effect in 2025.

By M.G. Perez / 7SanDiego/ December 29, 2024

An e-bike rider was hit by a vehicle along Interstate-5 in Oceanside on Saturday evening.

It happened near the I-5 entrance ramp at Mission Avenue in front of Oceanside High School. According to California Highway Patrol investigators, the crash damaged the bike and seriously injured the person who had to be transported to an area hospital.

Officers interviewed the driver of the vehicle. They have not released the exact age of the young bike rider.

From California Environment / December 30, 2024

In the southern parts of San Diego’s Point Loma peninsula, Cabrillo National Monument serves as a symbol for both natural beauty and historical significance. Visitors can enjoy breathtaking ocean views, learn history at the Old Point Loma Lighthouse and explore the tidepools – shallow seawater that forms in the intertidal zone. Now, we have a chance to protect more of this beautiful place as environmental stressors pose threats to kelp forests and marine life that live within.

At the heart of this southern coastal treasure in California lies the Cabrillo State Marine Reserve (SMR), a Marine Protected Area (MPA) that plays a crucial role in preserving the rich marine ecosystem. However, the Cabrillo MPA currently encompasses just under half a square mile in the ocean. While this protection has been vital, it represents only a fraction of the area needed to ensure the long-term health of our marine ecosystems.

Originally published April 5, 2017

The Story of the “October Surprise”and How Reagan Got Away with It

It was the 1980 presidential election and Republican Ronald Reagan – the governor of California – was running against the incumbent, Democrat Jimmy Carter. And in 1980 a foreign country intruded into our election –the nation of Iran.

What was going on internationally was key to the context of the presidential election. For a year before the 1980 election- in early November 1979 – 52 Americans were seized and held hostage in the American Embassy in Tehran, the capital of Iran.

Because of decades of US intervention into Iranian affairs and due to our crucial support for the dictator, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, when the Iranian Revolution broke out in 1979, in retaliation for those deadly years of American monetary and military support for the Shah, one wing of the revolution seized the hostages.

It was a huge crisis for the Carter administration. The nightly news channels had those constant tickers counting the number of days the hostages had been held. And as the hostage crisis carried over into the presidential campaign, candidate Reagan hammered Carter for his failure to resolve the international crisis that the captivity of the hostages represented.

Amid all the laudatory and respectful accounts of former President Jimmy Carter in today’s press — he just passed away at the age of 100 — one key thing is missing in all the biographies of the Habitat for Humanity builder of affordable houses that was not covered — or even mentioned. And it was something that turned off an entire generation of college students to the peanut farmer-turned politician.

Carefully reading both the 6 pages of today’s Union-Tribune and the multiple pages at the LA Times tributes to Carter, there was not one mention, not one word of this Carter move that ruined his reputation among the young.

During late 1979, Carter called for the re-instituting of the military draft for all young Americans — during an era where relations with the Soviet Union were tearing thin and there was much saber-rattling in our country. The draft for the Vietnam war had ended in 1973 — and now, a mere 6 years later, Carter wanted it back. And in doing so, he caused the creation of a nation-wide and militant anti-draft movement that formed as a direct result of his fomenting another round of US militarism.

Immediately, anti-draft groups formed and held demonstrations against Carter and his draft amid calls to resist.

San Diego was no different. College and university students were the first group to mobilize in the new movement, other than longtime peaceniks who had paused their activism after the Vietnam war had ended.