OB Rag

To help with in-water rescues and hopefully cut the time it takes lifeguards and dive teams to find a swimmer in need, the San Diego lifeguard service announced it has acquired two AquaEye scanners designed to use ultrasound and artificial intelligence technologies to point rescuers in the right direction.

The scanners, unveiled Wednesday at the lifeguard headquarters at Mission Bay, where Lt. Rick Romero, San Diego lifeguards dive team leader, compared the device to a flashlight or a thermal detector used by firefighters in that it emits a beam that can register information with the device.

On Wednesday, November 22, nearly 50 Loma Portal residents surrounded an historic lamppost in the middle of the street, linked hands and chanted, “Save our street lamps!” At one point, the protesters began moving around the street lamp. They formed up for a brief rally and a couple of people spoke.

Earlier, locals had noticed city crews taking down lampposts near Poinsettia and Lotus. Some are older than 100 years. And the call went out to gather – by phone and email and Nextdoor.

And gather they did. People like Elaine Burrell helped organize the protest. She shared her sentiment and those of her neighbors with CBS8:

The Rose Creek Native Plant Garden has some very good friends, the nonprofit Friends of Rose Creek who judiciously maintain it and support it by being its custodian.

Friends accomplish this task, in part, through hosting work parties on the second Saturday of every month.

PB social activist and environmentalist, Karin Zirk, is the founder and current executive director of Friends of Rose Creek. If you’re lucky, you’ll get on one of her conducted tours of the native plant garden where she’ll explain the origin of the garden, its purpose, and the joys – and challenges – of keeping it properly tended.

Part 1

By Frank Gormlie (Updated version of original published 10 years ago)

It’s been 60 years since the end of Camelot and we are told it was the end of the “idealism of the Sixties”.

Well, it has been sixty years, and it’s been 60 years of the Big Lie – the Big Lie that Kennedy was killed by a lone gunman, and that Kennedy’s killer was then killed himself – which wraps it all up rather nicely, – case closed. The Big Lie is the Warren Commission Report – and all its apologists and defenders.

40 years ago a group of surfers from Malibu, California, were concerned about the health risks associated with environmental threats posed by escalating coastal development at their favorite surf spot. They took action. Not even they could have envisioned the history they were making when they succeeded in protecting their beloved surf spot.

Since its inception in 1984, the Surfrider Foundation has evolved into one of the largest non-profit grassroots organizations with a volunteer-activist network dedicated to its mission to protect and enjoy the world’s oceans, waves and beaches. Today, the Surfrider Foundation has over 200 chapters and student clubs …

The city of San Diego announced Wednesday, Nov. 22, that it will keep the Ocean Beach Pier closed through early next year as a result of recent damage and the potential for additional impairment during the upcoming storm season.

Here is the first part of a 2-part series about the assassination of President John Kennedy written 10 years ago.

By Frank Gormlie — originally posted Nov. 22, 2013

Fifty years ago this Friday, the 22nd of November, I walked out of my English class at Point Loma High School and full of disgust threw my brown bag full of lunch away in a trash can. I felt sick to my stomach and couldn’t bare to think ab0ut eating – we had just heard that the President had been shot by someone from an overpass  while he was riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas.

The Rolling Stones are wasting little time hitting the road to promote “Hackney Diamonds,” the legendary English band’s first album of new songs since 2005’s “A Bigger Bang” — and its first since the 2021 death of the group’s drummer, Charlie Watts.

The tour will open with an April 28 concert at NRG Stadium in Houston and conclude with a July 17 performance near San Francisco at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

By María José Durán / San Diego Magazine / Nov. 21, 2023

Some Californians rejoice when rain falls—but surfers aren’t among them. San Diegans have known for a long time that swimming in the ocean after a storm is a risk to their health, since runoff can send contaminants streaming into the sea. But recent discoveries are bringing to light that swimming or surfing in bacteria-contaminated water is no longer the only way to get exposed. Just walking on the beach—or merely existing near the coast—can make people sick.

Roll Up For Cannabis Equity – A Monthly Column

By Terrie Best

I met Wade years ago at a cannabis activist meeting and he stood out when he volunteered to host a seed exchange for patients who would like to grow for themselves. That generosity, very typical of Wade, eventually morphed into a really fun activist action at the first ever Cannabis Row at Earth Day in Balboa Park.

Earth Day is held every year around April 20th which of course begs for a cannabis presence. The legal market had begun to flex its PR and marketing muscle beyond the back pages of The Reader and Cannabis Row at Earth Day goes down in San Diego history as one of the first mainstream weed events. A win. After all, it was 2017!

Importance of community plans and local planning boards highlighted in tentative approval of Barrio Logan’s long-awaiting community growth plans

With the recent approval of Barrio Logan’s long-awaited community growth plan, it came to note that City staff raised similar concerns with affordable hotel policies in 2015 when the Ocean Beach growth blueprint was being considered. At that time, then-Coastal Commissioners agreed to remove those policies — but current commissioners say that eight years later, the city still has yet to come forward with a comprehensive, citywide ordinance.

This year, Small Business Saturday lands on Nov. 25. In brief, the Ocean Beach MainStreet Association’s annual Small Business Saturday celebration will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. They’re also hosting a scavenger hunt bingo game where shoppers will need to find parrot images at select businesses to win gift cards and prizes.

The association will also have a booth in front of the OB Mall where shoppers can submit receipts of $50 or more spent at Ocean Beach businesses for a chance to win gift cards. Booth visitors can also enter to win a holiday basket. Go here for more.