News | Probation officers faulted for beating disabled boy in juvenile hall By Jeff McDonald July 14, 2024 at 5:00 a.m. Three officers used excessive force against the boy, the San Diego County Citizens’ Law Enforcement...
News | Man died in San Diego jail after deputies wrongly placed him in cell with violent offender, outside review finds By Jeff McDonald July 14, 2024 at 4:50 a.m. The first-degree murder case against the killer is scheduled for a hearing this week, with...
News | Transparency or retaliation? State insurance chief accused of targeting critic By Jeff McDonald July 14, 2024 at 5:55 p.m. The advocacy group Consumer Watchdog has yet to receive what has historically been a routine...
News | Sheriff boosts jail safety protocols but stops short of body scans for all By Jeff McDonald July 11, 2024 at 7:13 p.m. Her announcement comes after calls for routine drug screening from the county's civilian oversight board...
News | Search under way for new San Diego Ethics Commission chief By Jeff McDonald July 12, 2024 at 12:26 p.m. Sharon Spivak is leaving after 19 years of city service
News | City attorney employee says she was sexually harassed, assaulted at work By Jeff McDonald July 10, 2024 at 5:52 p.m. Her lawsuit accuses the city of hiring a former San Diego police sergeant despite a...
News | After record $15 million settlement, San Diego County still confronts a slew of other jail-death lawsuits By Jeff McDonald July 8, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. Many of the lawsuits over people's deaths in local jails accuse the Sheriff’s Department of...
News | San Diego OKs $287,500 payout to 2 people injured on damaged road, sidewalk By Jeff McDonald July 5, 2024 at 1:38 p.m. And according to city budget records, the office in charge of managing claims is growing.
News | His cancer surgery was delayed for months while he was in jail. Now he’s sued the sheriff. By Jeff McDonald July 4, 2024 at 11:26 a.m. Clarence Hightower underwent his surgery last July, days after The San Diego Union-Tribune reported on...
News | ‘We will be watching’: After historic settlement, Elisa Serna’s parents look to reform deadly jails By Jeff McDonald July 2, 2024 at 10:27 p.m. 'I don't see change,' her mother said Tuesday, just after agreeing to end a lawsuit...
News | San Diego County settles Elisa Serna jail death lawsuit for $15 million, and limited federal oversight By Jeff McDonald July 2, 2024 at 7:57 p.m. 'The dollar amount doesn’t matter,' said her mother, who plans to keep advocating for other...
News | Deputies wrongly allowed drugs into San Diego County jails, investigation finds By Jeff McDonald June 29, 2024 at 5:01 a.m. The sheriff's oversight board has sustained two more misconduct findings in recent jail deaths.
News | Man dies in San Diego jail one day after arrest, marking 6th in-custody death this year By Jeff McDonald June 27, 2024 at 4:59 p.m. The man was found dead Wednesday night on the floor of a shower inside the...
News | Days after Union-Tribune report, feds agree to pay $4,000 for damage to teen’s car By Jeff McDonald June 27, 2024 at 6:24 p.m. The owner of a Honda Civic hit by a federal employee was given no explanation...
SUBSCRIBER ONLY Energy | SDG&E agrees to pay $71,000 fine over 2021 power shutoff By Rob Nikolewski June 24, 2024 at 4:04 p.m. SDG&E agrees to pay nearly $71,000 in fines related to power shutoff during Thanksgiving 2021
How California agencies are keeping misconduct investigations secret despite transparency laws By Kristen Taketa June 23, 2024 at 6:19 a.m. School districts and other public agencies are using attorneys to conduct fact-finding investigations for misconduct...
Politics | A park, a migrant center and help for victims of violence: What’s changed in the county’s revised $8.5B budget By Emily Alvarenga June 20, 2024 at 10:10 a.m. The revised budget adds almost $46.9 million in spending, nearly all of which will go...
News | E-bike nonprofit CEO accused of faking program data, mixing public and private business By Jeff McDonald June 18, 2024 at 7:38 p.m. A former Pedal Ahead manager makes the allegations in claims filed this week with SANDAG...
News | Hundreds of vacancies at San Diego city and county boards hobble missions, delay work By Jeff McDonald June 17, 2024 at 10:19 a.m. With more than 1,800 seats and rules tailored to each of the nearly 200 bodies...
News | One San Diego teen’s fender-bender is a lesson in government accountability — and the lack of it By Jeff McDonald June 17, 2024 at 6:40 a.m. Some of the most basic tenets of American democracy are the ideas that we all...
News | In latest setback, San Diego’s utility office wrongly debits hundreds of auto-pay water customers By Jeff McDonald June 14, 2024 at 1:51 p.m. The announcement by city officials comes three weeks after a county grand jury report detailed...
News | Catholic diocese will seek bankruptcy protection from hundreds of sex-abuse claims By Jeff McDonald June 13, 2024 at 5:40 p.m. The San Diego diocese's Chapter 11 petition will be filed Monday, Cardinal Robert McElroy says
News | Poway Unified fired its superintendent for allegedly interfering in investigation related to her daughter By Kristen Taketa June 13, 2024 at 5:07 p.m. The district said it found that Marian Kim Phelps had leveraged her position to initiate...
News | Internship for daughter of San Diego mayor’s top aide raises questions about city’s nepotism policy, recruitment By Jeff McDonald June 9, 2024 at 12:01 p.m. SAN DIEGO — The daughter of the top adviser to San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria was awarded...
News | Sheriff won’t be deposed in class-action case challenging jail conditions By Jeff McDonald June 8, 2024 at 1:40 p.m. Sheriff Kelly Martinez will not have to sit for a deposition with lawyers suing her...
News | Effort to strengthen ethics panel moves toward full San Diego City Council vote By Jeff McDonald June 8, 2024 at 12:19 a.m. An effort to boost the independence and authority of the San Diego Ethics Commission is...
News | Who will lead civilian sheriff oversight? San Diego County board moves closer to finding new executive officer By Jeff McDonald June 3, 2024 at 12:01 p.m. A panel of residents from all five San Diego County supervisorial districts has been chosen...
News | San Diego County faces new lawsuit from UCSD professor in wake of Nathan Fletcher allegations By Jeff McDonald May 31, 2024 at 1:46 a.m. SAN DIEGO — The legal repercussions surrounding the sexual assault and harassment allegations against former San Diego...
News | San Diego officials misled the public on Chollas Creek flood-control work, new suit alleges By Jeff McDonald May 30, 2024 at 12:01 p.m. A new lawsuit accuses San Diego city officials of wrongly claiming in years of budget...
News | More independence, sharper teeth: Elliott’s ethics plan would overhaul how campaign, lobbying rules are enforced By Jeff McDonald May 30, 2024 at 10:14 p.m. More than two decades ago, the city of San Diego established an ethics board to...
News | San Diego’s unusual deal to settle asbestos violations? Planting thousands of trees By Jeff McDonald May 28, 2024 at 10:52 p.m. Last month, when San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria appeared at a Logan Heights park to...
News | Interim SANDAG chief executive to resign rather than return to position as deputy CEO By Jeff McDonald May 25, 2024 at 2:42 a.m. Coleen Clementson, the longtime deputy at the San Diego Association of Governments who stepped in...
News | No more tolls on SR-125? SANDAG is considering it – but making the road free would take years and cost millions By Jeff McDonald May 24, 2024 at 10:47 p.m. The San Diego Association of Governments could spend millions of dollars to do away with...
News | Jason Hughes, broker in 101 Ash St. deal, wins bid to stop his license from being revoked By Jeff McDonald May 17, 2024 at 2:20 a.m. A Superior Court judge has blocked the California Department of Real Estate from revoking the...
News | No immediate decision on whether sheriff will be compelled to testify in San Diego jails suit By Jeff McDonald May 16, 2024 at 4:05 p.m. Sheriff Kelly Martinez is not avoiding a proposed deposition in the federal lawsuit challenging her...
News | Judge dismisses lawsuit accusing San Diego officials of exposing city workers to asbestos By Jeff McDonald May 15, 2024 at 3:10 a.m. Early last year, just weeks before a jury was scheduled to decide whether the city...
News | Public school, religious instruction: Many San Diego County charter school students are also enrolling in religious programs By Kristen Taketa June 12, 2024 at 11:51 a.m. In San Diego County and across California, some K-12 school students are getting what their...
News | SANDAG, facing federal investigation, OKs $500,000 for outside lawyers to respond By Jeff McDonald May 10, 2024 at 5:44 p.m. Officials at the San Diego Association of Governments, the regional planning agency that controls a...
News | As deaths and lawsuits pile up, sheriff selects another medical provider for San Diego County jails By Jeff McDonald May 10, 2024 at 8:51 p.m. Tucked inside a lengthy declaration filed by one of the attorneys suing to impose reforms...
News | Plaintiffs challenging San Diego County jail practices want a court order to depose sheriff By Jeff McDonald May 7, 2024 at 1:27 p.m. Lawyers suing the San Diego County Sheriff's Department are asking a federal judge to compel...
News | Asbestos, city workers and high-rise renovations: Showdown looms in lawsuit that recalls 101 Ash St. By Jeff McDonald May 4, 2024 at 12:01 p.m. A downtown high-rise riddled with asbestos. Hundreds of San Diego city employees toiling away during...
News | Jury awards $1.8 million to family of man who died in San Diego County jail 10 years ago By Jeff McDonald May 3, 2024 at 5:35 p.m. The family of a man who died in a San Diego County jail more than...
News | San Diego County civilian oversight board struggles in wake of resignation and vacancies By Jeff McDonald May 3, 2024 at 12:01 p.m. The executive officer just quit, saying his findings and recommendations were not being taken seriously...
News | Flush with tax revenue and other income, San Diego County releases $8.5B spending plan By Jeff McDonald May 3, 2024 at 2:39 a.m. San Diego County unveiled its long-awaited proposed budget for the upcoming year on Thursday, a...
News | San Diego rejects proposal to limit corporate, labor union money in city elections with public financing By David Garrick April 25, 2024 at 12:01 p.m. SAN DIEGO — An effort to limit corporate and labor union money in San Diego city elections...
News | Would-be homeless shelter landlord borrowed millions against proposed 35-year deal, county records show By Jeff McDonald April 21, 2024 at 12:01 p.m. On the same day investor Douglas Hamm paid more than $13 million for the abandoned...
News | Years after Elisa Serna’s death in jail, newly unsealed records reveal damning details of serious lapses in her care By Jeff McDonald April 20, 2024 at 2:43 p.m. Witnesses saw her stumbling around her cell, wobbly and falling down. She was vomiting repeatedly,...
News | San Diego mayor to pay $10,500 fine for not disclosing donations he solicited, including to his nonprofit By Jeff McDonald April 18, 2024 at 8:38 p.m. One of the lesser-known privileges of being an elected official in California is the right...
News | San Diego’s dubious real estate track record slows down mayor’s proposed new 1,000-bed shelter By Jeff McDonald April 15, 2024 at 5:50 p.m. It is the biggest and most expensive effort yet aimed at tackling the persistent crisis...
News | SANDAG executives take responsibility for SR-125 toll failures but don’t explain why they waited to act By Jeff McDonald April 13, 2024 at 12:49 a.m. Senior managers at the San Diego Association of Governments accepted full responsibility for a series...
News | San Diego isn’t properly reporting or evaluating hundreds of millions in homelessness spending, state audit finds By Jeff McDonald April 10, 2024 at 4:03 a.m. San Diego city officials spent hundreds of millions of dollars over three years to fight...
News | One union spent heavily to remake county Democratic leadership in elected officials’ image. Party activists aren’t thrilled. By Jeff McDonald April 8, 2024 at 1:52 p.m. Historically, campaigns for seats on a political party's central committee were low-key, low-dollar affairs.The candidates...
News | Judge orders Elisa Serna jail-death evidence unsealed, after Union-Tribune moves to intervene By Jeff McDonald April 6, 2024 at 1:38 a.m. A San Diego federal judge ordered that dozens of video recordings, interviews and other evidence...
News | What charter schools and authorizers should be doing to prevent fraud, according to a new report By Kristen Taketa April 4, 2024 at 8:01 p.m. A new report calls for several improvements in charter school practices to prevent potential financial...
News | Should San Diego whistleblowers get more protections? Here’s what the city is proposing By David Garrick April 4, 2024 at 12:01 p.m. SAN DIEGO — San Diego city leaders say they want to strengthen the city's protections for whistleblower...
News | Union-Tribune, CBS 8 seek to intervene in Serna case in effort to unseal jail-death records, exhibits By Jeff McDonald April 3, 2024 at 8:27 p.m. In the five years since Elisa Serna died alone on the floor of her cell...
News | Repeated failures by San Diego County jail health provider prompt sheriff to order it to fix deficiencies By Jeff McDonald April 2, 2024 at 3:34 p.m. The prime contractor delivering health care services in San Diego County jails failed to pay...
News | How transparent are San Diego’s school boards? Some districts and charters aren’t making all their business public By Kristen Taketa March 31, 2024 at 12:01 p.m. Dozens of charter schools and a couple of school districts in San Diego County do...
News | Top deputy named interim executive officer at county’s civilian oversight board By Jeff McDonald March 30, 2024 at 5:09 p.m. The top assistant to the former executive in charge of the San Diego County Citizens’...
News | Nathan Fletcher goes on offense in sexual assault case, files defamation countersuit against accuser By Jeff McDonald March 30, 2024 at 4:11 a.m. In the immediate hours after being accused of sexual harassment and assault, former San Diego...
News | Federal agents are looking into SANDAG, after internal review finds staggering lack of oversight, disclosure By Jeff McDonald March 30, 2024 at 5:16 p.m. Financial reports detailing toll-road charges and collections cannot be trusted, and the department in charge...
News | No jail: Former Whitburn aide Jesus Cardenas sentenced to work furlough, home detention for two felonies By Jeff McDonald March 28, 2024 at 5:41 a.m. Jesus Cardenas, who helped some of the most prominent Democrats in San Diego County get...
Local Politics | Waiting for answers: Family of man who died in sheriff’s custody has no idea what happened By Jeff McDonald March 25, 2024 at 9:38 p.m. Abdul Kamara had a bus to catch.The 29-year-old San Diego County transplant was headed home...
News | A year after civil and criminal settlements, 101 Ash St. continues to haunt San Diego By Jeff McDonald March 24, 2024 at 12:01 p.m. One year has passed since a head-spinning week of political decision-making all but shuttered the...
News | What’s next for oversight of San Diego sheriff? As he steps away, departing watchdog says ‘there’s still no transparency’ By Jeff McDonald March 25, 2024 at 4:23 a.m. The resignation letter from San Diego County’s top civilian oversight official was short and to...
News | Tougher oversight, more transparency: Report recommends sweeping changes to California charter school laws to prevent future abuses By Kristen Taketa March 24, 2024 at 6:21 p.m. A sweeping new report recommends more than two dozen legislative and policy changes to address...
News | Lawyer fired by San Diego city attorney set to collect $542,500 settlement By Jeff McDonald March 15, 2024 at 12:28 a.m. SAN DIEGO — Three years ago, as San Diego was in the thick of defending a wrongful-termination...
News | John Gomez withdraws his lawsuit against San Diego attorneys’ group he once presided over By Jeff McDonald March 14, 2024 at 12:01 p.m. SAN DIEGO — John Gomez, the firebrand San Diego litigator known locally through several high-profile lawsuits and...
News | Chula Vista reviewing change of ownership at dispensary co-owned by indicted businessman By Jeff McDonald March 13, 2024 at 10:19 p.m. CHULA VISTA — The co-owner of a Chula Vista marijuana dispensary whom federal prosecutors criminally indicted last...
News | Paul Parker, who drove push for more oversight of sheriff, will leave civilian review board By Jeff McDonald March 13, 2024 at 5:40 p.m. Paul Parker, the driving force behind toughening civilian oversight of the San Diego County Sheriff’s...
Business | Here’s how many San Diego customers are behind on their utility bills By Rob Nikolewski March 10, 2024 at 1:01 p.m. Roughly one-quarter of San Diego Gas & Electric customers are still behind on their monthly...
News | Mickail Myles was stopped by sheriff’s deputies and beaten 10 years ago. The ensuing lawsuit cost the county $11M – and counting. By Jeff McDonald March 10, 2024 at 12:01 p.m. The facts behind a San Diego lawsuit now before a federal appeals court are horrific...
News | ‘You are not a good credit risk’: San Diego’s pension board rejects the city’s bid to slash its payments By David Garrick March 9, 2024 at 3:48 a.m. SAN DIEGO — San Diego's pension board voted Friday to reject a proposed $352 million reduction in...
News | Years-long effort to hire outside lawyers, when needed, ends with voters’ approval of Measure A By Jeff McDonald March 9, 2024 at 2:23 a.m. SAN DIEGO — Andy Hanau had not even been named San Diego city auditor when the idea...
News | After strong showing in mayoral primary, lawsuit challenging Larry Turner’s eligibility is withdrawn By Jeff McDonald March 8, 2024 at 9:55 p.m. Days after San Diego police Officer Larry Turner appeared to secure a spot on the...
News | San Diego County loses another round in its long-running effort to keep sheriff’s records private By Jeff McDonald March 8, 2024 at 6:51 p.m. San Diego County lawyers continue fighting in court to keep secret the internal Sheriff’s Department...
News | San Diego makes its case for a $352 million near-term pension reprieve – with a steep payment hike beyond By David Garrick March 8, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. SAN DIEGO — San Diego officials are making their case Friday for a $352 million reduction in...
News | Four years later, audit finds San Diego likely paid millions too much for Mission Valley hotel By Jeff McDonald March 7, 2024 at 12:12 a.m. Four years after the San Diego Housing Commission bought a Mission Valley hotel without the...
News | Despite felony pleas, Cardenas siblings may remain politically active behind the scenes By Jeff McDonald March 3, 2024 at 1:01 p.m. Felony guilty pleas, a state suspension of the company they ran and a pledge by...
News | Dozens of San Diego flood channels haven’t been maintained in more than a decade By Kristen Taketa March 3, 2024 at 1:01 p.m. San Diego is finally clearing dozens of flood channels that it says have sorely needed...
News | Mayor appoints former prosecutor to San Diego Ethics Commission By Jeff McDonald February 27, 2024 at 5:04 p.m. At one point last year, the city of San Diego’s campaign and elections regulator had...
News | Once again, San Diego County and sheriff sued for wrongful death of mentally ill man in jail By Jeff McDonald February 27, 2024 at 5:05 p.m. San Diego County, its sheriff and several health care contractors have been sued — yet...
News | Two San Diego mayoral appointees linked to lawsuit challenging opponent’s residency By Jeff McDonald February 25, 2024 at 1:01 p.m. Two political appointees of San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria are indirectly linked to a lawsuit...
News | Citizens’ oversight board again urges sheriff to body-scan deputies entering jails for drugs By Jeff McDonald February 15, 2024 at 1:37 a.m. The voices demanding that Sheriff Kelly Martinez do more to stop overdoses inside San Diego...
News | New details in 2022 sheriff’s shooting sought by civilian oversight board By Jeff McDonald February 15, 2024 at 1:11 a.m. Two years ago this week, San Diego sheriff’s deputies shot Erik Jaracuarro Talavera more than...
News | San Diego sheriff’s deputies and medical staff ignored signs of distress before man died in jail, report says By Jeff McDonald February 13, 2024 at 1:00 a.m. Two years ago, William Schuck crashed his car where Interstate 8 meets Sunset Cliffs Boulevard....
News | With the last briefs filed, the man challenging San Diego’s deal for 101 Ash St. prepares to argue his appeal By Jeff McDonald February 13, 2024 at 2:35 p.m. The public drama has waned over the year and a half since Mayor Todd Gloria...
News | Doing Good: Scores of volunteers turn out to clean up trash left in the wake of the flood By Jeff McDonald February 11, 2024 at 12:43 a.m. SAN DIEGO — The pickups have been hosted every month dating back years, but the effort Saturday...
News | New legal claims against San Diego over January flooding seek class-action status By Jeff McDonald February 10, 2024 at 1:01 p.m. The ramifications of the flooding that drove hundreds of people from their homes and caused...
News | SANDAG hit with class-action lawsuit over flawed toll-collection system on South Bay Expressway By Jeff McDonald February 8, 2024 at 2:59 a.m. The regional planning agency that operates a flawed toll-collection system along state Route 125 has...
News | San Diego agrees to pay $250,000 to settle retaliation claim filed by fired accountant By Jeff McDonald February 5, 2024 at 1:01 p.m. A longtime accountant for the San Diego City Treasurer’s Office who says she was fired...
News | In Chula Vista, when it comes to public records, not much is public By Jeff McDonald February 4, 2024 at 9:31 p.m. In Chula Vista, even when public records have been retrieved, reviewed, redacted and released, they...
News | Here’s how much San Diego County school superintendents were paid in 2022 By Kristen Taketa February 7, 2024 at 8:52 p.m. Annual pay and benefits topped half a million dollars for some San Diego County school...
News | Years after first assault claims, last case against predatory sheriff’s deputy comes to unceremonious close By Jeff McDonald February 2, 2024 at 9:55 p.m. The disgraced sheriff’s deputy is finally out of jail. Most of his victims have already...
News | After sheriff rejects drug-scanning plan for second time, civilian review board gears up for a new fight By Jeff McDonald February 2, 2024 at 7:08 p.m. The civilian board that oversees San Diego County law enforcement took the unusual step last...
News | San Diego council members nix effort to let voters choose city auditor By David Garrick February 1, 2024 at 8:32 p.m. SAN DIEGO — San Diego City Council members rejected a proposal Wednesday to make the city auditor...
News | Deadline looms for indicted partner to divest from pot shop, as Chula Vista officials deny extension request By Jeff McDonald February 1, 2024 at 11:40 p.m. CHULA VISTA — After he was indicted on federal charges related to a South County food business,...
News | What San Diego is – and isn’t – doing to fix its ‘failing’ stormwater system By Jeff McDonald June 7, 2024 at 3:04 p.m. When flash flood waters swept into homes and businesses near Chollas Creek last week, not...
News | They died in San Diego County jails. They shouldn’t have been there at all, an outside review found. By Jeff McDonald January 28, 2024 at 12:40 a.m. Two people who died in San Diego County jails in 2021 and 2022 should not...
News | Outside review of MTS firing in Nathan Fletcher case finds no knowledge of improper relationship By Jeff McDonald January 26, 2024 at 1:19 a.m. No one at San Diego Metropolitan Transit System knew about any improper relationship between former...