San Diego News Fix

Latest Episodes:

SeaWorld settles lawsuit with investors, aims to leave "Blackfish" era behind | Lori Weisberg Feb 13, 2020

Show notes

SeaWorld Entertainment announced Tuesday that it has agreed to pay $65 million to settle a longstanding lawsuit alleging that the company deceived investors when it failed to disclose early on the ill effect the anti-captivity documentary “Blackfish” was having on park attendance. The settlement comes just a week before a jury trial was to begin for the case, which originated in 2014 and was later certified as a class-action lawsuit. In a Tuesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, SeaWorld said that the settlement does not “constitute an admission, concession, or finding of any fault, liability, or wrongdoing by the Company or any defendant.” The proposed $65 million payment, says SeaWorld, is still subject to approval in federal court.

How San Diego's first coronavirus case was mistakenly released from the hospital | Paul Sisson Feb 12, 2020

Show notes

A long chain of missed opportunities led to an infected coronavirus patient mistakenly being discharged from a local hospital Sunday and then hastily returned on Monday. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and UC San Diego Health on Tuesday provided additional information on how the snafu happened. The update comes as concern continues to grow about an outbreak that started in China and has now produced a positive case in San Diego County after more than 200 evacuees were delivered to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar to wait out a 14-day government-mandated quarantine. Both organizations said Tuesday that the mixup started with simple mislabeling when local hospital personnel collected blood samples from three of four evacuees who showed possible coronavirus symptoms last week.

What San Diego County voters need to know about Measures A and B | J Harry Jones Feb 11, 2020

Show notes

It was supposed to be the exception, not the rule, when the county Board of Supervisors finally updated the General Plan, its blueprint for growth for more than 500,000 acres in the region’s unincorporated areas. Instead, a provision that permits projects that don’t conform to the document has become a gateway for developers seeking to build thousands of homes in areas not zoned for such development. It is called the General Plan Amendment and it is at the heart of two land-use proposals on the March 3 ballot: Measures A and B. The General Plan was updated by the county nearly a decade ago in a lengthy and collaborative effort by environmentalists, builders and the community. It lays out where it is appropriate to allow homes, businesses and industry – and where it isn’t.

It's time for San Diego to claim its title as a "pizza town" | Michele Parente Feb 08, 2020

Show notes

From traditional thin-crust Neapolitan to square pies and top-of-the-line toppings, pizza perfection can be found throughout the county, whether from a mom and pop, red-sauce Italian eatery or a trendy, upscale restaurant. And the region’s recent influx of chefs and restaurateurs from Italy — who import with them massive wood-fired pizza ovens, primo Italian 00 flour, prosciutto, San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and more — has only enriched the quality. Like Los Angeles, which is arguably the true best pizza city in the U.S., San Diego isn’t a town with hard-fast culinary traditions and carved-in-stone rules on what pizza is supposed to look like, taste like or even if it should be eaten with a fork and a knife or simply folded in your hands. That allows for the kind of freedom and creativity that might elude pizzaiolos in New York and Chicago, not to mention Naples. And like L.A., San Diego has an embarrassment of optimal fresh ingredients that can be used as toppings.

PETA claims victory after SeaWorld says no to trainers riding atop dolphins | Lori Weisberg Feb 07, 2020

Show notes

SeaWorld Entertainment says it is ending the longstanding practice of trainers riding astride dolphins in marine park shows, a move that comes nearly a year after animal-rights activists began pressuring the company to ban such “circus-style” behaviors. The decision to move away from such showy theatrics in the dolphin shows was disclosed in a letter sent earlier this month by a SeaWorld attorney to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The letter was addressing a shareholder proposal made last December by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which asked that SeaWorld prohibit trainers from riding on dolphins’ backs and standing on their faces. As of last December, PETA held 163 shares of SeaWorld stock and has owned at least $2,000 worth of common stock for some time.

Americans potentially exposed to coronavirus in quarantine at Miramar | Andrew Dyer, Paul Sisson Feb 06, 2020

Show notes

Two facilities at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar have been readied to house hundreds of Americans returning from China due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Marine Corps said Tuesday. Dr. Christopher Braden, a deputy director with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control deployed to handle repatriation flights from China to California, said the arrival is imminent. Late Tuesday, U.S. Northern Command said on Twitter that two U.S. State Department flights had left China bound for Travis Air Force Base near Vacaville. One plane will refuel and continue on to Miramar. Passengers on the other will be housed in quarantine at Travis.

Debate continues over the ethics of keeping elephants in captivity | John Wilkens Feb 05, 2020

Show notes

Much remains unknown about elephants, too — witness the death in December at the zoo of 48-year-old Tembo. A “sudden change” in the African pachyderm’s condition prompted keepers to euthanize her, according to zoo officials. They said she’d been under veterinary care for age-related ailments for a while. Results of a necropsy are pending. Her death came four weeks after another African elephant, M’Dunda, collapsed and died at the Oakland Zoo. She was 50 and had shown “no signs of existing medical issues, albeit her advanced age,” the zoo said. A necropsy is under way there, too. Elephants also die in the wild, of course, and often violently. But their passing in zoos raises thorny questions about what is gained by keeping them captive.

Can hobbyists help bring fabric stores back from the brink? | Brittany Meiling Feb 04, 2020

Show notes

Fabric stores that sell threads, buttons and materials for making clothes are dwindling in San Diego, with owners shuttering their shops citing waning interest from customers. The disappearance of fabric stores is probably not a shock to outsiders — in the age of fast fashion, who still makes their own clothes? But sewing garments at home is — surprisingly — not dead. While fabric stores of yesteryear are falling off the map, a new industry is rising up to meet the modern demands of young “sewists” — a relatively new term that describes anyone who sews. And these businesses look quite different than your grandma’s fabric shop.

Stuck in Wuhan as coronavirus spreads, 3 San Diegans wait | Joshua Emerson Smith Feb 01, 2020

Show notes

San Diego resident Yanjun Wei traveled with her two small children to the city of Wuhan to celebrate the Chinese New Year with her parents. Now the family is holed up in a high-rise apartment building in the megalopolis, believed to be ground zero of the deadly coronavirus outbreak that’s killed more than 200 people and sickened thousands. Over the last week, the Chinese government has put the urban area’s 11 million people under an unprecedented quarantine. Commercial flights, public transportation and even major roads have been shut down, leaving the usually bustling city eerily quiet, according to numerous accounts. “I’m trying not to be emotional here,” said the 37-year-old Wei, tearing up during a video interview with the Union-Tribune using the social-media app WeChat.

Border Dispatch: Longest-ever drug tunnel found in Otay Mesa | Wendy Fry Jan 31, 2020

Show notes

Authorities announced Wednesday the discovery of the longest, most sophisticated cross-border drug tunnel in history stretching nearly one mile from the Tijuana airport into the U.S. U.S. Border Patrol agents described the tunnel as the “most sophisticated they had seen” with an extensive rail and cart system to rapidly transport drugs, forced air ventilation, and high-voltage electrical cables and panels. The tunnel, named “Baja Metro” by border agents, also had an elevator at its entrance and a complex drainage system. The drug tunnel’s discovery was the culmination of a “challenging” multi-year, multi-agency investigation led by a coalition of U.S. law enforcement officers, according to Border Patrol.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected