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Documents Show Attorneys, Journalists And Advocates Monitored By Border Officials | Kate Morrissey Mar 09, 2019

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Documents published Wednesday indicate that the federal government has monitored a group of journalists, attorneys, advocates and activists who interacted with a migrant caravan that arrived in Tijuana late last year. NBC7 in San Diego published leaked documents Wednesday indicating that the U.S. government has kept dossiers on a group of 59 advocates, activists, attorneys and journalists it is investigating in relation to the migrant caravan that arrived in Tijuana in November. Many of those in the dossier appeared in previous articles by The San Diego Union-Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and The Intercept talking of frequent interrogations at the border or being denied entry to Mexico. The published documents indicate that officials placed alerts on some of the people in the group and canceled visas or SENTRI passes for others. Read the full story: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/immigration/sd-me-border-crossing-20190301-story.html In other news: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/courts/sd-me-rockcoons-plea-20190308-story.htmlp

San Diego Scientists Believe They've Discovered A New Species Of Killer Whales | Gary Robbins Mar 08, 2019

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San Diego scientist who led an expedition into dangerous waters off Chile collected tissue samples that could prove the existence of a graceful new species of killer whale, ending decades of mystery. Robert Pitman of NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SFSC) in La Jolla gathered the samples in January from three of the animals, which some researchers believe are the largest scientifically unidentified animals on Earth. The samples will be brought to SFSC so scientists can genetically determine if the rarely seen whales, known as Type D, are different from other orcas. The Type D are also believed to be smaller than other types of killer whales, although that fact has yet to be confirmed. Read the full story: www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/science/sd-me-killer-whales-20190306-story.html In other news: www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/energy-green/sd-fi-sdge-ev-credit-20190307-story.html

How Freedom Of Information Laws Keep Governments Accountable | Lauryn Schroeder Mar 07, 2019

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The San Diego Union-Tribune is one of the many news organizations that participates in Sunshine Week, which will begin next week. Here's a preview of what is coming.

Squatters? In My Neighborhood? It's More Common Than You Think | Peter Rowe Mar 06, 2019

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After two years working and living in Germany, Carrie and Scott Packard were itching to move back into their four-bed, two-bath Carlsbad home. They just couldn’t wait. But they had to. Their tenants, a young professional couple, had trashed the house. Dogs had ripped carpeting and urinated on floors. Garbage was strewn inside and outside. The yard had gone to seed. Although the tenants had signed a lease and passed a credit check, their payments were late, then partial and then, for the last six months, nonexistent. Worse, they were still living in the Packards’ home and entitled to stay there, unless the Packards could get a court judgment against them. “We didn’t actually have the legal right to our own home,” Carrie Packard said. “If we moved in, they could sue us for unlawful eviction.” Squatters made headlines earlier this year, when it was reported that an unauthorized person had quietly moved into a vacant Poway home that was in foreclosure. The story captured attention in large part because the house had been owned by the family of Tony Gwynn, the late Padres outfielder and Baseball Hall of Fame inductee. Yet people live in homes without the owner’s permission all the time. Happens so often, one courtroom in the San Diego Superior Court — Department 60 — is devoted almost exclusively to these cases. “We deal with true squatters at a crazy rate,” said Rachael Callahan, a lawyer and owner of San Diego Evictions, a law firm that specializes in representing landlords. “Department 60 will have a morning calendar and an afternoon calendar with 30 to 60 cases, and that’s daily.” Some cases are settled in the hallway outside the courtroom, often with a quick exchange lawyers have dubbed “cash for keys.” Carrie Packard’s lawyer, for instance, suggested she write a $1,500 check to ensure her tenants’ departure. “I’m not going to pay them,” she said. “They owe me money.” The whole process rankled Packard. “There’s no other crime where you could steal this amount of money from people,” she said, “and just walk away.” Read the full story: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/sd-me-squatters-living-high-life-20190303-story.html In other news: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/real-estate/sd-fi-rent-increases-20190305-story.html

Federal Firearms Agents Target Jeweler And Sheriff's Captain In Raids | Jeff McDonald Mar 05, 2019

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The affidavits filed by federal agents to secure search warrants for San Diego jeweler Leo Hamel and others have been sealed by a judge, along with any inventory of what was seized earlier this month. But court records show that Hamel and his former wife stored many firearms at their Jamul estate. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/watchdog/sd-me-hamel-gun-collection-20190226-story.html

SDSU West Is Starting To Take Shape | Jennifer Van Grove Mar 02, 2019

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The city of San Diego and San Diego State University have signaled that they are serious about making a deal on the Mission Valley property where the university plans to build a new football stadium and a satellite campus. Friday, the city and the university published for the first time the extensive roster of professionals who will be going to bat for each side when negotiating the price of 132 acres of prime, city-owned real estate. The parties also said they were prepared to sign off on what’s called a memorandum of agreement, or a legally binding document that will dictate the terms of land sale talks going forward. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/growth-development/sd-fi-sdsu-mission-valley-land-sale-negotiations-20190301-story.html https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/growth-development/sd-fi-sdsu-mission-valley-stadium-clark-construction-20190228-story.html

Border Dispatch: Funding The Wall Could Cut San Diego’s Military Funds | Andrew Dyer & Charles Clark Mar 01, 2019

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While the president’s former attorney Michael Cohen made headlines testifying before Congress Wednesday, a few senior defense officials were grilled in the same building at another Congressional hearing on military issues that could affect San Diego County. A House Appropriations subcommittee called a hearing on the impact that President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall project may have on military readiness, now that he has declared a state of emergency. Trump has said he wants to divert up to $8.1 billion toward the border wall, including $3.6 billion of “unobligated” funds in the military construction budget. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/military/sd-me-trump-military-projects-20190227-story.html

Border Dispatch: A Tijuana Woman Was Found Buried In Her Own Backyard | Wendy Fry Feb 28, 2019

Show notes

Already, three terrible long weeks had passed without answers and the family of Fernanda González Serrano could not let another day go by without the truth. González, 32, who grew up in San Diego and Tijuana, was dedicated to her family and would never ignore them or willfully take off, they insisted. She was missing without any clues as to her whereabouts. That’s why, on Sunday, her father disregarded the advice of police and brought a pick ax and a shovel to his daughter’s Tijuana home to begin digging holes in the yard. He eventually found her body buried in the courtyard — a Volkswagen Beetle had been parked on top of her makeshift grave. Family members reported González missing to Tijuana authorities in early February. She stopped responding to WhatsApp messages on Feb. 3, said Erika Serrano González, the victim’s sister who lives in Chula Vista. “My sister never turns her phone off. She always answers,” said Erika González, about how she knew something was wrong. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/border-baja-california/sd-me-missing-girl-20190226-story.html

Once Convicted Of Murder, A Carlsbad Man Is Now Free And A Millionaire | Pam Kragen Feb 27, 2019

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On Nov. 11, 1978, Simi Valley police arrested restaurant manager Craig Coley for the murder of his girlfriend and her 4-year-old son. Despite a solid alibi, no criminal record, questionable evidence and a public outcry over his innocence, Coley was convicted of the crimes. He spent 38 years and 10 months in prison before Governor Jerry Brown, citing DNA and other evidence, exonerated him on Thanksgiving Eve in 2017. Regaining his freedom was one form of justice for Coley, who is now 71 and lives in Carlsbad. Another came on Saturday when the city of Simi Valley announced a $21 million settlement with Coley over a civil rights case he filed last year. Coley’s award is the highest individual civil rights case payout to an exoneree in California history and the fifth highest in the U.S. since record-keeping began in 1989, according to Jeffrey S. Gutman, co-director of the Jacob Burns Community Legal Clinics at George Washington University School of Law in Washington, D.C. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/north-county/sd-no-coley-settlement-20190225-story.html

Judge Rules That Selective Service Is Unconstitutional For Not Including Women | Andrew Dyer Feb 26, 2019

Show notes

A federal judge has ruled that a men-only draft is unconstitutional, but he stopped short of ordering the Selective Service System to register women for military service. The Houston judge sided with a San Diego men’s advocacy group that challenged the government’s practice of having only men sign up for the draft, citing sex discrimination in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection clause. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/courts/sd-me-military-draft-women-lawsuit-20190223-story.html

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