inewsource

Why this matters Advocates and policy makers say the state’s wage theft enforcement system is broken. With a backlog of nearly 50,000 cases and employers who are adept at evading paying judgments, workers often don’t recover what they are owed. The businesswoman who owns a network of care homes for the elderly and has been ordered to pay $2 million in wage theft judgments to former employees is now a defendant in a lawsuit alleging elder abuse at one of those homes.

Why this matters South Bay Union's school closures are hitting a district in which about a fourth of students receive special education services, and nearly three-fourths are considered socioeconomically disadvantaged. He knew he was facing a numbers problem when he took the job. But the bigger obstacle has been getting people to agree on what to do about it.

More than 2 million San Diego County voters will receive mail-in ballots the week of Oct. 5 under the same rules guiding them for years after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a new Postal Service rule that would have dramatically overhauled the November election. The rule would have let the U.S. Postal Service refuse to mail local ballots unless the envelope designs adhered to new federal requirements and voter data was uploaded to a federal database.

On Tuesday the San Diego City Council is set to approve a settlement with Alia Khouri, a former deputy chief operating officer for the city who lost her job when Mayor Todd Gloria restructured his executive team in December 2025. The city will pay Khouri $269,000 to resolve what the formal council resolution describes as a settlement demand “alleging wrongful conduct relating to Khouri’s employment with the city.” Khouri left the city when Gloria reorganized his executive team.

Why This Matters: Migrant children are being held at detention facilities longer than the three-day target set by longstanding government policy despite fewer encounters with families at the U.S.-Mexico border. Migrant families with children have been detained at a border station in San Diego for weeks at a time, despite federal guidelines limiting such detentions to three days, prompting intervention from a federal judge.

In June, former San Diego City Council member Jim Madaffer (2000-2008) was tooling up Sorrento Valley Road in his 2024 Tesla Model X when he struck a pothole in the northbound lane. Two of his tires blew out. He got a tow, rented a car, replaced the tires, missed work. It cost him $3,422.77 all told, according to a claim he submitted to the city June 17. Madaffer now serves on the San Diego County Water Authority and the Colorado River Board of California.

This story was originally published by EdSource. Sign up for their daily newsletter. As the daughter of separated parents, Liliana Messinger grew up splitting her time between a restless mom who always needed to be “doing something or going somewhere” and a dad who was content spending weekends gaming with her. Her father would pick her up from elementary school in San Diego, and the two would ride the bus home together. After a quick shower, he’d leave for his shift at a local steakhouse.

Why this matters A state law aiming to keep people from being able to “pay to play” in politics is affecting Oceanside politics. An Oceanside City Councilmember said he returned part of two campaign donations that appeared to violate a state law designed to reduce political pay-to-play in California.

Why this matters Community members have been living, working and shopping amid the ongoing contamination. Some have complained for years. Some are unaware of it. For years, the Chollas Creek community has been living and shopping among cancer-causing chemicals from a former aerospace factory.

Why this matters Oversight and accountability for federal housing programs, such as the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program, is key to stretch limited funding to those who need it most. The illegal rent increase saga that has for years dogged San Diego’s largest housing agency is nearing an end.