inewsource’s illustrated project detailing the scourges of fentanyl in a unique graphic-novel approach was named a finalist today for the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in the category of Illustrated Storytelling and Commentary.
“Fentanyl: A Decade of Death,” published in December 2024, shined a white hot light on San Diego as an epicenter of fentanyl trafficking. Nearly 75,000 people nationwide died of fentanyl in 2023, and about 20,000 pounds of fentanyl were seized by the U.S. Border Patrol at the southern border that same year.
Steve Breen, celebrated cartoonist and two-time Pulitzer winner, led the inewsource team that produced the project, “Fentanyl: A Decade of Death.” His work was supported by a team at inewsource, including Managing Editor Jamie Self; Giovanni Moujaes, Assistant Editor of Audience and Innovations; and Audience Engagement Producer Iran “JR” Martinez.
Pulitzer Prizes are awarded for excellence in journalism and the arts by Columbia University and are considered among the highest honors in these fields.
In Jim Fogel’s family, there have been five accidents near the Interstate 5 and State Route 78 interchange.
He was just one of around 200 people who showed up to a Caltrans and San Diego Association of Governments public input session for long-awaited potential improvements to the major thoroughfare that passes through Oceanside and Carlsbad.
Caltrans presented three plans on Wednesday night, though they are expected to change with feedback. They had varying degrees of changes: extending existing auxiliary lanes, building direct freeway-to-freeway connectors and removing the stoplight that currently sits in the intersection.
Dozens of people wrote comments with their complaints and suggestions.
People have until June 13 to submit feedback online.
Read the full story for more information and how to submit feedback. Link in bio.
📝: @ktreports
Amid national debate over the rapid expansion of data centers, a city in Imperial County has become the county’s first to formally consider temporarily blocking them.
Calipatria city council voted on Tuesday to draft a plan that, if approved, could impose a moratorium on data center projects in city limits for five years.
Calipatria Mayor Michael Luellen said that the council will now discuss the details of the proposal, including possibly altering the moratorium so that it can resist legal challenges.
📝: @philipsalata
This year marks 250 years since our nation declared its independence, setting into motion our democracy – and the people’s never-ending work to protect it.
A free and independent press, guaranteed by the First Amendment, is essential to our ability to hold power to account. And you are essential to ensuring the free press remains free.
By donating today, you’ll ensure that free and independent journalism continues to serve our community – today and for the next 250 years. Support us at the link in our bio. 🇺🇸
Lake Hodges is a San Diego landmark where people hike, bike, fish, kayak, canoe, bird watch and take photographs against the backdrop of a century-old, city-owned reservoir.
It’s also a disaster waiting to happen.
The question is whether calamity would come by flood or by fire. @ktreports has the details.
This story is part of Public Matters, an independent joint initiative of @KPBS , @inewsource and @voiceofsandiego .
As San Diego councilmembers last week began digging into the details of Mayor Todd Gloria’s grim proposed budget for the upcoming year, the largest union of city workers were casting votes on a new, three-year contract.
The terms of the contract for workers of the Municipal Employees Association are a key piece of the mayor’s spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1.
Union members overwhelmingly approved the new contract with 97.8% voting yes.
But approval is a virtual certainty: the council had approved the terms of the deal in a closed session vote last month.
The new contract calls for a one-week furlough for workers in the first two years, which Mayor Todd Gloria said at an April 15 news conference “is actually saving us money this fiscal year and next.”
But workers will not see permanent pay reductions. They’re actually set to receive what will amount to a nearly 10% raise at the end of the three-year deal, though they may not see the increases right away.
📝: Greg Moran
The county sales tax signature gatherers seemed to be everywhere – outside Trader Joe’s in Hillcrest. Or on the corner of 30th and University Avenue – the busiest intersection in North Park.
They all asked passersby one question: Would you like to stop the Tijuana River sewage crisis at the border?
They were promoting a citizens’ initiative to get a countywide half-cent sales tax on the November ballot. I asked one how it would be used on the Tijuana River.
They couldn’t point to a specific project. Probably because the “Protect San Diego County Health and Safety Act” doesn’t specifically point to one.
Fixing the persistent problem — what the Wall Street Journal called a “tsunami of raw sewage” — has become the main selling point of the tax, which could generate $360 million a year. The measure would dedicate about $80 million of it to “stop sewage flows.” If they packaged it into a bond, it could provide billions to invest immediately.
But proponents do not have a plan yet on what the county would do with the funding. A county supervisor mentioned a persistent and particularly gross and harmful area that needed immediate attention but also suggested that any hope Mexico and the U.S. federal governments would fix it are unfounded and the money should be used to ultimately divert the river entirely.
Read the rest of the story at kpbs.org/publicmatters
📝MacKenzie Elmer / @voiceofsandiego
📷Scott Lewis / Voice of San Diego, Ben Lacy, Emmy Burrus
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This story is part of Public Matters, an independent joint initiative of @KPBS , @inewsource and @voiceofsandiego . Support for this initiative is provided by @rincontribe .
After a monthslong legal battle, members of Congress representing San Diego County on Monday conducted a surprise oversight visit of the Otay Mesa Detention Center where more about 1,000 immigrants are being held.
The unannounced inspection marks the first at the facility since a federal judge in Washington, D.C., blocked a Trump administration policy requiring congressional representatives to give seven days notice before visiting immigration detention centers.
But while Democratic Reps. Mike Levin and Sara Jacobs were allowed into the facility this time without advanced notice, they hit a new oversight snag: Immigration and Customs Enforcement would now be putting more restrictions on lawmakers’ access to immigrant detainees.
Levin said the representatives were handed a memo during their visit signed by ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons and dated May 11 stating that the agency now requires lawmakers to identify the immigrants to the local ICE office two business days before they want to speak with them.
Read more at the link in our bio.
📝: @sofiareports
inewsource emailed San Diego County Board of Supervisors candidates Norma Contreras, John Franklin, Rebecca Jones, Kyle Krahel and Sasha Miller 10 questions each about some of the county’s most pressing issues – including housing, homelessness, transportation and public safety – and gave them 250 words per answer.
Franklin and Jones are Republicans, Contreras and Krahel are Democrats, and Miller is an independent. One of them will represent nearly 700,000 residents in Escondido, Oceanside, Vista and San Marcos as well as several unincorporated communities and tribal nations in northeastern San Diego County.
Voting has begun and runs through June 2. The top two vote-getters, regardless of political party, advance to a Nov. 3 runoff election. The winner takes office in January.
Read their responses at inewsource.org. Link in bio.
📝: @ktreports
Looking to get more civically engaged and stay connected to your community? Join us for our next Documenters training at the National City Public Library on Thursday, May 21 at 5 p.m.
Learn and get paid to document public meetings by taking clear, accurate notes that help make local government more transparent and accessible. No experience needed—just interest in your community.
Imperial Beach City Councilmember Matthew Leyba-Gonzalez updated three years of financial statements after inewsource reported omissions in his disclosures.
This stems from our investigation last year, which found a coalition of labor unions uses rent and laundry payments from a low-income apartment complex to fund political activity across the region. Some of that money even helped Leyba-Gonzalez get elected in Imperial Beach. Meanwhile, tenants living there complained for years about conditions.
Last month, inewsource reported an update: Leyba-Gonzalez reported for the first time his connection to the National City Park Apartments. But he didn’t amend previous statements to show his years of service.
Four days after the story published, Leyba-Gonzalez filed amendments to his financial disclosures from 2022 through 2024. Together, they show he has collected more than $100,000 from the apartments every year since 2022.
Leyba-Gonzalez did not respond to a request for comment.
📝: Cody Dulaney
