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 .
North County, let’s chat! ☕️ Join reporter @ktreports at Lofty Coffee in Encinitas on Wednesday, May 6, from 10 a.m. to noon.
We want to hear what matters to you and what you think local news should focus on. Your input helps shape what we report!
If you can’t make it this time, no worries. Katie will be visiting a coffee shop around North County on the first Wednesday of each month, so you can catch her at the next one.
📍: 97 N Coast Hwy 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Come by my “office hours” starting next Wednesday, May 6. I want to get to know everyone in North County. We will talk. Maybe we will laugh. Maybe we cry! We will definitely drink coffee.
The state attorney general is accusing Poway of violating the California Environmental Quality Act by allowing dozens of new homes to be built on a sacred tribal site without sufficient review.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the city Monday in San Diego County Superior Court over environmental concerns regarding the Hidden Valley Ranch development, where the remains of three indigenous ancestors were found hundreds of feet apart this year.
“Project development, environmental compliance, and appropriate community consultation should go hand-in-hand,” Bonta said in a statement announcing the 31-page lawsuit. “The discovery of an apparent burial site that served as a final resting place for some of California’s first inhabitants warrants appropriate caution and respect.”
The tribe also filed a lawsuit Monday accusing the city of violating CEQA by failing to account for the discoveries of ancestral human remains and other cultural artifacts. It asks a court to require the city to assess the environmental impacts, consult with the tribe and develop culturally sensitive mitigation measures.
Read the full story at inewsource.org. Link in bio.
📝: @ktreports
Higher public transit fares for daily commuters and occasional riders alike could take effect across San Diego County within months following two separate votes by the boards of the Metropolitan Transit System and the North County Transit District on Thursday.
The elected officials on both agencies’ boards approved plans to increase one-way fares by 30% and monthly fares by nearly 32% in two phases over the next year and a half. A 20% increase would take place this fall. The second increase would be in fall 2027.
The two transit agencies see regionwide fare increases as a way to make up for lost revenue and address budget issues related to federal funding reductions and ridership losses since the pandemic, among other challenges. Officials from both agencies said that if they couldn’t find a way to get more revenue, they risked having to cut service and jobs in the years to come.
Read the full story at the link in our bio.
📝: @ktreports
A few years ago, people walking into Sharp Coronado Hospital’s emergency room with e-bike injuries was a rare, maybe occasional, occurrence.
Now, Dr. William Bianchi said, it happens weekly.
Local data shows e-bike injuries at trauma centers, better equipped for treating the most severe injuries, are on the rise.
In 2024, the county’s system of trauma centers reported 294 e-bike injuries — a 54% jump from the 191 reported the year prior. There is no comprehensive data beyond those two years, as the county grouped the injuries with motorcycles until 2022.
Each of the county’s 18 cities regulates e-bikes differently, whether that’s banning them from sidewalks, putting an age limit on ridership or confiscating bikes from those riding recklessly.
Read the full story to see how cities across San Diego County are handling e-bike rules. Link in bio.
📝: @crystalniebla_media & @ktreports
🎨: @crystalniebla_media & @iranwithacam
The San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians, which wants construction of a Poway housing development to stop because of evidence it is being built on a sacred burial site, said “blasting” developers conducted near nests of red-tailed hawks and other birds drove them away last week.
“It’s disappointing to see these builders just destroy this cultural landscape, this village site for the Kumeyaay people,” Jason Lavigne, a coordinator who manages the tribal monitors, said in an interview last week.
Tribal leaders found human remains and evidence of a burial site, first in October and twice in March. Since October, the tribe has called on the city and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to stop work on the site.
Poway spokesperson Rene Carmichael said the city is not legally permitted to comment on any details regarding discoveries, which are required to be confidential.
She said the city followed state law when the project was approved, including holding public meetings and notifying tribes, and added that a tribal monitor is on the site daily during construction and that the city has met with tribal attorneys.
Read the full story for more details. Link in bio.
📝: @ktreports
🎥: @iranwithacam
Tribal leaders have found human remains and evidence of a burial site – first in October and twice this month – at the construction site of a housing development first approved in Poway over 20 years ago.
The San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians is calling on the city and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to stop work on a portion of a 420-acre site on the east side of Old Coach Road immediately.
On two separate occasions in March, the tribe found human remains, including a jawbone with teeth underneath ancient grinding stones. That made for evidence of three tribal ancestors: an infant, an adolescent and an adult.
Along with the other artifacts, the findings indicated that the land was a burial site.
Read more at the link in our bio.
📝: @ktreports
#SunshineWeek results are in and @ktreports has the breakdown!
We evaluated 19 San Diego government agencies across three key categories: access to in-person and remote participation, availability of past and upcoming meetings, and elected officials’ online information.
This reporting wouldn’t be possible without your support. Help us reach 20 new donors by the end of the week so we can keep pushing for transparency across San Diego neighborhoods.
Read more about the project and our findings on our website. Link in bio.
📝: @ktreports & @documenterssd
🎬: @byjennaramiscal
🎥: @iranwithacam
Today marks the beginning of #SunshineWeek — a project dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of an open and transparent government. inewsource and @documenterssd teamed up to evaluate how accessible and transparent local governments are across the county.
Later this week, inewsource reporter @ktreports will be giving a rundown of our findings, and we’ll share which cities began to implement changes after they learned our results.
In the meantime, we’re asking for help to keep these kinds of stories going. We’re looking for 20 new donors to fuel reporting that increases the public’s right to know and keeps local governments transparent. Will you be one of them? Donate at the link in our bio.
Bridget Chalekian’s request for Encinitas’ traffic commission Monday night was simple: Do something that might save another family from the anguish of losing a loved one in a car crash.
Her daughter, 12-year-old Emery Chalekian, was killed while crossing Encinitas Boulevard in April.
Wearing yellow shirts with Emery’s name, parents and kids alike have pleaded with public officials for more traffic safety measures. On Monday night, they got their first victory when the commission voted to recommend the city restore red-light cameras.
The commission voted 5-1 to direct city staff to determine the locations and number of red-light cameras citywide. Camera placement would require a City Council vote. There is no timeline for that.
📝: @ktreports
A long-awaited police report on federal immigration enforcement in Carlsbad left many residents expressing questions and fears about the limits of local control amid a nationwide crackdown on immigration.
Carlsbad Police Chief Christie Calderwood and Senior Assistant City Attorney Jennifer True gave a presentation on the police department’s association with federal immigration agents at a crowded City Council meeting Tuesday. Calderwood and True spent 20 minutes detailing their 27-page report outlining the laws that guide the police department, including California’s Senate Bill 54, the so-called “sanctuary law” that restricts local law enforcement from assisting federal immigration agents.
The report was requested by the City Council on Dec. 9, one week after a video was taken at a public library showing federal agents using the library’s parking lot as a staging area. It was meant to answer questions about immigration enforcement actions in Carlsbad, but there was little information in the report about day-to-day operations on the ground.
Calderwood said police had no authority over the agents, and could not answer how often immigration agents make arrests in the city.
Read the full story at inewsource.org. Link in bio.
📝: @ktreports
