Seven years ago, the state Department of Transportation added four-inch-long bird spikes to the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge as a deterrent to suicides.

But the bridge has remained the second most frequently used bridge for suicide in California. According to Caltrans, about 400 suicides have occurred since the bridge opened in 1969.

Now, a more permanent solution is coming.

State Coastal Commissioners approved on Wednesday Caltrans’ proposal to build a better system. It consists of an 8-foot-tall steel wire mesh barrier on top of the bridge’s guardrails. The steel mesh will have one-inch openings designed to prevent climbing over the concrete guardrails.

“Installing the barriers, at its core, is going to save lives,” said Coastal Commissioner and San Diego City Councilmember Vivian Moreno. “Supporting first responders who have the difficult job of leading rescues and also ensuring ongoing access to the coast.”

One of those first responders was Wayne Strickland, a retired Coronado firefighter who responded to numerous suicide calls on the Coronado Bridge.

For years, he has urged Caltrans to build a barrier. He said survivors and the families who lost loved ones worked alongside him, sharing their stories with Caltrans commissioners at public meetings.

“The Caltrans commissioners listened and, one was so upset, he kind of had to leave the room for a minute,” said Strickland. “It made a difference with them talking and their stories.”

Caltrans expects to begin construction on the $145 million project this fall and have it ready by 2028.

For Strickland, a permanent barrier gives him hope.

“This will save lives,” he said. “It'll keep the bridge open, and everything will be good. And I'm ecstatic that it's getting done. I'm very happy.”

If you or someone you know needs help, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting the number 9-8-8.

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

In 2020, with the death of George Floyd still dominating the national conversation over police accountability, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law taking away responsibility for investigating fatal police shootings from local authorities and putting it in the hands of the state attorney general.

Lawmakers reasoned that an independent outside agency would bring more credibility — as well as speed and investigative firepower — to the process while eliminating potential conflicts of interest that can arise when police or local district attorneys have to investigate agencies they work closely with.

Police accountability advocates enthusiastically endorsed the legislation that authorized the switch. Then-Assemblymember Rob Bonta championed it, too. When Bonta became attorney general the following year, he pledged to complete all investigations within 12 months.

He hasn’t come close. The department has yet to close a single investigation within one year.

In fact, a CalMatters investigation found that Bonta’s office has 13 use-of-force investigations that have exceeded three years or longer – well past the statute of limitations for many of the crimes an officer or a deputy could conceivably be charged with short of murder.

The average fatal shooting investigation takes Bonta’s team nearly two years and five months to complete. Just eight of 41 closed cases took less than two years.

The delays take away another potential enforcement tool as well: Once a case extends beyond three years, an officer cannot be decertified, meaning they cannot be prevented from working for other law enforcement agencies.

The time lag leaves families of potential victims waiting for justice and leaves officers in limbo as they wait to be charged or exonerated.

“In my experience, three years is an awful long period of time, especially if you’re starting to come upon statutes of limitations,” said Anne Marie Schubert, the former Sacramento County District Attorney who unsuccessfully ran for attorney general in 2022.

Schubert said she was surprised to see that the last case closed by the program was on a shooting in 2023.

“Is it resources?” she asked. “Is it experience? That’s a question I’d want to know.”

To date, not a single officer has been prosecuted by Bonta’s office, and no officer has been referred for decertification or even discipline after a police shooting investigation.

Bonta blames the backlog on a lack of funding and other priorities from the Legislature. His predecessor, Xavier Becerra, made the same argument just before the law took effect when he requested twice as much money for the investigations than the Legislature provided. On its first investigation, Justice Department employees complained in internal emails that they were undermanned.

Bonta’s office also says nothing in the law prevents local authorities from conducting their own parallel investigations.

But the CalMatters investigation found that as a practical matter, local authorities take a hands-off approach once Bonta’s office steps in.

“If the case meets the criteria under (the police shooting law) and DOJ confirms they are taking over the investigation, we do not do a parallel criminal investigation of our own or do a criminal investigation of our own after DOJ concludes their investigation,” said Capt. Brian Cole, who oversees the detective division at the Redding Police Department. “They have complete criminal jurisdiction of the matter.”

'I didn't see him again alive'

That happened with a Redding case that began on Christmas Day, 2022, when David Couch was taken to jail. Since then, Jeanelle Couch spent three and a half years trying to find out exactly what happened to her son.

By the time David Couch, 31, was released on Feb. 8, 2023, Jeanelle Couch said her son was experiencing a manic episode.

According to a lawsuit Jeanelle later filed, David was given the wrong medication for his bipolar disorder for his entire jail stay. He told her he had spent the majority of his time in solitary confinement, another allegation in the lawsuit.

“He was happy to see us and he asked if we remembered him,” she said about the day he went home. “When I got up the next morning to go to work, he talked to me for a long time and I said, ‘oh, honey, I'm so sorry, I got to go to work now.’

“And then I didn't see him again alive.”

That afternoon, David sat in his car in his mother’s driveway in a small residential neighborhood in Redding.

At 5:25 p.m., the California Highway Patrol received a call of a driver southbound on Interstate 5 who was brandishing a gun. The make, model and plates matched David’s car.

Nine minutes later, California Highway Patrol officer Ryan Cates pulled into Couch’s driveway.

According to dashboard camera footage, Couch was sitting in his white Ford sedan with the driver’s side door open.

“Show me your hands!” Cates called out. “Put your hands up!”

Couch emerged in a brown hooded sweatshirt, khaki pants and a gray baseball cap, the dashcam footage shows. He was wearing a backpack and gripping his cell phone with both hands. Couch also had a pair of knives strapped to his jacket, according to a Justice Department investigation, but didn’t touch them. Couch took eight steps toward Cates, who had his gun in his right hand, pointed at Couch.

Their initial conversation is inaudible.

Cates raised his gun, holding it now with both hands. Couch came toward him. The dashboard camera was able to record more of their argument, which involved Couch saying to leave him alone, then calling Cate obscenities and saying "shoot." A struggle ensued that was not visible on camera. At least twice, Couch called Cates a slur.

“Get on the ground,” Cates said. “I will shoot you right now.”

According to a Department of Justice report issued last week, Couch then got ahold of Cates’ Taser.

Couch continued to berate Cates, calling him a “dirty cop.” The two slid back into view, with Cates holding Couch against the hood of the car, Couch’s face bathed red in the patrol car’s dashboard lights. Cates attempted to put handcuffs on Couch, but Couch slipped to his right and out of view of the dashboard camera again.

“Give me a .45 (caliber handgun) and I’d f— you up!” Couch yelled at Cates.

Cates would later tell Justice Department investigators that he believed Couch was trying to take his handgun.

Then, there were several audible clicks. Couch taunted Cates, asking “it’s not working?” A second later, Cates fired four shots. The entire encounter lasted exactly one minute.

“I am uninjured,” Cates said into his police radio. “Suspect down, multiple gunshot wounds.”

Couch lived for nine days. He died on Feb. 17, 2023.

According to Couch’s sister, “David was shot so many times he was no longer recognizable.” In an online fundraising appeal for the family, the sister, Lauren Metzger, added that, “We can’t understand why this happened, but we do know he did not have a gun anywhere around his person when he was discovered laying in the street by my parents and his best friend.”

For the nine days David Couch survived, a five-agency team convened to investigate the shooting, led by the Redding Police Department. Then, when Couch died, the Department of Justice shooting investigation team took over, and the local team ended its inquiry.

More than three years have passed. Cates returned to work, according to the California Highway Patrol. His lawyer did not respond to messages from CalMatters.

Shasta County and the state of California have denied responsibility in the federal lawsuit filed by Couch’s family in the Eastern District of California. In its response, Shasta County said Cates is entitled to qualified immunity, which limits the civil liability of government officials, usually police officers.

The investigation from the Department of Justice took 1,199 days. It found “there is insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution of Officer Cates.”

Shorthanded from the start

Giving the state justice department more power to investigate law enforcement shootings was hailed as a big win for the police accountability movement when Newsom signed the law in 2020.

Former Assemblymember Kevin McCarty of Sacramento had proposed the legislation several times before. The fatal shooting of Stephon Clark by Sacramento police in 2018 lent momentum to McCarty’s effort – Clark’s family was outraged that Schubert, then the district attorney, didn’t press charges against officers in his killing.

George Floyd’s killing by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020 emboldened a bipartisan push for police reform laws that ultimately carried McCarty’s bill through the Legislature and on to Newsom’s desk.

But within days of receiving their first case, the Justice Department’s shooting investigation teams knew they were undermanned.

“There were dozens of tasks and assignments that the … special agents could not accomplish because of limited staffing,” the department wrote in a budget request submitted to the Legislature in 2022.

Even before the shooting teams deployed, there were early warnings that the Justice Department might have bitten off more than it could chew.

The department asked for $26 million to pay for the new shooting investigation teams. The Legislature allotted half of that, about $13 million.

The allocation “is significantly lower than our estimates and not enough resources to stand up professional teams to perform these new investigative and prosecutorial duties,” former Attorney General Xavier Becerra wrote to McCarty in January 2021, six months before the law took effect.

The department originally wanted four investigative teams — one each in Sacramento, Fresno, Los Angeles and Riverside. Instead, it got two, one North and one South.

One year into the program, shooting investigations were already lagging behind Bonta’s self-imposed timeline of one year.

In response, at the time, Bonta said: “We got the funding that we got, and we’re going to make it work. We have no choice. We have to find a way.”

Investigations first stretched past one year, then two years, and in 2025, a case reached beyond three years.

The California Department of Justice did not make anyone available for an interview about its backlog of police shooting investigations. In a written statement, an unnamed spokesperson said Bonta personally reviews every investigation.

“All investigations are unique in their complexity, and some may take longer than others to investigate and reach a conclusion.” the statement read.

“We’re continuously identifying ways to tighten timelines and improve our processes. It’s a balancing act — but it’s one we’re actively managing. Improvements are already taking hold. In the last two and a half years, we closed 9 times as many cases as were closed in the first two and a half years that the law was operational, and we remain committed to improving.”

Police chiefs want faster investigations

Many law enforcement leaders are growing impatient.

“Police chiefs across the state have consistently raised concerns and advocated for a timelier process, yet progress has been minimal,” said Sean Thuilliez, president of the California Police Chiefs Association.“When transparency is not accompanied by timeliness, the system risks falling short for everyone—eroding confidence, deepening mistrust, and prolonging uncertainty.

Law enforcement and conservative prosecutors were, perhaps predictably, opposed to losing local shooting investigations to the state. But even prosecutors who were pursuing police accountability were nervous about removing locals from the process.

With the state in control, local citizens have less power to protest or pressure their local leaders.

“Local concern, local protests, local interest is felt by local prosecutors,” said Cristine Soto DeBerry, who created a unit investigating police officers at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, where she was chief of staff. She is now the executive director of the progressive advocacy group Prosecutors Alliance.

“The very real pain of family and community members that experience that absolutely has an impact on a prosecutor and their willingness to take this crime seriously.”

Jeanelle Couch said that even though the DOJ investigation is over, she’s still hopeful about the lawsuits her family filed against the state, the county and the officer who killed her son.

“I want light on it,” Couch said. “That’s what I want. Just, justice.”

What does justice look like to her?

She looked at the ground.

“Now? I don’t know.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Ground and air crews battled a wildfire on Camp Pendleton Wednesday. The fire started around 10 a.m. near Shadow Tree Drive at Rivertree Road. No injuries or structure damage have been reported. Evacuation warnings were issued. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

November Fire

The fire, dubbed the November Fire, burned 560 acres, and as of Friday was 100% contained. The fire's forward rate of spread has been stopped, according to Cal Fire. Camp Pendleton Fire Department is working with Oceanside Fire and Cal Fire.

Evacuations

The on-base Marine Memorial Golf Course and Oceanside Municipal Golf Course were evacuated, according to Camp Pendleton officials and the Oceanside Police Department.

There was no threat to on-base personnel and there are no threats to on-base housing, the Marine Corps said on Facebook.

Several neighborhoods on the border of Camp Pendleton were under evacuation warnings, according to Genasys Protect. Those warnings were lifted late Wednesday.

A temporary evacuation point was established at El Camino High School, 400 Rancho Del Oro Drive.

Air quality

The San Diego County Air Pollution Control District issued a smoke advisory for Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, Bonsall, and Fallbrook.

The advisory warned that in areas of heavy smoke, air quality levels may be unhealthy for sensitive groups. If you are near the affected communities, the advisory recommended you stay indoors.

Smoke was also reported in Temecula. On its Facebook page, the City of Temecula advised the fire is "in the direct path of the ocean wind to Temecula."

On a sunny day last September, Ayisha Williams set up a canopy on the sidewalk outside her father’s house in Emerald Hills. She and her 15-year-old daughter regularly used his Wi-Fi and the canopy’s shade to get homework done. That day, she tried to make sure the shade also reached her 19-year-old son, who was sleeping in her car.

Williams’ girlfriend joined them.

Suddenly, San Diego police officers arrived. A peaceful day devolved into chaos.

Her daughter began to film.

Someone had complained about the canopy, which surprised Williams. She told KPBS no one had spoken to her directly, and it had never been a problem before.

One officer explained it was “encroaching” — blocking the sidewalk, which belonged to the city.

They asked for his name and badge number. Behind him, another officer pulled on gloves and walked out of frame. The dispatch log shows a call for backup.

They assured the first officer they would take the tent down. He said if they did that and moved the chairs, that would be OK with him.

Williams’ girlfriend began expressing her frustration with what she saw as the real issues — there was trash in the street. The roads were in bad condition.

“Come on now, you got a whole lot more shit to be doing,” she said.

She entered the word “encroaching” into ChatGPT.

“The law is encroaching on people’s freedom,” she read. “Did you know that, sir?”

Williams put the tent away.

More officers arrived. The dispatch log lists a total of 24 officers.

Bystanders gathered and began to film.

A video shows the officer who had pulled gloves on earlier with his hands on Williams.

“I didn’t do nothing! What, cause I’m being loud? You want to arrest me for being loud?” she said.

“You’re walking around and you’re not dictating this stop, we are!” the officer said.

She told him her shoulder was messed up.

“Get your hands off me, I can talk!” she said.

“Stop! I don’t want to take you to the ground but I’m getting pretty close. And you’re going to hit your head,” the same officer warned.

Another officer put hands on her 15-year-old daughter and began to steer her back from her mother. Williams said she warned them her daughter has a heart problem.

Her daughter began to scream.

“She’s 15! She’s 15!” Williams yelled.

“I’m a minor, please!” she yelled, and began to wail for her mother. “Mamaaaa!”

Another bystander video shows three officers pinning Williams, handcuffed, to the ground.

“‘Cause you wanna act like this, you’re going to jail now!” the gloved officer said.

“No!” Williams cried.

“We’re gonna wrap her!” he said, referring to a full-body restraint used to subdue combative or resisting suspects.

“No, don’t wrap me! I’m cool!”

“Yes you are! You’re gonna get wrapped now because you did this!”

“I didn’t do this.”

“See? I told you to stop, you don’t listen!”

“You wanted to do this,” she said.

She repeatedly told the officers she couldn’t breathe, and the ground was hot.

Officers also handcuffed Williams’ daughter, and woke her son up in the car.

They claimed there was marijuana in the car and cited him for possession. Williams told KPBS the charge was false and later dismissed. The officers handcuffed her son.

She told KPBS her son has disabilities, and the officers were rough. He needed a finger splint.

“Ay, why are you beating on my son!” she yelled. “Why are you beating on my son!”

People watching couldn’t make sense of the police response.

“They acting like there’s a murderer out here,” one man said.

“Nah, they just had the tent out, for real,” another replied.

Williams said her girlfriend was also handcuffed.

Eventually, the officers released everyone and left. Williams was given a citation for only one charge: resisting an officer.

Why?

The San Diego Police Department declined to answer questions about any of the cases mentioned in this story. They would not provide the police reports or body camera footage.

KPBS does have bystander videos, complaints filed against the police department, and copies of citations.

San Diego Police Department spokesperson Cesar Jimenez answered general questions by email.

He gave three reasons they might charge someone with resisting and nothing else, noting it was not an exhaustive list: If a bystander interferes with an officer doing their job; if someone is detained under reasonable suspicion — for example, if they match the description of a suspect — and they resisted; or if someone resists during a traffic stop, and the officer decides not to charge the traffic violation.

Williams has her own theory: the officers were trying to show they were in power.

She thinks it’s less about how a citizen acts, and more about how the officer acts.

“It doesn't matter if you comply and if you don't comply,” she said.

The charge never went to court. But still caused lasting harm.

“We're not criminals. None of us ever got in trouble with the law. And for me, I'm their sole parent provider,” Williams said. “To hear my daughter scream, you know, there's nothing no one can do or, you know, or there's nothing I can do. It hurts and it makes you hate the police, you know? It makes you hate them. Even though we were taught not to hate.”

She said she started therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I don't want any interaction with the police in the future. Like I tell my kids, ‘If it's an emergency, we're going to have to figure it out ourselves,’” she said.

She’s not alone in this feeling that it’s out of her control what happens at a police stop.

“I don't know what's going to happen when I'm approached,” said Ricky Weaver, who works as a security guard. “I don't know how it's going to turn out. If I cooperate, it can turn bad. If you go in negative, bad attitude, it's going to go bad.”

Weaver was cited for resisting arrest and nothing else in November.

He’s a violence interrupter in Encanto and the surrounding neighborhoods. He said he had separated rival gang members during a heated dispute on Imperial Avenue and had already de-escalated the situation when police arrived.

Officers handcuffed people he had been working with. He tried to tell them it wasn’t necessary.

An officer began telling him to back up, but he continued to protest the arrests. Then they handcuffed Weaver.

He said his charges also got dismissed.

He’s been charged with resisting three or four times, he said. The first, when he was 14 years old.

“Boy, you traumatized me that there,” he said. “And you know, then you go and tell my mom, ‘Oh, he resisted.’ No, you asked me to stop, I stopped. I did everything you asked me to do. But then one grabbed me by the neck and the other one grabbed me, pulled me down, pulled my neck up there. I ain't know if I was going to die or what the hell was going to happen. So from that day on — you become traumatized from that stuff, putting in handcuffs and all that.”

Weaver has his own theory about why police use the resisting charge.

“It's just to continue the cycle, you know, for a young Black man. It's just to continue that cycle of, ‘OK, we want you on paper.’ If they can get you on paper, then everything, a lot of other things become blocked in your life,” he said.

‘Rinse and repeat, over and over and over’

Keshawn “Shaheed” Price was driving away from a high school football game in Spring Valley with his family last September when SDPD officers stopped him.

They alleged he’d been speeding, but Price told KPBS that was impossible since they were behind two buses.

“I got my ID and my license and I got my insurance, but y’all stopping me and putting lights in my kids faces and all that, y’all don’t need to be doing that,” he told the officer at his window.

His 14-year-old son and 15 year-old daughter were in the back seat.

“I don’t feel safe with y’all pulling me over!” he said.

The front passenger was filming. He asked them to call his wife.

Officers ordered him out of the car.

“I don’t have to get out of the car!” he protested.

They handcuffed him, and both his children. He said it was their first interaction with the police.

“It felt very, like, helpless,” he told KPBS. “I felt like I was being robbed and like my kids were being kidnapped, honestly. It was the worst feeling ever, just like not being able to do nothing.”

They took Price to jail for resisting an officer. His next court date is this month. His lawyer said the officers never charged him with a traffic violation.

A District Attorney spokesperson didn’t immediately answer why the office is choosing to prosecute his case.

Price works for a nonprofit that assists people impacted by the local justice system. He said he and his colleagues had already noticed a pattern of stand-alone resisting charges.

“So we was already like, kind of like strategizing around it, just like talking about it. But when it happened to me it was like, ‘Wow,’” he said.

They requested data from the City Attorney: all cases where the only charge was resisting from Jan. 1, 2024 through Oct. 31, 2025. Police typically submit resisting charges within city limits to the City Attorney, a spokesperson said.

That data show Black people are about nine times likelier than white people to be charged by San Diego law enforcement with resisting an officer and nothing else.

SDPD spokesperson Cesar Jimenez said by email that this statistic doesn’t tell the whole story.

He said every citation for resisting is based on probable cause.

The data include more than 1,300 cases where the only charge is resisting. That’s about two a day. San Diego’s City Attorney declined to prosecute about a thousand of them.

“The person's charge, it gets dismissed, a judge never sees it. And then rinse and repeat over and over and over,” said Scott Holmes, a civil rights attorney and law professor in Durham, North Carolina. “And no one is keeping up with the magnitude of the problem, or quantifying it or presenting it to the public.”

‘A red flag’

Holmes noticed a pattern with his clients and started researching resisting charges.

“There was a high correlation between people being stopped without any reasonable suspicion or any grounds, and then arguing or complaining about it, and then ending up with a resisting charge to punish them for arguing about their interaction,” he said.

Holmes found in Durham, 90% of people charged with resisting and no other major offense were Black. And most of those charges were never prosecuted.

To him, that’s a red flag.

“It really is a signal more that the police have engaged in misconduct than the person is guilty of the crime,” he said.

He said many of these cases are unconstitutional.

“If the person is only charged with resisting arrest, the question is, well — arrest for what? What was the legal duty that brought this person before you that made them obligated to comply with your orders?” he said.

Generally, an officer has to have reasonable suspicion to detain somebody. Heated words aren’t enough.

“Unless your words are fighting words or you're actually verbally threatening the safety of the officer, you can express your disapproval of how things are going in the most strong terms and be fully protected under the First Amendment,” he said.

Spokesperson Cesar Jimenez said SDPD supports free speech, and if someone believes their rights have been violated, they can file a complaint.

KPBS recently found the city board tasked with police oversight doesn’t get to review the vast majority of these complaints.

“The purpose of the charge in that moment is to control that person and send a signal to everybody else that this is not the way you deal with the police. ‘You have to obey us,’” Holmes said. “The impact of it is to dissuade other members of the vulnerable community from asserting themselves.”

Holmes said using criminal laws to control Black people has been a tactic since slavery ended.

He offered a solution: When officers charge resisting without legal grounds, they should be held liable.

“If I walk up to you and I say, ‘Do what I say’ and you won't, and I put you in handcuffs, that's false imprisonment and assault,” he said. “And that's what they have done. When they do this, it's a crime. And if prosecutors started prosecuting it as crimes — prosecuting the police every time they stop somebody without reasonable suspicion and laid their hands on them and assaulted them and put their kids in handcuffs — and charged them with false imprisonment or kidnapping, then police would stop it.”

Williams gave this advice: “Always have someone with you and have someone recording the whole time. You got to. Because you can’t understand their judgment of character of you.”

San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) and Cal Fire crews have stopped the forward progress of a wildfire near Sorrento Valley Boulevard on Monday.

Sorrento Fire

The fire, dubbed the Sorrento Fire, is currently at 90 acres 90% contained as of Wednesday, SDFD said.

The fire spread in hilly terrain, which complicated crews' response, SDFD Capt. Jason Shanley said.

"The fixed wing aircraft are dropping fire retardant to the east on the hills to slow the fire up and because it's really difficult for crews to get," he said. "In this fire, the terrain is steep and really dangerous, so they're doing what they can."

During earlier aerial operations, someone was flying a drone in the area, which paused the air attack for 30 minutes, Assistant Fire Chief Dan Eddy said.

"That's the worst thing we can do," Eddy said. "I understand that people want to have up there and they want to get that picture, but if that hits one of my aircraft, we are in a bad spot, right? So we ground it all and all."

Evacuations

All evacuation orders and warnings have been lifted, the San Diego Police Department said. The fire had threatened more than 2,000 homes.

A temporary evacuation point was established at Mandell Weiss Eastgate Park. It is now closed.

Road closures

Sorrento Valley Boulevard was completely closed between Vista Sorrento Parkway and Camino Santa Fe, according to SDPD.

An international border-straddling wildfire that has burned 2,525 acres in a remote, rugged area near Tecate Peak was 85% contained Friday, with no structures damaged and no injuries reported.

All road closures were lifted as of 5 p.m. Thursday, according to Cal Fire.

The Border 6 fire had been estimated to have burned 2,617 acres — 1,625 in the United States and 992 in Mexico — but the figure was revised downward at 2:24 p.m. Thursday to 2,525 acres, 1,516 in the United States and 1,009 in Mexico.

According to the latest update issued at 5:28 p.m. Thursday, there were 605 personnel assigned to the fire with 31 engines, 12 water tenders, five helicopters, six dozers and 19 hand crews at the scene.

The fire broke out at 1:54 p.m. Monday south of Marron Valley Road in the unincorporated Dulzura area roughly 30 miles southeast of downtown San Diego, according to Cal Fire.

Ground crews have been laboring over rocky, mountainous terrain to battle the flames along with personnel in air tankers and water-dropping helicopters, according to Cal Fire.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Crews working to contain the smoldering burn area of an international border-straddling wildfire that spread over thousands of open acres this week in a remote, rugged area near Tecate Peak had the task halfway complete Thursday.

As of midday Thursday, three days after the blaze erupted south of Marron Valley Road in Dulzura, its charred footprint was holding at an estimated 2,617 acres — 1,625 in the United States and 992 in Mexico, according to Cal Fire.

"Fire activity remained minimal overnight," the state agency reported. "Increased moisture and cooler temperatures moved into the area after midnight, creating favorable conditions for firefighters to improve containment and continue mop-up operations."

The wildfire roughly 30 miles southeast of downtown San Diego broke out shortly before 2 p.m. Monday. The following day, after the blaze had blackened hundreds of acres, authorities advised residents of the nearby Engineer Springs community to prepare to clear out of their homes on short notice if the flames continued moving to the east toward their back-country neighborhoods.

Late Wednesday afternoon, firefighters' steady success in subduing the flames by ground and air allowed officials to rescind the evacuation warning.

By daybreak Thursday, crews had the burn zone 50% surrounded by firebreaks, Cal Fire reported.

The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday the state's fourth C- 130 Hercules airtanker has entered service, alongside California's 11th Helitack base, both based at the Ramona Airport.

In 2024, California became the first state in the nation to own, operate, and deploy its own fleet of C-130H airtankers. Thursday's deployment marks the fourth aircraft out of a planned statewide fleet of seven.

"The addition of this fourth C-130 Hercules airtanker to our world- class fleet, combined with the historic establishment of our 11th Helitack base, significantly enhances the rapid, aggressive response needed to save lives and protect our natural resources," Newsom said. "California is making the investment into the key resources that help protect our communities from catastrophic wildfire."

The C-130 Hercules is capable of dropping up to 4,000 gallons of fire retardant to aggressively fight fast-moving blazes, a statement from Newsom's office read. All seven planes — including the four in commission and three more to be converted and deployed — came from the U.S. Coast Guard thanks to a 2018 agreement. In 2023, President Joe Biden signed legislation officially transferring ownership of the planes to California, where Cal Fire has been working to retrofit them for wildfire suppression operations.

The Helitack base in Ramona will host a Sikorsky S70i Fire Hawk helicopter and a "permanent, highly versatile Cal Fire Helitack crew."

"This milestone is about much more than adding advanced aircraft to our fleet; it is a testament to the dedicated people who make our mission possible," Cal Fire Director and Fire Chief Joe Tyler said in a statement. "Success in the air always begins on the ground. The pilots, mechanics, and support crews working side-by-side behind the scenes have put in months of intensive preparation to stand up this base. It is their unwavering commitment to service and seamless teamwork that ensures we are ready to keep Californians safe ahead of peak fire season."

Established in 1957, Ramona is the oldest air attack base in Cal Fire's system and now expands its permanent fleet to five aircraft.

According to the state, as the final integration phase wraps up over the coming weeks, additional training will continue at the Ramona base to "ensure support crews, pilots, and technicians are fully integrated into the statewide aviation program."

A cross-border brush fire that erupted in remote, rugged terrain near Tecate Peak continued spreading Thursday, scorching hundreds of open acres and prompting evacuation warnings but causing no structural damage or injuries as ground and airborne crews worked to subdue the flames.

By 7:36 a.m. Thursday, the fire has covered 2,617 acres and is 50% contained. The blaze roughly 30 miles southeast of downtown San Diego and remained fully uncontained, according to Cal Fire. The fire has prompted hard closures of Barrett Truck Trail and Tecate Peak Road while Marron Valley Road was limited to residents only. According to the latest update issued at 8:23 p.m. Wednesday, there were 130 personnel assigned to the fire with 10 engines, four water tenders, four helicopters and four hand crews at the scene.

Evacuations

Due to improved containment, evacuation warnings have been lifted, according to the San Diego Sheriff's Department.

Ground crews labored over a rocky, mountainous landscape while battling the blaze along with personnel in air tankers and water-dropping helicopters, Cal Fire Capt. Mike Cornette said.

The cause of the blaze, which erupted south of Marron Valley Road at about 2 p.m. Monday, was under investigation.

County workers found West Nile virus in two dead crows picked up near the Rolando and Skyline neighborhoods, prompting health officials to remind people to take precautions against mosquitoes, which spread the virus.

Mosquito season typically starts in April, but on Monday the county reminded everyone to follow three steps: Prevent, Protect, and Report: Prevent mosquito breeding at home, protect yourself from bites, and report mosquitoes and dead birds to the Vector Control Program.

"One of the best ways to stop mosquitoes is to remove standing water around your home so they can't breed in it," a county statement said.

A dead crow found in North Park in March was the first positive case for West Nile virus. No human cases have been reported this year.

The virus is primarily a bird disease, but it can be transmitted to humans when certain types of mosquitoes feed on an infected bird and then bite people.

West Nile virus remains a potentially deadly threat. In 2015, 44 San Diego County residents tested positive for West Nile virus and six died.

Most people who get West Nile virus have no symptoms or mild symptoms such as headaches, fever, nausea, feeling tired, skin rash or swollen glands. In rare cases, it can make people very sick or even cause death.

Warmer weather allows mosquito season to start earlier and the pests' activity has already been detected by the county. In response, San Diego County's Vector Control is increasing surveillance and treating mosquito breeding sources. This strategy includes monitoring around 1,600 potential mosquito breeding sites and applying larvicide by air, boat, truck and hand crews.

Residents were urged to dump out standing water or remove items that can hold water, such as plant saucers, rain barrels, buckets, garbage cans, toys, old tires and wheelbarrows. The Vector Control Program is also offering free mosquito fish, which can be placed in stagnant water sites to control mosquito breeding.

Residents were also advised to wear long sleeves and pants, and wear insect repellent while outdoors to protect themselves.

Mosquito activity or mosquito breeding sources can also be reported to the Vector Control Program by calling 858-694-2888 or emailing vector@sdcounty.ca.gov.

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

When Jazelle Eastman was 16, she was shot in the face by a boy she thought was a friend. She doesn’t remember feeling much, but next thing she knew there was blood dripping from her chin.

That was two years ago. She still has a hard time trusting people. “PTSD is so real, I feel like I'm always looking over my shoulder,” she said.

During her hospital stay, a social worker connected Eastman to a mental health counselor. She was hesitant at first; therapy is not something she would have sought on her own. Now she sees the benefit: “Talking to someone made it a lot better,” she said.

That, however, is not every young survivor’s experience. Nationally, just 37% of children received mental health services within six months after a firearm injury, according to a 2023 study published in the American Academy of Pediatrics. For some young survivors, help never arrives at all.

California lawmakers want to change that. Assembly Bill 2247 would require counties and the state to provide and pay for mental health and counseling services for youth survivors of gun violence, regardless of their insurance situation.

The bill would establish a pilot program in Alameda, Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Solano counties, funded by state grants. Any young person touched by gun violence — whether they were shot, saw a shooting happen, or lost a family member — would qualify for free services up to age 25.

Eastman had invited a group of friends for a sleepover at her Vallejo home. She recalls being on her phone when a boy got up from the living room floor, where he'd been sleeping. She doesn't know exactly why he shot her; she thinks it was on purpose, that he'd gotten upset at her for being too loud that morning. He claimed it was an accident.

"I never thought that me trying to have a little get-together with my friends would result in something so bad happening," she said.

The gap in care

In 2020, firearms surpassed motor vehicle accidents as the leading cause of death among children and teens nationally. Researchers estimate that for every fatality, there are at least two survivors of firearm injuries.

In California, about 2,000 youth 25 and younger died or were hospitalized from firearm injuries annually since 2016, according to the California Department of Public Health. This includes suicides. Still, California has the fifth-lowest youth firearm death rate in the country.

“It's very clear that violence, and gun violence in particular, is salient in young people's lives,” said Nicole Kravitz-Wirtz, an associate professor with the Centers for Violence Prevention at UC Davis. Research shows that the trauma of firearm violence can be especially disruptive for young people who are still developing mentally and emotionally, leading to post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, hypervigilance, sleep disruption, grief, substance use and suicidal thoughts.

Yet many survivors and their families go without timely help. Some people mistrust the health system. Others may not even know where to start. Getting connected to mental health care isn’t straightforward, even for those who try. People with medical coverage have reported having to wait months to find a therapist that works for them, and those without coverage may not even try because they can’t afford counseling.

Tinisch Hollins, executive director at Californians for Safety and Justice, an advocacy organization sponsoring the bill, said this “made a lot of families kind of give up on the process.”

In California, victims of violence may be eligible for state compensation they can use to reimburse therapy costs, but navigating that system is tricky and not all victims qualify. Eastman has applied twice and has never heard back.

Hollins said the latest bill aims to remove cost and insurance barriers. It would also push counties to standardize how they connect victims to services and promote counseling more widely to victims and their families.

Hollins said the legislation is also a direct response to the disproportionate impact of gun violence on Black and Hispanic communities. In California, 78% of youth who were killed or hospitalized due to firearm injuries between 2016 and 2024 were Black or Hispanic, state data show.

A bill, but no funding

Hospitals, counties and other care providers have no consistent standard for connecting young survivors to mental health care after a shooting.

Handing a person a referral for counseling and expecting them to follow through while in survival mode is not enough, said Kravitz-Wirtz.

“Services for young people impacted by firearm violence are too often fragmented,” she said. “Young people often leave the hospital after a shooting with their physical injuries treated … but without a clear pathway into ongoing mental health.”

Some hospitals do have intervention and trauma recovery models in place, but they’re not universally or consistently available. Youth Alive!, the organization that provided Eastman free therapy, is one. Rhea Corson-Higgs, a mental health counselor there, works with youth who have experienced violent trauma in the Bay Area. In the group’s model, a social worker connects youth to a counselor before they are discharged from the hospital. That counselor goes to their home and provides trauma-informed therapy, prioritizing safety and trust. But her program always has a waitlist, she said.

Even if the legislation were to pass, one key challenge remains: There’s no money behind it. Ashley Anderson, a spokesperson for Assemblymember Sade Elhawary, a Los Angeles Democrat who authored the bill, said her office is still trying to find a funding source.

An analysis of the bill estimates it will cost $7,800 per person per year to provide grants to counties. The Assembly’s fiscal committee scaled back the scope of the bill, replacing its statewide requirement with a four-county pilot project. On Tuesday, the Assembly approved the legislation and it now heads for discussion in the Senate.

Finding help and ‘freedom’

Earlier this month Eastman traveled to Sacramento to advocate for the bill, joining dozens of survivors and families of those who were killed. After a brief march, attendees gathered at Capitol Park, where around a stage they placed poster boards and banners with victims’ photos and messages: “Never forgotten” and “Forever 18.”

Today, Eastman is able to share her story publicly in large part because of therapy.

Bridgett Montoya was also there. She grew up in Pacoima, in the San Fernando Valley; a decade or more ago, gang activity there was commonplace. When she was 21, she was struck by two bullets — one in the head and one in the hip. She was in a coma for about a week and hospitalized for 28 days. A bullet remains lodged on the right back side of her head. Fragments from the hip shot impair her walking.

Two years passed before she saw a therapist. She wants others to have an easier path. “Going to therapy gave me a sense of relief and a sense of freedom,” she said.

James Michael, 20, was shot in the leg while attending an Oakland house party two years ago. At the hospital, before he could even see a doctor, he said law enforcement questioned him aggressively, as if he had something to do with the shooting. He recalls feeling really angry.

He thought twice about therapy, but decided to give it a try. That’s where he met Corson-Higgs at Youth Alive!, who he credits with helping him work through his anger. As he retrained his left leg to walk, he also regained his confidence.

Therapy, he said, “showed me that life is still beautiful, no matter what you go through.”

Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

But the executive director of a San Diego gun rights group said the fact the attack even happened is proof the ban failed.

What the two don't dispute is that the video from the attackers' livestream shows one of them using a rifle that appears to comply with California's strict gun laws. While authorities have not confirmed what models of firearms were used in the attack, representatives of the two organizations identified it as a semi-automatic Ruger Mini-14 rifle.

KPBS is not publishing the video, which authorities have not released, the names of the two teenage suspects or their writings, where they wrote they were motivated to conduct the attack by a number of sex and race-related grievances. They wore emblems associated with white supremacists and neo-Nazis and lashed out in their writings against women, Jewish people, Muslims and LGBTQ+ people.

They wrote they were inspired by the 2019 attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed 51 Muslims. In their writings, the suspects said they wanted to replicate the Christchurch attack in San Diego.

The attack in Christchurch prompted New Zealand to change its gun laws.

Semiautomatic rifles sold in California have to meet certain criteria that other states don't require.

The barrels must be at least 30 inches long and may not have collapsible or folding stocks. They cannot have a pistol grip behind the trigger, nor one attached at the forward part of the rifle.

And they cannot have a magazine that holds more than 10 rounds.

"From everything I saw from the video, (the rifle) looked like it met those criteria and looked like a very stock firearm that you could purchase at many dealers here in California," said Steve Lindley, a policy advisor for the Brady Campaign.

Lindley spent almost 30 years in law enforcement, according to his biography. He worked for the National City Police Department and spent eight years leading the Bureau of Firearms at the California Department of Justice.

Lindley said features such as pistol grips make rifles more lethal.

"Over time it makes it easier for the shooter to have the firearm to their shoulder and in their hands," he said. "Less fatigue, and it lines up a little bit better with your eyesight. The capacity of the magazines and other features on the firearm make it more accurate and easier to use in close quarters."

The video shows the body cam operator firing the Mini-14 until it appears to jam. He struggles to clear the chamber and appears to remove and reinsert the magazine. He works the bolt, apparently unable to chamber a new round.

As the video continues, he continues to struggle with the bolt of the rifle before giving up, drawing a handgun and stepping outside.

The attackers never made it beyond the lobby, where about 100 schoolchildren and staff were inside the center. Authorities say they were delayed by the three men killed in the attack: Mansour Kaziha, 78, Nadir Awad, 57, and armed security guard Amin Abdullah.

"Looking at the reality of this, a good guy with a gun stopped a bad guy with a gun from killing a lot of kids. Full stop,” said Michael Schwartz, the executive director of the San Diego County Gun Owners PAC.

"The assault weapons ban that California has implemented clearly failed — it didn't stop these two people," he said.

Schwartz described the features banned by California as "cosmetic" and that the semi-automatic rifles function the same regardless of their stock, grips or magazine size.

"The idea that ... the (high-capacity) magazine ban stopped them from getting a high-capacity magazine ... there just isn't any evidence or proof," he said.

While high-capacity magazines can't be bought or sold in California, Schwartz said anyone can travel to the next state over and buy as many as they want.

Although the Mini-14 used in the attack is capable of accepting 30 or 40-round magazines, said Lindley, the shooters appeared to only have a California-compliant 10-round magazine.

"If you have ten round magazines, you have ten rounds to shoot before you need to change magazines," he said. "If you have a 30- or 40-round magazine, you can shoot 30 or 40 rounds before you need to reload."

That's important, Lindley said, because when shooters stop to reload, it gives victims time to either escape or attempt to subdue the attacker.

Schwartz said that didn't affect the Islamic center attack.

"If he had a bigger magazine or he had a pistol grip or whatever, it wouldn't have changed the outcome of this at all," he said.

Lindley played a part in crafting more than 100 gun bills, according to the Brady Campaign. He said with so many guns in the United States, authorities can't stop shootings — all they can do is try to limit the damage.

"We can prevent a lot of victimology by lowering the capacity of the magazines," he said.

California's attorney general sued the genetic testing company formerly known as 23andMe on Thursday, alleging it failed to protect sensitive user data in a 2023 breach that affected nearly 7 million people across the country.

Attorney General Rob Bonta filed the lawsuit against Chrome Holding Co., which 23andMe rebranded under after filing for bankruptcy last March. 23andMe is known for its direct-to-consumer DNA test kits that provide customers with information on their ancestry and genetic predispositions for certain health conditions.

The lawsuit calls for various civil penalties against 23andMe and injunctions blocking the company from further violations of California’s privacy protection laws.

The company has acknowledged that it suffered a major security breach in 2023 that resulted in about 14,000 accounts being accessed, through which they were able to steal the data of nearly 7 million customers. The cyberattack utilized “credential stuffing," which takes advantage of customers' tendency to use weak or common passwords or reuse passwords between multiple accounts.

Bonta's office said this was a well-known attack that businesses should know to guard against. The attackers used stolen user account credentials, including ones from a massive data breach in October 2017 that affected MyHeritage, one of 23andMe’s former partners. After that breach, 23andMe did not take common protocols such as asking customers to reset their passwords or use multifactor authentication.

23andMe did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

“23andMe’s security measures were so lax that the threat actor was able to operate undetected within 23andMe’s systems for over five months, and remarkably, 23andMe only began investigating after the threat actor offered the stolen user data for sale on the dark web and reached out to 23andMe to demand a ransom,” prosecutors said in the complaint.

In October 2023, the stolen data appeared for sale on the dark web, with the poster specifically touting that about 1.1 million consumers’ data belonged to Asian-Pacific Islander and Ashkenazi Jewish users.

“The sale of this data on the dark web took place amidst a period of mounting anti-Asian American and Pacific Islander and antisemitic hate and violence,” Bonta said in a press release. “This is disturbing and incredibly dangerous.”

Some of the data stolen included raw genetic data, health reports, DNA shared with other relatives, and locations and birth years of relatives.

The lawsuit says that after notifying the public about the breach, 23andMe continued to mislead consumers about the severity of the breach and the company's role in it.

The company has said it only found out about the breach in October 2023 when the stolen data was posted for sale on the dark web. However, the lawsuit said the company failed to properly investigate red flags that appeared months earlier, such as a “suspicious spike in user login attempts” in July and a Reddit post discussing a possible breach and sale of user data in August.

Genetic data requires “one of the highest levels of protection,” and California law “mandates a heightened legal obligation” to protect it, the lawsuit said.

Bonta also intervened to ensure customers' genetic data wouldn't be mishandled during 23andMe's Chapter 11 bankruptcy and asset sale, arguing that California's Genetic Information Privacy Act required companies to obtain opt-in consent from customers before selling their genetic information to third parties. However, the sale was allowed to proceed.

In 2024, 23andMe agreed to pay a $30 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit accusing the company of failing to protect customers whose personal information was exposed in the breach. The amount was raised to $50 million to resolve most U.S. customer claims and received final approval in January by a federal judge overseeing 23andMe's bankruptcy.

Following this month's fatal terrorist attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced the state is awarding $80 million to 343 nonprofit organizations through the California Nonprofit Security Grant Program.

Of the grant recipients, 228 are faith-based groups, while others include reproductive health clinics. The funds are intended for security measures such as reinforced doors and gates, high-intensity lighting, alarm systems, surveillance and access controls and emergency preparedness enhancements.

"Hate and violence have no place in California," Newsom said. "By investing in critical security upgrades, we are leading the nation in protecting places of worship and high-risk communities, strengthening preparedness, and ensuring every Californian can gather safely and without fear."

On May 18, two suspects gunned down three men at the Islamic Center of San Diego before fleeing and fatally shooting themselves. The victims — mosque security guard Amin Abdullah, 51, and congregation members Nadir Awad, 57, and Mansour Kaziha, 78 — "sacrificed their lives to protect the entire community inside the Islamic Center of San Diego," ICSD Imam Taha Hassane said during a briefing last week.

San Diego police Chief Scott Wahl told reporters that Abdullah's actions, including promptly instituting a lockdown of the Eckstrom Avenue mosque and then engaging the killers in gunfire, "without a doubt delayed, distracted and ultimately deterred these two (shooters) from gaining access to the greater areas of the mosque, where as many as 140 kids were within 15 feet of these suspects."

"Tragically, he died in that gunbattle," Wahl said.

As part of Thursday's announcement, Newsom said California is also making victim support resources available to those impacted by the May 18 shooting.

Victims, family members, and witnesses may be eligible for assistance through the California Victim Compensation Board, which can help cover: Medical costs, mental health treatment, lost wages, funeral and burial expenses and other crime-related expenses.

"No one should have to navigate the emotional and financial impacts of violence alone," said CalVCB Executive Officer Lynda Gledhill. "CalVCB is here to support victims and their loved ones affected by these horrific acts as they begin the healing process. We encourage those impacted to apply."

The state included an additional $40 million in the revised budget proposal to continue supporting organizations facing heightened threats and hate-motivated violence, including churches, synagogues, mosques and LGBTQ+ groups.

San Diego County organizations receiving funding include:

• Chabad Oceanside, Downtown, Poway, two Chabads of East County and Congregation Beth Israel;
• Chinese Community Church, Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in La Mesa, Church of The Resurrection in Escondido;
• Girl Scouts San Diego, Neighborhood Healthcare 488 and the North County LGBTQ Resource Center.

"This critical funding will have an immediate impact for organizations working every day to serve their communities," said Cal Office of Emergency Services Director Caroline Thomas Jacobs. "These investments help keep people safe and enhance safety across the state. Cal OES stands with every community to fight against hate and ensure access to a safe place to gather."

Applications are available online and in paper form in 18 languages. Victims can also receive assistance applying through the San Diego Victim Witness Assistance Center.

"Places of worship should always be places of peace," said California Civil Rights Department Director Kevin Kish. "Muslims should not have to fear for their lives to practice their faith. Our hearts are with everyone impacted by the violent attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego and the families of those who lost their lives."

As roughly 16,000 people remained under evacuation orders due to hazardous material concerns at a Garden Grove aerospace facility, the Jacobs and Cushman San Diego Food Bank began assembling food and necessary items Tuesday for those affected.

The ongoing incident, which began Thursday, has disrupted operations at the Community Action Partnership of Orange County and the OC Food Bank. As a result, San Diego Food Bank staff and volunteers on Tuesday were gathering 3,500 food boxes for Orange County's Senior Food Program, as well as diapers and other supplies for impacted families and community members.

A truck carrying the emergency assistance is scheduled to depart San Diego between 4:30 and 5:30 a.m. Wednesday from the warehouse in Miramar.

"Food banks are part of the emergency response infrastructure for our communities," said Casey Castillo, CEO of the food bank. "While our primary mission is serving San Diego County, moments like this remind us that emergencies do not stop at county lines. We are proud to support our neighbors in Orange County because we understand that when one region is in crisis, we come together to help however we can."

The Jacobs and Cushman San Diego Food Bank has committed to providing up to 5,000 emergency food boxes per week as long as the emergency continues.

Capt. Greg Barta of the Orange County Fire Authority reported Tuesday morning that overnight monitoring of a tank at GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove showed the temperature of the chemical inside was holding at 92 degrees — a positive sign for the substance that had previously been measured at about 100 degrees, prompting fears of a massive explosion or leak.

Evacuation orders for about 34,000 people were lifted over the weekend when officials determined that a crack in the main storage tank had relieved pressure inside. But some 16,000 people in Garden Grove and Stanton remained under evacuation orders Tuesday, as officials said a smaller explosion or leak could not be ruled out yet.

The evacuation area is now bordered by Orangewood Avenue to the north, Garden Grove Boulevard to the south, Dale Avenue to the east and Knott Street to the west.

Proposed state budget cuts are threatening the future of those services, local behavioral health leaders said.

A funding commitment from the state led San Diego County Behavioral Health Services to expand mobile crisis response services to tribal communities and schools, said Nadia Privara Brahms, who directs the department.

“Over the last 18 months, our teams have responded to more than 600 calls in schools,” Brahms said.

Under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal, mobile crisis response would no longer be a mandatory statewide Medi-Cal benefit beginning in 2027. That would shift more of the cost to counties, Brahms said.

San Diego County said the local program costs about $24 million a year and that’s paid for primarily through state and Medi-Cal funding.

Without state support, the county said it would have to cut other behavioral health services in order to fully fund the mobile crisis response program.

Without the Mobile Crisis Response Teams, Brahms said law enforcement would have responded to the mental health crisis calls from schools, “which often escalates situations and can be stigmatizing for children.”

Mental health professionals are trained to recognize psychiatric distress, deescalate and connect young people with support, said Dr. Charmi Patel Rao, a youth psychiatrist and medical director of Vista Hill Foundation in San Diego.

“Even when officers are compassionate and well-intentioned, they don’t have as much training in terms of behavioral health responses, especially in a crisis situation,” she said.

The response youth receive during a mental health emergency can have lasting effects, Rao said.

“Unfortunately, when youth and families experience that the response is traumatizing, or punitive, then they may avoid seeking help in the future” she said.

The governor and state legislature are expected to finalize the budget in the coming weeks.

The Janazah is the Islamic faith's funeral prayer.

Mansour Kaziha, 78, Nadir Awad, 57 and Amin Abdulluh, 51, were killed Monday when two San Diego teens attacked the center, which includes a mosque and school.

The three are remembered as heroes. Officials say had they not drawn the attention of the alleged shooters more people could have been killed.

The two alleged suspects died by suicide just blocks away from the center, authorities said.

Hanif Mohebi is a longtime volunteer at the center. He knew each of the victims and doesn’t mince words about what happened.

"I'm actually not too happy with washing it down with 'hate crime' and other soft terms that they use," Mohebi told KPBS after the prayer. "No, this is a terrorist act. This is an act of terrorism."

Authorities said the attack is being investigated as a "hate crime."

Experts on far-right extremism and white supremacy told KPBS this week writing and videos published by the alleged suspects online leave little doubt what motivated their attack.

Jared Holt is a senior researcher at Open Measures who monitors the spread of extremism and other harmful content online. He said the alleged suspects sought to copy the 2019 shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand that left 51 Muslims dead.

"They sought to replicate one of the deadliest racist mass shootings in history, and they sought to do it in the U.S. as tribute to that shooting," he said. "I think the ideology is inseparable from the violence."

Mohebi said too many false narratives about Islam come from influential people and the community has to fight to overcome Islamophobia. They need help from people outside the Muslim community, he said.

"Just simple words are not good enough," Mohebi said. "We need to educate ourselves first and then educate the larger community. We need to get rid of the hatred, the Islamophobia — the negative rhetoric."

Setche Kwamu-Mann isn’t Muslim but is involved with interfaith work in the community. She said she attended the Janazah to show her support.

"I want to stand in very strong solidarity," she said. "I just want to be here for them. I want them to know they're supported — they're supported by the broader community. I want them to know that we would do our best to keep them safe and to keep fighting this disease called 'hatred' and this disease called 'white supremacy.'"

The attack on the largest mosque in San Diego Monday not only targeted a house of worship, but also the lower campus of Bright Horizon Academy.

The Islamic Center of San Diego’s Imam, Taha Hassane, said as many as 140 children were within fifteen feet of the two gunmen during the shooting.

“I felt a bit scared, my legs were shaking and my hands,” one student from Bright Horizon Academy told Reuters. “And my head was like hurting me a lot. I felt like a rock.”

At least six schools nearby went on lockdown, including Kavod Charter School down the road and Clairemont Canyons Academy about half a mile away from the ICSD.

Dr. David Schonfeld is a pediatrician and director of the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement at the Children's Hospital, Los Angeles. He told KPBS the shooting will not only impact the kids at the Islamic Center and students at the nearby schools on lockdown, but potentially all children who hear about it.

“I really think you have to say to kids this has happened in our community or you may have heard about this in the news, what's your understanding and what questions do you have,” Dr. Schonfeld said. “And then you can go into, how does that make you feel. And let kids talk about their reactions.”

Dr. Schonfeld told KPBS Midday Edition Host Jade Hindmon that it’s important for parents, teachers and community members to start these conversations. Adults may not have all the answers, especially as the shooting at the Islamic Center is being investigated as a hate crime, but he said often a child simply needs someone to listen and offer comfort.

“Many kids, just like adults, will often hide their distress because they think there's something wrong with them or because they don't want to burden the adults around them who are already upset,” Dr. Schonfeld said. “So it's always a good idea to kind of start the conversation.”

When speaking with children who were directly exposed, he said it’s important to help them understand they are safe now. Dr. Schonfeld said these kids may not be ready to talk, and they shouldn’t be forced to, but to let them know they have an adult to confide in.

At a press conference held by Muslim leaders on Tuesday, CAIR San Diego Executive Director Tazheen Nizam warned of the effects hate speech can have on children.

“When anti-Muslim hate is normalized in political discourse, media narratives and online spaces, there are real-world consequences,” Nizam said. “Our children hear that rhetoric, our families live with that fear, and increasingly our schools, our houses of worship, are forced to think about security in spaces that should have been places of peace.”

President of the Muslim Leadership Council of San Diego Abdullah Tahiri spoke at the same press conference. He said the attack was “not only a targeted assault on a place of worship, it was a horrific school shooting.” The two suspects were teenagers.

“They were conditioned by a steady stream of institutionalized bigotry that signals that Muslim houses of worship and Muslim school children are acceptable targets,” Tahiri said. “Let us be entirely clear, words have consequences. Political rhetoric is not harmless chatter, it's a dog whistle that arms extremists with a sense of validation.”

San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said the three men who were killed delayed the suspects, giving the school enough time to initiate lockdown protocols, which potentially prevented many more fatalities.

Dr. Schonfeld said that children exposed to this kind of violence may experience increased anxiety, trouble sleeping, changes in appetite, difficulty concentrating, a drop in academic performance and often begin avoiding school.

“I do think we should bring it up, even when they're not asking about it because if we don't talk about it, they don't know that they can ask about it,” he said.

Crews continued working overnight to contain the smoldering remnants of a wildfire that blackened hundreds of acres in a rural area near Golden Acorn Casino, spreading perilously close to back-country neighborhoods but damaging no homes.

As of Thursday morning, the roughly 820-acre non-injury blaze west of Ribbonwood Road was about 73% contained, as of 7:30am Thursday according to Cal Fire.

The fire erupted for unknown reasons at about 1 p.m. Tuesday off the 37000 block of Tusil Road, just north of Interstate 8 in Boulevard.

Within two hours, the fast-moving flames had charred several dozen acres on the grounds of Campo Indian Reservation and were moving south toward the freeway, officials said.

The California Highway Patrol shut down a stretch of the freeway in the area as ground crews and personnel aboard air tankers and water-dropping helicopters battled the blaze.

For a time, the flames were an imminent threat to about 15 homes, according to Cal Fire. By late afternoon Tuesday, the blaze had jumped Interstate 8 in a few spots and had damaged one outbuilding and a vehicle, the agency reported.

Sheriff's deputies cleared people out of residences on both sides of the freeway in the area of Old Highway 80, officials said. A temporary shelter for the displaced was available at the casino at 1800 Golden Acorn Way, a mile or so east of the fire.

As of late Wednesday morning, some of the residents who had to vacate their homes due to the blaze had been allowed back into their neighborhoods, but many of the evacuation orders remained in effect, authorities said.

Some 178 personnel were assigned to the fire, including 25 engines, seven hand crews and two helicopters, officials reported. At least 12 additional agencies were assisting in the effort.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

“It is an incredible financial burden to install security cameras, ironclad gates, hire security guards. This is not what our schools and our religious institutions should have to fundraise for,” Von Wilpert said at a news conference at San Diego City Hall.

Her colleague Raul Campillo said, “That’s money they should be spending on classes for their parishioners or public service programming out in their communities.”

Since January, Von Wilpert and Campillo have been urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to revive funding for the California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program (CSNSGP). Both said Monday’s tragedy made that funding all the more urgent.

“In 2024, the program was closed and the funding had expired. So we called on Gov. Newsom to reopen it, and last week Gov. Newsom responded. He did include the $40 million in his May revise in his budget proposal,” said Von Wilpert.

Previously, the CSNSGP was funded well above the current $40 million ask, and there is evidence of that around San Diego. One example is at the offices of the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego in Ocean Beach.

“We did get new fencing, new gates, we got new locks on doors, we got key card systems, we got a whole number of cameras, video surveillance cameras, and better lighting throughout the facility,” said Jeff Green, the Director of Operations and Safety Officer at the diocese.

“I think this is great. It gives many, many more churches the opportunity to buy the equipment and services they need to protect themselves,” Green said.

Chris Tumilty is the director of communications for the diocese. He said the organization encourages all its churches to apply for the grants. He said the money churches have gotten has been put to good use.

“The funds that are given to us are used to strengthen the security around our churches and to keep people safe,” Tumilty said. “Unfortunately, it's a much-needed resource for us.”

Von Wilpert and Campillo are urging people to contact their state legislators and demand they include the $40 million in the final budget. Von Wilpert said, “It’s not a line item — it’s a lifeline.”

The two teenagers suspected of killing three Muslim members of the San Diego Islamic Center Monday idolized prior perpetrators of such white supremacist attacks, according to a 75-page manifesto they allegedly wrote that's circulating online.

The pair said they believed in right-wing conspiracy theories about immigrants and Jewish people and sought to replicate the 2019 Christchurch, New Zealand shooting where 51 Muslims were killed at two mosques.

The manifesto and videos apparently filmed by one of the alleged shooters haven't been independently verified by KPBS but experts said there's little doubt as to their authenticity.

KPBS is not publishing the manifesto, videos or naming the alleged suspects, aged 17 and 18.

The materials from the alleged shooters was shared on a Discord server then posted on another forum online, according to Jared Holt, a senior researcher at Open Measures who monitors the spread of extremism and other harmful content online.

"We came across the alleged manifesto on a forum that I will not give publicity to on the news here, but it was from a community that is fairly adjacent to a lot of spaces where this idolatry and almost worship of mass killers takes place," Holt told KPBS Tuesday.

The FBI said at a news conference Tuesday it is investigating the manifesto and videos.

There's little doubt that ideology played a role in motivating Monday's violence and that the suspects sought to pay homage to the 2019 Christchurch shooting, Holt said.

"They sought to replicate one of the deadliest racist mass shootings in history, and they sought to do it in the U.S. as tribute to that shooting," he said. "I think the ideology is inseparable from the violence.

The two suspects were well versed in white supremacist ideology, said Heidi Beirich, the cofounder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism.

"It does appear as though this was more than just some online role-playing," Beirich said in an interview. "Because the manifesto dives very deep into white supremacist killers (and) white supremacist books."

Both suspects appear to have contributed to the manifesto. In it they blame Muslims, Jewish people, immigrants, women, the LGBTQ+ community and the left for seeking to destroy white culture.

They also repeat the white supremacist Great Replacement Theory which says there’s a conspiracy to bring in nonwhite immigrants to end the country’s white demographic majority.

Some conservatives have helped mainstream the theory, including Tucker Carlson and Elon Musk.

Holt says anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric from conservative politicians and media figures plays a role in fostering hateful ideologies.

"Hate is a very animating emotion in a lot of people and I think today's conservative movement has really tried to exploit that for their own political gains," Holt said.

The Trump administration has justified its immigrant crackdowns and its travel ban for majority-Muslim countries as matters of national security.

In December conservative influencers spread conspiracy theories about Somali immigrant-run childcare centers in Minneapolis. In January, some began showing up at childcare centers in San Diego.

President Donald Trump questioned why so many immigrants to the U.S. come from majority-Muslim countries instead of white-majority countries in a speech at a December Pennsylvania rally.

"We always take people from Somalia, places that are a disaster, right?" Trump said. "Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime. The only thing they’re good at is going after ships."

Beirich says it's dangerous for political leaders to demonize marginalized groups of people.

"You are sanctifying lies about this community, which opens them up to hate crimes and terrorism," she said. "It's really dangerous, and it makes it seem like these ideas are legit when they're not."

Young people can come across extremist ideas on mainstream social networks such as Instagram and TikTok, Holt said. But the communities that celebrate and revere white supremacist mass shooters are more niche — they would need to seek them out intentionally.

"What a lot of these communities have figured out in recent years is if they brand themselves as true crime fans, they can last a little longer (on moderated platforms) or potentially evade detection," Holt said.

Within those communities, Holt said, themes quickly start to overlap with hate, extremism, extreme violence and gore.

"A lot of these spaces are sharing shocking and offensive content ... to kind of give each other their kicks," he said

The way young people engage on social networks online is also changing, he said.

"A lot of younger people online are having almost kind of a passive experience with it, where they're consuming the content, they're joining communities ... and seem to be less drawn to this idea of being the main character of their Facebook page or whatever," he said.

By not actively posting hate-related content, radicalization may be more likely to go undetected.

There are signs a teen or young person may be engaging with these communities, Holt said, such as secretive and anti-social behavior and self-isolation.

They may also pick up interests in stories about violence and mass shootings.

Editor's note: In line with industry best practices, KPBS will avoid naming the suspects in the shooting. Research shows that focusing on mass shooters can inspire copycat violence and glorify their actions. KPBS will focus its reporting on the victims, survivors and the community.

Un tiroteo en el Centro Islámico de San Diego en Clairemont el lunes dejó cinco muertos.

Las víctimas han sido identificadas como Amin Abdullah, Mansour Kaziha y Nadir Awad. Abdullah era el guardia de seguridad del centro y las autoridades calificaron su actuación de heroica.

Dos adolescentes sospechosos fueron encontrados muertos cerca del centro con heridas de bala autoinfligidas. El Departamento de Policía de San Diego está investigando el incidente como un crimen de odio.

Mientras la comunidad lamenta las vidas perdidas, muchos se preguntan cómo pueden ayudar. KPBS ha recopilado una lista de maneras de apoyar a las familias afectadas, incluyendo fondos de donación organizados por el centro. También hemos reunido recursos de salud mental, asistencia legal y ayuda en crisis para quienes necesiten apoyo en este momento.

Donaciones

Fondo de Apoyo del Centro Islámico de San Diego

El Centro Islámico de San Diego ha creado el Fondo Oficial de Apoyo a Víctimas y Familias del ICSD para las personas y familias afectadas por el tiroteo en el campus de la mezquita del ICSD. Este fondo brindará asistencia directa y apoyo para la recuperación de los afectados, según el centro.

Recaudación de fondos para las víctimas

Esta recaudación de fondos está organizada por CAIR-San Diego junto con el Centro Islámico de San Diego. Los fondos cubrirán los gastos funerarios, las necesidades básicas del hogar, la educación de los hijos, la estabilidad financiera a largo plazo para los cónyuges sobrevivientes y el apoyo psicológico para quienes quedan atrás.

Asistencia legal

Servicios de la Fiscalía del Condado de San Diego para Víctimas

Los miembros de la comunidad afectados, incluyendo, entre otros, a las víctimas, padres, estudiantes y empleados del Centro Islámico de San Diego, pueden recibir servicios de la línea de Servicios para Víctimas de la Fiscalía del Condado de San Diego al 619-531-4041.

Recursos de salud mental

Cómo ayudar a los niños a afrontar la violencia armada

Sandy Hook Promise ofrece orientación especializada sobre el trauma para hablar con los niños sobre la tragedia y cómo procesar sus emociones.

Recursos para educadores y familias para hablar sobre tiroteos masivos en la comunidad

La Oficina de Educación del Condado de San Diego ofrece recursos generales de salud mental y orientación sobre cómo hablar con los niños sobre tiroteos masivos y cómo manejar las propias emociones.

Línea directa para delitos de odio

California vs. Hate es una línea directa estatal y un sistema de denuncia en línea que conecta a las víctimas de delitos e incidentes de odio con recursos, incluyendo asistencia legal, asesoramiento y apoyo de salud mental. El servicio es gratuito, confidencial y está disponible en todo California. Comuníquese con ellos al: 833-8-NO-HATE (833-866-4283)

Línea directa para el suicidio y crisis

Para obtener apoyo gratuito las 24 horas, la Línea de Ayuda para la Angustia por Desastres es una línea directa nacional dedicada a brindar apoyo a personas que atraviesan una crisis.

The Tijuana Slough at the Tijuana River Mouth ranked among California's most polluted beaches, while Playa Blanca near Tijuana was listed as the state's worst beach in Heal the Bay's annual Beach Report Card released Wednesday ahead of Memorial Day weekend.

The environmental nonprofit's 2025-26 report placed the Tijuana Slough ninth on its annual "Beach Bummer" list of beaches with the poorest summer dry-weather water quality grades because of elevated bacteria levels and chronic pollution concerns.

According to Heal the Bay, Playa Blanca and the Tijuana Slough continue to be heavily impacted by transboundary wastewater flows from Baja California, although efforts are underway on both sides of the border to reduce sewage discharges and improve infrastructure.

The report's Beach Bummer rankings were:

— 1. Playa Blanca near Tijuana;

— 2. Santa Monica Pier;

— 3. Erckenbrack Park in San Mateo County;

— 4. Linda Mar Beach at San Pedro Creek in San Mateo County;

— 5. Parkside Aquatic Park in San Mateo County;

— 6. Pillar Point Harbor's Capistrano Road Beach in San Mateo County;

— 7. Pillar Point Harbor's Harbor Beach in San Mateo County;

— 8. Marlin Park in San Mateo County;

— 9. Tijuana Slough at the Tijuana River Mouth in San Diego County; and

— 10. Clam Beach County Park at Strawberry Creek in Humboldt County.

Heal the Bay said California beaches overall maintained relatively strong water quality, with 91% earning A or B grades during summer dry conditions. However, statewide wet-weather grades declined from 67% to 61% because of rainfall, stormwater runoff and aging infrastructure, according to the report.

"No one should get sick from a weekend in our waters," Heal the Bay CEO Tracy Quinn said in a statement. "These findings are a reminder that water quality isn't just a report, it's a public health issue that affects every beachgoer and river user across California."

According to the report, 21 beaches statewide earned Honor Roll status for receiving A-plus grades in all monitored weather conditions, down sharply from 62 beaches the previous year.

San Diego County beaches receiving Honor Roll recognition included Encinitas' San Elijo State Park Pipes surf break, several Carlsbad beaches, Point Loma Lighthouse, Sunset Cliffs at Ladera Street, Mission Beach at Belmont Park, Solana Beach Tide Beach Park and Cardiff State Beach.

The report urged beachgoers to avoid swimming within 72 hours after rainfall and to stay away from storm drains, river outlets and stagnant water areas.

A wildfire continued to blacken at least 1,000 acres in a rural area near Golden Acorn Casino Wednesday, with all evacuations downgraded to warnings as ground and airborne crews worked to subdue the flames.

As of late Wednesday morning, the burn zone of the non-injury blaze west of Ribbonwood Road was about 25% surrounded by firebreaks, according to Cal Fire. By then, little active combustion was ongoing within the charred footprint of the blaze, said Mike Cornette, a fire captain with the state agency.

The blaze erupted at about 1 p.m. Tuesday off the 37000 block of Tusil Road, north of Interstate 8 and west of Ribbonwood Road in Boulevard, according to Cal Fire.

Within two hours, the flames, which were spreading over the grounds of Campo Indian Reservation, had charred about 30 acres and were moving toward I-8, the state agency reported.

Within two hours, the fast-moving flames had charred several dozen acres on the grounds of Campo Indian Reservation and were moving to the south toward the freeway, the state agency reported. The California Highway Patrol shut down a stretch of the regional route in the area as ground crews and personnel aboard air tankers and water-dropping helicopters battled the blaze.

For a time, the flames were an imminent threat to about 15 homes, according to Cal Fire. By late afternoon Tuesday, the blaze had jumped I-8 in a few spots and had damaged one outbuilding and a vehicle, Cornette said.

Sheriff's deputies cleared people out of residences on both sides of the freeway in the area of Old Highway 80, officials said. A temporary shelter for the displaced was available at the casino at 1800 Golden Acorn Way, a mile or so east of the fire.

As of 11 a.m. Wednesday, some of the residents who had to vacate their homes due to the blaze had been allowed back into their neighborhoods, but many of the evacuation orders remained in effect, officials said.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

The CHP said I-8 was shut down in both directions near the burn zone, but as of Wednesday morning, at least one lane in each direction has reopened to traffic. The No. 2 lane in both directions will remain closed until further notice.

The westbound No. 2 lane closure begins just west of Crestwood Road and is about one mile in length. The eastbound No. 2 lane is closed from Buckman Springs Road and ends about a half mile east of Buckman, the agency added.

A shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego in Clairemont on Monday left five dead.

The victims have been identified as Amin Abdullah, Mansour Kaziha and Nadir Awad. Abdullah was the center's security guard and officials said his actions were heroic. .

Two teenage suspects were found dead near the center with self-inflicted gunshot wounds. The San Diego Police Department is investigating the incident as a hate crime.

As the community mourns the lives lost, many are asking how they can help. KPBS has compiled a list of ways to support the impacted families, including donation funds organized by the center. We have also gathered mental health, legal, and crisis resources for anyone who needs support right now.

Donations

Islamic Center of San Diego Support Fund

The Islamic Center of San Diego has established the Official ICSD Victim & Family Support Fund for individuals and families impacted by the shooting incident at the ICSD masjid campus. This fund will help provide direct assistance and recovery support for those affected, according to the center.

Fundraiser for the victims

This fundraiser is organized by CAIR-San Diego together with the Islamic Center of San Diego. Funds will cover funeral costs, immediate household needs, children's education, long-term financial stability for surviving spouses and trauma counseling for those left behind.

Legal aid

San Diego County District Attorney Victim Services

Impacted community members including but not limited to victims, parents, students and employees of the Islamic Center of San Diego, can receive services from the San Diego District Attorney’s Victim Services line at 619-531-4041.

Mental health resources

Hate crimes hotline

California vs. Hate is a statewide hotline and online reporting system that helps connect victims of hate crimes and hate incidents with resources, including legal aid, counseling and mental health support. The service is free, confidential and available throughout California. Contact them at: 833-8-NO-HATE (833-866-4283)

Suicide and crisis hotline

For 24-hour, toll-free support, the Disaster Distress Helpline is a national hotline dedicated to providing support to people experiencing a crisis.

Kid-friendly resources

Talking to your children
Children need to hear that people in the government and other grown-ups they don’t even know are working hard to keep them safe, too. This article offers ideas on how to talk to younger children and things you can do to put them at ease in trying times.

How to buffer the trauma
Parents and caregivers can play a major role in helping children cope with and recover from this kind of trauma. An adolescent psychiatrist and chief clinical officer provide guidance on how to reduce anxiety, look for symptoms and help support children through a crisis.

Art therapy
Draw your feelings with Daniel Tiger on this interactive webpage.

When something scary happens PBS videos
Watch clips and songs from some favorite KPBS shows like "Arthur," "Mister Rogers," "Dinosaur Train" and more. Learn how these characters have coped with hard times.

Sesame Street resources on violence
Helping young children understand and cope with the effects of violence is hard, but there are ways to help them feel safer and more secure. Luckily, "Sesame Street" has been there.

Meet the Helpers
Meet experts like doctors, 911 operators and law enforcement in short, informative videos and hands-on activities meant to inform children on what role they play in emergencies.

Helping children cope with gun violence
Sandy Hook Promise provides trauma-informed guidance on how to talk to your children about tragedy and how to process feelings.

Youth mental health
This KET series, "You Are Not Alone," explores answers to depression, anxiety, toxic stress and suicide through the lens of experts, educators, parents and youth.

Resources for Educators, families to discuss mass shootings in the community
The San Diego County Office of Education offers general mental health resources and guidance on how to talk to children about mass shootings and how to manage your own feelings.

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

Californians would have to take a four-hour course with live-fire training to buy a gun if a bill advancing through the Legislature gets signed into law.

Senate Bill 948, by Berkeley Democratic Sen. Jesse Arreguín, also would require gun owners moving to California to obtain a firearm safety certificate and register their firearms within 180 days of their arrival. Beginning in 2028, obtaining that certificate would require completing the training.

It’s the latest effort by California Democrats to add more restrictions on firearm ownership in a state that already has some of the toughest gun laws in the country. However, it’s hardly certain the bill will become law. A similar measure died in the Legislature last year.

This year’s proposal advanced from the Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday on a party-line vote with Republicans opposed. Committee members offered no comment on the measure and did not take any public testimony, which is typical for that committee.

But in March, when an earlier version of the bill would have required eight hours of training, Arreguín told the Senate Public Safety Committee the proposed training requirements would reduce gun violence and prevent accidental shootings.

“Firearm safety is essential in preventing firearm-related incidents, especially those involving children,” he said. “By strengthening training requirements and closing gaps in current law, SB 948 will ensure responsible gun ownership to keep Californians and communities safe.”

Rebecca Marcus, a lobbyist for the Brady Campaign, told the committee there were more than 69,000 shootings resulting in death or requiring urgent medical care in California from 2016 to 2021. Around one in three of those shootings were accidental, she said. Many involved children.

Gun rights advocates said the bill would be challenged in court if it becomes law.

Adam Wilson of Gun Owners of California called the proposed requirements “an insurmountable barrier to exercising a constitutional right.”

Clay Kimberling, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action, said that’s especially true for the estimated 115,000 gun owners who move to California each year.

“Whether they move into the state on a new job, a new military assignment, or family obligations such as helping a sick or elderly family member, lawful firearm owners would now have to search out an instructor, pay for the class … and take eight hours out of their day … for simply wanting to continue to practice their constitutional right to keep and bear arms in a new state,” Kimberling said.

That original version of the bill also would have required new California arrivals to register firearms and take the course within 60 days.

Will the bill make it to Newsom?

Under current law, Californians are required to pass a written test and pay $25 to obtain a five-year firearm safety certificate to purchase a gun, but no formal training course is required.

Licensed hunters are required to take a mandatory hunting-safety course and aren’t required to get a certificate when buying rifles or shotguns. Also exempt are those who’ve obtained a concealed weapons permit, which is issued after 16 hours of mandatory training that includes live-fire at a gun range.

Those exemptions would still apply.

For everyone else, the proposed four hours of training would include coursework on state and federal gun laws, secure firearm storage, safe handling, the dangers of guns, use-of-force laws, how to sell firearms legally and conflict resolution. The live-fire portion of the course would need to last at least an hour.

Second Amendment groups say paying a Department of Justice-certified firearms instructor would add at least $400 to the cost of buying a firearm. Applicants also would have to pay for ammunition, gun rentals and range fees. Fees and firearms taxes already can add more than $100 to the cost of a firearm in California.

The training requirements would take effect July 1, 2028.

Until then, beginning on Jan. 1, gun owners moving to the state would be required to pass the current written test and register their firearms with the Department of Justice within 180 days.

Violating the proposed law would be a misdemeanor.

The bill now moves to the full Senate. It will then have to advance through the Assembly by this summer if Gov. Gavin Newsom is to sign it. He hasn’t taken a position on the legislation.

Last year, a bill with eight-hour training requirements died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Los disparos fueron reportados a las 11:43 a.m. Oficiales llegaron en menos de cuatro minutos y encontraron muertos al guardia de seguridad Amin Abdullah y a dos miembros de la comunidad: Mansour Kaziha y Nadir Awad.

Hassane describió a Abdullah como “una persona encantadora”.

“Nunca dejaba de sonreírle a nadie, tanto a miembros de nuestra comunidad como a nuestros visitantes”, añadió.

'A menos de 15 pies de los sospechosos'

De acuerdo con Scott Wahl, jefe de la Policía de San Diego, Amin Abdullah fue la primera persona en enfrentar a los sospechosos afuera de la mezquita y llegó a intercambiar disparos con ellos. Videos de vigilancia revisados por el departamento muestran a Abdullah hablando por radio para iniciar el cierre de seguridad del centro islámico.

Después de matar a Abdullah, los sospechosos entraron al lobby principal y comenzaron a recorrer habitación por habitación, dijo Wahl.

“Sus acciones, sin duda, retrasaron, distrajeron y finalmente evitaron que estos individuos pudieran acceder a las áreas principales de la mezquita, donde había hasta 140 niños a menos de 15 pies de distancia de los sospechosos”, afirmó Wahl.

Los videos de vigilancia muestran después a los sospechosos mirando por una ventana, señalando algo y luego saliendo hacia el estacionamiento, donde se encontraron con dos miembros de la comunidad: Mansour Kaziha y Nadir Awad.

Hassane describió a Kaziha como “uno de nuestros mayores” y dijo que había formado parte de la comunidad desde 1987.

“Cuando la comunidad empezó a construir el centro comunitario, él ya estaba ahí”, dijo Hassane.

El imán explicó que Kaziha era la persona a la que todos acudían cuando algo salía mal en la mezquita.

“Era el handyman, el cocinero, el cuidador. Era todo”, dijo Hassane. “No sé qué voy a hacer… sin su ayuda”.

También señaló que Kaziha fue la primera persona en llamar al 911.

La tercera víctima, Awad, era una presencia constante en el centro de acuerdo con Hassane.

“Vive cruzando la calle del Centro Islámico. Su esposa es maestra en la escuela islámica. Todos los días estaba en el Centro Islámico participando en las oraciones, todos los días”, comentó Hassane.

Wahl dijo que Kaziha y Awad no lograron escapar después de que los sospechosos los acorralaron y asesinaron.

“La enorme respuesta policial que estaba a segundos de llegar sin duda obligó a los sospechosos a regresar a su vehículo y huir del estacionamiento. Y quiero dejar algo muy claro: nuestras tres víctimas no murieron en vano… si no hubieran retrasado las acciones de estos dos individuos, no hay duda de que ayer habría habido muchas más víctimas fatales”, afirmó Wahl.

Posteriormente, los sospechosos regresaron a su vehículo y huyeron. La policía los encontró cerca del centro, muertos por aparentes heridas de bala autoinfligidas. Tenían 17 y 18 años. Wahl dijo que las autoridades seguirán reservando sus nombres por ahora.

“Lo que no van a escuchar hoy de nosotros son los nombres de estos dos sospechosos”, dijo Wahl. “Hoy se trata de nuestras víctimas y de que nuestra comunidad vuelva a unirse”.

La investigación continúa

Los motivos del ataque siguen bajo investigación, dijo Mark Remily, agente especial a cargo del FBI. Sin embargo, señaló que los sospechosos “fueron radicalizados en internet”.

Investigadores recuperaron un manifiesto con “diversas ideologías que describían creencias religiosas y raciales sobre cómo debía verse el mundo que imaginaban”. Remily agregó que “estos sujetos no discriminaban a quién odiaban”.

Según Remily, las autoridades ya entrevistan a familiares de los sospechosos y ejecutaron tres órdenes de cateo en viviendas relacionadas con ellos. Durante los operativos, investigadores decomisaron más de 30 armas y una ballesta. Las armas pertenecían a los padres de uno de los sospechosos. Cuando se le preguntó si la Policía de San Diego recomendaría presentar cargos, Scott Wahl respondió: “Todavía lo estamos investigando”.

El FBI también está revisando los dispositivos electrónicos de los sospechosos.

‘Nunca esperamos algo así’

Hassane dijo que el Centro Islámico está acostumbrado a recibir mensajes y correos de odio, e incluso a personas que pasan insultando desde sus autos.

En años recientes, la mezquita había implementado medidas de seguridad, pero aun así el ataque resultó impactante.

“Nunca esperamos algo así, aunque durante años hicimos todo lo que pudimos: solicitar fondos de seguridad nacional, instalar cercas, contratar guardias armados y cámaras cubriendo cada rincón dentro y fuera del Centro Islámico”, dijo Hassane. “¿Qué más podíamos hacer?”

Wahl señaló que departamentos de policía de todo el condado están aumentando la vigilancia en lugares de culto.

“Van a ver una presencia visible en los lugares de culto”, afirmó.

Tusil Fire

Crews are working to contain a brush fire that has burned hundreds of acres near 37000 block of Tusil Road on the Campo Reservation, with some structures being threatened, according to San Diego County Fire.

As of 7 a.m. Wednesday, the fire had burned approximately 1000 acres, is 25% contained and has crossed Interstate 8, according to Cal Fire.

I-8 westbound at State Route 94 and I-8 eastbound at Kitchen Creek were closed Tuesday evening. Drivers should avoid the area if possible, expect significant delays, and seek alternate routes. Please stay alert for emergency crews and changing traffic conditions.

Evacuations

An evacuation order is in place for parts of Campo designated in red on the map. It means everyone in the impacted areas must leave immediately. An evacuation warning is in place for the shaded area in yellow shown in the map below. Be prepared to evacuate should conditions change. You can also view the map here.

A temporary evacuation point has been established at Golden Acorn Casino, 1880 Golden Acorn Way, Campo.

The gunfire was reported at 11:43 a.m. Monday. Officers arrived within four minutes to find security guard Amin Abdullah and two community members, Mansour Kaziha and Nadir Awad, killed in the attack.

Hassane, who is the director of the Islamic Center of San Diego, said Abdullah was a “lovely person.”

“He never stops smiling to anyone, our community members as well as our visitors,” Hassane added.

'Within 15 feet of these suspects'

According to San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl, Abdullah was the first person to engage the suspects outside of the mosque and exchanged gunfire with the young men. Surveillance video reviewed by the department shows Abdullah speaking into his radio to begin locking down the mosque.

After the suspects had killed Abdullah, they entered into the front lobby and began going room to room, according to Wahl.

“His actions, without a doubt, delayed, distracted and ultimately deterred these individuals from gaining access to the greater areas of the mosque, where as many as 140 kids were within 15 feet of these suspects,” Wahl said.

The surveillance video goes on to show the suspects looking out a window, pointing and then exiting the mosque and going into the parking lot, that is where they encountered two community members, Kaziha and Awad.

Hassane described Kaziha as “our elder” and said the man had been a part of the community since 1986.

“When the community started breaking the ground to build the community center (Kaziha) was there,” Hassane said.

The Imam said Kaziha was the go-to person for when things went wrong at the mosque.

“He was the handyman, he was the cook, he was the care taker. He was everything,” Hassane said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do … without his assistance.”

The Imam also said Kaziha was the first person to call 911.

The third victim, Awad, was a constant presence at the center, according to Hassane.

“He lives across the street from the Islamic Center. His wife is a teacher at the Islamic school. He is every single day at the Islamic Center joining the prayers, every single day,” Hassane said.

Chief Wahl said Kaziha and Awad were unable to flee the suspects who cornered and killed the men.

“The massive response that was seconds away undoubtedly pushed both of the suspects to run back to their vehicle and flee the parking lot, and I want to be very clear: all three of our victims did not die in vain … without delaying the actions of these two individuals, without question, there would have been many more fatalities yesterday,” Wahl said.

Subsequently, the suspects returned to their vehicle and fled. Police found them near the center dead from self-inflicted gun-shot wounds. They were 17 and 18 years old. Wahl said police will continue to withhold the names of the suspects at this time.

"What you will not hear from us today is the names of these two suspects," Wahl said. "Today is about our victims and our community coming back together."

The investigation continues

The motives behind the attack are still under investigation, Special Agent in Charge Mark Remily said. Though Remily did say the suspects were “radicalized online.” Investigators recovered a manifesto containing “various ideologies outlining religious and racial beliefs of how the world they envisioned should look.” Remily added that “these subjects did not discriminate on who they hated.”

The writings, obtained by The Associated Press, include hateful rhetoric toward Jewish people, Muslims and Islam, as well as the LGBTQ+ community, Black people, women, and both the political left and right. Both express beliefs that white people are being eliminated, and one writes about mental health struggles and being rejected by women.

The document includes symbols long associated with white supremacists and Nazis. The two referenced the white supremacist who attacked mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019, killing 51 people.

The two suspects met online before discovering they both lived in the San Diego area, the FBI said. “In terms of how the radicalization occurred, we’re still digging into that,” Remily said.

According to Remily, interviews are underway with the suspects family members and authorities have executed three search warrants at residences associated with the suspects. During those searches, investigators seized over 30 guns and a crossbow. The guns belonged to the parents of one of the suspects. When asked if SDPD was recommending charges, Wahl said “We’re still looking into it.”

The FBI is in the process of searching the suspects’ electronic devices.

‘We have never expected this’

Hassane said the Islamic Center is familiar with receiving hateful messages and mail, and even “people driving by and cursing.”

In recent years the mosque had taken security precautions, but even still, the attack was shocking.

“We have never expected this, even though we tried throughout the years everything we could do, applying for homeland security grants, we have a fence, security armed guards, security cameras covering every single spot inside and outside the Islamic Center,” Hassane said. “What could we do more than this?”

Chief Wahl said law enforcement departments across the county are ramping up patrols at places of worship.

“You’re going to see a visible presence at places of worship,” Wahl said.

More than 25,000 people have donated to an online fundraiser for the families of the victims of Monday’s shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego. As of 1 p.m. on Tuesday, they’d raised more than $2 million. Another support fund had more than $520,000 so far.

Police suspect two teenagers of killing three people at the center. They include Amin Abdullah, a security guard at the center.

“If he didn’t do what he did, and he sacrificed his life, the two suspects would have easily access to every single classroom,” Imam Taha Hassane said on Tuesday. “We’re so proud of him.”

There were 140 children within 15 feet of the suspects, San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said.

Hassane also named the other two victims: Mansour Kaziha and Nadir Awad. Kaziha had worked at the center for four decades, Hassane said.

“He was the handyman, he was the cook, he was the caretaker, he was the storekeeper. He was everything,” Hassane said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do at the Islamic Center without his assistance.”

Awad lived across the street from the Islamic Center, Hassane said. His wife is a teacher at the Islamic school on the site.

“He is, every single day, at the Islamic Center joining the prayers,” Hassane said. “When he heard the shooting, he rushed to do something.”

The Islamic Center, CAIR and the Muslim Leadership Council of San Diego are holding an interfaith community vigil on Tuesday. It starts at 6:30 p.m. at Lindbergh Neighborhood Park in Clairemont.

Half an hour north of the Islamic Center, the Muslim Community Center of Greater San Diego reopened its doors on Tuesday. In a message to the community, the center’s board of directors said gates would open 30 minutes before and after prayers.

“We humbly ask that the community vacates the premises promptly after the prayers,” they wrote. “All other events are suspended for now.”

Other local religious leaders have also condemned the attack.

“Violence against any house of worship is intolerable,” the Jewish Federation of San Diego said in a statement. “Every person deserves to gather in prayer, community, and peace without fear for their safety. This awful and horrifying act of violence has shaken communities across San Diego and struck at the core of our shared humanity and values.”

Bishop Michael Pham said the Catholic Diocese of San Diego stood “united in solidarity and prayer” with the Muslim community.

“The Islamic Center has been a longtime partner in our collaborative work for justice, especially in accompanying immigrants,” he said in a statement. “Houses of worship must always be sanctuaries of peace, safety, and prayer. An attack on one faith community is an attack on the sacred dignity of all human life.”

Hassane said the Islamic Center had tried “everything we could do” to stay safe. They had a fence around the center, armed guards and security cameras.

"We are used to receiving hate mail, hate messages, people driving by and cursing," Hassane said. "But such horrible crime, we have never expected."

El tiroteo en el Centro Islámico de San Diego, ubicado en la cuadra 7000 de Eckstrom Avenue, fue reportado alrededor de las 11:40 a.m. del lunes. Oficiales llegaron en menos de cuatro minutos y encontraron a tres hombres muertos afuera de la mezquita, uno de ellos un guardia de seguridad que estaba trabajando en ese momento, informó Scott Wahl, jefe de la Policía de San Diego.

El ataque provocó un amplio despliegue policial en la concurrida zona de la ciudad, además de evacuaciones en la mezquita y en su centro educativo para niños pequeños, cierres de calles y resguardos en escuelas públicas cercanas.

Mientras esas operaciones estaban en marcha, la policía recibió reportes de otro tiroteo en el área, esta vez en Salerno Street, al sur del centro islámico.

“Había un jardinero trabajando que recibió disparos, pero afortunadamente no fue alcanzado”, dijo Wahl.

Poco después de ese segundo reporte, oficiales fueron enviados a otro punto cercano. Allí, en la cuadra 3800 de Hatton Street, encontraron un vehículo detenido en la calle con los cuerpos de los presuntos responsables del ataque: un joven de 18 años y un menor de 17. Las autoridades creen que ambos murieron por heridas de bala autoinfligidas, dijo Wahl a medios de comunicación.

La policía informó que uno de los sospechosos había sido reportado como desaparecido aproximadamente dos horas antes del tiroteo en la mezquita.

“La Policía de San Diego reunió información proporcionada por la madre del menor”, indicó el departamento en un comunicado. “Ella creía que su hijo tenía pensamientos suicidas y reportó que varias de sus armas, así como su vehículo, habían desaparecido.

“También indicó que estaba acompañado de otra persona vestida con ropa de camuflaje”.

Gracias a tecnología automatizada de lectura de placas, las autoridades descubrieron que el vehículo había estado esa mañana en Mission Valley, cerca del centro comercial Fashion Valley, aunque los agentes que acudieron a la zona no localizaron el automóvil ni a los sospechosos.

El caso está siendo investigado como un posible crimen de odio, luego de reportes que indican que se encontraron mensajes antiislámicos en una de las armas utilizadas y posiblemente también dentro del vehículo donde fueron hallados los sospechosos.

La mañana del martes, líderes musulmanes de San Diego, incluidos representantes del Centro Islámico, identificaron a las víctimas como Amin Abdullah, Mansour Kaziha y Nader Awad. Abdullah, el guardia de seguridad del lugar, está siendo reconocido como un héroe por haber salvado vidas durante el ataque.

Abdullah “arriesgó su propia vida para alertar a la escuela y a otras personas dentro del edificio sobre la presencia de un tirador activo”, señalaron líderes musulmanes en un comunicado difundido por el Consejo de Relaciones Estadounidenses-Islámicas (CAIR).

Funcionarios de la mezquita también lo homenajearon en redes sociales, describiéndolo como “un querido guardia de seguridad que dio su vida protegiendo a los niños y miembros de nuestra comunidad” y “un hombre valiente que se puso en riesgo por la seguridad de otros y que incluso en sus últimos momentos nunca dejó de proteger a nuestra comunidad”.

Según reportes de prensa, Abdullah era padre de ocho hijos. Una campaña de recaudación en línea para apoyar a su familia había reunido casi 2 millones de dólares hasta la mañana del martes.

De acuerdo con CAIR, Kaziha “era un líder comunitario que administró la tienda de la mezquita durante casi 40 años y fue un esposo, padre y abuelo amoroso”, mientras que Awad “desvió a miembros de la comunidad de la línea de fuego y salvó vidas”.

Líderes musulmanes planeaban realizar una conferencia de prensa por la tarde para honrar a las víctimas.

El Centro Islámico también creó una campaña de recaudación en línea para apoyar a las víctimas y familias afectadas por el ataque. Hasta la mañana del martes había reunido más de 440 mil dólares.

El lunes por la tarde, Todd Gloria, alcalde de San Diego, aseguró que la ciudad hará todo lo posible para que la comunidad musulmana se sienta segura.

“Y no se escatimarán recursos para garantizar que nuestras instituciones y espacios religiosos estén protegidos en este momento tan sensible”, añadió.

Tazheen Nizam, directora ejecutiva de CAIR-San Diego, condenó el ataque.

“Condenamos enérgicamente este horrible acto de violencia en el Centro Islámico de San Diego”, dijo Nizam. “Nuestros pensamientos están con todas las personas afectadas. Nadie debería temer por su seguridad mientras asiste a rezar o estudia en una escuela primaria. Estamos trabajando para conocer más detalles sobre este incidente y alentamos a todos a mantener a esta comunidad en sus oraciones”.

Gavin Newsom anunció el lunes que la Oficina de Servicios de Emergencia de California estaba coordinándose con autoridades locales para responder al posible crimen de odio.

En un comunicado, Newsom dijo que él y su esposa, Jennifer, estaban “horrorizados por el violento ataque de hoy en el Centro Islámico de San Diego, donde familias y niños se reúnen y vecinos rezan en paz y comunidad.

“Hoy, ese espacio comunitario fue destrozado por disparos”, afirmó. “California envía sus más profundas condolencias a las familias y comunidades afectadas por este tiroteo. Las personas que acuden a rezar no deberían temer por sus vidas. El odio no tiene cabida en California y no toleraremos actos de terror o intimidación contra comunidades de fe”.

The gunfire at the Islamic Center of San Diego in the 7000 block of Eckstrom Avenue was reported at about 11:40 a.m. Monday. Officers arrived within four minutes to find three men, one of them an on-duty security guard, dead outside the mosque, San Diego Police Department Chief Scott Wahl said.

The shooting led to a massive police deployment in the busy mid-city neighborhood, along with evacuations of the mosque and its educational facility for young children, road closures in the area and lockdowns at nearby public schools.

As those operations were getting underway, police received reports of another shooting in the area, this one on Salerno Street, just south of the Islamic center.

"There was a landscaper that was doing his work and was shot at, and fortunately was not hit," Wahl said.

Not long after the second shooting was reported, officers were called to yet another nearby location. There, in the 3800 block of Hatton Street, a vehicle was stopped in the roadway, and inside it were the bodies of the suspected perpetrators of the shooting spree — an 18-year-old man and 17-year-old boy. They are believed to have died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds, Wahl told news crews.

Police said one of the suspects had been reported as a runaway about two hours before the mosque shooting occurred.

"SDPD pieced together bits of information from the juvenile's mother," according to an SDPD statement. "She believed her son was suicidal and shared information that several of her weapons were missing, along with her vehicle.

She also stated that he was with a companion, who was dressed in camouflage."

Via automated license-plate-reading camera technology, authorities learned that the woman's vehicle had been in Mission Valley, near Fashion Valley mall during the morning, but officers dispatched to that area did not locate the car or the suspects there.

The shooting was being investigated as a possible hate crime, with various reports suggesting anti-Ismamic messages were found on one of the weapons used in the shooting and possibly in the vehicle where the suspects were found.

On Tuesday morning, San Diego-area Muslim leaders, including those from the Islamic Center of San Diego, identified the victims of the shooting as Amin Abdullah, Mansour Kaziha and Nadir Awad. Abdullah was the security guard at the facility who was being hailed as a hero for saving lives during the shooting.

Abdullah "risked his own life to alert the school and other individuals inside regarding the active shooter," Muslim leaders said in a statement released through the Council on American Islamic Relations.

Mosque officials hailed the security guard on social media, calling him a "beloved security guard, who gave his life protecting the children and community members of our masjid," and "a courageous man who put himself on the line for the safety of others, who even in his last moments did not stop protecting our community."

According to media reports, Abdullah was a father of eight. An online fundraising drive to support his family had raised nearly $2 million as of Tuesday morning.

According to CAIR, Kaziha "was a community leader who managed the mosque store for nearly 40 years and was a loving husband, father and grandfather," while Awad "turned away community members from the bullets and saved lives."

Muslim leaders plan to hold an afternoon news conference to honor the victims.

The Islamic Center established an online fundraiser to support victims and families impacted by the shooting. It had raised more than $440,000 as of Tuesday morning.

On Monday afternoon, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria sought to "assure our Muslim community that we will do everything to make sure that you can feel safe in this city."

"And no resource will be spared in making sure that our religious institutions and locations are protected in this sensitive time," the mayor added.

CAIR-San Diego Executive Director Tazheen Nizam decried the deadly gun rampage.

"We strongly condemn this horrifying act of violence at the Islamic Center of San Diego," Nizam said. "Our thoughts are with everyone impacted by this attack. No one should ever fear for their safety while attending prayers or studying at an elementary school. We are working to learn more about this incident, and we encourage everyone to keep this community in your prayers."

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday that his Office of Emergency Services was coordinating with local law enforcement on responses to the potential hate-crime shootings.

In a prepared statement, Newsom said he and his wife, Jennifer, were "horrified by today's violent attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego, where families and children gather, and neighbors worship in peace and fellowship.

"Today, this community space was shattered by gunfire," he stated. "California sends our deepest condolences to the families and communities impacted by today's shooting. Worshippers anywhere should not have to fear for their lives. Hate has no place in California, and we will not tolerate acts of terror or intimidation against communities of faith."

Cinco personas murieron tras un tiroteo ocurrido el lunes en el Centro Islámico de San Diego, incluidos dos sospechosos adolescentes.

El Centro Islámico de San Diego (ICSD por sus siglas en inglés) es la mezquita más grande del condado y funciona como un centro cultural y educativo para la comunidad musulmana de la región, ofreciendo cinco oraciones diarias y clases para jóvenes musulmanes.

Tras el ataque, líderes religiosos locales y funcionarios electos expresaron sus condolencias a las familias de las víctimas, su apoyo a la comunidad musulmana de San Diego y su agradecimiento a las fuerzas del orden.

Gavin Newsom, gobernador de California, dijo en un comunicado:

“Las personas que acuden a rezar no deberían temer por sus vidas en ningún lugar. El odio no tiene cabida en California y no toleraremos actos de terror o intimidación contra comunidades de fe… A la comunidad musulmana de San Diego: California está con ustedes”.

Los dos sospechosos, jóvenes de 17 y 18 años, fueron encontrados muertos por aparentes heridas de bala autoinfligidas dentro de un vehículo ubicado a unas cuadras del centro. La Policía de San Diego y el FBI investigan el caso como un crimen de odio.

Adam Schiff reafirmó el derecho de los estadounidenses a la libertad religiosa.

“El tiroteo de hoy es un ataque horroroso contra la comunidad musulmana del sur de California”, dijo Schiff en un comunicado. “Toda persona en Estados Unidos debería poder practicar su fe sin miedo a la violencia. Y nunca debemos guardar silencio frente al odio.

“Estoy profundamente agradecido con los agentes de seguridad y primeros respondedores que, frente al terror, actuaron con valentía para proteger a familias y niños.

“Mi corazón está con todas las familias de San Diego durante esta terrible tragedia”.

Según el sitio web del centro, su misión es “atender las necesidades religiosas de la población musulmana de San Diego y trabajar con la comunidad en general para ayudar a las personas más necesitadas, educar y mejorar nuestra nación”.

Michael Pham, obispo de la Diócesis Católica de San Diego, expresó la solidaridad de su iglesia con la comunidad musulmana.

“El Centro Islámico ha sido durante mucho tiempo un aliado en nuestro trabajo conjunto por la justicia, especialmente acompañando a inmigrantes”, dijo el obispo Pham en un comunicado. “Los lugares de culto siempre deben ser espacios de paz, seguridad y oración. Un ataque contra una comunidad religiosa es un ataque contra la dignidad sagrada de toda vida humana.

“En nombre de toda la comunidad católica romana de San Diego, ofrecemos nuestras más profundas condolencias, solidaridad y oraciones fervientes a las familias de las víctimas y a toda la comunidad musulmana”.

Todd Gloria, alcalde de San Diego, dijo que la ciudad permanece unida en este momento difícil:

“Sé que esta tragedia es especialmente dolorosa para la comunidad musulmana porque ocurre al inicio de Dhul-Hijjah, uno de los periodos más sagrados del islam previo al Hajj y Eid al-Adha: un tiempo de profunda fe, reflexión y unidad. El odio no tiene hogar en San Diego, y un ataque contra cualquiera de nuestras comunidades —contra cualquier san dieguino por quien es, lo que cree o cómo reza— es un ataque contra todos nosotros.

“Y que no haya ninguna duda para quien intente traer este tipo de violencia a nuestra ciudad: se enfrentará a todo el peso de la ley y a la fuerza de una ciudad que se niega a dividirse. Quien busque hacer daño aquí debe entender que la respuesta será inmediata y que será llevado ante la justicia”.

More than 160 rescued horses and farm animals have received urgent medical treatment or been transported to permanent sanctuaries as a massive animal rescue operation continues in Julian, officials said Tuesday.

Over the weekend, a coordinated team of 10 farriers, seven equine veterinarians, animal caregivers and volunteers pulled together on the Villa Chardonnay property to provide critical dental and hoof care, according to the San Diego Humane Society.

In total, 76 horses had their teeth floated to ensure proper chewing comfort, and 83 horses received long-overdue farrier services. According to officials, many of the horses on the site are lame, suffering from imbalances and severe cracks caused by a prolonged lack of proper hoof care.

The international organization Humane World for Animals has joined the response, deploying one team to assist with the remaining horses on the property and another to manage the daily care of cats that have been removed from the site. Meanwhile, a large-scale relocation effort began Friday to transfer the seized farm animals to the Humane Farming Association's 7,000-acre Suwanna Ranch in Elk Creek, California.

On Friday, two potbellied pigs, 12 goats, one sheep, and three chickens were transported from the County Animal Services facility in Bonita. On Saturday, transports continued with 29 chickens, four geese, four turkeys, and eight ducks. On Sunday, four donkeys, one mini mule, five mini horses, and one horse departed Julian for the Northern California ranch. Two alpacas determined unready for the long journey to Elk Creek were rerouted to the SDHS Escondido campus.

The operation has also led to several emotional reunions. To date, 17 horses, four cats, and two dogs have been reunited with previous owners who had originally surrendered their pets to Villa Chardonnay. Officials are currently processing more than 150 additional reunification requests. The SDHS called the rescue operation a massive undertaking, noting that the organization currently has 2,311 animals in its care across its shelters.

Since the rescue efforts began on May 1, more than 700 animals have been located on the property, including: 446 cats, 175 horses, 30 dogs, 30 chickens, 12 goats and dozens of other animals.

The Humane Farming Association, a nonprofit focused on protecting farm animals, said it conducted a yearlong investigation into Villa Chardonnay Horses with Wings for alleged "operational concerns and animal neglect," which led to this month's rescues.

After receiving court approval to conduct a veterinary inspection of the animals, HFA says it found "sick and injured animals who appeared to be neglected and were left to suffer in an ammonia-filled `hospice barn,' with an apparent lack of adequate clean shelter or true palliative care. Many of the farm animals were kept in small, substandard pens without access to the outdoors, and harsh conditions caused some animals to attack each other and/or self-mutilate."

HFA says the farm animals recovered during the operation will be transported to the organization's ranch in Elk Creek, where they will provided "permanent homes and lifetime care."

On its website, the 23-year-old sanctuary is described as a shelter where animals who have been "abandoned, neglected or abused ... find love, safety and a second chance at life" and "live out their days in peace and comfort."

Heidi Redman, a spokeswoman for the sanctuary, defended the work of Villa Chardonnay founder Monika Kerber.

"There is no neglect, no abuse of any of these animals. They were well taken care of," Redman told City News Service earlier this month. "There is definitely another side to this story and it should be told. They're (Kerber and her partner, Mercedes Flores) devastated. These animals were like their children. They (investigators) even took their house dogs, their personal dogs."

SDHS says its medical teams are providing exams for the recovered animals, many of which are being treated for conditions that include malnutrition, emaciation, untreated open wounds and contagious infections such as ringworm and giardia.

Some of the animals were "in such critical condition that humane euthanasia was necessary to prevent further suffering," including four horses, a pony, a bull and one kitten.

SDHS President and CEO Dr. Gary Weitzman said in a statement, "It truly is appalling. There is no question at all about the neglect, at the very least, that occurred out there. I am very happy that these animals have a new chance at life."

It’s a massive event that celebrates cycling as a sustainable alternative to car culture. On Thursday, dozens of participating organizations will host over 100 designated “pit stops” from Oceanside to Tijuana.

But one bike co-op, City Heights-based Biked del Pueblo, is sitting this one out.

“We’re boycotting Bike Anywhere Day because we feel that it is unfair and wrong the SANDAG is selling data to the federal government,” said Bikes del Pueblo volunteer Cynthia Tecson, referencing SANDAG’s controversial contract granting U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations access to the ARJIS criminal database.

KPBS reported last year that the contract gives federal immigration agencies access to data collected from every law enforcement agency in San Diego County, which is a potential violation of California’s immigrant sanctuary laws.

The database contains names, addresses, phone numbers, criminal records and vehicle information of people who interact with local police officers or sheriff’s deputies. ARJIS also includes several applications that law enforcement officers use to track down suspects.

While agencies like CBP and HSI are explicitly told not to use ARJIS data to enforce federal immigration law, SANDAG does not have any independent oversight authority to audit their searches in order to ensure compliance.

In January, several members of SANDAG’s board of directors questioned these contracts.

They pointed to the Trump administration’s heavy-handed immigration enforcement tactics, and alluded to federal court findings accusing CBP of violating people’s constitutional rights while conducting roving patrols.

San Diego City Councilmember Vivian Moreno (who serves on the SANDAG board) said she wanted to terminate future contracts.

“I’ve seen enough from our federal agencies to know that I do not want to participate in what ICE is doing,” she said during the January meeting.

Bikes del Pueblo’s boycott is the first time a community-based organization has launched a protest against SANDAG over the contract.

“We appreciate SANDAG’s advocacy on bicycle infrastructure, but we need them to stop selling data to the feds,” Tecson said.

On Monday, Bikes del Pueblo partnered with the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition to start an online petition asking SANDAG to stop granting CBP and HSI access to ARJIS. As of Tuesday morning, they had collected 860 signatures.

SANDAG did not respond to questions about the boycott.

This isn’t the first time Bikes del Pueblo has protested the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts. Volunteers have organized community patrols where they ride bikes around the neighborhood looking for enforcement operations, said volunteer Elliot Varon.

“City Heights is a largely black and brown neighborhood that has been targeted by ICE,” Varon said. “So there have been a lot of ICE patrols going on.”

As part of their boycott Thursday, the organization will host an unofficial pit stop. Their goal is to help spread awareness about SANDAG’s contract with CBP within San Diego’s cycling community.

“Our call to action is for community members to contact their SANDAG representatives to urge them to vote against renewing the CBP contract in June,” said Kareston Markely, another volunteer.

Some county leaders are listening. County Supervisor Paloma Aguirre has been an outspoken critic of SANDAG’s contract.

“The fact that this group has decided to take a stand, I think takes a lot of courage,” said Aguirre, who is the county’s representative on the SANDAG board. “But I think it sends an important message to those who may not think that this is important.”

Aguirre said she’s sensitive to the fear of federal immigration agencies in vulnerable communities.

“I think that fear is real and I empathize and feel that fear every day in the work that I do and the stories I hear from my constituents,” she said. “That’s why I’ve been very vocal in my opposition.”

Aguirre has already asked SANDAG to kill the contracts, noting that fees collected from CBP and HSI account for less than 0.001 percent of the transportation agency’s budget.

Five people are dead following a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego Monday, including two teenage suspects.

The ICSD is the largest mosque in San Diego County and serves as a cultural and educational hub for the region’s muslim community, offering five daily prayers and classes for young Muslims.

In the aftermath of the incident, local religious leaders and elected officials have offered their condolences to the victims' families, support for San Diego’s Muslim community and gratitude for law enforcement officers.

“Worshippers anywhere should not have to fear for their lives,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “Hate has no place in California, and we will not tolerate acts of terror or intimidation against communities of faith … To the San Diego Muslim community: California stands with you.”

The two suspects, 17 and 18 year old men, were found dead from what appeared to be self-inflicted gunshots in a vehicle a couple of blocks away from the center. San Diego Police and the FBI are investigating the shooting as a hate crime.

California Sen. Adam Schiff reaffirmed American’s right to freedom of religion.

“Today's shooting is a horrific attack on Southern California's Muslim community,” Schiff said in a statement. “Every American should be able to practice their faith without fear of violence. And we must never be silent in the face of hate.

“I am immensely grateful to law enforcement officers and first responders who, in the face of terror, heroically ran into harm's way to protect families and children.

“My heart is with all San Diego families during this terrible tragedy.”

According to the center’s website, its mission is to "serve the religious needs of the San Diego Muslim population and work with the larger community to serve the less fortunate, to educate, and to better our nation."

Bishop Michael Pham, of the Catholic Diocese of San Diego, offered his church’s solidarity to the Muslim community.

“The Islamic Center has been a longtime partner in our collaborative work for justice, especially in accompanying immigrants,” Bishop Pham said in a statement. “Houses of worship must always be sanctuaries of peace, safety, and prayer. An attack on one faith community is an attack on the sacred dignity of all human life.

“On behalf of the entire Roman Catholic community of San Diego, we offer my deepest condolences, solidarity, and fervent prayers to the families of the victims and the entire Muslim community.”

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said San Diegans stand together during this difficult time:

“I know this tragedy is particularly hurtful for the Muslim community as it comes at the start of Dhul-Hijjah, one of Islam’s holiest periods leading into Hajj and Eid al-Adha — a time of deep faith, reflection, and unity. Hate has no home in San Diego, and an attack on any one of our communities — on any San Diegan because of who they are, what they believe, or how they pray — is an attack on all of us.

“And let there be no misunderstanding for anyone who would seek to bring this kind of violence to our city: They will be met with the full force of the law and the full strength of a city that refuses to be turned against itself. Anyone who seeks to do harm here should understand the response will be swift and you will be brought to justice.”

Wahl dijo que la policía respondió a una llamada del centro poco después de las 11:40 a.m. y encontró a tres personas muertas, incluido el guardia de seguridad del lugar. También localizaron a dos adolescentes —quienes creen fueron los atacantes— muertos dentro de un automóvil. La policía considera que murieron por heridas de bala autoinfligidas. Tenían 17 y 18 años.

“Esta es la peor pesadilla de cualquier comunidad… Nuestros corazones están con las familias que en este momento están siendo notificadas sobre lo ocurrido con sus seres queridos”, dijo Wahl durante una conferencia de prensa por la tarde.

Las autoridades no han revelado los nombres de las víctimas ni de los sospechosos mientras continúan notificando a las familias.

Aunque todavía no se ha determinado un motivo oficial, Wahl dijo que debido a que el ataque ocurrió en el Centro Islámico, las autoridades lo están tratando como un crimen de odio hasta que se demuestre lo contrario. El FBI también está investigando el caso.

Wahl añadió que, en sus 28 años de carrera, esta ha sido una de las respuestas policiales más dinámicas e impresionantes que ha presenciado, con apoyo de agencias de todo el condado.

Taha Hassane, imán del Centro Islámico de San Diego, dijo que el centro se solidariza “con todas las familias de nuestra comunidad y con todas las mezquitas y lugares de culto” de San Diego.

“Esto es algo que nunca esperábamos, y también quiero agradecer a todas las personas que nos contactaron desde distintas partes del país y del extranjero para ofrecernos sus condolencias”.

Todd Gloria, alcalde de San Diego, también estuvo presente en la conferencia y dijo que sus oraciones están con la comunidad musulmana local.

“Haremos todo lo necesario para asegurarnos de que se sientan seguros en esta ciudad”, afirmó Gloria.

Más tarde, la policía informó que uno de los sospechosos había sido reportado como desaparecido por su familia aproximadamente dos horas antes del tiroteo en la mezquita.

“La Policía de San Diego logró reconstruir información proporcionada por la madre del menor”, señaló el departamento en un comunicado. “Ella creía que su hijo tenía pensamientos suicidas y compartió información sobre varias armas y su vehículo que estaban desaparecidos.

“También indicó que estaba acompañado de otra persona vestida con ropa de camuflaje”.

Gracias a tecnología automatizada de lectura de placas, las autoridades descubrieron que el vehículo de la mujer había estado esa mañana en Mission Valley, cerca del centro comercial Fashion Valley, aunque los agentes enviados al área no encontraron el automóvil ni a los sospechosos.

En un comunicado, Tazheen Nizam, directora ejecutiva del Consejo de Relaciones Estadounidenses-Islámicas de San Diego (CAIR-San Diego), declaró:

“Condenamos enérgicamente este terrible acto de violencia en el Centro Islámico de San Diego. Nuestros pensamientos están con todas las personas afectadas por este ataque. Nadie debería temer por su seguridad mientras asiste a rezar o estudia en una escuela primaria. Estamos trabajando para conocer más detalles sobre este incidente y alentamos a todos a mantener a esta comunidad en sus oraciones”.

Mientras la policía respondía a la emergencia, la autopista Interstate 805 fue cerrada en ambos sentidos a la altura de Balboa Avenue y varias escuelas cercanas fueron puestas bajo resguardo.

El Centro Islámico de San Diego es la mezquita más grande del condado y realiza cinco oraciones diarias. El centro también creó el Fondo Oficial de Apoyo para Víctimas y Familias del ICSD para ayudar a las personas y familias afectadas por el tiroteo.

Wahl said police responded to a call from the center shortly after 11:40 a.m. and found three people dead, including the center's guard. They also found two teenagers, who they think were the shooters, dead in a car. Police believe they died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds. They were 17 and 18 years old.

"This is every community's worst nightmare. ... Our hearts go out to the families that are in this moment being notified of what has happened to their loved ones," Wahl said during a mid-afternoon briefing," Wahl said.

The names of the victims and suspects were withheld pending completion of family notification.

Officials haven’t come out with a motive, but Wahl said that because the shooting took place at the Islamic Center, they are considering this a hate crime until they can show otherwise. The FBI says they are investigating the shooting too.

Wahl also said in 28 years, this is the most dynamic and impressive response he's seen in policing with help coming from agencies all over the county.

Imam of the Islamic Center of San Diego Taha Hassane said the center stands in solidarity "with all of the families in our community here and all the mosques and places of worship" in San Diego.

"This is something that we never expected, and I would also like to thank all the people who contacted us from all over the country and overseas to offer their condolences."

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria was also present at the news conference. He said his prayers are with the local Muslim community.

"We will do anything it takes to make sure you feel safe in this city," Gloria said.

In the late afternoon, police reported that one of the suspects had been reported as a runaway about two hours before the mosque shooting occurred.

"SDPD pieced together bits of information from the juvenile's mother," a department statement asserted. "She believed her son was suicidal and shared information that several of her weapons were missing, along with her vehicle.

"She also stated that he was with a companion, who was dressed in camouflage."

Via automated license-plate-reading camera technology, authorities learned that the woman's vehicle had been in Mission Valley, near Fashion Valley mall during the morning, but officers dispatched to that area did not locate the car or the suspects there.

In a statement, the Council on American-Islamic Relations-San Diego Executive Director Tazheen Nizam said:

“We strongly condemn this horrifying act of violence at the Islamic Center of San Diego. Our thoughts are with everyone impacted by this attack. No one should ever fear for their safety while attending prayers or studying at an elementary school. We are working to learn more about this incident and we encourage everyone to keep this community in your prayers."

As police responded to the emergency, northbound and southbound Interstate 805 at Balboa Avenue were shutdown, and nearby schools were in lockdown.

The Islamic Center is the largest mosque in San Diego County. The center holds five daily prayers. The center has established the Official ICSD Victim & Family Support Fund to support individuals and families impacted by shooting.

Wildfires have gone from being a seasonal occurrence to a constant risk across California, and are becoming larger and more unpredictable amid the worsening impacts of climate change.

This change was exemplified by devastating wildfires that burned across the Los Angeles area last January.

California is also coming off a poor winter, marked by a lack of snowfall. U.S. Forest Service Meteorologist Julia Ruthford noted the statewide snowpack is at just 14% of average, with the northern and central Sierra sitting at just 6% and 15% of normal, respectively.

These conditions, combined with warmer and drier weather, leaves the state vulnerable as the year progresses.

A recent report released by the National Interagency Fire Center said Northern California faces an above normal potential during June for large portions of the area. This will then expand further in July and August.

The report also notes that the northern part of the state typically sees 11 large fires in June, and 15 to 17 during the following two months.

Preparations are constantly underway for the peak of what has become the “fire year,” from local protections to resource mobilizations on the state and federal level.

Cal Fire Battalion Chief David Acuña joined CapRadio’s Andrew Garcia on Insight to discuss how the state is gearing up.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

What kind of fire activity have we seen so far this year?

We're always aware of what's going on across the state. In terms of the number of wildfires, it’s about average. If you look at our website we have a list of the last five years… on average it’s around 21,000 acres. We’re currently at 18,000. Obviously, last year for 2025, we had a much larger number at 63,000, but that’s abnormal — we’re not generally going to see that, particularly this early in the year.

However, it does back up the need for us to utilize the term peak “fire year” rather than the antiquated “fire season” that we used to use.

Has there been any noticeable differences between Northern California, Southern California, or other parts of the state when it comes to wildfire? 

Every area has its own unique fuels, weather, and topography. With Cal Fire monitoring what’s happening from Siskiyou to San Diego, it's quite different. As you can imagine, what affects the fuels in Siskiyou County is quite a bit different than what happens in San Diego County.

However, as an overall awareness, our Wildfire Forecast & Threat Integration Center (WFTIIC) keeps an eye on all of the fuels, the weather, and determines where we need to move resources around. If there is a higher risk, let's say in Southern California, we'll move resources from the north. Vice versa, if there's a lightning bust that's expected in the north, then we'll move resources from the south. Wherever it's needed, we'll send it to the highest risk.

We've talked about this year’s poor snowpack previously on Insight. But if we go even larger, what kind of impact does climate change have on wildfires? 

Climate change has really been interesting because we have, in general, been receiving more rain than we had traditionally in the last 30 years. But what that's led to is [an] increased amount of grass growth. For example, here in 2026, we've had a few times where we've had rain and then dry. Particularly in Central and Northern California. And what that's done is allowed additional grass crops to grow.

One way to look at it is we have a grass crop. It grows [and] dies, and it lays over. The next year, grows, dies, lays over. Not only has it been happening on a yearly basis, but also in August 2023, we had a tropical storm go right up California and that led to a bumper crop then as well. All of these layers have formed what's essentially a haystack on the lands across California, and so once a fire burns, it burns very intensely. Even if there's green grass on top, there's layers and layers of dead fuels underneath.

What kind of conditions and factors does Cal Fire take into account while preparing throughout the year? 

Thankfully we work very closely with our Forest Service partners, and wildfire is very simple physics. It’s fuel, weather, and topography. That’s all it really has to do with. By utilizing the information on, what are the fuels doing — particularly the lightest fuels? What is the weather? All of those are processes that we've received from the National Weather Service to help us understand where the risks are, and where to move resources.

As we head into the peak of the fire year, what kind of preparations has the agency made so far?

It's been really interesting to see that we're fortunate to have the support of the state, and that we've been able to start bringing on our former Fire Fighter 1 seasonal employees and transitioning them into Fire Fighter 2 permanent employees. We need to have our brush engines available 365 days a year, so it's very important for us to have that staffing to be able to react at a moment’s notice, whether it’s July or January.

A lot of preparation also comes down to educating people about what they could do to help prevent risks, particularly for those that live in fire zones. The state has put significant resources into home hardening and defensible space. How do those types of measures help mitigate risk? 

What we're focusing on is to have people look at our website, and they'll find resources there on how to prevent starting another wildfire if they are doing grass work. Don't do it in the middle of the day, or if they're going to be working with welding one of their fences, they have to do that using significant caution.

Having said that, there's also steps for home hardening. Defensible space, particularly in Zone 0 — the first five feet outside the home. And then, looking on for what preparation steps can people take. They need to know two ways out of their neighborhood in case one way gets blocked. They need to know: how do they evacuate? Where would they go? Where [are] the people shelters, the small animal [and] large animal shelters, livestock shelters?

And then, also how to pack a go-bag for your family, for your medically frail people, as well as for your pets. All these are very important to have ready to go at a moment's notice.

You can hear more from Acuña, as well as from U.S. Forest Service Meteorologist Julia Ruthford and Wildland Fire Specialist Kristen Allison, here.

A report released Friday on conditions at immigration detention facilities across the state — including the Otay Mesa Detention Center — found that overcrowding is a major issue at the San Diego County facility caused by a marked increase of arrivals within the past year.

The findings are contained in the California Department of Justice's report on Otay Mesa and six other California immigration detention facilities, all of which displayed "serious concerns about these facilities' ability to safely detain a growing detainee population and underscore the need for greater accountability and oversight," according to a statement from the California Attorney General's Office.

Six detainees died in ICE custody between September 2025 and March 2026 — the highest number since the California Department of Justice started conducting reviews in 2017, the 175-page "Immigration Detention in California" report found.

In a statement, California Attorney General Rob Bonta took aim at the current administration's focus on deportations as a catalyst for increasingly poor conditions within the state's immigration detention facilities.

"The Trump Administration's mass deportation campaign has led to a shocking increase in detainee populations — and facilities have been alarmingly unprepared to meet this new demand," Bonta said. "During their inspections, my team found evidence of inadequate medical care and heard countless reports of disturbing, unsafe, and unsanitary conditions and a lack of basic necessities. This is cruel, inhumane and unacceptable — and it is past time for the Trump Administration to do something about it."

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.

A spokesperson for the ACLU of Southern California said the civil rights organization was reviewing the report.

Regarding the Otay Mesa Detention Center, the DOJ's report said the facility experienced "surges in population" that have impacted intake process time, cleanliness of the housing units and the availability of numerous other resources.

During the DOJ's two day tour of the facility last fall, Otay Mesa's population was around 21% greater than it was during the DOJ's prior visit in 2023.

The DOJ said detainees reported a lack of available beds and toilets for the entire facility population, along with inadequate portions of food and water. Detainees "stated that their housing units often had 20-30 people over capacity," the report says.

While the facility has improved its health care staffing levels since the DOJ's 2023 site visits, the report said there were delays in medical care access and recordkeeping issues impacting continuity of care.

The report also said Otay Mesa was the only California facility that had a policy to strip search detainees after each non-legal contact visit.

"Detainees reported that this practice has an overwhelming negative impact on the mental health and dignity of detainees," the report said.

The report comes shortly after efforts were made by county officials to inspect the facility after they said detainees reported freezing temperatures, untreated medical conditions and food unfit for human consumption. San Diego County later sued the federal government and private prison company CoreCivic after county supervisors were blocked from entering the premises and a San Diego federal judge has indicated that he will grant the county's request.

Trump launched strikes on Iran in late February without first asking Congress for a declaration of war or an authorization for the use of military force.

Jacobs told KPBS it's time for Congress to assert itself.

"The president has no real plan or strategy," Jacobs said in an interview. "That's why I think it's so important that Congress retakes our constitutional authority and forces an end to this conflict."

This is the third such resolution in the House. The first two failed.

But Jacobs said she's hopeful this time will be different.

That's because the 1973 War Powers Act limits how long a president can wage war without the consent of Congress to 60 days.

Jacobs said Republicans on Capitol Hill have told her that deadline was a red line for them.

"I think there is a very good chance that it does pass," Jacobs said. "We have yet to vote on a war powers resolution after the 60 day clock has run out."

The administration has said that 60-day clock stopped at the start of a ceasefire April 8.

Jacobs' resolution is the first in a series planned by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, she said. The plan, she said, is to file a resolution every week so there's always an active bill should they decide to force a vote.

Because the 60-day window has passed, House members can force a vote on this war powers resolution.

Jacobs said it's important to hold these votes even if they don't pass.

"Every single time we make Republicans take a vote on this really unpopular, illegal, reckless war, the harder that vote becomes for them," Jacobs said, "and the more likely a chance is that we get more of them to flip and we do eventually get it to pass."

Trump's rationale for the war has shifted since the first strikes. Just after those first strikes he told the Iranian people to take control of their country.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said regime change was not the goal of the war.

After Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz — a vital corridor through which about 25% of the globe's seaborne oil trade — the goals of the war shifted to trade as gas prices worldwide began to climb.

In February, people in San Diego County could expect to pay about $4.50 - $4.90 per gallon of regular unleaded.

As of Thursday, that price was $6.18 — an increase of more than 30 percent.

Despite the high prices and rising inflation, Trump said Tuesday rising consumer costs aren't a factor in his war plans.

"The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran — they can't have nuclear weapons," Trump told reporters outside the White House. "I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody. I think about one thing — we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon."

Jacobs said she expects the House to vote on her resolution early next month.

Councilmember Laura Lothian cast the dissenting vote. She said she spoke with parents who take reasonable safety steps such as setting a speed limit on their children’s bikes.

“I feel like we need to let parents make decisions for their children,” Lothian said. ”The problem is the teenagers and it’s not the 8, 9, and 10 year-olds with their parent.”

But the rest of the council members believe the ordinance is necessary and allowed under a 2024 state law that specifically targeted San Diego County.

The law, AB 2234, authored by Assemblymember Tasha Boerner, D-San Diego, established a pilot program for regulating e-bikes. In addition to the age restriction, it also allows cities to confiscate modified bikes. The pilot program and ordinance will last through 2029.

“It simply establishes what California law has long recognized that some vehicles require a minimum level of physical size, cognitive development, and judgment that children under 12 have not yet reliably reached,” Councilmember Genevieve Suzuki said.

La Mesa now joins Chula Vista, San Marcos, Carlsbad, Coronado and Santee as cities that have recently passed e-bike regulations.

The council unanimously approved the first reading of the ordinance on April 14, but at their last meeting on April 28 Lothian and Vice Mayor Lauren Cazares walked back their initial support after parents expressed concerns about not being able to ride their e-bikes with their kids. The council postponed the vote.

However on Tuesday, Cazares decided to back the ordinance after all.

“The opinion that I have formed is informed by healthcare professionals, school representatives, not just the one here tonight, but our elementary schools, and others … our firefighters and public safety,” Cazares said. “I do not think it's a perfect ordinance. There are lots of things that I would change if we had the ability to change them, but when it comes down to it, I'm going to be supportive.”

The council’s decision had some public support at the meeting, including from school and public safety officials.

“This ordinance is not about banning e-bikes and is not about taking the rights away from parents,” said Domenic Provence, president of the La Mesa Firefighters Local 4759 union. “It's about protecting our children, the people in our community, by creating reasonable safety measures that help prevent serious injuries before they happen.”

But some parents left the meeting disappointed with the council’s decision. Andrea and Joseph Cryer said they had planned to raise their four kids with e-bikes.

“We’re the ones who are going to lose out,” Joseph said. “There are a lot of responsible parents out there and I think the City Council is really discounting the quality of parents and the quality of kids that we have in our city and they're really selling us short.”

In addition to passing the ordinance, council members directed city staff to explore options for more bike lanes near schools and e-bike safety workshops.

The ordinance will take effect after a 30-day outreach campaign. For the first 60 days after it is in effect, a violation will result in a warning. Violations after that period will carry a $25 fine, which can be waived if the offender completes a safety training.

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A new bill in the state Legislature would require counties to report basic information about public defender services, such as how many cases attorneys handle, in an effort to compel California to confront its public defender crisis.

The proposed legislation comes after a CalMatters investigative series exposed failures in California's county-based public defender systems. Our reporting showed that public defender offices across the state lack defense investigators, who are often the greatest protection against wrongful convictions. We also found that lawyers in several rural counties had astronomical caseloads, and were less likely than other defense attorneys to challenge the prosecutors’ evidence in legal motions and take their cases to trial.

“We cannot as a government look the other way and rely exclusively on our journalistic partners to really uncover and peel back that onion and see how bad it is,” said Assemblymember Nick Schultz of Burbank, who is co-sponsoring the bill. He said statewide data might “reveal an even more bleak picture.”

California has a constitutional obligation to ensure poor people accused of crimes, who account for more than 80 percent of criminal defendants, receive effective representation. But the state has left that responsibility entirely in the hands of its 58 counties, which collectively spend almost twice as much on prosecuting people as they do on defending them.

California is one of just two states that don’t provide any funding or oversight of trial-level public defense. There are no minimum standards and no reporting requirements. The resulting patchwork of local systems is rife with disparities.

Many of the state’s rural counties have outsourced their public defender services through flat-fee contracts, paying private attorneys and firms a fixed amount, regardless of how many cases they handle or how much time they spend on each case. A bill that would ban these arrangements, which disincentivize investigating and litigating cases, was put on hold last year. Seven of the eight counties with the state’s highest jail and prison incarceration rates have flat-fee contracts.

“There are dire signs in some jurisdictions of attorneys handling 300, 400, 500, or more cases in a year, including hundreds of felonies,” said Josh Schwartz, a researcher with the Wren Collective, a nonprofit organization advocating for criminal justice reform. The proposed bill mandating data collection, he said, “would be a massive step towards bringing the caseload crisis that we know is occurring into public view.”

The bill, introduced by Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula of Fresno, would require each county to report rudimentary data every two years. Arambula had previously sponsored legislation that led to a comprehensive workload study of California’s public defender services. The study, which was published last year, called California “an outlier in not collecting and publishing comprehensive, aggregated data on its county-based public defense systems.”

“This bill is a necessary first step in understanding the scope of this issue,” Arambula said. It would require legislators to “face that truth head on, and to identify disparities so that ultimately we can address them.”

Many of the contractors in counties with flat-fee systems already collect caseload data in order to report it to county supervisors. And most of the state's institutional public defender offices use case management systems that track this data, though each county uses its own metrics.

The California State Association of Counties opposes the bill, and has asked legislators to include language that would make compliance with reporting requirements contingent on state funding. The organization also opposes the flat-fee ban, and has characterized that measure as an unfunded mandate from the state. Arambula said his office is requesting $30 million to help counties pay for data collection.

Scott Baly, a retired Fresno County public defender, told the assembly’s Public Safety Committee in April that criminal defendants want attorneys who have “time to read the police reports … to maybe meet you in the jail and listen to your side of the story.”

“Are they gonna talk to me and are they gonna help me with this problem? The answer to these questions is caseload,” he said. “How busy are these lawyers?”

The bill passed the assembly’s Local Government and Public Safety committees with unanimous support and is now in front of the Appropriations Committee.

Schultz, a former prosecutor, said high caseloads and a lack of investigators undermine the entire justice system.

“We need to make sure that we're making the investment to have a sufficient number of capable and qualified attorneys who can actually hold prosecutors to account and make them prove the case,” he said. “It has to start with the data.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

The city has had a ban in place for years, but the City Council has just passed a schedule of fines that start at $1,000 for the first violation, $2,500 for the second and $5,000 for the third.

The fines are capped at $10,000 for a calendar year.

Michael Zsutty, who lives near the San Luis Rey River, said the illegal fireworks start as early as July 1.

"(They) upset the dogs in the neighborhood," he said. "Some of them run off. Some won't come out for a while — even into their yards."

Zsutty said the illegal fireworks not only disrupt the neighborhood but also pose a fire danger.

"I've seen when I've ridden on the bike trail where the like Roman candles have been fired off and they've discarded the remnants of it there (in the dry brush)," he said.

Oceanside police Capt. Nick Núñez said it was harder to enforce the ban under the old ordinance, but the new rules have "more teeth."

"With this new one, we have introduced the use of drones, really trying to maximize our current tools that we have on hand," he said. "We also introduce an aspect of the social host where we can then fine the property owner or the homeowner for the violation as well."

Beyond the nuisance and fire danger, Núñez said there's also a public safety aspect to the ordinance as well. In February, a 15-year-old boy lost his hand in a firecracker accident.

He said the city doesn't want children getting their hands on fireworks and "not knowing how to use them properly and injuring themselves."

Zsutty hopes the hefty fine would be enough to deter people from lighting up. The $1,000 fine "would be a deterrent to me," he said.

The council still has to take one more vote. If the ordinance passes the second reading, it will go into effect on June 19. The fines will be cut in half for the first year. Nunez said there will be an education campaign around June each year about the ban.

Oceanside is not alone in this approach. Carlsbad has a similar ordinance.

Residents are encouraged to call the Oceanside Police Department's nonemergency number, (760) 435-4900, to report illegal fireworks activities.

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Esther Mejia and Kelly Merchant had a question Friday afternoon for their professors: Where were you?

The UC Riverside public policy students were among the likely hundreds of thousands in California who lost access to the all-important academic software Canvas when it was brought down by a hacker group Thursday afternoon. Losing Canvas meant losing assignments, tests, and required reading material along with a way to communicate with instructors. The timing was especially bad for UC students, who were hunkering down for midterms or finals.

“This is a very crucial time for students to be able to access their coursework. So I definitely do think that professors should reach out,” Mejia said in an interview. “And they did not.”

Merchant heard from only one professor by Friday who addressed the downed website. She learned about the hack attack on the social media site Reddit after she was logged out of her account while finishing an assignment.

“Professors should reach out. They did not."Esther Mejia, student, UC RiversideThe Riverside students’ experience underscores just how central Canvas has become to higher education in California — the outage likely affected more than 1 million of the state’s university students. The hack has raised serious questions about how schools should be vetting and balancing their use of online platforms, to what extent they may be held liable for breaches, and what role policymakers should play in protecting student data and regulating edtech.

By Monday evening, the company behind Canvas had told customers, including the University of California, that it had struck an agreement with the hacking group. In an email shared with CalMatters by UC's systemwide Office of the President, the company's CEO stated that “we reached an agreement with the unauthorized actor involved in this incident” that returns data and assures it is no longer held by the attacker nor any other outside parties. Further, “we have been informed that no Instructure customers will be extorted.”

CalMatters asked the company, Instructure, if it paid a ransom, but did not immediately hear back.

The attack seems to have begun on or around April 29, when Instructure “detected unusual activity,” according to a class-action suit filed in a Texas federal court. The attack exploited a vulnerability in Canvas’s free tool for teachers.

On May 4, some Cal State campuses experienced a brief shutdown but were operational within 20 to 30 minutes, the university system said.

By May 7, Thursday, the platform was offline. The University of California system blocked access to Canvas the same day, and wrote on its website that it won’t “be restored until we are confident the system is secure. We understand this disruption is concerning.”

The hackers, a group calling itself ShinyHunters, claimed to have obtained sensitive data, including billions of messages, and threatened to release the data if they weren’t paid a ransom. The CEO of Instructure has said that core “learning data (course content, submissions, credentials) was not compromised” and Cal State has said that Canvas does not store social security numbers.

On the evening of May 7, one of Merchant’s professors, she said, shared the material students needed to complete an assignment due Friday. The professor did so using a Discord group they created for the class at the beginning of the term. Merchant appreciated the initiative, but observed that not every student checks Discord as regularly as they would their email account.

By May 9, Saturday, UC Riverside mostly restored access to the platform, with other universities coming online in the following days. Mejia had a quiz and assignment due Monday at 2 p.m. She received a note from the professor of that class only at 9 a.m. that day through Canvas, she said. The professor granted a two-day extension.

Merchant wants more professors with a communication back-up plan, especially since Canvas has been down before. “Whether it’s a cybersecurity thing or routine Canvas maintenance, it’s going to continue to be a risk. And we have to prepare for it.”

“These situations are fluid and campuses and UCOP communicated as quickly and completely as feasible,” said UC Office of the President spokesperson Stett Holbrook.

For many colleges and high schools, Canvas has become indispensable, with teachers using it to give quizzes, message students, post grades, and more.

Almost 9,000 colleges, K-12 schools and school districts, and offices of education around the world were reportedly affected by the Canvas outage, according to the hacker group and other media, along with likely millions of students and teachers. California seemed to be hit especially hard. The institutions relying on the system and affected by the cyberattack included Stanford, at least some campuses at the University of California, USC, all 22 California State University campuses and all 116 of the state’s community colleges.

The number of students ultimately affected by the breach could be staggering. The Cal State system alone enrolls more than 400,000 students. The UC system, where hackers claimed to hit six of 10 campuses, enrolls about 300,000. The hacker group listed the Los Angeles Unified and Fresno Unified school districts as among their targets — they too enroll more than 400,000 students combined.

Deputy chancellor of the LA Community College District, Nicole Albo-Lopez, told CalMatters that Canvas was being used by students in thousands of courses, including as a “repository for gradebooks, sharing of course materials, and messaging.” The district is among the largest community college districts in the country, with nearly 200,000 students annually.

Canvas, she said Friday, still hadn’t informed them of what’s been exposed in the hack. “We’re supposed to receive specific information about what was accessed in our specific system, but we have not received that yet,” she said.

‘Eggs in one basket’

One expert said the incident highlights the problem of relying on “all-in” solutions for online education tools.

The attraction of software like Canvas is that it allows institutions without technical expertise to easily manage everything on a single platform. But the hack shows the danger of relying on such centralized systems, where a breach of one company exposes the data of the countless institutions that rely on it.

“The beauty of these software as a service systems and what they sell is, ‘Hey, your staff members don't need to run this, we'll just handle it,’” said Jake Chanenson, an education technology researcher and PhD student at the University of Chicago.

In the best case, those companies have diligent cybersecurity teams protecting student data.

Many schools without tech departments, by contrast, may only be equipped to give any new tools “a cursory, at best, privacy and security assessment,” Chanenson said. Small schools, especially, may then struggle to recover from a breach or outage.

But a centralized system also means that only a single point needs to be hacked for every school that uses the software to be affected.

Chanenson, who is currently researching “critical infrastructure" in schools, said that “when you put all your eggs in one basket across schools, it makes these targets very attractive.”

One state lawmaker wants a legislative audit into California's heavy reliance on Canvas. “The Canvas breach exposes the growing risks of concentrating massive amounts of student records, academic systems and institutional operations into a single platform," said Sen. Melissa Hurtado, a Democrat from Bakersfield, in a written statement.

What now?

It may be too early to identify the consequences of the hack for schools and for Canvas. It’s still not clear, for example, how the breach happened, or the full extent of data that was compromised.

At minimum, schools will want to reassess how much information they’re willing to give over to third-party software companies in the name of efficiency. Those companies, Chanenson said, should also take a look at their policies around data collection and retention to minimize how much sensitive information they store.

“You think in your head that any data set that you have has a non-zero probability of being leaked or breached or some sort of privacy loss, then you want to start thinking about things like data minimization,” he said.

Past data breaches have led to legal consequences for the companies and institutions involved, including action by state attorneys general. There are federal legal protections for data belonging to children under 13, through the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, as well to students, under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. In California, the Student Online Personal Information Protection Act protects data for K–12 students. Lawmakers in the state are also actively considering additional data protections.

The state has grappled with previous compromises of school data. Los Angeles Unified School District has faced a series of class-action lawsuits related to data privacy breaches. Most recently, the district disclosed last year that a telehealth vendor it worked with experienced a breach.

Chanenson points out that schools are prime targets for hackers since they hold immensely sensitive data but often lack the technical prowess of other large institutions, like banks.

“They’re happening with enough of a frequency that it’s more of a when, not an if,” he said.

CalMatters reporter Adam Echelman contributed to this story.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Jury selection began Monday for the murder trial of Larry Millete, who is accused of killing his wife, who disappeared from the couple's Chula Vista home more than five years ago.

Millete, 44, is charged with the murder of the mother of his three children, May "Maya" Millete, who has not been seen or heard from since Jan. 7, 2021.

While May Millete's body has not been located, prosecutors said there is no evidence to suggest she's alive or voluntarily abandoned her family.

They also allege May's desire to leave her marriage prompted Larry Millete to resort to desperate measures to convince May to stay, including by paying "spell casters" to compel her to give up her plans for divorce.

Prosecutors said among the spells Larry sought were ones he believed could make his wife love him, while in other instances, Millete sought to have his wife injured, sick or suffer from nightmares either as a form of punishment or so she would be dependent on him.

But prosecutors said he ceased his requests for any spells to be cast on his wife after she vanished, nor did he take part in the numerous searches for May in the months that followed.

It may take several days for a jury to be seated at the Chula Vista courthouse for a trial that is expected to last around three months. Along with a typical 12-person jury, six alternate jurors are being sought for the trial.

Just before the trial was slated to begin, Millete's defense attorneys, Liann Sabatini and Colby Ryan, unsuccessfully sought to have the lead prosecutor and entire San Diego County District Attorney's Office recused from the case.

Millete's attorneys argued that throughout his preliminary hearing in 2023, the prosecution's witnesses lied about a key factor of the case related to an alleged affair May Millete was having with a married co-worker.

In a defense motion to recuse the DA's Office, the attorneys argued this evidence could have pointed to the co-worker as another potential suspect in May Millete's killing. The motion argued the co-worker may have "also had motive to kill (her)" because she could have exposed his infidelity, compromising his marriage and their jobs with the U.S. Navy.

However, Superior Court Judge Enrique Camarena, who will preside over the trial, ruled that the defense may not argue to jurors that the co- worker had any role in her killing.

Prosecutors said that as their marriage crumbled, Larry began reaching out to several members of May's family and asked them to convince May to change her mind.

Those same family members testified that on prior occasions when May could not be located, Larry tended to panic and, in one instance, planted a cell phone in her vehicle in order to track her whereabouts. They also testified that May complained that Larry had been engaging in controlling behavior, including regularly monitoring her communications and wresting control of her finances.

Police witnesses testified that through surveillance footage they reviewed, there is no evidence of May ever leaving the family home after the afternoon of Jan. 7. Prosecutors said she had plans the following week to take a trip to Big Bear in celebration of her daughter's birthday, as well as a meeting with a divorce attorney, neither of which she appeared for.

Police and prosecutors allege that between 6:45 a.m. and around 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 8, Millete's phone was turned off and surveillance camera footage shows a black Lexus SUV, allegedly driven by Millete, leave his home at about 6:45 a.m. and return to the home at around 6 p.m.

Millete told investigators that he was at Solana Beach all day with his son, according to testimony, though investigators testified that they could not find evidence confirming Millete's whereabouts that day.

Millete was arrested in October of 2021 on suspicion of murdering his wife. He faces up to 25 years to life in state prison if convicted.

But what happens when you can’t access your notes and lectures to study for those finals? That’s what happened to San Diego State University senior Selina Gonzalez, when the education platform Canvas went down Thursday.

“Every single note, every single lecture video, everything we need to study for our final is on Canvas," she said. "So while it was down for (Friday) morning and (Thursday), no one was able to study for it.”

In San Diego, the outage affected students at all levels, from community colleges and UC San Diego to California State University campuses and the San Diego Unified School District, among others.

When students logged on to the Canvas platform, they saw a message from the hacker group ShinyHunters threatening to release data unless Canvas’ parent company, Instructure, paid a ransom.

"They got names, they got emails, they got student IDs, and they got communications that go through a feature called Canvas Inbox," University of San Diego cybersecurity professor Nikolas Behar said. "So that includes communications between students and their professors."

Instructure said hackers exploited a vulnerability on Canvas' Free-For-Teacher accounts.

"As a result, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily shut down Free-For-Teacher accounts," the company said.

But what concerns Behar is that no one knows yet how deep the breach was.

"We don't have all the information yet," he said. "So there is something going on inside their environment."

Canvas is now back up, but some schools, such as UC San Diego, are limiting access to Canvas. The university is advising students to avoid accessing Canvas until further notice.

Some students, Behar said, have received phishing emails asking for money or the hackers would release personal information.

"They're saying, 'If you don't pay us $2,000 in the next 48 hours, we're going to release data that we took from your browser, your browsing history.' Things like that," he said. "That is a scam. Ignore that any time you get an email."

During the outage, many professors weren’t able to contact students about course assignments and tests due. Some, like Jaclyn Siegel, found other ways to contact their students.

Seigel posted on the social media platform Reddit. She didn’t want her students to stress about their finals.

“But I was also sort of worried for me, who might have needed to respond to, you know, hundreds of emails," Seigel said. "And so I figured that given that the course is so large, there must be at least one person in my class who's on Reddit who can then provide the information to the other students.”

That seems to have worked for her class. At USD, freshman Jack Kelly said he found other ways to prepare for his finals, but his professors have also been accommodating.

“They were very supportive and very helpful dealing with the outage,” Kelly said.

With Canvas back up, students are breathing a sigh of relief and hoping this will be the only disruption during this stressful finals season.

It now honors Officer Lauren Craven, who was killed last October in the line of duty.

On Thursday, Craven’s fellow officers gathered along with city officials, community members and her family to remember her compassion, kindness and service to La Mesa.

“Her impact was amazing,” said Lt. Travis Higgins, speaking on behalf of the department. “In the sense that she was just a wonderful human being first, and she just had so much care and compassion for others and the community.”

Craven was the first officer in the history of the La Mesa Police Department killed in the line of duty.

Shortly before 10:30 p.m. Oct. 20, she was struck by a suspected drunken driver on eastbound Interstate 8 while tending to the victims of a five-vehicle crash.

“She was incredibly brave and courageous,” Higgins said. “And that evening, she was in a dangerous situation, and she made the ultimate sacrifice.”

Police Chief Ray Sweeney recognized Craven’s sacrifice and the community’s grief during the ceremony.

“There is no honor in this moment without heartbreak,” Sweeney said. “This wall stands as a testament to sacrifice.”

Sweeney went on to say that Craven’s spirit and legacy touches everything the police department does.

“It lives on in the way our officers show up everyday,” he said. “It lives on in the care we give to our community. And it lives on in the bond we share as a city and as a family.”

The memorial, located at 8085 University Ave., is open to the public.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection San Diego Field Office reminded travelers to declare all flowers and plant materials from Mexico as Mother's Day approaches.

Mother's Day weekend often sees an increase in travelers bringing bouquets and greenery across the border. Even a single pest or disease introduction can cause widespread damage to agriculture that can result in costly mitigation efforts, according to the agency.

Border officials encourage travelers to declare all agriculture products, including flowers and plants to avoid potential penalties and to protect U.S. agriculture.

"While these items are often intended as thoughtful gifts, they can pose a significant risk to U.S. agriculture by introducing harmful pests and plant diseases. To safeguard domestic crops and local ecosystems, plants, flowers and soil must be screened by a CBP agriculture specialist upon entry to the United States," the CBP said in a statement.

Flowers such as roses and carnations are generally admissible after inspection, but chrysanthemums cannot be brought into the U.S. from Mexico due to the risk of introducing Chrysanthemum White Rust, a destructive fungal disease. Additionally, plants intended for planting and any soil containers require proper permits, CBP officials stated.

Murraya, commonly known as orange jasmine, can host the Asian citrus psyllid, a pest that poses a major threat to U.S. citrus crops. If any part of a bouquet is found to be infested, the entire arrangement may be prohibited from entering the U.S.

CBP agriculture specialists conduct thorough inspections of all floral and plant materials at ports of entry, with some inspections that may involve physically shaking bouquets to detect hidden insects and using specialized tools to identify pests or signs of disease. When potential threats are found, samples are sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for further analysis using advanced identification methods.

A list of prohibited and restricted items can be found on CBP's website.

“I love my job — despite all the situations one sometimes has to go through,” Urenda said.

He is from Tijuana, and described his hometown this way: “It is a city of opportunity. We are currently going through a difficult economic situation across all of Mexico and it is certainly felt here in Tijuana but the city has its good sides, its noble qualities. That’s Tijuana for you. It has always welcomed anyone who arrives.”

Urenda is bearded and barrel chested. He types like he’s punching his keyboard, writing a few questions for his next assignment. On his desk are some lucha libre figurines and a New England Patriots souvenir helmet.

At Urenda's left are a few refreshments: a water bottle, a can of coke, one half-gone Penafiel orange soda and two bottles of tequila.

And then there was the filing cabinet with memorial stickers for Tijuana journalists Margarito Martinez and Lourdes Maldonado, murdered just days apart in 2022.

Urenda was a new reporter at the time of the killings, on the job for just seven months.

“I remember we were upstairs at the time and a colleague remarked to me, ‘They killed Margarito.’ I said, "I don't know who that is, but I'm told he was a photographer,” Urenda said.

The stickers on the filing cabinet are a reminder of the risks faced by journalists in Mexico.

A dangerous place for journalists

Reporters Without Borders calls Mexico "one of the world’s most dangerous and deadly countries for journalists," with two killed there so far this year. Eight were killed in the first six months of 2025. The organization's online data goes back to 1995 and shows 185 journalist have been killed in Mexico since then.

The memory of Tijuanapress.com director and editor Vicente Calderon goes even farther back. "I began (in journalism) in 1985 and by 1988 I was aware of my first colleague being killed: Hector 'Gato' Félix,” Calderon said.

Héctor “Gato” Félix Miranda helped to found the famous investigative weekly Zeta Tijuana. Under the name "Félix el Gato," or "Felix the Cat," he wrote a column criticizing Tijuana politicians. Two men were convicted in his murder.

“When you see that there are consequences, people think twice. We haven't seen that in the recent killings in Mexico and here in Tijuana,” Calderon said.

The bookshelves in Calderon’s office are filled with old cameras, old tape recorders, books and journalism awards. He was named Journalist of the Year in 2022 by the San Diego chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, which praised him not only for his years of assisting San Diego journalists, but for being brave despite the dangers faced in his city.

On assignment

Urenda's first assignment of the day is a meeting of the Comité Ciudadano de Seguridad Pública de Tijuana — the Tijuana Citizen Public Security Committee.

He dives right into questioning committee president Edgardo Flores Campbell.

“How long will your predecessor last? And why is it important to be doing this?” Urenda asks.

Journeyman reporting, like covering committee meetings, isn't the only kind of journalism in Tijuana.

Joebeth Terriquez, nicknamed Joe Black, is a photojournalist specializing in social issues. We met up with him at the migrant shelter Movimiento Juventud 2000.

He’s known for immersing himself in his work. “I used to sleep in the camp with them and still I do that sometimes,” Terriquez said.

Time equals access for Terriquez. But that comes with its own set of dangers.

“If you want to be a journalist, this type of journalist, you got to know that some day, because of what you’re doing, something is going to go terribly wrong,” Terriquez said.

Mexico's 'mechanism' to defend journalists

Mexico has a system to protect journalists, called the Mecanismo de Protección Para Personas Defensoras de Derechos Humanos y Periodistas. It was created in 2012. At the time, the organization Justice in Mexico said the system established mechanisms "to evacuate or temporarily remove, provide body guards for, and protect the property of such individuals in danger given their line of work."

In 2019, Tijuana journalist Lourdes Maldonado stood up at a Mexico City news conference and told the then-president of Mexico she feared for her life, asking him "for your support, help, and labor justice."

She was shot in front of her Tijuana home on Jan. 23, 2022, five days after the killing of Margarito Martínez. He was also shot in front of his home in Tijuana. Three people were arrested and convicted in Maldonado's murder, and two in the Martinez killing.

But since those murders, Calderon said being a journalist isn’t any safer — and there is a new kind of threat on the rise.

“Legal harassment or the stigmatization from the government, politicians complaining about journalists being 'sicarios (hired assassins) of the pen'. Those things are making the situation more complicated,” Calderon said.

And threats of physical violence have not stopped. Terriquez says his wife has asked him to quit.

“My wife she kind of told me to drop it because I got a lot of threats … She knows that if they kill me it’s because I did something right,” Terriquez said.

In spite of the threats, Terriquez will dodge Tijuana traffic to get a photo and Urenda will question authority. Through it all, Calderon says there is hope.

“When the authorities are not paying attention, when things are not going according to the law, they call the reporters. And the reporters from Tijuana are answering,” Calderon said.