City News Service

A seemingly agitated woman who had several guns in her car drove into a parking lot at downtown San Diego police headquarters Wednesday, prompting a brief emergency that ended when she peacefully surrendered.

Jonathan Sammartino, the 37-year-old son of U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino, could have faced up to one year in local custody and sex offender registration following his guilty plea to a felony count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.

The San Diego County Registrar of Voters has received more than 560,000 ballots, it was announced Wednesday, more than three times the amount received at this point before the 2016 election.

Despite an unadjusted daily COVID-19 case rate of 7.8 per 100,000 population, San Diego County was again able to avoid being pushed into the most restrictive purple tier of California's four-tier reopening system Tuesday.

The California Department of Public Health on Tuesday returned Riverside County to the most restrictive purple tier under the governor's color-coded coronavirus regulatory scheme, meaning some businesses that have opened are supposed to close again — a move one supervisor said equals "putting the nail in the coffin" of some operations.

San Diego County public health officials have reported 380 new COVID-19 infections, raising the region's total case count to 52,735 as the county awaits data from the state, which could compell some businesses to close again.

Mayor Todd Gloria and City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera Wednesday announced an update to San Diego's climate action initiative.

The announcement comes after a judge struck down San Diego's COVID-19 vaccine mandate, saying only the state can make that a requirement.

Earlier this month, supervisors unanimously voted to oppose any further placements of sexually violent predators until local jurisdictions are able to fully participate in the placement process, including having full veto authority.