Good morning, San Diego ☀️
Here’s what we have for you today:
- Our Drew Sitton and Alysa Horton joined KPBS Midday this week to discuss RFK Jr.’s recent visit to San Diego to tout his new “treatment first” approach to homelessness (in response to the longtime “housing first” model).
- Padres minor league coordinator and Venezuelan asylum-seeker Oswaldo Pineda has been taken into ICE custody for allegedly overstaying his visa.
- A bandleader, an album drop, a farewell and the blues. It sounds like a country song, but it’s actually what we’re getting for live music this week.
Jennifer Vigil
News editor
Top story
Family sues San Diego and Turo for drunk-driving collision at Liberty Station that severely injured 5-year-old girl
Sometimes as a journalist, you hear someone make a crack — oh, you’re just doing that story for clicks, right? Or back in the day, you’re running that to sell more papers?
No, we’re running it because it’s news, and sometimes, a lot of times, sadly, the news is uncomfortable, or worse, painful.
Sometimes, really painful. That would apply to this story about a little girl and a lawsuit.
The little girl, then 5, suffered catastrophic injuries last year when she was run down at Liberty Station by a drunken driver.
The young driver is facing the consequences. She received an eight-year prison sentence.
But should others shoulder some of the blame too? According to her family’s lawsuit, yes, and one of the parties they blame is the city of San Diego. Was the promenade she was on with her parents and brother adequately protected from traffic? They’re asking a court to decide.
The family also is suing the rental platform the driver used to obtain the car she was driving when she hit the child. The woman, they claim in the suit, had a documented criminal history involving alcohol. Those, however, were not moving violations.
It’s a complicated suit, as our Dorian Hargrove explains, with a terrible tragedy at its center. But it also contains elements of a cautionary tale, and perhaps that’s why we run these stories.
Not for clicks, but so that someone out there might pay heed and avert a tragedy.
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Stories you should know about
🌊 City says the Ocean Beach Pier Renewal Project is in its environmental review phase: There have been some concerns that the rebuilding is getting sidelined or slow-walked due to budget issues; not so, says the city, which adds that it is proceeding as planned.
⚖️ ICE gives detention centers high marks for health – even as deaths climb and Supervisors approve policy to ban immigration agencies from using county facilities for firearms training: Two more ICE stories of note, in addition to the one involving the Padres coordinator.
🪗 Mojo Nixon, Big Mountain, Claudia “Jazz Kitty” Russell, and more: The San Diego Music Hall of Fame will celebrate this year’s inductees on Oct. 16. The lineup includes punk rockers, reggae stars, and at least one radio DJ.
🩰 Dancing in the moonlight under the orange groves: City Ballet opens its 34th season strong with a California-inspired classic, Serenade, danced to Tchaikovsky.
What else we’re reading
🧫 What’s beautiful, iconic and needs a billion dollars’ worth of work? San Diego’s own Balboa Park, a “crown jewel” that has become tarnished. Excuse the mixed metaphor. (inewsource)
📸 Hey, photographers: Did you miss Scrippshenge this year? Don’t worry, this gives you time to get ready for the next one. Plus, you still have a few weeks to prepare for another impressive 2026 photo. (Stephen Bay Photography)
Mid-Week News Quiz
Have you kept up with Times of San Diego this week? Let’s see!
🧐 La Jolla Shores Drive is one of the top spots in San Diego for a certain type of parking ticket. What kind?
A) Parking in a red zone.
B) Parking in a commercial zone.
C) Failure to curb wheels.
D) Using a disabled space without a special plate or placard.
Reply first with the correct answer to earn a shoutout in tomorrow’s newsletter.