San Diego News Fix

The 19-year-old San Diego State University freshman who died after an event at one of the school’s fraternities was gravely injured when he fell from his bunk bed, the county Medical Examiner’s Office said Tuesday. The death has prompted swift action from the university, which, on Tuesday, announced the creation of two task forces that will focus on student behavior in fraternities and other campus organizations and the abuse of alcohol and drugs. Dylan Hernandez was found in bed, without a pulse Thursday morning. Investigators later determined that sometime after falling asleep, he fell from his top bunk, suffering unspecified injuries. A roommate helped him back into bed, where he was found, not breathing, hours later.

They call themselves the Creep Catchers Unit. For the last year, this small group of 20-somethings has run citizen stings in the region, particularly North County, posing as young teens on dating sites, and agreeing to meet with the people they suspect are trying to lure them for sex. “CC_Unit” records the meetup — more of a confrontation — then posts the video online, along with the chat logs, some of which look pretty damning. In one, a man asks the teen if he should bring a condom. The online postings are a public shaming, a digital scarlet letter.

If you doubt that the super-rich are a different breed, tour their superyachts. Take, for instance, Golden Shadow. Launched in 1995 by San Diego’s Campbell Shipyard, the 219-foot vessel has luxurious staterooms for 16 guests, more modest quarters for 22 crew members, a 50-square-foot dive chamber and an exterior elevator platform, powerful enough to hoist aboard a seaplane and spacious enough to set down a helicopter. Impressed? Don’t be. Golden Shadow was built as a floating garage for Golden Odyssey, a Saudi prince’s 404-foot superyacht. “These big yachts have so many helicopters and toys aboard,” said Neal Esterly, a San Diego salesman for Fraser, a premier superyacht broker. “They are building 200-foot shadow boats to carry the submarine, the helicopter, the dirt bikes.” Story: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/outdoors/story/2019-11-10/mega-yachts-for-the-mega-wealthy

Asylum seekers who have finished their court cases are being sent back to Mexico with documents that contain fraudulent future court dates, keeping some migrants south of the border indefinitely, records show. Under the Migrant Protection Protocols policy, asylum seekers with cases in the United States have to wait in Mexico until those cases are resolved. The Mexican government agreed to only accept migrants with future court dates scheduled. Normally, when migrants conclude their immigration court cases, they are either paroled into the United States or kept in federal custody depending on the outcome of the case. However, records obtained by The San Diego Union-Tribune show that on at least 14 occasions, Customs and Border Protection agents in California and Texas gave migrants who had already concluded their court cases documents with fraudulent future court dates written on them and sent the migrants back to Mexico anyway.

The woman who was killed when a shooter opened fire on a Church’s Chicken in Otay Mesa had just gotten married, family members said Thursday. Maribel Ibañez, 28, was one of three people struck by gunfire after a man who had been turned away for trying to buy a meal with counterfeit money started shooting at the restaurant on Del Sol Boulevard on Wednesday. San Diego police officers are still searching for a gunman, who was last seen driving away from the restaurant in a blue car, police said. He was described as a thin, black man in his 30s. He is about 6 feet 1 inch tall and was last seen wearing a blue Chargers beanie, basketball shorts and a light blue sweater.

The July mass arrest of 15 Camp Pendleton Marines in front of their 800-person battalion may have violated their rights and threatens to upend the case, attorneys for two of the accused told the Union-Tribune. On the morning of July 25, as 800 Marines stood in formation at the Camp San Mateo area of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, 24 Marines’ names were called. Fifteen were ordered to stand in a line in front of the battalion “to be recognized,” according to court filings in the case. The battalion sergeant major stood nearby, carrying a red folder that usually is associated with awards. But these men weren’t awarded. The regiment sergeant major, Sgt. Major Matthew A. Dorsey pointed to the Marines in front and said, “NCIS, arrest these Marines.”

Chargers owner Dean Spanos is giving no thought to relocating from Los Angeles and is fully committed to the team’s L.A. venture. That was the clear, firm message Tuesday from Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani in response to a report in the The Athletic that the team would consider relocating to London. “There’s absolutely no truth to the idea that Dean Spanos would consider anything other than building his fan base in Los Angeles,” Fabiani said. “The idea that he would consider any other option is just nonsense.” The Chargers, who moved from San Diego in 2017, have a 20-year lease with the Rams on an Inglewood stadium that is to open next year. The Chargers hold two 10-year options after the lease expires that can be exercised solely at their discretion.

The summit was in Rome, the focus was on the Amazon. But for Bishop Robert McElroy, leader of San Diego’s diocese and one of only three Americans among the 185 delegates to the Vatican’s Pan-Amazon Synod, the issues hit close to home. McElroy returned to San Diego last week to find traditionalists in an uproar. Along with most of the delegates, McElroy had backed a plan to allow married men to serve as priests in remote Amazonian villages. He also joined the majority in urging Pope Francis to consider ordaining female deacons — throughout the global church.

San Diego’s plan to create community energy choice options is moving forward, with the possibility of having more than 700,000 new customers. Community choice energy offers the chance to purchase energy separate from an investor owned utility, which allows for quicker investment in green energy sources. Most of the county’s cities are for the plan, as well as San Diego Gas and Electric.

McKamey Manor used to be a notorious terror attraction in Rancho Peñasquitos, but now the manor haunts in new locations in Tennessee and Alabama. This is a haunted house taken to extreme --- YouTube videos of tours of McKamey Manor when it was based in San Diego showed participants vomiting, weeping and bruised, a young man crying out to be released as his head is shoved under water and other unsettling imagery — much of which is “smoke and mirrors,” according to the proprietor Russ McKamey. In its new locations, McKamey Manor is still getting criticism for the tours, including a petition on Change.org to close down the attraction. McKamey has denied allegations by people who claimed that they suffered serious physical and emotional injuries during his tours, saying he captures all the experiences on video he can use to dispute false allegations. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

San Diego officials and community leaders are exploring plans to create an eight-block pedestrian plaza in the Gaslamp Quarter by closing Fifth Avenue to vehicles between Broadway and L Street. Supporters say the plaza would become a magnet for tourists and locals, broadening the Gaslamp Quarter’s appeal and changing the landscape of downtown. Modeled after the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica and public squares across Europe, the plaza would be dubbed the “Gaslamp Promenade” and feature street furniture, public art, trees, painted murals and possibly outdoor entertainment venues.

San Diego’s leaders have long been pushing for safer streets and ways to get people out of their cars . . . but a plan for an interconnected bike network remains delayed and is 79 million dollars over budget. Local leaders say challenges in construction are primarily responsible for the delays.

Cancer patients hold onto hope the way some people hold onto the lap bars of roller coasters: As if their lives depend on it. And then they get ready for the ups and downs. Theresa Blanda and Nancy Davidson started their rides after they were diagnosed with rare and debilitating blood cancers that enlarge the spleen and can progress to complications that are fatal. Both volunteered for a clinical trial with a drug developed by a small San Diego biotech company. Unlike the vast majority of trials, which end in disappointment, this one worked for them. The drug, fedratinib, made them better. So much better that Blanda returned to her accounting work in the defense industry. She made plans to marry. She dreamed about traveling. Davidson stopped worrying about whether she would live long enough to see her son and daughter graduate from high school and college. Then, five years into the trial, eight patients developed what appeared to be a dangerous neurological disorder that causes brain swelling and confusion. O

The San Diego Union-Tribune's archivist Merrie Monteagudo recounts several historical ghost stories including deaths at the Whaley House, sasquatches and yetis in East County and a Ghost Ship that haunts the Salton Sea.

Michael Schroder, the dean who traveled first class, stayed at Ritz-Carlton hotels and bought a $110 Bruno-style bone-in filet was not the only one at Cal State San Marcos using state tax money to cover luxury expenses. So were the people responsible for approving his expense reports. Graham Oberem, former provost and most frequent signer of Schroder’s expense reports, stayed at a $639-a-night hotel in Spain in 2017 and paid $472 for Half Moon Limos to take him to and from Los Angeles International Airport for a recruiting trip to various countries in Europe in November 2018. Karen Haynes, former president of the university, stayed in the same hotel in Spain for $762 a night. She accumulated more than $9,100 in charges for chauffeured transportation from September 2017 to June this year. She billed the school for rides from her home to the university and was chauffeured to Long Beach routinely, documents show.

Every California motorist knows that gasoline is expensive in the Golden State. Taxes and fees on the state and federal levels account for more than 80 cents per gallon at the pump. But even after stripping out all those expenses, the California Energy Commission says drivers are still paying more than they should because of “an unexplained residual price increase” that’s persisted for the last five years. Gov. Gavin Newsom thinks oil companies may be “engaging in false advertising or price fixing” and he has called on Attorney General Xavier Bacerra to open an investigation into what UC Berkeley professor Severin Borenstein has long called the “mystery gasoline surcharge.” In 2018, California motorists paid an average of 30 cents more per gallon at higher-priced retail outlets such as Chevron, Shell and 76 than the average American paid for gasoline in other states, the energy commission said in an analysis released last week.

A lawsuit seeking records of accusations of sexual misconduct by employees of the San Diego District Attorney has settled, with the office turning over the records and agreeing to pay nearly $100,000 in legal fees incurred by a public records advocacy group which sought the information. The group, the First Amendment Coalition, filed suit in July 2018. The San Rafael-based group had asked under the state public records law for all records of sexual misconduct by DA employees. Instead the District Attorney’s Office had provided summaries of six cases but not the actual records.

San Diego’s transit agencies are making a big bet on the future of transit. Both the San Diego Association of Governments and the Metropolitan Transit System are pushing forward separate tax measures that would improve public transit. The investments may be key if the region hopes to improve transit service and get more people out of their cars -- one of the only ways to meet climate goals.

While California is one of several states to legalize marijuana, demand for the plant isn’t just for getting high. Cannabidinol -- better known as CBD -- is now a popular substance that has found its way into everything from dog treats to lip balm. Claims of what CBD can do are vast, but many of them raise questions as to what’s true and what’s snakeoil.

Several neighborhoods around San Diego County have turned to an Atlanta company to offer a new level of surveillance. Flock Safety provides private license plate readers that neighborhoods or HOAs can use to track who enters and leaves their neighborhoods. Amid the expansion of the internet of things, and 5G wireless technology, increased surveillance is becoming more common.