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A 20-year legal odyssey seeking the return of a Nazi-looted painting that once belonged to the German Jewish family of a former La Mesa resident endured its latest twist Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered an appellate court to reconsider the fate of the artwork. The ruling is a win — for now — for the family of Claude Cassirer, a longtime La Mesa resident who died in 2010, five years after he first sued for the return of French artist Camille Pissarro’s 1897 Impressionist masterpiece “Rue Saint-Honoré, Après-midi, Effet de Pluie.” Cassirer’s grandmother was forced to sell the artwork to the Nazis in 1939 as a condition for being able to flee Germany and escape the Holocaust. The painting now hangs at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid. The museum insists that it is the rightful owner of the painting, and so far U.S. courts have agreed. Most recently the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that, while there was no question the Nazis had looted the artwork, Spanish law that allowed the museum to keep the painting took precedent over

Two meet-and-greet sessions scheduled Tuesday with artists creating a sculpture for the Chestnut Avenue underpass beneath Interstate 5 in Carlsbad have been postponed until further notice, city officials said. The proposed public art is linked to the widening of I-5 now underway as part of the North Coast Corridor Program, a decades-long expansion of railroad, highway, and pedestrian facilities led by Caltrans and the San Diego Association of Governments. At Chestnut Avenue the corridor program calls for wider sidewalks, new bike lanes, landscaping and lighting along with the sculpture. The underpass is considered a gateway into Carlsbad’s older Barrio neighborhood. The artwork is intended to reflect the history, heritage and identity of the Barrio and the surrounding area. Overall the improvements will take about two years to complete and will require cutting into the sloping banks of the underpass and building new perpendicular retaining walls to add 10 feet of width on each side of the road, city officials said. Last year a city committee of Carlsbad residents, arts commission members and a local arts professional selected Greenmeme, a collaboration between artists Freyja Bardell and

A Lyft passenger allegedly kidnapped a rideshare driver Sunday in Lemon Grove but was arrested after the victim contacted 911 via text, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office said. In a “Text-to-911” message, the victim, a female Lyft driver, said she was being held against her will by her passenger, the sheriff’s office said in a release. The suspect, identified as a 22-year-old man, had been picked up in Spring Valley but allegedly told the driver that he had a gun and demanded that he be taken to a Lemon Grove dispensary on Harris Street. Sheriff’s deputies went to the dispensary and found the Lyft vehicle in the parking lot with “a struggle taking place inside the car” between the suspect and driver. The suspect was arrested but was not found in possession of a gun. The victim was not seriously injured. The suspect was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, robbery, false imprisonment, dissuading a victim and preventing a victim from contacting 911.

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency posted on social media about the sewage crisis in the Tijuana River Valley, and local leaders and activists are hopeful this could finally lead to fixing the issue. SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – The Tijuana Sewage Crisis saw it’s latest incident of wastewater flowing into the United States. The U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission (USIBWC) said in a statement on Sunday that it was, “investigating the cause of the transboundary flow of wastewater mixed with heavy stormwater that has been entering the United States at the San Diego, Calif.-Tijuana, Baja Calif. international boundary.” The flow happened near Stewart’s Drain which flows into the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant at around 1:30 a.m. Sunday. “No surprise at all. This is the Kool-Aid we drink as residents,” Baron Partlow, a Imperial Beach activist, said. The issues of the sewage crisis and what’s been done to try to curb the issues of the wastewater flowing into the South Bay have been ongoing for decades. “We saw during the Bush administration the groundbreaking of funding for the plant

Local San Diego businesses reliant on tourism say they’re excited about the potential new influx of customers thanks to Royal Caribbean’s decision to use San Diego as a home port. SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines announced that it will begin offering Mexican Riviera cruises from San Diego starting in Oct. 2026. The company’s Serenade of the Seas ship will be homeported in San Diego, marking the first time Royal Caribbean has had a ship based in the city since 2010. The return of a Royal Caribbean ship to San Diego is welcome news for local businesses that depend on tourism, such as Old Town Trolley Tours. The tour company operates several vehicles, including amphibious seal boats and trolleys, that would cater to cruise ship passengers looking to explore the city. “If a ship is visiting San Diego, we have a lot of guests who come off, and they want to see the city and see who we are and what we’re all about,” said an Old Town Trolley Tours representative. “Additionally, when a ship is making a turn here, meaning guests are

Early voting began Monday for residents in the District 1 supervisors special election. SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Monday marks the start of early voting for the District 1 County Board of Supervisors special election. Registered voters in the district started receiving their ballots on March 10. Now with the election just under a month away, here’s what you need to know for the April 8 primary. March 10: Early voting begins. You can vote by mail or in person at the County Registrar of Voters only. March 11: Drop boxes become available around District 1. You can find the list of drop box locations here. March 29: Seven voting centers open across District 1 for early in-person voting. April 8: Final Day of voting. An additional six voting centers open. There are seven candidates on the ballot. Four of the candidates include acting politicians around the county: Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, Chula Vista Mayor John McCann, Chula Vista Deputy Mayor Carolina Chavez and San Diego City Councilmember Vivian Moreno. The other three candidates include former Imperial County Board of Supervisor Chair Louis Fuentes, affordable