Category: San Diego

The election in San Diego County is now officially a wrap, with the Nov. 5 vote certified last week. Yet questions linger about how two marquee races ended with lopsided results despite millions of dollars being spent for unsuccessful challengers. County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer defeated former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer by nearly 13.98 percentage points. Mayor Todd Gloria was re-elected over police Officer Larry Turner by 10.7 points. Not to be overlooked is that the incumbents also had big money, institutional support from the Democratic Party, organized labor, and, in Gloria’s case, some business interests. Some analysts have suggested Gloria performed poorly, with a closer margin than other victorious incumbents while facing a political unknown. Still, it was a substantial, double-digit victory, given public concern over growing homelessness, city land transactions gone awry and general disgruntlement with the direction of municipal government. Finger-pointing within losing campaigns is a post-election ritual. But internal campaign surveys and public polls throughout the election have come under particular scrutiny — also a common staple of election postmortems. Polling is often used to persuade candidates and donors that a

A San Diego judge has signed off on a jury award of nearly $10 million to a pair of women who were sexually abused when they were children by Christian Clews, a Carmel Valley horse rancher who is serving a federal prison term for possessing and distributing images depicting child sexual abuse. A San Diego Superior Court jury sided with the abuse victims following a civil trial earlier this year, finding that the girls were sexually battered and harassed in the 1990s at Clews Horse Ranch, a well-known facility that offered boarding, horse training, private riding lessons and trail rides. The jury found that Clews, who operated the ranch and later became a longtime member of the Carmel Valley Community Planning Group, sexually battered and harassed one victim beginning when she was 11 years old and the other when she was 13. The jury found that Clews’ ex-wife, Deeana Welch, also sexually battered and harassed one of the girls and was negligent in the abuse of the other victim. And the jury found that Clews’ mother, Barbara “Bunny” Clews, a part owner of the ranch land

San Diego could raise water rates by 61% and sewer rates 32% over four years to cover sharply rising costs for workers, imported water, chemicals, energy, construction projects and other priorities. The increases, which would incrementally kick in between January 2026 and January 2029, are recommended by two new studies analyzing future revenues and expenses for the city’s water and sewer systems. The hikes wouldn’t be finalized until City Council votes scheduled for September. The city’s independent budget analyst says it will hire a consultant to evaluate each study and perhaps recommend changes. The possible rate hikes would be on top of previously approved increases for city water and sewer customers that are already scheduled to kick in during the coming months. Sewer rates are scheduled to rise by 3% on Jan. 1 under a series of rate hikes the council approved in 2021, and water rates are set to rise 8.7% then based on hikes the council signed off on last year. And water rates will likely rise another 5.5% on May 1 to cover a jump in the city’s costs for importing water

CARLSBAD, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — The Carlsbad Police Department is joining forces with other law enforcement agencies throughout the county, including the San Diego Police Department and Chula Vista Police Department, to stop drunk driving this holiday season.  It’s part of the national “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign going from Dec. 11 through New Year’s Day. The goal is to prevent tragedies that can in an instant change someone’s life forever. In December 2022 alone, 1,062 people were killed in the U.S. in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “I entered the intersection and three seconds later I got t-boned. I got broadsided by a drunk driver. He was going 50 miles an hour passed out while he was going through that intersection,” DUI crash survivor Bruce Mezan said. Mezan remembers the day his life was turned upside down nearly five years ago, never making it to teach his first motorcycle safety class one early Sunday morning. “Sent me flying and the motorcycle about 25 feet and I landed on the sidewalk on my back and the motorcycle tumbled

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — An apartment fire on Dec. 5 just after midnight in Ocean Beach left 24-year-old Noah Rawson with injuries so severe he died in the hospital the next day. His family flew back to San Diego to honor his memory, saying a visit to the beach in December is a trip they never got to take. “He was my favorite person,” Keele Burgin, Noah’s mom, said. “I think he was a lot of people’s favorite person.” As she watched the waves with Noah’s father, Matt Rawson, they remember everything they loved about him. “He just lived. He was like, ‘Mom, I’m going to Hawaii. Mom, I’m gonna learn how to surf.’ They’re big on kite surfing,” Burgin recalled. Rawson says the memories of his son give him peace as he mourns. “We have such great photos of him that really capture his spirit, and it’s so helpful,” Rawson said. Burgin remembered getting the shocking call from the ICU Burn Unit at UCSD Medical Center Hillcrest, asking for next of kin. “I thought it was a wrong number, so I wanted to

DESCANSO, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — An investigation is underway after a woman was found dead on the roadway Wednesday in Descanso, authorities said. The incident occurred around 10:37 a.m. near the intersection of State Route 79 and Wildwood Glen Lane, Lt. Michael Krugh said in a news release Thursday. When deputies arrived on scene, they found the body of a 29-year-old white woman. Husband of woman found dead in San Diego freezer put her there, police say “Deputies observed no immediate signs of foul play; however, as a precautionary measure, they reached out to the Sheriff’s Homicide Unit,” Krugh said. The cause and manner of the woman’s death is still under investigation. Her identity is being withheld until next of kin has been notified. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Homicide Unit at 858-285-6330/after hours at 858-868-3200. To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A man and woman were sentenced to prison for their roles in a crime spree last year that lasted two days in multiple parts of San Diego County. Calvin Brown, 27, was sentenced to 59 years and eight months, while Rolaena Blunt, 20, was sentenced to 10 years and eight months in prison, Summer Stephan with the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release Thursday. Brown was convicted of four separate carjackings at gunpoint, assault with a semi-automatic firearm on eight victims at three separate locations, animal abuse, robbery, hit-and-run causing permanent serious injury, and other felony crimes. Blunt pleaded guilty to assault with a semi-automatic firearm on two victims, and a separate robbery and carjacking. In the early hours of July 3, 2023, Brown carjacked a BMW at gunpoint in downtown San Diego. He then led police on a chase at over 90 miles per hour. Two days later in Imperial Beach, Brown and Blunt drove the carjacked BMW to a home where Brown shot a woman and dog, according to prosecutors. Following that incident

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Nearly a year after an elderly woman’s body was found dead inside a freezer at an Allied Gardens home, San Diego police have wound down their investigation with some questions answered and other trails running cold. In a release Thursday described as detectives’ final update, a department spokesperson said they are unable to collect any more evidence to answer some of the outstanding mysteries surrounding the death of Margaret Haxby-Jones, who would have been in her early 80s today. This includes substantiating speculation about whether her husband, Robert Haxby, had intentionally concealed her death for financial benefit or was the one to cause it. Although, they were able to determine he had been the one to put her in the freezer. Suspect with sledgehammer detained after three San Diego businesses burglarized Police added that Haxby died earlier this year, on Feb. 3. A cause of death was not provided. “At this point, based on the Medical Examiner’s conclusions and the investigative work performed by detectives, the suspicious death investigation is inactive pending any additional or new information brought forward,” the

The Southwestern College Foundation’s Jaguar Awards Luncheon was held last month. The luncheon, with the theme “Zoot Suit,” raised funds for scholarships, special programs and basic needs programs for students. The event also honored Southwestern College retired theater professor Bill Virchis. Southwestern is the only public institution of higher education in South County. The SWC Foundation supports students through community partnerships and donor and alumni connections. If your organization has held an event, you’re welcome to email a high-resolution photo along with information on the event to society@sduniontribune.com. Please clearly identify those in the photo, make them aware their image might appear in print and online, include the photographer’s name for credit and be sure to include the who, what, where, when and why information on the event.  

A man who allegedly sneaked into a Linda Vista home and sexually assaulted a 5-year-old girl inside the residence was ordered Thursday to stand trial on charges that include lewd acts on a child and burglary. Alejandro Jose Confesor, 23, is accused of entering a Wellington Street home around 1:45 a.m. on April 18 and sexually abusing the child in her bedroom. San Diego police say video surveillance captured Confesor returning to the same home three days later about 3:30 a.m. He is not accused of harming anyone in the home on that day, but is accused of taking items from the home’s garage. He’s also accused of unlawfully entering another home and a person’s vehicle in the same neighborhood. Prosecutors say Confesor has no relationship with the victims. Confesor was arrested on the night of April 21 on Linda Vista Road, less than 2 miles from the Wellington Street address. After Confesor’s arrest, police found he had items stolen from the home where the girl was allegedly molested, according to testimony from a preliminary hearing held on Thursday. Confesor also allegedly had a picture

Paul Parker, who parlayed a career as a police officer into broader work in forensic pathology and civilian oversight of law enforcement, resigned Thursday as leader of the San Diego Commission on Police Practices, the monitoring board that hired him barely six months ago. He was brought in to serve as executive director of the San Diego commission earlier this year, when city officials heralded him as the leader the long-stalled board needed. Parker is also the former executive officer of the county Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board, the oversight body for the Sheriff’s Office and Probation Department. He quit that job in March, citing frustrations over slow progress and resistance to proposed reforms and policy recommendations. The latest resignation was submitted to the city oversight board in a letter Thursday. His last day at the city will be Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. “I appreciate having had the opportunity and am humbled by the trust you folks placed in me,” Parker wrote in his letter. “Unfortunately, over the past few months, it has become increasingly clear that I am not the right person for this

When the body of 81-year-old Mary Margaret Haxby-Jones was found a year ago folded up in a freezer at an Allied Gardens home, questions swirled: How had she died? Was there foul play? How and why did she end up in a freezer? A year later, major answers remained elusive even as additional information came to light. On Thursday, the San Diego Police Department said it had received the autopsy report regarding Haxby-Jones’ cause of death. Her manner and cause of death are undetermined, the Medical Examiner’s Office concluded, police said. However, detectives have unraveled one mystery. “Detectives did determine that Haxby-Jones’ body was unlawfully placed in the freezer by her husband, Robert Haxby,” San Diego homicide Lt. Jud Campbell said in a release. Haxby died in February — just weeks after his wife’s body was discovered. Haxby-Jones’ body was found by out-of-town relatives related to the resident of the home on Dec. 22, 2023. Police said that Haxby-Jones, a longtime former nurse anesthetist at the Kaiser Permanente Zion Medical Center down the street, may have been dead for as many as nine years but

A 33-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of using a sledgehammer to break into at least three businesses in 4S Ranch and University City on Thursday, San Diego police said. The first two incidents were reported when officers responded to two burglaries on Paseo Del Sur near Camino Del Sur around 3:30 a.m., Capt. Richard Aguilar said. About an hour later, another business was burglarized on Governor Drive near Genesee Avenue, investigators said. The suspect was seen on camera using a sledgehammer to break out the glass door of the business to enter, according to Aguilar. In all three break-ins the burglar fled before officers arrived at the scene, but the department’s automated license plate recognition system in the area got hits on the same vehicle, police said. Investigators said the vehicle was then spotted by officers traveling east on state Route 56 from Interstate 5 around 5 a.m. Officers were not pursuing the vehicle, but the car crashed into an ice plant near the Camino Del Sur off-ramp. The suspect was taken into custody without incident, Aguilar said. A sledgehammer along with other evidence

A man and woman who took part in a crime spree that included shootings and carjackings stretching from Imperial Beach to Encinitas were sentenced Thursday to lengthy state prison terms. Calvin Brown, 27, was convicted by a San Diego Superior Court jury and separately pleaded guilty to around two dozen counts related to various crimes on July 3 and July 5, 2023. Brown, who was convicted of crimes that included assault with a firearm, carjacking, hit-and-run, robbery and animal cruelty, was sentenced Thursday to 59 years and eight months in prison. His co-defendant, 20-year-old Rolaena Blunt, pleaded guilty to assault with a firearm, carjacking and robbery for her role in the July 5 crimes and was sentenced Thursday to a stipulated term of 10 years and eight months in prison. Prosecutors say the spree began on July 3, when Brown smashed one person’s car windshield in the East Village, then carjacked a separate East Village resident and led police on a high-speed chase throughout South Bay in the resident’s stolen BMW. Two days later, Brown went to an Imperial Beach home and shot a woman

By PHILIP MARCELO NEW YORK (AP) — Three men sued Sean “Diddy” Combs in New York on Thursday, claiming the hip-hop mogul drugged and raped them. Related Articles National News | What do we know about the mysterious drones reported flying over New Jersey? National News | McDonald’s employee who called 911 in CEO’s shooting is eligible for a reward, but it will take time National News | ‘Zero progress’: Western states at impasse in talks on Colorado River water shortages National News | Florida lawmakers propose rolling back gun control laws passed after Parkland shooting National News | Ex-FBI informant accused of lying about Bidens agrees to plead guilty to federal charges The lawsuits, which were filed anonymously in a state court, add to a wave of sexual assault litigation against the rapper, producer and record executive as he also faces federal sex trafficking charges in New York. Thomas Giuffra, a New York attorney who filed Thursday’s lawsuits on the men’s behalf, said Combs used his power and wealth to take advantage of the accusers and then ensured their silence through threats and fear.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli airstrike hit the central Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing at least 25 Palestinians and wounding dozens more, Palestinian medics said, as U.S. President Joe Biden’s two top national security officials were in the region making a renewed push for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire. The strike on a multistory residential building in the Nuseirat refugee camp was just the latest in a series of Israeli attacks throughout Gaza that killed at least 54 Palestinians since late Wednesday night. Palestinian officials at two of Gaza’s remaining medical centers, Al-Awda Hospital in the north and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the center, reported together receiving 25 bodies from the Nuseirat strike — which also wounded 40 people, most of them children. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the deadly strike. Israel is trying to eliminate Hamas, which led the attack on southern Israel in October 2023 that sparked the war in Gaza. The Israeli military says Hamas militants hide among Gaza’s civilian population. The U.N. General Assembly’s member nations approved a new resolution this week demanding an immediate

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Temperatures have cooled down compared to earlier this week as onshore flow returns, meaning there is a chance for a few sprinkles Thursday evening.  A low-pressure trough sliding through Northern California will increase cloud cover further south and lead to scattered showers later this afternoon across San Diego County.  A brief history of high wind events in San Diego County Minimal rain accumulation is expected with totals likely a few hundredths of an inch of rain. The timing of light showers is set between 4 p.m. Thursday into the late evening hours.  A wind advisory is in place the remainder of the day for mountains and deserts as gusty westerly winds set up ahead of this system. Sustained winds could be anywhere from 20 to 30 miles per hour with gusts pushing higher than 50 in the afternoon.  Power restored to all SDG&E customers after Red Flag Warning Friday is dry with a mix of sunshine and clouds with temperatures in the mid-60s for the coast and inland valleys, upper 50s in the mountains and upper 60s in the deserts. 

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Anticipating the annual New Year’s Eve tradition of gathering with friends to count down to midnight, Airbnb is reactivating “anti-party technology” ahead of the holiday to prevent listings — including those in San Diego — from being used as a party pad. The measures, which the short-term rental website says help reduce the risk of unauthorized or disruptive get-togethers, aim to identify and block certain bookings using machine learning to flag characteristics typically linked with use for a party. Specifically, the crackdown targets entire home reservations, looking at things like the trip’s length, how far the listing is from the guest’s location and when the reservation is being made. USPS prepares for holiday shipping rush The system, Airbnb says, will block high-risk one, two- or three-night bookings for whole homes through New Year’s Eve and require guests sign a mandatory anti-party attestation. Should an Airbnb user violate this agreement, they face suspension or removal from the platform. “While issues are rare, we want to do our part to help reduce the risk  of unauthorized and disruptive parties,” Tara Bunch, global

SAN MARCOS, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — Deputies in North County discovered a firearm, narcotics and marijuana products during a traffic stop Wednesday afternoon, according to a release Thursday from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office. Just before 5 p.m., deputies pulled over a vehicle on North Las Posas Road near West Borden Road in San Marcos. Suspect with sledgehammer detained after three San Diego businesses burglarized The occupants included 19-year-old Christian Verduzco and 20-year-old Jonathan Ramirez, along with two juvenile females in the back seat, according to authorities. Verduzco, the driver, admitted to deputies there was a gun in the back seat. After a search of the vehicle, deputies discovered a loaded ghost gun, classified as an illegal short-barreled rifle, in the back seat. Nearly five pounds of fentanyl seized after pursuit ends in Alpine Ghost guns do not have serial numbers or identifiable markings, which makes it challenging for law enforcement agencies to track them to their owner or manufacturer and therefore delays investigations or crime-solving efforts, SDSO said. Ghost gun, drugs and marijuana vape products discovered during traffic stop. (San Diego County Sheriff’s

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration, who has led a tougher enforcement policy against Boeing since a panel blew off a Boeing jet in January, said Thursday that he will step down next month, clearing the way for President-elect Donald Trump name his choice to lead the agency. Mike Whitaker announced his pending resignation in a message to employees of the FAA, which regulates airlines and aircraft manufacturers and manages the nation’s airspace. Whitaker has dealt with challenges including a surge in close calls between planes, a shortage of air traffic controllers and antiquated equipment at a time when air travel, and a need for tougher oversight of Boeing. “The United States is the safest and most complex airspace in the world, and that is because of your commitment to the safety of the flying public,” Whitaker said in the message to employees. “This has been the best and most challenging job of my career, and I wanted you to hear directly from me that my tenure will come to a close on January 20, 2025.” Whitaker took the helm of the FAA in October 2023

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — An active investigation is underway and a suspect is in custody after three businesses in the north San Diego area were targeted in a series of burglaries early Thursday morning, authorities said. According to the San Diego Police Department, the burglaries took place before 5 a.m. with the suspect using a sledgehammer to break into the businesses. The locations targeted were: Gaslamp Quarter security guard stabbed in the neck Ototo Susuhi Co. (located at 16480 Paseo Del Sur) Board & Brews Specialty Sandwiches (located at 16480 Paseo Del Sur) Ramon’s Taco Shop (located at 3951 Governor Dr.) Witnesses who observed suspicious activity provided a description of the vehicle involved in the crimes. Acting on this information, law enforcement officials were able to locate a car matching the description on a nearby freeway. For reasons unknown at this time, police said the suspect’s vehicle ultimately spun out at the 56 freeway and Camino Del Sur. The driver was apprehended shortly thereafter. Authorities discovered a sledgehammer inside the car, which further linked the suspect to the burglaries. A burglary suspect’s vehicle is