Category: San Diego

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Lightning was determined to be the cause of a brush fire that broke out east of Palomar Mountain Wednesday, prompting evacuations in the area. The fire, dubbed the Grove Fire, started in the Dodge Valley area of the Sunshine Summit community around 1 p.m. Wednesday, according to Cal Fire. By Thursday afternoon, the fire had grown to 900 acres and was 10% contained. A map showing areas under evacuation order (red) and warning (yellow) due to the Grove Fire. (Alert San Diego) A temporary evacuation point for residents and small animals was set up at the Warner Springs Community Resource Center, located at 30950 state Route 79. Large animals were being sent to Ramona High School at 1401 Hanson Lane. State Route 79 was closed at Chihuahua Valley Road as crews battled the wildfire. The San Diego County Air Pollution Control District issued a smoke advisory for communities south of Oak Grove, including Holcomb Village, Warner Springs and Ranchita. Residents who could smell smoke were advised to limit their physical activity outdoors.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — “Deadpool & Wolverine” has arrived — and Comic-Con, with its hordes of Marvel fans, is ready to celebrate the only superhero flick of the summer. The sprawling convention celebrating all things pop culture kicked off Wednesday, and a panel celebrating the release of “Deadpool & Wolverine,” is the main attraction for Thursday. On the convention’s preview night, scores of fans were sporting clothing or costumes featuring the movie’s characters. Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, who play the titular superheroes, will join director Shawn Levy in the San Diego Convention Center’s famed Hall H Thursday. To prevent fans from camping out in lines all day to snag a seat, organizers created a lottery system for the chance to win tickets. The venue holds about 6,000 people. Some fans, conditioned to expect surprise guests and never-before-seen footage from years of experience at the convention, are speculating the panel will be followed by a screening of the film, which hits theaters Friday. “Deadpool & Wolverine” marks the debut of Reynolds and Jackman’s characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Disney and the Marvel Cinematic Universe

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dylan Cease pitched the second no-hitter in San Diego Padres history, a 3-0 win over the Washington Nationals on Thursday that completed a three-game sweep. After falling one out short of a no-hitter two years ago when he gave up a single to current teammate Luis Arráez, Cease retired Ildemaro Vargas and Jacob Young on a groundouts for the first two outs of the ninth, then got CJ Abrams to hit a flyout to right on a 1-0 slider. Cease (10-8) struck out nine and walked three in the 28-year-old right-hander’s third complete game in 145 big league starts. He threw a career-high 114 pitches in a game that included a 1-hour, 16-minute rain delay in the first inning. Joe Musgrove pitched the Padres’ first no-hitter against Texas on April 9, 2021. Houston’s Ronel Blanco threw the only other no-hitter this season, against Toronto on April 1. Cease was within one out of a no-hitter for the Chicago White Sox against Minnesota on Sept. 3, 2022, when Arráez lined a single to right-center on a 1-1 slider over the middle of the strike zone. “Think I

A brush fire that ignited Wednesday afternoon north of Palomar Mountain, prompting evacuations, is expected to last several days, a fire official said Thursday morning. The blaze, which has been dubbed the Grove fire, has charred more than 800 acres and was reported to be 10 percent contained. Firefighters are battling flames under hot and humid weather conditions in steep terrain, said Cal Fire Capt. Mike Cornette. The fire was reported around 1:15 p.m. Wednesday in the area of Dodge Valley near the rural community of Sunshine Summit, and it spread quickly. It is located east of Oak Grove and burning to the southwest, Cornette said. Around 5:25 p.m. that evening, officials announced evacuation orders for the areas around Chihuahua Valley Road, east of state Route 79 and south of the San Diego-Riverside county line. Evacuation warnings were issued in the area of Stone Ridge Estates. “All the evacuation orders and warnings are still in place,” Cornette said Thursday. “The fire is threatening homes off of Chihuahua Valley Road.” Cornette said firefighters are working in challenging conditions as they climb steep hills to try to

By TRÂN NGUYỄN SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order Thursday to direct state agencies on how to remove homeless encampments, a month after a Supreme Court ruling allowing cities to enforce bans on sleeping outside in public spaces. Newsom’s order is aimed at the thousands of tents and makeshift shelters across the state that line freeways, clutter shopping center parking lots and fill city parks. The order makes clear that the decision to remove the encampments remains in local hands. The order comes after a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this summer allowing cities to enforce bans on sleeping outside in public spaces. The case was the most significant on the issue to come before the high court in decades and comes as cities across the country have wrestled with the politically complicated issue of how to deal with a rising number of people without a permanent place to live and public frustration over related health and safety issues. Newsom’s administration wrote in support of cities’ argument that previous rulings, including one that barred San Francisco from

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — What started as a Peruvian-inspired neighborhood breakfast pop-up will soon become a brick-and-mortar restaurant on Fay Avenue in La Jolla. Chef Sebastian Becerra, creator of Pepino Eatery & Bakeshop in La Jolla, Calif. (Credit: Sylvie Coulange) Known as Pepino, the eatery and bakeshop will be led by local chef Sebastian Becerra, who has previous experience in Michelin-starred establishments like COI and Rich Table in San Francisco, Eleven Madison Park in New York and San Diego’s Herb & Wood. Becerra, a La Jolla native, is the son of Peruvians. He told FOX 5/KUSI that he still has family that resides in the South American country, a connection he hopes to honor through his culinary creations. “After many years working in fine dining, I was dying to do something more simple and approachable for the community. This concept is inspired by the many beautiful memories I have of growing up traveling to and from Peru, and sitting at the dinner table with the whole family, listening to my grandfather, Pepino, share wisdom and tell stories,” Becerra explained. ‘Thank you for being part

Southwest Airlines plans to drop its tradition of more than 50 years and start assigning seats and selling premium seating for customers who want more legroom. The airline said Thursday that it has been studying seating options and is making the changes because passenger preferences have shifted. The moves could also generate revenue and boost financial performance. Southwest made the announcement on the same day that both it and American Airlines reported a steep drop in second-quarter profit despite higher revenue. Airlines are struggling with higher costs and reduced pricing power, especially on flights within the United States, as the industry adds flights faster than the growth in travel demand. Southwest flight heading for Tampa diverted to Fort Lauderdale after descending to 150 feet Southwest, based in Dallas, said its second-quarter profit fell 46% from a year earlier, to $367 million, as higher costs for labor, fuel and other expenses outstripped an increase in revenue. The results met Wall Street expectations. American Airlines also reported a 46% drop in profit, to $717 million, and said it would break even in the third quarter — well below Wall Street

You pick the description for the dramatic drop in California home sales. Did sales collapse? Crumble? Cave in? Crack? Or … crash? At 2024’s mid-point, my trusty spreadsheet peered into the California Association of Realtors’ statewide homebuying database to see the stunning depth of the current homebuying slump. California single-family homes were sold at a 270,200 annual rate in June. Semantics aside, how slow is that? While it’s just off 3% in a year, it’s down 32% compared with the quaint, pre-pandemic days of 2018-19. Next, when looking all the way back to 1990, June sales were 33% below average. And only 6% of all those months had fewer sales over those 34 years. Also, consider that the last time California’s buying pace exceeded the 300,000-a-year speed it was September 2022, not too long after the Federal Reserve began raising rates to cool an overheated economy, in turn producing painful inflation. This 21-month streak below 300,000 is the longest dip in homebuying data stretching back to 1990. The previous record was 10 months that ended in March 2008, a time when housing’s bubble burst, collapsing

San Diego is launching one of the most robust community outreach efforts in city history to help determine how much residents of single-family homes should pay for trash pickup and which new services they want most. City officials will host nine neighborhood forums in August and September to determine how often people want recycling picked up, how bulky items should be handled and whether a “pay as you throw” program could work. The forums will kick off a year-long effort that’s expected to end next July with San Diego beginning to charge single-family homes a monthly fee for trash pickup for the first time. The city had been prohibited from charging for trash pickup at single-family homes under the 1919 People’s Ordinance, but city voters amended that law in 2022 to allow the city to begin charging. City officials say they’ve chosen an unusually aggressive $1.7 million outreach process, which some have criticized as too costly, because they are starting from scratch with essentially no knowledge of what people want. “This is an historic opportunity for the department — we’ve never done something like this,”

The newest federal magistrate judge in San Diego is a former federal prosecutor who later moved into criminal defense and civil litigation. Benjamin Cheeks was sworn in Friday, court officials for the Southern District of California said. Cheeks fills the position left vacant by the retirement of Magistrate Judge Bernard Skomal. Cheeks worked as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan. He later moved to the West Coast and became a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego. Cheeks spent three years in that job. He moved into defense work in San Diego, becoming a solo practitioner handling both criminal and civil cases. As such, he took a cross-section of cases, including fraud, bribery, money laundering, drug trafficking, firearms offenses and immigration-related offenses, federal court officials said. The website for his practice indicates his civil work included employment and civil rights cases. Cheeks has served as a lawyer representative for the Southern District of California. He was also a member of the district’s Criminal Justice Act Advisory Committee and Standing Committee on Discipline. According to the website from his criminal and civil practice, Cheeks

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Comic-Con is taking over downtown San Diego and this year may finally feel like things are back in full force. “One of the things we do see this year is Hollywood is back and in pretty big force too,” said David Glanzer, spokesperson for Comic-Con. Coming off of pandemic years, then a writer and actor strike, San Diego Comic-Con is back to the event people know and love. “Thursday we have a big presentation on the new Deadpool Wolverine movie. Over the course of the weekend there’s Star Trek, all the stuff I think people would expect at Comic-Con that we might not have had the last couple of years,” Glanzer said. With the crowds, comes the need for safety. It’s something San Diego police and law enforcement partners help with each year. Headed to San Diego Comic-Con? Here’s everything to know before you go “Our biggest concern is always the heat as well as safety,” Officer Darius Jamsetjee said. It’s a hot week ahead so keep that in mind, especially for those dressing the part at the event. Justin

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Dengue, a tropical viral disease, has prompted the San Diego County Vector Control to hand-spray a neighborhood in the Mount Hope area Friday. The hand-spraying treatment area, which is about 12 acres in size, covers Hilltop Drive to the north, 40th Street to the east, F Street to the south and Boundary Street to the west, the County of San Diego said in a news release Wednesday. The plan to hand-spray comes after mosquitoes were found near a person who contracted dengue outside the U.S. In San Diego County, there have been 15 travel-related cases of dengue in local residents between Jan. 1- June 30, per county officials. Sea lions charge through La Jolla Cove crowds, again. Locals want a fix The county provided tips to those in the spray areas on how to avoid or minimize their exposure to the pesticide: Stay inside and bring pets indoors if possible; Close doors and windows, and turn off fans that bring outdoor air inside the home; Wash outside pet food and water bowls; Cover fishponds to avoid direct exposure; Rinse fruits

Nearly nine months after choosing to work together on a turnaround plan for the financially distressed Tri-City Medical Center , negotiations between UC San Diego Health and  the Oceanside health care district have reached a tipping point. What both sides initially thought would be a done deal by the end of March has dragged on much longer, and the Tri-City board took action to bring the situation to a head in a special meeting held Friday. Dr. Gene Ma, the Oceanside hospital’s chief executive officer, said in an email this week that the board unanimously directed him and the hospital’s executive team “to open initial dialogue with outside parties who have expressed interest in light of our significantly improved financial position.” In response, Patricia Maysent, chief executive officer of UC San Diego Health, huddled with lawyers before presenting an updated proposal to Tri-City executives Wednesday afternoon. Though the full proposal has not been made public, UCSD said in a statement that it includes a cash infusion of more than $100 million to help Tri-City shore up its finances and raises of about 20 percent over the

A proposal to eliminate public comments by phone and Zoom during San Diego City Council meetings is prompting a sharp backlash from people who say allowing only in-person comment would severely limit who can participate. Critics say the proposal from council President Sean Elo-Rivera is undemocratic, discriminatory and designed to silence the voices of those who can’t attend meetings, whether because of health, disability or parenting duties. “If you do not accept all forms of insight on matters that affect your communities, then please step down and make room for others that want to better our communities and are wise enough to listen to feedback,” Sage Soledad told Elo-Rivera by email. Elo-Rivera said allowing both in-person and virtual comment is making council and committee meetings significantly longer, and making it harder for the council to get its work done on schedule. “The proposed change is in the spirit of balancing our responsibilities as a council so San Diegans can be confident business is done with the pace and efficiency they deserve,” Elo-Rivera said in a statement. “San Diegans deserve an accessible and transparent government,” he

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — An iconic restaurant in Old Town is shutting its doors after nearly 40 years of business. Perry’s Café, located at 4610 Pacific Highway, announced it will permanently close on Thursday, Aug. 15. “We express our heartfelt appreciation to the thousands of people who have crossed our doors during our 39 years in business. Your loyalty and patronage have meant the world to us, and it has truly been our pleasure to serve you. Thank you for being part of our journey!,” the café said. In-N-Out owner sets record straight about ‘secret’ menu item Opened in 1985, Perry’s Café is known by locals as a San Diego County landmark, according to the company’s website. The restaurant — started by Greek immigrants Constantine “Costas” and Margaret Georgakopoulos, and later taken over by their daughter Perry — offers a diverse menu, including Italian and Mexican breakfasts. Perry’s Café is open daily from 7 a.m.- 1 p.m.

A former Marine who led police on a pursuit that ended in an Escondido crash that killed one of his passengers was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in state prison. John Eugene Brand, who was a lance corporal based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, pleaded guilty in Vista Superior Court to evading causing serious bodily injury for the December 2023 death of Shevondia Compare-Bell, 18 Brand, 22, was also sentenced Wednesday to more than three years in prison for an attempted carjacking with a knife in South Bay. That sentence will run concurrently with the seven-year prison term. Prosecutors said Brand was out on bail in the South Bay case when the deadly chase happened. Police said that on Dec. 18, Brand was behind the wheel of a stolen pickup that sped away when police responded to reports that a man and two women were shoplifting at Dick’s Sporting Goods on Auto Park Way. Police chased the truck onto Washington Avenue, where the driver tried to make a high-speed turn onto Fig Street but lost control and collidedwith a retaining wall. Compare-Bell died at

Nineteen people have been charged in San Diego federal court on suspicion of operating what prosecutors called a lucrative human smuggling ring that brought undocumented immigrants from Mexico to San Diego County’s coastline via personal watercraft and boats. Nine of the defendants were in custody as of Wednesday. Many of the defendants are from Tijuana or Nayarit, Mexico, according to court documents. Court documents show the charges came after a surveillance operation led by Homeland Security Investigations and Border Patrol agents, who tracked the operation’s vehicles, drop-off locations and private communications. Investigators served search warrants at various “stash” houses — or homes where migrants are temporarily hidden once they cross into the U.S. — in San Diego and in Los Angeles, leading to the seizure of $100,000, prosecutors said. Agents previously seized more than $120,000 during the investigation. “Human smuggling cases are a top priority because lives are at stake,” said U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath. “Whether racing a jet ski up the coast without life jackets or hauling a tractor-trailer packed with people, smugglers expose vulnerable migrants to extreme danger and prioritize profit over human

Two of the biggest brutes in the Navy — the aircraft carriers George Washington and Ronald Reagan — are wrapping up a rare and tricky exercise in San Diego Bay meant to maintain U.S. firepower in the politically fraught Indo-Pacific. The Reagan is shifting a lot of its air assets to the Washington so that it can take the Reagan’s place as the Navy’s only forward-deployed carrier in Yokosuka, Japan. Yokosuka is the home of the Navy’s largest overseas base. It’s also of great strategic value, giving the U.S. a place to stage and repair warships that are used to counter Chinese military activity. China has threatened to invade Taiwan, a move that could potentially bring China and the U.S. into direct military conflict. In recent days, the Reagan has been transferring everything from aircraft tires to hazmat suits to the Washington, which is docked nearby. That work is almost finished. Cpt. Daryle Cardone, left, commanding officer for the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), and Cpt. Tim Waits, commanding officer of the USS George Washington (CVN 73), chat with the George Washington dockside in preparing

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Twenty-one-year-old Marine Lance Corporal John Eugene Brand was sentenced to seven years behind bars Wednesday for his role in a deadly crime spree in December. Brand is accused of stealing a truck from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, driving to Escondido and stealing, before leading police on a chase, crashing the stolen vehicle and killing one of the two female passengers. Eighteen-year-old Shevondia Compare-Bell died in the crash. Her family said Tuesday would have been her 19th birthday, and instead of celebrating that, plus her high school graduation this year, they laid her to rest and spent the day after her birthday in court for Brand’s sentencing. Rapper ‘Boosie’ facing new charges in connection to San Diego arrest “Mommy loves you and happy birthday,” Shakyla Bell said through tears, “and just wait for me until it’s my turn to meet you in heaven.” She said her daughter was nearly perfect, a social butterfly who loved the outdoors, her first born and the best big sister to seven siblings. “I feel like it wasn’t fair, but I feel like justice is justice,”

Watch Dan Plante’s report for KUSI on Kevin DiCicco and his story in the player above. SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Kevin DiCicco never thought he would end up effectively homeless. The San Diego native had been the driving force behind the wildly popular Walt Disney Studios’ film, “Air Bud” and its more than a dozen spin-offs. DiCicco helped shape the childhoods of a whole generation, inspired by videos of his dog playing basketball that went “viral” before the concept of “viral videos” existed — it was on CNN, ESPN, David Letterman’s “Stupid Pet Tricks,” “America’s Funniest Home Video.” “I know especially down in [Pacific Beach], you know you see kids that were glued to the set, watched that film a hundred times, are now twenty-somethings,” DiCicco said of the film franchise. “It was always nice to run into them and see how much they enjoy it.” Spring Valley leaders oppose plan to seek $10 million from state after backlash And yet, the “Air Bud” creator’s life has become one of adversity, slipping into homelessness while battling multiple conditions that have severely deteriorated his health

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A brush fire that has grown to 816 acres in the area of Dodge Valley’s Sunshine Summit community has prompted evacuation orders and warnings. As of 7:42 p.m., the “Grove Fire” is 5% contained, Cal Fire San Diego said. The following is a map of the evacuation orders and warnings issued for the area: A map showing areas issued Evacuation Orders (pink) and Evacuation Warnings (yellow) on July 24, 2024. Evacuation Order Lifted is also in green. (County of San Diego) Thunderstorms bring rain, hail, lightning, winds to SoCal mountains “An Evacuation Warning means there is a potential threat to life and/or property. An Evacuation Order requires immediate movement out of the affected area due to an imminent threat to life. A Shelter-In-Place advises people to stay secure at their current location,” the County of San Diego explained. The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department listed Warner Springs Community Resource Center, located at 30950 Highway 79 in Warner Springs, as the temporary evacuation point for the fire. Animals are welcome at the location, however, larger animals can be taken to Ramona