Photo via Pexels.com Former San Diego Padres infielder Sean Burroughs — the team’s first pick in the 1998 amateur draft, who went on to play four years for the team — has died at age 43, it was reported Friday. Burroughs collapsed and died Thursday while coaching his son’s Little League team, according Bob Nightengale of USA Friday. Other details were not immediately available. According to the Los Angeles County Department of the Medical Examiner, a person listed as Sean Burroughs, with the same date of birth as the former MLB player, died at 5:34 p.m. Thursday in the 4500 block of East 23rd ..read more

UCSD’s Geisel Library. Photo by Chris Stone UC San Diego students and faculty staged a walkout Friday to protest what they described as a “violent” dismantling earlier this week of a Gaza Solidarity Encampment on campus. The walkout, organized in part by the Healthcare Workers for Palestine San Diego Chapter, saw more than 100 members of the UCSD community chant and march to Chancellor Pradeep Khosla’s home off campus. Many wore keffiyehs or academic dress and carried signs calling on the university to sever financial ties with Israel. “All people of conscience have woken up to the fact that t ..read more

Paramedics on the job in Chula Vista in 2022. Photo credit: OnScene.TV A free Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Academy launches next month at the Educational Cultural Complex in Mountain View. The deadline is looming though – applications must be in by 11:59 p.m. Sunday. The Pre-Apprenticeship program, in partnership with the California Firefighter Joint Apprenticeship Committee and San Diego College of Continuing Education, begins June 17. The program is the first of its kind for Southeastern San Diego.  San Diego residents 18 and older can earn their EMT completion certifica ..read more

Bags of fentanyl pills. Courtesy Drug Enforcement Administration A woman who mailed letters soaked in fentanyl and methamphetamine to a San Diego County jail was sentenced this week to three years in federal prison. Katherine Smothers, 34, sent multiple letters to an inmate at the George Bailey Detention Facility in Otay Mesa between December 2022 and April 2023, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. According to her plea agreement filed in San Diego federal court, the letters were intended for an inmate who was in a romantic relationship with Smothers. The letters were sent ..read more

Jill Biden from a previous visit. Photo by Chris Stone First lady Jill Biden is scheduled to spend about three hours in the Los Angeles area Friday for the third fundraiser for her husband’s reelection campaign in two days in two states. Biden is scheduled to arrive at Hollywood Burbank Airport early Friday afternoon, speak at a fundraiser at an undisclosed location, then fly to Phoenix for what her office described as an early evening political event. Biden spoke at fundraisers Thursday in Portland, Oregon, and Kentfield, a San Francisco suburb in Marin County. President Joe Biden arrived in ..read more

Photo by Alexander Nguyen  A 24-year-old riding a motorcycle in Clairemont Mesa East suffered a serious injury when she failed to negotiate a turn and laid down the motorcycle on her leg, the San Diego Police Department said Friday. At 11:30 p.m. Thursday, the woman was riding a 2022 Zero Motorcycle eastbound on Marlesta Street and tried to make a right turn in the 6900 block of Beagle Street, said SDPD Sgt. C. Leisz. She laid down the motorcycle on her right leg and suffered a fracture to her right femur, the sergeant said. The SDPD Traffic Division responded and was investigating the c ..read more

Sea & Sky at the Hotel La Jolla. Photo credit: seaandskylajolla.com Sea & Sky, a new “sea-to-table” restaurant, opens Wednesday on the 11th floor of Hotel La Jolla. Anthony Wells, previously of San Diego’s Juniper & Ivy, has been tapped as Sea & Sky’s executive chef, overseeing menu development and its day-to-day operations. Wells, known for his “West Coast cookery” approach to fine dining, has garnered numerous accolades, including a MICHELIN Guide California Bib Gourmand award and a James Beard nomination for Best Chef, California in 2022. The menu, focused on “showcasin ..read more

San Diego Bay is the scenic backdrop for more than one fest this weekend. Photo by Chris Stone Moms are on our minds this San Diego weekend – whether current moms, aspiring moms or great mom surrogates, they all deserve a special treat. It’s not just about brunch – there’s more than one fest she might enjoy, lots of good eats and some shopping too. One note – there is a lot going from the airport area across downtown to the East Village with music fests and the Dodgers visiting Petco Park. Plan accordingly. The Gator by the Bay Zydeco, Blues and Crawfish Festival continues its four-day stint a ..read more

Plaintiff Sandra Maas sat between her attorneys Josh Gruenberg (left) and Josh Pang in March 2023 trial. Photo by Ken Stone Veteran news anchor Sandra Maas sued KUSI nearly five years ago in a milestone pay-equity case. Fourteen months ago, after a four-week trial, a San Diego jury ordered her former employer to pay Maas an amount now totaling $1.75 million. Judge Ronald Frazier payment order in KUSI case. (PDF) On Friday, Maas and her attorney Josh Gruenberg finally got their money. It took the form of a Bank of America check for $4,621,626.29, which included $2.38 million for the journalist ..read more

Janitors rallied across California fon May 1 to demand an end to what they describe as dangerous workloads. Photo credit: @seiuusww via X Janitors who are part of SEIU-United Service Workers West in San Diego and other parts of the state overwhelmingly ratified a new contract, the union has announced. After their contract expired April 30, thousands of janitors who clean California’s largest office buildings, studios and tech campuses were set to strike if they did not reach an agreement. However, they were able to come to terms on a new pact with the state’s largest janitorial employers that ..read more