Voice of San Diego Podcast

VOSD education reporter Will Huntsberry joins the podcast to talk about his recent series on the problems at Porter Elementary School, and the plan to fix it. And the problems with the plan. The interview with Huntsberry starts at 23:30 Also, SB50 — the state bill to increase housing near transit — has been shelved for the year. And Scott Lewis got a call that was really exciting for him. Donate during our spring fundraising campai... Read more

Bonus Episode: Councilwoman Monica Montgomery wants to see more from San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit. Following comments Nisleit made about a viral video of a physical altercation between SDPD officers and a 20-year-old black man, Montgomery said she was concerned that Nisleit described the man as violent and dangerous, arguing those same words aren't used for white suspects of violent crimes.

A little-known company is quietly buying up massive amounts of land in the Imperial Valley. VOSD’s Ry Rivard reported this week that Los Angeles-based Renewable Resources Group has already helped sell 33,000 acres to California’s most powerful water agency, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. But new documents he’s obtained raise fresh questions about those deals – and about what the company is seeking to do in ... Read more

Bonus Episode: San Diego County Supervisor Kristin Gaspar announced she will be seeking re-election 2020. Gaspar sat down with Voice of San Diego's Sara Libby and Andrew Keatts to discuss border issues, the future of Republicans in San Diego and the County's recent tension with the San Diego Association of Governments.

The city’s annual homeless census was big news in San Diego this week. The point-in-time count released Monday on its face suggests there’s been a modest improvement in the city’s effort to shrink its homeless population, but because the methods guiding the count changed, it's not an apples-to-apples comparison to last year's numbers. Hosts Scott Lewis and Sara Libby sat down with Fran Butler-Cohen, CEO of Family Health Centers of... Read more

This week, hosts Scott Lewis, Andrew Keatts and Sara Libby take on Balboa Park developments (or, lack of developments), the return of Kevin Beiser and SANDAG's big Avengers-style meeting. And in the second half of the show, County Supervisor Jim Desmond joins us to talk about his first 100 days in office. The interview with Desmond starts at 26:50. Subscribe to our daily newsletter at vosd.org/morningreport. Talk to us on Twitter, ... Read more

If you want to know about the nuts and bolts, the nitty and the gritty, the wonk when it comes to the city’s long-running pension saga, you have come to the right place. Scott Lewis sat down with Michael Zucchet for an interview this week. Zucchet is the leader of the largest union of San Diego employees, the Municipal Employees Association, as well as a Port commissioner. That starts at 23:30. And on Monday, Mayor Kevin Faulconer ... Read more

This week, hosts Scott Lewis, Sara Libby and Andrew Keatts sat down with Loxie Gant. Gant is a former La Jolla High student who told school officials in 2003 that her physics teacher had touched her inappropriately. That teacher, Martin Teachworth, was the central figure in our big story this week that showed the extent of his predatory behavior — and how much San Diego Unified knew about his actions while allowing him to stay in ... Read more

The day we recorded this week’s podcast, the Airport Authority agreed to start negotiating a union-friendly labor deal for its $3 billion plan to rebuild Terminal 1. Hosts Scott Lewis, Andrew Keatts and Sara Libby got right in to that. Also, this week: A problem principal gets paid to leave a San Diego Unified school, mayoral candidates on pensions, and Scott Lewis sits down with Councilman Chris Ward to talk about a wrench he's th... Read more

In this week's show, Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts try to convince Sara Libby that baseball is worth her time and the Padres her attention. (We recorded the day before Opening Day.) Their opening arguments start at 35:30 in the episode. Don't worry! We talked about news, too. The team discussed recent developments in the Kevin Beiser investigation, a new law to crack down on vaccine exemptions, and the latest chapter in San Diego's... Read more

This week, we took over Whistle Stop Bar for a live recording of the show. Hosts Scott Lewis, Sara Libby and Andy Keatts sat down with Hasan Ikhrata of SANDAG and Nicole Capretz of the Climate Action Campaign. They played some games with the audience and talked about a realistic future for San Diego transit. Subscribe to the VOSD podcast newsletter at vosd.org/pod. We want to learn more about you! If you could fill out this brief t... Read more

State Sen. Ben Hueso and San Diego City attorney Mara Elliott dropped their proposed changes to the California Public Records Act. Before that happened, the City Council and the mayor both announced they opposed the measure. City Councilman Chris Cate joined us on the podcast this week to talk about that bill, the state of the GOP and more.   The interview with Cate starts at minute 23.   Voice's Lisa Halverstadt and Adriana Heldiz... Read more

Scott Lewis, Andy Keatts and Sara Libby tore in to Senate Bill 615 this week. SB 615, which is being pushed by Sen. Ben Hueso and City Attorney Mara Elliott, and would make it harder for the public to hold government officials accountable for violating the Public Records Act. What ensues on this podcast is a high-decibel discussion by our hosts. We also called local reporter Mari Payton to talk about a big story she broke this wee... Read more

This week, hosts Scott Lewis, Andrew Keatts and Sara Libby hashed out some confusing environmental news, and highlighted a troubling bill that could make public records even harder to get. And in the second half of the show, local investigative reporter Claire Trageser talks about her podcast series on a gang murder that happened over a decade ago that still affects a southeastern San Diego neighborhood. Don’t forget! We have a liv... Read more

This week, Scott, Andy and Sara reviewed the week’s biggest news and played a game you have to hear to believe. And maybe even after that you won’t believe it. Alex Presha, host of NBC's "Politically Speaking," joined us to talk a bit about his show, his take on San Diego politics and to pony up his “Voice dollars.” Don’t forget! We have a live taping of the podcast on March 20. It will be at Whistle Stop Bar, and you can get ticke... Read more

This week, we dig in to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first State of the State address — what San Diego was mentioned for, and whether the high-speed rail will actually be a thing. Newsom’s remarks on the rail confused more than a few reporters across the state. So that State of the State address: Scott and Sara were there. This week, they took the pod to Sacramento. They “did pod,” as Lewis so eloquently puts it. In addition to attending th... Read more

Rep. Lorena Gonzalez announced she’s running for Secretary of State in 2022 (yes, 2022). So we had to talk about that, especially since we asked Gonzalez about it in a live podcast last year.    County Supervisor Dianne Jacob announced in her State of the County address that she wants the board to move forward on community choice energy for county residents as an alternative to SDG&E.   VOSD’s Ry Rivard joins the pod this week to t... Read more

This week, the San Diego County Democratic Party elected its new chairman, Will Rodriguez-Kennedy. He joined the pod to talk about what his election means for the party and where he thinks county Democrats are headed. This interview starts a bit after minute 23 The Ocean Beach Pier is still closed after big waves and crazy tides tore it up. City officials say they have no timeline for when it may be repaired. Thus, there is no time... Read more

Assemblyman Brian Maienschein announced this week he is leaving the GOP. VOSD's Will Huntsberry joins us to talk about a disturbing accusation from an Escondido middle school. (Starts at minute 23. Warning: frank language and disturbing scenes.) And a new edition of The People's Reporter (starts at minute 39). And here's the transit priority map Andrew Keatts wants you to see: https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/transit-pr... Read more