In the weeks since the shooting at a Poway Synagogue, leaders have tried to grapple with the task of combating hate.

For two former skinheads, leaving the mindset of hate was a choice they were able to make. Tim Zaal and TM Garret are speaking about how they have learned to stop hating other people. Men like these serve as a sign of hope, and that there is life after hate.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2019-05-11/cure-for-hate-former-skinheads

Gary Robbins discusses the possibility of a 100MPH commuter rail and congestion pricing with the San Diego Union-Tribune's transportation reporter, Joshua Emerson Smith.

New details of a controversial plan to prioritize rail over widening freeways are starting to emerge — from laying hundreds of miles of high-speed commuter rail to charging drivers to use many of the most congested freeways.

Officials with the San Diego Association of Governments told the Union-Tribune last week that the agency plans to run trains along highway corridors that travel as fast as 100 miles an hour. The most current plan calls for no further expansion of the trolley system, which only goes about 35 miles an hour on average.

At the same time, SANDAG plans to roll out so-called congestion pricing on those stretches of freeway, which would charge drivers a fluctuating toll based on traffic conditions.

Experts say this ambitious, multi-billion-dollar proposal could be the first of its kind in the country.

This story: http://bit.ly/30h9co6

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There's one idea in the battle over immigration policy that has near-universal support among the key players: finding a way to give permanent legal status to young people here temporarily under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Democratic and Republican leaders have said they want to find a solution. So has President Donald Trump, even though his actions have made the future uncertain for people in the DACA clearance.

With such common ground, a DACA fix would seem comparatively simple amid fights over Trump's border wall, the asylum process and visa policy.

A 12-second video showing officers repeatedly punching a 20-year-old man during a Tuesday arrest has sparked controversy, but police leaders said Wednesday the footage lacked important context, and released footage of their own.

San Diego police Chief David Nisleit said police had Trenelle Cannon under surveillance in Chula Vista in connection with two felony warrants — one for a robbery, the other for possessing a firearm — when detectives attempted to arrest him about 6:30 p.m.

Cannon ran, and officers chased him, Nisleit said. At one point, officers lost sight of Cannon, but recovered a loaded handgun they believe belonged to him.

Detectives found Cannon again near Fourth Avenue and Naples Street where he was seen getting into a car that drove onto Interstate 5, police said. Officers pulled over the vehicle and an officer ran to the passenger-side door just as Cannon was emerging.

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There might be a limit on how much a landlord can raise your rent if new legislation is signed by the governor.

An Assembly bill from a San Francisco Democrat would stop landlords from raising rent more than 5 to 10 percent in a year. It’s not exactly the type of rent control that many activists want, but it may stop some of the more extreme rent hikes endured by many San Diegans

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/real-estate/story/2019-05-07/rent-cap-could-be-coming-to-san-diego

None of the 23 city-owned and -operated restrooms in Balboa Park are in acceptable condition, according to a newly released study that’s being used as a tool by park groups to persuade the mayor to spend on immediate renovations.

The study, which was authored by volunteer and park advocate René Smith, graded each of the public toilets in the park using available city data. Smith’s findings, presented to the city’s Balboa Park Committee last week, paint a disturbing portrait of facilities that are more befitting of a third-world country than a major U.S. metropolis.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/growth-development/story/2019-05-08/balboa-park-bathrooms-are-gross-but-this-report-could-change-that

History book: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/local-history/story/2019-05-08/second-san-diego-memories-photo-book-in-the-works

Attendance at SeaWorld Entertainment parks continued its more than year-long upward streak, with visitation growing to more than 3.3 million during the first quarter of 2019 — an increase of nearly 4 percent over the same time period a year earlier, the company reported Tuesday.

While the growth rate was significantly less than the 15 percent jump in visitation recorded during the first quarter of 2018, it marks the fifth consecutive quarter of attendance gains for the Orlando-based theme park company. Likewise, revenue was also up, increasing 1.6 percent to $220.6 million. The gains came despite unfavorable weather that dampened visitation at some SeaWorld parks and an earlier spring break in some of its markets.

Maximum Security won the Derby on Saturday, only to be stunningly disqualified by track stewards. No previous Kentucky Derby winner has been disqualified before being draped with the signature garland of roses

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/sports-columnists/story/2019-05-04/kentucky-derby-winner-disqualified-maximum-security-gary-mary-west-rancho-santa-fe

It's been nearly a week since a gunman killed a woman and injured three others at a Poway synagogue.

The response from San Diego's interfaith community was strong and clear: We will not let hate win. As weekend services begin, U-T photojournalist Sam Hodgson interviewed religious leaders about how they plan to address the attack during the weekend.

For Jews, San Diego County can seem to be one of the Promised Land’s happier suburbs.

In 1850, a German immigrant named Louis Rose became the area’s first known Jewish settler. His long resume is full of honorary appointments and political posts: grand jury member, Old Town postmaster, county supervisor, president of the board of trustees, the latter a 19th century precursor to the San Diego city council.

“He was elected to all these public offices,” said Don Harrison, co-publisher of San Diego Jewish World and Rose’s biographer. “Clearly, there wasn’t any organized opposition to him.”

Nearly 170 years later, the region still welcomes adherents to this ancient faith.

“It’s a good place to be Jewish,” said Rabbi Devorah Marcus, senior rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in Del Cerro. “It’s wonderful here.”

Except, as Marcus and others note, when it’s not. The region’s history also includes campaigns to exclude Jews and other minorities from exclusive neighborhoods; anti-Semitic white supremacist groups; and a large number of hate crimes, including last weekend’s attack on Chabad of Poway, which left one dead and three wounded.

She wants her course to be timely. But Angela Feres had a pained look Wednesday when she stepped before her students at San Diego State University to talk about the nature of evil.

“This is another sad day,” said Feres, a religious studies professor. “There have been so many lately.”

She was alluding to Saturday’s terrorist attack at a synagogue in Poway, which killed one person and wounded three others, and Tuesday’s shooting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where two students were killed and four people were injured.

The campus was already a bit on edge from earlier attacks nationally and globally. Police have been urging the school’s 35,000 students to take an online tutorial on active campus shooters.