Morning Report: Why the City Is Pausing Conservatorship Filings
EM - News Moderator 
Years ago, San Diego city attorneys began using a novel tactic when they struggled to aid people who were generating hundreds of 9-1-1 calls.
They went to probate court to try to seek conservatorships. But that frustrated county officials.
Now, as our Lisa Halverstadt reveals, City Attorney Heather Ferbert has halted those filings and reassigned the city attorney charged with pursuing them. Ferbert and two city councilmembers who have championed those moves in the past now say they hope the county will step up to serve people with complex health issues who are constantly drawing attention from police and firefighters.
But city officials who work with the program – and at least one who used to – fear some people could die without the legal intervention that Ferbert’s team decided to halt.
Rady Children’s Gender Transition Clinic Goes Underground
Hospitals nationwide are shutting down their transgender medicine programs amid threats from the Trump administration.
Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego is continuing to provide gender transition care to children but is staying quiet about it.
Voice of San Diego contributor Randy Dotinga writes that the children’s hospital has shut down its clinic website and that its spokesperson refused to confirm that the clinic still exists.
Rady’s moves to go underground come as hospitals face a series of tough choices. A Trump administration order – now on pause – suggested the federal government could pull Medicaid funding from hospitals that provide pediatric transgender care. Meanwhile, California Attorney General Rob Bonta threatened to take a Los Angeles hospital to court if it axed its program. Advocates are also divided on what hospitals should do.
Encinitas City Councilmember Says He’s ‘Not Guilty’
Just one day after his criminal arraignment, Encinitas Councilmember Luke Shaffer had a message for his constituents: He is not guilty.
“I do not believe these charges are warranted, and I’m not guilty of the accusations that have been presented to the public,” Shaffer said during a Wednesday City Council meeting. He added that the “false accusations” will not distract him from his work.
We were the first to report the District Attorney’s office filed charges against Shaffer, including one charge of felony assault and two misdemeanors.
Prosecutors allege that Shaffer got into a dispute with an Encinitas resident over trash bins that were blocking a parking spot the councilmember wanted. Deputy District Attorney Chandell Boyce said Shaffer backed his truck into the resident’s outstretched palms, crushing one of his recycle bins in the process. Shaffer also allegedly told the resident that he’d never get a permit from the city again.
The public reacts: Several public speakers addressed the Council, with one resident asking Shaffer to recuse himself from all votes until the matter makes its way through the courts. Other residents urged the public to let the legal process play out before assuming Shaffer is guilty.
South County Report: Smaller South Bay News Updates
Every week, local governments get things done – and most of them don’t make the news.
For this week’s South County Report, our Jim Hinch rounded up smaller South Bay news developments.
Among them: a new animal services contract for Imperial Beach, a new student union at Southwestern College and e-bike information sessions in Chula Vista.
Read the full South County Report.
AI Podcast plug
We’ve written about how educators and local institutions are grappling with artificial intelligence.
We’re considering what to do about it too. Should Voice journalists be using AI to help with data-crunching or other tasks? If we do, how should we disclose that to you, lovely reader?
The Voice team decided to take our conversation public so you can hear what we’re considering and weigh in.
Listen to our special podcast episode.
San Diego Is Breaking Up with a Longtime Bae
Is the city of San Diego finally ready to sever ties with a defining piece of cultural iconography that’s uprooting our natural landscape? It seems like it.
We’re talking about the Mexican fan palm. The non-native plant that maintains a death grip on Southern California’s ecological landscape.
In this past year, we’ve seen multiple canyon fires, propelled by these pesky out-of-towners. But within weeks of being burnt to a crisp, they seem to be doing just fine, resprouting green leaves. Our intern, Tessa Balc, has the scoop on why they regenerate so fast, what that means for your backyard and what the city is doing about it.
Politifest: How Do We Get the City We Want?
The city of San Diego is working through a massive structural deficit and huge gap between how much money the city has put aside for infrastructure maintenance and improvement and how much it needs.
Parks are falling apart, city residents routinely complain about streets and thousands of people remain homeless on the streets. What do we need to do to make San Diego a city people are proud of?
We’ll explore visions for a San Diego of the future at Politifest 2025 with San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera and Aimee Faucett, former Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s chief of staff.
Get your tickets today.
In Other News
- San Diego’s state lawmakers want to dig into why the state pulled back a $50 million Proposition 1 grant that Palomar Health planned to use to help fund a 120-bed mental health facility in Escondido. (Union-Tribune)
- Supervisors voted unanimously earlier this week to reject a proposal to turn a Rancho San Diego golf club into a sand mine. (KPBS)
- Vaccination rates are dropping in San Diego County schools. (NBC 7)
- Santee has a new city manager. (Union-Tribune)
- The Prebys Foundation just helped the city of San Diego hire its first chief global affairs officer. (Times of San Diego)
The Morning Report was written by Lisa Halverstadt, Tigist Layne and Tessa Balc. It was edited by Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña.
The post Morning Report: Why the City Is Pausing Conservatorship Filings appeared first on Voice of San Diego.
