Local San Diego News From Around The County

Chuck Lowery was sworn in as an Oceanside City Council member on Tuesday, but in many ways he has been preparing for the job for years.

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Outgoing San Diego teachers union President Camille Zombro helped rally labor leaders from across the country to take a position of “no confidence” in the guidelines for Race to the Top competition for federal stimulus money during a national conference in New Orleans.

Democrat Jerry Brown and Republican Meg Whitman find themselves tied in their race for California governor, but voters have grown increasingly disenchanted with both candidates, according to a poll released Wednesday.

Sen. Barbara Boxer laid out her plan to help small businesses and stimulate the economy Tuesday while taking another jab at her opponent, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina.

Five local water agencies have launched a public salvo at the San Diego County Water Authority — an unusual move in the normally collegial ranks.

San Diego is poised to join a growing list of major cities that require firms that do business with them to provide the same benefits to workers in a domestic partnership as those available to married employees.

San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio said Thursday that he won’t proceed with a $151,000 challenge to get his competitive-bid measure on the November ballot.

The San Diego Housing Commission will take over services for homeless people from the city beginning today, including management of two winter shelters.

The city of San Diego hopes to save 13 million gallons of water a year by using recycled water for irrigation at Canyonside Community Park in Rancho Peñasquitos, Mayor Jerry Sanders and Councilwoman Sherri Lightner announced Wednesday at a news conference.

Everyone on the Chula Vista City Council, except for Mayor Cheryl Cox, is in favor of doing away with a loophole that allows termed-out council members to serve again after taking at least a year off.

For weeks, the race between City Council candidates Jill Galvez and Pat Aguilar to qualify for a runoff in the November election has been so nail-bitingly close that nobody dared call a winner.

A potential war at the ballot box between labor and business has fizzled as a proposal to raise the sales tax has surfaced at City Hall amid broad discussions to address San Diego’s financial woes.

Floatopia is about to be deflated. The offshore drinking parties that sprang up in response to an alcohol ban on San Diego beaches could be nixed this month under a proposal headed to the City Council.

The anti-incumbent movement that jolted the primary election earlier this month may be what cost Katherine Nakamura her seat on the San Diego school board.

Celebration over Bill Kowba’s promotion to superintendent of California’s second-largest school district on Tuesday was quickly tempered by the formal approval of $100 million in cuts to next year’s $1.1 billion operating budget.

Martha Carter, a homeless woman who lives on the streets of East Village, puts a blanket up between two shopping carts for privacy and then a bucket beneath her. This is how she relieves herself at night.

With virtually every vote now finally counted, the two North County City Council races that have been too close to call since the June 8 election are over.

The proposed law prompted by the murder of Poway teenager Chelsea King continued its successful run through the state Legislature Tuesday after substantial changes.

The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that Americans have a constitutional right to own guns that overrides state or local bans, a ruling that likely will bring a wave of lawsuits challenging California’s gun-control laws.