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<p>San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott used cash to pay thousands of dollars in legal fees she owed her recent campaign opponent, according to receipts she signed to confirm the payments.</p>
<p>Elliott paid $3,255.77 in cash as part of over $8,000 in legal fees she owed local attorney Cory Briggs after he won two lawsuits filed between the political rivals.</p>
<p>[<a href="https://laprensa-sandiego.org/bidenaremaininmexSP">ESPAÑOL</a>]</p>
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<p>The Biden Administration has reinstated a controversial Trump-era policy that forces asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border to remain south of the border while their applications are pending.</p>
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<p>Two-thirds of the members of the San Diego City Council accepted political campaign contributions from principals of the development company the City is suing to invalidate two controversial building leases over charges that the company paid hidden profit splits to the City’s own real estate advisor.</p>
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<p>The San Diego City Council today passed a vaccinate mandate as a condition of employment to take effect on December 1st, while still allowing for case-by-case religious or medical exemptions.</p>
<p>All but one Councilmember voted to approve the mandate put forward by Mayor Todd Gloria to help protect employees and the public from the COVID virus that caused a worldwide pandemic over the past year and a half. Councilman Chris Cate, the sole Republican on the Council, voted against the mandate.</p>
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<p>A legal memo addressed to the San Diego City Attorney’s office regarding the 101 Ash Street building raised critical questions about the City’s true motives in approving a 20-year lease that the outside lawyers said City Attorney Mara Elliott signed despite being “disproportionately unfavorable to the City”, but the memo, along with a later version, were withheld from the City Council by the City Attorney’s office.</p>
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<p>A new survey of Californians finds that a majority believe the economic gaps between rich and poor is getting worse and that children growing up in the state will be worse off than their parents.</p>
<p>The study, conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California, found that 69% of those surveyed believe the gap between the rich and the poor in their region is increasing and 64% think it will be even worse by the year 2030.</p>
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<p>A motion by the San Diego City Attorney’s office seeking to dismiss a pending lawsuit filed by La Prensa San Diego was overruled by the trial judge and now opens the door for continued discover to determine the truth behind a disputed legal memo. </p>
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<p>An internal survey conducted by the San Diego’s Deputy Sheriffs’ union shows many hold extreme political views, including calling leadership decisions “Marxist”, referring to Black Lives Matter and Antifa as “domestic terrorist groups”, and staunch opposition to COVID vaccine mandates, but the respondents showed no support for police reforms or progressive approaches to policing advocated since the killing of George Floyd and protests in several US cities.</p>
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<p>The City of San Diego will soon allow permanent restaurant outdoor seating that has become popular during the COVID pandemic.</p>
<p>The San Diego City Council approved the “Spaces as Places” plan that will allow permanent outdoor seating for restaurants on streets with speed limits of 30 miles per hour or lower. Eateries in coastal areas will need additional approval from the State Coastal Commission.</p>
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<p>A San Diego Police Department officer charged with a misdemeanor for exhibiting a gun in a threatening manner toward a female driver during an alleged road rage incident while he was off-duty last March had also been one of three officers who shot and killed a man in 2019.</p>
<p>William Carter Torres, 30, a four-year veteran of the Department, pled not guilty to the charge that he flashed his gun after a female driver was honking and driving erratically. Torres was driving his personal vehicle at the time of the incident.</p>