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‘The greatest feeling’: La Jolla lifeguards win annual relay

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‘The greatest feeling’: La Jolla lifeguards win annual relay


The Olympics place the world’s top athletes on a global stage, but San Diego lifeguards have their own version — the Lifeguard Relay, which pits teams against one another in Herculean challenges for bragging rights.

The annual event, held Aug. 6 in Mission Beach, featured four lifeguard teams of 17 members each from different areas of San Diego: La Jolla; Mission Beach and Pacific Beach combined; Ocean Beach and Sunset Cliffs combined; and the boating safety unit and bay lifeguards combined.

At the end of the day, team La Jolla came out on top.

“We were thrilled to win that. It was a tough feat and tough competition,” lifeguard Sgt. Kelsie Gleason said. “The athleticism we have in La Jolla is top notch.”

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The team participated in multiple events ranging from running to mock rescues using challenging equipment, said team captain and Windansea lifeguard Tommy Cavanaugh.

In the first leg, he said, one team member runs a half-mile on the beach (a quarter-mile to a cone and back) to launch the relay race.

“It’s one continuous race,” Cavanaugh said. “There is no stopping until it’s over.”

After the running comes the landline portion, “the most crucial part in terms of teamwork,” Cavanaugh said.

Once the opening runner tags the rest of the team, the 16 other members must engage in a mock rescue that includes using techniques that are considered outdated.

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Lifeguards get a vessel called a “rescue can” — like a buoy — to the victim to hold onto, and the people on the beach pull the person to shore with a rope, Cavanaugh said.

In the relay exercise, teams had a swimmer pretend to be in distress while another went out with the rope. Team members on the beach let out the rope on pace with the speed of the rescue swimmer.

If the team lets out the rope too slowly, the swimmer is slowed; too fast and the rope goes ahead of the swimmer.

Also, coils of rope bundled on the beach have to be released at the right time.

“It’s this big orchestrated effort and difficult to do it correctly,” Cavanaugh said. “As soon as the swimmer [reaches] a flag, two landline pullers work together to pull the swimmer through the surf back to the beach. It can go catastrophically wrong or really well, depending on how everyone performs.”

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Once everyone is on land, the next leg of the race begins.

For the rescue swim, a swimmer goes back out to the flag at sea and has to be rescued by another member of the team. The two then swim back to shore together.

Once they are both on land, they tag another pair who does the same thing.

“The rescuer is leading and the swimmer is holding the flag. They have to maintain contact with the rescue can,” Cavanaugh said. “If there is a good wave, they can try to catch the wave together.”

Then comes the longest leg of the relay — a 700-yard roundtrip swim.

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“That is for the fastest swimmers,” Cavanaugh said. “They swim to the furthest flag. They have to be strategic and look at areas of lack of surf. They have to get to the flag. At that point, they can take any line back to shore. It shows who can read the water.”

The last leg of the race is the paddle swim rescue, in which a swimmer goes out to a flag and has to be rescued by a lifeguard on a paddleboard. Then the pair must paddle back to shore together.

“There was a wave that came to [the runner-up team] and then a wave to us, so for a split second, it looked like their wave was going to be better than ours. It made the race extremely dynamic,” Cavanaugh said. “I honestly thought we might not get a wave and they could take the lead. It was pandemonium for that moment; everyone was screaming. We managed to catch a wave and at that point it was clear we were going to win it.

“It’s so much more fun like that. You can’t put it into words.”

Winning the title “was the greatest feeling we have ever had in sports,” Cavanaugh said. “It was hands-down the greatest feeling ever. It was so competitive and the other teams were gunning just as hard as we were, which made it extra special.

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“There were five lead changes throughout the race. The other teams had some of the best athletes that have ever worked. It made it super special to come out on top.”

It also was special because lifeguard Lt. Lonnie Stephens will be retiring in November, making this his last relay with team La Jolla.

“The team is very selfless and prides themselves in their roles as public servants,” Stephens said. “They are extremely supportive of each other and have amazing chemistry. Even on the roughest days they are smiling and always willing to give back to the community.”

“All four districts have amazing athletes,” he added. “And any of the districts were more than capable of winning the relay race.” ♦

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Military bases in San Diego County increase security following Iran attacks

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Military bases in San Diego County increase security following Iran attacks


SAN DIEGO (CNS) – Military bases in San Diego County and nationwide have increased security measures due to last weekend’s U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, prompting traffic delays near base entrances, enhanced ID checks and access restrictions.

The Naval Air Station North Island on Coronado ports three aircraft carriers, including the San Diego-based USS Abraham Lincoln, which led some of the first-wave attacks on Saturday.

Naval Base Coronado warned motorists of possible traffic delays at all base entry points due to the increased security measures.

Targets included Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command and control facilities, Iranian air defense capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and military airfields.

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The U.S. operation, dubbed “Epic Fury,” and Israeli operation, “Raging Lion,” began striking targets at 1:15 a.m. Eastern Time Saturday.

As of Tuesday, at least six U.S. service members had been killed in action.

The strikes also killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei, who had been Iran’s supreme leader since 1989, making him the longest-serving head of state in the Middle East.

Iran’s offensive forces claimed to have struck USS Abraham Lincoln with ballistic missiles, but according to an X post from U.S central Command, “The Lincoln was not hit. The missiles launched didn’t even come close. The Lincoln continues to launch aircraft in support of CENTCOM’s relentless campaign to defend the American people by eliminating threats from the Iranian regime.”

Those with concerns regarding the heightened security can contact San Diego County’s Office of Emergency Services at 858-565-3490 or oes@sdcounty.ca.gov.

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Copyright 2026, City News Service, Inc.





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SD Unified moves forward with layoffs of classified employees

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SD Unified moves forward with layoffs of classified employees


SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Less than 3 weeks after the San Diego Unified School District finalized a new contract with teachers, the school board voted unanimously on Tuesday to move forward with layoff notices for other district employees.

The layoffs affect classified employees — workers who are employed by the district but are not teachers and are not certified. That includes bus drivers, custodians, special education and teacher aides, and cafeteria workers.

The district says it is eliminating 221 positions — 133 that are currently filled and 88 that are vacant — to save $19 million and help address a projected $47 million deficit for the next fiscal year.

Preliminary layoff notices will go out on March 15, with final notices by May 15.

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The district estimates about 200 classified employees will receive preliminary notices, but of them, about 70 are expected to lose their jobs based on union-negotiated bumping rules.

Bumping allows employees with more seniority to move into another position in the same classification, thereby “bumping” a less senior employee out of that role.

Lupe Murray, an early childhood special education parafacilitator with the district, said the news came as a shock after the teacher strike was called off.

“When the strike was called off, I’m like, ‘Yes!’ So then when I got the email from the Superintendent, I’m like, ‘Wait, what?’ So, I think everyone was shocked,” Murray said.

The district says it sends out annual layoff notices, as all districts in the state do.

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Before Tuesday’s board meeting, classified employees rallied outside, made up of CSEA (California School Employees Association) Chapters OTBS 788, Paraeducators 759, and OSS 724. They were joined by parents, students, and the San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council, AFL-CIO.

Miguel Arellano, a paraeducator independence facilitator with San Diego Unified and a representative of San Diego Paraeducators Cahpter 759.

“What do we want? No layoffs! When do we want it? Now!” the crowd chanted.

Arellano said he felt compelled to act when he learned about the potential layoffs.

“The first thing that went through my mind was that I need to speak up. I need to protect these people,” Arellano said.

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Inside the meeting, the board heard emotional, at times tearful testimony from classified employees before voting unanimously to move forward with the layoff schedule.

Superintendent Fabi Bagula said the district has tried to protect classrooms from the cuts.

“We have tried our best to only, I mean, to not touch the school. Or the classroom. But now it’s at the point where it’s getting a little bit harder,” Bagula said. “What I’m still hoping, or what I’m still working toward, because we’re still in negotiations, is that we’re able to actually come to a win-win, where there’s positions and availability and maybe even promotions for folks that are impacted.”

Arellano warned the layoffs could have a direct impact on students.

“We are already spread thin, so, with more of a case load, it’s going to be impossible to be able to service all the students that we need to have,” Arellano said.

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Follow ABC 10News Anchor Max Goldwasser on InstagramFacebook, and Twitter.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.





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Scripps Oceanography granted $15M for deep sea, glacier science

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Scripps Oceanography granted M for deep sea, glacier science


The Fund for Science and Technology, a new private foundation, granted Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego $15 million for ocean science Tuesday.

FFST, funded by the estate of the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, was started in 2025 with a commitment to invest at least $500 million over four years to “propel transformative science and technology for people and the planet.”

“Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego is pushing boundaries for exploration and discovery across the global ocean,” Chancellor Pradeep Khosla said. “This visionary support from the Fund for Science and Technology will enable Scripps researchers to advance our understanding of our planet, which has meaningful implications for communities around the world.”

The grant, the largest of its kind since Scripps joined UCSD in 1960, will go toward research in three areas: monitoring of environmental DNA and other biomolecules in marine ecosystems, adding to the Argo network of ocean observing robots, and enhancing the study of ocean conditions beneath Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier, often referred to as the “Doomsday Glacier.”

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Scripps Institution of Oceanography has used Argo floats for more than two decades to track climate impacts in our oceans. NBC 7 meteorologist Greg Bledsoe reports.

“The Fund for Science and Technology was created to support transformational science in the search of answers to some of the planet’s most complex questions,” said Dr. Lynda Stuart, president and CEO at the fund. “Scripps has a long tradition of leadership at the frontiers of ocean and climate science, and this work builds on that legacy — strengthening the tools and insights needed to understand our environment at a truly global and unprecedented scale.”

Scripps Director Emeritus Margaret Leinen will use a portion of the grant in her analysis of eDNA — free-floating fragments of DNA shed by organisms into the environment — in understudied parts of the ocean to collect crucial baseline data on marine organisms, according to a statement from Scripps.

“In many regions, we know very little about the microbial communities that form the base of the ocean food web or that make deep sea ecosystems so unique,” Leinen said. “Without data, we can’t predict how these communities are going to respond to climate change or what the consequences might be. That’s a vulnerability — and this funding will help us begin to address it.”

Using autonomous samplers that can collect ocean water for eDNA analysis, as well as conventional sampling, scientists will use tools to “reveal the biology of the open ocean and polar regions.”

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According to Scripps, the international Argo program has more than 4,000 floats that drift with currents and periodically dive to measure temperature, salinity and pressure. Standard floats can record data up to depths of 2,000 meters (6,560 feet), while newer Deep Argo floats can dive to 6,000 meters (19,685 feet).

The grant funding announced Tuesday will allow for Scripps to deploy around 50 Deep Argo floats along with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory.

Sarah Purkey, physical oceanographer at Scripps and Argo lead, said this leap forward in deep ocean monitoring comes at a crucial time because the deep sea has warmed faster than expected over the last two decades.

Thwaites Glacier is Antarctica’s largest collapsing glacier and contains enough ice to raise global sea level by roughly two feet if it were to collapse entirely. According to Scripps, prior expeditions led by scientist Jamin Greenbaum discovered anomalously warm water beneath the glacier’s ice shelf — contributing to melting from below. Greenbaum now seeks to collect water samples and other measurements from beneath Thwaites’ ice tongue to disentangle the drivers of its rapid melting.

This season’s Antarctic fieldwork will “test hypotheses about the drivers of Thwaites’ rapid melt with implications for sea-level rise projections,” the statement from Scripps said.

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“The ocean holds answers to some of the most pressing questions about our planet’s future, but only if we can observe it,” said Meenakshi Wadhwa, director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and vice chancellor for marine sciences at UCSD. “This historic grant will help ocean scientists bring new tools and approaches to parts of the ocean we’ve barely begun to explore.”



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