During Gov. Gavin Newsom’s final annual address to the Legislature this week, he announced that the state’s principal homelessness program will get $500 million. 

That’s half the $1 billion that has been allocated for the program annually since 2019, reports our Nadia Lathan, except for this year when it was gutted completely. 

Service providers were disappointed by the news. Newsom previously suggested he needs to see more results before committing more dollars. 

But Mayor Todd Gloria is pushing hard to get that cash. He was in Sacramento last week rallying lawmakers to support restoring the funding, Lathan writes. 

Read more in the Sacramento Report here. 

Gloria is giving his State of the City address this week. We’ll have more deets and a summary for you later this week. 

Last year, he gave his speech from City Hall and declared that this was the “era of austerity” as city leaders faced a $350 million budget deficit. Our Mariana Martínez Barba looked out how the mayor’s plans to “right-size” the ship turned out in 2025. 

Read more here. 

VOSD Podcast: How About Them Parking Fees?

Our podcast crew is back for the new year, and boy has it been a busy controversial week for parking. The city of San Diego rolled out its parking program in Balboa Park last week and backlash from the public and City Council was swift. 

While some councilmembers wanted the mayor to suspend the fees, he said that wasn’t an option. It all went down in a memo war. The crew digs explains what this means for the city’s budget. 

Also on the podcast, the latest on the legal debacle between the city and people living in their RVs in Mission Bay. The city opened a safe parking lot, H Barracks, in May that would allow police to start ticketing vehicle dwellers in the area. But some people say H Barracks isn’t a viable option for everyone.

Listen to the Podcast here.

In Other News

• Fundraising for San Diego City Council races is kicking into high gear, with seats up for grabs in Districts 2 and 8. The possible entry of former Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey could shake things up in District 2. (Union-Tribune)
• Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Program, and other homelessness programs are facing big cuts this year. San Diegans who rely on food assistance, and immigrants who can no longer qualify for the state’s low-cost insurance could be some of the hardest hit. (inewsource)
• Unemployment across the region went down in November after holiday retail hiring brought the unemployment rate down from 4.9 percent to 4.6 percent. (Union-Tribune)

The Morning Report was written by Mariana Martínez Barba. It was edited by Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña. 

Democrats are going after Alaska’s Senate race this year, and they’ve landed probably the only candidate that can make it competitive: Mary Peltola.

The former congresswoman on Monday jumped into the race against GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan, adding yet another hard-fought campaign to what Democrats hope is shaping up to be a wave year that could carry them in red states like Alaska.

Peltola certainly doesn’t sound like a typical Democratic candidate as she starts her bid: She’s proposing term limits, is campaigning on “fish, family and freedom,” and has already name-dropped former Republican officials in her state multiple times.

“Ted Stevens and Don Young ignored lower 48 partisanship to fight for things like public media and disaster relief because Alaska depends on them,” Peltola says in her launch video, referencing the former GOP senator and House member, respectively.

“DC people will be pissed that I’m focusing on their self-dealing, and sharing what I’ve seen firsthand. They’re going to complain that I’m proposing term limits. But it’s time,” she says.

Peltola is clearly appealing to the state’s ranked choice voting system and its unique electorate, which elevated moderate Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, over a candidate supported by President Donald Trump. The last Democrat to win an Alaska Senate race was Mark Begich in 2008, though Peltola won the state’s at-large seat twice — even defeating former Gov. Sarah Palin.

Sullivan defeated Begich in 2014, followed by independent Al Gross in 2020; Sullivan also recently voted to extend expired health care subsidies, a sign of the state’s independent streak.