Bureaucratic foot-dragging on the federal level by both Mexico and the United States is directly to blame for the continuing profound flowing of pollution into the Tijuana River. Excuses abound with the U.S. Congress underfunding adequate sewage and trash mitigation. The EPA denies the use of the Superfund to clean the river. Mexico pleads a population explosion in Tijuana as the reason for the severe backlog of intended infrastructure projects. The people of Baja California and California would both benefit equally from clean water, sewage treatment and garbage collection.

The Tijuana River region has a severe infection and now requires an ICU level of immediate medical care. A new cross-border treaty is needed.

— John H. Borja, Chula Vista

A brush fire that burned near Fashion Valley Mall nearly a week ago was held at just 3 acres, but it was big enough to destroy the home of a mother and her two children.

Tina Burell’s home is situated at the top of a ridge off Friars Road. Her family had been living in that Mission Valley condo for the last nine years before it caught fire last Tuesday.

“From one day to the next, you have nothing. You have no socks, no underwear. It’s just the little things you take for granted,” Burell said.

A brush fire near Fashion Valley Mall raced up the hillside towards homes, damaging one building. NBC 7’s Shandel Menezes reports on Jan. 21, 2025.

With the help of her company, Burell has been staying in a hotel while she looks for a new place to live.

“I am hoping that I can sleep again,” Burell said. “I haven’t really slept. It’s just a lot of anxiety.”

She recorded videos of the damage when she was allowed back inside to retrieve personal affects that might have been spared.

“It’s destroyed,” Burell said. “It smells horrible. You can hardly breathe when you walk in. There was probably 3 inches of water. There’s ash. There’s soot, everything. I mean, you can see the sky. The roof is burnt off.”

From the burned brush, you can tell there was fire all around Burell’s condominium, but there are no char marks up the wall leading to her home. The roof, however, was on fire. There is evidence of that.

Inside at the time was her 26-year-old daughter Brittany Nicholas. She says she heard an explosion, the whole condo shook and she began smelling smoke. Nicholas escaped with the family dog. Their cat did not survive.

“They said we can’t go back in, that they were calling Red Cross and that it was uninhabitable,” Burell said.

Other people in the complex say two utility poles caught fire and that the explosion was a nearby transformer. That may explain why the roof caught fire first.

Firefighters say they are still investigating the cause.

“Traumatic,” Burell said. “You never expect it. I have been there nine years.”

Burell is grateful she still has her family and a job. Figuring out the rest, however, is proving to be a distressing difficulty. She says the condo next door also sustained damage, but she’s not sure how much or whether the residents are living there.

I don’t know the extent to which the Chicago Cubs are going to want to go so in on 2025 as to justify a second huge trade for one year of a player, but I think it’s worth noting that the San Diego Padres have reportedly discussed not only Dylan Cease in trade talks (mentioned before), but also Michael King. Both pitchers are 29, both pitchers were outstanding in 2024, and both pitchers are in their final year of team control before free agency.

From Ken Rosenthal:

“One reason the open market remains clogged is that teams continue to discuss trades. The Seattle Mariners’ Luis Castillo and San Diego Padres’ Dylan Cease and Michael King, for example, are among the starting pitchers who remain in play (King asked for $8.8 million in arbitration and the Padres offered $7.325 million; a hearing appears likely).”

Even at $8.8 million, King would be making $5 million less than Cease in 2025, and could easily fit in the Cubs’ budget. I’m not saying you’d want to see the Cubs choose King over Cease because of the relatively small difference in 2025 salary, I’m just pointing out that there is indeed a difference that may matter to the Cubs.

We know that, even after signing Matthew Boyd, the Cubs were in on a Jesus Luzardo trade, presumably seeking to get a little more upside for the middle of the rotation. The team has since added pretty significantly in the bullpen and then in the swing area with Colin Rea, but they haven’t added a sure-fire mid-rotation type. So, then, you could at least make the argument: if the Cubs were in on Luzardo, why wouldn’t they be in on King?

A former top Yankees reliever, King was sent to the Padres as part of last year’s Juan Soto trade, and converted to the rotation. He rewarded the Padres with a 2.95 ERA over 173.2 IP (33 starts). His 3.33 FIP was nearly as good when adjusting for context and comparing to league average (the ERA was 25% better than league average by ERA-, and the FIP was 17% better by FIP-). That is to say, even if you weren’t crediting him with skill in limiting hard contact (and you should, because he just didn’t get hit hard at all last year), he probably just about earned his results. The guy was very, very good in his first full big league season as a starting pitcher, and he projects quite well in 2025.

That said, you’d be getting King – like Kyle Tucker – for only a single year. We can hypothesize about extensions and all that, but ultimately, you’re getting one cheap-ish year of a probably-very-good starting pitcher. And the price tag, while not Tucker level, would be pretty darn steep in trade. Basically every team in baseball would be able to fit this guy into their budget and rotation. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Cubs wanted him; it wouldn’t surprise me if 10 other clubs have seriously engaged.

The Padres, needing to ditch some salary and simultaneously fill a number of holes, would probably be trying to pull off a trick similar to the one the Astros did with Tucker. You don’t WANT to trade the guy; but may you can make yourself better in the long-term for having done so, and not hurt yourself TOO badly in the short-term.