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‘Bubble Queen of Mission Bay’ Reggie Dyer Veit reigns with joy

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‘Bubble Queen of Mission Bay’ Reggie Dyer Veit reigns with joy


A young child reaches up to touch the “Bubble Queen’s” masterpiece at Mission Bay Park. (Photo by Barry Alman)

About half an hour before sunset, something extraordinary happens at Mission Bay Park. Giant, iridescent bubbles float through the air, some stretching 8 to 12 feet, occasionally drifting over Interstate 5 and past apartment windows, leaving wonder in their wake.

Behind this phenomenon is a bubble artist who has called San Diego home since 1987 and spent the past nine years perfecting her craft and earning the nickname “Bubble Queen of Mission Bay.” 

Reggie Dyer Veit’s journey into bubble artistry began nearly 40 years ago at the Ocean Beach Christmas Parade, where she first saw a bubble artist perform.

“I just fell in love with it. I thought that’s so neat,” Dyer Veit said. 

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But life got in the way and she waited three decades before pursuing her passion. The turning point came when she spotted someone creating giant bubbles on the dunes in Pacific Beach. 

“I went home that night and started learning everything I could about bubbles,” Dyer Veit said. 

What followed was an intensive self-education. Dyer Veit discovered a wiki site with information about bubble physics and history, spending four or five days absorbed in reading. Within her first year, she became a certified bubbleologist — a designation requiring both theoretical knowledge and practical skill. 

“You have to take a test to become a bubbleologist,” Dyer Veit said. “You have to be able to do certain tricks with the bubble.” 

One of the most challenging tricks she learned is called “the cube,” created by renowned bubble artist Tom Noddy, who performed on “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.” The trick involves blowing five bubbles around two connected bubbles to form a cube shape in the center. 

Like other bubble enthusiasts, Dyer Veit is part of a community with its own vocabulary.

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“We have our own bubble language,” she said. “You’ll hear us talk about things like the dragon and the wick.” 

Dyer Veit said October is often her best month for bubbling, as higher humidity helps the bubbles last longer. She has spent years perfecting her bubble juice recipe, a secret mix of five ingredients besides water. Her goal is to create bubbles that can withstand wind and drift for extended periods.

“If you can get a bubble to last over 30 seconds, that’s pretty good,” she said. “I’ve had them go for almost three minutes.”

Mission Bay provides ideal conditions due to the moisture in the air. However, she also ventures to La Jolla, Dog Beach in Ocean Beach and the Torrey Pines Gliderport, where updrafts can send bubbles soaring over cliffs. 

The reactions she witnesses range from pure delight to the downright surreal. Her most unusual encounter happened at De Anza Cove when one of her giant bubbles floated over the freeway, high above the hillside.  

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“A hawk was circling and dive bombed the bubble,” she said. “That was the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.” 

More often, Dyer Veit sees faces light up, moods shift and she hears a lot of “wows.”

“I know that I’m going to turn somebody’s day around,” she said. 

Dyer Veit has made many friends through bubbling, including Steve Coy, who has apprenticed with her for two years. While she favors a few giant bubbles at a time, Coy prefers a garland that releases 20 to 60 medium bubbles with each sweep. 

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The “Bubble Queen’s” passion isn’t confined to California skies. Nearly three years ago, Dyer Veit took her bubble wands on a four-day train trip from Sacramento to Detroit. 

“Every time the train stopped long enough, I got off and did bubbles,” she said, sharing her art with strangers along the way. 

What Dyer Veit didn’t expect was how deeply the practice would affect her. Once shy and introverted, she found herself opening up through her art. 

“It just takes a little bubble in the air to change your whole attitude,” Dyer Veit said. 

These days, she spends most evenings at Mission Bay, delighting onlookers with giant bubbles.

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“I wish I were like that before I started bubbles,” Dyer Veit said. “Bubbles did that to me.”




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San Diego, CA

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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San Diego, CA

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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