San Diego, CA
Here’s what to do if you smell those Tijuana River odors
Similar to alerts issued when wildfire smoke degrades air quality, the public now has guidelines for what to do if Tijuana River sewer gases surpass certain levels.
The San Diego County Air Pollution Control District on Wednesday unveiled a color-coded air quality index specific to hydrogen sulfide, a gas detected in various parts of South County due to untreated wastewater in the cross-border region.
Communities such as Nestor, Otay Mesa West, Egger Highlands, San Ysidro, Imperial Beach and as far north as Chula Vista have been reporting to the district and government agencies that the rotten egg-like odors are more than just a nuisance. They are experiencing symptoms such as nausea, headaches, dizziness and chronic coughs.
How will the public know when and what actions to take?
They can refer to the district’s newly launched online dashboard, which shows hourly levels of hydrogen sulfide tracked from Nestor and San Ysidro. Readings from Imperial Beach City Hall will also be available in the coming weeks.
Then they can check where those levels fall within the four color-coded tiers:
- Green: If monitors detect hydrogen sulfide levels at 4.9 parts per billion (ppb) for one hour, no action is needed because most people won’t smell the odor.
- Yellow: If levels are anywhere between 5 ppb and 29.9 ppb for an hour, people sensitive to the sewer gas stench are advised to limit outdoor activities.
- Orange: At 30 ppb (the state standard) or higher for an hour, many could experience odor-related symptoms such as headaches and respiratory discomforts. People are encouraged to shut their doors and windows and air out their homes after odors are gone. Air conditioners and purifiers should be on if available. And those with asthma or other respiratory problems should have their medications readily available. Schools are advised to limit outdoor activities or switch to indoor alternatives for students and to alert parents who have children with respiratory or heart conditions to talk to their family doctor.
- Purple: At more than 27,000 ppb for an hour, people could experience serious, lasting adverse health effects. First responders would evaluate whether people need to shelter in place or evacuate.
District officials said the guidelines were developed with help from the county, state public health department, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
The effort came after scientists studying the health and environmental impacts of the sewage crisis said in September they found concerning levels of hydrogen sulfide coming from the river. “The community experienced an unprecedented increase in the intensity of odors resulting from high sewage flows, inadequate infrastructure maintenance, and extreme heat,” the district said. Hot spots were detected near schools and homes. In response, some South County schools kept their students indoors, members of Congress renewed calls for a federal state of emergency and the county sent its hazmat team to check gas levels.
The county couldn’t produce the high readings, acknowledging that several factors, such as the wind, could affect outcomes. So county leaders told the public that their health faced no immediate threat. But the mixed messaging confused and infuriated many.
Officials agreed a more collaborative approach was needed to better and consistently monitor the air, as well as give the public guidelines for what to do when odors reach certain levels.
“We want residents to be fully informed about the air quality in their community and actions they can take to protect their comfort and their health,” Paula Forbis, the district’s air pollution control officer, said in a statement. “SDAPCD will continue to build upon our air monitoring efforts and provide timely information to the public.”
The launch of the monitoring systems comes as the district continues to receive odor complaints from communities at and around the Tijuana River Valley despite conditions improving a couple of months ago when Mexico fixed a pump designed to divert sewage flows away from the river.
Last month, the district sent a letter to President Joe Biden and Gov. Gavin Newsom asking them to reconsider their refusals to declare the sewage crisis an emergency. District officials said Wednesday they have not received a response.
District board member and National City Councilmember Marcus Bush said the district should reach out to President-elect Donald Trump and ask him to consider issuing such a declaration.
Also on Wednesday, the district board approved using nearly $3 million to purchase and distribute at least 10,000 air purifiers for households affected by the sewer gas odors. Those living closest to the pollution and vulnerable populations, such as seniors, people with health conditions and households with children, will be prioritized.
Officials also accepted a $200,000 grant from the county’s Neighborhood Reinvestment Program to buy a mobile air monitoring vehicle.
San Diego, CA
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.
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.
Copyright 2026, City News Service, Inc.
San Diego, CA
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.
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.
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.
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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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.
San Diego, CA
Scripps Oceanography granted $15M 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.”
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.”
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.
“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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