Ilene Stone

OBITUARY

Surrounded by her family, Ilene Stone, beloved wife, mother, and Nanu, passed away from pancreatic cancer. She was 79.

Ilene was born in Brooklyn, NY to Harry and Frances Schutzman and moved to San Diego at the age of 7. Ilene went to school locally, and obtained both her Bachelors and Masters degrees at San Diego State University. It was among the study carrels of SDSU’s library where she met her future husband, Jeff Stone. Ilene and Jeff fell in love as they researched their Master’s Theses, both relying on the same resources to write about two Revolutionary War figures who despised each other: Silas Dean and Henry Laurens. Ilene and Jeff married in September 1969, more than 55 years ago.

After college, Ilene started an almost 30-year career as an instructor at San Diego Community College’s evening program, teaching American History. As an instructor, Ilene was a true storyteller, sharing the saga of our country in her own engaging and enduring way.

Following her teaching career, Ilene happened across the movie With a Song In My Heart, which was the Hollywood version of the life of Jane Froman, a famous songstress whose career lasted from the 1930s into the 1960s. Wanting to learn more about Jane, Ilene discovered there had been very little written about her. Ilene corrected that omission by travelling to Columbia, Missouri several times (Jane’s papers were housed at the University of Missouri and Columbia College) to research and document Jane’s life. Ilene ultimately wrote two books about Jane, one of which was published by the University’s Press. During her time in Columbia, Ilene (and Jeff) made many new friends, most of whom had been part of Jane’s life.

Ilene enjoyed travel – France, Alaska, Berkeley (for college baseball) and Los Angeles (but only because her two children and grandchildren lived there). Above all, though, Ilene was a lifelong Padres fanatic who enjoyed attending their games, in Yuma, at the Murph and then later at Petco Park. Most recently, Ilene absolutely loved watching the Pads on the giant TV in her assisted living apartment.

Devoted to her family, friends, and especially her grandsons, Ilene is survived by her husband Jeff, son Rob, daughter Hallie, daughter-in-law Lisa, grandsons Alden and Hudson and brother Jay. Ilene will be forever loved, remembered and cherished by those who held her closest.

Graveside services will be held at Greenwood Memorial Park on Friday, December 20th at 12noon.

Donations in Ilene’s memory can be made to the Jane Froman Smith Memorial Scholarship at Columbia College using the following link: https://my.ccis.edu/froman

On Tuesday morning, Margo Velez walks through a Mission Valley shopping center. It’s one she knows well because she, along with her two teenage daughters, used to sleep in the car on the adjacent corner.

“It wasn’t a very comfortable or good feeling while working,” Velez said, adding she worked two jobs but still could not afford rent.

Velez represents the demographic lawmakers at every level of government hope to help — people who are working but cannot afford to make ends meet.

The San Diego City Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to form a new committee dedicated to addressing the cost of living in America’s Finest City, which is also one of its most expensive.

“To bring our costs down a little bit here, a little bit there that will add up so that we can finally make this place a place where everyone sees a future for themselves because it’s really tough to do that right now,” said Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera.

Elo-Rivera is chair of the committee. The former council president said he passed the gavel so he would have more time to focus on policy that makes San Diego affordable for working people.

“It is the thing that threatens people’s ability to believe that they have a future here,” said Elo-Rivera.

Councilmember Henry Foster is vice chair of the committee, and Councilmember Marni von Wilpert rounds it out.

Politicians in D.C. also list lowering the cost of living as a top priority. San Diego Rep. Scott Peters founded a “YIMBY Caucus” in Congress to facilitate housing development, which he said is the best way to make California housing more affordable.

With attention on the dollar reaching a fever pitch from City Hall to Capitol Hill, some San Diegans may wonder when they will feel those policies reach their pocketbooks.

Elo-Rivera said it will not happen overnight, but that the new committee is already exploring one piece of legislation that could help people save money at the grocery store, and another that would ban algorithmic price-fixing in the housing market.

“It’s a little bit at the grocery store. It’s a little bit when we fill up our gas, take a little bit through unfair practices when we’re paying for our housing. And our job as a committee is going to be tackle tackling those things one at a time,” said Elo-Rivera.

Now, the council will have to put its money where its mouth is, in the form of policy that reaches households and keeps workers in San Diego.

“The only reason why I stay is because of the weather and the beautiful people you meet,” said Velez. “But it’s getting to the point where I’m almost ready to leave and seek elsewhere.”

• OpenAI on Wednesday rolled out a new way to talk to its viral chatbot: 1-800-CHATGPT.
• U.S. users can dial the number for 15 minutes of free access per month.
• Any user globally can message the number via WhatsApp.

OpenAI is giving users a new way to talk to its viral chatbot: 1-800-CHATGPT.

By dialing the U.S. number (1-800-242-8478) or messaging it via WhatsApp, users can access an “easy, convenient, and low-cost way to try it out through familiar channels,” OpenAI said Wednesday. At first, the company said callers will get 15 minutes free per month.

The news follows a barrage of updates from OpenAI as part of a 12-day release event. The most notable announcement was the official rollout of Sora, OpenAI’s buzzy AI video-generation tool.

OpenAI recently hired its first chief marketing officer, indicating plans to spend more on advertising to grow its user base. In October, the company debuted a search feature within ChatGPT that positions it to better compete with Google, Microsoft’s Bing and Perplexity.

It’s all part of an aggressive growth plan for OpenAI, as the company battles Amazon-backed Anthropic, Elon Musk’s xAI, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon in the rapidly expanding generative artificial intelligence market, which is predicted to top $1 trillion in revenue within a decade.

OpenAI closed its latest funding round in October at a valuation of $157 billion. The company also received a $4 billion revolving line of credit, bringing its total liquidity to more than $10 billion.

For the 1-800 number, users can call without an account, but the company said in a livestream that it’s “working on ways” to be able to integrate WhatsApp messages with a person’s ChatGPT credentials.

The team built the tool “just a few weeks ago,” an employee said on the livestream.

WATCH: How Sam Altman is tackling a growing threat to the future of OpenAI