San Diego, CA
OMG!! Jose Iglesias comes off bench, leads Padres to walkoff win
Before Sunday’s series finale against the Kansas City Royals, the San Diego Padres activated All-Star centerfielder Jackson Merrill from the 7-day concussion injured list (OF Brandon Lockridge was optioned to Triple-A El Paso). Manager Mike Shildt shook up the lineup a bit, batting Merrill 2nd and dropping Luis Arraez to the cleanup spot.
But it would be a 7th-inning substitute that made the difference for the Friars. Jose Iglesias entered late and drove in all three runs, as well as participated in a run-saving relay in the top of the 9th inning, in a 3-2, series-clinching win over the Royals on Sunday afternoon at Petco Park.
People looking at the starting lineups and seeing Randy Vasquez and Seth Lugo on the mound might not have expected a pitcher’s duel but both right-handers got off to fantastic starts. Vasquez opened with 5.0 shutout innings while Lugo gave up a leadoff single to Fernando Tatis Jr. then proceeded to retire the next 18 Padres batters, including a rare strikeout of Arraez (his first punchout since May 25).
In the 6th, Vasquez finally flinched. He let a cutter leak out over the middle of the plate and future Hall of Famer Salvador Perez annihilated it, sending a rocket at 114 MPH into the left field seats to put Kansas City on top 2-0. It was the only blemish on Randy’s day.
An inning later Merrill finally ended Lugo’s reign of tyranny, ripping a curve ball down the right field line for a leadoff double and injecting some life into the sellout Petco Park crowd. Lugo stayed in to get Manny Machado to fly out before being replaced by southpaw Angel Zerpa, who was brought in specifically to get the left-handed hitting Arraez and Gavin Sheets out.
He got it half right. Arraez grounded out to shortstop but Zerpa walked Sheets on four pitches, then gave Xander Bogaerts a free pass to load the bases with two outs. Shildt sent in Jose Iglesias to pinch-hit for Jake Cronenworth. Royals manager Matt Quatraro countered by summoning righty Lucas Erceg.
Advantage, Iglesias. The veteran slapped a single to right field to bring home Merrill and Sheets, tying the game 2-2. Erceg was still out there in the 8th inning and started playing with fire, walking Tatis Jr. with one out and putting a pitch right down the middle to Merrill, who made a bid to play the hero role. Jackson launched a fly ball to deep right field that had the distance to leave the yard but rookie right fielder Jac Caglianone made the catch of the month, getting his glove high above the fence to bring the would-be go-ahead homer back in the yard.
Erceg got out of the inning with some more luck when Machado hit a rocket at 112 MPH right at shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., who made the catch more out of self-preservation than anything else.
Robert Suarez came on for the top of the 9th and nearly let the lead get away. The closer walked Drew Waters with two outs then Freddy Fermin lined one to the gap in right-centerfield. This time it was Merrill’s turn to prevent a run. The All-Star grabbed the ball on a hop, spun and hit Iglesias, who fired a relay throw home to get Waters trying to dive by catcher Elias Diaz. It’s the kind of relay play that they work on from the very start of Spring Training and it worked to perfection on Sunday in late June.
Arraez led off the bottom half with a single and went to 3rd on a Bogaerts double, setting up Iglesias once more. He wasted no time hitting a grounder up the middle, just far enough away from Witt to allow Arraez to slide home with the game-winning run and a 3-2 win, giving them their first series victory since the first weekend of June in Milwaukee.
The Padres start a 3-game set against Washington on Monday night in the East Village.
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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