In August, a Republican school board member of Escondido Union High School District had an announcement for the public.  

“I was elected to this board in November 2014 as Bill Durney and re-elected in 2018 and 2022. This year I have come out as a transgender woman, and I have changed my name to Carol Durney,” she continued. 

Conservative contempt for trans people is nothing new, but how would Republicans react to one of their own coming out as trans?

At that first meeting, not well. 

People referred to her as an “abomination” and called on her to resign. But at a board meeting this Tuesday, the tone changed. Far more people showed up to support Durney than castigate her. 

Our Jakob McWhinney has an in-depth and moving profile of Durney and how her transition has (and hasn’t) shaped her politics. 

Read the full story here. 

County Health and Human Services Chief Out in November

Another high-level official is preparing to depart county government.

Kim Giardina, who has led the county’s massive Health and Human Services Agency for the past year, announced that her last day at the county will be Nov. 6.

Giardina wrote that she plans to “explore other options,” in an email obtained by Voice. The decision came with a “mix of emotions,” she wrote. 

This is a turbulent time for the county. It’s facing federal cuts that will impact services and has already endured other major departures. The county’s top attorney abruptly retired in July and its behavioral health director caught even insiders off guard with his resignation. The county official who oversees Medicaid and food stamp programs that will be hit hard by federal cuts is also set to retire in December.

“Change can be hard, but it is expected in a large organization, and the county is committed to a smooth transition,” county spokesperson Tammy Glenn wrote. 

North County Report: Shaffer’s Court Appearance

Reporter Tigist Layne takes us inside the courthouse for Encinitas Councilmember Luke Shaffer’s arraignment for hit-and-run charges. 

Dozens of supporters showed up for Shaffer. 

“They offered each other condolences, hugs and words of encouragement. I heard people say things like, ‘I can’t believe this is happening,’ and ‘It will all be over soon.’ One person said it felt like they were mourning,” Layne writes. 

Read the full North County Report here. 

About Those Robots at City Council

The City Clerk’s Office confirmed on Wednesday that AI bots have not breached Council’s online comments after a series of strange audios made their way to meetings this week.

City Clerk Diana Fuentes said in a statement that the city’s system, ZoomGov, does not allow it.

“It appears that an individual chose to play a pre-recorded audio clip once they were recognized to speak,” she said. “We are monitoring this matter and will continue to ensure public participation in City Council meetings is conducted in line with our established rules of order.”

An Insane Bond Deal Exposed 

Back in 2012, Voice of San Diego published one of its all-time bangers. 

Poway Unified School District had borrowed $105 million for construction projects. Former reporter Will Carless discovered that the district would be on the hook to pay back roughly $1 billion — almost ten times more than it had borrowed!

The story led to national media attention, lots of pissed off residents and a new state law that capped debt-to-principal ratios on government borrowing.

This story is part of our 20th anniversary series on Voice’s impact. Read it here.  

In Other News 

• The San Diego city council voted Tuesday to settle for nearly $900,000 for a police response involving excessive force. The payout is the result of an incident last year, where officers shot beanbag rounds at a man and released K-9 units on him, after he had surrendered. (KPBS)
• A residential care facility in Mira Mesa is facing elder abuse charges. California’s Attorney General’s Office brought the charges forward earlier this week, alleging that residents suffered from bedsores and malnourishment because the facility was understaffed. (NBC 7)
• Potholes are one of the greatest obstacles San Diegans face on a daily basis. The City of San Diego is trying to do something about it, recently adding four new trucks to a fleet dedicated to smoothing city streets. We’ll see if this “gets it done.” (CBS 8)

 The Morning Report was written by Will Huntsberry, Lisa Halverstadt and Tessa Balc. It was edited by Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña. 

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 Tuesday to expand the county’s Immigrant Legal Defense Program to include unaccompanied immigrant children.

The vote broadens the county program that began in 2021 to provide legal representation for migrant children appearing in immigration court.

“A fair day in court is impossible without a lawyer,” Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer said in a statement. “Expecting a child to navigate immigration court — in a language they don’t speak — against a federal prosecutor is not just unrealistic, it’s unjust.”

A statement from Lawson-Remer’s office said that federal funding supporting legal representation for unaccompanied migrant children is set to expire at the end of the month.

More than 300 migrant children are in San Diego County and her office said in a statement, “Without this local expansion, those children could be forced to represent themselves alone in court starting Oct. 1.”

Before Tuesday’s vote, Supervisor Jim Desmond said that although he didn’t support the program in general, “these are kids and they should not have to suffer alone or go through these proceedings alone.”

Supervisor Joel Anderson cast the lone no vote.

Anderson said in a statement to City News Service on Tuesday evening that out of all of California’s 58 counties, “we are the only ones proposing this because those counties understand it’s a federal issue and I agree with them.”

The Supreme Court’s recent decision allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to resume large-scale raids in Los Angeles could place more people into immigration proceedings, a development that highlights the potential need for expanded local legal defense programs.

City News Service contributed to this article.

The Padres did not exactly get to the Reds bullpen as much as the Reds bullpen was given to them on Monday night.

With 18 games remaining in the regular season and a division title and playoff seeding in the balance, the particulars don’t matter.

What does matter is that the Padres took advantage of the circumstances and came back to beat the Reds 4-3 in 10 innings.

The Padres had done nothing most of the night and trailed 3-0 before scoring three times in the sixth inning and winning in the 10th on Fernando Tatis Jr.’s walk-off sacrifice fly.

“It’s a blast,” Gavin Sheets said. “Every game is extremely important. The crowd knows it, both teams know it. Obviously, these guys are in the hunt as well. And so this is great September baseball.”

As they often have this season, the Padres were able to finagle the final outcome against relief pitchers.

The difference in this game was that recent issues with a blister and a bout of the flu had Reds starting pitcher Nick Lodolo limited in how far he could go Monday.

The left-hander controlled the Padres through five innings as if he had every one of them besides Sheets hypnotized.

The Padres got their first ball out of the infield in the third inning. Sheets, who walked in the second inning and doubled in the fourth, was their only baserunner until Jake Cronenworth’s bunt single with two outs in the fifth inning.

But the fifth would be the last inning for Lodolo, who had thrown just 78 pitches but was making just his second start in a little more than a month.

So the Padres were into the Reds’ bullpen at the start of the sixth inning. Tatis led off the sixth with a single against Scott Barlow. He stole second base with Luis Arraez up. And after Arraez flied out to left field and Manny Machado struck out, Sheets drove in Tatis with his second double.

After a walk by Ramón Laureano, which prompted a pitching change, Jackson Merrill launched a drive into the gap in right-center field against Brent Suter. The ball caromed off the glove of diving center fielder TJ Friedl to bring in Sheets and Laureano and tie the game, 3-3.

“I think we just strung together good at-bats and just rode out the momentum from there,” said Sheets, who finished 3-for-3 with a walk. “It was just a string of really good at-bats, whether it was Lodolo or the bullpen arms right there. But obviously, (the Reds used) a lot of their bullpen arms tonight, which is great for us.”

After a strikeout by Jose Iglesias stranded Merrill, the Padres turned to the back end of the bullpen after Yu Darvish and Alek Jacob got them to that point.

Darvish allowed two runs through five innings, the first on Friedl’s leadoff home run and the second on an RBI single by Elly De La Cruz in the third inning.

He was given the chance to get through six innings, but Austin Hays hit a sinker up and in off the front of the lowest balcony on the Western Metal Supply Co. building with one out in the sixth. After retiring the next batter, Darvish was replaced by Jacob, who got the only batter he faced to pop out.

Jeremiah Estrada retired the first two batters in the seventh before yielding a double to No. 9 hitter Matt McLain.

That prompted Padres manager Mike Shildt to go to left-hander Adrian Morejón to face the left-handed-hitting Friedl, who lined out to Tatis in right field.

Mason Miller struck out two in a 1-2-3 eighth inning, and Robert Suarez got a strikeout and two groundouts in the ninth.

Having done so in just nine pitches, Suarez also was sent back out for the 10th. Tyler Stephenson began the inning with a groundout to shortstop, which kept automatic runner Ke’Bryan Hayes at second base. Suarez then struck out McLain before being lifted for lefty Wandy Peralta, who got Friedl on a flyball out to left field.

Cronenworth began the bottom of the 10th at second and went to third on a sacrifice bunt by Freddy Fermín, who ended up safe at first when pitcher Nick Martinez’s throw was dropped by first baseman Spencer Steer. Not that it mattered after Tatis lofted a ball deep enough to left-center to easily bring in Cronenworth.

“Freddy’s bunt and Tati’s nice piece of situational hitting, not trying to do too much,” Shildt said. “It was, is a really good baseball game.”

Unlike their previous nine games, which were against losing teams, Monday was also highly significant for the Padres’ opponent.

It was arguably even more important for the Reds, who began Monday tied with the Giants for the first spot on the outside looking in at the NL playoff picture.

They arrived from Cincinnati after winning the previous two days against the Mets, the team they are chasing for the final NL wild-card spot. With the Mets already having lost again Monday before first pitch at Petco Park, the Reds could have pulled to within three games of playoff position. Instead, they fell a game behind the Giants, who beat the Diamondbacks.

Making the postseason is almost certainly not the issue for the Padres, who sit in the fifth of six playoff spots with a three-game lead over the Mets and six-game advantage over the Giants.

They remain one game behind the Dodgers in the NL West standings. Los Angeles beat the Rockies 3-1 after carrying a no-hitter into the ninth inning for the second time in three games.

The Padres gained ground in the wild-card race, as the team directly in front of them (the Cubs) and directly behind them (the Mets) both lost Monday.

Originally Published: September 8, 2025 at 9:31 PM PDT