The deaths of an elderly couple who were fatally shot over the Memorial Day weekend at a home near Padre Dam Park have been ruled a murder-suicide, authorities reported Tuesday.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said that deputies responding to a call in the 300 block of Lantern Crest Way in the Santee area at around 11:30 a.m. Sunday found the bodies of David Soulner, 82, and his wife Claire, 79.

Investigators concluded that David Soulner shot his spouse before turning the gun on himself, sheriff’s Lt. Michael Krugh said.

“The circumstances and motivation for this crime are still under investigation,” Krugh said Tuesday.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Homicide Unit at (858) 285-6330 or San Diego Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.

City News Service contributed to this report.

A 67-year-old man was seriously injured when he stepped in front of a truck in the Clairemont Mesa area Monday afternoon.

The collision took place around 2:20 P.M. on Monday at 6900 Clairemont Mesa Blvd, according to the San Diego Police Department.

A 68-year-old man driving a 2012 Ford F-150 truck reportedly struck the pedestrian after he stepped in front of the truck during the vehicle’s right-of-way on the off-ramp of the 805 to Clairemont Mesa Boulevard. .

The victim was taken to a hospital with a fractured skull. His injuries were non life-threatening, and alcohol was not a factor, police said.

Police asked anyone with information related to the collision to call SDPD or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.

City News Service contributed to this report.

After an eight-month pause for upgrades, the DIII-D National Fusion Facility has reopened for research.

The improvements to the laboratory, which is located at the General Atomics campus, bring the world a little closer to fulfilling the decades-long promise of fusion technology, which would offer nearly limitless clean energy resources.

DIII-D, pronounced “D Three D,” is a Department of Energy Office of Science user facility, where researchers from more than dozens of academic and governmental institutions explore issues related to fusion technology.

“The upgrades made to DIII-D over the last eight months provide us with exciting new capabilities and key enhancements to existing systems for studying fusion energy,” said DIII-D Director Richard Buttery in a statement.

“Our scientists will be able to use our upgraded systems and diagnostics to answer key questions on commercial industry–relevant technology, materials, and operations, as well as continue our support of ITER and advancement of foundational scientific understanding.”

The facility has been offline since last July in order to install new diagnostic instruments, further capabilities for heating plasmas and driving the current that supports the fusion reaction, and build up the system that removes exhaust heat and impurities from the tokamak, a torus-shaped room that confines plasmas using magnetic fields.

DIII-D is the largest tokamak in the nation.

Firefighters were battling a vegetation fire that broke out in Marron Valley Sunday, but quickly brought it under control.

Units were dispatched around 11:30 a.m. to reports of a fire in a remote area of San Diego County, south of Dulzura and close to the Mexico border, said Cal Fire officials.

“The blaze was stopped at 12 acres. Fire personnel will remain at the scene for another two hours to mop up and patrol for hot spots,” Cal Fire PIO Captain Brent Pascua said.

No evacuations or injuries were reported, and the cause of the fire was not immediately known.

City News Service contributed to this report.

As the legal battles in Arizona rage on over abortion, California has stepped in to protect abortion rights for residents of its neighbor state.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 233 Thursday to allow Arizona abortion care providers in good standing to register to provide abortion care on a temporary basis in California to patients from Arizona, effective immediately through November 30th if an absolute ban goes into effect, even temporarily.

The law also intends to facilitate continued access to care when Arizona’s 15-week abortion ban goes into effect.

“We live in a post-Roe world where women live without access to basic reproductive care and even face criminalization for seeking an abortion while the men who impregnate them face no scrutiny nor negative legislative consequences,” Newsom said in a statement.

“California will remain a safe harbor, ready to defend abortion access because we value women’s health and trust women to make the most intimate decision about their bodies, health, and futures.”

Gov. Newsom signed the bill, which was authored last month by Democratic Sen. Nancy Skinner of Oakland and Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry of the Legislative Women’s Caucus, against the backdrop of Arizona’s Supreme Court voting in early April to restore an archaic abortion ban from 1864.

That law provided no exceptions for rape or incest and allows abortions only if the mother’s life is in jeopardy. The majority opinion also suggested that doctors could be prosecuted and sentenced to up to five years in prison if convicted

The ban was quickly repealed by Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbes, but the legislation remains in a bureaucratic thicket, leaving the immediate future of abortion rights in the state uncertain.

California shares a roughly 200-mile-long border with Arizona.

 A push to out queer, trans, and non-binary students following a flurry of far right disinformation campaigns about LGBTQ students and teachers has gone largely unchallenged — until now.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic first upended school policies across the country in 2020, extremists and allies of the far right have leveraged uncertainty and fear to take over school boards en masse, including in California.

This has contributed to a recent and growing trend of California school boards enacting forced outing policies. Since 2023, more than a dozen school districts have either proposed or passed policies requiring teachers to notify parents if their child identifies as transgender or asks to be identified by different names or pronouns while at school.

These policies lead to rises in bullying and discrimination across the board, which have measurable effects on the mental health of LGBTQ students.

San Diego Assemblymember Chris Ward (D) has introduced the Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today’s Youth Act, also called the SAFETY Act, along with the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus. Their stated goal is to ensure that all students have a safe and supportive environment to learn, regardless of their identity.

“Teachers should not be the gender police and violate the trust and safety of the students in their classrooms,” said Ward in a statement about AB 1955.

“Parents should be talking to their children, and the decision for a student to come out to their family members should be on their own terms. The SAFETY Act simply ensures that conversations about gender identity and sexuality happen at home without interference from others outside of the family unit.”

The act will prohibit school districts from implementing forced outing policies, provide resources for parents and students to navigate conversations around gender and identity on their own terms, and ensure teachers or school staff are not retaliated against for refusing to forcibly out a student. It would also make California the first state to explicitly prohibit forced outing policies in schools.

“School campuses should be safe places for students to learn and grow as their authentic selves,” said Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman, the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus chair.

“The SAFETY Act is a critical piece of legislation that seeks to protect everyone on school campuses, especially LGBTQ+ students,” she added.

“When and how a person comes out is a conversation that should be reserved for a student and a parent, not arbitrarily forced on unsuspecting youth by a school administration.”

AB 1955 is expected to be heard in the Senate Education Committee next week. 

California is investing in transit projects throughout the state.

The California Transportation Commission has allocated $1.9 billion to support transportation infrastructure projects throughout the state, such as bridges, roadways, transit, and improved facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Also included are projects that will build or renovate shoreline embankments, bus, bicycle, and pedestrian infrastructure, and railroad overcrossings. 

“California’s transportation infrastructure is critical to the economic and cultural lifeblood of our state, and this funding provides key support in our mission to provide a safe, equitable and sustainable transportation system for all users,” said Caltrans Director Tony Tavares in a statement.

CTC-approved local projects include:

• $47,529,000 to Caltrans for I-805 in the city of San Diego, from SR-52 to I-5 to rehabilitate culverts, upgrade Transportation Management System (TMS) elements, replace signs, enhance highway worker safety, upgrade lighting, and upgrade facilities to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards.

• $4,400,000 to Caltrans for multiple roadways in San Diego and Imperial Counties to install perimeter fencing, gates, camera systems, and lighting to improve security at 10 maintenance stations.

• $298,000 to Caltrans for I-15 in San Diego County at Mission Road near Rainbow to install high-tension cable barrier and guardrail to improve safety.

• $1,376,000 to Caltrans for I-5 in Carlsbad and Oceanside to upgrade curb ramps and Accessible Pedestrian Signals (APSs) to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards and realign interchange ramp.

• $407,000 to Caltrans for SR-76 in San Diego County near Rincon to widen shoulders, construct a retaining wall with a barrier, and install a drainage system to improve safety.

• $15,000,000 to Caltrans and SANDAG for SR-11 in San Diego County at Otay Mesa to design the construction of the Land Port of Entry at the border with Mexico.

• $2,900,000 to Caltrans for SR-15 in San Diego at the SR-94 interchange to repair storm damage by backfilling an eroded area, removing debris, and replacing failed concrete panels.

• $1,150,000 to Caltrans for multiple roadways in throughout the county to repair guardrail and end treatments damaged by cars during flooding and poor visibility from a storm.

• $2,479,000 to SANDAG for the 9th St. Active Transportation Corridor in Imperial Beach to add 1.3 miles of bicycle and pedestrian improvements that include a road diet, green buffered bike lanes, sharrows, bicycle bend-outs, high-visibility crosswalks, and curb extensions.

• $546,000 to SANDAG for Robinson Bikeway to construct an elevated bikeway, bikeway and buffers, paving markings and signing, curb, gutter, sidewalk, curb ramps, and drainage improvements.

• $1,440,000 to SANDAG for the MTS Zero-Emission Transit Enhancement Project (Orange Line Improvement Project Passenger Information Sign Upgrades (VMS)) to replace 78 variable message signs with enhanced versions at various stations, including infrastructure improvements along the 17.6 miles of track.

The latest funds include nearly $430 million from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 and $740 million via Senate Bill 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017.

For more information about California transportation projects funded by IIJA and 
SB-1, visit RebuildingCA.ca.gov and www.build.ca.gov.

Firefighters continued their efforts Sunday to put out a commercial structure fire that broke out four days ago at one of the largest battery and energy storage facilities in the world in the Otay Mesa area.

Units were originally dispatched early Wednesday afternoon to the massive energy storage facility, Gateway Energy Storage, in the 600 block of Camino De La Fuente.

Progress has been slowed by the fire re-igniting over the course of the week. However, firefighters appeared to be at the tail end of the blaze Sunday, according to Cal Fire San Diego.

“Firefighters continue to mitigate the fire, with only minimum heat remaining,” Cal Fire officials said in an incident update.

A road closure was in effect at Camino De La Fuente at Paseo De La Fuente, according to fire officials.

A total of 40 personnel were assigned to the fire, including one truck, five engines and equipment for hazardous materials.

Personnel from San Diego Fire-Rescue, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, and the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health’s Hazardous Materials Division were assisting in the effort.

No injuries were reported, and the cause of the fire is under investigation.

City News Service contributed to this report.

Thirty-three motorcyclists and some passengers were cited Sunday for a variety of violations during a motorcycle safety enforcement operation held by the Escondido Police Department.

During the operation, which was held 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, motorists were issued citations for vehicle infractions, including excessive speed, violations of signs, signals and cell phone use, according to the department.

“A 70-year-old Escondido woman was arrested for a misdemeanor evasion after allegedly leading officers on a short chase,” the department reported in a statement.

The EPD will hold another motorcycle safety enforcement operation on July 28.

Funding for the operation was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The PGA Championship has its 2024 winner — San Diego’s own Xander Schauffele.

The 30-year-old San Diego native and San Diego State University graduate walked away with his first major championship victory Sunday afternoon, and made history in the process.

Schauffele recorded the lowest 72-hole score to par and the lowest 72-hole scoring total ever (263) in a major championship.

“I was actually kind of emotional after the putt lipped in,” Schauffele told reporters..

“It’s been a while since I’ve won. I kept saying it all week, I just need to stay in my lane. Man, was it hard to stay in my lane today, but I tried all day to just keep focus on what I’m trying to do and keep every hole ahead of me.”

Schauffele bested LIV Golf League captain Bryson DeChambeau and Norway’s Viktor Hovland in the final round at Valhalla Golf Club.

In addition to the Wanamaker Trophy, Schauffele will be awarded a $3.3 million prize for going 21 under in Louisville.

The PGA of America offered out the largest prize pool in the history of its championship in 2024, with a total purse of $18.5 million.