Daily Business Report: Tuesday, March 18th, 2025
Registrar Says La Jolla Secessionists Came up Short on Signatures
By Scott Lewis | Voice of San Diego
The most sophisticated effort yet to create an independent La Jolla, separate from the city of San Diego ran into its first big obstacle, Monday. The Local Agency Formation Commission of San Diego, or LAFCO, sent a letter to the group pushing for secession alerting it that it did not collect enough signatures to go forward.
The letter triggers a 15-day period during which the group, the Association for the City of La Jolla, can either correct the data the Registrar of Voters analyzed or get more signatures.
“This determination draws directly from the review of the Registrar of Voters’ Office (ROV) and their finding the Association has collected 5,723 valid signatures relative to the 6,750 needed to reach 25% threshold – a shortfall of 1,027,” reads the letter from Keene Simonds, the executive officer of LAFCO to Trace Wilson, the chair of the Association for the City of La Jolla.
The group has until April 1 to deliver the needed number of signatures.
Farewell Tour for CAGOP Chairwoman Jessica Patterson
By Katy Grimes | The California Globe
The California Republican Party just elected Corrin Rankin as its new chairwoman. Despite some dirty rumors and tactics, Rankin garnered 747 votes ahead of the 559 for former State Senator Mike Morrell.
“Change is coming to California. It’s time to end the Democratic Party rule and make California great again,” Rankin said following her election. In an interview with Eytan Wallace. She immediately differentiated herself from Patterson saying she hopes people look beyond her race and gender. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman or what color your skin is or what your background is, as long as you are qualified for the role.” She said we need to look past skin color and instead focus on qualifications and results. The interview is worth watching.
A loophole in California law makes it hard to prosecute threats against schools. Will lawmakers close it?
By Sameea Kamal | CalMatters
For over six months, San Diego resident Lee Lor sent hundreds of emails threatening a mass shooting at Shoal Creek Elementary School as replies to random spam emails.
He was arrested and spent 10 months in jail, but the charges were dismissed by a judge last October because Lor didn’t name a specific individual in his threats, as the law requires for prosecution.
A week after he was released, police rearrested Lor after they found a loaded firearm in his house and a map of the San Diego school he threatened — less than a mile from his house. Prosecutors are bringing a new case against him, this time arguing that Lor was targeting the school’s principal.
Those threats prompted Assembly member Darshana Patel, a Democrat from San Diego who previously served as a school board member in that district, to introduce a bill trying to close the loophole. Her office has tracked at least eight other similar incidents statewide.
Democrats, Republicans Sound Off On Newsom After Steve Bannon Podcast
By Evan Symon | The California Globe
Governor Gavin Newsom’s newest podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom,” was denounced by many on the right and the left this week for having former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon on the show, puling in more controversy than his inaugural episode with Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk.
The episode, titled “And, This is Steve Bannon” was released late on Tuesday and was all over the map. Questions about Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) went everywhere from agreement, to calling the other one out for being a hypocrite. After Bannon called Musk a “parasitic illegal immigrant,” Newsom said “We may share some commonality in terms of concern about what he’s doing.”
“You loved all oligarchs, in particular Elon, until they flipped,” Bannon fired back, rendering Newsom speechless for a moment.
When the conversation went to DOGE, Bannon approved of some cuts, but not tax cuts for wealthy Americans and large corporations.
