By Chris Jennewein, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association
Photo: President Donald Trump addresses Congress. Screenshot from C-SPAN
March 5, 2025 (Washington, D.C.) - President Donald Trump told Congress Tuesday that “the American dream is surging bigger and better than ever before” and promised that new tariffs on Mexico — despite worrying San Diego businesses — will help achieve that goal.
Local Assemblyman working to minimize surveillance pricing, while new FTC chairman blocks public comments
By G. A. McNeeley
March 5, 2025 (San Diego) -- Most people might not know that companies with an online presence are using personal information about customer’s buying habits to charge them a higher price for products, if they think you’re likely to pay it. This is a practice known as “surveillance pricing.”
This practice has spread in recent years, according to consumer and privacy watchdogs, and it’s become increasingly difficult to escape, no matter how often we clear our cookies or tighten our privacy settings.
But with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman blocking consumer comments and not taking action at a national level, state legislators are stepping up to the plate.
By Miriam Raftery
March 3, 2025 (Washington D.C.) – Threats issued by President Donald Trump targeting colleges, universities and student protesters are illegal and unconstitutional, according to legal and civil liberties experts.
Today, Trump posted on his social media account, “All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests. Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or depending on on the crime, arrested.NO MASKS!”
The post comes on the heels of two executive orders issued by Trump which seek to pressure higher education officials to target immigrant students and staff for exercising First Amendment freedom of spech rights, including pro-Palestinian protesterrs or students critical of the U.S. government, culture, institutions or founding principals. Today's Truth Social post goes further, demanding that even students who are U.S. citizens be expelled and imprisoned for participating in campus protests if deemed "illegal.".
By Alexander J. Schorr
Photo: Screenshot of audience members
March 3, 2025 (El Cajon) – Grossmont Union High School District’s board voted 4-1 to fire 49 credentialed teachers, including all high school librarians, despite vocal objections from a large crowd at the Feb. 27 meeting held at El Cajon Valley High School’s multi-purpose room. All seats were filled with protesting students, teachers, classified staff, librarians, and mental health workers.
There were about 600 people present at the facility, with a petition readily available before the meeting for signatures to vote against the resolution ultimately passing. As of February 28 there were 1,531 petition signers.
This story was originally published by ProPublica
By Brett Murphy and Anna Maria Barry-Jester, ProPublica
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.
Photo: Malnutrition, cc via Bing
March 3, 2025 (Washington, D.C.) - For weeks, some of the federal government’s foremost authorities on global health have repeatedly warned Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other leaders about the coming death toll if they carried out the Trump administration’s plan to end nearly all U.S. foreign aid around the world.