La Jolla High holds Halloween baseball scrimmage
While there’s still no crying in baseball, no one said anything about no costumes.
As part of an annual tradition of team-building and fun, the La Jolla High School baseball team had its Halloween scrimmage Oct. 18 in which players wear costumes. They included head-to-toe animal costumes like a dinosaur and a giraffe, plus pop-culture classics such as Mario and Luigi from the Super Mario franchise, Shrek, Batman and, to keep with baseball, a Savannah Banana.
Birch Aquarium to host ‘Jaws’-themed talk
La Jolla-based Birch Aquarium at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography is diving deep into the cultural and conservation legacy of the 1975 classic film “Jaws” with a lecture called “Jaws@50: A Conversation with Wendy Benchley” at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 5, at the aquarium at 2300 Expedition Way.
The event will include a reception with light refreshments, a sneak peek at the new “Jaws@50” documentary — including never-before-seen footage — and a talk about how the film helped shape public perception of sharks and influenced global marine conservation efforts.
After the lecture, Benchley will be joined by shark researchers Dovi Kacev and Brendan Talwar from Scripps Oceanography for a panel discussion about shark science, ocean storytelling and what lies ahead.
Tickets are $25 for Birch Aquarium members and $40 for non-members. The event is for guests 13 and older. Minors must be accompanied by a paid adult.
For tickets or to find out more, visit aquarium.ucsd.edu.
Salk scientist to receive NIH award
The National Institutes of Health has chosen neuroscientist Terrence Sejnowski of the La Jolla-based Salk Institute for Biological Studies to receive a 2025 NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, given to scientists who propose creative high-risk, high-reward research.
La Jolla-based neuroscientist Terrence Sejnowski will receive a 2025 NIH Director’s Pioneer Award. (Salk Institute)
Sejnowski is a professor, head of the Computational Neurobiology Laboratory and holder of the Francis Crick Chair at Salk. The NIH award will provide $3.5 million over the next five years to support his lab’s latest project, which aims to use advanced computational techniques to analyze and model the neural circuit dynamics of working memory. The findings may help neuroscientists better understand and treat memory issues in mental disorders such as schizophrenia, traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Sejnowski also has contributed to advances in human brain imaging and understanding of the neural basis of behavior.
Bestselling children’s author visits Gillispie School
The La Jolla-based Gillispie School hosted visiting bestselling and award-winning children’s author Mac Barnett on Sept. 28.
Barnett recently was nominated as the ninth U.S. national ambassador for young people’s literature by the Library of Congress and Every Child a Reader.
Children’s book author Mac Barnett speaks to students at Gillispie School in La Jolla on Sept. 28. (Gillispie School)
During his talk at Gillispie, students in kindergarten through second grade were treated to readings including “The Three Billy Goats Gruff” and an exclusive preview of Barnett’s unpublished adaptation of “Rumpelstiltskin.”
Students in grades 3-6 heard excerpts from “The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza.”
The visit concluded with a book signing and meet-and-greet.
La Jolla’s Orli Hotel gets Michelin Key
Like its signature Michelin Star for restaurants, the Michelin Guide recently named the hotels receiving the Michelin Key for 2025, and La Jolla’s Orli Hotel was one of only two in San Diego to make the list, which recognizes top hotels in the United States.
The other San Diego hotel on the list is the Lafayette in University Heights.
The Michelin Guide says the Orli has “a distinct residential feel” with “elegantly designed rooms.”
The hotel is operated by La Jolla natives Max and Hailey Waitt at 7753 Draper Ave., the former site of the Bed & Breakfast Inn at La Jolla. The 6,110-square-foot, historically designated building was designed by renowned architect Irving Gill and built in 1913 for the Kautz family.
In 2024, the Waitts got a La Jolla Historical Society Jewel Award for their renovation of the property into the hotel. Their plans for a second hotel, at 484 Prospect St. in La Jolla, are being reviewed by the city of San Diego.
Newsom signs Blakespear’s bill aimed at projects like ‘Turquoise Tower’
A bill introduced by state Sen. Catherine Blakespear, whose 38th District includes La Jolla, that is intended to prevent future projects similar to a controversial 22-story residential-commercial building proposed for Turquoise Street in Pacific Beach just south of La Jolla, was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Oct. 10.
Senate Bill 92 amends the state’s density bonus law, which is being used to enable that project to reach 239 feet tall. Opponents of the plan have labeled it the “Turquoise Tower.”
In particular, SB 92 “requires developers to devote two-thirds of the floor space of their projects to residential housing in order to qualify for exemptions … from local restrictions,” according to Blakespear’s office, and limits developers “to increasing the commercial floor space included in their projects to no more than 2.5 times what is allowed by local zoning.”
SB 92 will “ensure the density bonus law is being used how it was originally intended — to encourage developers to add significant affordable housing to their mixed-use projects,” Blakespear said when she introduced the bill.
The new law, which passed the Assembly and Senate last month, does not apply to the Turquoise proposal but aims to prevent similar future developments from receiving density bonus allowances.
Opponents of the project say it would not add a meaningful amount of affordable housing — 10 of its planned 213 units are designated for very-low- to middle-income households. They also note that the proposed commercial space exceeds local zoning by more than 1,500% and that 139 residential units are described as “visitor accommodations,” or hotel rooms, though the developer says it plans to use those units as market-rate apartments.
S.D. invites residents to share feedback on recreation programming
A series of virtual and in-person meetings are set across San Diego starting Monday, Oct. 27, to get feedback from residents about improving recreational services.
Meetings that cover City Council District 1, which includes La Jolla, are scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 3, at the Carmel Valley Recreation Center, 3777 Townsgate Drive, and online at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 13, and 4 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 18.
To find out more about the town halls, visit sandiego.gov/community-recreation-needs-assessment-town-halls. An online survey is available at sandiego.gov/parksurvey.
The meetings are part of the city’s first Community Recreation Needs Assessment — an initiative intended “to gather data so the city can better understand and meet the recreational, communication and financial needs of San Diego’s diverse communities.”
The effort was launched in August and includes surveys, focus groups, workshops, interviews and more.
UC San Diego starts AI undergraduate degree program
UC San Diego in La Jolla has launched an undergraduate degree program focusing on artificial intelligence.
The program started in September with more than 200 students. The university says it expects that number to grow to 1,000 by 2029.
The program will teach students how to build next-generation AI systems and reckon with ethical questions related to the technology.
San Diego State University is readying to start its own AI undergraduate program next year.
UCSD Health clinical innovation chief lands CEO job in Seattle
Dr. Christopher Longhurst, chief clinical innovation officer at UC San Diego Health, will be headed to Seattle Children’s Hospital as its chief executive after 10 years with UCSD.
Longhurst helped the health system boost its annual quality scores and as a result, U.S. News & World Report ranked the organization on its honor roll two years in a row.
In early 2021, Longhurst was involved in California’s first mass COVID-19 vaccination clinic alongside the city of San Diego and the San Diego Padres. UCSD Health CEO Patricia Maysent also cited his contributions in connecting the clinical and digital sides of the group’s operations.
Longhurst is scheduled to start at Seattle Children’s Hospital on Monday, Jan. 5.
— San Diego Union-Tribune staff writers Gary Robbins and Paul Sisson contributed to this report. ♦