Torrey Pines Elementary School principal departs
With summer break just a few weeks away, Torrey Pines Elementary School is under the leadership of a new interim principal.
Principal Keith Keiper, who had led the school since 2022, has left, and Mary Jo Longo will take over as interim principal for the remainder of the school year.
Further details were not immediately available.
Tarballs at La Jolla Shores not a cause for concern, state says
Tarballs seen at La Jolla Shores north of Scripps Pier do not appear to be a serious issue, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
A department crew assessed both San Diego and Orange counties the week of May 4 in response to reports of tarballs and found nothing significant, according to Fish and Wildlife spokesman Eric Laughlin.
“The only tarballs observed by our crew appeared weathered and consistent with natural seepage of oil,” Laughlin told the La Jolla Light. “We often see an increase in tarballs from natural seepage at this time of year due to increased northwest winds. The past couple of weeks have been particularly windy.”
This isn’t La Jolla’s first run-in with tarballs in recent years. In October 2021, a Coast Guard crew cleaned Windansea Beach after reports of tar on the shoreline. That time, the tar was connected to a broken pipeline that spilled at least 25,000 gallons of crude oil off the Orange County coast.
Tarballs also can be produced from natural seepage in places where oil slowly leaks out of the ground above oil reservoirs.
Scripps Cancer Center leader gets national recognition
Dr. Thomas Buchholz, Scripps Cancer Center’s medical director, was awarded a gold medal by the American Radium Society at its annual meeting May 2.
Dr. Thomas Buchholz, Scripps Cancer Center’s medical director, is the recipient of the American Radium Society’s 2026 gold medal. (Scripps Cancer Center)
ARS’ gold medal is the group’s highest honor, recognizing members for standout contributions to the field of oncology.
Buchholz, who is based at Scripps Cancer Center near Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla, was nominated for his accomplishments as a breast cancer radiation oncologist, scholar and researcher, according to Scripps Health.
Buchholz has planned, directed and coordinated activities at Scripps Cancer Center since 2018 and has continued a part-time clinical practice.
His time at Scripps was preceded by 30 years of radiation oncology experience, including 20 years at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Bird Rock Community Council meetings to change location
With summer break beginning soon, the Bird Rock Elementary School auditorium will not be available for Bird Rock Community Council meetings in coming months.
BRCC President Joe Parker said the group will next meet Tuesday, June 2, at a location to be determined.
BRCC has met in various places in recent months, including local restaurants. This month it convened at the Bird Rock Elementary auditorium.
Qualcomm co-founder pledges $5M to AI-powered research at Sanford Burnham Prebys
With a $5 million gift from Qualcomm Inc. co-founder Andrew Viterbi, Sanford Burnham Prebys in La Jolla is getting a big boost for research driven by artificial intelligence.
The gift endows the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Distinguished Chair in Sanford Burnham Prebys’ Center for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.
The chair role will go to Yuk-Lap (Kevin) Yip, a computational biology and bioinformatics expert and director of the center.
La Jolla artist wins award at North Park gallery
A La Jolla artist was recognized this month by a North Park gallery as part of its yearly anniversary show.
Caroline Roughneen won the Gallery’s Choice Award for her mixed-media piece, “Champagne Supernova,” at Ashton Gallery, which brought in 200 visitors to celebrate the opening of its show, “Blush & Brut,” on May 2.
The exhibition, including Roughneen’s piece, will be open through Friday, June 5, at 4434 30th St., San Diego.
New mobile museum to deliver Holocaust education at San Diego schools
A new mobile museum is set to bring Holocaust education to San Diego County schools in an effort to expand understanding of the genocide of Jews in Europe during World War II and how its lessons can apply today.
Students at La Jolla Country Day School got a sneak peek at the museum last month.
Guests watch “Holocaust 101,” an interactive video shown inside the Spark Interactive bus during its launch event in San Diego on May 3. (McKenzie Patterson)
Spark Interactive, an initiative from the Legacy of Light Goldberg Institute for Holocaust Education and the Jewish Federation of San Diego, is a fully digital, interactive classroom on wheels that will travel to school districts around the county, including San Diego Unified, which has five schools in La Jolla.
The museum officially opened May 3 and will begin traveling to schools during the next school year. Organizers hope to reach more than 2,000 students across eight schools in the first year.
San Diego California Temple tours to begin June 18
Ahead of the San Diego California Temple’s rededication Aug. 23, local members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are inviting the public to step inside the Mormon temple near La Jolla for an open house — an opportunity that likely won’t happen again for decades.
Church officials told The San Diego Union-Tribune that they expect to host “several hundred thousand” visitors during the three weeks of free public tours from Thursday, June 18, to Saturday, July 11.
The San Diego California Temple, operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is pictured April 28. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The church — which sits on 7.2 acres and occupies 72,000 square feet of floor space at 7474 Charmant Drive — has had exterior repairs in recent years but has remained closed to members for more than three years for interior renovations.
The church will offer the tours through a reservation system at bit.ly/4dhOGK6. Two simultaneous tours will be guided through areas of the temple from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, which officials say they hope will allow more people inside. Walk-ins will be welcomed, but you may have to wait.
Three UCSD professors named to National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences elected three faculty members from UC San Diego in La Jolla to join its membership, considered one of the most prestigious honors awarded to American scientists and engineers.
Arshad Desai from the Cell and Developmental Biology and Cellular and Molecular Medicine departments, George Fuller from the Department of Physics and Shang-Ping Xie from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography are being recognized for their “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.”
Study finds that teens view cannabis as less harmful than alcohol, vaping and cigarettes
Adolescents in California consistently perceive cannabis as less harmful than other commonly used substances, according to a new study analyzing data from two large statewide school surveys.
Shu-Hong Zhu, a professor at the UC San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, and his co-authors examined how teenagers view the risks of everyday and occasional use of cannabis compared with alcohol, nicotine vaping and cigarettes. They drew on responses from more than 175,000 students across surveys conducted in 2019-20 and 2024.
The study was published May 5 in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
UCSD marijuana study affirms drug’s negative effect on youth
The findings indicate that cannabis was viewed as the least-harmful substance among the respondents. In the 2019-20 survey, about two-thirds of adolescents considered regular cannabis use harmful, compared with higher proportions for alcohol, vaping and cigarettes. While perceptions of harm were lower across all substances for occasional use, cannabis remained the least concerning to teens.
Those trends held steady in the 2024 data, suggesting that adolescents’ perception of relatively low cannabis-related risk has remained consistent over time.
Plans for vacant lot on Ruette Nice to be reviewed by hearing officer
A San Diego hearing officer will review plans for a development on what is currently a vacant lot in La Jolla Shores. The project got the support of the La Jolla Shores Permit Review Committee earlier this year.
A project proposes to build a two-story, 5,817-square-foot home on a vacant lot at 2534 Ruette Nice, as depicted in this rendering. (Screenshot by Noah Lyons)
The proposal aims to build a two-story, 5,817-square-foot home over a basement along with retaining walls. Much of the half-acre lot is landscaped, giving the development a floor area ratio (the size of a building in relation to its lot) of 0.21, well below the highest allowable amount, 0.45.
The hearing will be held online at 9 a.m. Wednesday, May 20. It can be viewed through the city’s youtube.com page.
The decision of the hearing officer will be considered final unless appealed to the Planning Commission.
Murals of La Jolla publishes new book
A new book showcases all 50 murals commissioned by the Murals of La Jolla public art program in the past 15 years.
“Murals of La Jolla 2010-2025” is a 224-page hardbound book that will be available for purchase beginning Monday, May 18, at muralsoflajolla.com and in person at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library at 1008 Wall St.
The book features photographic documentation of all 50 murals, a newly commissioned essay and artist biographies.
The Murals of La Jolla program was created in 2010 by the La Jolla Community Foundation and subsequently relinquished to the oversight of the Athenaeum. The artworks are funded by private donations and installed and removed on a rotation.
Former La Jolla socialite and convicted murderer Betty Broderick dies at 78
One-time La Jolla socialite Elisabeth “Betty” Broderick, who was convicted of fatally shooting her ex-husband and his wife, died May 8 at a hospital after being transferred from a state prison in San Bernardino. She was 78.
Her son Rhett Broderick said his mother tripped in prison several weeks ago and broke some ribs. She then got an infection that turned to sepsis, and she was not able to recover, he said.
Betty Broderick, the first wife of high-profile lawyer Dan Broderick, who specialized in medical malpractice cases, was serving a 32-years-to-life prison sentence for the 1989 murders of her former husband and his new wife, Linda.
Betty Broderick lived in La Jolla upon moving to San Diego in the 1970s and was considered a socialite in town. The killings stunned the San Diego legal community, where Dan Broderick had served as president of the local bar association. The case was later fictionalized in a series of true-crime books and movies. ♦