The county spent more than a year fighting the release of behavioral health misconduct records that have since created a firestorm.<\/p>\n
The county fired its behavioral health director and pledged changes last month when it released records that Voice of San Diego first requested in March 2025.<\/p>\n
The county initially refused to release the documents, citing multiple state laws and arguing that doing so could have a chilling effect on whistleblowers. A judge\u2019s ruling ultimately forced the county\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n
Now our Lisa Halverstadt offers a play-by-play of the legal battle between the county.<\/p>\n
Read the full story here.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Embattled County Pharma Chief Out<\/p>\n The county is seeking a new top pharmacy official<\/a> after the departure of a full-time bureaucrat who previously moonlighted as a partner at a New York-based law firm that advises pharmaceutical companies.<\/p>\n Last fall, Halverstadt revealed Dr. Emily Do\u2019s second gig<\/a> and later, reported on a county investigation that found she failed to fully disclose the outside position<\/a> that presented a potential conflict of interest.<\/p>\n Do left the law firm and more recently, county government.<\/p>\n County spokesperson Tammy Glenn said Do resigned from the county effective May 8. Glenn said there was not a link between the county investigation and Do\u2019s departure earlier this year.<\/p>\n County spokespeople previously have not answered Voice\u2019s questions about whether Do was disciplined or forced to leave the second job.<\/p>\n South County Report: Towing Wars\u00a0<\/p>\n Councilmembers in National City next week will consider hiring two companies to provide towing services in the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n One of the companies, though, was previously suspended by the city of San Diego\u2019s police department for failing to pay more than $270,000 in overdue invoices.\u00a0<\/p>\n The company, Cortes Towing, later paid the invoices and the suspension was lifted.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jim Hinch writes that after the city posted its bidding recommendation, word of Cortes\u2019 success \u201cspread quickly in the small and fiercely competitive world of municipal towing companies.\u201d Towing company operators \u2013 some who wanted National City\u2019s business \u2013 submitted formal protests against the city\u2019s bidding process.\u00a0<\/p>\n Read the South County Report here.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Rabbit Hole Material: San Diego\u2019s Controversial Archeological Site<\/p>\n Ever heard about the Cerutti Mastodon site in southeastern San Diego?<\/p>\n The San Diego transplant who wrote today\u2019s Morning Report sure hadn\u2019t. San Diego native and science podcaster Harini Bhat went down this rabbit hole<\/a> in a Thursday post.<\/p>\n Hop on in: Bhat noted that estimated 130,700 year old mastodon fossils were found along State Route 54 in 1992. Interestingly, those bones had fractures and were arranged in patterns that suggested they were attacked by humans.<\/p>\n The catch: The estimated age of those fossils didn\u2019t line up with the timing that researchers thought humans moved to SoCal. There\u2019s been lotsa debate about human activity and the cause of the bone damage, namely whether early human tools caused it.<\/p>\n Dive deeper: The San Diego Natural History Museum has many more details on its website, including this list of FAQs<\/a>.<\/p>\n In Other News<\/p>\n The Morning Report was written by Lisa Halverstadt and Andrea Sanchez-Villafa\u00f1a. It was edited by Andrea Sanchez-Villafa\u00f1a.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated Posts\n<\/p>\n \t