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A stinging report issued by California’s state auditor today slams the University of California for a culture of privileging wealth and access over merit in its admissions process, galvanizing concern that talented low-income students and students of color are displaced by less qualified but better connected students. The audit report found that four UC campuses “unfairly admitted 64 applicants based on their personal or family connections to donors and university staff” between 2013–14 through

Bankers Hill resident Rebecca Mitsingas lives just 5 miles away from her mother, Suzanne Papp, yet she misses her. She went from seeing her 77-year-old mother daily to rarely now because of the coronavirus. “Typically, I would see her almost every day,” Mitsingas said. “We would do dinner together at least once a week. Since COVID, it’s been hard because I miss her even though she lives close by.” Papp is one of 400 living at St. Paul’s Senior Services three facilities where the nonprofit swif

This is Part One of a two-part series on racism and the education system. Part Two will be published on Monday, Sept. 28. The education system is “particularly effective at reproducing racial inequality” and is one of the best examples of structural racism in our society, said author Robin DiAngelo, in a recent talk presented by San Diego’s National Conflict Resolution Center. DiAngelo, author of “White Fragility,” was featured with Ibram X. Kendi, author of “How to be an Antiracist,” in the A

While the term "struggling" is frequently used to describe artists, "resilient,"  "resourceful" or "entrepreneurial" may be more accurate descriptions. Whatever their chosen artistic pursuit,  most artists struggle to find affordable housing or studio space while drawing on considerable inner resources to continue creating their art and maintaining other jobs to support their passion. The pandemic created an extra challenge for Barrio Logan visual artists when it struck hard in mid-March, affec

IVN San Diego Editor's Note: This Supreme Court ruling could have a big effect on San Diego. A proposed hotel tax increase came just short of winning a two-thirds vote in March. Supporters will likely seek a court ruling on the measure. The following is an independent opinion. Have one of your own? Email it to hoa@ivn.us. In a roundabout, passive way, the California Supreme Court last week handed a big victory to the advocates of higher taxes. Without comment, the justices declined to take up

Three weeks into the 2020-2021 school year and San Diego families are settling into their new routines. Aug. 31 was the first day of online classes for the San Diego Unified School District when thousands of students started their days in front of district-issued Chromebooks. Typed greetings now replace traditional attendance and students across grade levels are tethered to screens for about three hours a day with breaks. Meanwhile, Shelly Steely is balancing distance learning as a teacher and

Aaron Trites says he’s always known he wanted to open his own comic book store someday. That day arrived in December 2018 when he opened the doors of Now or Never Comics in downtown San Diego, just a 20-minute walk from the Convention Center. It was better than he’s ever imagined. “San Diego is an amazing comic book city,” said Trites. “July of last year was far and away my best month; not just for the few days of Comic-Con, it was the entire month — business was gangbusters.” Trites said reve

This is an independent opinion. Have one of your own? Write it! Email it to hoa@ivn.us Three of the largest wildfires ever to scorch California are burning right now. Millions are choking on ash up and down the coast, after suffering from record breaking heat storms and rolling blackouts. Amidst a global pandemic, these disasters are just the opening salvo of human caused climate change that are only getting worse. For a state that prides itself as a climate leader—setting lofty goals for zero

Before 2020, Court Jones and his wife, Debbie Burmeister, said they thrived in the arts industry, finding an abundance of work in drawing live, digital caricatures at parties and trade shows. But when Jan. 1 rolled around, the couple said their careers became complicated with the pandemic and Assembly Bill 5, a new law that limits how much work an independent contractor can perform before being classified as an employee. “We’ve lost a lot of work this year,” Jones said. “But it’s kind of hard t

This is an independent opinion. Have one of your own? Write it! Email it to hoa@ivn.us. At San Diego’s iconic Chicano Park in the Barrio Logan neighborhood, a group of artists, led by renowned Chicano muralist Victor Ochoa, have finished placing the last brushstrokes on a large-scale 50-foot, double-columned mural meant to memorialize Anastasio Hernandez Rojas. Rojas was a 26-year San Diego resident who border agents beat to death 10 years ago at the San Ysidro border crossing on May 28, 2010.