Naturopathic Doctor Near San Ysidro, CA

A $2.7 million construction project near the San Ysidro border crossing causes significant traffic delays on I-5, prompting drivers to plan alternatives.

SAN DIEGO — Motorists heading south on Interstate 5 near the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry experienced significant traffic delays as a $2.7 million construction project began Tuesday night, authorities said.

The work will take place in two phases over roughly three weeks and is aimed at improving safety, security and traffic flow at the busy border crossing, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The first phase began at 9 p.m. Tuesday and runs through 5 a.m. Jan. 9. Crews will remove speed humps near the southbound inspection booths and replace temporary concrete barriers with permanent dividers, the CHP said.

Phase one includes a continuous 56-hour closure of the Camino de la Plaza on-ramp and the six western-most lanes of southbound I-5. Southbound traffic on I-5 and Interstate 805 will merge into fewer lanes as vehicles approach the border, while the Camino de la Plaza off-ramp and access to Tijuana, Mexico, through the El Chaparral crossing will remain open.

The second phase of construction will begin at 5 a.m. Jan. 9 and will continue through 5 a.m. Jan. 23, CHP officials said.

Phase two includes a continuous closure of the eastern-most inside lane on southbound I-5 within the center median at the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry. Access to Tijuana through the El Chaparral crossing will remain open, while the Camino de la Plaza off-ramp will also remain open.

CHP officials urged drivers to plan and expect delays, recommending the Otay Mesa Land Port of Entry or public transit when possible.

Traffic enforcement will be increased during construction.

The project is being carried out by the General Services Administration, which manages federal property.

Kaiser nurses statewide began an indefinite strike Monday, restarting picket lines that went idle after a five-day work stoppage in October 2025.

Given that union members do not get paid if they do not work their shifts, such an open-ended walk-off is rare. And it is not like Kaiser Permanente is refusing to pay nurses more. The health care juggernaut has said repeatedly in statements that it has offered raises that would adjust pay upward by a total of 21.5 percentage points over the length of a potential four-year contract, an amount that outstrips the 17 percentage point increase recently ratified by Sharp nurses.

Kaiser has made that proffered pay increase the centerpiece of its messaging campaign to avoid another strike. Though the company has not said how many replacement workers it has brought in to keep its operations running, any such action generates millions in extra labor costs.

The medical provider makes the point that the 31,000 registered nurses now on picket lines in California and Hawaii would fare far better financially if they would just take the deal, especially when “step” wage increases are included. Those increases automatically increase pay as workers amass more years of experience.

Average wages for union-represented nurses in Southern California, Kaiser says, average $77.43 per hour.

“These individuals would see their hourly rate increase to $101.69 by the end of the contract — an increase of 31.5%, which includes across-the-board pay and step increases,” a Kaiser statement said. “This means a full-time nurse would see an (average) increase in wages from $160,861 to $211,513 per year.”

Why not just take the raise?

Nate Poliakoff, a registered nurse in the emergency department of Kaiser’s San Diego Medical Center in Kearny Mesa, said that the main driver behind a second strike in just three months is unresolved disagreements over staffing. The union, he said, has previously negotiated staffing that is to be one better than the state’s mandated nurse-to-patient ratios.

For example, medical and surgical units in hospitals are to have one nurse for every five patients. Emergency departments are mandated to staff one nurse for every four patients. But Kaiser’s existing contract, Poliakoff said, reduces those examples to 1:4 and 1:3, respectively. He said that part of the union’s staffing concern is that Kaiser has not met these lower ratios.

In general, Poliakoff said, nurses do not believe that the number of resources brought to bear day in and day out is enough to meet the bedrock mandate of providing quality care for patients.

“If a nurse is doing transports and taking a patient off the unit, then who’s watching that nurse’s patient? If a nurse is not working to the top of their scope, and they’re doing work that a CNA, an LVN or an ED tech could be doing, that’s delaying them in doing the actual work that they should be doing,” Poliakoff said. “Things slow down, you begin to rush the quality of care.”

Kaiser flatly rejects the notion that the strike is about anything other than reimbursement.

“Despite the union’s claims, this strike is about wages,” Kaiser said in a statement. “This open-ended strike is unnecessary when such a generous offer is on the table.

“The strike is designed to disrupt the lives of our patients — the very people we are all here to serve.”

The organization tends to do well on independent quality assessments.

All three of Kaiser’s hospitals in San Diego County, located in Kearny Mesa, Grantville and San Marcos, have “A” hospital safety grades from The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit hospital rating group.

Kaiser said Monday that it is shifting some appointments to its virtual care platform, either phone calls, video chats or electronic chat, and “may need to reschedule certain appointments, elective surgeries, and procedures.”

The medical provider has not stated how many services have had to be rescheduled thus far.

San Diego is a wonderful city for dogs and humans. It has perfect weather year-round and plenty of dog-friendly businesses and beaches.

San Diego has a few designated dog beaches where dogs can run off-leash all day. The city also has beaches where leashed dogs are allowed at certain times of the day. Here are some of the best dog beaches in San Diego and the surrounding areas you can visit with your dog.

Top 10 Dog-Friendly Beaches in San Diego, CA

Conclusion

San Diego is a relatively dog-friendly city. You can plan fun beach days at the designated dog beaches or enjoy peaceful morning or evening walks during the beaches’ dog-friendly hours. Since most beaches don’t have amenities for dogs, make sure to bring doggy bags, water, and towels.

Following the rules and picking up after your dog will ensure you and your dog have a fun and safe time at the beach. It’ll also continue to allow San Diego to have dog-friendly beach hours.

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Featured Image Credit: amfroey, Shutterstock

SAN DIEGO — The California Department of Public Health is urging people to get flu vaccinations amid a rise in cases statewide and the detection of a new strain called H3N2 subclade K.

The alert comes as San Diego has experienced a steady rise in flu cases since late June, with 5,200 cases reported. Health officials warn that environmental factors and winter conditions are contributing to the virus's spread, and experts believe the region has not yet reached peak flu season.

"If you have not been vaccinated yet, you can still get protection," said Eric Sergienko, chief of the Division for Communicable Disease Control at the California Department of Public Health.

According to health experts, the flu virus thrives in colder weather because the virus's outer coating remains stable in cold air, helping it survive longer outside the body. Low humidity also accelerates transmission, as dry air allows virus particles to remain airborne longer and weakens the body's natural defenses in the nasal passages. Additionally, people spend more time indoors during winter months, increasing the likelihood of virus spread.

The state health department sent out an alert this week not only urging vaccination but also reminding health care providers to test suspected flu cases and treat severe cases as soon as possible. "There are two approved medications for influenza," said Sergienko.

Good news has emerged regarding the new H3N2 subclade K variant. Despite earlier concerns that the vaccine would not protect against the new strain, the vaccine appears to offer some protection. "Thank goodness the vaccine seems to be doing a decent job. It's protecting you from serious illness and hospitalization, which is marvelous," said John Bradley, Medical Director of Infectious Diseases at Rady Children's Hospital.

Young children and older adults remain at highest risk. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children six months and older get vaccinated. Meanwhile, the CDC just changed its recommendations, and does not suggest the same. Despite the recent change, the state will cover flu vaccines, ensuring accessibility across income levels.

"We passed a law that basically said that the state is now responsible for making those recommendations, and we've been able to work with insurers to ensure that you can get your vaccines," Sergienko said.

"It's a late season this year. We're a good month behind where we normally are," said Bradley, suggesting that flu activity may continue to increase in coming weeks.

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UC San Diego’s enrollment hit a record 45,087 last fall and helped the 10-campus University of California system avoid a significant drop in students while it was struggling with the loss of state and federal money and Pell grants.

The La Jolla school added 831 students, second only to UC Riverside, which gained 1,249. That resulted in a net increase of 1,686 systemwide.

The figure was expected to be much higher. However, financial issues led the Davis, Merced, Irvine, Santa Barbara and San Francisco campuses to tighten enrollment, which collectively dropped by 965. The biggest hit was at Davis, where enrollment fell by 656.

The system’s most popular campus, UCLA, added only 100 students, despite heavy demand globally for admission. Only 269 students were added at UC Berkeley, whose problems also include finding enough housing for students.

The slowdown wasn’t welcomed by many administrators in the UC, which raised systemwide enrollment by nearly 50,000 over the past decade to meet huge and ongoing student demand, especially from California residents.

UCSD has proven to be especially popular. More than 150,000 prospective freshmen and transfer students sought admission last year.

Blessed with lots of open land, UCSD has been waving students through the door over the past decade, increasing enrollment by more than 12,000. The boom has been engineered by the school’s chancellor, Pradeep Khosla, who convinced legislators to provide hundreds of millions of dollars for growth.

Khosla focused sharply on adding housing, which in recent years has taken the form of high-rise towers. In September, the campus opened Ridge Walk North, which houses 2,400 students, many of whom have prime views of the ocean.

This enabled UCSD to increase the number of people in student housing to about 24,500, tying it with UCLA, the largest campus landlord in the country.

When Ridge Walk opened, Khosla told the Union-Tribune he was considering building residential towers that could rise as high as 30 to 40 stories en route to pushing UCSD’s long-term enrollment to 56,000.

Things quickly changed in January when President Donald Trump began to make huge cuts in federal research funding to colleges and universities nationwide. The state also made it clear that it would cut UCSD’s funding by about $50 million to help balance the state budget.

In April, Khosla issued a public statement saying that UCSD could face half a billion dollars in annual budget cuts. By then, he had canceled plans to construct some new research buildings. And he froze plans to begin the first phase of a residential village that would eventually house an unprecedented 6,000 students.

UCSD’s financial problems have eased some as the school, like many others, began to claw back some of the big research grants they had been awarded. But Khosla has not publicly committed to resume plans to add more dorms, even in the face of unrelenting demand for admission by students.

The demand comes as UCSD’s demographic makeup continues to shift.

In 2021, some California lawmakers said UCSD, UCLA and UC Berkeley appeared to be favoring foreign students over California residents when it came to admission because they paid more than twice as much in tuition and fees. At the time, UCSD had a record 8,151 foreign students, the majority of whom were from China. Lawmakers directed the three schools to increase the number of California residents.

UCSD’s international enrollment fell to 7,095 in 2023. But it rebounded to 7,514 in 2025. The spike hasn’t caused an uproar because the percentage of California residents rose by 2.1% over the past five years, while the percentage of foreign students declined by 2.8%.

This shift did cause surprise. The Trump administration made it difficult for many foreign students to obtain the visas they need to study in the U.S. But this didn’t deeply affect the resurgence in foreign enrollment.

The new UC data shows that UCSD’s enrollment among Black students dipped a bit, to 3.4% last year. Black people represent about 6% of California’s population, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

Hispanic/Latino students represented 22.1% of UCSD enrollment last year, almost 4% higher than it was in 2021. But the numbers are considered to be low; this demographic group makes up nearly 40% of California’s population, the U.S. Census Bureau says.

“These numbers reflect California’s commitment to academic excellence, access, and innovation, values that have made the University of California the world’s greatest research university,” UC President James B. Milliken said in a statement. “The value of a UC degree is abundantly clear. An investment in UC is the best investment in the future of our students, California’s workforce, and the state’s economy.”