Dear friends of inewsource,
More big changes at the San Diego Opera, as inewsource and KPBS were the first to break the news that Ian Campbell, the Opera’s longtime general and artistic director, has been placed on leave effective immediately.
Campbell, who’s been under fire since he guided the opera’s board of directors to vote 33-1 to close the company at the end of the 2014 season, will continue to receive his full pay and benefits.
Also from the story:
“The board will work to raise additional monies for 2015, but is no longer aiming for $10 million, the figure proposed by Karen Cohn after a five-hour board meeting on March 25th. An opera spokesperson would only confirm that the amount needed was “significantly less.”
Read the full version here , where you can also find a link to the entire series if you want to catch up.
[highlight]NCTD cuts troubled security services[/highlight]
As part of our ongoing (and now IRE-award winning!) series on San Diego’s North County Transit District, Brad Racino explains how and why the agency cut its $3.7 million contract for armed guards who patrol the trains and stations.
Universal Protection Service, the private company supplying the guards, made news last year after inewsource found its officers lacked training and certifications in first aid, firearms, disaster response and a host of others requirements — despite earning millions through taxpayer-funded contracts.
Read what NCTD discovered in the recent audit of Universal’s training files.
[highlight]Officials predict bad year for whooping cough[/highlight]
Ten new cases of the disease were reported this week in the county — all were people with up-to-date immunizations.
Joanne Faryon has a short blog post about what officials are warning may be the worst year for the disease since 2010, which coincidentally is the same year inewsource and KPBS found immunizations for the disease weren’t working as well as expected.
You can find Joanne’s story here .
–Lorie Hearn, Executive Director
loriehearn@inewsource.org
