Sheriff: Replacing Old Vista Jail Will Improve Inmate Safety

The Vista Detention Facility is slated for a massive rebuild, and according to the Sheriff’s Office, it’s overdue.

Built in 1972 and never modernized since, the facility is aging, too small and has a laundry list of failing equipment, deputies say. Our Tigist Layne saw their complaints firsthand when she toured it earlier this year.

How much it will cost: The San Diego Sheriff’s Office and County officials agree that the Vista jail has “reached the end of its useful life” and needs to be replaced. So far, County leaders have put $3 million toward planning the project, but in total, it’s going to cost $950 million and take at least 10 years to complete.

Some are skeptical about how a billion-dollar physical upgrade addresses the jail system’s more pressing crisis: its high rate of in-custody deaths.

But Sheriff Kelly Martinez says the rebuild is necessary and will sustain the progress they’ve already made in lowering and preventing jail deaths.

Read the full story here. 

Excessed Teacher of the Year Has New Role at San Diego Unified 

There’s good news in the works for a San Diego Unified teacher reporter Jakob McWhinney profiled last week.  

For nearly two decades, Stacy Williams worked at TRACE, a school that helps adult students with disabilities learn the skills they need to transition to life after high school. Her work with those students was celebrated, earning her the designation as a San Diego County Teacher of the Year in 2025.  

But just last week, she found out her position at the school had been eliminated. She would still have a job at the district, but exactly what it would look like was unclear.  

The experience was crushing for Williams.

“It’s so demeaning, because you go from being in the spotlight to feeling useless,” she told McWhinney. 

Days later, though, she found out she’d be able to return to her school. District officials are also giving her a new role to help rethink how the district’s transitional services program works entirely.  

Read more here.

Border Report: Border Patrol Station Is Getting a $29 Million Upgrade

The San Diego Border Patrol is putting a new $28.7 million maintenance facility at its station off Interstate 15 in Murrieta.

Funding is coming from President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which passed last year. The facility will allow the agency to service its own vehicles and conduct searches of vehicles suspected of having hidden compartments.

Officials say this station is the only one in the area without its own maintenance facility, and the addition will help agents save time when attempting to locate drugs and make an arrest.

Read the Border Report here. 

Countywide Sales Tax Hike Debate 

A coalition of labor and advocacy groups are pitching a half-cent sales tax increase to combat Trump administration cuts, address the Tijuana sewage crisis and more.  

SEIU Local 221 President Crystal Irving, a key champion, and Mark Kersey of the San Diego County Taxpayers Association are set to debate for and against Measure B at Politifest on Oct. 3. Reporter Lisa Halverstadt is moderating. 

Read more about the debate here. And secure your tickets before it’s too late. 

In Other News 

• In a new op-ed for Voice of San Diego, state Sen. Steve Padilla responds to criticism of the Chula Vista Bayfront, a massive $1.3 billion bayfront resort meant to boost South Bay’s economy. He argues that the resort and convention center have been more successful than officials had originally projected and gives South Bay a chance to be invested in.
• A county rental subsidy program for San Diegans aged 55 and up is changing due to new funding restrictions. The program now disqualifies anyone who has been in the program before, increases the age minimum to 60 and lowers the maximum income threshold. (Union-Tribune)
• The Association for the City of La Jolla, a group aiming to have La Jolla detach from the city of San Diego and become its own city, hired its first three paid staff members and had its first public meeting last week. (Union-Tribune)
• We added a correction in yesterday’s Morning Report to clarify how a dog in the police department’s K-9 program was injured.

The Morning Report was written by Tigist Layne and Jakob McWhinney. It was edited by Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña.

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