Jim Hinch, Guideposts Journalist Profile

Articles

County Budget Muscles Into Supervisor Race

1 week ago | voiceofsandiego.org | Jim Hinch

County Budget Muscles into Supervisor Race Exactly what should be done with county reserve funds is becoming a critical issue in the special election for the Board of Supervisors. The San Diego County budget leaped to the forefront of the race to fill a vacant South County seat on the County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday.
South County Report: No Love (Yet) For Electric Trucks

1 week ago | voiceofsandiego.org | Jim Hinch

Environmental ideals and corporate ambition ran smack into political reality last week when representatives from the Port of San Diego and a national electric vehicle power company did their best to sell National City residents on the benefits of a planned electric truck charging station near the city’s 24th Street Marine Terminal.
Lauded Arts Program Faces Uncertain Future

1 week ago | voiceofsandiego.org | Jim Hinch

Seventeen-year-old Armando Varela stood in the middle of a crowded art gallery, working up the nerve to speak. It was Saturday afternoon and the halls and exhibit rooms at A Reason to Survive, a two-decade-old nonprofit youth arts program in National City, were full of eager children, harried parents and artworks ranging from wall-sized murals to a cluster of decorated wooden boxes small enough to fit in the palm of a hand.
South County Report: Keep On (Electric) Truckin’

2 weeks ago | voiceofsandiego.org | Jim Hinch

How to make a National City resident mad: Tell them you’ve selected their city as the site of a new industrial development that wealthier, more powerful cities would never allow.
Supervisor Race Pits Different Visions for County’s Future

2 weeks ago | voiceofsandiego.org | Jim Hinch

One Friday evening last month, commuters at the Palomar trolley station in Chula Vista might have seen a small group of adults and children gathered around a makeshift altar on one side of the station platform. The altar consisted of a photo of a smiling young woman surrounded by votive candles flickering in a brisk ocean breeze. A few adults at the gathering gave short speeches while their children scampered around and stole glances at the photo. There was a moment of silence.
Convicted Businesswoman Pardoned By Trump Returning to Prison

2 weeks ago | voiceofsandiego.org | Jim Hinch

A federal judge on Friday sentenced an El Cajon businesswoman to a year in federal prison for masterminding an elaborate fraud scheme that prosecutors said commenced just weeks after President Donald Trump commuted her first term in prison for a different fraud scheme. U.S. District Court Judge Cynthia A.
Chula Vista Mayor Helped Free a Felon Who’s Going Back to Prison with Her Brother - A Lot Happened in Between

3 weeks ago | voiceofsandiego.org | Jim Hinch

On the morning of Jan. 20, 2021, Adriana Camberos, a businesswoman from El Cajon, was one of more than 151,000 inmates in the federal prison system. Convicted in 2016 of fraud for selling millions of bottles of counterfeit energy drinks, Camberos was a little more than halfway through a two-year prison sentence. On his last day in office, Jan. 20, 2021, then-President Donald Trump commuted her sentence.
South County Report: EPA Visits Tijuana River

3 weeks ago | voiceofsandiego.org | Jim Hinch

South County’s seemingly endless sewage crisis in the Tijuana River got some high-level federal attention on Tuesday. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin spent the day touring the river and conferring with local leaders, following a high-level meeting with Mexican officials the previous evening during which Mexico’s environment secretary assured Zeldin that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum “is fully committed to resolve this issue” once and for all.
National City Council Parts Ways With City Manager

3 weeks ago | voiceofsandiego.org | Jim Hinch

The National City Council on Friday ousted the city’s top bureaucrat, terminating City Manager Benjamin Martinez’s three-year contract early because of what Councilmembers described as a series of management problems, including prominent personnel departures, a botched cannabis permitting process, a budget deficit and ongoing legal disputes. Councilmembers approved Martinez’s departure at a hastily called midday meeting that was opposed by one Councilmember.
Chula Vista School District Will Investigate Corruption Allegations

3 weeks ago | voiceofsandiego.org | Will Huntsberry |Jim Hinch

Chula Vista Elementary School District will hire an outside law firm to investigate corruption allegations raised in a Voice of San Diego story earlier this month. In Voice’s original story, the district’s former chief operating officer made multiple allegations about top officials at the district. The former COO, Jovanim Martinez, said the district Superintendent Eduardo Reyes pressured him on multiple occasions to award a contract to a company called Dr. Build.