English Bulldog Puppies for Sale in San Diego, CA

The San Diego Wave set a franchise record for goals and clinched a playoff spot in their Oct. 18 win over the Chicago Stars at Snapdragon Stadium.

Then, they waited. The National Women’s Soccer League’s international break forced the Wave and other teams to put their seasons on pause.

The Wave will return to action on Sunday with a match against the first-place Kansas City Current, then head into the playoffs. And while the break wasn’t ideal, general manager Camille Ashton said the club will be ready to finish strong.

“It’s tough that the team will only have a couple of training sessions together after this break ahead of the game,” she said, “but that doesn’t change anything for us.”

Kansas City is 20-3-2, and long ago clinched the top spot in the NWSL’s eight-team playoff bracket. San Diego (10-8-7) has more to play for in Sunday’s regular-season finale. If the Wave win and Seattle loses to or ties with third-place Orlando, the Wave will finish in the top four and host a first-round playoff match.

Ashton called it “a really important game to set us up for the start of playoffs.”

“It also is a game that has tremendous consequences in where we land in the standings… if we go in and take care of business, it sets us up in a nice way,” she said.

It’s been a rollercoaster season for the Wave, who began 2025 with a new coach and rebuilt roster following the departures of stars Alex Morgan, Jaedyn Shaw and Naomi Girma.

Ashton hired European coach Jonas Eidevall and brought in several new players, including Kenza Dali, Gia Corley, Trinity Armstrong and Adriana Leon. With the NWSL draft a thing of the past, the team signed accomplished collegiate and international players to round out the roster.

The Wave started strong, sitting third in the NWSL standings before the midseason international break from mid-June to late July. At that point, they were 7-3-3 and looked like a powerhouse in the making.

After the break, San Diego struggled, going 1-5-4 and scoring only 10 goals in those 10 matches.

“When you have a spell of results that aren’t quite what you want them to be, and that was true for everybody here, I think there was frustration and disappointment in the results,” Ashton said.

Eidevall remained confident, certain the club’s rhythm would return. The club has scored nine goals over its last two matches, including six against Chicago.

“(In) this league, you have to be able to bounce back quickly from a loss — or a couple losses,” Ashton said. “That’s not easy to do, and huge credit to this group for being able to come out the other side of that spell.”

What changed?

One major factor has been the late-season arrival of Brazilian winger Dudinha, who has quickly found her footing in the NWSL. She’s scored three goals across the last two matches from the left side.

Said Ashton: “She’s dynamic, she’s technical, she’s got pace, she can finish. It’s been really exciting to see the pairing of her and (Delphine) Cascarino on the flanks. Quite honestly, I think it makes us as a team that much more dynamic, and how difficult it ultimately is to defend us.”

The Wave’s season feels like it can be divided into three parts: the hot start, the post-break slump, and the recent resurgence.

Now comes the part that matters most.

“At the end of the day, nobody’s focusing on, ‘You went X amount of games without a win, or this was your win streak,’” Ashton said. “It’s about how do we finish the season and control what we can moving forward, and put ourselves now in a position to try to win something. …

“We’re not done yet.”

San Diego Wave (10-8-7) vs. Kansas City Current (20-3-2)

When: Noon

Where: CPKC Stadium, Kansas City, Mo.

TV: ESPN

A lapse in CalFresh payments will mean thousands of residents may turn to San Diego County food banks.

SAN DIEGO, CA — Across San Diego County, food banks are bracing for a potentially massive influx of local CalFresh benefits in need next week as their benefits don't arrive in November due to the ongoing government shutdown.

This week, Attorney General Rob Bonta said it will be the "first time ever" that SNAP benefits are halted for millions who rely on them.

Following the shutdown on Oct. 10, USDA sent a letter to state agencies directing them to put an indefinite hold on November benefits.

“Bottom line, the well has run dry,” the USDA notice says.

Beginning Nov. 1, the agency said there will be no benefits sent to the 1 in 8 Americans, roughly 42 million, that SNAP serves. In California, the aid known as CalFresh serves more than 5.5 million.Across the Inland Empire, CalFresh serves 2.3 million people.

Julia Rensink, a spokesperson for God's Pantry, a food bank nonprofit that runs food giveaways across the Inland Empire, told The Press-Enterprise that the federal benefits are at times all that families have.

“We’re not new to crises. Our mission has always been to bridge the gap,” Rensink told the newspaper. “We’ve seen firsthand how programs like CalFresh make a difference; not just for those who receive the food kits, but those who work in the warehouse. When benefits get interrupted, our food distributions become these families’ safety net.”

Call ahead to check when pantries are open and what locations they may be popping up at throughout your community.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has also deployed the state National Guard to support food banks.

"As SNAP delays hit dinner tables right before the holiday season, the state is working hard to keep families from going hungry," Newsom said. "The efforts seen today will be ongoing and available to food banks across California that request greater assistance.”

Two upcoming refinery shutdowns in California have raised concerns about tighter supplies and higher gasoline prices in the near future.

But Kinder Morgan and Phillips 66 have proposed a new pipeline project that would bring fuel to western states such as Arizona and allow more oil production in California to stay in the Golden State so that additional gasoline would be available to Southern California markets, including San Diego.

The two Houston-based companies recently announced plans for the Western Gateway Pipeline that, if built, would be the first-ever pipeline system to deliver motor fuels into California, a state often described as a fuel island disconnected from refining hubs in the U.S.

The Western Gateway Pipeline system would use a combination of existing infrastructure plus new construction to establish a corridor for refined products stretching 1,300 miles from St. Louis to California.

In a news release, Phillips 66 said the project “addresses growing Arizona demand and anticipated California supply constraints.”

The Western Gateway Pipeline would include building a line from the Texas Panhandle town of Borger to Phoenix. Meanwhile, the flow on an existing pipeline that currently runs from Southern California to Arizona would be reversed, allowing more fuel to remain in California.

The entire pipeline system would link refinery supply from the Midwest to Phoenix and California, while also providing a connection into Las Vegas.

In an email to the Union-Tribune, a spokesperson for Kinder Morgan said there are no plans for the project to construct any new pipelines in California and “should put downward pressure” on prices at the pump.

“With no new builds in California and using pipelines currently in place, it’s an all-around win-win — good for the state and consumers,” Kinder Morgan’s director of corporate communications Melissa D. Ruiz said in an email.

If completed, how much could the project affect prices at the pump for drivers in San Diego and Southern California?

“It’s a little too soon to tell,” said David Hackett, president of Stillwater Associates, a transportation energy consulting company in Irvine.

But he predicted the project would boost inventory in California and reduce the state’s reliance on shipments from foreign countries, especially if an international fuel crisis occurred.

“It brings additional supply into the market,” said Hackett, whose firm earlier this week released a report analyzing the project. “That’s the bottom line.”

Some 63.5% of oil supplied to California refineries in 2024 came from foreign sources, led by Iraq, Brazil, Guyana and Ecuador, according to the California Energy Commission.

News of the project comes on the heels of pending closures at a pair of California refineries.

In 2025, Phillips 66 announced the shuttering of its twin Southern California facilities in Carson and Wilmington by the end of this year. A few months later, Valero said it will shut down its 145,000-barrel-per-day refinery in the Northern California city of Benicia by the end of April 2026.

The Valero and Phillips 66 facilities combine to account for about 18% of the state’s crude oil capacity, leading fuel analysts to raise concerns that the shutdowns will strain supplies of the specially blended gasoline that is sold to California drivers.

Drivers in the Golden State already pay more for gasoline than anywhere else in the country, including Alaska and Hawaii. According to AAA, the average price for a gallon of regular in California stood at $4.576 on Thursday, compared to the national average of $3.038.

Asked to comment on the proposed pipeline, a spokesperson from the California Energy Commission said in an email to the Union-Tribune, “A pipeline could offer an alternative source of imports and also reduce the amount of fuel California exports to its neighboring states. However, it will be important to understand how new supply from the east is likely to impact California and regional fuel markets, including the business of existing California refiners.”

After gasoline prices spiked to more than $6 a gallon across California in late summer and early fall of 2022 and 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom accused oil companies and refiners of “lying and gouging Californians to line their own pockets” after gasoline prices spiked to more than $6 a gallon across California in late summer and early fall of 2022 and 2023.

But in the aftermath of the pending Phillips 66 and Valero closures, Newsom directed the energy commission and other agencies to “redouble the state’s efforts to work closely with refiners” and “reinforce the state’s openness to a collaborative relationship” with the industry.

Energy commission vice chair Siva Gunda responded in late June with a 24-page letter to the governor that included a series of recommendations, many of which were part of legislation passed in Sacramento and signed into law by Newsom on Sept. 19.

Senate Bill 237, for example, included provisions aimed at increasing crude oil production in the state and eased permitting requirements in the Bakersfield area, the heart of California’s Oil Patch.

“We are all the beneficiaries of oil and gas. No one’s naive about that,” Newsom said at a press conference in August. “So it’s always been about finding a just transition, a pragmatism in terms of that process.”

The Western Gateway Pipeline is not a done deal.

Kinder Morgan and Phillips 66 announced what’s called “open season” that will run until Dec. 19 to field questions and gauge what kind of interest the project has for potential shippers and investors. The proposal also has receive permits and clear other regulatory hurdles.

A Western Gateway website says the new construction between the Texas Panhandle and Arizona will be done in an “environmentally responsible manner” and minimize its footprint on habitats, wetlands, farmlands and historical cultural sites.

But Sandy Bahr, director of the Grand Canyon chapter of the Sierra Club, told the Arizona Republic, “We should be weaning ourselves off of gasoline and investing in alternative transportation.”

Phillips 66 will be in charge of constructing the pipeline and Kinder Morgan will be responsible for operating it. If given the green light, Western Gateway is expected to be completed by 2029.

This story has been updated to include a comment from the California Energy Commission on the proposed pipeline project.

The report, which covers last year's growing season, saw veggies make a jump in the county's top 10 crops to fifth place.

SAN DIEGO, CA — The total value of San Diego County's agricultural products rose by 1% over the past year to $1.67 billion, led by a vegetable boost, according to the Annual Crop Report released Wednesday.

The report, which covers last year's growing season, saw veggies make a jump in the county's top 10 crops to fifth place, ahead of lemons and just behind avocados.

San Diego County still relies heavily on its top three crops, "bedding plants, color, perennials, cacti & succulents," "ornamental trees & shrubs," and "indoor flowering and foliage plants," which make up $395 million, $385 million and $302 million, respectively.

Those three top crops alone produced nearly 65% of the county's total agricultural value, growing on just 3.4% of the total acreage devoted to agriculture.

Of the seven identified crop groups, four saw decreases in 2024. Nursery & cut flower products and fruit & nut crops both suffered slight decreases while field crops, and apiary products saw double-digit percent decreases.

Apiary products were valued at $3,497,675, a 26% decrease from last year attributed to a 47% drop in honey and beeswax production, caused by decreased prices and inconsistencies in rainfall.

However, three of the seven crop groups registered increases, including significant jumps in two.

Livestock & poultry increased by 12.13%, from roughly $86 million to nearly $97 million, partly due to the fact that chicken, milk and egg prices rose significantly for a portion of the year. Vegetable & vine crops increased by 26.13%, from roughly $89 million to just over $113 million.

The jump in the vegetable & vine crops group included the single crop that had the highest percentage increase, "vegetable, other," which jumped 31.1%, from roughly $75 million to over $98 million.

The county's Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures compiles the annual crop report. AWM supports the agricultural industry by inspecting and intercepting invasive agricultural pests, certifying agricultural exports and regulating pesticide use, among other duties.

San Diego County's top 10 crops are:

-- Bedding plants, color, perennials, cacti & succulents, $395,366,388;-- Ornamental trees & shrubs, $385,803,071;-- Indoor flowering and foliage plants, $302,215,874;-- Avocados, $99,383,191;-- Vegetables, other, $98,232,546;-- Lemons, $84,675,418;-- Livestock & poultry products, $76,017,015;-- Oranges, $30,064,990;-- Other cut flowers & bulbs, $26,467,110; and-- Citrus, avocado & subtropical fruit trees, $24,511,172.

— City News Service

A grand opening celebration will feature a buy two tacos, get one free special along with live entertainment.

SAN DIEGO, CA — A popular taco shop is expanding in San Diego.

Taco Centro will open its second San Diego location this Saturday in the Little Italy neighborhood.

The modern Mexican street food concept from owner and founding partner Adrian Gutierrez originated in November 2022 in the city's Gaslamp Quarter.

"I have lived in Little Italy for the last seven years, and it has been my dream for quite some time to open a taqueria here," Gutierrez said. "I have always loved this neighborhood, and I am grateful that the success of the first Taco Centro allowed me to pursue this second location. I am excited and humbled to bring all the Mexican favorites to the residents and visitors of bustling Little Italy."

The Taco Centro menu features 13 tacos, as well as other Mexican favorites like burritos, quesadillas, taco bowls, nachos and fries. The eatery's signature Taco Azul is a blue corn tortilla filled with grilled angus steak, fresh cheese, whole black beans, avocado, cilantro, onions and house salsa.

The original Taco Centro is located at 539 Island Ave. The new location is at 2171 Kettner Blvd. at the corner of Ivy Street. The space on the ground level of the AV8 apartment building was most recently occupied by Bun & Patti.

A grand opening celebration will take place from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and feature a buy two tacos, get one free special along with live entertainment.

Following the grand opening, Taco Centro will be open at 9 a.m. seven days a week beginning Sunday, with breakfast burritos and chilaquiles. The taqueria will stay open until 10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, 11 p.m. on Thursday, and 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.