This is an independent opinion. Have one of your own? Email it to hoa@ivn.us

The looming expiration of the city of San Diego’s franchise agreement with San Diego Gas & Electric may not be on your radar as a citizen, but perhaps it should be.

"The Extra Point with Jeff Marston" is aired weekly on Mightier 1090am from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday. In this episode, Marston talks to Derek Togerson, NBC SportsWrap lead reporter, and Jake Garegnani, KFMB sports reporter, about the challenges they faced reporting during COVID-19.

California is in the throes of another COVID-19 surge — cases are skyrocketing and hospital beds are filling up quickly. On Tuesday, hospitals had 3,300 more COVID patients than at the beginning of this month, state health officials said.

But a glimmer of hope has emerged in the last leg of 2020: The first batch of vaccines could arrive in early December.

On Friday, the pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced that it had requested approval for emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Anyone familiar with the US political landscape or the world of business knows the name Charles Koch. He is chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, the second largest private company in the US, and he is one of the most influential donors to largely right-leaning candidates and causes.

San Diego advocates of Ranked Choice Voting said they have renewed momentum after the election reform measure was approved in several U.S. cities and in the state of Alaska. 

This is an independent opinion. Have one of your own? Write it! Email it to hoa@ivn.us

In a historic year for American politics, Todd Gloria’s election as San Diego mayor this November has brought a message of hope and excitement in a year of turmoil and uncertainty.

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on The Fulcrum and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher.

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Next year's redistricting landscape is, at best, a mixed bag for good-governance advocates. Although the mapmaking process has become fairer and less politicized in a handful of states over the past decade, partisan gerrymandering will still have a profound impact on representation across most of the country.

The 2016 election seems like a distant memory from a lifetime ago. But 2020 isn't really qualitatively different, just more of what 2016 was. We're seeing that wild year's ghosts of partisanship in overdrive this year. And there's likely not one person who doesn't find it all extraordinarily peculiar.

When Dennis O’Connor co-purchased the vacated Fraser's Boiler Service building in 2015 — he had big plans for the historic Barrio Logan space. It began with creating a production space for his brewery, Thorn Brewing Co., and was meant to be completed with eateries and a speakeasy with an emphasis on environmental sustainability.

This is the second in a two-part series. Read the first part here. 

Providing preschool at the earliest stages of a child’s development can help close the achievement gap in learning for many low-income children because what’s at stake is a lack of solid preparation for kindergarten and beyond.