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

I remember Rob's, my husband, first fire. We were married four years at the time and his first fire, the Poinsettia Fire, turned out to be a learning experience for both of us.

Thanks to our region’s balmy climate, San Diego’s restaurants are weathering the COVID-19 economic downturn by moving their diners outdoors. Cheered on by Mayor Kevin Faulconer and members of the San Diego City Council, restaurants have transformed busy sidewalks and streets into convivial, social-distancing-compliant outdoor dining spaces where San Diego residents and visitors are welcome to gather for meals, company and conversation.

Tracy Tran’s years of savings are gone. Most went into the nearly $13,500 monthly rent she says she’s been paying for her shuttered business since March, when coronavirus public health orders forced her to close. La Orquidea Salon and Spa has been sitting empty ever since on busy North Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos. So have most of the state’s roughly 11,000 other nail salons.

Joe Collins is T.J. O’Hara’s guest on "Deconstructed." Mr. Collins spent 13 years in the United States Navy and served with distinction in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He has a strong sense of duty, commitment, and leadership and is running for a seat in the United States Congress. He must also like combat because he is running as a Republican in California, and he is taking on an incumbent by the name of Maxine Waters.

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

Home Box Office released a documentary this summer called “The Swamp.” I’ve had enough exposure to American politics to be unsurprised by legalized corruption, but this film revealed some things that stunned even a cynic like myself.

The path to expand ranked choice voting (RCV) in Maine has been an ongoing rollercoaster ride of successes followed by setbacks followed by more successes for reformers. However, RCV advocates can celebrate once again after the Maine Supreme Court issued an emergency ruling Tuesday which clarifies that (for now) no referendum on RCV for presidential elections will appeal on the November ballot.

The absence of a referendum also means that ranked choice voting is once again set to be used for the first time in a presidential general election.

City Heights resident Lily Nong said she vividly remembers the presidential elections of 2016.

"Everyone was crying and fearing for our future," Nong said. "I felt so helpless." Nong was 15 at the time.

Now, the 18-year-old, who is a freshman at Columbia University, is empowered.

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

If past is prologue, San Diegans may be in for a rude awakening over the two weeks following Labor Day weekend. That’s because San Diego County experienced a spike in COVID-19 cases in the wake of Memorial Day and Fourth of July festivities.

This is an independent opinion. Want to respond? Write your own commentary! Email hoa@ivn.us.

Many business owners ask me about the pros and cons of taking a public position on a recent political issue or current event. The Black Lives Matter movement, for example, had San Diego executives wondering if they should say something on their social media properties, in a press release, or on their website about supporting the end of systematic racial injustice. 

I say sure, but with a caveat.