Daily Business Report: Tuesday, September 16, 2025
County Spent $5.2 Million Letting Covid-Era PPE Sit in a Warehouse Until It Expired
By MacKenzie Elmer | Voice of San Diego
Thousands of medical gowns and face masks leftover from the County of San Diego’s Covid-19 response could be in the hands of medical students helping Tijuana communities. But instead, much of it may be sitting in a landfill.
The county confirmed it spent $5.2 million since 2020 storing tons of untouched masks, gowns and hand sanitizing stations in a private warehouse.
It had been maintaining a supply of PPE as a strategic stockpile should another global health disaster hit, according to spokesperson Tim McClain. But only months before much of it expired did the county act to try and rehome it.
All of that stored PPE expired mid-August which means no U.S. hospital or clinic can use it. One woman says she could have.
CA lawmakers overhaul energy and climate policy as session ends
By Andrew Donohue | CalMatters
The California Legislature’s long, busy and contentious session drew to a close this weekend. Here’s what you need to know:
- Lawmakers delivered Gov. Gavin Newsom one of the most sweeping overhauls of California’s energy and climate policies in decades. The six-bill package that passed over the weekend was framed as a way to ease gas and electricity bills while preserving the state’s signature climate programs. “Ratepayers are expected to get some relief through measures to cut the cost of building transmission lines, and an expanded cap-and-trade energy credit aimed at blunting rising energy bills,” Alejandro Lazo and Jeanne Kuang report.
- Lawmakers paved the way for a building boom near transit stations in many of the state’s most populous areas. The new bill overrides local development decisions, allowing apartment developers to construct residential buildings as tall as 75 feet regardless of local zoning maps or outcry. “In a legislative year teeming with controversial housing bills designed to kick-start more construction in California,” Ben Christopher writes, this new bill “has been among the most controversial.” Like the energy package, Newsom is expected to sign the legislation into law.
Alex Morgan shifts from pitch to boardroom after San Diego Wave retirement
By the Associated Press
Alex Morgan didn’t retire so much as she shifted focus.
The two-time Women’s World Cup winner with the United States was always more than simply a soccer player, but since she stepped away from the game she’s thrown herself into her different business ventures.
“It didn’t feel like I was stopping being something and needing to start something else the next day,” she said. “I felt like I was stopping soccer, but a continuation of so many other parts of my life.”
