Daily Business Report: February 16, 2026
Secret license plate readers are tracking drivers in San Diego and beyond. Who owns the cameras?
By Sofía Mejías-Pascoe | inewsource
Dozens of covert cameras are scattered across southern San Diego and Imperial counties, tucked into orange construction barrels and two-wheeled trailers on the sides of well-traveled interstates and highways. Who owns them is just as hidden.
These cameras are automated license plate readers. It’s a technology used widely by police departments to collect data on drivers who pass into their view, tying their license plates to a time, date, location and perhaps a crime.
But these particular cameras, disguised along the region’s major roadways, do not appear to be operated by local law enforcement. They may instead be owned and operated by the federal government, according to research and public records requests compiled by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based privacy and civil rights advocacy organization.
Albert Einstein Academy Hires New Principal Amid Ongoing Turmoil
By Jakob McWhinney and Jim Hinch | Voice of San Diego
Albert Einstein Academy’s elementary school has a new principal – and he may be familiar to Voice of San Diego readers. The charter network announced in a recent message to the community that they’d hired Jorge Mora to serve as the elementary principal.
Mora previously served as director of human resources at the Chula Vista Elementary School District. Earlier in his career, he led several Chula Vista elementary schools as a principal and worked for seven years as a teacher in bilingual classrooms.
Mora said in an interview that he sought the Einstein job because he missed working directly with students and teachers and felt he could help strengthen the school’s signature language immersion programs.
Sacramento Report: Where Did All the Condos Go?
by Nadia Lathan | Voice of San Diego
Buying a condo in San Diego has been difficult for several years.
The complexes have long been considered a cheaper route to homeownership than other kinds of homes. Under a condominium form of ownership, ownership of a specific, individual unit is paired with shared, undivided interest in common areas like land, hallways, and amenities. Yet, condos have become so expensive to build in the region and elsewhere in California that developers rarely build them anymore.
So, what gives?
