Daily Business Report: June 1, 2026
How San Diego’s Middle Managers Became the Villain
By Mariana Martínez Barba| Voice of San Diego
The city of San Diego’s expanding ranks of middle managers have become the go-to attack line on how spending got out of hand. But for years, city leaders saw them as the only way to get flexibility or roll out special projects. Now, everyone agrees there should be fewer of them.
Mayor Todd Gloria historically supported these roles, but they cost the city’s general fund more than $49 million this fiscal year. Amid a projected $118 million budget deficit, he is now proposing cuts.
It’s unclear what the long-term impact of the proposed cuts will be on city operations. But the city’s chief financial officer told us the cuts will increase risks and response times across the city.
California’s State of Emergency for Transportation Fuels
By Mike Ariza | California Globe
California is the fourth-largest economy in the world and an “energy island” that is separated from the other 49 States by the Rocky and Sierra Nevada Mountain ranges. There are no pipelines over these prestigious mountains. Until recently, California’s in-state refineries have historically met nearly all of the state’s massive transportation fuel demand.
Jet fuel: With all 145 airports, including nine international airports and 30 military airports, the demand is 13 million gallons of aviation fuel every day. Several of those airports have direct pipelines to local refineries. In 2019, California consumed 16.7% of the national total of jet fuel, making it the largest consumer of jet fuel in America.
Gasoline: For its 30 million vehicles, California is the second-largest consumer of motor gasoline among the 50 states– consuming 42 million gallons a day, just behind Texas.
Diesel: Diesel fuel is the second-largest transportation fuel used in California, consuming 10 million gallons a day of diesel to support the state’s highway transportation and trucking of products from three of the busiest shipping ports in America.
Bunker Fuel for the ships in three of the busiest ports in America, located in California, consumes about one million barrels of bunker fuel annually. The Port of Los Angeles had more than 1,800 vessel arrivals in 2024, which includes cruise and merchant ships. Port of Long Beach handled over 9.6 million container units in 2024, indicating a very high volume of ship activity, plus cruise ships. The Port of Oakland, which also handles significant cargo volumes, contributes to the total number of cruise and merchant ships needing fuel.
Latinos in California are mad at Trump. Their votes for Democrats’ gerrymandering show it
By Maya C. Miller, Jeremia Kimelman and Mohamed Al Elew | CalMatters
Two years ago, Chiefer Danks of Rosedale, who works in agriculture, believed the former president would stabilize the economy and make life more affordable again as it was under his first administration. But more than a year into the second Trump administration, Danks isn’t pleased with how things have changed.
Like Danks, many California Latinos feel betrayed by the president’s campaign promises to promptly lower costs and keep the U.S. out of foreign military entanglements — both of which ring hollow as gasoline and grocery prices surge due primarily to Trump’s unpopular war in Iran.
They’re also frightened and outraged that Trump’s second administration has targeted Latino residents — both those here illegally and legally, even U.S. citizens — with violent immigration raids and deportations, separating families in the process.
