Daily Business Report: August 10, 2026
Back-to-school sticker shock: Rising cost of school supplies delivers hard hit to family budgets
by Alejandro Maciel | Times of San Diego
Last week, I accompanied my daughter to Target to buy notebooks, pencils, markers, folders, and the long list of supplies she’ll need for the school year that starts in less than a week.
I went with her last year, too. And the first thing I noticed was the price of everything.
Everything seems to cost more.
As we walked through the aisles, I ran into María Ibarra, who was shopping with her daughter, a seventh-grader this year. Standing in front of a shelf lined with notebooks, María was trying to find options that would better fit her budget.
by Zain Kahn| California Post
California drivers are getting a painful reminder that where they fill up can matter almost as much as what they drive.
The state average for regular gasoline stood at $5.593 a gallon Sunday, according to AAA, putting California about $1.58 above the $4.012 national average.
A county-by-county look at the latest available figures shows a patchwork of prices, with some inland communities offering considerably cheaper gas while motorists along the Central Coast and in parts of the Bay Area are paying well above average.
Harm Reduction Subcontractor Tries – and Fails – To Return Money to County
by Lisa Halverstadt | Voice of San Diego
For nearly three months, a company that worked with an ex-county contractor now embroiled in a criminal embezzlement case has tried – and failed – to hand the county $170,000.
Now the county says it will seek those funds in Superior Court.
SMRT1 Health Solutions supplied vending machines throughout the county as a subcontractor for the Harm Reduction Coalition of San Diego, which deployed overdose reversal drugs using SMRT1’s vending machines along with other outreach. The Harm Reduction Coalition, using county money, paid SMRT1 upfront for its related work before the nonprofit’s two county contracts were cancelled last June.
