News

Pala Today News – 7/7/26

Written by John Fox on July 7, 2026

The following items are part of the award-winning “Pala Today” newscast heard this day at noon on PALA REZ RADIO™ 91.3 FM in Pala.

In any emergency, knowledge is power. Use our resources to leverage your family’s safety. Email 91.3@palatribe.com to subscribe to our daily M-F e-newsletter. Follow us at www.facebook.com/rezradio and www.twitter.com/rezradioFM. Additional resources at Palatribe.com

LOCAL AND REGIONAL NEWS

A fire that started yesterday afternoon on Camp Pendleton forced the evacuation of some military members and sent smoke blowing to the east towards Pala. The Pipeline Fire began about 2:10p and had grown to over 1k acres by this morning. The evacuation order was issued for 32 Area and was still in place as of this morning. https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/brush-fire-camp-pendleton-smoke-north-county-san-diego/4045384/?amp=1

A grass fire broke out just before 1p yesterday in San Marcos near the 2900 block of North Twin Oaks Valley Road. It was quickly stopped at about three acres just before reaching structures. https://www.newsbreak.com/fox-5-san-diego-1589916/4754691538242-firefighters-make-quick-work-of-brush-fire-threatening-structures-in-san-marcos

The Cougar Fire near Escondido began around 4:30p Sunday and was stopped at about ten acres an hour later. Structures were threatened, but there were no evacuations. https://www.newsbreak.com/fox-5-san-diego-1589916/4753033000226-vegetation-fire-sparks-near-escondido

The Fallbrook Union Elementary School District has approved a contract extension for Superintendent Monika Hazel. This is her third year at the job. During the first two years, attendance increased and district-wide CAASPP proficiency in English Language Arts increased from 47% to 57%, and math increased from 35% to 45%. https://www.villagenews.com/story/2026/07/02/news/fuesd-extends-superintendents-contract-after-3-years-of-growth-and-achievement/82283.html

The city of Carlsbad is asking the California Coastal Commission to tighten land use near McClellan-Palomar Airport. Though the airport is outside of the coast zone overseen by the commission, nearby properties that would be affected should the airport choose to expand, are within their purview. The city is asking the CCC to redefine the terms “airport” and “airport expansion” in some agricultural, commercial and industrial areas. It is also asking to remove airports as an allowable use in some of those areas. Part of the county’s 2021 master plan calls for extending Palomar’s runway by 200 feet and realigning the runway and taxiways within the existing footprint of the airport. None of that has been funded or scheduled. Carlsbad has joined in a third lawsuit filed in June against the county Board of Supervisors and American and United Airlines, aiming to prevent airport growth by challenging their leases at Palomar. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/07/05/carlsbad-asks-coastal-commission-to-tighten-land-uses-near-palomar-airport/

Expect a lot of haze in the area from multiple wildfires. It’ll be mostly sunny and hot in Pala for the next week with a slight chance of some rain next Monday. The full forecast is coming up. (below)

SPORTS

In Major League Baseball – One day after breaking an eight=game losing streak, the Padres were embarrassed again, this time at home as the visiting Diamondbacks shut out San Diego 8-0. That drops the Padres to third place at a game under .500 and one game behind Arizona. Both teams are hopelessly behind the Dodgers who have the best current record in the Majors at 60 and 32. The beat the visiting Rockies yesterday 8-7 in 11 innings with Dalton Rushing hitting the winning walk off RBI single. The Angels had the day off. They’re at Texas today. The other two series continue.

In the minors – The Lake Elsinore Storm lost 10-8 to Stockton Sunday. They begin a six-game series at Rancho Cucamonga tonight.

In the NFL – Eight months after he committed suicide, former Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland has been diagnosed with Stage 1 CTE, the brain disease brought on by repeated head trauma suffered by many players in contact sports. The family made the announcement after having donated Kneeland’s brain to Boston University’s CTE Center for research, who said in a statement that the progressive brain disease has been found in nearly half of athletes they’ve studied who died before the age of 30. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/49296262/late-cowboys-player-marshawn-kneeland-diagnosed-cte

In World Cup Soccer – Last night in Seattle, the U.S. was eliminated from the Round of 16, losing 4-1 to Belgium. It was the most-watched English-language broadcast of a soccer game ever in this country, garnering 26.4m viewers. According to Telemundo, it was also the most watched Spanish-language soccer broadcast ever in the U.S. with 9.8m viewers. A lot of the drama happened before the game, as Belgium’s appeal of FIFA’s decision to permit U.S. player Flarin Balogun was rejected. The appeal questioned FIFA’s reversal of Balogun’s suspension after President Trump asked FIFA President Gianni Infantino to review the red card thrown in last week’s game against Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was then reversed. European soccer’s governing body, UEFA called that reversal by FIFA “unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable.” European Union lawmakers are calling for an investigation of Infantino because of it. The reinstatement of Balogun turned out to be a moot point, as the U.S. lost anyway. https://apnews.com/article/world-cup-fox-ratings-us-bosnia-1036af3119b31dcd31f957645eb832d1

In yesterday’s other game, Spain beat Portugal 1-0 in Arlington. Today, Argentina beat Egypt 3-2 in Atlanta, and Switzerland against Columbia in Vancouver later today.

In the NBA – Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell has agreed to a four-year, $273m contract extension with a player option for the 2030-31 season. https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/49294892/agent-donovan-mitchell-reaches-new-4-year-deal-cavs

Kyle Lowry today signed a one-day contract with Toronto so he could retire as a member of that franchise. Lowry is one of only 12 players in NBA history to play 20 seasons. Chris Paul is the only other point guard to have played 20 seasons. https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/49295320/kyle-lowry-retires-signing-one-day-contract-raptors

In the WNBA – Seattle beat the LA Sparks 82-64. Yesterday’s other winners were Golden State and Connecticut.

In the NHL – The Ottawa Senators have re-signed star forward Claude Giroux to a one-year $5m contract, taking him into his 20^th NHL season. In four seasons with Ottawa, he’s only missed one game. He scored a career-high 35 goals in his first year as a Senator. He begins next season 21 goals shy of 400. https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/49296341/senators-re-sign-claude-giroux-1-year-deal-20th-nhl

In golf – At the John Deere Classic in Silvas, Illinois, Chris Gotterup won with a blistering fourth-round 62 to finish 20 under par 264. https://www.espn.com/golf/leaderboard/_/tournamentId/401811954

In racing – Chase Briscoe won Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Chicago. Also Sunday, Pato O’Ward won the Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio. https://www.espn.com/racing/results/_/series/indycar

Summer horse racing season at Del Mar opens in ten days.

BUSINE$$

As of midday trading on Wall Street, stocks were down on all three major U.S. indexes. The Dow was down a third of a percent. The S&P 500 fell two tenths. And the Nasdaq was off by 6 tenths. Gold traded $11 lower on the Comex at $4,156.50 an ounce. The benchmark West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures were up $1.89 to $70.44 a barrel.

Walmart has lowered prices on thousands of grocery and household items through all of its stores including Sam’s Club, online and through the Sam’s and Walmart apps. The new pricing went into effect last week. President Trump is taking credit, saying the cuts were at his request, though the company’s announcement made no mention of that. The giant retailer had raised prices on “general merchandise” in February due to increased tariffs. In a new Guardian and Harris Poll published today, about half of Americans say they’re struggling to pay for everyday items, and 95% believe the country is in the grip of an affordability crisis. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/walmart-price-cuts-beef-coke-pepsi-corn-ice-cream/

Microsoft-owned Xbox will cut about one fifth of its staff and withdraw from some development studios in what CEO Asha Sharma said yesterday is “the most significant restructure” in company history. Xbox is currently existing on a 3% profit margin with quarterly revenue down 5% from one year ago. The main problem is its subscription service, Game Pass. Xbox thought it would have 77m subscribers by now. It has 30m. Xbox made some major acquisitions that haven’t panned out. Now it wants to divest part of ZeniMax, for which it paid $69b in 2023. Sharma, who is now in her 5^th month at the helm says she will also reduce the number of games and reprioritize the most popular, including Minecraft, Fallout and Candy Crush. Xbox is laying off 1,600 people this week and another 1,250 over the next year. That’s almost half of the 6,400 planned layoffs across all Microsoft divisions. www.morningbrew.com

Real estate in San Diego County continues to appreciate, hitting new highs this year. According to the County Assessor’s office, the value of all residential, commercial and industrial land in the county is now $845b, up a little under 5% over the past year, continuing the trend of slower growth each of the past four years. San Diego is one of the largest assessed value counties in the country, ranking third behind Los Angeles and Orange counties. The number of residents in San Diego County asking for the homeowner exemption, which is a moderate discount for those using property as a primary residence has fallen every year since 2019 and is now at just over 450k properties. https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/2026W27/

Irvine-based EV maker Rivian stock fell 15% after the company announced it would sell an additional 75m shares to raise about $1.5b in cash.

LIFESTYLE / GREEN LIVING

Over the weekend at the movie box office, “Minions vs. Monsters” was tops, but with the lowest ticket sales of any Minions movie so far and barely more than “Toy Story 5” in its third week in theaters. Minions sold $37m worth of tickets. Toy Story sold $30m. “Young Washington” debuted in third place with $19m on at least 1,200 fewer screens than the other two. The total for this weekend’s top ten films was down 22% from last week and about half of the weekend that Toy Story 5 debuted. It was the lowest movie-going weekend so far this summer. https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/2026W27/

If you’re looking for a bargain on a new electric vehicle, Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler and Jeep is about to provide the opportunity. Stellantis-owned Fiat says it is now taking orders in the U.S. for the Fiat Topolino, an EV with prices starting at $13,995. Before you get too excited, the Topolino may look like a car – and a darn cute one at that, but it functions more like a golf cart. Even with a free power conversion, it’ll still only do about 25 miles an hour. It’ll only be street legal on roads with speed limits of 35 or less. Built in Morocco, it’ll be available in limited quantities as a hardtop with doors, or as a soft-top convertible with a rope instead of doors. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/07/stellantis-fiat-topolino-ev.html

On this day in music history – July 7,

1963, the Rolling Stones made their British television debut on the program, “Thank Your Lucky Stars”. They appeared on the show a total of 13 times over the next three years.
In 1966, The Kinks topped the charts with “Sunny Afternoon”. Like “Taxman”, released by The Beatles the same year, the song riffs on high taxation by the British government under the leadership of the Labour Party and Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
In 1969, George Harrison recorded his new song, “Here Comes the Sun” at EMI’s Abbey Road studios with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. John Lennon was absent, recovering from his recent car crash in Scotland.
In 1971, one half of ABBA – Bjorn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Faltskog were married in Sweden. 3k fans created chaos during which a police horse stepped on the bride’s foot, injuring her slightly.
In 1973, Billy Preston began the first of two weeks at #1 with “Will It Go Round in Circles”.
In 1978, Talking Heads released their second album, “More Songs About Buildings and Food”. It included their first Top 30 single, a remake of Al Green’s “Take Me to the River”.
In 1980, Led Zeppelin played their last-ever concert with John Bonham on drums in West Berlin – the final stop on their European tour that year. The show finished with a 17-minute version of “Whole Lotta Love”.
In 1984, Prince began a five-week run at #1 on the singles chart with “When Doves Cry” – his first chart-topper.
In 1989, it was announced that CDs were now, for the first time, outselling vinyl albums.
In 2000, Emimen’s wife, Kimberly Mathers was hospitalized after slitting her wrists following her husband’s show at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. His single, “The Real Slim Shady” had just peaked at #4 on the charts.
In 2006, Pink Floyd founding member Syd Barret died of complications from diabetes. He left the band after one album and released two solo ones before going into self-imposed seclusion for the next 30 years.
In 2007, The Live Earth concerts took place sequentially around the world all that day to “heal the planet” from climate change. They’d been organized by former Vice-President, Al Gore. Major acts played cities including Washington, Rio de Janeiro, London, Hamburg, Tokyo, Sydney and others. The Police played in New Jersey closing out the day’s events.
In 2009, memorial services were held for Michael Jackson with his coffin placed in front of the stage at Staples Center in LA.
In 2010, Paul McCartney joined Ringo Starr on stage at Radio City Music Hall in New York to celebrate the drummer’s 70^th
In 2015, climate scientists from five major universities found that 163 of Bob Dylan’s 542 published songs referred to the climate – the most of any songwriter. The Beatles came in second with 48 of their 308 songs mentioning the weather.

Born on this day …

In 1925, singer Mary Ford who teamed with husband, guitarist Les Paul. They had 16 top-ten hits together.
In 1927, Doc Severinsen, trumpeter and leader of the Tonight Show orchestra during Johnny Carson’s years hosting.
In 1932, pianist Joe Zawind from Miles Davis’ band and Weather Report.
In 1940, Ringo Starr
In 1944, Warren Entner from The Grass Roots
In 1945, founding member of Argent, Jim Rodford. He later became the bass player for The Kinks in 1978.
In 1948, guitarist Larry Reinhardt from Iron Butterfly and Captain Beyond
In 1950, David Hodo from The Village People
In 1956, radio disc jockey and novelty song maker, Bob Rivers
In 1962, Mark White, bass player with The Spin Doctors.

https://www.thisdayinmusic.com/search/?keyword=&date=7&month=7

Other celebrity anniversaries today …

Actress and comedienne Mo Collins is 61
Comedian and actor Jim Gaffigan is 60
Among those who’ve passed, actress Shelly Duvall from “The Shining”, “Popeye” and numerous Robert Altman films was born in 1949.

http://www.davesfunstuff.com/a-mb/2080-date0707.htm

Programming on Rez Radio 91.3 is made possible in part by the Pala Band of Mission Indians and donations from listeners like you. Call 760 742 4200 or email 91.3@palatribe.com for details on contributing to community radio in Pala.

Call the Pala Fire Department at 760 742 1632 before starting any open fires to get the day’s Cal Fire and APCD recommendations. Fire Department permits are required for any burning on Pala tribal land.

Pala seniors’ lunch menu for tomorrow (7/8) – turkey breast, stuffing & gravy, peas & carrots, salad and pudding

The Pala Band of Mission Indians has employment opportunities including full time and part time. For a list, go to the Palatribe dot com website.

Go to Facebook.com/RezRadio for community events and news affecting, or of interest to Pala and inland North County.

Listen to Rez Radio just about anywhere and access all of our assets with the free Rez Radio App, available at Google Play and the Apple App Store.

A transcript of this newscast will be available at our website, Rez Radio dot FM and on the Rez Radio App an hour or two after broadcast.

WEATHER

Pala Weather – widespread haze due to smoke from fires, otherwise sunny with a high of 89 and winds gusting up to 20 miles an hour this afternoon … 92 tomorrow … patchy night and morning low clouds and fog returning Thursday, clearing to sunny and 93 in the afternoon … 89 Friday … 87 Saturday … 88 Sunday … mostly cloudy with a slight chance of rain Monday morning, clearing to sunny and 89 in the afternoon … overnight lows, 62 tonight … 65 tomorrow night … 63 Thursday night … 62 Friday night … 64 Saturday and Sunday night

FIRE PERMITS

Call the Pala Fire Department at (760) 742-1632 before starting any open fires to get the day’s Cal Fire and APCD recommendations. Fire Department permits are required for any burning on Pala tribal land.

PALA

The Pala Band of Mission Indians has a number of part-time and full-time employment opportunities.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Friend/like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/RezRadio

Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/rezradiofm

LISTEN TO REZ RADIO

Rez Radio Website – Listen to Rez Radio 91.3 through your browser at RezRadio.fm.

iHeartRadio Website – Listen to Rez Radio 91.3 through your browser at iHeart.com.

iHeartRadio Apps – Download the free iHeartRadio music app for iOS, Android, Windows, and participating car, home, and portable devices. Once the app has been downloaded, search for “Rez Radio” and save us as your favorite.

TuneIn Website – Listen to Rez Radio 91.3 through your browser at Tunein.com.

TuneIn Apps – Download the free TuneIn music app for iOS, Android, Windows, and participating car, home, and portable devices. Once the app has been downloaded, search for “Rez Radio” and save us as your favorite.

AudioNow – Provided by AudioNow, listen to Rez Radio 91.3 anywhere there is phone service by dialing (712) 775-5748. There is no cost for the service, but calls will use mobile plan minutes. If you’re calling from a landline, normal long distance charges will apply.

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

The Community Events and Casino Corner portions of this newsletter can be heard three times daily Mon-Sun on Rez Radio, at 7:25a, 12:25p (in Pala Today M-F), and at 5:25p as the “Pala Community Calendar”. Submit items for the calendar to 91.3@palatribe.com at least a week before the event.

You can view the events on the Calendar page.

SHOWS

You can find a wide-range of Pala Rez Radio programming on our Shows page.

RESOURCES

The Pala Band of Mission Indians and Rez Radio gathered this list of resources as a courtesy and offers no guarantee of accuracy. Please contact us if you find an error or if any link needs to be updated.

Check out the list of information on our Resources page.