News

Pala Today News – 9/17/26

Written by John Fox on September 17, 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 memorial has been created for a 13-year old boy at the Menifee intersection where he was fatally struck by a vehicle during a police pursuit Tuesday afternoon. Police responding to a reported burglary in the 27000 block of Hemingway court saw a vehicle leaving the location and attempted a traffic stop. A pursuit began at high speed westbound on Holland Avenue. At the crossing with Evans Road, the vehicle ran a red light, colliding with the teen on an electric bike. Police rendered aid, but the boy died from his injuries. The pursuit continued and the suspect, 21-year old Melody Valdez of Temecula was eventually taken into custody and booked in French Valley jail on charges including homicide. She’ll appear in court Friday. The boy was identified by his family as Cody Valentino Garcia-Villatoro. A GoFundMe page has been established in Cody’s memory. https://patch.com/california/murrieta/13-year-boy-fatally-struck-during-police-pursuit-menifee-temecula-woman-arrested

The City of Vista, which owns and operates The Wave Waterpark voted unanimously to approve a $1.2m contract with Prestige Prime Engineering of El Cajon to replace the concrete deck at The Wave. Ten bids had been received. The only lower one was deemed “unresponsive”. Work is expected to be done in the off-season in early 2027. https://northcountychronicle.com/articles/community/deck-at-wave-waterpark-to-be-replaced/

Begun in San Marcos in 1971, what was most-recently known as “The Paper”, published weekly for 28 years by longtime San Diego county newsman, Lyle Davis is now operating under the wing of the publisher of The Valley Roadrunner and Escondido Times Advocate as The North County Chronicle. The change became official at the end of last month with the first issue dated September 3, 2026. https://northcountychronicle.com/thepaper/

It’s going to be about as cool today as it’s been any day this month so far. High temperatures will vary up and down in the 80s until Wednesday. Then, we’ll finish out the month in the low 90s. The full forecast is coming up. (below)

SPORTS

In Major League Baseball – The Padres whupped the Rockies 9-3 in Denver. Rookie catcher Ethan Salas hit his first Major League homer in the 2^nd inning, then followed it up with another in the 5^th. At age 20, he’s the youngest catcher ever to have a multi-homer game. Cincinnati topped the Dodgers 6-2. Miami edged Arizona 4-3. And the Angels lost to the visiting Mariners 7-2. The Padres and Dodgers wrap up their respective series today. The Angels are at Minnesota and the D-backs are off. The Padres are now nine games behind the first-place Dodgers and 3 ½ ahead of Arizona in the race for the final NL Wild Card. They’re also only about a game and half behind Philadelphia and the Cubs – the likely other two Wild Cards. San Diego has won 9 of its last ten games.

In the Minors – Last night in Santa Clara, the Lake Elsinore Storm routed the San Jose giants 13-2 to win the 2026 California League championship two games to one. It’s the second league championship for the Padres Single-A affiliate.

In the NFL – Week 2 games begin tonight with Detroit at Buffalo. The game can be seen exclusively on Prime Video, who will be offering some new features this season. There will be an alternate stream called “Prime Vision with Next Gen Stats”. It’s for fans who want real-time statistics, player tracking and predictive data layered over the game. An assortment of AI-powered tools will add information like identifying open wide receivers as routes develop. Casual viewers can stick with the more traditional regular broadcast without the statistics bells and whistles. Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit return as the primary broadcast team for 2026. Prime will also provide a dedicated Spanish language broadcast of all games. In addition to 15 regular season Thursday night games, Prime will carry a Black Friday game and a Wild Card game in January. https://thestreamable.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-nfl-thursday-night-football-in-2026?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=sendgrid

In college football – Steve Belichick, son of North Carolina head coach, Bill Belichick has resigned as the team’s defensive coordinator. He’d been on medical leave since August 6. It’s the result of the same investigation that led to the resignation of North Carolina GM Michael Lombardi. Witnesses were questioned regarding whether Steve Belichick “used drugs on the job or provided them to at least one player.” It was believes when Bill Belichick took the head coaching job that he hoped to create a succession plan for his son. Now that that won’t happen, it’s unclear if he’ll continue with the Tar Heels. Through it all, the team is 2 and 0 so far this season. www.nbcsports.com

In Major League Soccer – This Saturday, LAFC is at San Jose and Minnesota United hosts the Galaxy. San Diego FC is at Inter Miami on Sunday.

In the NBA – The Knicks have paused ticket sales while they sort out an error that caused tickets to be listed for at higher than correct prices. Individual game tickets went on sale this week with the price for the season opener against Philadelphia set at more than $1k. They’ll now roll back to last year’s prices plus an average increase of 12% and restart sales. https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/49966211/knicks-pause-ticket-sales-error-leads-higher-prices

In the WNBA – Games tonight include Connecticut at Atlanta, Washington at Chicago, Los Angeles at Dallas, Phoenix at Portland, and Las Vegas at Seattle.

In golf – The Biltmore Championship teed off this morning in Asheville, North Carolina. With most of the field still on the course, Max Greyserman led into the clubhouse at 7 under par, 64. https://www.espn.com/golf/leaderboard

Local high school sports –

Bonsall – girls’ volleyball at St. John de Lestonnac at 6:30p

Great Oak – girls’ golf hosting Chaparral at 3p; girls’ tennis against Vista Murrieta at 3:15p, JV hosting, varsity away; girls’ volleyball hosting Fallbrook at 4p; freshman and JV football at San Jacinto at 4p

Fallbrook – no schedule available

Valley Center – girls’ golf hosting Mt. Carmel at Native Oaks at 3:30p; girls’ varsity tennis hosting Vista at 3:30p; boys’ varsity water polo at Mt. Miguel at 4:30p; freshman football at Carlsbad at 5p

BUSINE$$

As of midday trading on Wall Street, stocks gained back their losses from yesterday’s Fed announcement of a quarter percent interest rate hike. Tech stocks led the charge. The Dow was up two thirds of a percent. The S&P500 rose 1.1%. And the Nasdaq gained 1.6%. Gold was up $17.70 on the Comex at $4,405.20 an ounce. The U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures fell $1.18 to $101.25.

Claims for unemployment benefits dropped sharply last week. The Labor Department reported today that claims slid to 196k, the fewest in two months and down from 206k last week. Economists had expected a slight increase. Unemployment claims are seen as an indicator of layoffs. Claims have mostly stayed within a historically low range of 200k to 230k per week. Job creation this year has been a huge improvement over 2025 when companies, government agencies and non-profits held off on hiring over the economic uncertainty of President Trump’s trade policies. https://apnews.com/article/unemployment-benefits-jobless-claims-layoffs-labor-dce6a66774436365a96bf3792bc1b86b

Mortgage rates are now at the highest level since Trump’s 2025 inauguration. The national average for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage is 7.05%, according to NerdWallet. https://www.nerdwallet.com/mortgages/mortgage-rates

OpenAI yesterday disclosed six new instances of “concerning” behavior by its models besides the widely-reported Hugging Face incident this summer. One instance involved “concealing mistakes or misaligned behavior from the user.” Another involved an internal-only model using an API key without authorization, and then fabricating data. Two instances involved models and agents communicating with each other through unsanctioned message boards and file sharing. Another had two training examples of models uploading files to the internet so they could be cited as relevant answers to human evaluators. OpenAI has also now committed to a new reporting framework for future instances of model misbehavior. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/16/openai-6-new-instances-of-concerning-model-behavior-since-march.html

The White House this morning, pulled the nomination of Oklahoma state trooper Lance Schroyer to become head of ICE. Schroyer was blocked by Senate Homeland Security Chair Rand Paul, who is requesting the department provide his committee with more information about the two ICE agents accused of killing two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis in January. Schroyer has no experience leading any major law enforcement agency, but had close ties with Homeland Secretary Markwayne Mullin. https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/17/ice-nominee-withdrawn-schroyer-01082250

American Airlines says it’s making half of its revenue from 30% of its seats. This month, it unveiled a 70-suite business class on one of its biggest planes, a Boeing 777-300ER. All airlines, including budget carriers have been ripping out existing seat configurations to add more first-class and other higher-yielding seats. Meanwhile, travel experts are saying, book your holiday travel now before you get shut out by higher fares. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/16/american-airlines-ceo-first-class-seats.html

LIFESTYLE / GREEN LIVING

Governor Newsome signed SB 1392 into law yesterday. Nicknamed Leno’s Law for the well-known celebrity car collector, it exempts additional classic cars from smog checks that do little, if anything to reduce emissions, but put the collector car industry in California in jeopardy. Calling it Leno’s Law was more than just a courtesy. Comedian Jay Leno has worked for years to change the state’s smog check policy to preserve and promote classic car collecting in the state. Beginning January 1, 2028, model years up to 1985 will be exempt if covered by insurance specifically for collector vehicles, most of whom limit driving to 1k miles per year. Every day-driver old cars don’t qualify. Pre-1976 vehicles were already exempt. https://abc7.com/post/gov-newsom-signs-sb-1392-dubbed-lenos-law-exempting-more-classic-cars-smog-tests/19836833/

On a voice vote, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act. It directs the Department of Transportation to require that every new car sold in the U.S. have a working AM radio receiver that is easily accessible. Automakers cannot charge extra or separately for AM radio access. Until the final rule takes effect, carmakers that leave out AM radio must clearly label the vehicle as such and cannot charge extra for it. Broadcasters and others advocates for the bill’s passage say AM radio is a critical lifeline in weather or national emergencies when cell networks and internet connections fail. Deep rural communities especially rely on the long-range reception of AM. Some vehicle manufacturers including Tesla dropped AM radio because EV motors create electromagnetic interference that causes significant static on analog AM frequencies. Those vehicles will require extra shielding and filters to overcome the interference, an extra expense that led them to drop AM from their vehicles in the first place. The Senate must now pass the bill before it can be signed into law by the President. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/315

On this day in music history – September 17,

1931, RCA Victor demonstrated the first 33 1/3 rpm recorded disc – the format most of us today recognize when we think of vinyl records. It failed to attract consumers 95 years ago due to the high price of the record players – $95 which is equivalent to $1,200 today. The format wasn’t revived until 1948.
In 1964, The Beatles appeared at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City. They were paid $150k for the show, which was more than any other previous act had ever been paid for a live show. Tickets were $4.50.
In 1967, The Doors were banned from future appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show after Jim Morrison broke his promise to producers to change the lyrics in “Light My Fire” to avoid singing “girl we couldn’t get much HIGHER”. Sullivan’s people felt the word “higher” glorified drug use. On that night’s one and only appearance, they also sang their new single, “People Are Strange”.
In 1969, media had fully latched on to the rumor that Paul McCartney had died in 1966 and that a double had taken his place at all public appearances for nearly three years. Paul and then-girlfriend Jane Asher were in fact, on vacation in Kenya at the time of his alleged 1966 demise in Scotland.
In 1978, the video for Queen’s “Bicycle Race” was filmed at Wimbledon featuring 65 naked female models riding around the track on rented bikes. The rental company reportedly demanded payment for replacement saddles when they found out how their bikes had been used.
In 1991, over 4m copies of Guns ‘N’ Roses’ “Use Your Illusion I” and Use Your Illusion II” albums were simultaneously released for sale, making it the largest record debut shipment in US music history.
In 1996 a bomb addressed to Icelandic singer Bjork was discovered at a South London mail sorting office. Police in Miami had alerted London officials after finding the body of Ricardo Lopez, who’d made a video of himself making the bomb before killing himself.
In 2011, the estate of Jimi Hendrix gave the approval for another round of archival releases, 41 years after the singer’s death. They included an expanded version of his 1968 Winterland concerts, a revamp of a 1972 live compilation, an upgrade of his final U.K. festival appearance on DVD, and a DVD reissue of some talk show appearances.
On the same day, Adele was at #1 on the singles chart with “Someone Like You”.

Born on this day …

In 1923, country singer Hank Williams, who released 35 Top Ten country singles – five of them posthumously. Eleven of them hit #1. Williams died in 1953 at the age of 29.
In 1933, Jeanine Deckers, also known as The Singing Nun, with her 1963 #1 hit “Dominique”.
In 1939, Lamonte McLemore from The 5^th
In 1950, Fee Waybill, lead singer with The Tubes.
In 1962, Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, who had a #1 hit in Britain in 1999 with “Everybody’s Free to Wear Sunscreen”.

https://www.thisdayinmusic.com/search/?keyword=&date=17&month=9

Other celebrity anniversaries today …

Actress Casandra Peterson, better known as “Elvira, Mistress of the Dark” is 75
Comedian Rita Rudner is 73
Among those who’ve passed, actor Roddy McDowall was born this day in 1928
Actress and wife of Mel Brooks, Anne Bancroft was born in 1931
Author Ken Kesey, best known for “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” was born in 1935
Actor John Ritter was born in 1948

http://www.davesfunstuff.com/a-dd/2080-date0917.html.

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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 (9/18) – deep fried cod, mac & cheese, French fries and dessert

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WEATHER

Pala Weather – sunny with a high of 81 and winds gusting up to 20 miles an hour this afternoon … 82 tomorrow … 87 Saturday … patchy night and morning low clouds and fog Sunday, clearing to sunny and 86 in the afternoon … mostly cloudy Monday morning, clearing to sunny and 82 … 84 Tuesday … 90 Wednesday … overnight lows, 54 tonight and tomorrow night … about 57 Saturday and Sunday night … 54 Monday night … 56 Tuesday 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.

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COMMUNITY CALENDAR

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SHOWS

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RESOURCES

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Check out the list of information on our Resources page.