Management and supporters of Butterfly Farms in Encinitas are mourning the death of co-founder Tom Merriman, who authorities identified as the victim in a suspicious death in Solana Beach on Jan. 1.

With a new school board and fresh perspectives, perhaps San Dieguito Union High School District constituents can look forward to greater transparency, more fiscal responsibility and an emphasis on the interests of students ahead of adults.

The race for San Dieguito Union High School District’s Area 4 seat offers voters stark choices. With three candidates hoping to replace retiring school board member Joyce Dalessandro, the election could turn the tables on a union-dominated school board. Although school board races are technically nonpartisan, this one, as with many others, is decidedly not.

Is it the last act of sitting school board members to recruit and select their replacements? The idea of retiring and letting anyone run who wants to is apparently not something San Dieguito Union High School District board members do.

Smoke from the USS Bonhomme Richard fire in San Diego is reaching up the coast today, as far north as Encinitas and Carlsbad, the National Weather Service advised this morning.