Speakers

WINTER '26: THE COMING STORMS

Veteran Union-Tribune reporter Gary Robbins will discuss some of the ways that the U-T is preparing for El Nino coverage this fall/winter, and how it will collaborate with first responders.

About Gary Robbins

Maine native Gary Robbins decided to become a newspaper reporter in December 1972 when he saw His Girl Friday, a comedic newspaper movie starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. About a month later, a weekly newspaper debuted near his home outside Bar Harbor, Maine. He asked its editor for a shot at writing and got it.

Robbins went on to journalism school at Northeastern University in Boston. In 1980, he joined an afternoon newspaper in Hollywood, Florida and covered, among other things, the Cuban boat lift and Haitian boatlift. He later moved on to the Orange County Register, where he spent 25 years as a science and technology writer. He joined The San Diego Union-Tribune in 2010 and now covers science and research universities, the military and the weather.

Robbins was a Knight Science Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He later taught journalism at USC and Cal State Long Beach. He is married to Diana McCabe, the U-T's business editor. They have a cat, Sweet Pea, who basically does nothing 35 hours a day.

In conjunction with San Diego Climate Week, and Rotary Clubs in the U.S. and Mexico, Steve will showcase inspiring initiatives including the Tijuana River Project, Pollinators Without Borders and other cross-border environmental efforts.

Steve Bender is a global sustainability leader and strategic advisor with decades of experience building partnerships, launching environmental initiatives, and helping organizations grow in ways that are both responsible and resilient. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Newport Beach. 

 

By popular demand, Eduardo Velasquez returns to LJGT Rotary.

Eduardo Velasquez, Vice President of the San Diego Regional EDC, will share San Diego's Economic Outlook 2027 and a look at what may be ahead for the region.