Happy Thursday! Here's hoping you're as magic on the landline as Winston from "New Girl."

🌤️Today's weather: Coast — Partly sunny, high 70; Inland — Sunny, high 73

• Coastal Flood Warning until 1pm

🎧 Sounds like: "Telephone Line" by Electric Light Orchestra

Today’s newsletter is 1,049 words — a 4-minute read.

Many local parents are excited about a revamped technology from the 1990s: landline phones for their kids.

Why it matters: Campaigns like "Wait Until 8th" mean more parents are restricting their kids' smartphone use, but that's left kids with no way to talk to each other outside school.

Driving the news: Tin Can launched last year to fill that gap.

• California is their biggest market.
• Other companies offer similar products, including Pinwheel Home, Ooma MyPhone, Wiley Buddy, Ring Ring Club and Voiply's Kids Phone Plan.

How it works: The colorful, toy-looking Tin Can is $100.

• The phones run off WiFi, you get your own phone number and parents approve what numbers kids can call.
• Parents can also set quiet hours.
• You can call other Tin Cans for free. For $9.99 a month, you can call non-Tin Can numbers too.

Flashback: It all started when founder Chet Kittleson realized something was missing for his three kids, all under age 12, he tells Axios.

• He's not letting them get cellphones until they're older. He was talking to other parents at school pickup one day about how kids couldn't contact each other to organize their own playdates.
• "A mom made a comment about how she felt like she was an executive assistant for her kid," Kittleson says.

The big picture: Most younger elementary school children don't own smartphones, according to a 2025 Pew study.

• And increasingly, parents think kids should wait until 12 to get one, the study found, as books like "The Anxious Generation" and lawsuits against Meta point to the dangers of smartphone use.

State of play: San Diego parents are posting about Tin Cans in online forums like "San Diego Moms," and some neighborhoods are buying phones in bulk.

Yes, but: Can't you just get a landline?

• It's not that easy anymore because getting a traditional copper-wire connection has become harder.
• Also, phones like Tin Cans that ring for only approved numbers block spam calls.

San Diego parent Ahna Dick tells Axios she was eager for her kids to have the same experience she did as a child: rushing home to call up friends to recap the school day.

• "My kids are too young for cellphones and I'm trying to push off their access to social media for as long as possible, so the Tin Can seemed like a good compromise," she says.

My experience below

Before I'd heard of Tin Can, I noticed the problem: my son was lying around bored on weekends, even though his friends live short distances away.

The big picture: My son and his friend got Tin Cans last month and we parents eagerly waited to see what would happen.

On the first day, I saw on my Tin Can app that the friend had called three times, five minutes apart, all shortly after 7am.

• We had our phone set on silent until 8am, so the calls didn't come through.
• The friend called again that afternoon, but my son was playing a game so he didn't answer.
• Finally, my son called him back.

"Um, do you need something?" his friend asked.

• "I don't know," my son said.
• "Oh, OK. Bye," the friend said.
• My son looked at me. "How do you hang it up?"
• "Just put it down," I said.

Clearly, there's a learning curve.

Call a friend

Labor leader Dolores Huerta died yesterday at age 96. The United Farm Workers co-founder coined the rallying cry "Sí, se puede." (Axios)

• She spoke to KPBS last year and said our state of social justice is lacking as rights are being trampled. (KPBS)

🕌 A woman prompted a lockdown Tuesday at the Islamic Center of San Diego after she entered the mosque following erratic driving and evading Carlsbad police, according to SDPD. (10News)

• After she returned to the mosque yesterday, police took her for a mental health evaluation. SDPD said she wasn't arrested or facing charges.
• Two men attacked the mosque in May, killing three people.

🦟 A mosquito treatment cut Coronado counts from 20–30 mosquitoes per trap to four or five, but populations can rebound within two weeks. The county has reported 11 human West Nile cases this year, compared with none last year. (KPBS)

🗳️ The Justice Department demanded citizenship checks on 1,709 registered local voters and threatened elections officials with prosecution if they knowingly counted ballots cast by noncitizens on the list. (Union-Tribune)

• Local officials say they're "evaluating next steps."

🥐 Wayfarer Bread & Pastry brought on local partners to expand beyond Bird Rock, aiming to open a North County bakery by the end of 2027. (San Diego Magazine)

The city is switching its water rates in January so everyone will pay the same rate, after a 6-2 City Council vote Tuesday.

Why it matters: The average household will end up paying more.

Context: It used to be that you'd pay a lower rate for water if you used less of it. Now there'll be one set price.

• This comes after a court ruled the city's existing water billing method violated state law, according to the city.

By the numbers: The city was already planning to raise rates in January, but on a sliding scale.

• So prices would've ranged from $9.75 to $13.62 per hundred cubic feet, depending on how much water you use.
• Now we'll pay $11.09, plus a fixed charge based on meter size.

Congrats to Bruce, our loyal reader (and Axios Social Club afterparty attendee) who correctly guessed I took this picture at Ballast Point Brewing in Little Italy.

• In fact, he remembers me snapping the pic at the afterparty.
• It's very Halloween appropriate.

These skeletons are found repeatedly in Ballast Point merch, and are created by artist Paul Elder. Read about how he became the brewery's resident artist here.

🗳️ Claire is mailing in her ballot. Reminder, here's our voter guide!

👩🏻‍🍼 Kate is on parental leave.

This newsletter was edited by Hadley Malcolm.