JOHN GASTALDO / Union-Tribune Incoming freshman Sonia Pedro (left) of San Marcos worked on a team project with Elaine Navarro (center) of Ladera Ranch and Miriam Viduarri.

SAN MARCOS – Ana Lopez has long dreamed of carving out a better life for herself and easing her father's load. Her dad works at a nursery and is the sole provider for a wife at home with arthritis and six children. The family lives in a two-bedroom Fallbrook apartment.

SAN DIEGO – Despite a temporary restraining order against a strike, hundreds of University of California San Diego service workers began picketing with their brethren statewide yesterday for better wages.

CAMP PENDLETON – A Camp Pendleton sniper should not be tried for killing two men and seriously injuring at least one other last year in Iraq, the officer who presided over a fact-finding hearing said.

Officials at Neighborhood House Association, the charity that runs most of the Head Start federal preschool centers in San Diego County, have volunteered to reduce enrollment by 20 percent to appease federal regulators.

DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO – The National Council of La Raza spends most of its time protecting and advancing the rights of Latinos through advocacy and community work. But as it wraps up its convention downtown, it has found itself defending its name.