San Diego County's Housing Price Index Drops 1.2 Percent

1. San Diego's housing price index dropped 1.2 percent between December and January, according to the Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released Tuesday. Only eight of the 20 housing markets surveyed fared worse in the same time period than San Diego, which had previously been one of the few bright spots in the monthly S&P report.

2. A Coast Guard petty officer who was aboard a patrol vessel that crashed into a smaller boat during the Parade of Lights in San Diego Bay, killing a Rancho Penasquitos boy, pleaded guilty Tuesday to dereliction of duty.

3. UCSD Medical Center and Scripps Memorial Hospital were ranked among the top hospitals in San Diego and the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report's annual survey out Tuesday. UCSD was ranked first in San Diego and 11th nationally in pulmonology, according to the magazine. The hospital also appeared in national rankings for diabetes and endocrinology, geriatrics, orthopedics and psychiatry.