People Protesting Drag Queen Story Hour Met By Counter-Protesters And More Local News

August 30, 2019 at 3:00 AM PDT

Speaker 1: 00:00 Speaker 2: 00:33 Speaker 3: 00:55 Speaker 1: 01:15 Speaker 3: 01:18 Speaker 1: 01:28 Speaker 3: 01:37 Speaker 2: 01:47 Speaker 4: 03:00 Speaker 2: 03:17 Speaker 4: 03:30 Speaker 5: 03:52 Speaker 4: 04:00 Speaker 2: 04:14 Speaker 6: 04:25 Speaker 7: 04:44 Speaker 6: 04:57 Speaker 2: 05:13 Speaker 4: 05:26 Speaker 2: 05:31 Speaker 4: 05:37 Speaker 2: 05:43 Speaker 4: 05:50 Speaker 2: 06:20 Speaker 8: 06:38 Speaker 2: 06:38 Speaker 8: 06:45 Speaker 9: 06:54 Speaker 2: 07:09 Speaker 1: 08:03 Speaker 2: 08:22 Speaker 4: 08:38 Speaker 2: 08:52 Speaker 1: 09:11 Speaker 2: 09:39 Speaker 4: 09:52 Speaker 2: 10:12 Speaker 1: 10:34 Speaker 2: 10:45 Speaker 4: 11:06 Speaker 2: 11:28 Speaker 1: 11:41 Speaker 2: 11:46 It's Friday, August 30th I'm Deb Welsh and you're listening to San Diego news matters from KPBS coming up. People protesting. The two live is the library's drag queen. Story hour are met by counter protesters and here's your chance to sit in on the first table read of a new play. I plan on making changes to the play throughout the week as we're working on the script, developing it with the actors that more San Diego news stories coming up right after the break. [inaudible] thank you for joining us for San Diego News Matters. I'm Deb Welch on noisy protest outside the F street library in Chula Vista. Took place Thursday protestors and counter protestors clashed over an upcoming event where a drag queen is set to read stories to children. KPBS reporter John Carroll says things got so tense that police were called members of the group calling itself mass resistance gathered to protest drag queen story time scheduled to take place next month at the Oti ranch library. Protesters say having drag queens read to children is really a way to indoctrinate them into what they call a homosexual lifestyle mass resistance member. Arthur shopper. These are not role models. They should not be reading to our children but counter protestor. Kelly Hutton says the notion of drag queens storyteller would try to indoctrinate children or do anything inappropriate is ridiculous. Of course they won't talk about anything. Adults of course they won't. It's a children's literacy program for every child. Members of mass resistance have protested other drag queen story times and other parts of the country. They claim to have shut some down. John Carroll KPBS News County health officials confirmed three unrelated cases of tuberculosis Thursday in San Diego KPBS as Sarah Casianos tells us more, two of the cases were reported on different dock navy ships which were being worked on by contractors and not open to the public. The third case of tuberculosis was reported at Santa CGO high school. Health and human services are offering free testing for students who may have been exposed. They are also working with the navy and its contractors to identify the people who are working on the two ships. County public health officer will mow. Booton recommends testing for anyone who has been exposed even if they aren't experiencing symptoms. Symptoms of TB include cough, fever, night sweats, and weight loss. For more information, you can go to the tuberculosis control program on the San Diego County's website. Sarah Katz, Yannis KPBS News, some of California as wealthy as suburbs with the highest rents are discouraging the construction of new apartments. Some wait years without building a single multifamily home. Capital public radio is Chris Nichols has more on these findings from a nonpartisan research group. Atherton, Hillsborough, Danville, Westlake village and lock and Flint Ridge. What do they have in common? Aside from being well-to-do cities near California's biggest job centers, they all have severely restricted new apartment construction through local zoning rules. That's according to a Brookings institution report coauthored by Jenny Schutz. Unfortunately, a lot of the most expensive places where there's most demand for people to live are actually doing the worst job at building apartments. They've put in place a bunch of regulations that essentially make it hard or impossible to build apartments. There should says those regulations limit the amount of land reserved for apartment buildings. They also restrict their height and density and California gives a lot of power to cities and residents to block projects they deem undesirable even when the rents are really high. Chris Jordan is city manager in Los Altos and affluent silicon valley community, so do you. Don't build the developers build and all we do is create a regulatory environment that allows them to do so. He says Los Altos has approved several apartment complexes over the past year, but as far as changing the city's zoning rules, Jordan says that hasn't happened in Sacramento. I'm Chris Nichols, San Diego Assembly member Todd. Gloria is keeping pressure on the region's air pollution control district. KPBS reporter Eric Anderson says, Gloria's request for an audit has been approved. Gloria got word this week that the state will move forward with an audit that he first requested back in July. The assembly member wants state officials to examine the district's financial books and how the organization makes decisions about public outreach. Gloria says there are transparency issues and the region has poor air quality as a result. It's not just my sentiment, it's the fact that we have the sixth, fourth worst air quality in the nation. Maybe that would be worse. Um, if our air pollution control district wasn't doing what it was already doing, but it certainly can be better. Gloria's legislation to reform the district has already passed in the assembly and is under consideration in the state senate. He wants to expand the board to reduce the number of county supervisors on the panel and include more representatives from cities and the community. Eric Anderson KPBS news. There is a new way for low level offenders to avoid jail time and have their records cleared. KPBS reporter Matt Hoffman Says San Diego County's district attorney is touting a program that evolves therapy and community service district attorney. Summer Stephan wants low level offenders addressing the underlying cause of their crimes. We know a lot of criminality is based on impulsive behavior. She's promoting a community justice initiative that diverts some people away from jail by having them complete a behavioral therapy class over the 12 hours they address decision making and and controlling impulse behavior. That combined with community service could result in their case being dismissed. But the diversion program is only available for some nonviolent. This would be like your petty thefts, your vandalism, you're driving offenses, but not driving under the influence. Over the past year, more than 500 people have entered the program. And so far more than 200 have had their cases dismissed. The district attorney's office has only 2% of people who have had their cases dropped. Repeated criminal behavior. Matt Hoffman, K PBS news. What's your favorite California Song? The New York Times has been asking readers that question for a couple of months now. KPBS as Annika Colbert says, The Times use the answers to compile a California playlist. [inaudible] of course the beach boys and the eagles made the list, but it also had Johnny Cash, Tony Bennett, Kendrick Lamar, and made up of mind making you start with Kim for the big Keegan [inaudible] led Zeppelin going to California. That's their fantasy of California. And you know, their English, you know, they live in the rain. Um, they, they talk funny. So, I mean California is, is, is even more of a fantasy to them than it is to me as an American. That's John Parrella's, chief pop music critic at the time, speaking to KPBS mid day edition, Parrella's will be at the San Diego Central Library at 6:00 PM tonight to talk about the California playlist, Annika Kolbert k PBS news. Starting tonight at the San Diego rip and Amigos del Rip presents the third annual Latin ex new play festival. The three day event showcases stage readings of new plays by let next playwrights KPBS arts reporter Beth luck Amando sat in on the first table read for one of the plays earlier this week. Ever wonder what it was like to hear the first draft of hamlet read, wonder what questions actors would have had and if Bill Shakespeare would have been open to suggested changes. Well, earlier this week, freshly xerox copies of Jordan Ramirez Puckett's play were handed out around a table at San Diego Rep's rehearsal space in Chula Vista. I really believe that the most important character in any players, the audience, and you don't get a sense of that when you're alone in your room meeting the play on a computer screen or even if you get a bunch of friends together and just read it in your living room, you need a live breathing audience to go, oh, okay. That's a laugh line. I didn't realize it was a laugh line. Great. In theater, everything begins with the written word and what a playwrights sets down on the page can be treated like scripture, but a new play is a living and breathing thing that's still growing and changing. Santiago ESN t is directing Ramirez pocket's play. We are here today for the Perth table read of a new play to saints and stars. What's is following two friends, the FIA and Zoe who grew up together and they're navigating whether religion and science are in opposition to each other. The world is changing and I I'm shocked that you would want to bring a child into this mouth. I have faith that what the planet's going to suddenly get cooler, that water will rain from the sky. Maybe this table read is almost a stripped down version of the play as audiences will see on Saturday. Right. And so it's a way for theaters to help a playwright test material out before your, the big stakes of getting it a full production and you have reviewers coming to opening night and basically the actors will have scripts in hand the whole time. And what's great about that for me is I plan on making changes to the play throughout the week as we're working on the script, developing it with the actors, getting the actors feedback. And so I might be making changes to the script. The David and audience sees it. That's the kind of excitement you'll find in the San Diego Reps. Latin x new play festival where four new plays will receive staged readings this past Monday he Asinta heard the play for the very first time. Hi. It's exciting. I am very passionate about new work so we are focusing on the text and developing it. A lot of what we're doing this week is giving the playwright who was with us the entire week, the opportunity to hear it out loud. And so this is an opportunity for the playwright to really see it on feet, uh, and to help her in the development process. A director doesn't always have the luxury of working with the writer of the work being produced a hi and thank you all for being here. It's also an opportunity to dig into the background of the play with the person who created it. Ramirez pocket drew on her own longterm friendship and personal beliefs to create the dynamics of the play. I consider myself a person of faith, but I also deeply value scientific contributions and I think a lot of times I see them put at odds with one another. You either you believe in God or you believe in science. I only know what I've been told, which is, you know, I can't tell you, but it's bad, but you're working on it. Yeah. Options are limited. You'll figure it out. You don't know that I have faith. Yeah, I know God will provide blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I have faith in you. The play hit home for ESN Day. I think in my life like in many people who grew up in Latin x families, religion is at the foundation of the values that you grew up with and so I think this place is challenging us to think about what we believe in and why and this, this current political climate. I think it's important to be a critical thinker and to analyze what are our values. San Diego Rep and Amigos Dell Rep are providing a showcase for Latin x playwrights to explore issues of concern to them, whether it's big questions of science and faith or something more intimate and universal. I always hope that my players make someone want to pick up the phone and call a loved one. You don't need sets and costumes to convey that. Just a playwrights' carefully words delivered as hamlet instructed trippingly on the tongue. Beth, like a Mondo KPBS news, the Latin x new play festival runs tonight through Sunday at the lyceum space theater. Thanks for listening to San Diego News matters. If you're not already a subscriber, take a minute to become one. You can find San Diego news matters on apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Members of a group called Mass Resistance protested Drag Queen Story Hour at a Chula Vista library. Counter-protesters were there to meet them. Plus, San Diego County’s “second chance” program diverts some offenders away from jail, Rep. Mike Levin tours San Diego border facilities, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzales joins workers calling for the passage a new labor law aimed at contractors, and San Diego REP and Amigos Del REP are hosting their third Latinx New Play Festival.