On The Edge Of Most Restrictive Purple Tier

San Diego county might be moved into the state’s purple, most restrictive covid-19 tier. Data released yesterday for San Diego county was above the threshold set for infection rates by the governor. If this happens again next week, the county will get moved into the purple tier and many San Diego businesses will be limited to outdoor operations only. Supervisor Nathan Fletcher has his doubts next week’s numbers will improve. "it would take a significant change in trajectory given everything that we've witnessed over the course of the last month in order for us to avoid that." Any restrictions wouldn't go into effect until a week from Friday. Democrat Terra Lawson-Remer has been declared the winner in the race for Supervisor District 3, defeating incumbent republican Kristan Gaspar. Remer says her priorities will be reopening schools and daycares, building affordable housing close to where people live and work. When it comes to the pandemic, she says the county should focus on finding ways to reopen places that serve children. "It's not only important for working parents to have their children in school. It's also a massive drag on our economy when parents can't send their kids to school or daycare. It's also disproportionately impacting women. I mean we're seeing women dropping out of the workforce in droves." Remer's victory in the election means the San Diego board of Supervisors will have a Democratic majority after decades of Republican control. It’s Thursday, November 5th. This is San Diego News Matters from KPBS News. I’m Anica Colbert. Stay with me for more of the local news you need to start your day. In some good news, Federal officials say it was a relatively calm election day at the local polls. The Department of Justice was on alert for possible voter fraud, voter intimidation or cyber hacking by a foreign power. Assistant U-S Attorney Christopher Tenorio says his office didn’t have to deal with much. “I do think it was a typical election as far as the low level of issues that we saw reported. Now we did receive more calls but it's also because more people were aware of someone that was available to call. And of course because there was a large number of mail in ballots.” He says his office boosted staff to help deal with potential cyber hacking but he says that threat never materialized. Republican Darrell Issa is maintaining a five point lead over Democrat Ammar Campa Najjar in the race for the 50th congressional district. That district covers much of east county and part of Temecula. Even with some votes still left to count, Issa is now celebrating a return to congress. Outside his campaign office in Vista (Wednesday) Issa promised - despite a close race - to champion conservative values. He also said a top priority is rebuilding the economy. Issa was previously in congress for 18 years. He says he's looking forward to again working with the San Diego County delegation to address the region's needs. The continued problem at the mexico border with sewage our congestion that needs more highway funds a number of issues that are more nuanced like high tech immigration reform and so on (:14) Campa-Najjar has not conceded the race. Two ballot measures aiming to create new housing opportunities in the North County had very different outcomes in this week’s election. KPBS North County reporter Tania Thorne has details. Oceanside residents have rejected Measure L- which would have created the North River Farms project. A majority of residents chose to keep the existing commercial farms instead of the proposed 585 new homes, an 88-acre farm, and proposed roadway changes. Although it is a win for No on L, the campaign's Kathi Carbone (Car-BONE) says the developers could re-apply to try again in a year. "If you're on city council and you green light this project again after the people have told you, hey we don't want it, then we have a problem there with the individual city council members." In Poway, voters approved "The Farm" development by passing Measure P. The project will take the deteriorating StoneRidge Country Club and transform it into 160 new homes, 70 acres of open space, and several amenities available to Poway residents. With the approved ballot measure, Erin McKinley with "The Farm" says the current fire hazards will be their first target in the project. "We promised the citizens that we are going to clear and demo within 90 days of the election being validated, so first step is calling the city and getting a demo permit so we can clean the structures on site and cleaning the fire hazards." McKinley says they expect some model homes and amenities will be available by the end of 2022. TT, KPBS News. The race for San Diego mayor is still too close to call. But democrat state assemblyman Todd Gloria has a healthy double digit lead over democrat city councilwoman Barbara Bry, despite polls depicting a tight race. KPBS Midday Edition Alison St John spoke with KPBS Metro Reporter Andrew Bowen who’s been closely following the race and a few other races in the city. That was KPBS Metro Reporter Andrew Bowen, speaking with KPBS Midday Edition Host Alison St John. And we should mention the other two city ballot measures -- Measure C, which would require district only-elections for the san diego unified school board is leading with 69 percent of voters supporting the measure. And Measure D, which would allow the San Diego Unified school board to remove a board member also looks like it will pass with 86 percent voting in favor. Stick with KPBS throughout today and tomorrow. We’re expecting to hear an update on the elections results sometime this evening. KPBS will bring you the latest on the radio, online and on TV. ######### Coming up on the podcast….The pandemic has some Department of Veteran Affairs clinics moving their emergency departments outside. "We don't know if there's going to be a huge second wave all of the sudden so while we have this process that veterans finally know that this is how it is for right now, we want to sustain that for right now." That story next just after this break. The Department of Veterans Affairs health system is welcoming more patients back after months of tight restrictions due to COVID-19. But V-A clinics are reopening at a slower pace than many civilian health facilities. From Tampa, Stephanie Colombini reports for the American Homefront Project. This story was produced by the American Homefront Project, a public media collaboration that reports on American military life and veterans. Funding comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. That’s it for the podcast today, thanks for listening and have a great day.