Chula Vista studies ADU policy
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Wednesday, October 16th.
Chula Vista is studying new housing rules that could change the look of neighborhoods. More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….######
Gas prices in the county increased slightly yesterday.
The average price of a gallon of gas rose to about 4 dollars and 68 cents.
The small bump comes as Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday signed a law aimed at preventing spikes in the price of gas.
The law gives regulators the power to require that refineries keep a certain amount of fuel on hand.
The goal is to try to keep prices from increasing suddenly when refineries go offline for maintenance.
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There’s new pressure from imperial beach residents to fix the cross-border sewage problem. A lawsuit was filed yesterday (tuesday) against Veolia Water North America, the operator of the international wastewater treatment plant in San Ysidro.
The suit demands Veolia fix the problems at the plant. The suit says that, over the last five years, there have been more than 500-instances of raw sewage being released into the ocean, more than a billion gallons. Brett Schreiber is with the law firm of Singleton - Schreiber…
“We believe that this environmental catastrophe could have and should have been prevented if Veolia had just simply done their job. if any of us had done our jobs as poorly as Veolia has, we would all be fired.”
KPBS reached out to Veolia Water North America for a comment, but didn’t hear back by our deadline.
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Meanwhile, County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer is circulating a petition asking the EPA to designate the Tijuana River Valley a Superfund site.
The designation would allow the EPA to direct federal money to help clean up the contaminated river.
Earlier this month, the Board of Supervisors voted to delay any formal decision on pursuing a Superfund designation.
But Lawson-Remer and several leaders in the South Bay are pushing forward as concerns grow over the health risks posed by cross-border pollution.
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From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
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Residential neighborhoods in Chula Vista could look vastly different under new housing rules the city is studying. inewsource reporter Emily Ingco has more.
They’re called accessory dwelling units … sometimes, granny flats. And in Chula Vista, homeowners can build one on their property. Now, the city will research whether to allow two detached ADUs. It could help the region’s housing crisis … and would happen in one of the county’s fastest-growing cities. But when a change could happen is unknown. The City Council has directed staff to study the issue and collect public feedback. Here’s Councilmember Jose Preciado. “For the interest of all of us, I think we need to slow this down.” For KPBS, I’m inewsource reporter Emily Ingco.
inewsource is an independently funded, nonprofit partner of KPBS.
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After the overturning of Roe v. Wade two years ago, women’s reproductive rights may take a further hit. reporter Amita Sharma says that’s if project 2025 is implemented.
Project 2025 was crafted by the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation. A hallmark of the near 1,000 page document is reviving the 1873 law called the Comstock Act. It bans mailing items that could be used for an abortion. UC Davis Law Professor Mary Ziegler specializes in the politics of reproduction. She says because all abortions in the U.S. involve the mail, this would amount to instituting a national abortion ban. The other thing I think that people don't understand is that this outcome could be engineered without Congress, Ziegler says she’s uncertain about what a challenge to the Comstock Act would look like. “We haven't really seen anyone attempt to enforce a 19th century criminal law in the present day. Former President Trump has denied he will implement Project 2025 if he wins the presidential election. A CNN report found 140 people who worked in the first Trump Administration helped write the plan.
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As we approach Election Day, all eyes are on the presidential race. but there are also several local races that will have big impacts across the region. our public matters partner, Scott Lewis from Voice of San Diego, joined KPBS’ Amita Sharma to discuss.
"Thank you, Scott, for coming on the program. Thank you"
To get more information on all of the local measures on your ballot, check out the KPBS voter hub at KPBS.org.
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Thousands of sailors returned to San Diego yesterday after an extended deployment to the middle east. Military reporter Andrew Dyer was pierside for the homecoming.
When the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt left San Diego nine months ago it was supposed to be seven months in the western Pacific. But real-world events intervened and for the first time in a long time a San Diego carrier was called to the middle east. The ship was more than five months into its deployment in the Pacific when that call came.For months Navy ships have faced drone and missile attacks from Houthi rebels in Yemen and the Navy stretched its carrier fleet in response.The commander of the carrier strike group, Rear Adm. Christopher Alexander, says the time away took its toll on sailors.So we were originally scheduled for a seven month deployment. We were supposed to be back, at the beginning of August. And then, because of world events, we left the Western Pacific and moved over to the Middle East, where we were an extended a total number of four different times. A Navy official says the crew can expect extended time home. The USS Carl Vinson is next up to deploy from San Diego. It's scheduled to deploy by the end of the year. Andrew Dyer, kpbs news
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You can now watch a live stream of San Diego’s Giant Pandas thanks to the Zoo’s new ‘giant panda cam’The Panda Cam was launched yesterday (Tuesday) and offers a window into the daily activities of 4-year-old female Xin Bao and 5-year-old male Yun Chuan.
You can tune in during the day at sandiegozoo.org/pandacam.
That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. Join us again tomorrow for the day’s top stories. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great day.
