College grads leave San Diego
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Wednesday, July 13th.
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College grads are leaving San Diego.More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….
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The San Diego City Council yesterday (Tuesday) approved a 10-point-five-million-dollar contract with Father Joe's Villages to continue operating the homeless shelter at Golden Hall.
It’s the largest shelter in the region, providing more than 500 beds.
The shelter supports families, teens and young adults and single men experiencing homelessness.
The new contract will add education, employment and drug treatment services at the shelter.
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Congressman Juan Vargas and State Senator Ben Hueso are pushing back on plans to resume border wall construction at Friendship Park.
That’s according to reporting by the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The 50-year-old park joins Imperial Beach and Tijuana.
It has been a place where those who can’t cross south can meet up with family members who can’t cross north.
Last week, San Diego activists raised concerns when Border Patrol officials told them the new project wouldn’t include pedestrian gate access to the park.
Customs and Border Protection told the U-T that it will “identify opportunities to provide the public with access once it is operationally safe to do so.”
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There’s a new coach in town!
The San Diego Gulls hired Roy Sommer as their new ice hockey coach.
He is known as the winningest coach in American Hockey League history.
Sommer will be replacing coach Joel Bouchard, who was fired after the Gulls had their first losing season.
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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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San Diego is among the most sought after destinations for college students in the nation.
But, as KPBS reporter Claire Trageser tells us, when it comes to keeping people around after they’ve graduated, the region doesn’t do so well in comparison to other big California metros.
Videos from Devin in Google Drive folder Devin Lecakes-Jones says he’s living his dream—he graduated from UC San Diego last year and is staying here, following in his parents’ footsteps. Devin Lecakes-Jones UCSD Graduate “I think it’s just the way I was raised, both my parents were high school teachers, and that kind of influenced my pathway to become a high school teacher.” But new data show Lecakes-Jones is not among the majority of his classmates —only 40% of UC San Diego students stay in the region after graduation. For every 100 graduates: San Diego keeps 99 Los Angeles keeps 120 San Francisco keeps 150 And for every 100 graduates from all local colleges and universities, the region retains just 99 of them, according to a new study. Meanwhile, Los Angeles and San Francisco attract more college graduates than they produce. This is a significant disparity that has both short and long-term impacts on the region’s economy and competitiveness, says Ray Major, the chief data and analytics officer at the San Diego Association of Governments. Ray Major SANDAG Chief Data Officer “Businesses need to be able to expand here…We need to have a business-friendly environment where people can open their business, expand their operations, hire people, and people can work there and live relatively close by at a reasonable cost.” There are also other options local leaders could explore, says Johnathan Conzelmann, co-author of the study. Johnathan Conzelmann UNC Researcher “You can sort of target that funding is towards maybe schools who do tend to retain more students within the local area.” That funding could be used in part to help lower-income San Diegans afford local colleges, says Daniel Enemark, the senior economist at the San Diego Workforce Partnership. Daniel Enemark San Diego Workforce Partnership Economist “If we were able to make it possible for people who don't have as much family wealth to get a college education, I think the likelihood of them staying here is much higher, especially if we can connect them with employers as part of the process.” He says the need for college graduates is especially acute in the current labor market. Right now in San Diego, there are two unfilled jobs for every unemployed person. Plus, employers need to pay more. “If workers didn't get an 8.2% raise this year, they are making less money this year than they were making last year…How do we retain more workers in San Diego? We’ve got to pay them more….The median real wage in America is no higher than it was pre-pandemic, which is a shame. We saw no real gain, spiked up, but it’s gone now.” That’s being felt by recent college grads like Lecakes-Jones, who’s living in Ramona because it’s one of the few places in the county he can afford. Meanwhile, his college friend Josef Polk moved to the Stockton area to become a lawyer and work on a horse ranch. Josef Polk UCSD Graduate “I think UCSD…helps San Diego build a really good base for professionals going from college into the real world.” But many of those students are going into the real world outside the San Diego region. CT KPBS NEWS
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Governor Newsom signed legislation that allows Californians to sue gun manufacturers.
KPBS reporter Kitty Alvarado spoke with the author of the bill, and has more.
San Francisco Assemblyman Phil Ting says the bill signed by the Governor, AB 1594, allows people to sue when gun companies violate California state law or their products malfunction. the gun industry is the only industry right now where there is no liability … and that’s what this bill … it’s game changing Ting, the main author of the new law, says this gives victims of gun violence the power to hold negligent gun industry actors responsible. Just like if you got into a driver accident … and there was a car malfunction then of course the auto industry would be at fault Michael Schwartz the executive director of the San Diego County Gun Owners Political Action Committee sent us a statement, calling the law a bully tactic that won’t stand up in court Ting is confident it will stand up in court because the New York law it’s based on just withstood a challenge in federal court. Kitty Alvarado KPBS News
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The number of COVID cases is rising in San Diego… just as two big events are about to return in person.
KPBS reporter John Carroll says local doctors are concerned about the surge we’re seeing.
It’s not just the rising numbers of COVID cases that are concerning to doctors and health officials. It’s the fact that the majority of them are due to new, much more transmissible sub-variants of the virus. The surge in cases comes just as hundreds of thousands of people are set to gather this weekend for Pride and Comic Con next weekend. Pride is mainly held outside, but Scripps chief medical officer for acute care operations Dr. Ghazala Sharieff says that’s no reason to let your guard down. “With these variants being so infectious, we still have to be extra careful.” Everyone who attends Comic Con must wear a visible mask at indoor events. They must also show proof of vaccination, or a negative test within the last 72 hours.
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Coming up.... Beach closures and advisories in Coronado. We’ll have that story and more, next, just after the break.
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The California State Games has canceled a junior lifeguard competition that was supposed to happen in Coronado this week… because of concerns about water quality.
As KPBS reporter Alexander Nguyen tells us … Coronado’s mayor is not pleased with the county’s new water safety testing method.
This is the second time in two weeks that a beach event has been canceled in Coronado. The city’s annual Fourth of July Rough Water Swim was canceled last week. Coronado mayor Richard Bailey says the problem is the new, more sensitive water safety testing method used by the county. “What we've seen over this past summer has been that the county has shut down or issued advisories for our beaches one-third of the summer days so far, which is simply unprecedented. And it's not because there's been any change to the underlying environmental conditions.” The new test detects both dead and live bacteria … leading to more beach advisories. Bailey says he wants the county to go back to the tests it's been using for the past 25 years... because it sets a baseline everyone understands. AN/KPBS
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The new docu-series "Icon Unearthed: Star Wars" reminds viewers of the challenges George Lucas faced to get his film made.
KPBS arts reporter Beth Accomando has this review of the show that debuted yesterday (Tuesday) on Vice TV.
The success of Star Wars tends to make people forget how hard it was to get the film made. George Lucas was rejected by two studios before 20th Century Fox finally greenlit it. The docuseries Icons Unearthed: Star Wars takes a deep dive into the franchise Lucas created. It boasts the first on-camera interview with Lucas’ ex-wife and film editor Marcia Lucas. She recalled showing the unfinished film to friends. MARCIA LUCAS I remember Brian DePalma coming out saying George, you got to get rid of that force thing. That doesn't work at all. What is it? Produced and directed by Brian Volk-Weiss the show offers nuggets of information that fans may not know. BRIAN Fox was putting a lot of pressure on George to not film the ending attack on the Death Star. So Fox actually wanted the movie to end with them leaving the Death Star having rescued Princess Leia. That would have been a very different film. The series celebrates how innovative Lucas was in creating his own effects company and fighting to keep the rights to what he had created. Any fan of Star Wars needs to watch this. Beth Accomando, KPBS News.
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And one more story before you go.
This year’s top 10 picks for One Book, One San Diego have been revealed.
They include novels, memoirs, poetry and true crime.
One of the books will be the subject of a region-wide book club and discussed during public events at libraries, schools and community centers.
The program is meant to connect people through reading and book discussions
The winner will be announced on August 20th at the Festival of Books.
For a full list of the top 10 books, visit kpbs.org slash one book.
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That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great day.
