County keeping sanctuary policy in place — for now

Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Wednesday, March 12.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors has voted against repealing its sanctuary policy.

More on that next. But first... the headlines….

San Diego is boosting its tax on recreational cannabis sold at the city’s 25 dispensaries.

The city council voted this week to raise that tax from 8 percent to 10 as part of its efforts to fill a 250 million dollar budget deficit.

According to the Union-Tribune, the 10 percent tax ties San Diego with Los Angeles and San Jose as the highest in the state.

The increase is expected to boost revenue by 4 million dollars a year but critics say people might just buy in another city or through illegal alternatives.

The family of a woman whose body was found inside her van in an impound lot is suing the city of San Diego for 50 million dollars.

According to the complaint, 65-year-old Monica Cameroni De Adams was parked and sleeping in her van in December 2023 when it was hit by a drunk driver.

Responding authorities did not find her body and the van was towed to an impound yard.

The lawsuit says De Adams died of her injuries. Her body was found by a tow yard worker more than a month later.

Former California representative Katie Porter is joining the governor’s race.

The Orange County Democrat was elected to Congress in 2018. She’s known for her tough questioning at Congressional hearings.

The race to replace the termed-out Governor Gavin Newsom on the Democratic side includes former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis (uh-Len-ee Kewn-uh-lock-us).

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco is running as a Republican.

From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.

Stay with me for more of the local news you need.

A COUNTY POLICY ON ASSISTING FEDERAL IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT WENT BACK BEFORE THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Yesterday.

SUPERVISOR JIM DESMOND WANTS TO REPEAL THE POLICY, WHICH LIMITS LOCAL ASSISTANCE FOR FEDERAL AGENTS.

THIS IS NOT ABOUT MASS DEPORTATIONS. THIS IS ABOUT DEPORTING PEOPLE WHO ARE HERE ILLEGALLY WHO HAVE BEEN CONVICTED OF A HIGH LEVEL CRIME.

SUPERVISOR MONICA MONTGOMERY STEPPE SAID THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ENFORCES IMMIGRATION LAW… AND NOTED THE POLICY HAS AN EXCEPTION.

THIS POLICY DOES NOT LIMIT OR PROHIBIT GIVING ASSISTANCE WITH THE INVESTIGATIVE ACTIVITIES OF ANY LOCAL STATE OR FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY RELATED TO SUSPECTED VIOLATIONS OF CRIMINAL LAWS. IT’S IN THERE. 

THE REPEAL GOT TWO YES VOTERS… BUT THREE WERE NEEDED FOR IT TO PASS.

A SPOKESMAN FOR DESMOND TOLD KPBS THEY MAY LOOK AT BRINGING IT BACK AFTER A NEW DISTRICT ONE SUPERVISOR IS ELECTED LATER THIS YEAR.

Also yesterday, the board VOTED TO UPDATE ITS UNSAFE CAMPING ORDINANCE... TRYING TO PREVENT WILDFIRES FROM STARTING AT HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS.

REPORTER ALEXANDER NGUYEN SAYS SUPERVISOR JOEL ANDERSON BROUGHT THE ISSUE UP BECAUSE OF BACKCOUNTRY FIRES CAUSED BY HUMAN HANDS.

The aftermath of the 2003 Cedar Fire is still haunting people in rural East County.  Supervisor Joel Anderson says that is the reason why he brought this issue up … especially in the county's incorporated and rural areas. He says it’s about fire safety. “We're going to lose citizens, and we're going to lose a lot of homes. And that's wrong. We can prevent this.” After some back and forth negotiation … the board voted unanimously to to add provisions related to fire risks …They include protections in specific areas such as open spaces And when there are no fire threats … deputies will provide 72 hours notice to clear out encampments … and offer shelter before enforcement The updated camping ban will return to the board for a second reading in 60 days. Alexander Nguyen, KPBS News##########sheriff respond

THE SAN DIEGO COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE IS NOW ADDRESSING A CONTROVERSIAL 2023 TRANSFER OF A JAIL INMATE TO IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT CUSTODY. REPORTER GUSTAVO SOLIS HAS THE DETAILS.

The Sheriff’s Office is asserting that the transfer of an undocumented man into ICE custody was legal under one of California’s sanctuary laws.  ACLU lawyers and other advocates have publicly flagged this case as a possible violation of state law for nearly a year. It involves a man with a 21-year-old conviction for assault with a deadly weapon. The Sheriff’s Office had not responded to those questions about the case until late last Friday … … after a KPBS story on the issue. The response from a Sheriff spokesperson cited a specific section of the law to justify the legality of the transfer.  That section of the law states transfers can occur when QUOTE”"imprisonment in the state prison The Sheriff’s Office had not previously cited that section of the law in public forums relating to the sanctuary law. And it conflicts with another section of the same law. That section creates a timeframe for when someone with specific convictions can be transferred. It states transfers can occur if QUOTE “The individual has been convicted within the past five years of a misdemeanor … or has been convicted within the last 15 years of a felony.”  Gustavo Solis KPBS News

THE IMPERIAL VALLEY LGBT RESOURCE CENTER IS CHANGING ITS NAME. IMPERIAL VALLEY REPORTER KORI SUZUKI SAYS THAT’S ONE OF SEVERAL DECISIONS RAISING QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CENTER’S COMMITMENT TO THE TRANS COMMUNITY.

For almost a decade, a bright rainbow sign has welcomed visitors to the Imperial Valley LGBT Resource Center in El Centro. It sat at the entrance to the parking lot. Another version hung in the lobby. But in the last two months, those symbols of the LGBTQ+ community have been taken down. The sign is new. We recently had the sign changed from in Pearl Valley LGBT Resource Center to the Donnelly Community Services Center. Rosa Diaz is the center’s founder and CEO. She started the center in the mid-2010s. After trying to get her church to do more to support kids who were questioning their sexual orientation. Well, it didn't go very well and after a while I was no longer allowed to be in the position of ministry. Diaz was a minister at the time. But because she came out as lesbian, she says the church took away her leadership role. She decided to create her own Bible study group for LGBTQ+ people in the valley. Pretty soon, it started to grow. In 2015, Diaz decided to start a resource center. I didn't know much about the LGBT population. I knew about uh myself being, you know, lesbian, but there was nothing in my radar about rights. It was more advocacy for help. Both mental and physical health. LGBTQ+ resource centers have a long history across the country. But this one was the first of its kind in Imperial County – the only official physical place for the valley’s community. Other advocates in the region were excited. Kathie Moehlig is the executive director of TransFamily Support Services in San Diego. She says she met up with Diaz personally to try and figure out what they could do to support the new organization. It's not a matter of competition because there are plenty of people that need our services. So it's a matter of when we work together we're stronger. Um and and that's what we were hoping to bring to Imperial Valley. But  some people were a little more wary. … They didn’t feel like the center was welcoming to everyone in the broader LGBTQ+ community. Especially when it came to trans people. ​​I met a lot of people who used to go to the center, but due to due to the the toxic environment, very toxic environment that went throughout the years, people just left. Andee Lopez is a former outreach worker at the Center. She says some of the other staffers would repeatedly misgender her and other trans employees. Lopez says she reported those behaviors but that Diaz never did anything to stop them. Eventually, she reported the center to the state Civil Rights Department. “This is my live experience with all the hate by some by somebody who promoted acceptance, who took money from outside organizations [JUMP CUT] even all the way even all the way to to the state level taking state grants, but never honored our existence.” Diaz denies these allegations. She said Lopez never reported those behaviors to the Center’s leadership.  But in recent years, Diaz has taken more public stances that are at odds with advocates for trans rights. In particular, Diaz says she’s become more skeptical about some types of healthcare for trans people, or gender-affirming care. She says she’s sought out information from two specific groups: Genspect and Gays Against Groomers. It's really this rhetoric that involves isolating trans people, attacking trans people as de-legitimizing them as part of the broader civil rights struggle RG Craven is a senior policy analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremism. He says these two organizations are hate groups – part of a broader network that’s targeting the trans community. trying to delegitimize trans identity, call into question the general medical global medical consensus about gender affirming care. Diaz says she doesn’t completely agree with what these groups say. But she says she wants to hear their perspective. “You can call them hate group just because they don't agree with you, or you can just say, yeah, well, they they they they oppose me or they think differently, and that's America.” This past October, Diaz spoke out at an Imperial County supervisors meeting against a new state law – one that had strong support from trans advocates. That law requires schools to get permission from students before sharing their sexual orientation or gender identity with their parents. Then, in December, Diaz announced the center was changing its name to the “Donnelly Center.” Taking the name of a retired judge and longtime financial supporter. In the parking lot outside the Center, they took down that bright rainbow sign. And replaced it with a glassy, ocean-blue blue placard. Moehlig says it didn’t come as a surprise. But it was disheartening. She and other San Diego LGBTQ+ organizations issued a joint statement condemning the decision. There's not just the rebranding and the shifting of a mission of a center, there is a whole population within the county um that is not surveying because there's just not enough of all these providers. Despite the criticism, Diaz remains defiant. Imperial County is big, she says. If other people don’t think her center is serving the trans community they should do it themselves. Already, some other advocates in the Imperial Valley say that’s exactly what they plan to do. In El Centro, Kori Suzuki, KPBS News.

TOMORROW, WE’LL HAVE MORE ON THESE NEW EFFORTS TO SUPPORT THE VALLEY’S LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY.

STUDENTS ACROSS THE GROSSMONT UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT WALKED OUT OF CLASS YESTERDAY (Tuesday).

THEY DID IT TO PROTEST POTENTIAL LAYOFFS APPROVED BY THE SCHOOL BOARD TO CLOSE A PROJECTED BUDGET DEFICIT.

VIDEO JOURNALIST MATTHEW BOWLER WAS AT DISTRICT HEADQUARTERS.

Chanting and waving homemade signs students at Grossmont High School walked out of class protesting potential layoffs in the district. And our school is not going to stand for one. That's Grossmont High senior Maggie Kelly. She’s one of the student leaders who organized this walk out. Students left the high school campus and walked next door to district headquarters.  It’s important to do the math. There is a two-point-four million dollar deficit projected for the district for the end of this school year. Even if every staff member being cut was paid a minimum teacher salary of 40-thousand dollars a year, there would be money left over after clearing the deficit with these 61 cuts. The Grossmont Union High School District school board voted 4-1 to eliminate librarian, teacher and other staff positions to help close an anticipated $2.4 million budget deficit. Acting superintendent Sandra Huezo wrote in a letter to the board, that the budget cuts are needed to maintain the district’s long-term financial stability. The district is required to issue final layoff notices by May 15.Matthew Bowler KPBS News

That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. While you’re there, check out KPBS’ new video series, Soccer a la Frontera. The first two episodes – diving into the history and cultural impact of the sport in San Diego – are available now. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great day.