Data tool looks into environmental risks
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Monday, May 15th.
How data is being used to determine environmental risk.More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….
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San Diego county supervisor Nathan Fletcher is set to resign at 5 p-m today.
He was accused of sexual assault and sexual harassment in a lawsuit filed in March.
Political analyst Carl Luna explains what this means for District Four.
“Where it leaves the people in that district is without representation until such time a special election can be held. And you got to go through the two step, the primary and general, and it's going to take months to get somebody into that seat.”
The primary for the special election will be held on August 15th.
Fletcher’s staff says his office will remain open and they will continue working to serve District 4 constituents while voters decide who should fill the seat.
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The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego last week announced it plans to file for bankruptcy in November.
According to the San Diego Union Tribune, this comes as the diocese faces lawsuits from more than 430 people, who say they were sexually abused by its clergy in the past.
The lawsuits will be settled as a part of the bankruptcy.
This will be the second time the diocese filed for bankruptcy.
At that time, the diocese settled nearly 150 claims of sexual abuse.
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San Diegans under 18 can still ride public transit for free.
SANDAG announced late last week the extension of the Youth Opportunity Pass as one of the projects it’s funding in the upcoming fiscal year.
With the pass those under 18, can ride the bus, Trolley, COASTER and Sprinter for free.
County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Nora Vargas said the program removes barriers for youth, so they can have access to education, work and recreational activities.
She also said she’s working towards expanding the program to those 24 and under.
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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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California is celebrating the tenth anniversary of a ground-breaking data tool that has helped focus clean-up efforts in many of the state’s disadvantaged communities.
Environment reporter Erik Anderson says San Diego portside communities have benefited.
Barrio Logan is one of the state’s most polluted areas with residents carrying some of California’s heaviest health burdens. Residents here know that in large part because of Cal-Enviro-Screen. The California Secretary for Environmental Protection, Yana Garcia, says that’s the state’s visual tool for measuring which census tracts suffer the most. Yana Garcia California Secretary for Environmental Protection “It gives us a real sense of how people are experiencing the environment in their real day to day lives.” Garcia says the database organizes seemingly disparate bits of information. Housing costs, emergency room visits, and air pollution to name a few. All together, that information can gauge the environmental risk in a specific region. San Diego’s Environmental Health Coalition played a key role in developing and improving the tool over the past decade. Erik Anderson KPBS News.
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The San Diego region got its second filling station for hydrogen fuel cell cars last week.
Sci-tech reporter Thomas Fudge visited the Mission Valley station.
Pramod Patil locks a hydrogen pump onto his Toyota Mirai for a fill up. It’s just like using a gas pump and only takes a couple minutes to refuel. He’s at a Mobile station on Mission Center Road, which now has four hydrogen pumps. Patil says the car is comfortable and its only emission is water. “We are all concerned about the global warming and we have seen the impact that it makes into the environment. So the tiny thing that you make toward making things environmentally friendly it’s good to have that feeling also.” First off they are damn fun cars to drive. Keith Malone is a spokesman for California's Hydrogen fuel cell partnership. He said their goal is to have 1,000 fuel cell filling stations in California by 2035. And the California air resources board is planning for a future for hydrogen cars. What are we gonna need to get to 100 percent zero emission cars by 2045. And they realized that probably about 20 to 25 percent of the market is going to be fuel cell cars. California’s Hydrogen Fuel Cell Partnership estimates there are about 15 thousand hydrogen cars on California roads. Soq.
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The National Park Service last month abruptly pulled the plug on a pair of webcams operated by the popular “San Diego Webcam” Youtube channel.
Park officials say security concerns raised by the Navy are the cause.
But the camera’s operator isn’t buying that, and says a near-miss incident caught on camera last year led to the decision.
Military reporter Andrew Dyer has more.
barry bahrami is not happy. the cloud architect is the administrator of san diego web cam, a youtube channel that live-streams san diego bay. barry bahrami, san diego web cam “it’s absurd. this is all absurd.” last month, officials at cabrillo national monument in point loma disconnected two webcams bahrami installed a decade ago. bahrami says he installed the cameras in an arrangement with the park. he was allowed to mount and operate the cameras and he provided wifi service to park guests. now, naval criminal investigative services, or ncis, says that the cameras were a security concern. claiming they broadcasted military activity on naval air station north island and naval base point loma. the park service says that after reviewing those concerns it decided it did not have authority to continue to authorize them. barry bahrami, san diego web cam “the san diego webcam is not live streaming anything that people can't already see.” bahrami says that the move amounts to censorship. barry bahrami, san diego web cam “well you know when the government starts censoring a very public view i think that everybody should be concerned.” in november, bahrami’s cameras were rolling when two navy warships almost collided at a narrow point in the bay. the ships had to take evasive maneuvers to avoid the collision. bahrami’s cameras were unplugged last month the day before the navy released its investigation into the incident – actions he thinks are connected. bahrami: “i’ts not force security and it’s no coincidence they cut it off the day before the report came out. give me a break” barry bahrami, san diego web cam “the san diego webcam is not live streaming anything that people can't already see.” david loy, first amendment coalition “this has been an issue in numerous cases.” that’s david loy, the legal director of the first amendment coalition, a non-partisan, non-profit organization that advocates for government transparency. david loy, first amendment coalition “the first amendment guarantees the press and public the right to record, observe and report on anything that occurs in a public place. so if the government has secrets to keep it needs to keep them secret, it cannot tell the present public that you may not film or record or observe matters that the government itself exposes to the full view of the public.” belinda taylor, navy mom, norfolk, va. “i'd like to see if that camera get turned back on so that we can see our families and our children and other people's children and celebrate with them when their families come back in.” belinda taylor lives in virginia and her son serves on a san diego-based ship. taylor and her family were unable to come to san diego to greet her son when returning from deployment. she says she found the san diego webcam after the cabrillo feeds were cut and is disappointed she wasn’t able to watch her son’s ship come into the bay. belinda taylor, navy mom, norfolk, va. “none of us can really go out there to see him, so having that camera gives us an opportunity to see him. even if we can't see him, it's like being there. when, even though we can't be there and lay an eyes on him or on his ship when he's been on the other side of the world, it really gave us a sense of feeling that he's home. asked if these newly-raised security concerns would impact public access to the park or visitors’ ability to take pictures and video, the national park service says it has no further comment. bahrami says he already has plans to mount even more cameras locally, and is also developing an app to let anyone livestream from the park with their phones andrew dyer, kpbs news.
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Coming up.... Our KPBS arts reporter joins me to talk about the Comic-Con Museum’s new exhibit, "Trino’s World.” We’ll have that and more, just after the break.
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A new park recently opened in San Marcos.
North County reporter Alexander Nguyen says it took nearly 20 years for it to happen.
South lake in san marcos was previously behind a chain-linked fence and inaccessible. now it’s been turned into a beautiful 10-acre park filled with wildflowers and animals. chris robbins vallecitos water district conservation supervisor “it's been fenced off for years, and so there's a vast quantity of wildlife in the area. we just had a vulture fly over us.” chris robbins is the conservation supervisor for the vallecitos water district. the man-made south lake was used as a reservoir for the district for many years until it was decommissioned in 19-84. in 2-thousand-5 … san marcos entered into an agreement with the water district to turn the lake into a park. but the state canceled the redevelopment funds in 20-10 because of a budget deficit … stymying the project for years. the park opened last month … though a bit less grand than the city had envisioned. there is no boat dock … for example … but there is a 1.2-mile trail around the lake for visitors to enjoy. an/kpbs.
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Comic-Con Museum just opened "Trino’s World.” The exhibition showcases one of the most popular and celebrated cartoonists in Mexico, José Trinidad Camacho, better known as Trino. Arts reporter Beth Accomando just visited the new exhibit… so Beth tell us about this new exhibit.
Part of that culture that’s on display in his art is luchadors or Mexican wrestlers, can you tell us more.
And Trino has created his own luchador character called El Santos.
Until when can people go and see the exhibit?
Thank you Beth for joining me on the San Diego News Now podcast and talking about Trino’s World.
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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. Join us again tomorrow to stay in the know on the top local stories, plus, we’re kicking off our series on multigenerational households. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great Monday.
