Hundreds of SDSU students protest against Israel-Hamas war

Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Wednesday, May first.

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SD-SU students protest against the Israel-Hamas war. More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….

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San Diego City Councilmembers earlier this week voted to confirm Scott Wahl as the next San Diego police chief.

Wahl has worked for the San Diego Police Department for 26 years.

Most of the public speakers praised Wahl for his willingness to listen.

But some questioned whether he's capable of addressing long-standing disparities in how SD-PD officers treat Black and Latino people versus whites.

Francine Maxwell is an activist in Southeast San Diego.

“We want you to stop using the progressive buzzwords and roll up your sleeves and ask the tough questions. Those are our tax dollars. These are our Black men that get stopped daily. Our BIPOC community is hungry for building a bridge and 21st Century policing.”

The council has to vote a second time on Wahl's confirmation.

If he passes that procedural vote, he'll take over as chief on June 7th.

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The county Board of Supervisors yesterday voted 4 to 1, to advance a proposal for a long-term migrant and asylum-seeker transit center.

The proposal includes nearly 20-million-dollars in federal money.

In the meantime, the interim chief administrative officer will begin programs that will temporarily provide shelter, food, transportation, acute medical care, and personal hygiene supplies to migrants.

Until the county receives the federal money, it will use money from its general fund reserves.

Since last September, the county has seen 135-thousand migrants released.

A formal funding request will happen during the board's May 21st meeting.

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Spring weather is in full swing this week.

Today (Wednesday) and tomorrow (Thursday) are expected to be the warmest days of the week.

The National Weather Service says it’s also going to be windy, with gusts reaching up to 25 miles per hour.

Today’s temperatures in the inland areas will be in the mid 70s, by coast and in the mountains, temps will be in the mid 60s, and in the deserts, it’ll be in the lows 90s.

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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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Hundreds of SD-SU students supporting Palestinians in the Gaza strip walked out of class and into a rally, yesterday afternoon (Tuesday).

Education reporter M.G. Perez tells us they were met by a group supporting Israel.

Students and their supporters made it clear what side they are on… “Free, free Palestine!” “Bring them home! Bring them home!”  The rally at San Diego State was led by Students for Justice in Palestine…a group calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas War…and for SDSU and other universities to divest from any Israeli financial interests. Jewish activists used patriotic Hebrew songs and dance to get their message across. The crowd was loud and proud on both sides…leaving many others somewhere in between…like these two students who did not want to be named.. “we’ve just seen so much death and so much inequality..and how the US is also funding a lot of the war in Gaza.” “It looks peaceful right now…which is good…as long as it stays peaceful that’s all that matters.” San Diego State monitored the rally…allowing students to express their right to free speech. MGP KPBS News. 

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For the past two months, we’ve been telling you about the child care crisis.

It’s mostly dark clouds, but there are potential glimmers of hope.

As part of the special KPBS series “Where's My Village,” reporter Tania Thorne looks at what happened in Portland, Oregon.

My boys know that they're only going to get one of us, so they'll say, who works tomorrow, you or daddy? And that's a little bit like kind of gut retching Ahna and Nathan Dick both work in health care So I work twelve hour shifts. I'm a respiratory therapist and Nathan's a nuclear medicine technologist, so he works ten hour shifts. And when those shifts end, a second shift begins. Childcare for their two kids, Jonah and Micah. So what we do is we alternate shifts. So on the days that I work, Nathan doesn't work, and when Nathan works, then I don't work. So that way there's always one parent home with the kids.That means they don’t pay for childcare. But there’s still a price… family time when they’re all together is rare. So occasionally we have a day off together that we're able to spend as a family. But that's the trade off. Many families know about juggling work, childcare, and quality family time all too well. It's a problem across the country… There  was hope that federal legislation, Build Back Better, would fund more childcare. Lifting an expensive burden for many families, but that didn’t happen. Now some communities are taking matters into their own hands. The sun peeks out after a winter storm in Portland, Oregon. Kids at Escuela Viva, a bilingual preschool, are eager to romp outside on the playground. AG We all have children, or we have children that are important in our lives. Imagine trying to be present all day long with not just one child, but ten. Angie Garcia is the owner. And she wants her school to support providers as much as possible. Sustainable work hours, full benefits, the highest paid possible, and training support so they feel equipped to meet the needs of the children. By paying her staff a living wage, she’s breaking decades of inequity. AG I think this has been traditionally what folks say is women's work. And throughout history, what women do has often been undervalued. But she hasn’t had to raise prices for families. In fact, her school is free for children ages 3 and up. And I think now with this initiative, with preschool for all having a contract, I don't have to worry about enrollment. In 2020, Portland voters passed a ballot measure called Preschool for All. It taxes households with the highest incomes. And uses that money to pay for free preschool for children 3 and up. Mary King Professor of Economics in America, Portland State University MK it's just fantastic in terms of the benefits it provides for kids, the benefits it provides for parents, what it can and should be for people providing it. It reduces gender disparities, racial disparities, class disparities, and it's as good as any economic development strategy out there. Mary King helped write the initiative. For her, a big part of it is to facilitate children’s transition into Kindergarten. Silver bullet poliies The program is being slowly rolled out. Right now, in its second year, it’s serving almost 1400 kids. By 2030, it will serve almost all kids in the Portland region. While the transitional kindergarten program in California ended up hurting providers, and made it harder to find infant care…the Portland measure was designed to be different. Leslee Barnes, who directs the program, says it supports infant care. LB Even though we're funding preschool,we have to think about infant toddler care because the more we build a system, you'll see probably more programs saying, hey, I'd rather just do preschool. They're investing all that over there. I'm just going to do less of the infant toddler care. And that's already so hard to find. And so those programs that offer infant toddler, we do have support for them as well. KIM YMCA We can absolutely do that here, and we are going to do that here. We're committed and passionate about making that happen. Kim McDougal and Courtney Baltiskyy are with the San Diego County YMCA. And we have pulled together a group of incredibly passionate individuals and called ourselves the children's first collective. They say a similar initiative like Portland’s is in the works for San Diego. YMCA t's not going to happen unless we have the dedicated funding. And at this point, we have to see new revenue be dedicated or come into the municipal systems to accomplish that. It will be a few years before a childcare initiative reaches a San Diego ballot, which means parents like Ahna and Nathan will continue to make it work. They’re making it work. Just like every other family in San Diego. New moms  looking for infant care…Stay at home moms transitioning back to the workforce with the help of TK… Childcare providers looking to expand their center to provide more care for more children…. And families looking for childcare for children with any kind of developmental needs. 

TAG: That was reporter Tania Thorne, the host of the series “Where’s My Village,” which can be streamed on our website.

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A new firefighting tool in North County was unveiled yesterday (Tuesday).

Reporter Alexander Nguyen says it aims to cut response time in half.

With Wildfire Awareness Month starting in May … Officials in North County are adding another tool to the firefighting arsenal. It’s called a helopod … “which is a tank that is filled with 5,000 gallons of water that will be utilized by helicopters” Tiffany Boyd-Hodgson is the president of the Vallecitos Water District. The helopod is a joint venture between the district, CalFire and the San Marcos Fire Department. Tiffany Boyd-Hodgson Vallecitos Water District president “It's really important because up here in North County, in particular, we are really susceptible to climate extremes and wildfire risk. We've had several fires in the area over the last 15 years where people have had to evacuate.” The pod is located on hills north of Highway 78, near Palomar College. CalFire says it’ll cut the water reload time in half from 10 minutes to five. AN/KPBS News.

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There is a record number of dogs in animal shelters throughout the county.

That’s according to local animal welfare groups.

Reporter Melissa Mae tells us why they say they are in a state of emergency.

MM: San Diego Humane Society’s President and CEO Dr. Gary Weitzman says all of the County’s animal facilities are currently at 150-200% of capacity for dogs...  GW “An incredible uptick in the animals that we have coming into all of our facilities. We are maxed out, all of our partners are maxed out. Our rescues are maxed out. Spay/neuter appointments are maxed out and we’re really facing something that we’ve never faced before.” MM: Weitzman says a combination of factors lead to overcrowding. They include the county’s zero euthanasia policy for healthy or treatable animals, a reduction in spaying and neutering during the pandemic and the high cost of living. Melissa Mae KPBS News.

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Today (Wednesday) and tomorrow (Thursday) are Public Media Giving Days.

Public media stations across the nation, including KPBS, are celebrating what public media gives you and what you give us.

It’s because of you that KPBS is the go-to place for trusted news and thoughtful storytelling.

We'd love to hear what public media gives you in your own words.

Share on your social media accounts using “hashtag Public Media Gives,” so we can enjoy these moments with you.

Thank you for your support, and thank you for spending time with us.

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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 for the day’s top stories. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great Wednesday.