Is the Sheriff underreporting jail deaths?
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Thursday, January 2nd>>>>
Advocates say the Sheriff’s Office is underreporting jail deaths. More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….
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Minimum wage went up 3 percent in the City of San Diego yesterday. It’s now 17 dollars and 25 cents an hour.
This isn’t the first time the minimum wage has increased in the city. Since 20-19, it has gone up every year by an amount determined by increases in the cost of living.
San Diego’s minimum wage is higher than the state of California’s, which also increased on January 1st to 16 dollars and 50 cents.
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The executive director of San Diego’s Commission on Police Practices will officially resign tomorrow (Friday) after only six months in the position.
Paul Parker was hired to the commission in June of last year. He has a background in law enforcement and previously led the San Diego County Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board.
He told KPBS reporter Scott Rodd there are some “administrative challenges" that prevent the commission from getting things done efficiently.
Parker is going to work at N-A-A-G Forensic, a local company that handles death investigations for county coroners around the state.
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With the holiday’s over, you may be wondering what to do with your Christmas tree. Well, if it's real, you can recycle it.
Christmas trees can take hundreds of years to decompose in a landfill because of the lack of oxygen needed to break it down.
But, the county is trying to make it easy to turn your tree into compost and mulch.
They’ve created a guide that lays out everything you need to know, from curbside pick up instructions to a list of locations where you can drop your real tree off.
For more information go to waste free S-D dot org.
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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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Advocates say the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office is underreporting jail deaths.
Reporter Katie Hyson spoke with them about their claim.
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office reports deaths that happen in their custody. A death reported yesterday brought their number for this year to nine. But advocates like Yusef Miller argue that number should be ten. With Mr. Tine, he goes unreported and we didn’t know unless we already had an inside scoop. Now how many other people that we didn’t have an inside scoop died this year? We have no idea. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Eric Van Tine was allegedly beaten unconscious by his cellmate in 2023. Van Tine suffered a brain injury and then died last month. Since the Sheriff’s Office had released him from custody for medical treatment, they didn’t include him in their reported deaths. Legally, they don’t have to. But Miller says they should. So we can have a true picture of what we’re facing. And only with this kind of transparency will we have a real solution that we can develop. The Sheriff’s office is still investigating Van Tine’s death .. and says they can’t comment.
Katie Hyson, KPBS News
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Norovirus, the highly contagious stomach flu, spiked in early December with 91 outbreaks reported nationwide.
In San Diego County alone, there were 385 outbreaks linked to norovirus in 2024.
Health reporter Heidi de Marco says health experts are urging extra precautions, especially during holiday gatherings.
Dr. William Tseng, assistant chief of staff at Kaiser Permanente, explains just how quickly the virus can spread. So it can be spread through feces, through touching, through contact surfaces, through contaminated foods. You get really bad runs of diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, stomach aches. He says bleach or hydrogen peroxide products work well to clean surfaces. But alcohol-based hand sanitizers don’t work. So hand washing with soap and lather and and rinse 20 seconds that's more effective than any alcohol. If you do become ill, Dr. Tseng says there isn’t much you can do but stay hydrated. And you should see a doctor if you're unable to keep fluids down.
Heidi de Marco, KPBS News.
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Thousands of California homeowners have been dropped by their insurance companies over fire risks. But a new state regulation will require carriers to offer coverage in these high-risk areas if they wish to keep doing business in the state. Reporter Tania Thorne has the details.
In an effort to stabilize the insurance market, California’s Insurance commissioner has announced a new regulation for carriers. If the companies wish to keep doing business in California, they'll need to start issuing policies in high risk areas. And they’ll need to increase their coverage by 5% every two years until reaching 85% of their market share. Carmen Balber is with Consumer Watchdog, a consumer protection organization critical of the regulation. Companies have multiple loopholes they can use to not increase the amount of coverage they're offering in California. And that is a big problem, because the result of the Commissioner's regulations is guaranteed double digit rate hikes. But we don't know that anyone else is going to get access to coverage again. The regulation is under review before taking effect within 30 days. Tania Thorne, KPBS News
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This month, the city of San Diego will begin building a coastal barrier fence atop some seaside cliffs in Ocean Beach.
Science and tech reporter Thomas Fudge says it’s the latest attempt to adapt to a receding coastline.
Sunset cliffs are a great place to see the wild ocean crash against the shore. But erosion is making those cliffs move inland. They’re becoming more unstable and a threat to people atop the bluffs and on the shore below. That’s why the city has set up caution tape and plans to install a permanent fence along the top of the cliff to prevent people from getting too close. Jose Isea is spokesman for the city. He says erecting safety barriers is a work in progress. “So as the cliff continues to progress and encroach on our space, we need to make sure we’re keeping the public safe and following that path of mother nature as it gets closer to the street here.” The new permanent barriers won’t be anything a person couldn’t climb over. Ysea says they will be a “reminder” to people not to cross them because of the dangers posed by the eroding bluffs. Thomas Fudge, KPBS News
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A part of California history is making its way into the digital age.
North County reporter Alexander Nguyen tells us about the preservation project at a spot known as "Carlsbad's Sleeping Beauty."
While his name is not familiar to many today … in the 1950s … Leo Carrillo was a household name as Pancho in The Cisco Kid T-V series. It was the first TV series filmed in color. “It was very popular, in the 1950s, all the way up, all the way through the 1960s.” Before the series … Carrillo had a long career in vaudeville, radio and movies … appearing in more than 90 films. Here he is as the Grand Marshall of the Tournament of Roses Parade in 1938. Carrillo was born in San Diego but grew up in Santa Monica, where his father was the police chief and later mayor. In 1937 … he told a friend … who was a real estate agent … that he was looking for a ranch … a place to entertain guests …
“A place where he can go that has water, that he can have his livestock and his farm” Mick Calarco is Carlsbad’s recreation services manager. He oversees the Leo Carrillo Ranch Historic Park for the city. Calarco says the friend told Carrillo about this 45-Hundred-acre ranch in eastern Carlsbad. “Leo writes that he's driving down here in the springtime. There's flowers everywhere. He arrives here. He just falls in love with what he finds.” The land had been settled in the late 1800s by the Kelly family - … who built a 2-story adobe home there. The house is all that remains from that era. Much of what you see today is a result of Carrillo’s time there. As an early preservationist and conservationist … Carrillo decided to save the Adobe structure and made it his home. “By today's standards, you know, it's not so commonplace, right? People want to demolish them. Who wants an old mud brick building? But I think Leo understood the significance of the building and the history of it. And he loved the fact that it was was Adobe. It was made by hand.” The ranch became Carrillo’s weekend getaway, but it was also a working ranch with horses and chickens. The chicken coop has now been turned into public restrooms. And the horse stable is now a museum dedicated to Leo Carrillo. “Welcome into our bunk room exhibit. This is Leo's office and bunk room.” Emily Brolaski is the archivist for the ranch. She is responsible for the exhibits in the museum and maintaining the archive. “We've modeled it after this photo here. So there's Leo Carrillo sitting at his desk writing checks, sitting right under the buffalo.” For the past three years … she’s been working to digitize the archive and memorabilia the park has collected over the years. “We got about one fifth of the collection online so far.” With more being added every day. The rest are in boxes and cabinets inside a cramped office of what was once the ranch’s caretaker cottage. The city made the digital archive available online last fall. It contains photos, letters, historical artifacts and a slice of Carlsbad’s history. The ranch was part of the Mission land holding at one point. “Leo Carrillo's great, great great grandfather came over with the Portola expedition. And we do have some records from that. His great grandfather was — his marriage was officiated by Junipero Serra, who was kind of the spearhead of the mission movement.” The city wanted to make the archive available online to make that history accessible … and people don’t have to leave home for it. “We have all these records here in the archive which kind of tell you that story of the, the landownership changing” Carrillo died in 1961 and most of the ranch was sold to developers. In 1978 … Carlsbad acquired 27 acres of the ranch … containing most of the historic buildings. They’ve been restored and preserved as Carrillo had them. The park was opened to the public in August 2003. It’s listed on the National Registry of Historic Places and designated as a California Historical Landmark…. And you can visit this piece of California history every day from 9 a-m to 5 p-m. If you do visit, you’ll find this message from Leo Carrillo himself, on his doorstep: Su casa, amigo. Your house friend. Right. So this was Leo's welcome to his guests Alexander Nguyen, KPBS News
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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. We’ll have more of the local news you need tomorrow. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great day.
