Mayor Gloria proposes rules that could limit speech on boards and commissions

Good Morning, I’m John Carroll, in for Debbie Cruz….it’s Friday, August 16th.

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San Diego's boards and commissions could face new restrictions under rules proposed by Mayor Gloria's office. More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….

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More veterans will now qualify for housing vouchers thanks to a new policy at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Starting this week, veterans disability pay will no longer count as income when applying for housing vouchers.

Jonathan Castillo is the chief regional officer at the nonprofit Path where he helps connect people with homeless services.

“This is going to impact a lot of people who have sought services from us, in the past that we've had to turn away. so, so we we know that once this is in effect that we'll see the impacts right away.”

Castillo expects this change to immediately help veterans that are struggling.

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Wage theft impacts thousands of San Diego workers, and it often goes unreported.

But now, the San Diego County District Attorney's office is gearing up for a crackdown, thanks to a state grant to increase prosecutions of wage theft.

D-A Summer Stephen says her office has prosecuted 14 felony wage theft cases since 20-21.

For lesser violations, her office refers victims to the city or county office of labor standards and enforcement for civil prosecution.

“So the door isn't just shut. There is this cooperation and collaboration, and with the grant it's even expanded, so that we're able to get help for someone at the right level.”

You can reach the D-A’s workplace justice unit by emailing work-place-justice-at-s-d-c-d-a-dot-org, or by calling 866-402-6044.

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This weekend’s weather is going to be similar to what we felt this week.

The National Weather Service says temperatures will be close to average for this time of year.

In the inland areas, temperatures will be in the mid 80s, in the mountains and by the coast temps will be in the high 70s, and in the deserts, it’ll be in the low 100s.

And similar weather is expected for the start of next week.

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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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The boards and commissions that advise city leaders in San Diego could see their independence restricted under a new set of rules proposed by mayor Todd Gloria's office.

Investigative reporter Scott Rodd says current and former appointees are speaking out.

There are dozens of boards and commissions in San Diego that provide analysis, oversight and policy recommendations. They cover a range of topics…from housing to historical resources to policing. Mayor Todd Gloria’s office wants to implement a “code of conduct” for members, who are volunteer appointees. Most of the rules seem like common sense…such as practice active listening and create a welcoming environment. But some are more controversial. Like the rule that says, “Never publicly criticize an individual employee.” Parsi “That is truly muzzling members of boards and commissions.” Pegah Parsi is vice chair of the Privacy Advisory Board. Parsi “Saying that we can't criticize work of public officials, that's an egregious thing to have in a code of conduct.” The proposed code of conduct also says that communications with the press must first be submitted to Gloria’s administration for prior review. The proposal will go before the City Council when members return from summer recess. Representatives from Gloria’s administration declined or did not respond to repeated interview requests. SOC.

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Nearly three dozen county officials in key swing states have refused to certify voting results since 20-20.

That’s according to a watchdog group.

The group told investigative reporter Amita Sharma the threat of disruption to voting in November “looms large.”

Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington, known as CREW, says 35 county officials in eight states have sought to illegally delay or deny certifying election results since 2020. They falsely claimed irregularities or fraud in voting. The eight states are Colorado, New Mexico and swing states Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Nikhel Sus, CREW’S deputy chief counselor, says those same election officials are still in positions to decertify in the upcoming November presidential election. “There is a direct through line between the attempts to subvert the 2020 election, the January sixth attack on the Capitol, and what we are seeing at present in the county level. It is simply becoming more decentralized.” Sus says the potential for mischief isn’t confined to the eight states and any attempts to delay certification could affect the final presidential vote certification. A San Diego County Registrar of Voters spokesperson declined to comment on CREW’s findings, saying only it “adheres to all state and federal laws as it relates to the administration of elections.”  Amita Sharma, KPBS News.

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Environmental work is underway at Batiquitos Lagoon to protect vulnerable and threatened species.

As North County reporter Alexander Nguyen tells us, it’s part of a project to double-track the rail corridor there.

Marine biologists are out at the lagoon Wednesday looking for eelgrass. They’re doing a survey to protect the habitat. Tim Pesce is the senior environmental planner for SANDAG. “That's a very, very important species to the ecosystem of the lagoon.” The work comes ahead of the project to double-track the rail corridor over the lagoon. SANDAG says adding a second track would alleviate rail congestion through this corridor … letting more trains through. And the new bridge will also improve the overall health of the lagoon. “The lagoon opening underneath the new bridge will be about 40ft wider. So that will increase the tidal flows into the central basin and improve water quality.” Construction for the bridge is expected to be completed in 2028 … taking into account nesting seasons for wetland birds. The Batiquitos Lagoon Double Track project is expected to cost over 165 million dollars. an/kpbs.

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Gang violence in Escondido is on the rise, and police, community advocates and parents are trying to get ahead of any more tragedies.

North County reporter Tania Thorne takes a look at the lifelong impacts gangs can have on a community.

All this is the Diablo.. Known as the Diablo territory. All the flower streets Agner Medrano shows us around Escondido. Diablos on the flower streets on the east side of town. West side gang is all the number streets and old Escondido area, all west side  you know…. As a former gang member, he’s familiar with the gang activity and violence that has plagued the city. mission is another active street, too.There's a few memorials on that side Aster right here used to be like the gang hang out for all the Diablos. the the 700 block that they call it. We stop at one of the most recent memorials… So where are we going to go? This is the memorial site of one of the young kids that got killed about a month ago.And he was only 13. Kayden Alan Romo died at a hospital after being stabbed in a street fight. Police said the fight was gang related and arrested two teenage boys. Gang violence took Romo’s life-. Others live with life long consequences. we were just fighting for a long time until one of them, you know, pulls out a gun and shoots up them. I stick my arm out here, my my hand. And then they were they let a shot off. And, um, I mean, they after the shot, they got back in the car and ran. Concerned for his safety, this young man agreed to an interview without revealing his identity. Earlier this year, he was shot outside of his home. The bullet struck his back, ultimately leaving him paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. It was really life changing. … everything that I was able to do back then. You know, I'm trying to learn how to do everything on my own now, with everything and everything going better. From January to June of  this year, Escondido police made 41 juvenile crime arrests. That’s a faster pace than in 20-23, when they made 57 arrests over the whole year. In the last year or so, we've been seeing a lot more gang activity with our juveniles. Ryan Hicks is a lieutenant in charge of investigations with Escondido Police. -these kids are getting in fights and they're carrying knives and they're carrying guns and they're carrying improvised weapons to stab with. And so it turns what would have just been a fight amongst teenagers  into a homicide or an attempt homicide. Hicks says Escondido police had a gang enforcement team a few years ago. But it was cut due to staffing problems… and because gang crime had gone down. So obviously patrol always has to come first. And so we had to get rid of that enforcement team and it was just left up to the patrol officers to do gang enforcement. Now, gang enforcement is coming back with a team of two officers, who will also do fentanyl enforcement. - one of the officers is fluent in Spanish, which is also important to us. So they can speak to a lot of the parents if they're not English speaking and their job is just to go out and make contact with these kids. While police are trying to get ahead of any more gang related crimes, community advocate Agner Medrano says the problem has deeper roots. He says a lack of resources for youth…is an ingredient for gangs to rise. where there's poverty, where there's division, where there's drugs, where there's guns, all that, that's are elements for, for gangs. There are not enough resources. You know. Our city is facing a huge budget deficit. Escondido council member, Consuelo Martinez, says gaps in the city's budget have prevented any kind of expansion of youth and community resources. So she’s put out a call for creativity. we might not have unlimited resources, but, like we do, have our community and our community are, you know, do have resources. They have creative ideas. innovative in our city. So let's come together and really try to support our youth a nd really deter this violence and say, this is not okay. We don't want violence in our community. Medrano says when he was in a gang, he was a young boy who needed some guidance. A need - he still sees today. we need to be mentors to our kids, our youth. You know, sometimes as adults, we need to take responsibility of our village. You know, this is our village. And at the end of the day, what can we do to help our youth? Medrano says the change can fall on anyone’s hands. we need to mentor our community, you know, we can't say say, Oh, that's a cop's jobs, that's the nonprofits job. Its all of our job. TT KPBS News. 

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The new film "Sing Sing" employs a cast of formerly incarcerated men to tell a true story about the transformative power of art.

Cinema junkie Beth Accomando has this review.

 Clarence Maclin is an alumni of RTA, the Rehabilitation through the Arts program at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. CLARENCE MACLIN The overall objective for RTA is not to create actors… the objective is to create better human beings through art and through productions and through all these things, we learn valuable life skills. Maclin is one of the formerly incarcerated men cast in the movie Sing Sing. In this scene he talks about connecting to Shakespeare. What did the brother say, when we are born we cry because we are born to a stage of fools. And I said whoever wrote this had to do a bid before. The film serves up an inspiring and hopeful portrait of these men, and Maclin hopes it will help to humanize them. CLARENCE MACLIN I would hope that the people on the outside would understand that the people on the inside are people, are actually human beings…  I think that they need to understand that we are a lot more than the sum of our mistakes, and we still have the capacity to change and add on to society in a positive way. Sing Sing counters negative stereotypes with this deeply personal story about the transformative power of art. Beth Accomando, KPBS News.

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That’s it for the podcast today. This podcast is produced by Emilyn Mohebbi and was edited by Joe Guerin. We’d also like to thank KPBS producer Lara McCaffrey for helping the podcast team this week. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. Join us again on Monday to start the new week with the day’s top stories. I’m John Carroll. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend.