Mayor Gloria warns of steep cuts in his state of the city address
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz. It’s Thursday, January 16th.
Mayor Gloria warns of steep cuts in his state of the city address.
More on that next. But first, let’s do the headlines.
Former students of a San Diego-based online school will soon be freed of their loans.
The Biden-Harris Administration announced yesterday (Wednesday) that
over 200 thousand former students of Ashford University and its parent company won’t have to pay off their loans.
Courts previously ruled the school gave misleading statements to prospective students.
Ashford borrowers will receive emails from the Department of Education in the coming days.
The department said the email will clarify the full amount of loans that will be forgiven.
Comic-Con will be held in San Diego through at least 2027.
Organizers signed a new agreement with the city on Tuesday.
Last year, San Diego secured a one-year extension on its current contract through 2026.
The convention has been held annually in San Diego since 1970.
Despite the connection to the city, it’s never been promised the convention would stay here.
Rumors circulate annually about moving it to other cities for a variety of reasons, including hotel room availability and affordability.
The next Comic-Con will take place July 24th through the 27th. Preview night is scheduled for July 23.
A new investigation into the Tijuana sewage crisis could be underway soon.
The San Diego Union Tribune reports the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry will look into potential harm caused by exposure to hydrogen sulfide.
Following a preliminary review of chemical contaminants data, the agency determined a public health assessment was necessary.
Their decision contrasts last week’s announcement by the E-P-A that it would not move forward with a petition for a Superfund designation.
From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
YESTERDAY SAN DIEGO MAYOR TOD GLORIA GAVE HIS STATE OF THE CITY SPEECH AT CITY HALL. FOR NEXT YEAR’S BUDGET, THE CITY HAS TO CUT MORE THAN 258 MILLION DOLLARS FROM ITS SPENDING OR ABOUT 12 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL CITY BUDGET. THE MAYOR SAID WEDNESDAY HE INTENDS TO DO AWAY WITH THE ONE-TIME BUDGET TRICKS THAT HAVE PAPERED OVER PAST DEFICITS AND MAKE SOME TOUGH CHOICES.
“Steep cuts will be necessary. But I also want to be clear that I’m not interested in just slashing our way to a balanced budget. Instead, we will reimagine how we operate – examining every service we provide and how we can make the most of the public assets that we have.”
THE MAYOR HAS THREE MONTHS TO PUT TOGETHER A BUDGET FOR THE NEXT FISCAL YEAR. WHERE IT WILL THEN BE DEBATED BY THE CITY COUNCIL.
Voter turnout overall was down in November, but in some places in San Diego, President Elect Donald Trump actually gained votes. Inewsource reporter Sofía Mejías-Pascoe has the story.
It’s safe to say that Leonard Cuen of San Ysidro Feed & Supply is looking forward to the next four years. “I'm excited, I'm excited. I can't wait to see how much my taxes dropped. I can’t wait for all my buddies that are looking for jobs, telling me they got jobs.” And Cuen’s not alone. Though Vice President Kamala Harris won a majority of votes in San Ysidro and nearby Chula Vista, Trump gained supporters there compared to 2020. San Ysidro and Chula Vista are both predominantly Latino communities, and experts say the rightward shift could in part be explained by a national trend of conservative Latinos moving to the Republican party. Here’s University of San Diego professor Casey Dominguez. “And so, there are Latinos that have more conservative attitudes about race and immigration, and those may have helped some of those folks align themselves with the Republican party that has more conservative views about those issues in particular.” But Dominguez says exactly what issues motivated voters needs more research. For KPBS, I’m inewsource reporter Sofia Mejias-Pascoe.
Inewsource is an independently funded nonprofit partner of KPBS.
With the devastation from the wildfires in Los Angeles, residents in North County want to call attention to the proposed Harmony Grove Village South development
Residents tell North County reporter Alexander Nguyen that if approved, it could worsen the fire danger.
“If you look at the pictures of Harmony Grove, it was completely demolished.” Marilyn Johnson-Kozlow remembers fleeing from the Cocos fire in 2014. Her home was saved, but more than 20 others were lost. Developers want to build roughly 450 homes in this rural area between San Marcos and Escondido. But residents like Debbie O’Neill say it’s a death trap, because there’s just one evacuation route. “I want to make damn sure that everybody knows that County Board of Supervisors knew that this was not a safe development.” The project’s been the subject of debate and litigation since 2018. It’s expected to go back before county planners later this year, but the fires in Los Angeles are giving its opponents a new sense of urgency. Alexander Nguyen, KPBS News.
The wildfires in LA have many of us thinking about what we should do to prepare for a wildfire.
Midday Edition host Jade Hindmon spoke about this with Cal Fire's Mike Cornette and professor Luca Carmignani who researches wildfires at San Diego State University.
Let's talk about preparedness here, Luca. Before getting into specific steps, how should we be thinking about, preparedness, generally speaking? Well, usually a recommendation that I give to people is to start from their home, look at the state of their house. Everybody has a different home depending on the year of construction. And the state of the building components. So start from there. Look at, for example, the vents that if they're ember resistant and sometimes you just need to replace the screen, the metal mesh of the of the vents and to make them resistant to embers. And then look at some of the vulnerabilities. For example, if the roof has cracks or the gutters are filled with leaves or other material that can ignite easily, and then look at the first few feet around the home to make sure that there's nothing that can really burn and basically bring the fire close to the structure. You know, when it comes to vegetation or landscaping, you say a lot of it comes down to spacing. What do you mean by that? Yeah. So a lot of people tend to focus on the species. You know, some plants tend to be more flammable than others, depending on for example, if it's a grass like plant. But it really comes down to the maintenance. And that means that if you, take care of your plants that are well irrigated, you remove that materials and you create a spacing between them, with spacing and being, a distance not just horizontally, but also vertically. We call sometimes those fuels as ladder fields. If you have, you know, a path for the fire to go from the ground to, higher levels, you know, for example, from grass to a bush and from bush to a tree. So, eliminating those paths can really make a big impact in terms of reducing the risk. You know, Mike, we often hear about having a go-box ready. Can you explain what that looks like? And what we should be including in that? I think the biggest thing for our go bag is to have enough supplies that are going to supply you for up to 72 hours. So that includes having enough water and food, for you and your family to make sure that you have all of the important documents, such as your passport, any important documents that are irreplaceable. And you want to have that by your door ready to go, or even in your car, so you can leave at a moment's notice. So preparedness in that aspect is key. What do you think people tend to get wrong with wildfire preparedness? The biggest issue that we've seen is, not heeding the warnings of officials when it comes to evacuations. We don't take evacuations lightly. When we issue those orders, we're working hand in hand with our law enforcement partners to come up with a plan to make sure that we're keeping our residents safe and our firefighters safe. So, if you do receive that evacuation order, that is a advisory that we need you to leave immediately so we can, not only try to save your property, but to save your life. And, you know, where can people learn more about preparing for a wildfire? We have resources on Ready for a wildfire dot org. We also have, locally here Alert San Diego dot org that has a lot of resources. You can sign up for emergency alerts. Through that, you can make sure that your phone is registered for Alerts San Diego. And it also is in different languages as well. Not only English. And, Mike, are there any other resources that you're aware of? Our statewide website, Cal Fire statewide website, at fire dot CA dot Gov. We'll give you real time incident fact sheets. It has interactive maps with 3D fire perimeters that you can move around and see exactly where that fire has progressed. And you can see all of our air tankers and helicopters, in real time in their locations, in the air.
That was Cal Fire's Mike Cornette and SDSU professor Luca Carmignani speaking with Midday Edition host Jade Hindmon. Go to KPBS-dot-org for their full conversation.
There is a dispute going on over the ownership of the San Diego Padres. For our “Why it Matters” segment, Voice of San Diego editor and CEO Scott Lewis explains how it could impact the team and the city.
Last year, the Padres set a record for attendance. From the in-stadium announcer to the social media crew, to the broadcasters—everything has been of the best quality. But this is sports in San Diego. Something had to go wrong. Now the future of the Padres is in question because of a dispute about who should run the team. Peter Seidler was the owner, but he died in 2023. Last week, his widow, Sheel Seidler, sued Peter’s brothers. She has accused them of stealing money meant for her and fraudulently managing the trust that Peter left behind. That trust contains an ownership stake in the Padres. And that is what she wants to control. The Padres refuse to say exactly how its ownership works. But we know there are several people who own shares of the team. And those people elect a chair. And that person is the main leader of the team. The question is now how the team will run as this dispute plays out. Apart from baseball, the Padres are in charge of one of the biggest developments in San Diego: Tailgate Park. They still lease Petco Park from the city. Peter Seidler gave us a glimpse of what it looks like when the team pursues excellence and takes risks. Lots of San Diegans now expect nothing less. I’m Scott Lewis with Voice of San Diego and that’s why it matters.
As the LA area continues to grapple with the wildfires, organizations in San Diego have lent a helping hand. That includes the Humane Society.
They’re hoping to help clear space for the Pasadena Humane Society, which has taken in more than 400 animals that were injured or left homeless by the wildfires.
The agencies are looking for people to adopt or foster large dogs.
The San Diego Humane Society also announced adoption fees for adult dogs and cats are reduced to 25 dollars.
The promotion will run through January 26th.
That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great Thursday.
