Oceanside to get $11 million to house the homeless

Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Friday, April 19th.

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Oceanside will get over 11 million dollars in state funding to move people into housing. More on that, next. But first... let’s do the headlines….

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The county is set to conduct its first routine aerial larvicide drop of the year next week.

The goal is to stop mosquitoes from spreading diseases like West Nile.

Helicopters will drop the larvicide on up to 52 waterways to cover nearly 14-hundred acres of hard-to-reach mosquito breeding areas.

The County conducts the drops about once a month from April through October.

The county says the larvicide does not hurt people or pets, but kills mosquito larvae before they can grow into biting mosquitoes.

Although West Nile virus is mainly a bird disease, mosquitoes can pass the potentially deadly virus to people, by feeding on infected birds and then biting people.

One way you can stop mosquitos from breeding at home, is by dumping out any item that can hold water… like plant saucers, buckets and garbage cans.

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The San Diego Public Library this week launched a new program to help youth continue to rent books and participate in library programs.

The Fresh Start program will erase any past debts owed by library card holders under the age of 18, and lift suspensions on those accounts.

According to the Public Library, there are more than 27-hundred people under the age of 18 whose accounts are suspended because they did not return items.

You can apply for the program online at w-w-w-dot-san-diego-dot-gov-slash-public-dash-library-slash-fresh-start.

Or, visit a San Diego Public Library branch.

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Former SD-SU basketball player Kawhi Leonard will be playing on the U-S Olympic men’s basketball team this summer.

The roster consists of 12 N-B-A players, who will be led by the Golden State Warriors’ coach.

Team U-S-A men’s basketball team won the gold medal in the last Olympic games in 20-21.

The U-S will begin Olympic play on July 28th against Serbia in Lille, France.

Then, the knockout and medal rounds of the Olympic tournament will be played in Paris.

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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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Governor Newsom yesterday (Thursday) announced nearly 192 million dollars in grant funding to help clear homeless encampments and move people into housing.

North County reporter Alexander Nguyen says the grant will fund 20 projects in 17 communities across the state, including one North County city.

Oceanside is the only city in San Diego County to receive this grant from the California Interagency Council on Homelessness. The agency says the city had a strong proposal to move people from encampments to housing. The city will receive roughly 11 -point - 4 million dollars Mayor Esther Sanchez says the city is excited to receive the funding. “This is not something we had to do. But for our community we do feel like we have to do this, we have to. And and once we're successful there, that will lead us to being more successful in in our other other areas of encampments.” In the announcement … Gov. Newsom referenced the recent audit criticizing the state for failing to track the effectiveness of homeless programs. He says … that’s not acceptable and there will be real-time engagement with cities to monitor progress.  AN/KPBS.

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Supporters of the Homelessness, Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act say they have enough signatures to get the measure on the November ballot.

Reporter John Carroll spells out how the measure would amend an already-existing law.

The Act is designed to address what supporters say are the unintended consequences of Prop. 47.  That 2014 measure made some felony theft and drug offenses misdemeanors.  The new measure would return most of those to felonies. “That will balance Proposition 47 and other laws and allow us to have safer neighborhoods, safer businesses.” At a Thursday news conference, District Attorney Summer Stephan said drug addiction is the cause of most homelessness today.  Tyler Renner with the nonprofit People Assisting The Homeless says that’s not true. “There’s so much research and evidence and data to show that it is because of the lack of housing.  This issue intersects with substance use and mental illness, but it is not the main driver or the cause.” Supporters of the proposed measure say they have hundreds of thousands more signatures than are needed to put the measure on the November ballot.  The Secretary of State will now determine whether enough of those signatures are valid.  JC, KPBS News.

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The first Robotics World Championships are underway in Houston, and nine high school teams from the county are competing.

Education reporter M.G. Perez is there, and met up with the Lincoln High School's rookie dream team.

…they say everything’s bigger in Texas…and the Steel Stingers of Lincoln High School have come a long way for their big moment with a big robot…they designed and built… Nicholas Lopez is one of the lead team members. “my responsibility here to is to coach our driver and controller about what’s going on in the game so they can focus on ..so they can stay focused on driving the robot and I can focus on the strategy and making sure everything goes right.” Things did go right in the first match with a big …as the Stingers and their other alliance team members won…Match two…hit a bump in the road…with a head on collision and a torn cable…leaving them out of power…but not out of hope… Kevin Jaramillo Casillas Lincoln High School Steel Stingers  “we attached the wire again and we are good to go..(what are you feeling?) I’m pretty relaxed…it’s just a small minor problem we can fix right now.”  The Lincoln Steel Stingers are also enjoying the ride.… In Houston…MGP KPBS News.

TAG: The competition runs through tomorrow (Saturday).

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There’s a lot happening over the weekend in the county… and we have you covered with all the details.

First …

The non-profit ‘I Love a Clean San Diego’ and the city of San Diego are teaming up to host the 22nd annual Creek-to Bay Clean Up tomorrow (Saturday).

Reporter Melissa Mae tells us last year’s clean up diverted nearly 100 thousand pounds of litter and debris from county waterways!

MM: Organizers say the annual Earth Week Creek to Bay Cleanup is the region’s largest one-day environmental volunteer effort. Thousands of San Diegans of all ages are expected to participate. MM: Steve Morris with I Love A Clean San Diego says 80% of ocean litter starts inland near creeks, rivers and storm drains. “So we came up with the name creek to Bay Cleanup, so people would make that connection between trash starting in a creek and ending up in the bay, and then eventually the ocean.” MM: About a quarter of the cleanup sites are in unincorporated parts of the county, as well as three sites in Mexico. MM: The Creek to Bay Cleanup is Saturday, April 20th from 9 a.m. to noon.  To see all the participating sites and to register, go to clean-S-D-dot org. Melissa Mae KPBS News.

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You can also celebrate mother earth at the La Mesa Earth Day fair tomorrow.

The free family-friendly event will feature hands-on activities and sustainable products and resources focused on environmental conservation and education.

At the event, you can take a garden tour, enjoy arts and crafts, face painting, astro jumps, food trucks and more.

Kids will have an opportunity to participate in a bicycle skills course, so make sure they bring a bike and helmet.

The event starts at 11 a-m, and goes until 3 p-m at Macarthur Park in La Mesa.

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Tomorrow is the 54th Chicano Park Day commemoration in Barrio Logan. The day marks a special anniversary.

Joining me to talk about it, is the Chairman of the Chicano Park Steering Committee, Lucas Cruz.

Lucas, welcome to the San Diego News Now podcast.

Every year San Diegans gather to commemorate the takeover of Chicano Park on the Saturday closest to April 22nd. What is the significance of this date?

And how did that protest get resolved? 

People can visit Chicano Park year-round. Can you describe the park for listeners that may not be familiar with it?

How do you describe the significance of the park to the community?

What does Chicano Park mean to you personally?

This year’s theme for Chicano Park Day is “Bringing Back the True Spirit and Energy of the Chicano Park Takeover.” Why did the Chicano Park Steering Committee choose it as this year’s theme?

Can you tell me what people can expect at tomorrow’s event?

And the flag raising at the event, has a special significance. Can you tell me more about that?

TAG: I’ve been speaking with the Chairman of the Chicano Park Steering Committee, Lucas Cruz.

Lucas, thank you for joining me on the San Diego News Now podcast. I hope you have a great Chicano Park Day celebration tomorrow.

The Chicano Park Day celebration is tomorrow from 9 A-M to 4 P-M.

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That’s it for the podcast today. This podcast is produced by Emilyn Mohebbi and edited by Brooke Ruth. We’d like to thank editor Nic McVicker 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 together with the day’s top stories. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend.