People with disabilities rally in Santee to save Medicaid funding
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Thursday, April 24th.>>>>
More than a hundred people with disabilities and their supporters rallied in Santee to protect Medicaid funding.More on that next. But first... the headlines….#######
The San Diego City Council approved its first Mobility Master Plan earlier this week.
The plan expands ways to get around the city without driving.
It includes more than 300 projects and 15 programs, ranging from neighborhood shuttles and roundabouts to sidewalk improvements and dedicated bus lanes.
The city’s climate action plan calls for biking, walking and transit to make up half of all commutes by 20-36. Last year, they accounted for just 13-percent.
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The city council also approved a contract to run a new safe sleeping site.
The site is near the airport and will have almost 200 parking spaces for people to legally sleep in their cars.
It will also have restrooms and services to help with housing, mental health and job training.
The addition will nearly double the city’s number of safe sleeping spaces.
This new site could be open through 20-29. Then, it will transition to a water treatment facility.
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Speaking of water treatment – San Diego Supervisor Jim Desmond is continuing to demand intervention in the Tijuana River Valley Sewage Crisis.
He sent letters yesterday (Wednesday) to U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
He urged them to visit the border to see the problem for themselves, and to impose consequences on Mexico for dumping.
This came one day after E-P-A head Lee Zeldin met with San Diego leaders about the crisis.
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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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MEDICAID SUPPORTERS RALLIED IN SANTEE YESTERDAY (Wednesday) AS PART OF A WEEK OF PROTESTS TARGETING CALIFORNIA REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMEMBERS.
REPORTER MELISSA MAE SAYS DISABLED PEOPLE WHO DEPEND ON THE FEDERALLY FUNDED HEALTH INSURANCE LED THE RALLY.
MM: More than a hundred disabled people and their supporters rallied outside Congressman Darrell Issa’s office in Santee. MM: Issa is one of 216 House Republicans who voted in favor of cuts to programs overseen by the Committee on Energy and Commerce. That includes medicaid, known as medi-cal in California. MM: Diana Pastora Carson is with Disability Voices United. “People's life quality is on the line. People are going to be forced to go back into institutions when the cuts take effect. And so some people say that we are overreacting, that we will wait and see what happens, but we don't have the luxury of waiting.” MM: KPBS contacted Issa’s office for a reaction to the rally and received no response by our deadline. Melissa Mae KPBS News.
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THE STATE OF TEXAS HAS BEEN DEPLOYING CONTROVERSIAL BUOYS DOWN THE MIDDLE OF THE RIO GRANDE RIVER FOR TWO YEARS.
IT’S AN ATTEMPT TO STOP PEOPLE FROM CROSSING THE BORDER.
NOW, KORI SUZUKI REPORTS FEDERAL IMMIGRATION OFFICIALS ARE CONSIDERING BRINGING THOSE SAME BUOYS TO CALIFORNIA.
The barriers on the Rio Grande look like a row of floating orange spheres. They include serrated saw blades and mesh nets to prevent people from swimming underneath. Officials in Texas have faced searing criticism for using these tactics. Here’s Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro on a visit to the border in 2023. You really have a situation where the state government and Greg Abbott are treating human beings like animals. That same year, the Biden administration sued the state, calling the barriers a safety hazard that violates international treaties. Officials in Mexico say they’ve caused at least two people to drown. Recently though, the U.S. Border Patrol has discussed bringing these buoy barriers to waterways along the border in California and Arizona. That’s according to emails obtained by KPBS. Those discussions are raising alarms for some California lawmakers. U.S. Representative Raul Ruiz represents Imperial County. I think it would be inhumane and it goes contrary to our American values. A Border Patrol spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Kori Suzuki, KPBS News.
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PROJECT 20-25 HONORS AMERICAN SCIENCE DOMINANCE…FROM BEN FRANKLIN’S DISCOVERIES TO THE MANHATTAN PROJECT.
BUT IT STATES THE MISSION HAS GONE AWRY.
PRESIDENT TRUMP AGREES AND HAS CUT BILLIONS IN RESEARCH MONEY.
A U-C-S-D SCIENTIST TELLS REPORTER AMITA SHARMA THE CUTS ARE ALTERING DISEASE RESEARCH.
The plan advocates capping federal funding for “overhead expenses” for university research, claiming the reimbursements “cross-subsidize leftist agendas” and DEI. So far, President Trump’s executive orders on federal funding have cancelled grants at UCSD that fund pandemic, HiV and AIDS research, and intimate partner violence. HIV clinical trials have also been paused. At least 50 researchers have been notified their funding has been disrupted. UCSD infectious disease doctor Davey Smith says the United State’s biomedical research infrastructure is being changed. “....How we fund research, who's reviewing the research, what we can say in our research. I really have to point out this is censorship when you can't talk about certain groups of people or demographics or how you include or not include various individuals within research components.” Rick Hess is a senior fellow at the conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute. He shares Smith’s concern. But he says for years top universities have silenced conservatives and researched topics aligned with liberal biases. Setting extreme policy guidelines during covid didn’t help either. “Universities and their lobbying groups have done a terrible job of either reigning in the bad behavior or convincing folks on the right that they're addressing or aware of these issues.” But he says the administration’s actions now are an overcorrection at risk of throwing out both the baby and the bathwater. Amita Sharma, KPBS News.
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PACIFIC ARTS MOVEMENT KICKS OFF ITS SPRING SHOWCASE TOMORROW (FRIDAY).
WITH OPENING NIGHT ALREADY SOLD OUT, CINEMA JUNKIE BETH ACCOMANDO PREVIEWS WHAT YOU CAN STILL CATCH AT THE WEEK-LONG FILM FESTIVAL.
Asian Cinema is not just one flavor. It’s a mouthwatering smorgasbord of styles, genres and stories. PacArts Movement artistic director Brian Hu always serves up a menu that highlights that diversity. This year you can find the grind of daily life in Lucky Star… CLIP Have you paid the mortgage, the car, the electricity… The Olympic dreams of a young athlete in Sunshine… CLIP Drown out the noise you’re Sunshine you’re Olympian. The unexpected violence of Baby Assassins… CLIP Gunshots Or the possibility of something beyond death in I am a Ghost… CLIP You haven’t found me, I’ve come to you. Spring Showcase always has an exciting line-up to tempt you off your couch and into a cinema. Film festivals are the perfect place to step out of your comfort zone to try something new or to just gamble on a completely unknown quantity like Soldier of Love from Kazakhstan. CLIP Music BRIAN HU So usually, you think of Kazak films as either a little bit dreary, a little bit dusty. And this is one that's full of color and movements and action. And it's because it's a full-blown musical. People break out into song and dance in this movie. And so part of the treat is just seeing Kazakhstan like it's an MGM musical. And so that's itself already a shock that is worth the admission already. But then the musical numbers display a stunning creativity as a couple sings a duet in their tiny kitchen or an entire airport becomes the stage for a choreographed dance between the camera and the cast. And while we are on the subject of choreography, I have to mention my favorite part of Hu’s programming: Mystery Kung Fu Theater. CLIP SFX Kung Fu BRIAN HU Cinema is about movement. It's about choreography. It's about design. It's about the body. Where else do you see this all come together with as much force and creativity than in the classic kung fu films? CLIP More kung fu SFX Mystery Kung Fu Theater gets its name from the fact that you don’t know what film is screening you just have to trust Hu. And to date, he has never let me down. It’s meant to recall the 70s and 80s when you could turn on the TV and catch a random kung fu movie on a Saturday afternoon. BRIAN HU And so we want to replicate that sense of discovery, but also communal pleasure. To know that there's a bunch of other screaming fans in this audience that they, too, don't need to know what the film is. And with the Academy finally adding a new stunt category to the Oscars, now is the perfect time to celebrate the insane stunts and action of these cult favorites with a wildly cheering, appreciative crowd. But if you are looking for something less bonkers and over the top, Hu has programmed an amazing pairing of Indian cinema classics across generations for this weekend. You can watch two films from the beloved 1950s Apu Trilogy back to back with the two Village Rockstar films from the past ten years. BRIAN HU And so I think this is going to be a fun afternoon of surprising and uncanny resonances across the years and across the decades. And Spring Showcase will close with the emotionally rich and layered documentary Between Goodbyes by Jota Mun. JOTA MUN It's about an original mother and a queer adoptee struggling to reconnect and stay in touch and keep their reunion intact over the long haul. CLIP Growing up, I would imagine sometimes I have Korean parents somewhere, but I never thought that we could actually reunite. I stayed wondering. Unlike most adoption stories, Between Goodbyes looks to the parents searching for the child they gave up for adoption. JOTA MUN It feels extremely personal, even though I'm not in it a ton. Just all the identity pieces, and I think the themes of searching for your place in the world, searching for family, and some sense of belonging and home, and also just, I think a million shades of grief are in there, but I hope it's alongside a lot of joy and the way that I think laughter always mixes with crying. That’s a perfect set of emotions to close out the always amazing Spring Showcase. Beth Accomando, KPBS News.
PACIFIC ARTS MOVEMENT’S SPRING SHOWCASE RUNS FRIDAY THROUGH MAY 1ST AT THE ULTRASTAR CINEMAS MISSION VALLEY AND DIGITAL GYM CINEMA.
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SAN DIEGO'S MUSIC SCENE IS FULL OF TALENT, BUT MAKING A LIVING AS AN ARTIST IS A DIFFERENT STORY.
LOCAL MUSICIAN SHUA SHARES HIS JOURNEY ON OUR ARTS AND CULTURE PODCAST, "THE FINEST."
HOST JULIA DIXON EVANS HAS MORE.
Sound: You Can Only Go in Pieces. This is Shua. His track, You Can Only Go in Pieces, made it big on Spotify. Sound: You Can Only Go in Pieces. Despite this success, and his talent, Shua ended up close to homelessness. Streaming pays little, and like many artists, Shua juggles multiple jobs to stay afloat. SHUA: 10.99 a month will get you access to every piece of art that's ever existed, every song. It kind of makes everything less valuable. And so you have to either be a viral pop star or — almost — you're nothing. David Hesmondhalgh (hesmon-dalsh) is professor of media, music and culture at the University of Leeds. He says the struggles for artists arise from how societies structure and consume art. Hesmondhalgh: the number of musicians who could earn a sustainable living from music has been always relatively few. It goes back thousands of years. Shua remains hopeful and grounded in his local music community [More music] SHUA: I would just like to leave my mark in this little place. I think things like that do matter — the Anthropocene, the sort of marks humans leave. I want to leave a good one. Hear more of Shua's story on The Finest, wherever you get your podcasts. Julia Dixon Evans, 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. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great Thursday.
