Public safety advisory in place after attacks in Oceanside

Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Wednesday, October 9th.

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A public safety advisory has been put out by Oceanside police, after multiple attacks killed two homeless men and left a third wounded. More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….

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More than a million property tax bills are on their way to property owners this week.

The payments are expected to generate more than 9-billion-dollars.

Property taxes fund county and city services, such as public health and schools.

All bills can be viewed and paid at s-d-t-t-c-dot-com.

First installments are due November first, and second installments are due on February first.

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More than 340-thousand people took public transit on Free Ride Day last week.

The event provided free rides across the county on public transit run by M-T-S and N-C-T-D.

M-T-S saw a more than 15-percent increase in ridership compared to the previous week.

It was also the first time they had over 300-thousand riders since the start of the covid pandemic.

N-C-T-D saw a 28-percent increase in ridership over the previous week, and also the most daily riders on the Coaster since the pandemic.

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Registered voters in the county now have more options to cast their ballots for the election.

Early voting is underway at the Registrar’s office on weekdays from 8 A-M to 5 P-M.

San Diegans can also drop off their ballots at any official ballot drop box.

And on October 26th, certain vote centers will open every day.

For ballot drop box and vote center locations, head to our newsroom’s Voter Guide, at KPBS-dot-org-slash-voter-hub.

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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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OCEANSIDE POLICE HAVE PUT OUT A PUBLIC SAFETY ADVISORY AFTER A STRING OF ATTACKS THAT KILLED TWO HOMELESS MEN AND LEFT A THIRD WOUNDED.

THE FIRST ATTACK WAS ON SEPTEMBER 18TH NEAR OCEANSIDE HARBOR VILLAGE.

A MAN IN HIS FORTIES WAS INJURED.

THE BODIES OF THE OTHER TWO MEN -- BOTH IN THEIR SIXTIES -- WERE FOUND LAST WEEKEND, IN SEPARATE PLACES WITHIN TWO MILES OF THE FIRST SITE.

INVESTIGATORS HAVEN'T RELEASED ANY OTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE VICTIMS.

OCEANSIDE POLICE CHIEF KEDRICK SADLER SAYS THEY DON’T HAVE ANY SUSPECTS, AND THEY'RE NOT SURE WHETHER THE ATTACKS ARE RELATED.

“In response to these recent attacks, the Oceanside Police Department has increased their patrol throughout the city, where unhoused individuals frequent. Officers from our homeless outreach team will also be contacting individuals on foot in the areas to advise them of the recent attacks and provide them with resources.” 

THE DEPARTMENT'S HOMELESS OUTREACH TEAM WILL ALSO BE ADVISING UNHOUSED PEOPLE TO STAY VIGILANT AND TO TRAVEL AND SLEEP IN NUMBERS.

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GOVERNOR NEWSOM RECENTLY VETOED A BILL THAT COULD HAVE SIGNIFICANTLY BOOSTED VOTER REGISTRATION AT THE D-M-V.

GLORIA PENNER FELLOW, ELAINE ALFARO SAYS LOCAL ADVOCACY GROUPS ARE DISAPPOINTED, BUT UNDETERRED.

The bill would have made voter registration at the DMV automatic … not optional. It aimed to target the 4.7 million eligible, unregistered, voters in California. When people go to the DMV to renew their license, instead of getting to choose to opt out of voter registration, they would have been put on a list automatically, if they were eligible. But the bill had critics. The costs and a lack of choice in registration were main concerns. Which is why Gov. Newsom vetoed the bill. But Itzel Maganda Chavez from Alliance San Diego says the cost argument isn’t valid. “I know there was a mention about the Budget cycle. But the intention of the author of this bill was that there was going to be a delayed implementation of Sb. 2, 9, 9, all the way to 2030. Chavez says Alliance and the democracy coalition are still figuring out next steps but they will continue advocating for voter registration. To learn more about how to register to vote, go to register to vote dot CA dot GOV. Elaine Alfaro, KPBS news

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A NEW STATE LAW REQUIRES HAIRSTYLING COURSES TO TRAIN FOR ALL TYPES AND TEXTURES OF HAIR.

REPORTER KATIE HYSON VISITED A STYLIST WHO’S BEEN FILLING THAT GAP IN THE SAN DIEGO MARKET.

When Brittaney Gandy moved to San Diego, she struggled to find a stylist who knew how to work with her tight coils. So she wore wigs. And tried to become the stylist she couldn’t find. But hair school taught for straight hair. Like, they cut the hair wet. nat pop – sink wash And the way that curly hair reacts when it's wet is completely different. It doesn't live in a 2-dimensional space. It lives more in a 3D world. You have to take into account the shrinkage. nap pop - scissors So she taught herself on Youtube. Until she finally felt confident to show her natural hair. nat pop - spray To not have to feel like I have to put on a hat or hide behind something to feel confident and just like wearing what's naturally mine . . . it's liberating. She’s happy this law passed. Just hopes the schools hire curl-experienced educators. There seems to be demand. She launched her salon, CurlCousin, in 2022. And says 700 clients poured in that year. nat pop – hair dryer, fade out Katie Hyson, KPBS News.

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A FOLLOW-UP TO AN ONGOING STORY KPBS HAS COVERED OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS.

THREATS AGAINST LOCAL ELECTED OFFICIALS.

U-S-D HAS EXPANDED ITS STUDY OF HARASSMENT AND INTIMIDATION.

PUBLIC MATTERS INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER AMITA SHARMA TELLS US ABOUT THE FINDINGS.

Q1. Amita, I know you’ve reported a lot on this topic. What did U-S-D learn from its latest look at threats against public officials? That’s right Maya, we do have a body of work on this issue.  First, a recap of our past reporting. Last year, USD asked local people who hold public office about how often people try to intimidate them. That survey found 66 % of male office holders reported being threatened or harassed, compared to 82 % of their female counterparts. And two-thirds of those polled said the intimidation has worsened since they first entered office. This year, USD broadened its poll of elected officials to include not just San Diego County but Imperial and Riverside counties as well. And here are some highlights. Two-thirds of elected officials in these three counties reported being threatened and harassed and more than half thought it was enough of an issue to contact police. 69 percent of women said they were targets monthly, compared to 38 percent of male politicians. And once again Maya, you can see that women are bearing the brunt of the hostility. Back in May, I spoke to John Porten, a researcher at the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice who oversaw the study, before the findings had been released and he elaborated on women politicians as targets of threats. [00:17:00.04] - “We feel really, really strongly that the conclusion is that women are experiencing a volume of threats, almost an order of magnitude worse than men. The second thing that I really want to highlight is that over the last year, we've started to hear many more reports about hostility within the board, that some of the harassment and threats are coming from people who serve on the board with the people who are respondents to our surveys.” Q2. Amita, women have been in politics for decades. Are the threats and harassment really new? That’s an interesting question Maya and the answer is no. Last year, I interviewed former National City Mayor  Alexandra Sotelo-Solis. And she said there was a man in 2014 who used to regularly harass her at council meetings and she always thought he was being encouraged to do this by a political peer. Here she is describing how that man spoke to her outside a council meeting 10 years ago. Alejandra Sotelo-Solis / Former National City Mayor :28 “You're a bitch and you are a dog on a leash and you're wrong.” (cut out the rest of the bite) Q3. So what is the purpose of this study? As USD reiterates, there’s a difference between the freedom to express dissent and the deliberate use of intimidation or violence against public officials to influence policy. The university is trying to understand whether we at the local level are approaching that line, in the midst of crossing it or have already crossed it into what they call “fear-based” government. USD has collected data on the effect of the threats and that includes elected officials censoring themselves or being silent period on policy issues because of this intimidation. And Maya, you know I had a sobering conversation last month with Imran Ahmed who started the The Center for Countering Digital Hate and studied highly toxic Instagram posts related to 10 well-known women politicians, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Congresswoman Majorie Taylor Greene. And he has first hand knowledge of what can happen if this abuse of women politicians is left unchecked. 11:24: It translates to offline activity. Look, I started this work because a colleague of mine in the British Parliament was murdered by a man who thought that he would use bullets, knives and his fists to beat the death of a woman for the beliefs that she h ad. 11:43: And these will become more frequent events if we see the normalization of extreme hate against women.” And Maya, the name of that politician is Jo Cox who was a member of the British Parliament until she was stabbed and shot to death by a white supremacist. Ahmed says one way you start to deal with the toxicity aimed at politicians, especially women, is to require social media platforms to enforce their own rules on threats and harassment. Amita, thank you. Thank you.

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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. In tomorrow’s podcast, we’ll bring you details on this weekend’s Ocean Beach Oktoberfest. Join us again for that, plus the day’s top stories. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great Wednesday.