San Diegans come together to help LA
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Tuesday, January 14th
San Diegans are coming together to help survivors of the LA fires.
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More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….
A red flag warning for the county’s mountains and valleys is in effect until 6 p.m. tomorrow (Wednesday).
The National Weather Service issues red flag warnings when weather conditions cause an increased risk of fire danger.
Meteorologist Alex Tardy says dry vegetation could put inland areas at risk.
One thing to emphasize here is just because you have much lighter winds doesn't mean you couldn't have a fire, you know, in a, in a neighborhood area or in a high brush area with a lot of vegetation that burns very well.
He says clouds and some light precipitation may come later this week.
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San Diego Unified continues to investigate a data breach impacting students in the district.
The incident was announced last week by third party software company PowerSchool.
We now know that the exposed information was primarily contact information like names, addresses and phone numbers.
The district says more sensitive information like social security numbers and certain medical conditions might have also been stolen.
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Macy's announced it’s closing 66 stores nationwide, including two in San Diego County.
Among the stores described as underproductive are the Macy's in Mission Valley and the Chula Vista location at the Otay Ranch Town Center.
The stores are expected to close during the first quarter of this year, the company said.
In Southern California, the company is also closing locations in downtown Los
Angeles and in Westminster in Orange County.
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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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It’s been nearly a week since wildfires began ravaging the LA area. Thousands of people have lost everything. But reporter John Carroll tells us that as the calls for help have gone out, the aid has flowed in from San Diegans.
I’m hearing from my friends up there that lead churches similar to ours that the stores are empty, so there’s no more toilet paper, no more paper towels, there’s no clean water.” Rock Church Executive Campus Pastor Travis Gibson - speaking at a donation drive-thru event sponsored by the church. Gibson says over the course of just two days, they’ve filled four 26-foot trucks with all sorts of badly needed supplies. They’ll be driving them up on Tuesday. At the San Diego Humane Society, a call for people to foster and adopt animals, especially large dogs, brought more than 400-applications from people like Stacie Mittelman. “I just want to do anything I can to help and if one dog gets to spend a week outside of the shelter or, you know, not in a crate, then that’s what I can do.” We have more ways you can help online at kpbs dot org. JC, KPBS News.
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Rebuilding from the historic fires in L-A will come at a steep price. I spoke with reporter Tania Thorne about how the insurance industry will handle the aftermath and what residents can do now.
The insurance market in CA was already shaky. Companies like Farmers Insurance, Allstate, State Farm were offloading CA clients and cancelling policies because of the fire risks. Thousands of homeowners got cancellation notices or non renewals. Which sent all of these homeowners searching for new policies in a limited market. So what homeowners were left with were little options such as limited coverage or double, triple even, the rates for fire coverage. Clients who had no insurance companies serving the area were pushed to the insurer of last resort, the CA fair plan for fire coverage. Now what's important here is that homeowners with a mortgage are required to have homeowners insurance. So they were pushed to get whatever policy was available to them. Now, we have to think about those on limited incomes, seniors possibly who were prepared for double or triple the rates. Some without mortgages just went without homeowners insurance. So to see these fires happening at a time when the insurance market was already rocky is tragic. Was anything being done to stabilize the insurance market? Yes, so for the last year, our current insurance commissioner Ricardo Lara was in negotiations with insurance companies to figure out a plan. How to get insurance companies to come back to CA without hiking the prices to the consumers to the point where insurance is unobtainable. Insurance companies want to be in the CA market but it has to be profitable for them. On December 31st, he announced new regulations that would bring back insurance companies into what are being deemed fire risk areas.Companies agreed to start issuing policies in the next 1 to 5 years, of course at a cost… and then you have this event happen days later after the announcement. I spoke to Dave Jones who is the former insurance commissioner and currently the director of the Climate Risk Initiative at UC Berkeley's Center for law energy and the environment. He says these events were not a matter of “if” but more of “when” It's a sad and tragic consequence of our failure to transition away from fossil fuels and other greenhouse gas emitting industries which are driving global temperature increases, driving more extreme and severe weather. Related events like these massive infernos that are befalling California From an insurer's perspective.It's also a disaster because we've already had a challenge with insurance pricing and availability in California. And this is only going to make things worse. We can expect, even before these wildfires that we're going to see tremendous increases in insurance prices. So he thinks we should first hold the insurance companies accountable for what they agreed to do, which is to come back to the CA market but in return we will be seeing higher rates for coverage.And of course there is the matter of addressing climate change as well as maintenance of county owned fire risk areas. So what happens now with insurance coverage after a massive event like this? This was exactly what the insurance companies were scared of happening. Especially in CA where the cost of a home can be in the millions. And we are seeing it happen in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in California. There is the fear of the CA fair plan not having enough resources to cover the claims and the damage or insurance companies going insolvent. Jones doesn’t think that will happen. He thinks homeowners with insurance will see payouts but now the question is if the coverage or payout will be enough to cover the cost of the home. Of course there might be additional support from FEMA or the state. Federal assistance with the incoming Trump administration is a little questionable. Here is Jones again. So we're probably not going to have a Federal partner. But we're big enough as a State to help communities rebuild. People are going to get insurance payouts. In some cases people are going to discover that they are underinsured, that they didn't get enough insurance, and that's a very painful moment. What should homeowners that are impacted do? I spoke to Robert Feldman the co-founder and CEO of WOW’s Insurance, he's been in the industry for over 25 years. He says that while this is an overwhelming and emotional time homeowners need to act quickly. They need to get ahold of their policy or agent and follow these 5 steps to get ahead of what is expected to be a really congested time. Step 1- file a claim. Step 2, certify a total loss of the home if that is the case. Feldman says many policyholders get stuck here. Consumers need to be proactive and not wait for the insurance company or adjuster to get back to them. Once the damage is certified, these families can start to look for temporary long term housing, as ironic as this sounds. Because the process of rebuilding could be a matter of years. And Step 4 and 5, which he says some homeowners are already looking into are architects for plans of the home and builders. Thank you Tania.
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The psychotropic drug, ketamine, has been legal to prescribe for treating depression since 2019. Since then it has gained traction as a promising in-clinic therapy.
Health reporter Heidi de Marco says a new study shows its recreational use is also on the rise.
A study by UC San Diego researchers shows recreational ketamine use has increased by 150% in the last 10 years. Dr. Arsalan Azam isn’t surprised. He was not involved in the study but has been treating patients with the drug for years. I think unfortunately, now, with telehealth, it can be a little too easy. There's a lot of companies that are trying to monetize the space. The biggest increase is among adults between 26 and 34 and those with a college degree. He says the growing use outside of medical settings is concerning. The drug carries risks—like anxiety, nausea, dissociation, and even bladder damage. I think it's great for access and convenience. But you are now suddenly putting ketamine in patients hands without necessarily a lot of supervision. So that is at risk for addiction, just like the opiate crisis happened right. You have to have thoughtful prescribing. Heidi de Marco, KPBS News.
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A change in network providers in the military’s health care system has caused some issues since it went into effect January 1st.
Military and veterans affairs reporter Andrew Dyer spoke to one doctor who says the change will impact patients.
Active duty military members, their families, and military retirees often get their health care at military clinics. But when they need medical services outside of base, there’s a network of civilian providers. For the last decade, Health Net Federal Services provided the network in the West Region. Now the West is under TriWest Healthcare Alliance. Mark Jesinoski, a psychologist in Fallbrook, says providers who were part of the old network aren’t automatically going to be in the new one. "It says on their website you can sign up and you can become credentialed, but it's an approximate six-month process and they will let you know if they need you. So there's no guarantee." Service members also reported problems updating their information and getting through to customer service. TriWest says more than 70 percent of its beneficiaries have been able to update their information and that it’s increased its customer service staffing. Andrew Dyer, KPBS News
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Some traditional stalwarts of the Democratic Party jumped ship in the November election.
Public Matters reporter Amita Sharma says the exit was pronounced in Southeastern San Diego, mirroring trends across the country.
Democrats lost slightly fewer than 11,000 votes in southeastern San Diego between November’s election and four years ago. At the same time, Republicans gained 2,000 votes in the region. Ellen Nash, chair of the San Diego chapter of the Black American Political Association of California, lives in southeastern San Diego. She reports some local young voters have no allegiance to either party and believe the system has failed them. “Black people In southeastern San Diego, if you look at the data, We're at the bottom in all categories, education, housing. employment, racial justice.” Clariza Marin, of the Harvey Family Foundation, says southeastern voters were less apt to buy Vice President Kamala Harris’s economic agenda over President-elect Donald Trump’s. “When you wake up every morning and you're still living paycheck to paycheck, those tangible deliverables are what I think matters the most to people right now.” Trump also got a boost from traditionally Democratic voters in swing states. More Latino voters cast ballots for Trump. And fewer Black people in those states voted Democratic. Amita Sharma, KPBS 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 day.
