South Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant project underway
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Wednesday, October 30th.>>>>
There are mixed feelings about the South Bay wastewater treatment plant project.
More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….######
County health officials are looking for people who may have come in contact with a rabid bat found in a parking lot in Oceanside.
The animal was found on the ground outside the Petco store on Vista Way last Wednesday morning.
It was collected by animal services and later tested positive for rabies.
Health officials say people can catch rabies from a bat bite or if the bat's saliva comes in contact with a cut, or our eyes, nose or mouth.
Symptoms in people can take up to months to develop.
If you or someone you know came in contact with the bat last week, contact County Public Health Services by calling 619 692 8499.
10 rabid bats have been detected in the county this year.
########
The county is offering free flu shots at events today (Wednesday) and over the next few weeks.
The C-D-C recommends everyone six months and older should get the flu vaccine every year.
Today (Wednesday) free flu shots will be offered at the Northgate Market in Chula Vista from 1 to 4 P-M.
And next Tuesday (November 5th) at the Southeastern Live Well Center, and on November 13th at the Mission Valley Library.
If you can’t make it to the events, free flu vaccines are also available at some Public Health Center locations.
########
The San Diego International Airport is getting more than 12-million-dollars from the Federal Aviation Administration to help fund its Terminal 1 project.
The funds are part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law's Airport Terminal Program.
It will go toward the construction of two passenger boarding bridges, structural supports, foundation concrete, pilings, flooring and roofing.
This is the third grant awarded to the airport from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
The airport has received more than 87-million-dollars in grants, including this newest one.
125 airports across the country were awarded grants this round.
#########
From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
<<<UNDERWRITING BREAK>>
######
<<<MUSIC BUMP INTO A BLOCK>>
##########
WORK HAS STARTED ON A PROJECT TO FIX AND EXPAND THE SOUTH BAY INTERNATIONAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT.
IT WAS CELEBRATED YESTERDAY (TUESDAY) BY OFFICIALS FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE BORDER.
THE PROJECT IS EXPECTED TO TAKE AS LONG AS FIVE YEARS AND COST 600-MILLION DOLLARS.
BUT IMPERIAL BEACH MAYOR PALOMA AGUIRRE SAYS THE PLANT IS ONLY PART OF THE SOUTH BAY SEWAGE PROBLEM.
SHE SAYS THE BIGGER ISSUE IS THE STENCH AND HAZARDOUS AIR CAUSED BY POLLUTION IN THE TIJUANA RIVER.
SBPLANT 1A :10
“and it’s not just the physical ailments, it’s the small business owners that are seeing their life-savings go up in smoke because of the lack of visitors that they’re seeing.”
AGUIRRE HAS REPEATEDLY ASKED GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM AND THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TO DECLARE A STATE OF EMERGENCY TO GET THE PROBLEM RESOLVED MORE QUICKLY.
##########
Construction has started on a new and improved double track bridge for trains between Carlsbad and Encinitas.
REPORTER JACOB AERE says the new bridge over Batiquitos Lagoon is expensive, but it comes with multiple benefits.
BATIQUITOS 1 (ja) 0:57
At the picturesque wetlands where land meets sea … Construction crews have started to dig in on the Batiquitos Lagoon Double Track project in North County. It's a joint effort between CalTrans and the San Diego Association of Governments to replace an old wooden bridge. David Cortez is SANDAG's Director of construction and engineering. “The process right now that we’re undertaking is building a platform for the equipment to start building a new bridge that we are going to put at the Batiquitos Lagoon. It's going to replace an 85 year old bridge, single track with a double track, modern concrete bridge.” It will add nearly a mile of new double track… meaning trains can travel both ways at the same time. The $166 million Batiquitos Lagoon project is fully funded by a combination of state and local funds. Construction is expected to be completed in 2028. Jacob Aere, KPBS News.
##########
RESIDENTS IN NATIONAL CITY ARE CALLING ON ITS CITY COUNCIL TO BLOCK A FUEL TRANSFER STATION FROM BEING BUILT NEAR HOMES.
INEWSOURCE INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER PHILIP SALATA (sah-LA-tah) EXPLAINS.
NCFUEL TOT: 1:21
SALATA: A semi-truck rolling through West National City neighborhoods is already a common sight. Now residents are worried there will be at least 70 more loaded with fuel, passing near their homes every night while they try to sleep. The National City Energy Transition Project, run by Texas-based USD Clean Fuels, will train in and truck out biodiesel at a new facility within a half a mile of Kimball Elementary School. It’s located in an area California has slated for emissions reductions programs. This is what we breathe everyday. (in Spanish) That was resident Maria Sanchez who said at a city council meeting earlier this month that while her grandchildren struggle with asthma, she struggles to clean the black soot that enters her home from industrial pollution. That’s what they breathe, she says. A company spokesperson said they will minimize impact by avoiding residential areas, schools, churches, and congested areas. When community advocates heard about the project, they joined with residents to push for mitigation measures. The project is currently undergoing environmental review. Here is Kelsey Genesi from the Environmental Health Coalition. We know that they suffer tremendously from high rates of asthma. The cancer risk is incredible in communities where they're overburdened by these polluting sources. For KPBS, I’m inewsource investigative reporter Philip Salata.
TAG: INEWSOURCE IS AN INDEPENDENTLY FUNDED, NONPROFIT PARTNER OF KPBS.
########## Longer music break
TWO BALLOT DROP BOXES IN WASHINGTON AND OREGON WERE SET ON FIRE THIS WEEK.
OFFICIALS SAY HUNDREDS OF BALLOTS WERE DESTROYED.
SAN DIEGO ELECTION OFFICIALS SAY THE REGISTRAR’S DROP BOXES ARE DESIGNED TO BE SAFE AND SECURE.
CYNTHIA PAES [Pazz] IS SAN DIEGO COUNTY’S REGISTRAR OF VOTERS.
SHE SAYS THE BOXES ARE MADE OF WEATHER RESISTANT AND FIRE SUPPRESSANT MATERIAL.
BALLOTS2A [8s]
“This grade of stainless steel can resist scaling at very high temperatures above 1800 degrees.”
PAES [Pazz] SAYS THEY HAVE DOUBLE LOCKING DOORS AND ANTI-PRY DOOR JAMBS.
BALLOT RETRIEVAL TEAMS INSPECT THE DROP BOXES FOR SIGNS OF DAMAGE OR TAMPERING DURING THEIR DAILY PICK-UPS.
AS OF YESTERDAY (Tuesday), THE REGISTRAR HAS RECEIVED MORE THAN 530-THOUSAND BALLOTS SO FAR.
ABOUT 30 PERCENT OF THOSE WERE DROPPED OFF AT DROP BOXES.
########## NO MUSIC BUMP
THIS ELECTION SEASON, AMERICANS HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO A SURGE OF UNFOUNDED CLAIMS.
Public Matters investigative reporter AMITA SHARMA REPORTS DISINFORMATION IS ONLY EXPECTED TO INTENSIFY.
MISINFORMATION (as) 5:11 Last words "thank you" SOQ
Q. Amita, give us some examples of disinformation related to the presidential election that are being circulated.
Pretty wide ranging Maya. Some of it we heard before in 2020, such as undocumented people unlawfully voting in droves in the presidential election. Or, voting machines actually reversing votes. There are left-leaning websites claiming the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump was staged. McKenzie Sadeghi of NewsGuard, which rates news and information, says a Russian disinformation network pushed out a deep fake video of former President Barack Obama claiming the Democrats were behind that assassination attempt because they feared Trump would win in November and that the only way to defeat him was to kill him.
McKenzie Sadeghi AI and Foreign Influence Editor.
“Within the past couple of weeks or so, we've seen a lot of Russian disinformation, targeting Tim Walz, Harris's running mate, and accusing him without any evidence or with fabricated evidence, accusing him of having inappropriate relationships with minors while he was a teacher in Minnesota.”
Q. Amita, so you’ve mentioned partisan websites and Russia as putting out these lies. Who or what else is spreading the disinformation and what’s being done to rein it in?
Well, Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center delivered a warning, one of many, last month. that in addition to Russia, China and Iran are working to influence the outcome of the election, with Iran focused on the Trump campaign and trying to gin up anti-Israel sentiment. The Washington Post reported this week that an ex-deputy sheriff from Florida has partnered with Russian Military intelligence to distribute deep fakes on Vice President Kamala Harris.
Meanwhile, the Center for Countering Digital Hate’ says X’s AI tool Grok’s feature that enables users to produce images with prompts. The center said Grok lacked the guardrails to protect against generating election disinformation. One Grok image showed an ailing Trump in a hospital bed. Another showed Harris sitting in front of a table with lines of salt, needles and tiny bottles of medication.
And remember Maya, when these distortions appear on social media…they can reach millions of people.
Sadeghi says Meta, X and TikTok are applying labels to election lies. All have their different ways of tackling disinformation, but it’s unclear if or how effective that’s been.
Q. What’s the effect of the disinformation?
Well, people’s decisions, i.e. their votes are only as good as the information they’re given. So it’s dangerous. It wounds democracy, It wounds society. Democracy relies on information, the truth and faith in elected officials, in institutions and fellow citizens. We saw what happened in England in August when a false social media post about the fatal stabbings of three children triggered riots against Muslims and other minorities. Dean Nelson, founder and director of the journalism program at Point Loma Nazarene University says mayhem is the goal.
Dean Nelson, Founder Director of Point Loma Nazarene University Journalism Program
11:58 “The intent is to create chaos and mistrust. If you can create chaos and mistrust and then you have a leader who says you can trust me and only me, then you can see the political machine just kind of working there.”
And Maya, I should point out that with local news coverage and the news industry as a whole in decline and people existing in information silos, it is difficult for journalists to flag all of the disinformation, debunk it and make sure it reaches the people who are actually believing these lies.
It’s why Tim Franklin, a dean at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, says there has to be content regulation on social media platforms. He says so far, tech companies have successfully argued that just like phone companies can’t control what’s said on a phone call, they can’t oversee what is said on the internet. The problem is a call is between a couple of people, social media reaches millions. Franklin believes oversight will eventually happen.
Tim Franklin, Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism
“Whether it's done voluntarily by the companies or whether Congress steps in and I, I think there is a growing sense, bipartisan sense in Congress that action needs to be taken.”
In the meantime, Americans will just have to do their own fact checking. They can use resources like The News Literacy Project, The Campaign Legal Center and of course NewsGuard.
Maya: Amita, thank you.
Thank you Maya.
########## NO MUSIC BUMP
A SOUTH BAY HIGH SCHOOL IS USING THIS YEAR’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION TO MAKE THE CONCEPT OF DEMOCRACY MORE CONCRETE.
REPORTER MELISSA MAE INTRODUCES US TO SOME FUTURE VOTERS WORKING TO GET OUT THE VOTE.
VOTERFAIR 1 (mm) 0:38 soq
MM: As part of their humanities class project, 48 High Tech High Chula Vista 11th graders hosted a voter information fair at Southwestern College. GS “You can look along these tables around here. We talk about the different propositions you can vote for as well as different people like mayors.” MM: 11th Grader Glenn Salanga says this class has taught him that his vote will matter. GS “I’m really grateful for this project because I got to be educated more on what I can vote for as an adult when I turn 18, in the next year.” MM: In addition to learning about democracy, the class registered almost 300 high school seniors and college students to vote. Melissa Mae KPBS News.
##########
<<<SHOW CLOSE>>>
That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. Join us again tomorrow for the day’s top stories. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great Wednesday.
