State of the county: Federal cuts could lead to reduced services

Good Morning, I’m Andrew Dyer, in for Debbie Cruz….it’s Friday, April 18.

Federal cuts could lead to reduced county services.

More on that next. But first... the headlines….

The visas of dozens more UC San Diego students have been terminated.

U-C-S-D says thirty-six students have now had their visas terminated without explanation from the government. One has been deported.

The news was first reported by UCSD’s campus newspaper, The Guardian.

The university tells the Guardian it is working to support those affected students.

According to the A-P, the number of student visas revoked nationwide since late March now stands at more than a thousand.

Officials identified the two Camp Pendleton Marines killed in a crash this week in New Mexico.

Both are from California.

They are 22-year-old Lance Cpl. Albert Aguilera, of Riverside, and 28-year–old Lance Cpl. Marcelino Gamino, from Fresno.

Both Marines were assigned to the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion. A third Marine from their unit was injured in the crash and remains in critical condition at an El Paso hospital.

A portion of the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion has been assigned to the border since January – one of President Donald Trump’s first orders of his second term.

The Marines say the vehicle was part of a convoy near Santa Teresa, New Mexico. According to reporting in the Washington Post the vehicle was involved in a rollover.

San Diego home prices are up, but sales are down over the last year.

That’s according to the California Association of Realtors.

Sales of existing single-family homes in the county rose almost 20 percent from February to March, but are down four percent from last year.

The median price for a home in the county is just over a million dollars — two percent higher than last year.

The Realtor’s association says fluctuating mortgage rates and rising recession fears are contributing to an overall weakening of the market across the state.

From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.

Stay with me for more of the local news you need.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT WAS THE STATE OF THE COUNTY ADDRESS. THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS’ ACTING CHAIR, TERRA LAWSON REMER, SPOKE AT THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM IN BALBOA PARK. REPORTER TANIA THORNE HAS THE HIGHLIGHTS.

Lawson Remer started her address with the progress the county has seen in recent years… but also talked about how federal cuts are forcing the county to step back. She presented a game plan. To fight federal cuts on healthcare, Lawson Remer proposed the creation of San Diego’s own Medicaid healthcare plan. She says funding could come from a local ballot measure. To make sure that struggling San Diegans can see a doctor when they're sick and get treatment for addiction or mental health, and avoid financial ruin from medical bills. She says this measure could also fund law enforcement and services for families and children. Another proposal.. to use county savings on environmental projects and legal defense programs. Lawson Remer’s message was one of local control as federal changes continue to rock San Diego and the nation. Tania Thorne, KPBS News

A NEW STATE LAW IS GIVING FAMILIES HOPE FOR TREATMENT OF MENTAL ILLNESS OR ADDICTION. SENATE BILL 43 EXPANDS WHO CAN BE PLACED ON AN INVOLUNTARY PSYCHIATRIC HOLD. HEALTH REPORTER HEIDI DE MARCO SAYS IT WILL TAKE A WHILE TO SEE THE LAW’S IMPACT.

I have been challenged by my loved one, my daughter, for 20 years. She was diagnosed at 16 with bipolar disorder, auditory complications. Julia and her husband Kirk are among many families dealing with a dual diagnosis — mental illness and substance use disorder.  The most challenging part for me is grappling with the idea that she's beyond hope.  They’ve tried drug treatment programs, conservatorships and extended hospital stays. But their daughter leaves after a few days against medical advice. That’s where Senate Bill 43 comes in. It allows involuntary treatment, but it requires intervention by the court. It was never mentioned once in the 5 or 6 weeks my daughter was in the hospital. But for the Holladays, whose daughter was just in the hospital again a few weeks ago, the new law hasn’t changed much for them yet.  Maybe there could be some advocacy, more advocacy on it or maybe outreach to families. They hope that the next time their daughter is in crisis, the new law can help them help her. Heidi de Marco, KPBSNews

AFTER SEEING KPBS STORIES ABOUT PROTESTS AND RALLIES, MANY LISTENERS, HAVE ASKED US HOW THEY CAN GET INVOLVED.

FROM THE CORNER OF 5TH AND E IN DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO, VIDEO JOURNALIST MATTHEW BOWLER HAS THIS STORY ABOUT ACTIVISM IN SAN DIEGO AND HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED IN THE CAUSES YOU BELIEVE IN.  

ACTIVISM HAS A LONG HISTORY IN OUR REGION, DATING BACK TO THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY. ACCORDING TO THE SAN DIEGO HISTORY CENTER, THE CORNER OF 5TH AND E IN DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO WAS KNOWN AS “SOAPBOX CORNER”. GROUPS LIKE THE INTERNATIONAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD, KNOWN AS THE WOBBLIES, WOULD HOLD SPEECHES AND DEBATE WITH OTHER ACTIVISTS. BUT IN JANUARY OF 1912, CITY AUTHORITIES SHUT IT DOWN AND BANNED SPEECHES FOR SIX BLOCKS WITH 5TH AND E AT ITS CENTER. TODAY, THIS CORNER IS FULL OF BARS AND RESTAURANTS, AND LIFE IS VERY DIFFERENT. BUT WHILE HISTORY MAY NOT REPEAT ITSELF, IT SURE SEEMS TO RHYME. There's a long, long history of protest, here in San Diego I'm Frances Yasmeen Motiwala I'm a board member and lead organizer at Activist San Diego.  Motiwala says Activist San Diego has been around since 1999. They started a small scrappy group and have grown into a 501 C3 nonprofit. Motiwala describes the group as the connective tissue of San Diego’s social justice organizations. It's a moment where I think people are freaking out, and rightfully so, because in America, we've never seen this kind of radical shift from democracy to dictatorship. We are being flooded with a ton of people who want to get involved, which is very exciting.  Every activist has their own origin story. Motiwala credits education for opening her eyes. It was in actually high school government and democracy accelerated thanks to Mrs. Dean us who told us stories like what the different political parties were. Political science professor Ric Epps says his family is what got him interested in politics. My mother was very, you know, very strong, involved and engaged politically. So and my grandparents, who lived through the Tulsa riots, and so I've always had an awareness, and I think it started from that point. Epps says no matter the catalyst, the causality is the same. There's inequity and there's an inequity in the system that requires a response, and you're trying to, you know, to take action in some way shape or forum. But what does activism look like? First, Epps says you need to pick your cause. In order to make change you have to decide what it is you want to attack. How you choose to express your activism can take many forms.  It can be subtle. Whether it's wearing a pin or a sweatshirt that says, you know, feminist, anti-racist, regenerative economy, or whether it's wearing a shirt that says demilitarize, and has your favorite organizations' logos on it. It can also be overt and targeted. For example, in the civil rights movement, where an Alabama government, Alabama, that the blacks didn't ride the busses for almost for like 188 days and so literally almost put the bussing industry out of business. And according to research, it doesn’t require all of us to be involved. Professor Erica Chenoweth from Harvard Kennedy School of Public Policy says their research shows that for nonviolent movements to be successful, just three and a half percent of us need to be activists. Three and a half percent may not seem like a lot, but in the city of San Diego, that’s nearly 50,000 people. Chenoweth’s research also goes on to show that non-violent civil actions are far more successful than violent ones. The question is, can they survive the long's the long term  For Epps persistence is key to a movement's success. And life gets in the way. You're caught up in the rat race of survival as a so you're not really paying attention to the things that are causing you to struggle. Both Motiwala and Epps say do what you can because for them, activism is a spectrum.There's a lot of ways people can as, just as a one human on their own can actually become, you know, literally by just grabbing a megaphone and grabbing a megaphone and grabbing a sign, you can actually start your own protest wherever you're at. IF YOU CHOOSE TO JOIN A CAUSE OUR EXPERTS SAY TAKE THE ACTION YOU CAN BECAUSE EVERYONE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THEIR OWN WAY. MATTHEW BOWLER KPBS NEWS.

RESEARCHERS AT THE SALK INSTITUTE THINK THEY’VE FOUND A WAY TO REDUCE THE NEED FOR FERTILIZER IN OUR FARM FIELDS. SCI-TECH REPORTER THOMAS FUDGE HAS MORE ON WHAT A FUNGUS DOES FOR PLANT NUTRITION.

There’s a common soil fungus that naturally delivers nutrients to plant roots. It’s a symbiotic relationship where the plant then supplies the fungus with carbon. Researchers at the Salk Institute have identified a molecule in plants that is like an engine that drives that symbiosis. They’ve learned how to synthesize the molecule and provide plants with more of it. Lena Mueller, a plant biologist at Salk, says boosting plant nutrition, in this way, could reduce the need for fertilizer. She says most plants, including our best known crop varieties, can benefit from this.  “We could test already existing varieties if that molecule would work on them. And that would be really exciting.”  Fertilizer that’s used on farm fields gets washed into nearby bodies of water and that harms the environment by spurring algae growth. Thomas Fudge, KPBS News.

SAN DIEGO’S LIBRARY BUDGET WAS MORE THAN 70 MILLION IN 2022, AND ACCESS FOR OUR RURAL COMMUNITIES WAS STILL CHALLENGING. NOW IMAGINE SERVING YOUR COMMUNITY WITHOUT THAT MONEY.

VIDEO JOURNALIST MATTHEW BOWLER is back to INTRODUCE US TO A GROUP DOING JUST THAT IN ROSARITO BEACH, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO.

Les gustan normalmente los que son de sagas, por ejemplo Hombre perro, que son varios libros. Están los tipos malos, Nate Great y también Capitán Calzoncillos, jajaja They usually like the ones from series, for example, Dog Man, which is several books, The Bad Guys, Nate Great, and also Captain Underpants. That’s Gaby Pulido, she says her boys love books like The Bad Guys, Nate the Great, and Captain Underpants. She brings her boys to the bookmobile whenever she can. Carmen Dominguez is president of the Rosarito Beach Friends of the Library. Unfortunately, because there's some other priority library left at the board budget. Every two weeks, volunteers drive the biblioteca movil to a neighborhood in need. Friends of the Library Rosarito has been around since 2006, and now they are fundraising to replace their little blue bus. But new bookmobile or not, this scrappy group will keep serving their community. Matthew Bowler KPBS News

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DONATE OR BUY SOME BOOKS, GO TO FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY DOT COM DOT M-X

THE DISTRIBUTION NETWORK HAS CHANGED RADICALLY WITH STREAMING SERVICES OFFERING VIEWERS FAR MORE OPTIONS THAN EVER BEFORE. BUT THAT ALSO MEANS IT’S HARDER FOR SMALL INDIE FILMS TO FIND AN AUDIENCE. CINEMA JUNKIE BETH ACCOMANDO WANTS TO DIRECT YOUR ATTENTION TO GAZER, A LOW BUDGET NEO-NOIR OPENING TODAY AT ANGELIKA FILM CENTER.

“Focus.” Frankie has a rare condition known as mental chronometry which affects her ability to perceive time and causes sudden blackouts. She creates audio cassettes to help her maintain focus. “If you feel yourself zoning out, rewind tape.” Frankie is the gazer of the film’s title, someone who watches but prefers to remain unseen. That all changes when she takes a high-paying job from a mysterious woman.  “Why am I here? The body was found floating in the meadowlands.” Gazer delivers all the trappings of a classic neo noir: a murder, a mysterious woman, a possible conspiracy, and most beguilingly, an unreliable narrator. We’re sucked into a spiraling story steeped in paranoia,uncertain whether we can trust Frankie’s version of events. Gazer is a passion project from star and co-writer Ariella Mastroianni, and director and co-writer Ryan J. Sloan. The result is an entirely engrossing neo noir that takes deliciously unexpected turns. Like its protagonist, though, Gazer’s slight stature might mean it goes unseen but I hope good word of mouth will pull it out from the shadows. Beth Accomando, KPBS News.

That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org.The podcast this week was produced by, Brenden Tuccinardi, Lara McCaffrey and me, Andrew Dyer. It’s edited by Brooke Ruth. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend.