The Defense Department settles a lawsuit on anti-LGBTQ+ policies
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz. It’s Friday, January 24th.
The Defense Department settles a lawsuit on anti-LGBTQ plus policies.
More on that next. But first, let’s do the headlines.
Fifteen hundred active duty troops are being deployed to secure the southern border.
A military official told the AP that 500 of those troops would be Marines based at Camp Pendleton.
The troops will fly helicopters to assist Border Patrol agents and help construct barriers.
President Trump signed an executive order earlier this week that declared a national emergency at the southern U.S. border.
The San Diego Blood Bank has put out an urgent call for donations.
San Diego is currently facing a blood supply shortage.
Blood bank officials say supplies have dwindled to “critically low levels.”
Supplies usually drop during the holiday season, leaving January supplies short.
But severe weather around the country and the wildfires in LA County have strained blood supplies locally and nationally.
The Hillcrest Farmers Market is temporarily moving to a new spot starting this weekend.
Its new interim space will be on University Avenue between Herbert Street and Park Boulevard.
The market says the move makes way for the construction of the soon-to-be Normal Street Promenade.
That space eventually will serve as the permanent home for the market.
But there’s no need to stress about the move.
Market hours will remain the same, as will the vendors. And parking will remain open at the DMV.
From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
This month (Jan.) the defense department settled a lawsuit brought by veterans forced out of the military under anti-LGBTQ plus policies. Military and veterans reporter Andrew Dyer says the deal simplifies the process for those veterans to apply for discharge upgrades.
It took more than a year but in the waning days of the Biden administration the Pentagon agreed to help tens of thousands of LGBTQ plus veterans fix their so-called “bad paper” discharges. “The settlement is truly historic.” Jocelyn Larkin is one of the attorneys who brought the lawsuit. The settlement stops short of the Pentagon pro actively amending the discharges – people will still have to request reviews. But the process will be simplified. "One of the things that we'll be doing is a lot of outreach to both veterans groups, veteran advocates and LGBT groups to ensure that people are aware of this opportunity." The settlement still needs court approval but the Pentagon should have an online process in place this summer. Andrew Dyer, KPBS news.
Fire fighting in California has a statewide tool called Alert California. Created and operated by UC San Diego, it has more than 11 hundred cameras to spot fires before they’re seen by us. Sci-tech reporter Thomas Fudge has more on how the technology has helped with recent So Cal fires.
Alert California doesn’t put out any fires and it's not supposed to. But its cameras use artificial intelligence 24/7 searching the landscape for signs of smoke so firefighters can stop a wildfire before it really gets started. “We try to confirm, identify fires in the incipient phase.” Neal Driscoll is a geology professor with Scripps Institution of Oceanography and he’s the founder of Alert California. At night they look for flames but in daytime, when temperatures are high and humidity low, they look at the behavior of smoke. Smoke that’s bent over, that seems to hug the ground, means a fast moving hire fueled by high winds. “How is the smoke bent over? Do I send two battalions? Do I send three? So the dispatcher is able to use these data.” He says Alert California learns with each fire what we can expect from weather conditions that are becoming more extreme as global warming advances. Thomas Fudge, KPBS News.
It's college application season for high school seniors, and students and families are filling out financial aid forms. Reporter Katie Anastas says the Trump administration’s threat of mass deportation may affect who applies.
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, asks students and parents whether they have a social security number. Mariana Gomez is the director of counseling for the San Diego Unified School District. “Historically, that information has been housed in the U.S. Department of Education and has not been shared with any federal agencies. I think one of the worries right now, with the current administration, is students are worried that that their information may not be safe.” Mitzi Salgado founded the Transfronterizo Institute in San Ysidro. Most of the students she works with have at least one parent who isn’t a U.S. citizen. “A lot of families are hesitant. Should I even submit my FAFSA? Will that be affecting my immigration status?” Without the FAFSA, students can’t access federal aid programs like Pell grants or federal student loans. There are other ways to get help paying for college in California. California Dream Act Application data isn’t shared with the federal government. More than 20 schools and libraries are hosting workshops on Saturday to help families with both state and federal aid applications. Katie Anastas, KPBS News.
A community pool that closed during the pandemic, reopened in San Ysidro yesterday (Thursday.) Reporter Melissa Mae tells us why this resource is so vital to the south county community.
The Border View Family YMCA is open again… after being closed since 2020. It’s also been renovated, thanks to a one million dollar grant from the County of San Diego. Todd Tibbits with the YMCA of San Diego County says this location is vital for the south bay community because it’s one of the only accessible public places for residents to not only swim, but learn to swim. “Every single child in this area is going to be safe in and around water.” The CDC reports drowning is one of the leading causes of death for children in the U.S. “Under age four, it is a leading cause of death, Under age 14 it's the second leading cause of death.” The Red Cross reports that 79% of children in lower-income families have little to no swimming ability, which increases their risk of drowning. Melissa Mae KPBS News.
The 35th annual San Diego International Jewish Film Festival kicks off on Monday with more than two dozen feature films. Cinema Junkie Beth Accomando has this preview.
Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz doesn't just love watching movies. “I didn't like having dinner before the movie. I always wanted to have dinner after the movie because you want to talk about the movie even if you didn't like it. You want to talk about the movie.” So it's fitting that he's delivering the keynote speech at the San Diego International Jewish Film Festival, a place where discussing films is just as important as watching them. “Festivals do a tremendous service in putting people in front of theaters, and I think reminding people of the value of that shared experience. This gets movies that wouldn't otherwise to be seen, seen, and then these talks that sort of put things in context.” Putting the life of one artist into context is at the heart of the documentary “The True Story of Tamara de Lempicka and the Art of Survival.” Filmmaker Julie Rubio spent years chasing the story of this stunning art Deco artist. First attempting a narrative film before deciding to make a documentary. “There was just nothing better than to be in lockdown with Lempicka and her beautiful artwork, and really trying to dig in and figure out her true story. And that's when I uncovered these groundbreaking documents that had details of her real name, which was Tamara Rose Horowitz, and just really started to gather the truth.” The documentary uncovers those truths while celebrating Lempicka bold, innovative art, “Tamara decided to become a painter to support herself, her family, her child and survive. And she did. And she became one of the most sought after portrait painters in Paris and in Italy, and eventually the world as a new generation that's discovering her and falling in love with her. Tamara was a survivor from one day to the next. She invented her own style. And so, as she said, in a whole roomful of paintings, you can immediately recognize mine.” “Her art captures beauty, but it also captures that horrific war times and her remarkable will to survive and reinvent herself. You know, she was living in a world that wanted her gone because she was Jewish, because she was a woman. She was other. And she was celebrating that she was other.” It's a story that Rubio says still resonates today. “Attempting to marginalize those that are different or just like, eliminate anyone that is other, I think is really, it's more than wrong. An attack on art, an artist is, you know, really an important and dangerous warning sign for all these other freedoms that we hold so dear.” Freedom is also central to another documentary screening at the festival “Ain't no Back to a merry Go Round,” which takes a look at a 1960 protest to integrate the Glen echo amusement park. “Oh, we were dying to get in there. I really wanted to ride on the carousel. Why couldn't we go and have fun like everybody else? We were some bold people. I knew there was something better for me. The Holocaust radicalized me. The fight for civil rights was as much my fight. As it is, there. That was the first time I had any social contact with a white person.” Illana Trachtman was inspired to make the film after realizing that the enchanting photos of the park she saw as a kid lacked racial diversity. “The absence of the diversity and worse, me not noticing it was shameful to me. So that that was where the impetus came from. I mean, it came from some shame and being intrigued and just the notion that there was this lost civil rights history.” Finding archival material for the film was challenging because the significance of the protest wasn't recognized at the time. Then one of her interviewees called her with a discovery. “She had found a little yellow Kodachrome box that was labeled Glencoe, 1960. She asked me if I wanted it, and when I saw the first frame and I was looking at the protest,” Not only that, but the footage synced up with a reporter's audio recording Trachtman had found earlier. “My race, I belong to the human race. This podcast segregated. I don't understand what you mean when it's strictly for white, but strictly for white persons.” “That the piece of audio that I had where that conversation is taking place was filmed by this woman's father. You know, it's incredible. And these two pieces, these two assets, this, this audio recording and this film footage were separated by like 3000 miles for 60 years. And it was just because of incredible, luck and, and perseverance that, you know, I was able to marry them and, you know, and they're here for posterity.” Both documentaries highlight not just amazing stories, but the dogged persistence of the filmmakers to uncover incredible material. These are just two of more than two dozen films worth watching and discussing at this year's San Diego International Jewish Film Festival. Beth Accomando, KPBS news.
The San Diego International Jewish Film Festival begins Monday and runs through February 8th at the David and Dorothea Garfield Theatre Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center.
San Diego Restaurant week is back with more than 100 local eateries participating.
One restaurant participating in the countywide event is Temaki Bar, a sushi restaurant in Encinitas.
Sebastian Sevilla is the executive chef there.
He says the week represents San Diego’s growth as a culinary hub.
“13 years ago when I got my start as a dishwasher, like everyone's going to LA for inspiration, which they still do. Great food scene. But now we've come to our own as a culinary scene, and it's super inspiring, super exciting, and I'm glad to be a part of it.”
His restaurant is offering a 45-dollar menu for lunch and dinner throughout the week.
Another restaurant participating in restaurant week is Amaya, a French inspired restaurant in Del Mar.
Amaya’s Chef Bryn Mcarthur encourages people to try something new with an open mind.
“It's a fantastic week of giving diners the opportunity to go to places that they maybe wouldn't go to on a regular basis. That is an approachable price point, that they can really come in and see what we do.”
Amaya is also serving up a 45-dollar lunch and 65-dollar dinner menu with locally sourced produce and meat.
Restaurant week kicks off this Sunday and runs through February 2nd. Organizers recommend making reservations.
To learn more, visit San Diego Restaurant Week dot com.
That’s it for the podcast today. This week’s podcast episodes were produced by Elaine Alfaro, Lara McCaffrey and Katie Hyson. It was edited by Brooke Ruth, Quinn Owen and Joe Guerin. 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 weekend.