U.S. government officials discuss mental health with students

Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Tuesday, September 12th.

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Officials in the U-S government are discussing mental health challenges with local students.

More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….

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The F-D-A this week, approved a new round of vaccines to fight against COVID-19.

The new vaccines are from Moderna, Pfizer and its partner, BioNTech.

They were approved for those 12 and older and under an emergency use authorization for children 6 months to 11 years old.

The vaccines target the omicron subvariant X-B-B-point-1-point-5.

But that’s not the most common strain anymore.

Health officials say the vaccine should still provide good protection against the new emerging variants.

The shots will be given as a single dose for most people, regardless of prior COVID-19 vaccination history.

A panel of advisers to the C-D-C will meet today, to make recommendations on the rollout of the vaccines.

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The number of people who died in the county by suicide rose slightly last year.

360 people died by suicide last year, and 358 the previous year, which was the lowest in a decade.

There was a downward trend in suicides overall in the county from 20-12 to 20-21.

But death rates during those years increased 7-percent for 10 to 24 year olds, and 3-percent for adults 25 to 44.

County officials shared the findings late last week as part of the Suicide Prevention Council’s annual report.

If you or someone you love is struggling with thoughts of suicide… call 9-8-8 for help.

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The median price of a single-family home in the county reached more than 1-million-dollars last month.

The Greater San Diego Association of Realtors says median prices for single family homes were up nearly 14 -percent compared to August last year.

Plus, median prices for condos and townhomes, were up almost 9-percent compared to a year ago.

Given the high prices, home sales overall were down 19-percent from last August.

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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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Students in North County discussed mental health with their congressional representative and a national health official yesterday.

North County reporter Alexander Nguyen says a similar discussion in 20-19 inspired a law passed last year, that prioritizes funding for student mental health.

Health and human services deputy secretary andrea palm started the discussion at bernardo heights middle school by recognizing that students today face more challenges than the previous generation … from bullying to suicide to school shootings. and that takes a toll on their mental health.  that’s where the suicide training and awareness nationally delivered for universal prevention act or standup act introduced by congressman scott peters comes in. sam boyce was there in 2019 for the roundtable with peters. he says it was incredible to see legislation put in place for what they raised concerns about. sam boyce rancho bernardo high school student “especially with the suicide rates going up and just the overall stigma around mental health. in middle school and high school, i've seen it firsthand. i've had my own mental health struggles and i feel that it's just such an important thing that people need to talk about.” according to rady children’s hospital … pediatric psychiatric crisis has increased nearly 28 times from ten years ago. and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. an/kpbs.

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Neighbors in a Del Cerro community awoke again yesterday, to antisemitic flyers.

This time promoting misinformation about 9-11.

Reporter Matt Hoffman has details.

KPBS isn’t revealing the messages on the flyers.. Del Cerro and nearby communities have seen a rise in recent months of people dropping off anti-semetic flyers..Campillo We’re disgusted it’s really gross and on top of that everything that they’re saying is lies Council-member Raul Campillo represents the area and held a news conference with Jewish faith leaders last week addressing the issue.. He says the ‘cowardly’ actions only have him doubling down on a proposal to up penalties for actions like this.. Right now people can be cited with littering, but Campillo is proposing a new misdemeanor for hate-littering that could see penalties of up to a year in jail and even restitution. Raul Campillo, San Diego City Councilmember We’re happy to let them know we have a plan to step up the penalty for this and hold people accountable -- A San Diego Police spokesperson says they  are actively investigating what happened... MH KPBS News.

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Cal State University trustees are meeting in Long Beach this week, with plans to discuss a tuition hike before they wrap up tomorrow.

At the same time, students who work for the C-S-U say they want a pay raise.

Here’s Education reporter M.G. Perez with more.

More than 19-thousand student assistant workers across the Cal State system are trying to unionize…demanding better pay and lower tuition costs. Some of those workers like Colin Culver make less than minimum wage. Culver says he’s paid 13-50 an hour as a dorm security employee at San Diego State. It is physically not possible to make enough money to live on campus while you're working on campus. And I think that's just completely wrong. Also, I think it's exploitative and I think the CSU needs to support their students a lot better. The student workers are waiting on word from the California Public Employment Relations Board…which must approve an election for them to vote on whether to join the Cal State Employees Union. MGP KPBS News.

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San Diego's fishing industry is getting a financial boost from the federal government.

Reporter John Carroll tells us about a plan to get more locally caught seafood to San Diegans.

It’s a warm, humid morning at the g street pier.  i’m meeting the head of the san diego fisherman’s working group, pete halmay. “we got 150 to 200 boats in san diego harbor.  we harvest about 50-species of fish, and we don’t have a really organized way of marketing it to the public.” right now, the main way all that fish caught off san diego gets to the public is the fish market, run by the fishermen, every saturday at tuna harbor… a little pier right next to seaport village. the fishermen worked with the san diego regional policy and innovation center to get a 300-thousand dollar grant from the us department of agriculture. it’s being used in two main ways. “one is to get organized, so when we have a demand for some fish, that we’re able to fulfill it, steady supply is needed.  two fishermen can’t do it, 30 or 40 can.” the other objective is to market the fish to the hundreds of restaurants around san diego county that currently get their fish from restaurant supply companies… fish that usually isn’t local. “let’s buy local.  let’s buy it from our guys.  keep the expertise here, keep the money here in san diego.” the money earned by selling fish caught here, caught sustainably, right to your table… or to a restaurant near you.  jc, kpbs news.

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Coming up.... A new building in the Chollas View neighborhood is filled with public art.

"This is a diverse community and that having the opportunity really to reflect the diversity through art was really important.” 

We’ll have that story and more, just after the break.

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KPBS's One Book, One San Diego program aims to connect the community by reading and discussing the same book.

Each year committees pick three books — one for adults, one for teens and one for Spanish language readers.

“The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together” by Heather McGhee is this year's adult pick.

McGhee spoke with my colleague Jade Hindmon last year about the book.

TAG: That was this year's KPBS One Book, One San Diego adult pick author Heather McGhee, speaking with KPBS Midday Edition host, Jade Hindmon.

You can learn more about her book, “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together” and the other One Book, One San Diego selections, at KPBS DOT org.

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San Diego County has live well centers— buildings that provide everything from vaccines to probation services to community meeting rooms.

A new center in San Diego's Chollas View neighborhood also has a large display of public art.

Producer Lara McCaffrey has more.

The art installation “Light of Passage” hovers under a skylight at the County of San Diego’s Southeastern Live Well Center. Hand-cut pieces of four different types of glass are attached to stainless steel wires, representing the nearby Chollas Creek. It’s a sunny day so the glass creates shadow play on the wall and floor below — splashes of blue, purple and yellow. Kaori Fukuyama Live Well Center artist “I…went out to the public, to the community, for feedback. During that period, they've expressed their desire to see a lot of colors and something that gives hope and optimism.” Kaori Fukuyama created the art. “I wanted to use materials that really shine and reflect off of our beautiful sunlight.” “Light of Passage” is one of many pieces of public art at the new Southeastern Live Well Center. Organizers of the Center’s public art program say the pieces selected were based on community member feedback — an attempt to create a building for the community. The Tubman Chavez Center used to be where the Live Well Center stands now. In October TWENTY-TWENTY ONE, construction for the SIXTY-FIVE THOUSAND square-foot facility began. The goal was to combine several resource buildings into one. Live Well Centers are meant to provide social and health services to San Diegans. They’re designed to be “one stop shops,” aiming to prevent many visits to different buildings for access to various services. When it came to installing art in the building, the county gathered community input and then used a Public Art Committee to make selections. Barbara Jimenez, community operations officer at the county, said it wasn’t hard to get feedback.  Barbara Jimenez San Diego County Community Operations Officer “What we heard directly from the community — that this is a diverse community and that having the opportunity really to reflect the diversity through art was really important.” One hundred artists submitted proposals to a call for artists request by the committee in spring 2022. Art was purchased from THIRTY-THREE artists with FOURTEEN commissioned to create pieces especially for the building. There’s installations, statues, paintings, a meditation garden and more. One of the community requests — diversity — is seen in Francisco Eme’s piece “Crisol,” meaning “melting pot” in Spanish. It consists of panels with ceramics and textiles. It’s located in the stairwell under Fukuyama’s installation. Visitors see a new panel every few steps taken. Eme says the textiles are from different cultures in San Diego. Francisco Eme Live Well Center Artist “This work is very nonpersonal, meaning that I did very little treatment to the textiles. I'm pretty much respecting the original design.” Art consultant Leah Goodwin wanted the building to feel like a healing place. Leah Goodwin Art Consultant “There's evidence based design principles that I use for my decades of putting art in hospitals and creating healing environments that are at play here. Even though it's a public health center, people still may not be having their best day. As a public art consultant, we looked at ways to find touch points to create beauty.” Fukuyama hopes that visitors find that beauty from her work’s light and colors. Kaori Fukuyama Live Well Center artist “I'm hoping that if some people visit here more than once, then they see the changes throughout the day, throughout the season, and notice little things that change around us.” LM KPBS News.

TAG: There will be an open house and resource fair at the center on October 14th.

Members of the public are invited to tour the facility and see all the art.

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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. Join us again tomorrow for more of the day’s top stories, plus, we learn about a potential change to how Californians pay for electricity. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great Tuesday.