County Supervisors Approve $6.5 Billion 2020-21 Budget, The Conspiracy Theory Behind ‘QAnon’, Flu Vaccine Even More Important In Pandemic, And Catalina Island’s Forgotten Occupation

Speaker 1: 00:00 The governor says results from new COVID testing will be faster Speaker 2: 00:04 And ultimately to drive down the cost for everybody. This is exactly what the federal government should be doing. Speaker 1: 00:09 I'm wearing Kavanaugh with Mark sour. This is KPBS mid day edition. Speaker 2: 00:24 [inaudible] Speaker 1: 00:24 The County approves its highest budget ever to shore up covert expenses and economic loss. Speaker 2: 00:30 So that money is going to help the services roughly $2.5 billion. And within that, you have hundreds of millions dollars that are not going to address Calvin really Speaker 1: 00:41 Q and conspiracy flirts with mainstream Republican politics. And it really isn't just the heat. It is the humidity. Why is this muddiness messing with San Diego's perfect weather. That's ahead. On mid day edition In his update on the covert pandemic in California, governor Newsome today announced a new partnership, just speed up COVID testing and test results. While bringing down costs. The partnership is with the Perkin Elmer company. Newsome says the state is preparing for more strain on the diagnostic system because of what he calls the upcoming twin DEMEC of COVID and seasonal flu. Speaker 2: 01:25 But what is significant in this partnership is we are demanding test results back within 24 hours, the latest 48 hours. And we have provisions in the contract to guarantee that turnaround time you get in within 48 hours, certainly within 24 hours, then we have the ability to make decisions in real time that will advance our efforts to reopen our schools for in person education, reopen our businesses in a more effective and efficient manner. Speaker 1: 01:55 The governor also says he plans to release new guidelines Friday on reopening businesses in the state Speaker 1: 02:06 As a result of the pandemic and its fallout on the local economy. The San Diego County board of supervisors, Tuesday approved the county's largest budget ever. The more than six and a half billion dollar budget increases the county's health and human services resources provides extra funds for rental assistance and actually dips into the counties closely guarded reserve funds. A move that County officials say will have to be addressed before the next emergency. Joining me is San Diego union Tribune, reporter Charles Clark, who covers County, government, and Charles, welcome to the program. Thank you for having me. Now, the County board of supervisors has been very reluctant to dip into reserves as it's a fact that they've been criticized for before. Was there much debate about using some of that money to aid the multiple crises the County is facing now? I mean, there wasn't there, it was kind of varying Speaker 3: 03:00 Degrees, right? I think there was a consensus among the board that they knew they had to tap into the reserves to a certain degree. And they've already been doing that. Um, you know, as we've been dealing with the pandemic for several months here now where they got into it a bit more here was with some of the fine line items and amendments that some of the newer supervisors in particular were proposing, um, you know, certain things like translation services or, you know, getting a new traffic light and things like that. There was more debate about using reserves to address those things, um, than say, you know, providing rental housing assistance, which actually was surprisingly, uh, the consensus among the board. And may not, I would point out just going back that as much flack as the board has gotten over the years for the reserves and rightfully so in many cases, I think Diane, Jacob and Greg Cox both earlier this year, you know, and in the early days of the pandemic, they made it very clear that, look, this is what you kept reserves for. And this is the exact same exact thing they need to be used to aid weapon. Speaker 1: 04:05 And ultimately the budget was approved unanimously by the County board of supervisors. So how big an increase is this budget over last year? Speaker 3: 04:14 So it, it came out to Reno, roughly 4.8% increase, which is pretty significant. It's also the largest budget the San Diego County has ever had, which, you know, I think is understandable in that obviously dealing with the pandemic at the same time, there's certainly a bit of irony to it, right. That it's happening when revenues have taken a serious dip, but yeah, $6.55 billion is a certainly a pretty good jump. I mean, that's more than $250 million over the current fiscal year. Speaker 1: 04:48 And where is most of that increase going? Speaker 3: 04:51 You know, most of that money is going to health and human services, roughly $2.5 billion. Um, and within that you have, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars that are going to address COVID relief. I mean, a hundred million dollars just for the counties, T3, you know, uh, test trace and treat program. Uh, you had, you know, I think 24 million additional dollars going to rental assistance, uh, as well as $15 million for, you know, new tech to help with tele-health. Uh, and a few other things related to COVID Speaker 1: 05:23 Speaking about rental assistance is the County especially concerned about what some see as the coming eviction crisis, Speaker 3: 05:31 The sense that I kind of got, especially listening to board members, you know, yesterday evening, uh, in particular, Greg Cox, I think put it pretty well when he was introduced him. One of the amendments was that it seems like, you know, they recognize that for, you know, not the big landlords, but smaller landlords. It is tough, right. To not receive rent from people for several months now, like even for, even though I think we perceived them as a bit, you know, better off than their tenants, certainly. Um, it can be a challenge and he noted, you know, that's part of the reason they have a million dollars in there to try and aid with, you know, tenant and landlord relations. Also, as far as the rental assistance, right. Is paid. It sounds like the process is that it's paid directly to the landlord. So there's no in between. Speaker 3: 06:19 Um, but it certainly seems like that's something they're going to be keeping an eye on. And, you know, I do think that, you know, Helen Robins Meyer our County chief administrative officer, um, I certainly got the sense that she was pretty mindful of it. I think that's part of the reason that, you know, introducing the budget, she really emphasized to board members that they need to be mindful that there's going to be more crises here that they're going to have to deal with. And there's a lot of things that can put the County and even more financially a perilous position Speaker 1: 06:49 Right now, of course, you know, there have been calls to defund or do divert some resources from police and Sheriff's departments to be used instead for social services. Did that find any traction with San Diego boards of supervisors Speaker 3: 07:05 To be Frank my assessment? And now I think, you know, I think that was certainly what we heard a lot of people calling for. Um, and I do think you had certain board members who I remember, I actually interviewed shortly after the killing of George [inaudible]. They spoke frankly about that. Um, they'd phrase it a different way, right. About increased investment in social services, but it seemed like the taking funds away from the Sheriff's department in particular, which has a billion dollar budget, despite the fact that crime has been at historic lows for a pretty decent stretch here, um, that didn't seem like something many of them were comfortable with. And I think, you know, with the current iteration of the board, at least it would have been really hard to find, I think, uh, you know, a majority to get behind that. Um, I do think though, it'll be interesting to see, you know, next year is we get definitely two new members and potentially three new members. If that's something that's going to be revisited, uh, especially as we continue to see increased, I think anxiety across the country and in the County, uh, regarding law enforcement practices, accountability, right. Especially, uh, you know, I think we've all been watching what happened in Wisconsin Speaker 1: 08:23 That was San Diego union Tribune reporter Charles Clark. Speaker 3: 08:32 What do Hillary Clinton, Tom Hanks, Barack Obama, Pope Francis, Oprah Winfrey, and the Dalai Lama have in common followers of a conspiracy theory called Q Anon claim. They belong to an underground satanic cult. That's sexually abused as children and practices, cannibalism Q Anon. Isn't so anonymous. Now that president Trump has acknowledged them and at least one of their inherence is likely headed Congress. Speaker 4: 08:56 And last night, a speaker was pulled from the GOP convention lineup at the last minute after tweeting antisemitic and Q Anon conspiracy theories. Joining me to explain this phenomenon is Travis view a San Diego based researcher on conspiracy theories and cohost of the podcast Q Anon anonymous, welcome to midday edition. Thanks so much for inviting me. So who is Q and what is Q Anon, which we've seen tout and OD signs and shirts that many Trump rallies it was associated with the infamous pizza gate incident in 2017, right? Speaker 5: 09:27 Well, yeah. Uh, cue is an anonymous entity that, uh, first started posting on four Chan in October of 2017. And Q essentially claimed that they were some kind of government insider who was releasing secret coded information about a, uh, great global war that Trump was allegedly fighting against a satanic cabal of, uh, pedophiles love Cuba followers. Believe that Q is a group of high level military intelligence officials that are close to Trump. Of course, there's no real evidence that anything besides someone who was very, uh, very good at sort of manipulating people's hopes and desires, Speaker 4: 10:07 How many people believe in QA, Speaker 5: 10:09 We really don't have a good solid poll about the size of the Q Anon community. There was a recent analysis by the guardian that showed that 3 million Facebook accounts followed various Facebook pages and groups. Uh, but there's probably some overlap there. There's a recent analysis by, uh, Mark Andre. Argentino at Concordia university that showed the presence of Q Anon in 71 countries. So I can't say for sure, but it is a global worldwide phenomenon and probably has somewhere in the, you know, low millions of followers. Speaker 4: 10:38 And this group sounds crazy even in today's swamp of conspiracy theories, but Facebook, Twitter, major newspapers and national leaders are sounding the alarm and the FBI warns of the potential for violence. There's already been a few incidents, right? Speaker 5: 10:52 Yes. In fact, we've already had a, a follower who pleaded guilty to a terrorism charge, uh, Matthew, right. He held an armed standoff on the Hoover dam bridge, uh, demanding the release of inspector general report that doesn't exist, but he thought existed because of Q Anon. Uh, there's also, you know, other instance, there was a case of the Cynthia Absec. This is a Colorado woman who pleaded guilty for, uh, plotting an armed raid with fellow Q and on followers. Uh, there's also a case of out Ryan [inaudible] who committed arson against the, uh, pizzeria comet ping pong for falsely believing that it was a center of a sex trafficking ring. So yeah, there is, uh, many concerning incidents of a domestic extremism tied to Cuba on Speaker 4: 11:32 What's your sense of how people get attracted to this, have a bunch of people in this country just submerge themselves and grow scalability. Speaker 5: 11:40 Uh, I mean that is basically it, there is a really a widespread sense of like institutional distrust. Um, they just simply reject anything that they consider to be what they consider to be the mainstream, which more often than not is simply, uh, you know, well evidenced a, you know, facts about the world. And so they, instead, instead of submerge themselves in this alternate fantasy world, that's a little bit more appealing to their personal perspective Speaker 4: 12:07 And what are social media platforms doing to put a stop to the Q and on nonsense? Aren't they a little too late. Speaker 5: 12:13 They are really too late. I mean, um, some, uh, social media platforms acted quickly read it, for example, all the way back in September of 2018, they banned all Q Anon related, right? It's because they realized there was a problem, uh, other the bigger, uh, social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, uh, they re recently have taken action to stop recommending, uh, Q and on pages in algorithms and even banned some, uh, Q non-related pages and groups. But by this point, the Q and on network of followers has grown beyond in any individual, uh, social network online. So I don't think this is going to do much to slow the popularity of the movement. Speaker 4: 12:54 Now I referenced a Marjorie Taylor greener Republican candidate for Congress and Georgia, whom Trump has called a rising GOP star and a winner if she wins in November, which is likely what might her presence in Congress mean? Speaker 5: 13:07 I mean, we already have a, a, a, at least one Congress member who's sympathetic to Q and on this, Paul Gosser, even though he hasn't specifically endorsed Q Anon, he has sort of, uh, retweeted to one of the followers. I mean, it was certainly signal that this kind of extremism is becoming a more acceptable. And I think the real danger there is that we start having more legislators who base their views, not on a sort of real concerns that the country's facing the rather some sort of alternate fantasy world that, uh, that they prefer. I think that that's certainly very dangerous Speaker 4: 13:38 Because of Green's primary. When Trump was confronted about Q Anon by our reporter the other day, what was the president's response? Speaker 5: 13:45 President Trump said in response to a question about Q Anon is that he prays the queue. And non-community, he said that there are people who love the country. Um, when, uh, when told about the broad outlines of the more derange aspects of the Q and on theory, he didn't denounce it or deny it. He said, he simply said, is that a good thing or a bad thing? I claimed he didn't know much about it. Um, but, um, this was very, very encouraging to the Q Anon community. I mean, they, they took this as a validation. They took this as encouragement. And, um, so the, uh, he seems to, uh, be, uh, be willing to signal to these people that he's willing to, uh, not, not denounce them in any way, Speaker 4: 14:25 But other Republican leaders have been pretty direct in their criticism of Q Anon. Right? Speaker 5: 14:30 That's true. There is a handful of, uh, criticisms. Uh, one of the more, uh, forceful the announcements of Q Anon came from Congressman Adam Ken singer. So there are a handful of, uh, you know, congressional Republicans who have spoken out against Q Anon, however, nobody in the white house, including, you know, uh, press secretary Kaley, uh, McInerney, or the Speaker 6: 14:52 Chief of staff, um, have really claimed to have never spoken out against it and the way, um, they, um, they instead tend to play dumb. There is a bit of a division between the white house Republicans and the, um, the house representatives, Republicans in terms of how they respond to Q Anon. And that'll be interesting to see as we move in this, uh, election year, another, party's worried enough about Q and on. And a lot of these are controversial tweets, the yanked, a speaker, Maryann Mendoza member of the Trump campaign advisory board from the convention lineup on Tuesday night. Now does this Q Anon thing go away? If Trump is defeated in November, I sincerely doubt that QR will simply go away. If Trump loses the coming election, I mean, QL and followers, they are experts at rationalization and continuing to believe despite whatever fail prediction cue makes. So if a queue does not win in the coming election, they'll simply find the excuse to keep believing. I've been speaking with Travis Vue, cohost of the San Diego based Q Anon anonymous podcast. Thanks very much. Thank you for having me. Speaker 7: 16:13 This is KPBS midday edition. I'm Maureen Kevin Hall with Mark sour. The flu season typically begins in October and health experts are worried how that will collide with the current coronavirus pandemic KPBS health reporter, Taran mento asks Kaiser. Permanente's dr. Will's saying how the annual flu shot may help dr. Sang, thank you so much. Speaker 6: 16:36 Thank you for having me. Speaker 7: 16:38 We're in the middle of a pandemic. What is the first thing that Speaker 6: 16:42 Public needs to know that the flu vaccine works? Uh, for the last several years, the CDC has looked into the study and proven without a shadow of doubt that you can prevent hospitalizations up to 37%. And if you do get admitted, you'll reduce your chances of ending up in intensive care unit by 82%. Speaker 7: 17:04 No, that the efficacy of the flu vaccine changes year to year, I believe it's 40 to 60% efficacy based on year that's, you know, not really a convincing idea. Speaker 6: 17:15 I mean, we hear those numbers thrown around, but the key thing is, if you look at the studies and CDC has done this every year now to look at the efficacy, that's why I said that if you have been vaccinated, you can reduce your chances of getting in to be ending up in the hospital. But more importantly, even if you do come in for a flu like infection, if you've been vaccinated, it drops your chances of ending up in the intensive care unit, or even dying from the disease. By up to 82% on top of that, you can also prevent yourself from spreading it to someone older or younger who are more vulnerable. And that's really what we want protect yourself, but to protect your family as well, Speaker 7: 17:55 How are you actually going to spread that message, that results in people actually coming in at a time when people are scared to come in? Speaker 6: 18:03 I guess the best example is this, you know, not only do we believe in this, we walk the walk and we talk type, but we walk the walk. So all our positions, all our staff positions, every year we have about high 90% vaccination rate among all our staff physicians up to 99.3 in several years, because we believe in it. We're not just talking about it. We, we follow that advice. Um, you know, the only exceptions I'll tell you is people who take extended leaves or, uh, if they have valid medical concerns, uh, that's documented, Speaker 7: 18:36 That's your staff. What about rollout for the public Speaker 6: 18:40 We've learned from this pandemic? We've learned that we can use technology wisely, um, keep the same quality, keep the same service and increase the safety. So lastly, we want us to transmit it from person to person. So we've leveraged technology. We have walk-up drive up. We have a onsite we have face to face. Uh, we have all different means to get you to do, to have the vaccine receive the vaccine safely. So we've also, uh, put a QR code. So instead of the traditional walk up to the clinic, grab a clipboard, grab a pen, sign it, everything is digital. Even the education components digital. So we can minimize that risk of transmission. It's all about prevention. It's all about making sure that you don't get sick and then we help you get what you need to keep you healthy, keep you in your, Speaker 7: 19:34 Why is it more important to get it during the COVID-19 pandemic? Speaker 6: 19:37 If you get flu and you get damage in the lungs for flu, you are more susceptible for other viruses, not just covert alone, but all the other lung diseases. Speaker 7: 19:46 There are tens of thousands of people in San Diego County who have previously tested positive for COVID-19. Should they be getting the vaccine? Speaker 6: 19:54 Absolutely. They should be. Now, there is an exception when you have COVID, if you're active with COVID, that is an exception because we don't want you to get transmit the virus to other people as well. We want to keep you safe. So after your, your, um, recovered from COVID yes, absolutely. You should be one getting the vaccine. It's very important because we know covert has some lasting effects in the lungs. So you don't want to damage your lungs further. You want to make sure you prevent from getting infections Speaker 7: 20:25 That was KPBS health reporter, Taran Mentos speaking with Kaiser's. Dr. Wilson, Speaker 8: 20:40 The black lives matter movement has generated debate and awareness regarding racial prejudice and calls for reform in communities Speaker 4: 20:48 Across America. That includes the overwhelmingly white city of Cornetta. We're a petition to encourage schools there to imbue curricula with minority perspectives, garnered 4,500 signatures. But that movement for change has sparked a backlash, a counter petition. It labels black lives matter, a quote, highly political Marxists organization with views that are rightfully alarming to anyone who believes in family, the constitution and civil society report are actually, McGlone a voice of San Diego wrote about the controversy and joins me now. Welcome to the program. Thank you, Mark. Well, your story notes that the school population in Cornado is just 1.4% black. Explain what incidents besides general protests over the killing by Minneapolis police of George Floyd prompted the original petition calling for changes in what kids are taught in Coronado schools. Speaker 9: 21:38 Yeah. So a number of students of color both past and present had expressed a desire for more equitable punishment and discipline of students that, you know, launch racial slurs or taunts, they described some issues with, you know, experiencing and hearing the N word and having students, you know, repeatedly call them that and then not get in trouble for it. So they really wanted to see that address more equitably. Um, they also a number of students discussed problems, the annual colonial day, uh, which did not in their view, you know, acknowledge the slave trade going on at the time. And often, you know, even provoke some of their peers to make comments about slavery, uh, you know, sort of aimed at them. Um, then there's also just, you know, even in the lower grades, you know, uh, racial aggressions that they experienced, um, and they would like to see the school district more proactively teach, um, as well, you know, uh, issues of race and read books from, um, you know, authors that are African American and read, you know, learn about history from that point of view and not just a white point of view. Speaker 4: 22:36 Now, what was the reaction to the change petition from Cornado superintendent, Carl Mueller? Speaker 9: 22:42 He was actually very receptive. He came out and said, you know, I'm impressed that our local community is having a voice and, and weighing in on this. And you know, this is not a political issue. Racial justice is not a political issue. It's an American issue. This is a human rights issue. Um, and he did specifically say, you know, I believe strongly that the black lives matter issue is one that our community has embraced. Um, he said that in a video statement and in a written statement, and then even just outright said, you know, yes, you know, black lives matter, but those words, uh, turned out to be very triggering for some members of the community who, who then took so great issue with any notion that there would be these sort of changes coming, uh, with any kind of affiliation or Alliance with the black lives matter, Speaker 4: 23:24 Right? That's the backlash that you're writing about and tell us about the counter partition that emerged in late July, who's behind it. How many signed it? What are the arguments they're making Speaker 9: 23:33 At this point? It's got about 264 signatures. Basically they, they caught wind of both the initial petition, as well as the superintendent's support of making some kind of change. The district never put in, you know, from plans to dramatically overhaul anything, but they were open to it and they were listening to the calls for change. And so they saw that definitely had a problem with it said, Hey, way, way, wait, you cannot come in here and make these radical changes to our curriculum with any affiliation with black lives matter. You know, we believe it's a Marxist organization. We have problems with their mission. You need to put a stop to any and all changes that want to be made this school year. We need to have a debate about this. We need to have a committee about this. You need to take community input. I'm fine. Speaker 9: 24:18 If we need to make some changes that are race related, fine, but you know, you need to denounce black lives matter. And back away from this plan of action basically is what they've said. And so they did create this petition a number of them. Do you have connections to Graham Memorial Presbyterian church? The pastor, you know, signed onto this counter petition a number of deacons and elders, the children's director, the bookkeeper, the pastor Miguel wrath told me, you know, it's not a church led petition by any means, but certainly, you know, members of the community became aware and had concerns and they all, they all feel similarly. So they threw their support behind this counter petition to try to get Cornado, to stop making these sorts of changes that were being asked, um, you know, to, to stop making progress on making changes, especially for this coming school year. Uh, so that's, that's sort of what we found with the counter petition. There, Speaker 4: 25:09 No changes really specifically have been made regarding racism and tolerance and curriculum so far, right? Speaker 9: 25:15 The school board in their latest meeting, they did put some more specific language in their action guide, you know, outright barring, you know, sort of race-related discriminatory language as well as religious based and other, um, and gender-based, you know, sort of discrimination. So they did take that step too, to a point. Um, they are working on a new equity policy, uh, the draft of which was by the California school boards association. And, you know, it was more aimed at like, um, you know, closing the achievement gap and the differences in education between different racial groups. That's not really at the heart of the movement. Um, you know, that initially arose in the wake of the George Floyd, um, killing. And so, uh, we'll see what happens. They're going to have a committee convene, uh, to both address that equity policy, maybe rewrite it a little bit before they adopt it. Speaker 9: 26:04 And then they're launching a longer term, you know, sort of two year committee process with various stakeholders who haven't been selected yet that we'll look at maybe making changes to, you know, district hiring practices, um, whether there does need to be new curriculum introduced across the board to address some of these issues and things of that nature. So as far as that longterm timeline, the counter petitioners are sort of getting what they wanted in that, you know, nothing immediate more of this, you know, a couple of years out, maybe we'll see some more come to Cornado, but in the short form, Coronado did make a couple of immediate changes. At least a couple that were asked for Speaker 4: 26:38 Now, does this controversy figure to cause changes on the school board, uh, in terms of Speaker 10: 26:44 Election. Speaker 9: 26:44 So three, three people who ended up pulling papers to run for school board, um, we're also, uh, you know, had signed on to the counter petition against, you know, the racial justice, um, movement that was happening. And so one of those individuals has since decided not to run, there's only two, two seats open. Um, and so he said, you know, I understand there's two others that basically share my point of view. I don't want to split the vote. I didn't really want to run anyway, but yes, you know, this was my motivation for running. We needed to stop this sort of political indoctrination of our schools. Um, and so that, that was very much his motivation. And again, there are a couple others and they all do have ties to the Graham Memorial Presbyterian church either. You know, they play in the band or they serve coffee or, um, you know, have been attendees for a while. Or I think in the one individual's case, he was a deacon, uh, who, who he's no longer running for school board, but very much believes that the other two will sort of hold that mantle and hold the line when it comes to Coronado, wanting to make these changes, um, and, and help them to not do so so quickly or with any affiliation with black lives matter, which again is, is the heart of a lot of their issue. Speaker 10: 27:50 And speaking with voice of San Diego reporter, Ashley McLaughlin, Speaker 9: 27:53 Thanks very much. Thank you. Speaker 1: 27:59 A stretch of high temperatures in the eighties and nineties in San Diego is not that unusual in August, but with humidity's also near 80%, that is not typical San Diego weather. However, it might be something we're going to have to get used to the heat and humidity we've been experiencing for the past two weeks can be traced back to changes in the Earth's climate. And those uncomfortable conditions could become more frequent in the coming years. Joining me is Alexander [inaudible]. He is a climate scientist with the Scripps institution of oceanography and Alexander Sasha. Welcome to the program. Speaker 10: 28:37 Yeah, thanks Maureen. Nice to be back with you. Speaker 1: 28:40 Now, we've heard that this heat wave is being caused by a heat dome. That's been covering a large section of the Western States, but what is causing the human, Speaker 10: 28:51 The humidity and heat waves in California has been increasing over a decade since the eighties, pretty much, uh, in, uh, the summertime heat waves because of the warming of the ocean. Speaker 1: 29:06 What part of the ocean in particular, do we know Speaker 10: 29:09 It's really the Pacific ocean West of Bucca, California. That's been warming more than, uh, than most other parts of the global ocean. The global ocean has been warming as well, but there are these bullseyes of accelerated warming, uh, and that's one of them. And, uh, when, uh, that air is delivered to California, it's a, it tends to be warmer, but, but much more humid, the amount of humidity that the air can hold really depends, um, exponentially on temperature. So if it's a little bit warmer and you've got saturated, they're sitting over the ocean is going to be a lot more human. Speaker 1: 29:48 No, the water temperature recorded at Scripps pier last week. It was more than 77 degrees and only a few weeks ago, it was in the fifties. Is that evidence that, of that warmer water being pulled in our direction? Speaker 10: 30:02 Well, I was talking specifically of the air. That's been sitting over that warmer water being pulled in our direction, but certainly, you know, when our coastal waters, you know, just off the coast of the California bite is warmer. We feel the humidity very directly. We don't even need to have a heat wave for that. And, and certainly, uh, the water temperature, uh, right here of our coast has been jumping around a lot, uh, this, this summer so far, you know, in, uh, uh, in mid July, over a period of one day, it went from a red heat for that day, uh, to record cold, uh, for the next day. Speaker 1: 30:46 Wow, we've been hearing for years that climate change will have the effect of making California warmer, but also dryer. So where does this excessive humidity fit into that picture? Speaker 10: 30:57 Sure. So basically the dry season is getting longer with climate change because the expanding subtropical belt basically makes our, our dry season longer and the wet season gets squeezed into the peak of winter. Speaker 1: 31:16 Now we all know that a wet heat is more uncomfortable than a dry heat, but why is it more uncomfortable? Speaker 10: 31:22 Well, when it gets really hot, then, uh, uh, we start cooling off more efficiently by sweating. When the sweat evaporates from our skin, it calls the skin down. Actually the same thing happens on the global level when, when water evaporates from the ocean or from, uh, from a human surface, when there's more humidity in the air that sweat just doesn't evaporate as efficiently. And we've all felt when it's humid, the, uh, the sweat runs off, it stays on our scan and it just makes us wet, but not a cooler Speaker 1: 31:56 Ken, this kind of heat caused people to get sick. Speaker 10: 31:58 Certainly, especially since we're not really acclimated to humid heat in this part of the world. And, uh, you know, the other thing that the humidity in the air does is it prevents temperature from cooling down at night. So the nights remain much hotter than they would be during dry heat waves. And we don't get the respect from the heat people with preexisting conditions, especially that make them more vulnerable to heat, begin to get sick. And, uh, some people die. Speaker 1: 32:31 Now, if we're going to be seeing more of these stretches of hot and humid weather in the summer, how do you think San Diego needs to prepare for them? I think that Speaker 10: 32:40 During the time of COVID specifically, we can't really tell people to crowd into a cooling centers. So some adjustment needs to be made in that respect. Also, when a nights are hot during this humid heat waves, cooling centers have closed, then there's gotta be some other way that we intervene to reduce the health impacts of this humid heat. I read that you were thinking that maybe we could adjust Speaker 11: 33:11 Electricity rates for people who need to run their AC a little bit. Speaker 10: 33:16 Of course. Yeah. We're thinking about, um, you know, these crises, uh, uh, piling up on top of each other, you know, there's a health crisis, uh, with COVID, there's an economic crisis also related to COVID logged down and, um, uh, you know, people, even if they have air conditioning, they, they may be less likely to, uh, turn it on if they're unemployed and can't afford it. Uh, health and extreme weather events have to be considered in the context of everything else that's going on. Speaker 11: 33:50 I've been speaking with Alexander Goshen off. He is a climate scientist with this Scripps institution of ocean. Speaker 4: 33:57 And thank you so much for Speaker 10: 33:59 Thank you, Maureen. Speaker 4: 34:12 I'm Mark Sauer with Maureen Kavanaugh and you're listening to midday edition on KPBS. So much of the activism we're seeing right now around racial justice has roots in radical movements that erupted in California, the United farm workers, the black Panther party, the Asian American political Alliance, the native American occupation of Alcatraz in August, 1972. Another occupation kind of flew under the radar here in California. The Chicano activist group called the Brown Berets camped out on Catalina Island for three weeks, demanding that undeveloped land be turned into housing. The California report magazines intern, Ariella Markowitz grew up on Catalina, but she only recently learned about this slice of the Island's history. And she says, it feels more relevant now than ever Speaker 11: 35:04 On Catalina. There's this cliff overlooking the ocean enough space to pitch a few tents it's beautiful and a down to earth way with all this sparkly broken glass and carved initials in the breezy, eucalyptus trees, danger, no trespassing falling rocks locals called the spot burrito point. And I heard stories as a kid that there was an occupy movement that happened here in the 1970s. Now I'm back on the Island and I wanted to dig up some stories from home. I Googled it and stumbled upon this radical that I never learned about in school. Growing up, my town was conservative, defined by tourism, and it still is. It's encouraging visitors during a pandemic. Most residents are Latino, but white people are primarily running the local government businesses and are the land owners, Speaker 12: 36:02 The Mexican Americans are, those are the people that were short changed more than anybody. And we continued to get shortchanged. Speaker 11: 36:07 That's dr. David Sanchez, the man behind the occupation for Chicano rights growing up in South central LA. He says he confronted gang violence, police brutality, racism, and discrimination. Speaker 12: 36:18 I don't know how I survived it, but I did survive. And it just made me aware of that. You know, America was not Disneyland that I thought it was supposed to be. Speaker 11: 36:31 He wanted to create an alternative to joining a gang and an organization that champions cultural pride, unity education, and advocacy. The Brown Berets, The group was born in 1967 and East LA coffee house called libido. Tanya. They started using it as a headquarter. Speaker 12: 36:51 Well, the coffee wasn't very good. Sometimes it was a little two days old sometimes, but nonetheless, I made point ways to organize the community, you know, and that was a hidden agenda. Speaker 11: 37:03 And a lot of people joined the movement. Speaker 12: 37:05 The Brown Berets evolved out of the movement in the Chicano community for social justice. Speaker 11: 37:11 This audio is from a student film called Chicano moratorium that Chronicle the movement in LA, Speaker 12: 37:17 The Brown Berets are a community organization that [inaudible] all the people in the value on their social and political rights. Speaker 11: 37:29 The Brown Berets helped organize mass protests against a disproportionate number of Chicanos dying in the Vietnam war. They were known for taking direct action against police violence showing up outside the police department, whenever a cop killed or brutalized someone one weekend Sanchez decided to hop on the SS Catalina strictly on vacation. Speaker 12: 37:57 We went to the Island and it was just, it was a very beautiful seem to be a very beautiful place. Very beautiful spot on the map. You could, you had the beaches, you had the ocean, you had the Hills, you had the sky, you know, you had the flying fish. And it was really a really, really nice place. Speaker 11: 38:15 Something about the Island stuck with him. He rented an apartment Speaker 12: 38:18 And on the weekends, I would go off here and just really got to know the people and the people from Chima Speaker 11: 38:25 Treemont is Catalina's only public housing option. His new friends told him about how hard it was to afford housing on the Island. The city council had just passed a measure that limited household sizes to five people, alongside discrimination and high rents, working class folks struggled to make it work. So he had an idea to occupy the Island. He was inspired by the occupation of Alcatraz that happened just three years earlier and the treaty of Guadalupe [inaudible] it ended the war with Mexico in 1848 and give a huge chunk of land to the U S to Sanchez. The treaty is proof that indigenous and Mexican people were systematically disenfranchised and stripped of their land rights to top it off neither Catalina Island nor the channel islands were explicitly mentioned in the treaty. Speaker 12: 39:26 [inaudible] Speaker 11: 39:27 So Sanchez said, the idea was this land should belong to the people, not the landowners In this archival reenactment video on the Brown breweries YouTube channel around 26 folks in military uniforms, March off the boat dock displaying huge Mexican flags, past tourist and straw hats, Hawaiian shirts, and bikinis, the Brown Berets camped out on this elevated point, overlooking the ocean, which Sanchez planned out as a strategic location. Speaker 12: 40:04 They always say, take the high land. You know, you know, four to fives you from people who wanted to harm you. Speaker 11: 40:10 They put up the Mexican flag and called the spot. Compalt take a latte. They didn't have the resources to stay long, but David figured he'd wing it. Speaker 12: 40:19 I, I went over there with $800, you know, that's what that's all I had was they had dogs for the whole operation. We bought food and, uh, you know, a lot of the Mexican American girls, uh, came to our camp. Uh, they would bring us in July, was and B Speaker 11: 40:35 And burritos. That's how burrito point actually got its name. I mentioned earlier that Catalina Island is a small conservative community. I posted about the occupation and a big Facebook community discussion forum, and a lot of people in the [inaudible] remember bringing them food and hanging out at burrito point. But others plotted against the outsiders from East LA. This is what people wrote. Speaker 7: 41:06 He camped out up there with no toilets, water, et cetera, and soon developed strong body odor. It was awful standing anywhere near them in the grocery store line. A bunch of the men in town met up at the golf course with baseball bats, golf clubs, and such, and we're all ready to go up and pound the idiots. It was a big deal in a tiny town. There was no violence. I never felt threatened. I was not at that meeting where local men plotted violence, but I have several friends were. Now that Speaker 12: 41:34 Part was disturbing. I was bummed that some of our good citizens were armed with handguns intent on running a camp of unwitting, young people Speaker 11: 41:44 That angry white mob never ended up storming. The Hill. One source told me that the local sheriff made them back off before anything happened. But David Sanchez says someone tried to come and take down their Mexican flag. Speaker 12: 41:58 You got stuck in the cactus Bush, you know, so it just, you know, we were, we were defended by nature. Yeah. Speaker 11: 42:08 After three weeks, LA County policeman arrived to enforce an illegal zoning ordinance. The Brown Berets were rooted in principles of nonviolence. They didn't resist. They were escorted off the Island. The occupation didn't end with more housing on Catalina. So I asked David Sanchez, do you see it as a success? Speaker 12: 42:27 I think you, it was a success. It was a success because it marked history. The problem was that the police began to attack the organization on the main mainland Speaker 11: 42:38 Sanchez says the FBI's counterintelligence program targeted the group, attack their supply lines and caused chaos within the organization. Sanchez disbanded the Brown Berets in 1973 for the member's own protection. Occupying Catalina was their last act for a really long time. So Sanchez switched gears. He got his PhD, became a teacher and a drug and alcohol counselor. Speaker 12: 43:06 I think I've done what I had to do. And I continue to, to stand for the rights of the people. Speaker 11: 43:19 Sanchez actually started the Brown Berets back up again in the mid 1990s. These days, they organized vigils and demand justice for victims of police violence in LA. In fact, every Wednesday, they protest outside the LA district attorney's office, and they're going to be gathering for the 50th anniversary of the Chicano moratorium protests. The huge March against the Vietnam war in East LA later. This August, what Sanchez and the Brown Berets did 50 years ago on Catalina Island lives on and the impact it made on people's lives. The story that stuck with me the most was from Ana Teresa. Speaker 11: 43:59 It doesn't belong to you. We talked on the phone and it's a little scratchy on olives in Mendocino County now, but she immigrated to Catalina with her family from Platas when she was four, she was a teenager when the Brown Berets came to the Island and she remembers her white classmates talking about wanting to quote, kick the Brown Berets off the Hill. Even though Ana called the Island home, she says she felt invisible. It wasn't okay to be Mexican. Mexico was like a dirty word. She recalls meeting one of the members of Brown Berets and spending the afternoon with her. And that moment stuck with Anna years later, she left the Island and had a long career in organizing farm workers and helping domestic violence survivors. She credits her life trajectory to the seeds that were planted by the Brown Berets for the California report. I'm Ariella Markowitz on Catalina Island.