Todd Gloria Sworn In As San Diego's 37th Mayor

Speaker 1: 00:00 San Diego has a new mayor. Hi Todd, Gloria do solemnly swear. Speaker 2: 00:05 I'm Jade Hindman with Maureen Kavanaugh. This is KPBS mid-day edition Concerns over hospital staffing shortages. As COVID cases, surge, Speaker 1: 00:28 We need to figure out and continue to work at having adequate staff, whether it's the state helping us, whether it's flexing nurse staffing ratios Speaker 2: 00:38 App knows when you've possibly been exposed to COVID-19 and a close look at the hurdles veterans face when getting benefits plus a lawsuit alleges anti-black racism at one local college that's ahead on midday edition. San Diego has a new Speaker 1: 01:02 Mayor. Hi Todd, Gloria do solemnly swear. Speaker 2: 01:05 Gloria is the first person of color and the first LGBTQ person to lead San Diego in a speech. Following his swearing in ceremony. Gloria promised an aggressive strategy over the next 100 days to address the health, housing and economic crises caused by COVID-19. Here's more of what he had to say this morning. Speaker 1: 01:25 We will recover and build back better and stronger from COVID-19. We will stand up for workers and create good pain, local jobs. It brings neighborhood improvements to all corners of our city. We will center racial justice and equity, not just in public safety, but in everything we do recognizing that black lives matter. And we will fully and faithfully implement our climate action plan to ensure that the city that we love is here for generations to come. Speaker 2: 02:00 We'll hear directly from mayor Tom Gloria in an interview tomorrow on midday edition, 900 people confirmed or suspected to have COVID-19 or hospitalized in San Diego County. At least 600 more could be admitted in the next couple of weeks, pushing local hospitals to the brink. Joining me to talk about how the hospitals are handling the increase is KPBS health reporter Taron Minto, Taran. Welcome. Speaker 3: 02:28 Hi Jade. Thank you. Speaker 2: 02:30 How are local hospitals preparing for the potential, uh, of hundreds of new COVID patients expected in the coming weeks? Speaker 3: 02:38 Well, there's a lot of talk about just hoping that the current restrictions that we are recently been under are going to help with reducing that surge. But we do know that because hospitalizations lag after cases two to three weeks, um, that, that there are some that are actually, you know, going to be on their way. You said 600. Um, so that's kind of given at this point and really they're just all looking at their surge planning. How can they add space and how can they add staff? That's something I keep hearing about is staff also has to go with space, a bed doesn't care for a patient. So they're looking at certain things with space, such as emergency tents. Um, but they're also putting nurses on standby. We heard from the Palomar health CEO just yesterday that we have that field hospital with 202 beds up in North County. And they're putting 50 nurses on standby in case they need to activate it. Speaker 2: 03:29 And how are hospitals throughout the County communicating with each other to determine which hospitals have capacity for new patients and how to even divide that out. Speaker 3: 03:39 The County received a lot of questions about this yesterday at its regular COVID-19 briefing. And, you know, Dr. Wilma will in our, our public health officer says that the, the County and hospitals will work collaboratively. If it reaches a point where decisions do have to be made about where resources go, you know, maybe one bed, two patients, what, what do you do? And again, hospitals and County health pub public health officials are saying like, we really hope that they don't have to get to that point, but the reporters were seeking, you know, information about this yesterday. And so far, what we've learned is that hospitals, um, are, are making some decisions internally within their systems, such as how in such as when to delay a surgery and what surgeries they could delay. But everyone kept stressing again, that they just really are hopeful that there won't come a time when those difficult decisions are made. But Dr. Wooten did say that the, uh, County would work again collaboratively with hospitals on that. Speaker 2: 04:30 Are there enough doctors, nurses, and other essential staff available to be able to care for all of these patients? Speaker 3: 04:37 Right? That's what a lot of healthcare leaders are actually worried about right now. And I asked this of the Dimitrios Alexio. He is the CEO of the local hospital association, and this is what he had to say. Speaker 1: 04:47 So there are some options as it relates to capacity, but again, I would still put it back on staffing that, uh, we need to figure out and continue to work at having adequate staff, whether it's the state helping us, whether it's flexing nurse staffing ratios. Speaker 2: 05:02 So then Terran, is there a specific number of patients that hospital's estimate will put them at 100% capacity? Speaker 3: 05:11 Well, as Demetrius just mentioned, it's not just about actual capacity capacity, isn't just space. It's also individuals. It's also the people, again, a bed doesn't take care of a patient. The people do. So Dimitrios mentioned something about flexing nurse staffing ratios. California's pretty unique and has the state law that mandates a certain amount of nurses per patient. And so in an ICU, it's one nurse per two for two patients. Um, but there's, there's under the pandemic. The governor allowed flexibility with that law. And so hospitals have to apply through a waiver process and, and show it's supposed to, they're supposed to show that they exhausted all of these other efforts to expand their staffing, such as baby calling and people, um, increasing shifts, um, or reducing certain surgeries or delaying certain procedures. Um, but they are, there is a process that would allow hospitals to go beyond those ratios. And that is an option. Speaker 2: 06:06 And with that being an option, how has patient care and nurse safety impacted by potential staffing shortages? Speaker 3: 06:13 So the California nurses association is, is not on board with, with flexing ratios. Um, they say that it could affect patient care if you have one nurse responsible for more patients, and also especially COVID patients, which they're saying require just so much more, um, support. And so they're very concerned about that. They're also concerned about their own safety caring for so many COVID patients. Um, and you know, I talked to a spokeswoman at the California nurses association and she said, she's just worried that hospitals aren't really exhausting. Those other options, such as maybe reducing surgeries that can be delayed. And she claims, you know, she's notes that there's even been some, um, facilities in the state that have laid off nurses during the pandemic. So she's critical of this waiver process. Speaker 2: 06:56 Um, and you know, for the longest time we've heard regular updates from the governor, uh, about the number of ventilators in the state and the amount of PPE. What can you tell us about the amount of equipment available here locally to be able to, to care for those, uh, mostly critically ill patients, Speaker 3: 07:12 Right? So in terms of those resources, actually, I'm looking at the KPBS trigger tracker. The County has these metrics that they publish every single day to track certain things, including personal protective equipment and ventilators, and in San Diego County, right now, the data is showing that 44% of our ventilator supply is available. The County says it doesn't want to get less than 25%. So we still are relatively, um, pretty much above that. And then also with personal protective equipment, um, the County wants to make sure that hospitals have at least 22 days of, of personal protective equipment. Um, and they don't want half of the hospitals to have less than that. So right now, 84% of the county's reporting, 84% of the region's hospitals have at least 22 days of personal protective equipment. So that's where we are with this, but it's changing all the time. It goes up and down. If you go to the KPBS trigger tracker, you can see how these numbers have changed over time, as well as all of the other metrics that the County is tracking and publishing. Speaker 2: 08:11 And what does it say about our local capacity for ICU beds? Speaker 3: 08:16 Right? So it says that, uh, out of all of our beds, 20% are available and that is the threshold the County does want, does not want to get below 20% of beds being available. But again, this brings it back to the conversation about a bed and a staff member, Dr. Wilma Wooten said yesterday that, um, of the remaining beds, only 6% of them they have staff for. So that means that there's a 14, a gap of 14% of their beds that they don't yet have staff for. So that's a situation that they would have to, if they need those beds, they have to find the staff and bring them into care for the individuals that would take them up. Speaker 2: 08:48 I mean, in short, if I need to go to the emergency room, is there enough staff? Are there enough resources to me, that's Speaker 3: 08:56 One thing that everybody wants to be clear about is that they don't want people to fear going to the emergency room, because there has been some concerns that people earlier in the pandemic delayed going to get care. And there were some, um, you know, outcomes that we didn't want to be seen, that we could have actually prevented such as if you like, maybe you have a stroke coming on, go to the emergency room. They want people to come in and get the care that they need. And, um, you know, I've, I've talked to Dimitrios Alexia at the hospital association. He continues to say that hospitals are very resilient. Hospitals have planned and trained and have surge, uh, surge plans in place that they can activate to take on these patients. It's counseling that they do year round. Obviously this is a far more unprecedented situation where it's going on a lot longer, Dr. Wilma Wooten said short term, we can certainly handle this kind of crunch on our hospital system. Long-term is where it gets very difficult. And that's again, why she's pushing, they're pushing people to adhere to the restrictions that are in place. But again, they do not want people to not go and get care when they actually need it. Okay. Speaker 4: 09:57 I've been speaking with KPBS health reporter, Taryn, mento Terran. Thank you. Thank you Speaker 4: 10:13 Today, California introduces a new tool to help people determine their exposure to COVID-19. The CA notify app is available on Apple and Google smartphones. The technology was tested on the UC San Diego campus earlier this year. The purpose is to alert people privately and anonymously. If they have been insignificant contact with someone who's tested positive for COVID-19 here to explain how it works is my guest, Dr. Christopher Long Hearst, chief information officer and associate chief medical officer at UC San Diego health. Dr. Long Hurst. Welcome to the program. Thank you so much for having me now. One thing it's important, I think to explain right from the start is that this is not a real time device. It doesn't start beeping if you get near someone with the virus. So instead, explain to us how it does Speaker 5: 11:06 You bet. The way this works is it's a completely privacy preserving approach that uses Bluetooth signals to identify when your phone may have been near somebody else's device, who later is diagnosed with COVID. So by turning on these anonymous exposure notifications, you can ensure that if somebody you've been close to in the last 14 days is diagnosed with COVID and triggers the system that you would be anonymously alerted. Speaker 4: 11:32 So two people who have this app are standing in line together, and a few days later, one of them is diagnosed with COVID. What happens then? Speaker 5: 11:41 So at that point, if I spent greater than 15 minutes, within six feet of somebody else who is diagnosed with COVID, I would receive an anonymous exposure notification alert on my phone. CA notify would me that on a given date, I may have been exposed to somebody with COVID-19 and that I should consider quarantining and testing Speaker 4: 12:01 Does this. Appertain the codes of all the people in encounters who also have the app. Speaker 5: 12:06 It retains anonymous codes for only 14 days. So after 14 days, all the data's wiped and no identifiable information ever leaves your device. Speaker 4: 12:16 And let me take you back on this, if you did get one of these alerts on the app, should you immediately get tested for COVID? Speaker 5: 12:24 The alert will give you indication of when you may have been exposed based on that your doctor can help guide you as to when you should be tested. Typically we recommend post-exposure testing at five days after exposure. Speaker 4: 12:38 Is this a form of contact tracing? Speaker 5: 12:40 We really see exposure notification as an augmentation to traditional contact tracing contact tracing works really well for friends and family and people whose names and numbers, you know, exposure notification works really well for strangers. We know, for example, that public transportation can be a vector for spreading COVID-19. And yet it's impossible to track down the people you rode the bus with. This is where that app can really Speaker 4: 13:07 Now just like the new vaccines coming out. Isn't the usefulness of this app determined by the number of people who use it. Speaker 5: 13:14 That's right. The more people who adopt it, the more effective it is. So we're hoping for terrific adoption in the state of California today, alerts are going out to everybody's Apple iPhones and Android smartphones. And if we see the same adoption in the state of Colorado and state of Washington have seen in the last couple of weeks, we anticipate millions of people will be using this. Speaker 4: 13:36 Is there a percentage in terms of use where the app becomes most effective? Speaker 5: 13:40 It's really not about a given number. It's more about getting more people to use it. So the more people who use it, the more effective it is, Speaker 4: 13:47 You know, we're hearing the top story today is that the PA FDA panel is considering to give emergency authorization to the Pfizer vaccines. Since we're nearing the beginning of the distribution of a vaccine is the rollout of this app too late. Speaker 5: 14:05 I can tell you that many of us wish that we had done this earlier, but we're excited that it's here now. And so the vaccine will hopefully be approved today and start rolling out. But it'll initially only be for high-risk employees of healthcare systems, nursing homes, things like that. And so it's going to be months before our general population has access to this vaccine. And in the meantime, we're experiencing the worst surge that we've ever had yesterday in the United States, we had more diagnoses of COVID than ever before. More people hospitalized and more deaths over 3000 people died of COVID 19 yesterday. And given that the vaccine is months away, the exposure notification technology can help save lives for the next six months. Speaker 4: 14:49 And what do you say to people who wary of opting in over privacy concerns are afraid that their identities and locations will be public knowledge. Speaker 5: 14:59 We know that it's one of the top concerns for people who don't turn on this exposure notification life-saving technology. And yet the app does not collect any location information and no identifiable information ever leaves the device. We did a lot of investigation during our pilot at UC San Diego, and even our most staunch privacy advocates felt comfortable that this technology is privacy. Preserving Speaker 4: 15:22 Has been tested at UC San Diego. How did that pilot program? Speaker 5: 15:26 We started testing this technology in late September when UC San Diego moved 10,000 students on the campus, more than any other in the state of California with our on-campus population, we found uptake of over 50% and among our students over 75%, this technology was part of our overall campus safety program and helped us to keep viral transmission at less than 1% of our campus residents. When the same community in San Diego was experiencing a surge from three to over 7%. Speaker 4: 15:58 Where else outside of California, has this app been tested or used Speaker 5: 16:03 19 other States and territories have adopted this exposure notification technology from Google and Apple. So we joined the Western States pact following the state of Colorado and the state of Washington and statewide expansion. And we anticipate Oregon and others will go statewide soon. It's also really important to know this works across state lines. If you're a visiting one state and you get an exposure, you'll still get that notice when you returned to your other state. Speaker 4: 16:28 So how do people actually get the CA notify app Speaker 5: 16:32 Apple, iPhone users simply have to go into settings and find exposure notifications and turn it on for the state of California for users of Android smartphones. The Google play store has the CA notify app now. Okay. Speaker 4: 16:45 Okay. Then I've been speaking with Dr. Christopher Long Hearst, chief information officer and associate chief medical officer at UC San Diego health. Thank you so much for speaking with me. Speaker 5: 16:55 Yes. Thank you so much for having me. Speaker 4: 17:03 This is KPBS mid day edition. I'm Maureen Cavenaugh with Jade Heineman. A new report finds veterans are struggling to file claims for VA benefits during the pandemic KPBS, military reporter, Steve Walsh says many vets are being improperly denied because they cannot get to a doctor. Speaker 6: 17:23 Mark session got a late start. He was 34 years old when he entered Navy bootcamp, like many vets. He has lingering issues from his time in the service, especially with his back. He's been wrestling with the VA benefits process since he retired in 2017. This year during the pandemic, the real issue for the Chula Vista vet has been getting in to see a doctor, Oh, I had initially a scheduled in February and then it was, Speaker 7: 17:50 Uh, rescheduled to September. And if it's timber to, um, October and then October, they finally scheduled, uh, got a scheduled for November, Speaker 6: 18:02 Even in a normal year session says the VA claims process is long and exhausting. Speaker 7: 18:07 That was very frustrating because I want this whole situation to be over, you know, to finally have to be worried about any more exams or having to contact my attorney and stuff like that is just, um, I just want to be done with it and get out of the way Speaker 6: 18:24 Beginning in April, the VA shut down all in-person appointments. Everything moved online, including doctors appointments, the backlog of exams ballooned to 1.5 million during the pandemic, a new report by the VA's inspector general also says thousands of claims were improperly denied this after VA leadership declared that no vet should have their claim denied because it wasn't safe to see a doctor. Speaker 3: 18:49 They didn't get the memo because there's so much happening Speaker 6: 18:52 Sessions. Attorney Casey Walker, once worked for the VA as he puts it. Some VA employees just didn't get the memo. Speaker 3: 18:59 And then you got to keep in mind at the same time. A lot of these, a lot of these employees work from home for the first time ever. Many of them not being too capable with their technology. They've always worked at the regional office. Their entire lives VA may require it. Speaker 6: 19:12 An in-person examination is part of the claim process. The da made the backlog worse. Walker says by telling outside mental health providers that they could not evaluate their patients remotely. When it came to filling out VA benefit claims. At the same time, the VA was telling its own doctors and contractors to only see patients using telehealth. Speaker 3: 19:32 Then almost in the same month, they said, you must give mental health exam by tele-health means here. Speaker 6: 19:40 Yeah, his website shows nearly all of the country is open for in-person exams to some degree to chip away at the backlog of 1.5 million exams. Maura Clancy handles veterans benefits, appeals for Chisholm, Chisholm and Kirkpatrick, a national firm based in Rhode Island, which has clients in San Diego. Speaker 3: 19:58 I have noticed more examination reports coming in. So I know that they are working on the exams that were pending throughout the pandemic. And so that's a start Speaker 6: 20:10 Instead of scheduling new visits, she says the VA should also lean more heavily on using existing medical records. At least for now, the VA told their inspector general that they are looking at cases denied during the pandemic. That shouldn't count on their cases being reopened. Clancy says instead, that should assume they'll have to step up on their own and file an appeal. Speaker 3: 20:33 Um, it only helps the case. I think, to be able to point to what VA's guidance was in the beginning of the pandemic, which was that those denials weren't supposed to happen. Um, and hopefully that they will take some corrective action. The VA Speaker 6: 20:48 Has been trying to clear away the backlog of benefits claims for years, a new law went into effect a year before the pandemic designed to speed up the process. According to advocates who helped guide veterans through the process, juggling the new system and the pandemic probably created more cracks in the system. Speaker 4: 21:08 Joining me now is KPBS military reporter, Steve Walsh, Steve, welcome. Hi Maureen. You know, since it's been so hard to see a doctor during the pandemic, what kinds of claims are being denied by the VA? Speaker 6: 21:23 Well, you know, the report from the VA inspector general didn't really get into the kinds of claims, but it sounds like it was pretty much everything across the board. Now, you know, this is the VA benefits process. The VA health administration usually gets most of the attention. That's the hospitals and the healthcare. This is the VDA. This is where a veteran goes into file a disability claim. They get a rating, you know, showing that their percentage of disability and then the VA pays them a stipend. So, so the VA started getting complaints. They undertook, um, their own review of some 20,000 claims. They found like 84% of the claims were improperly denied in April. And, and, and back in March, that percentage started to drop in the following months, but they were still denying nearly half of these claims back in June. And this is after the VA, you know, sent out guidance in may, specifically telling staff not to deny these claims, just because people couldn't go see a doctor Speaker 4: 22:19 Under normal circumstances. What's the process to file a disability claim. Would the vet have to be seen by a VA doctor? Speaker 6: 22:27 Typically, that's how it goes. And most of the exams are called C and P exam. They're done by, uh, outside doctors contracted by the VA. Sometimes the VA does some of these themselves, but yes, you, you typically need to go see a doctor. They have to fill out these forms. The VA has very specific things. They're looking for. Actually, one of the other complaints I heard from one of the attorneys is just prior to the pandemic, the VA removed the forms from its websites, which made it harder for a private physician or even the vet's own doctor to perform these examinations exactly the way the VA likes to see them done. Speaker 4: 23:02 And wasn't any alternate or interim procedure put in place when in-person appointments were shut down. Last spring, Speaker 6: 23:10 You got to remember back to the early part of the pandemic. Things were pretty hectic. Um, it looks like they did hold some training sessions back in March. They were encouraging staff to keep working from home and, uh, encouraging exams through telehealth though, according to the inspector general, uh, it looks like they realized early on that some of these appointments couldn't be done online. In fact, the real problem seems to be that like not everyone followed the guidance that was coming from the top, from the beginning saying that, you know, go ahead and postpone. These claims do not deny them. And what happened is a whole bunch of people are going to have to start over if they don't follow this process on their own. Speaker 4: 23:51 Tell us more about the mixed messages the VA has sent out about mental health treatments. Why can't benefits be claimed after a remote assessment, by an outside mental health provider, when that's exactly what VA providers are doing, they're doing all their appointments and assessments through telehealth, Speaker 6: 24:10 Right? That's where the confusion came from. This is a real frustration among these attorneys. So it seems like the VA didn't seem to trust these outside doctors to do these assessments remotely. The VA wants to lay all this very specific information on its claims. They really don't say what their reasoning was, but, uh, these are essentially zoom calls. You know, they have to follow a specific VA protocol. Some exams do require somebody to be in the room with the client to perform certain tasks. It may have just been a lack of trust on the VA's part. And when it came to outside doctors at the same time, yeah, they were rushing their own doctors and contractors into training so they could keep the system moving. You know, it created even more confusion and delay though. Speaker 4: 24:55 One of the attorneys you spoke with said, the VA could lean more heavily on existing medical records instead of scheduling new appointments. Can you explain what that means? Speaker 6: 25:05 Well, you know, these are veterans, so they have a very long medical history here dating all the way back to their time in active duty, the VR already does something called acceptable clinical evidence or these ACE exams where you essentially, you go through the, uh, the vet's medical records and review past, uh, information on there to determine whether or not you can already prove that they're either mentally or physically disabled without seeing a doctor. They do this normally. Um, and the VA told the inspector general that they are looking at doing that, but advocates say they could do so much more. And especially right now when people are very concerned that, uh, even if they can see a doctor that they may not want to right now, because they don't feel safe. Yeah. Speaker 4: 25:50 As I say, you spoke to attorneys and they work with veterans and helping them secure benefits since so many veterans are having trouble claiming benefits. Should they just routinely get the help of a lawyer now? Speaker 6: 26:02 Well, lawyers would say that, yes, that that's the case. So you got to understand this system in this system, the lawyers that basically act as what's called veterans service officers, some of these advocates are attorneys and, and, you know, they're paid for their services, but a service organizations like the American Legion or disabled American vets they'll offer free help. Even the County has their own veterans service officers. And yes, the VA does acknowledge that their system is incredibly complex, even on the best of days. And, and they acknowledged that people might want to turn to a veteran service officer to help them through the process. I know I've, I've talked to many vets over the years and Speaker 7: 26:44 It's very difficult to do this on your own. Uh, and, and there are certain deadlines that if you miss them, you're, you're going to be out. A lot of money Speaker 2: 26:54 Came with KPBS, military reporters, Steve Walsh, Steve. Thanks a lot. Thanks Maureen. Speaker 8: 27:05 [inaudible] Speaker 2: 27:09 California's new regional stay at home order allows for schools that had already opened their campuses to keep them open. But how safe is in-person learning cap? Radio's PolitiFact, California reporter Chris Nichols joins us to talk about that for our weekly. Can you handle the truth segment? Speaker 5: 27:27 Chris PolitiFact looked at the research on this topic. What were some of the key takeaways? Speaker 7: 27:32 Well, public health experts told PolitiFact that the best evidence continues to show that COVID 19 poses, less danger to children. So kids can still get infected and they can spread the virus. PolitiFact spoke with Sarah Johnson. Who's a professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins medical school in Baltimore. And she said that children younger than 10 are far less likely to be infected by COVID-19 than older children and adults. She also said those younger kids are less likely to transmit the virus to other people. And Johnson cited three recent studies to back this up, including one from this, Speaker 5: 28:12 Some schools in California and around the nation have returned to in-person learning. Have there been some lessons learned based on how those schools are doing? Speaker 7: 28:22 There are some common sense findings, at least so far. For example, the schools that reopened with public health mitigation measures in place, things like mask use and social distancing, and ventilation, those schools have avoided significant spread of the virus and experts say those measures really need to be enforced for schools to prevent transmission. They said, schools also have to be willing to close back down once levels of community spread, begin to spike. Speaker 5: 28:53 Pull into fact recently fact checked a statement by president elect Joe Biden about vaccinations. What did he say? Speaker 7: 29:01 Biden claimed in a recent interview on CNN that people have lost faith in the ability of the vaccine to work and quote. And he added that the number of Americans willing to get a vaccine was staggeringly low. Speaker 5: 29:17 What are the survey show on this? Speaker 7: 29:20 Well, most polls show that between 50 and 70% of Americans are willing to get vaccinated. Biden does have a point here because those rates are not as high as health experts would like to see in order to fully stop the coronavirus. And that skepticism is even higher among black and Latino Americans who have been hit harder by the disease. But despite this health experts said they aren't despairing just yet. They said that history has shown that educational campaigns can boost confidence and new vaccines, making people more willing to get a shot. So how did PolitiFact rate president elect Biden's claim PolitiFact rated his claim half true. Speaker 2: 30:05 It was cap radio's PolitiFact, California reporter Chris Nichols speaking with anchor Mike Haggerty find full versions of all fact checks@politifact.com slash California, five current and former black Southwestern college employees have sued the institution over alleged racial discrimination. This follows a report by USC that found a climate of anti-black racism at the college and Chula Vista Gustabo Salise has reported on the issue for the San Diego union Tribune and joins me now, Gustavo welcome. Speaker 9: 30:42 And thank you Jayda. I appreciate it. You Speaker 2: 30:44 Know, in the lawsuit, there are many examples of racial discrimination. They're all cited there. Talk to me about a few of them. Speaker 9: 30:51 Yeah, absolutely. The interesting thing about the lawsuit is just how many allegations that were ranging from petty microaggressions, like a black employee who was pregnant. She didn't get a baby shower, whereas certain non-black coworkers did. And she felt slighted for that, uh, to more serious things like being passed over for promotions or even being denied overtime, um, pay which, which is available to them through their union contract. And there are some more serious incidents of, uh, black employees just hearing the N word on campus. Speaker 2: 31:25 And what has the college said in response to this lawsuit? Speaker 9: 31:28 Well, not much, uh, which is standard, right? Anytime a city or, or a public entity gets sued. Uh, they declined to comment pending litigation. Uh, so specifically to the allegations in the lawsuit, they have not responded. I asked Southwestern for comment. I asked to speak to the president and even a couple of employees named in the lawsuit and they declined to have their, their staff speak to me, but they have spoken a lot more about the USC report in general and what they have done in response to that report. And specifically follow a set of recommendations outlined in that report, Speaker 2: 32:05 As you mentioned, the lawsuit follows a study done by USC at Southwestern college a year ago, a year and a half, actually that exposed quote, a palpable climate of anti-blackness at Southwestern college in quote, um, remind me of the findings of that report. Speaker 9: 32:21 Well, the, the findings of the report largely mirror the allegations of the lawsuit, uh, as you described, right? It was that, uh, palpable climate of anti-blackness of Southwestern college. And now when there are more allegations, the report didn't have specific names. Um, but there were very serious allegations brought up right at Latino custodial staff, making monkey sounds at black coworkers through walkie-talkies a black employee being relocated from the main campus because a white female coworker was afraid of him with no real reason to be afraid of the coworker, besides that they were black. So taken together, all of those, uh, incidents highlighted in the USC report did paint a pretty damning picture of institutional anti-black racism on campus and particularly racial tension between the black and Latino employees at the community college Speaker 2: 33:17 Report included recommendations on addressing the issues at the campus. What were some of those recommendations and has the college followed through with them Speaker 9: 33:25 Has largely followed through with the recommendations. I want to say there were about 13 recommendations and they range from one time actions like issue a formal apology to black staff members, uh, hiring a consulting firm to review a human resources practices, particularly when it came to hiring and other recommendations are more ongoing, right? They're like making employment data more transparent, strategizing ways to increase faculty diversity and hosting quarterly forums on race. Uh, the university has largely done all of these and it's pretty transparent that they set up a separate committee to look at the findings of the report and kind of navigate a path forward. And you can see online the minutes from that meeting and kind of the progress they've done. Only one recommendation has kind of been stalled because of COVID and that's establishing a leadership development program presumably early on that would get already hired employees into more like management tracks and Southwestern college, uh, that one started this year. Uh, but it didn't really get off the ground because of COVID and has been stalled indefinitely until after the pandemic Speaker 2: 34:37 And employee survey done by the college uncovered similar issues as the report and the lawsuit. What did the survey find Speaker 9: 34:43 The survey was done in March? Uh, so about a year after the UFC report and before this lawsuit was filed and it, it, like you said, it, it showed similar things, uh, that the report in lawsuit status specifically the results of that survey show that 40% of employees felt there was a lot of racial tension at Southwestern college. And that 50% of employees had witnessed discrimination on campus. The survey also found that a higher percentage of black employees were dissatisfied with employee diversity and black employees were least less likely to report positive experiences on campus compared to non-black employees. Speaker 2: 35:25 And despite the college following through on some of the USC report recommendations, you talked about the lawsuit suggests that the problem at Southwestern still persist. Tell me about that. What does some of the allegations Speaker 9: 35:38 In the lawsuit came after the report came out? And I mean, to be fair to Southwestern college that, I mean, these are big cultural issues, right? Big institutional issues within the college. So I think it's, it'd be unfair to assume there would be fixed overnight. Right? I think it's fair to say they required time to correct, but there are in the lawsuit does allege a little bit of tension or even, um, a dismissal of some of the findings of the USC report. There's there's one instance in which during one of the meetings and one of these tests forces to look at their report and change campus, one Latino employee, uh, dismissed USC to report claiming according to the lawsuit that there is no anti-blackness on campus instead, the campus has anti-Latino right. There was also an instance of one of the members of that committee. Speaker 9: 36:35 Uh, one of the few black members of that community, somehow colluding with us published that report, the employee who made that allegation of collusion was a Latino employee and made it at a black coworker. And the only information she had to go off was that both the black coworker as Southwestern, and one of the authors of the USC were black and had a connection to USC. Um, the re the lawsuit kind of points at that and says, quote, you know, that employee is knee-jerk responses indicative of an us versus them culture at Southwestern college. Unquote, Speaker 2: 37:10 I've been speaking with Gustavo Selise, former San Diego union Tribune, reporter Gustavo. Thank you very much. Thank you. Speaker 10: 37:24 [inaudible] Speaker 2: 37:27 You're listening to KPBS midday edition. I'm Jade Hindman with Maureen Kavanaugh, a local jazz musician just released a debut album of original quartet music, KPBS arts editor, and producer Julia Dixon Evans spoke with ed cornhouser about the record called the short years and about the ephemeral nature of time. Speaker 10: 37:57 The days are long, but the years are short is a common mantra of parents attributed to writer, Gretchen Rubin 33 year old pianist. Ed Kornheiser has been envisioning and putting off writing the short years, his debut jazz quartet album for some long years. But once he finally got started with the recording process, the days moved quickly, time is the magic, not the enemy of the album released November eight. [inaudible]. Speaker 11: 38:37 If it's a series of moments, walked in time by a recording, and you know, the title refers to, to me anyway, it speaks to how it might be tough right now in the moment. And things might seem to be dragging on, but, you know, still things will pass quickly and we need, we need to appreciate what we can in the moment. Speaker 10: 39:04 Kornheiser who grew up in Escondido and studied music at San Diego state university is known among the local music scene as a prolific pianist, performing with other groups, as well as, as an accompanist and gave musician. Speaker 11: 39:21 I met the saxophone players on this record, Dylan Hermanson and I, and, uh, I really liked the sound. And we did a gig where we played some of my songs and I'm like, that's it, that's the other voice I want. This is the extra ingredient I already know the drummer and the baseball, or I want, I'm just going to find a date. Everyone's available, book it at the studio and go, Speaker 10: 39:47 [inaudible] finding a sax player. Didn't just trigger the act of recording the album. It shaped the project. Speaker 11: 39:54 I spent my years in San Diego in large part as an accompanist. And it's made me really appreciate, you know, a good like ensemble sound. I love a good group, you know, and I wanted that extra voice. Speaker 10: 40:11 Last October. He rounded up Hermanson along with basis to McKenzie, Layton and drummer, Kevin Higuchi, who is also the drummer for punk Crocker, Jeff Rosenstock to record the 13 track collection in just two days, the short years weaves through moods, textures and styles, showcasing corn housers and versatile quartet, Hermanson saxophone as a strong element throughout the album and shines, but doesn't dominate just like corn hazards, piano on close inspection. Each track on the album feels like it brings something new to the jazz table that the album is on the internet to hit play and listen through the opening team. The Schaeffler has a classic swing standard feel to it. And the track manages to showcase the tight compositions and ensemble unity before an early scalpel piano solo, then an instant switch to Hermanson on saxophone for a solid solo plus a few breaks to show off Leighton's bass and Gucci's drums. Before settling back into the tracks reframe for the final minute, corn has pulls away from the standards quickly with solid and the second track that's startlingly melodic. It's a lovely tune with twinkling piano and a romantic edge saxophone, melody and Kornheiser said the track was inspired by San Diego pianist, Danny green. Speaker 1: 41:59 [inaudible] Speaker 10: 42:00 Another standout piece is the moody foo U which opens with nearly two minutes of piano solo, like a welcome magnifying glass for corn hazards, style chops and creativity. Within a few more minutes, the tuna solidly in a highly technical whirling, saxophone solo, sharp edged, but maintaining the tracks slowed down darkness. Speaker 1: 42:37 [inaudible] Speaker 10: 42:37 The track Tumblehome is driven by what Kornheiser describes as the traditional train beat. It's a fun wandering track packed with melody and steady drums. And he use of gospel and Americana. Speaker 1: 42:58 [inaudible] Speaker 10: 42:58 Khan has her said that this album like all improvisational music is a snapshot in time and that at no other time, will these tracks sound the same? The music is formed by these four musicians in each one, the seven minute take of each track on every subsequent time they're performed, the band can grow with the tune and make room to be surprised by it. The concept of time is undeniable in this piece of work and Korn hazards approach to composition and jazz in general Speaker 1: 43:33 Is we only have the moment and jazz is an intensely femoral music. It exists in a unique space and then unique time KPBS arts editor and producer Julia Dixon Evans spoke with ed cornhouser about his new album available. Now cornhouser performs as part of the voices of our city choir virtual holiday show tonight at 6:00 PM. And he will also stream a dual performance with Whitney Shay on Sunday at 7:00 PM and 8:30 PM.