Coronado Man Charged For Taking Part In US Capitol Insurrection

Speaker 1: 00:00 A closer look at the Cora Nado man facing charges after the Capitol siege, Speaker 2: 00:05 It was he and another man pushed aside three benches that were, um, in front of the Capitol building in front of the door. Speaker 1: 00:12 I'm Jade Hindman. This is KPBS midday edition. Hey, look at governor. Newsome's two years in office and if he's meeting California's tech needs and Speaker 3: 00:30 That's been made abundantly clear to not just me to all of you in this last year, Speaker 1: 00:36 Then we'll tell you about ways to enjoy the art scene this weekend and on the round table, a discussion on COVID schools and immigration that's ahead on midday edition. A Cora Nado man faces federal charges after illegally entering the nation's Capitol during the January six siege 33 year old Jeffrey Alexander Smith and army veteran is now charged with two misdemeanor counts, KPBS, military reporter. Steve Walsh joins us to talk about who Smith is and a trend happening in the military. Steve welcome. Hi Jade. So how did law enforcement connect Smith to the Capitol riot? Speaker 2: 01:12 So this is part of a larger investigation to try to find out who committed illegal acts during the capitals seizure on the sixth. This is a case out of the DOJ in Washington, and it came from the FBI tip line. As far as I can tell somebody called in, said that they had seen a Smith post on social media on Instagram. In fact, that he had been at the Capitol and inside the Capitol, they eventually interviewed Smith and he admitted that he in fact, was there at that point. He had already taken down that video on Instagram, but he admitted that he was there. So Speaker 1: 01:50 What exactly is Smith charged with? Speaker 2: 01:53 It's two misdemeanor counts it's essentially, uh, entering illegally and also disorderly conduct. So Smith was there for about a half an hour inside the Capitol. His attorney said that he'd really had not intended when he went to the rally in Washington to storm the Capitol, but he got caught up in the moment. So I think we have a quote from John Rice, his attorney, I think Speaker 3: 02:17 Many of the people there will tell you, uh, they were kind of swept up in the moment. I think it was, there was a large crowd. Uh, there was a lot of excitement and you know, it just kinda went along with the crowd. Speaker 2: 02:30 There you go. It sounds like he there's a certain amount of regret at this point. When you look through the charging sheets and what happened in, in court yesterday, it sounds like what he did is it was he and another man pushed aside three benches that were, um, in front of the Capitol building in front of the door. And then he came flooding in with hundreds, maybe thousands of other people stayed for about a half an hour. Uh, his attorney assists insist that he didn't break anything that he didn't, uh, assault while in there that he just kind of wandered around the Capitol building. Speaker 1: 03:03 And so how did he get there to the Capitol? Speaker 2: 03:06 So he drove, he says, uh, for, and this is, uh, again, according to the charging sheets, he drove for 33, uh, 38 hours. I believe he was living in Cornetto with his parents, drove there and, uh, he met his girlfriend who flew in from, I guess, the West coast. And then they went to the rally Speaker 1: 03:26 And Smith's served in the military. Tell us, uh, what we, Speaker 2: 03:30 Okay. So what we know about that, and this is according to his family, his mom and sister were there yesterday. I had a chance to speak with them very briefly and he's, and they say that he was in the army for five years, starting at about 2010. And they say that he had one tour in Iraq during that time period. And they, and again, they say that he was honorably discharged, Speaker 1: 03:51 And this is the second known San Diego area person involved in the riot. The other died in the incident, remind us about that. Speaker 2: 03:57 Well, that's 35 year old Ashley Babbitt, who was an air force veteran. She had also been out of the military for some time. Uh, had worked in security both while she was in the air force and outside in the private sector. Um, and she had to go on there. Um, we, we could see much more of her social media where you can see that a time. She became incredibly spun up by what was, what she saw, uh, around here. She got caught up in the ACU and on conspiracy theories and she was very incensed by, uh, immigration policies. And, uh, obviously she was had really, um, w we get a better sense from her, just how deeply she believed in some of these conspiracies. And how was she involved in the riot? Exactly. So Ashley Babbitt was killed by a Capitol police officer, as she tried to push through a window to get into the interior of the Capitol. You know, Speaker 1: 04:51 Babbitt had ties to the military Smith had ties to the military. Is this just a coincidence or is there a trend happening? Speaker 2: 04:59 Oh, it's it, it appears that it is not just a coincidence. Uh, NPR went through all the charge sheets, and this is before the Smith case. And they found one in five of the people who were charged in, in the Capitol siege were either had active duty military ties, or they were mil, or they were veterans themselves. So this is a problem that the, uh, the military is just starting to grapple with. They have seen issues with, with racism in the ranks. There was a DOD report that came out where among the recommendations is that, uh, the military needs to do much better job of tracking people who are get caught up in these extremist groups. And even B, there needs to be changes in the military code of justice to make it easier to prosecute people who are found to be, uh, involved in extremist activity, Speaker 1: 05:50 DOJ report. How has the military then responded to that? And how have they previously been responding extremism within the ranks? Speaker 2: 05:59 They say that the, you know, that they're on top of this, but it's very clear that the military has had a hard time grap grappling with domestic extremism. Much of this falls upon recruiters who have to try to figure out whether or not someone who is involved in one of these groups. There's always an issue of first amendment rights. There's always a question about whether or not somebody can just be a member, but not be an active member. Let's say do fundraising. But that's very difficult in this day and age when people are organizing completely online, somebody like the Boogaloo boys, those people may never meet one another in-person they may argue, organize entirely online. They all may only see each other through social media, but then in the end they still get caught up in these very violent acts. Speaker 1: 06:49 Hmm. All right. And before we go, bring us up to speed. What's next for Jeffrey Alexander Smith? Speaker 2: 06:54 Well, right now he's facing up to six months in jail. He's doesn't seem to be the biggest fish among the people that were pulled from the Capitol. Uh, though, you know, the FBI is still going through all of the social media to find out who was doing, what if they find out he was actually involved in hurting somebody or taking something from the Capitol. He could face additional charges, but right now he's out on bond $25,000 bond. He's going to have to face charges, probably a trial in Washington, DC, but in the meantime, he's out on bail. Speaker 1: 07:28 All right, I've been speaking with KPBS, military reporter, Steve Walsh. Steve. Thank you. Thanks Jane California, governor Gavin Newsome has spent much of his political career advocating for tech innovation in government, but Newsome has had mixed success modernizing state bureaucracy in the last two years, camp radio Scott rod reports, [inaudible] Speaker 2: 07:58 In 2013, then Lieutenant governor Gavin Newsome went on comedy central to the Colbert report to hype his new book called citizen Ville. How to take the town square, digital and reinvent government. Speaker 4: 08:10 No idea is this right now. We have a broadcast model of governing that you vote. And I decide it's this, you understand this intimately. You've seen the contours of this change with the media. You've seen it certainly in the music industry. Big is getting small and small as getting big technology has the ability to level the playing field. Does any of that? Speaker 2: 08:29 The book's message is actually fairly simple. Governments need to be tech savvy and should open their troves of data to the public. In turn. People will become more engaged in the civic process, but modernizing state government. That's been a challenge for Newsome in the last two years here he is a few weeks ago, unveiling his latest budget proposal. Speaker 4: 08:49 I wrote a book about being on the leading and cutting edge in 1976 in terms of it. Uh, Speaker 5: 08:56 And trust me, that's been made abundantly clear to not just me to all of you in this last year to log on to the unemployment website right now, Speaker 2: 09:09 Larry Montgomery works at a sushi restaurant in Sacramento that has opened and closed throughout the pandemic like millions of Californians. She applied for unemployment insurance to help make ends meet. Then the state inexplicably froze her benefits. Speaker 1: 09:22 It says that I have over $5,000 that I should be able to use, but there's no way for me to use that money. Speaker 2: 09:28 The employment development departments, dusty old computer system has been blamed for its high profile failures in recent months. There's an ongoing backlog of about a million claims and there's rampant fraud that could total more than $30 billion Newsome appointed a strike team that recommended a complete it overhaul how to do that is still unclear. So for now the existing system limps along during the pandemic nuisance administration has been more successful at tracking the virus. Speaker 1: 09:58 It's done a good job for the population as a whole and for major racial, ethnic groups. Speaker 2: 10:05 Nina is Ponce is director of UCLA center for health policy research. She says there have been a few hiccups and California could do a better job at disclosing targeted population data, but it's tracking system on the whole is better than most States. Newsome has also been quick to forge partnerships with Silicon Valley during the pandemic. That's according to Amy Tong, the state's chief information officer, she points to California notify a contact tracing app for your phone. That's garnered millions of users. Speaker 1: 10:36 That is a partnership with Google and Apple. It's an exposure notification. And we pilot it with all the UC campuses to begin with, Speaker 2: 10:43 But for every new dashboard or widget, a decades old server is still waiting to be replaced. Tong says the state's biggest tech challenge. Isn't updating those systems, but rather winning over the hearts and minds of public employees who are used to doing things a certain way, Speaker 1: 10:59 Huge culture change that needs to happen to make sure that people are running the program. People running the operations are comfortable. Technology alone is not the panacea Speaker 2: 11:10 To encourage this cultural shift. Newsome created the office of digital innovation shortly after taking office and allocated $40 million to get it started. One of its first projects was prototyping a redesign of the state government's website, but the homepage warns the site is still a work in progress. And some of the information may be outdated in Sacramento. I'm Scott rod Speaker 1: 11:33 In the arts this weekend, you can take in a short dance film, viewable on demand, a couple of limes, streamed music performances from beautiful venues and a new outdoor sculpture installation that involves a short hike. Joining me is KPBS arts editor and producer Julia Dickson Evans with all the details. Welcome Julia. Hi Jade. So first up is a live performance of [inaudible] from project blank. What can we expect? Speaker 6: 12:00 Yeah, so it's a multi-disciplinary thing, which is what first caught my eye. And I've been really loving the thoughtful and really creative digital offerings they've been putting together project blank throughout that pandemic. This is the group behind a beautiful paper cat shadow puppet opera last summer. And this time they're pairing a visual art element with a song cycle called [inaudible] that draws on the texts of nature. So putting them in lyrical settings, it's for piano played by Kyle, Adam Blair, and a solo baritone voice that's Jonathan Nessman and I've listened to some tiny bits of the rehearsals and the pairings just really beautiful it's pensive and evocative, very fitting for the philosopher and what specialist they've been invited into a performance space that is this transformed church called El salon. That's part of the front gallery and Casa familiar in San Pedro and Joshua Marino. Who's a sculptor and interdisciplinary artist. He's lent the sculptural backdrop to the space. There's these atmospheric installations using huge light diffusing, plastic sheeting. It adds something of a dream state to it all it's live stream to us with two ticketed performance options. And it should be just a really rich visual and musical show Speaker 1: 13:23 Sounds like it. Project blinks, Oh, mensch live streams tonight at 7:00 PM and Sunday at 2:00 PM. Uh, if there's a break in the storm this weekend, there's a new outdoor sculpture installation by a visiting artist at Lux art Institute, we can get, uh, an art fix and a little nature to tell us about that project. Speaker 6: 13:42 Battery's Cortez, who was born in El Salvador and lives in LA. She is in residence at Lux, but she's sharing the residency with a rotating set of five other artists. They're building this outdoor exhibition and it's named after a character in the last Olmec language out loud. We're just saying glyph and opens today with one work installed Cortez's, but it will transform throughout the next few months, her piece is made from unsealed steel and it was first installed in Rockefeller Plaza in New York. This fall, where it transformed from a shiny, fresh silver into kind of a golden orange today from the elements. And it will continue to change while it's here. The landscape around it will change too. As the soil and plants get water and more pieces will be installed. So this is an exhibition to keep coming back to. It plays in the Olmec ideas of mountains being in motion. I spoke to Cortez about this, and she really wanted the piece to be in conversation with this greater sense of time and movement his batteries Cortez. Speaker 1: 14:48 Okay. When I go walk on a mountain, I always see the same Hills Speaker 7: 14:52 And I know them so well, but it's actually moving. It's just moving at a slower pace and I'm able to detect from my human perspective. And so the show is about the motion of everyone, all of us on the mountain, but also the mountain itself. Speaker 6: 15:10 And the installation is also a short hike from the building. It's about a quarter mile uphill through their onsite trails. You can request a much closer parking spot, but there's no avoiding one uphill stretch on a dirt trail to get to the installation. The way it works is you make a free appointment online. There are spots Thursday, Friday, and Saturday afternoons, and then wearing masks. You meet a gallery employee will show you where the installation is. Speaker 1: 15:36 Beatrice Cortez's work. And glyph is on view outdoors at Lux art Institute starting today through March 27th, uh, in the dance world, you're recommending a global dance film festival that kicks off this week. How can we watch the festival? Speaker 6: 15:51 Yeah. So it's a project out of the LA based Jacob Jenna's company in partnership with summer magazine. That's based in London. And the first film is from dancers and brothers victory. And Marvella Ebony. They've set some stunning choreography about family and connection against the landscapes of Kaduna, Nigeria and the music by composer Annabel. Sandovall with some singing from the women in the body, really like a soundscape Speaker 8: 16:30 [inaudible]. Speaker 6: 16:31 And that's a clip from Kaduna. It's the first in a series of short films in a spread out virtual dance film festival. And it's really, really easy to watch. You can find it on the landing page of their website. It's literally just films.dance or on their Instagram. And they'll spotlight a new short film. Every single week three may Kaduna is a really striking way to kick things off, but it's only available through Sunday Speaker 1: 16:55 And Kaduna is available to watch on demand for free again, through Sunday as part of the 15 film films, dance online festival. And finally the San Diego symphony takes on Copley symphony halls again tonight. Uh, what will they perform and how can we tune in, yeah, Speaker 6: 17:13 They're streaming monthly performances from the symphony hall this year, they're selling tickets individually, or you can buy a season subscription pass. And this one is the first they'll film, these performances in segments. So they have just a few performers and production staff in the building at one time. And then they stitch together these really great streams without an audience they can really spread out. They'll often send the brass up into the balconies, which they'll do tonight when they perform a few brass ensemble arrangements of two Wagner pieces. Both of these pieces for a full orchestra are already pretty tense and powerful, already really heavy on the horns. So it'll be interesting to see it just go all in on a brass arrangement. And then they'll round things out with a comparatively dainty Mozart piece. It's symphony number 29, and it's it's delicate and parenting kind of Charlie and Raphael PRA is conducting the program. Speaker 3: 18:11 Yeah, Speaker 1: 18:18 That's Mozart's symphony number 29. The San Diego symphony is Wagner meets Mozart streams tonight at 7:00 PM. For more arts events visit the KPBS arts calendar or sign up for the weekly KPBS arts newsletter@kpbs.org slash arts. I have been speaking with KPBS arts editor, Julia Dickson Evans, Julia. Thank you. Speaker 6: 18:42 Thank you, Jane. Have a good weekend. Speaker 1: 18:50 Midday edition is produced by Burke, Ruth and Pat Fenn. Art segment. Producers are Beth DACA, Mando and Julia Dickson Evans mid-day edition. Senior producer is Megan Burke. Our executive producer is Natalie Walsh. Anika Colbert is in for Rebecca Chacone as our technical director today. Stay with us working PBS round table coming up right after the break I'm Jade Hindman. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend.