COVID-19 Booster Is Here, But Who’s Eligible?

Speaker 1: (00:00)

We'll tell you who can get the booster shot and where,

Speaker 2: (00:03)

And this new authorization for the booster shot is a another step, a continuation of that effort.

Speaker 1: (00:09)

I'm Jade Hindman with Maureen Kavanaugh. This is KPBS mid-day edition. A check on how the city is meeting the demand for rent relief.

Speaker 3: (00:28)

We have received a tremendous number of applications. Uh, our expectation is that money will go quickly and that's precisely why we are letting San Diegans know if you have initiated an application now is the time to complete it. Okay.

Speaker 1: (00:41)

And how wildfire smoke has become a billowing pollution problem in San Diego, plus an inspiring book series highlighting contributions of women. That's ahead on midday edition, Following recent federal approval for booster doses of the Pfizer vaccine, San Diego officials are urging eligible residents to seek out the additional dose here's county supervisor, Nathan Fletcher, on what this means for the counties push to get San Diego vaccinated. And this

Speaker 2: (01:15)

New authorization for the booster shot is another step, a continuation of that effort.

Speaker 1: (01:21)

And while many Americans are eager to bolster their immunity against COVID-19 questions remain about who's exactly eligible to receive the booster shot here now, to answer those questions and more is KPBS health reporter Matt Hoffman, Matt, welcome back

Speaker 4: (01:36)

To the program. Good afternoon, Jane. So

Speaker 1: (01:38)

Starting off who is eligible to receive a booster dose of the Pfizer COVID vaccine.

Speaker 4: (01:43)

So it's similar to what we saw earlier when vaccines were first phased in. So those who are at the, you know, the highest risk, you know, having severe complications, being hospitalized or dying from catching the virus. So we're talking about people that are over 65, those with underlying medical conditions and people who are at an increased risk of exposure because of their job. And that includes a gamut of, of industries, you know, healthcare workers, grocery store employees, and also first responders,

Speaker 1: (02:08)

The CDC offer any guidance about who should receive a booster dose at this time versus

Speaker 4: (02:14)

Yes, is the short answer. Um, and so there's a should, and there's a may category. So people who are 65 and older, and those in long-term care facilities should receive the booster dose of the Pfizer. And then also in the should category is people who are ages 50 to 64 with underlying medical conditions. Now going to the may category, that's people who are 18 to 49 that have underlying medical conditions and people who are 18 to 64, who are at an increased risk of COVID-19 exposure because of their job, those things we just talked about and, um, county public health officer, Dr. Wilmer Wooten sorta said, you know, if you're wondering if you're in that may category, if you should get it a good way to decide that as to, you know, have a consultation with your primary care doctor,

Speaker 1: (02:54)

What about people who have received doses of the other available vaccines? Is there any of how long approval for booster doses of those shots with,

Speaker 4: (03:02)

If you've had Madonna or Johnson and Johnson officials say you're going to have to wait until their boosters become available. And it's kind of unclear about when that could happen. We know that it's in the works and it's estimated that it could be, you know, a month, two months, maybe three months. So it's coming soon. But yeah, right now officials saying, Hey, if you don't have Pfizer, you're going to have to wait just a little bit, just hang tight. But what are

Speaker 1: (03:21)

County officials saying about the recent approval of

Speaker 4: (03:24)

This booster? You know, they're saying sort of right now, we're in a good position in terms of, you know, we have more than 2.2 million San Diego that are vaccinated right now. We're not overwhelming the hospital system. We are still seeing some people going there at largely unvaccinated residents who are dying and being hospitalized because of the virus, but sort of that this is a, you know, another tool in the public health tool belt to basically keep from overwhelming the hospital system and keep us on a good path as we try to work our way out of this pandemic. You know, we know that research shows that some of the protection that some of these vaccines have, you know, all vaccines, not just a COVID vaccine, especially in older adults, they sort of wane a little bit. So this is just another, um, it's really, you know, we call them boosters cause it's a boost to your immunity. What are

Speaker 1: (04:04)

Effort's looking like at the county level to distribute booster doses? I mean, can we expect to see mass vaccination sites like we saw earlier in the pandemic

Speaker 4: (04:13)

Short? No, we're not expecting to see any mass vaccination sites right now. And basically that's because county officials say, you know, at least at the sites that they operate, they're only operating at about 14% capacity in terms of, uh, the giving out vaccination. So there's plenty of room to grow there and they say that they have plenty of supply. That's definitely not an issue. Something that, you know, we sort of saw, um, in the early goings with vaccinations where we saw some of these at-risk groups being vaccinated, you know, some, uh, sites running out of doses. That is not an issue right now. Um, one thing to note too, if you are going to go get your booster, uh, officials are asking that you bring your vaccination card or a copy of it. Um, and if you're someone that has underlying medical conditions, you might remember before people are saying, do I need to bring paperwork? Do I need to prove it? Um, you don't need to do that. It's going to be self attestation. So you just go and say, you know, I have a heart condition or, or what have you to get your booster dose

Speaker 1: (05:03)

Where exactly can eligible recipients go to get their COVID booster.

Speaker 4: (05:08)

Uh, so county health officials are saying, you know, to think about pre COVID, where you got your flu shots. Um, so that includes places like pharmacies, you know, CVS, Walgreens, Rite aid, um, also, um, you know, going to your primary care doctor, you know, whether you belong to one of those large healthcare systems or, you know, if you go and get it at a community clinic, um, I will note though that, um, you know, even though they're telling people that, you know, first go to your health system, uh, not everyone is authorizing it yet. And you know, this just came down. Uh, so we know that Rady children's hospital, for example, they are giving it to patients 18 and over, and their employees Palomar health, they are not giving it to patients yet, or employees they're pushing people to go to these county sites. Kaiser, you know, is booking appointments for those who are Kaiser members and those who aren't Kaiser members for the booster doses, script's health.

Speaker 4: (05:51)

For example, they say, they're hoping to shoot for a mid next week to start administering booster doses and sharp healthcare as well too. They say that they are still in the process of sort of figuring out how they're going to be able to do this. So while the county doesn't plan to open up any of these big sort of vaccination sites, we may see some of these healthcare systems. Um, if you remember, like for instance, the Chula Vista Superstation, that was down at the old Sears and Chula Vista that was run by sharp healthcare with county support. So maybe some of these individual health systems, especially some of the bigger ones like Scripps and sharp, maybe they'll be opening up. Uh, we heard scripts say, you know, there may be looking at the Del Mar fairgrounds to get that going again. So we might see some of these bigger sites, but certainly not ones that are going to be pushed by the county, at least right now, unless demand, you know, really increases

Speaker 1: (06:33)

The health officials saying about the importance of vaccination ahead of the,

Speaker 4: (06:37)

Yeah. And just a note there too. Um, a lot of people are asking, you know, can I get the COVID shot and the flu shot at the same time? Yes you can. Um, and there is some concern about the upcoming flu season, you know, last year, a lot of people, you know, due to pandemic restrictions, they were, you know, staying in their house a lot, not going out and, you know, sporting events than allow people inside. Uh, but we're seeing a lot of mixing again, you know, a lot of those COVID restrictions are largely gone. A lot of people are taking off their masks and public places. And, you know, somebody who may be healthy, maybe, you know, talking to doctors, they say, you know, if they have COVID and they have the flu separately, it might not be that big of an issue. Uh, but then if they get them both at the same time, then that can be even deadly for somebody who was very healthy. Um, and so doctors are pushing for people to get their flu vaccination by the end of October, uh, to be ready for potentially early flu season. I've been speaking

Speaker 1: (07:26)

With KPBS health reporter, Matt Hoffman, Matt. Thank you. Thanks

Speaker 4: (07:29)

Shade.

Speaker 5: (07:34)

Both time and money are running out for San Diego's rental assistance program. The state eviction moratorium ends this week and city officials say the remaining rental assistance funds are expected to go quickly. Mayor Todd Gloria is urging renters who may be at risk of eviction to apply by Thursday of this week for rental assistance,

Speaker 3: (07:56)

We have received a tremendous number of applications. Uh, our expectation is that money will go quickly and that's precisely why we are letting San Diegans know if you have initiated an application now is the time to complete it.

Speaker 5: (08:09)

It's a last ditch protection against eviction. If the city can find added rental and utility assistance funds joining me as KPBS, race and equity reporter, Christina Kim, Christina, welcome. Hey Maureen, the city has already given out a substantial amount of money to help renters tell us how the rental assistance program has been used so far.

Speaker 6: (08:32)

The city of San Diego is housing stability assistance program has primarily worked to help qualifying households pay unpaid back rent accumulated on or after April 1st, 2020, as well. As you mentioned, unpaid utility bills for things like internet and broadband services. The program was also set up to pay a hundred percent of upcoming or future rent if funds were available, but the priority has always been paying past due rent. First I mentioned, you know, qualifying households to qualify for this program. Tenants had to have a city of San Diego address a household income at or below 80% of San Diego is area median income. So that's $97,000 a year for a family of four, as well as have had one member of the household have lost or reduced income due to COVID-19 or be at risk of experiencing homelessness. Now

Speaker 5: (09:22)

How much money has been given out in the program and how much has left

Speaker 6: (09:26)

The city has already given over $103 million to nearly 12,000 households and has already committed another $54 million. So that leaves about $13 million left in the fund out of the city's original $170 million fund. And I just want to note this program is federally funded through grants made out by the us treasury department.

Speaker 5: (09:49)

And why is Thursday a deadline for rental assistance applications?

Speaker 6: (09:53)

So rental assistance is ongoing until funds run out. So there's not so much as a deadline, but city officials and housing advocates are urging tenants to apply by Thursday because one, the remaining funds are expect to go fast and two, and perhaps more importantly, because beginning Friday, October 1st, the state's eviction protections are coming to an end. Starting Friday. The state will no longer prohibit landlords from evicting tenants for nonpayment of rent, but there's some protections left and they are contingent on applying for rental assistance until at least March 31st, 2022 landlords cannot evict tenants. If the tenants can prove that they've applied for rental assistance and are still waiting to hear back. So that's why we're seeing this rush or seeming deadline it's really, to ensure that folks remain protected and housed after this third

Speaker 5: (10:45)

And Ken landlords submit applications for their tenants.

Speaker 6: (10:49)

Yes, they can. Landlords can start and submit applications for their tenants. And tenants can also start the application. This program is really set up so that both landlords and tenants work together to complete the application, the funds go directly to the landlord. But if the landlord refuses to accept, the tenant will receive a payment for them to pay the landlord directly. Okay.

Speaker 5: (11:09)

So once an application is in what happens if the city runs out of rental assistance funds,

Speaker 6: (11:14)

Right? So yesterday mayor Gloria was touting the success of the city's rental assistance program to get funds out to people quickly. But with the state's eviction protections ending that's access is a double edged sword. If the funds run out there, won't be a local program people can apply to. And so those remaining protections that we just talked about won't exist for San Diego city tenants. And if you're wondering what about the state's rental assistance fund, which is ongoing and still funded San Diego city for the time being can't apply to that because it has its own program.

Speaker 5: (11:47)

So is the city looking for more funds to apply to rental assistance?

Speaker 6: (11:52)

They are the

Speaker 5: (11:53)

Mayor yesterday announced that he's working with both state and federal partners to get more funds, to continue the rental assistance program here in San Diego, he's actually headed to Washington DC. And one of the things he's going to do is lobby for more money for San Diego's rental assistance program. And his selling point is that the city is effectively getting money out to needy households. So money that's not being used in other localities should come to San Diego. Instead. Now, despite best efforts, it is expected that evictions will increase after the states eviction moratorium expires on October 1st, how is the city responding to that likelihood?

Speaker 6: (12:32)

The reality is that as a lot of these protective measures come to an end, we always knew that we were going to see more evictions. And so in preparation for that mayor, Todd Gloria is proposing the creation of a $5 million legal fund to provide education and legal counsel to tenants facing eviction. He's proposing using federal cares ag money to fund the program. And he's going to present the proposal to the city council next week on October 5th, this proposal is seen as a next step in keeping tenants house, because as we've seen in places like New York city, where they've passed wider, right to council laws for tenants, tenants who have legal representation during eviction proceedings are far more likely to stay housed before

Speaker 5: (13:12)

For the $5 million legal defense fund is decided on by the city council. Is there any other resource that people have when they're facing eviction?

Speaker 6: (13:22)

Yes. There's the San Diego legal aid society. And he met at the Aveda who is their senior housing attorney. He's actually urged tenants that if they are served an eviction notice by their landlord, that they call the legal aid society of San Diego. And that number is 8 7 7 5 3 4 2 5 2 4.

Speaker 5: (13:41)

How can a renter apply for assistance before Thursday, which is what city officials are asking people to do

Speaker 6: (13:49)

Tenants and landlords in San Diego city who have yet to start or need to complete an application should visit COVID assistance dot S D H c.org today and complete it, or check in on the status of their application.

Speaker 5: (14:03)

I've been speaking with KPBS race and equity reporter, Christina Kim, Christina. Thank you so much.

Speaker 6: (14:09)

Thank you, Maureen.

Speaker 5: (14:17)

This is KPBS midday edition. I'm Maureen Kavanaugh with Jade Hyman, California grapples with wildfires every year and a new analysis of satellite imagery by NPRs California newsroom and Stanford university's environmental change and human outcomes. Lab finds wildfire smoke is causing problems far away from the fire zones. KPBS environment reporter Eric Anderson says smoke is a growing problem. Even in San Diego county,

Speaker 7: (14:47)

Wildfires are a part of life in Southern California. Flames race out of control. Evacuations are ordered fire crews respond and after hours days, and in some cases, weeks, the blaze is finally snuffed out and the damages assessed the new research finds the flames are not the only problem wildfire smoke has greatly extended the damaging reach of these out of control blazes. I refer

Speaker 8: (15:14)

To them as the long arm

Speaker 7: (15:15)

Of the fire. Neil Driscoll is a Scripps institution of oceanography researcher who helps firefighters track wildfire movement in Southern California.

Speaker 8: (15:24)

These plumes can go long distances. We noticed that this year we had areas in new England being shut down because of air quality from fires that were in California

Speaker 7: (15:35)

In San Diego. The amount of smoke in the air has more than tripled over the last decade and PR California newsroom teamed with researchers at Stanford university to analyze satellite images of wildfire smoke. Stanford's Marshall Burke worked on the project.

Speaker 9: (15:52)

We've seen a clear upward trend in San Diego county, uh, and across other parts of Southern California, an upward trend in the number of days, uh, with smoke plumes, uh, in the air, uh, and a rapid increase in the number of days with these very heavy, these dense smoke plumes overhead,

Speaker 7: (16:08)

The investigation found Oceanside residents are now living with more than a month of smoke a year. It's the same for other parts of north county like Escondido, Fallbrook and camp Pendleton in Imperial county. Some areas outside El Centro are now experiencing two months of smoke a year, even. So Burke says the local region didn't get the worst of it.

Speaker 9: (16:30)

Southern California did get hit with wildfire exposure, but really parts of Northern California, the bay area got hit really hard just because of this confluence of wind direction and where exactly the act of wildfires are.

Speaker 7: (16:42)

But the smoke is still impacting health and San Diego and Imperial counties. The analysis found a 17% increase in hospitalizations for respiratory and cardiac conditions in the heavy fire year of 2018. Compared to just two years before prescriptions for asthma medication, abuterol spiked by nearly 21% between 2013 and 2018. It can

Speaker 10: (17:07)

Be very bad for people with preexisting heart or lung

Speaker 7: (17:09)

Disease. Greg Hersch is an Escondida pulmonologist. He says wildfire smoke is notoriously bad for people. Healthy folks can experience coughing lung irritation and shortness of breath in more serious cases. It can cause asthma and heart disease. Hersh is particularly concerned about tiny particles, smaller than 2.5 microns that can get past the upper airways.

Speaker 10: (17:33)

And they get down into the smaller airways or the alveoli, the air SACS, where the gas exchange occurs. They can be difficult to get rid of

Speaker 7: (17:42)

The wildfire. Smoke is particularly dangerous and communities of color that are already coping with poor air quality Barrio, Logan, Sandy Sedro, and Escondido face additional challenges. Their air is polluted because of trafficker industry, San Diego county supervisor, Nora Vargas chairs, the regional air board. She says politicians and regulators need to take extra steps to help communities of color cope. For instance, by providing alerts about poor air quality,

Speaker 11: (18:11)

Give our communities the tools that they need. So they're very mindful and they know when pollution isn't in, in at those lab. Also, they're able to also put that

Speaker 7: (18:22)

Vargas says, making sure people are aware of the risks of dirty air and giving them access to healthcare are important for working class communities. She knows the air board can't regulate wildfire smoke, but regulators can work to reduce other pollution sources that amplify the smokes health impact.

Speaker 11: (18:39)

We are really thinking about what are the potential risks of the different industries that are in the region

Speaker 7: (18:47)

While fires continue to burn in California. There are more than a dozen active battles against wildfires flames. For more than 7,700 blazes have already charged more than 2.4 million acres in California. Just this year. Eric Anderson KPBS news.

Speaker 5: (19:05)

Joining me is Alison cell Donna, a data journalist who led this investigation for NPRs California newsroom. Alison, welcome to the show.

Speaker 12: (19:16)

Hi, it's great to be here

Speaker 5: (19:19)

In the last few months, San Diego has experienced drifting smoke from fires in Northern California, even from fires in the Pacific Northwest. Is it still dangerous when it arrives so far from the source?

Speaker 12: (19:33)

What we've seen, um, to our work because wildfires across the west have been burning hotter and faster. Um, so what we wanted to understand was how is that affecting not just the places where it burns, but the areas around it. And it definitely does show that San Diego is feeling those effects and not to San Diego. Actually, it's pretty much the, the whole us in that sense,

Speaker 5: (20:00)

What determines how far smoke can move through the air.

Speaker 12: (20:04)

There's a lot of gaps in the research. We still don't know how to predict the way smoke moves. And, uh, but what we do understand is that the weather does affect, um, how the smoke moves across different parts of the country. And in San Diego, some research has shown how the Santa Ana winds have been Gehring the smoke from wildfire areas to the, um, to the Southern part of California.

Speaker 5: (20:32)

How's the intensity of wildfire smoke threatened to turn back the clock on California's air pollution statistics.

Speaker 12: (20:39)

Indeed. That's exactly what the research shows is that, and even when we did an analysis of [inaudible] data on a particulate matter, which is what wildfire smoke is made up of. So I analyze to see how exposure to find particulate matter has grown over the last two decades or declined. And what it shows is that there was a steep decline between 2000 and 2010, and now it's starting to increase again and rapidly. So since 2016 onwards,

Speaker 5: (21:14)

Since climate scientists say fires will continue burning hotter and more often, what kinds of precautions should we take for instance, should we all get air filters?

Speaker 12: (21:26)

That is one of the recommendations, um, is that we would have to stay in doors. Uh, we'd have to get air filters. There has to be more done at the state level in terms of investing, uh, so that people who do not have the means to buy these can still get them because, uh, they are more likely to live in housing that it, that would expose them to leaky, uh, settings when the smoke could enter their homes, which is different from when you stay in a, in a more recent construction that is more likely to keep the air out. Uh, but it's not just what you can do, um, on your own. It's more about how the state is going to address this in terms of, uh, clearing up the forest, managing, uh, how we take care of, uh, prescribed burns and educating the public on what to do when things get bad.

Speaker 5: (22:26)

I'm going to ask you more about prescribed burns, because one of the big takeaways from your report is that California should do more forest management, including prescribed, burns, have dried underbrush, is that largely in or near national forest areas?

Speaker 12: (22:43)

I believe that. So what we haven't done, we haven't gone too deep into prescribed burns because there's still a lot of research that needs to be done on how effective it is. But what the data show is that in Florida and in other parts of the country where, uh, prescribed burns have been followed more stringently, or there has been more enthusiasm around it. Uh, those areas have actually started to record a decline in the number of days that residents are exposed to smoke. And so initial research seems to suggest that prescribed burns may be one of the key areas of investment and one of the key areas where policy needs to move forward. And a lot of research scientists believe that as well. A lot of the experts we spoke to advocated strongly,

Speaker 5: (23:35)

But once I put even more smoke in the air,

Speaker 12: (23:38)

You one of the FA one of my favorite things from one of the experts that we spoke to Dr. John, who is, uh, with the California air resources board, is that you have to get, you have to be okay with getting exposed to a little bit of smoke, to prevent a large amount of smoke exposure because of the wildfires.

Speaker 5: (23:59)

Now, a couple of the people you spoke with in your report told you that they had plans to leave California because of the increasing smoke and wildfires, but as you've tracked the way wildfire smoke is traveling, there are not many areas that are really safe. Are there?

Speaker 12: (24:16)

No there is. And that's one of the, the more, uh, depressing parts of the investigation is that pretty much every part of the U S is affected by smoke. And even though places like the Midwest, which are actually sort of showing some improvement in the number of smoke days, that residents are exposed to, if, uh, some of the modeling that, um, uh, our researchers at Stanford have done show that the density of the smoke is actually increasing in those areas as well.

Speaker 5: (24:47)

I've been speaking with the Ellison cell Donna, a data journalist who led this investigation for NPRs California newsroom. Alison, thank you so much.

Speaker 12: (24:56)

Thank you for having me

Speaker 1: (25:03)

Despite lofty expectations, a franchise first, no hitter and a high priced roster featuring one of baseball's most exciting young stars. Fernando Tatis Jr. There will be no world series in San Diego this year, the San Diego Padres were eliminated from playoff contention this past weekend, after an extra inning loss Saturday night to the Atlanta Braves, following it up with another close loss on Sunday, their final home game. So after swallowing the bitter pill of this season, where do the Padres go from here? Joining me is sports columnist for the San Diego union Tribune, Bryce Miller Bryce. Welcome.

Speaker 13: (25:42)

How are you doing today? Good, good.

Speaker 1: (25:44)

So why wasn't this the year? What was

Speaker 13: (25:46)

Wrong? This will sound far too simplistic, but they just couldn't consistently win enough games. And if you say that in any sport, it sounds silly because that's the whole point, but they were dropping games down the stretch. The final two months at an unbelievable clip for somebody that had been projected in predicted to win 94 or 95 games, a season, something they've, they've really the territory they have hardly ever been in before they lost seven of their last eight, uh, 29 of the last 41. And if you think back to September 17th, they were going to St. Louis for a road trip. There were one game back in the last, uh, wildcard spot, the race for the NFL wildcard spot. And, uh, they got swept there. And from them where you're finding the team now is they are closer to being fourth in the national league west at six and a half games. And they are to the wild card, which is nine games. And that's just a stunning and startling place for this team to be for all the reasons you mentioned, what

Speaker 1: (26:42)

Are the main issues the

Speaker 13: (26:43)

Padres need to address during this off season? You think, but one, they've got to get healthy. They had a ton of injuries, especially to the pitching staff, but also to Fernando tattoo's junior. He had the separated left shoulder that continued to be a problem through the season. It's incredible that he put up NFL MVP, caliber numbers this season, despite missing that many games, but really it's the pitching staff, Blake Snell. You Darvish two players. Uh, the young winner want to sigh on runner up. They went out and got those guys in the off season. That really seemed to be the final piece, solidifying the starting pitching with the offense that they showed and flashed and kind of the shortened pandemic season in 2020. And then at the end of the year, um, they're both on the injured list, along a projected start, a Chris paddock and, uh, Mike Clevenger, who was what the team last year, ACE caliber guy had Tommy John's surgery in the off season. The biggest thing other than organizational needs, which is a whole nother topic, um, because they're at a crossroads there, but it's really about getting healthy.

Speaker 1: (27:45)

You know, as you just mentioned, the team was hit hard with a lot of injuries this year, especially the pitching staff, how much of this result is just bad luck and how much of it is, is something more

Speaker 13: (27:56)

That's fair question. And I don't know, it's one, you're going to get an answer to. I asked it myself in a recent column about the organization and whether it's showing some broader cracks than just one bad season, but you can say it's locked. But if you look at the injury numbers for the other contenders and the nos, the giants and the Dodgers, the potteries did lead baseball. At the time I wrote that column, they led baseball on the number of days on the injured list, but the giants and Dodgers were in the top six, but for numbers of players on the injured list, the season that the giants were fourth, Dodgers, ninth Padres, middle of the pack at 14th. But those two teams figure out a way to overcome those injuries. You can look at it and say, that's bad luck, but you also, I think it's fair to ask questions about preparation usage, some of those things that the decision-making philosophies in terms of development in the organization, what kind of impacts can those have on pitchers and arms? It's really hard to tell, but I don't think you can really exclude one from the other.

Speaker 1: (28:52)

Okay. So things really came to a head earlier this month during a dugout argument between star players, Fernando tatties, junior, and Manny Machado, leading some to question the team's leadership. Uh, do you expect Jace Tingler, we'll be back next year as Padres manager

Speaker 13: (29:07)

Personally, and not trying to over amplify that I, that I know something about it. Um, because in all honesty and transparency, I don't, but I, I think just my personal gut feeling and following this team for years, and especially this season, the potteries are really backed into a corner. If they don't replace a Jay's Tingler, they will lose some of that fan base that came along for the ride for years and gave them a lot of leash saying we're building we're building slowly, but we're building solid footing. So when we hit that window of contention, 2021, that stretch, we're ready to play baseball for a long time. So after the disappointment of the season, which given expectations, payroll track record 2020, all those things, this had to be, you know, an arguably the most disappointing season in franchise history, for all those reasons, not even coming within, you know, a country mile competing in the nos they're playing right now, just to stay over 500 in the final week. Uh, it's a really hard sell to bring him back. Okay. So

Speaker 1: (30:08)

What should make Badgerys fans hopeful for next season?

Speaker 13: (30:12)

There's always next year, right? Um, one, it's not going to make them very happy, no matter what you and I talk about here, because this was the year they really considered to be the one where they punched through, uh, compete with the Dodgers in the west. But if we want to play the game, I mean, Machado and tattoos had proven track records of tat. If tattoos is healthy all year, he could put up numbers. The likes of which baseball is almost never seen. Machado is one of the best defenders in baseball every single year and his numbers. Uh, some people have feelings about Manny Machado that kind of belie the numbers, but he's consistently one of the most productive hitters in baseball. And if you know, if they get the staff healthy in the off season and come in with fresh arms and can keep a relative amount of them fresh, that's one of the better staffs in baseball.

Speaker 1: (30:57)

I've been speaking with sports columnist for the San Diego union Tribune, Bryce Miller, Bryce, thanks so

Speaker 13: (31:03)

Much glad to do it.

Speaker 5: (31:10)

The San Diego zoo wildlife Alliance has helped hatch an Egyptian vulture and endangered carrion eater that travels between Europe and Africa KPBS environment reporter Eric Anderson has details.

Speaker 7: (31:25)

Daisy Reavis walks between large wired enclosures in a quiet area on the Eastern edge of the San Diego zoo. Safari park. This off exhibit area is home to a pair of striking white vultures. A male with fluffy white plumage sits on a perch, surveying, Reavis the female on the ground, but at a distance,

Speaker 14: (31:50)

They are such special Wolters. They're the only tool using vultures. So they're very smart birds. They use rocks to break open Austra jugs. Um, they take a lot of the different parts of the park is that larger birds can't get

Speaker 7: (32:02)

Interaction like this is limited because Reavis wants the birds to keep their healthy distrust of people. In fact, much of the monitoring happens inside a shed out of the bird site. There's a cabinet with video screens.

Speaker 14: (32:16)

So this is a great view of our nesting area for the breeding pair of Egyptian blue,

Speaker 7: (32:20)

An elevated square box serves as a nest. The birds typically clear a flat Rocky area to lay an egg inside the plywood shelter. There is a barrier that can keep the eggs from falling. The nest is screened from a pair of territorial Palm nut vultures that are in the next enclosure. It's also good

Speaker 14: (32:39)

For them to not be able to see these guys when they're sitting so that they don't get this.

Speaker 7: (32:45)

The mating pair has done something not accomplished before in north America, they produced and fertilized an egg, which hatched earlier this year, parks lead condor care specialist. Ron web showed us the trailer where the endangered chick was puppet fed

Speaker 15: (33:02)

When we windows in here. So as long as this lights on and this lights off, she can't,

Speaker 7: (33:07)

Yes, Jameela as she's been named, was brought to this feeding station in a small white bowl, filled with snugly animal hair was faint. Squeaks, told keepers that she was hungry and ready to eat. The feedings started with a simple sock puppet and a pair of tweezers.

Speaker 15: (33:30)

Well, vultures tend to take more food directly from the parents beaks. Um, they'll eat through regurgitation, but they also take little, little bits. So we do actually pick up pieces of food and hand it to the chick. Uh, with the,

Speaker 7: (33:43)

As the bird grew, the sock puppet was replaced by a more realistic one that staff use to care for condor chicks.

Speaker 15: (33:50)

And you're young. It's easy when they get older, they start pulling on them and you can, and it's like they do with the parents skin in the industry

Speaker 7: (33:56)

That tiny tan chick is now fully fledged and a bit nervous with human visitors. Jamila grabbed the fence and pumps her wings as if, to let everyone know this is her territory. The vultures arrival is being cheered by international conservation groups.

Speaker 16: (34:15)

Yes, it is very welcome to have a broader network officers that have that species and can potentially provide birds for release programs.

Speaker 7: (34:27)

Stephan APO is a conservation scientist for the Royal society for the protection of birds. He says more than half of the vultures population has been lost to hunting, poison and electrocution in the last 40 years, population continues falling in parts of Europe and Africa, but there are conservation successes

Speaker 16: (34:47)

Then France and in Northern Spain. And, uh, on the, on the cannery islands, intensive conservation problems have actually managed to reverse the fortune off of the Egyptian Voltaire by working very closely with communities, by changing the way we build electricity infrastructure.

Speaker 7: (35:06)

And while it's tough to help correct the challenges the birds are facing in the wild half a world away,

Speaker 14: (35:12)

That's a female you just saw in the back fly over to the perch. The males

Speaker 7: (35:16)

Reavis hopes. The breeding effort in San Diego will grow here and expand to other north American zoos. She says that will strengthen the species chances for survival. Hurricane Anderson, KPBS news

Speaker 17: (35:31)

[inaudible].

Speaker 5: (35:49)

This is KPBS midday edition. I'm Maureen Cavenaugh with Jade Heinemann Sally ride. America's first woman in space left a legacy for young girls here in San Diego and around the world, her history, making trips aboard the space shuttle and her work as a physicist at UC San Diego serve as an inspiration to women and girls interested in all things science and now Sally ride stories being told along with other inspiring women in a series of young adult books called she persisted the series, which includes multiple authors is being guided by Chelsea Clinton. Earlier this year, I spoke with the author of she persisted Sally, ride a Tia, a Bowie. Now remind us what a breakthrough it was to have Sally ride as an astronaut aboard the space shuttle. There had been lots of hesitation by NASA about women astronauts and really lots of doubts about women's ability to become scientists.

Speaker 18: (36:48)

Absolutely. Um, so Sally ride was the very first American woman to make it to space, and it was a long road to get there. In fact, Sally growing up, never even dreamt of becoming an astronaut because there were no female astronauts back then, uh, she was famously quoted saying, you can't be what you can't see. And in fact, there were legendary male astronauts who were actually blocking females from joining NASA. It was in 1977, after eight years of studying at Stanford, getting her undergraduate graduate and doctorate in physics. And she was a physicist that she went to the school cafeteria. She was munching on some scrambled eggs and a cinnamon roll where she opened the school newspaper. And it said that NASA was finally looking for female astronauts. Uh, Sally quickly applied and she was then sent to Texas where she went through vigorous testing, both physically and mentally and academically. And she made her way as one of the first female astronauts and the very first to make it a space.

Speaker 5: (37:50)

What was it in Sally ride's background? Do you think that helped her break through those barriers?

Speaker 18: (37:56)

Sally grew up in a time where a lot of girls were told that they're not strong enough. They're not tough enough. Um, and they're just not as good as the boys, but Sally's parents were completely different. They told Sally and her younger sister that they could do anything that they set their minds to, and that they should just continue to try. And Sally believed in that. So when given the opportunity, Sally went for it. So if she knew that she wanted something, she went for it. And the only reason she didn't go with the string for NASA when she was younger is because she didn't see any female astronauts back then. But the second that she was given the chance she realized I want, and she knew that she would get it as long as she worked hard for it.

Speaker 5: (38:38)

Uh, Tia, how did you go about doing research for the book? I noticed that you even have details about Sally ride when she was a toddler. Did you interview her family,

Speaker 18: (38:48)

The members as a journalist myself. The very first thing that I want to do when I do my research is talk to the person that I'm writing about. And unfortunately I couldn't do that with Sally because she passed away in 2012. So actually the second best person that I thought to go to was her life partner, Tam O'Shaughnessy, uh, Tam was her partner in life, as well as partner in science. They created the Sally ride center for science together, along with some other friends. So I did interview Tam. I did reach out to see if I could speak to her mother and sister. Her father unfortunately also passed away, but they weren't feeling well. So they couldn't talk to me. But Tam was gracious enough to have a virtual interview with me through the computer and through the phone. And she also sent me Sally's photo biography. So there was a lot of stories in there about Sally's youth from when she was a baby up until the day that she unfortunately passed away.

Speaker 5: (39:42)

And you mentioned Sally ride science at UC San Diego. Can you tell us a little bit more about why Sally ride decided to start that?

Speaker 18: (39:49)

I think it was such an amazing, brilliant idea for Sally and Tam and their other friends to start Sally ride science and their main goal was because of their own experiences. In the past. You know, Sally was told from one teacher to another that she shouldn't be studying science. She shouldn't be studying physics mainly because she was a girl later, a woman. And she was told that she was going to be taking jobs away from the men. And through the years, both Sally and Tam realized that a lot of young girls, as well as young boys were being turned away from science, they didn't think science was cool anymore. They didn't think that science was interesting anymore. They thought that science were was only for particular types of people. Uh, so they wanted to remind children as they got older, that science is still fun. Science is interesting. Science explains pretty much everything, um, that we see and experience in life. Sally would talk about how, even with tennis, you know, physics explained why a ball would curve the way it did after you smacked it with a racket. Uh, it explained that it also explained the cosmos. Uh, so she wanted young children to remember that science is cool and fun. So she created Sally ride science to share that with the students, as well as the teachers to keep that spirit alive.

Speaker 5: (41:14)

Now, in doing the research for the book, was there something that you were surprised to learn about Sally ride? Yeah.

Speaker 18: (41:19)

I was actually really surprised to learn that she was not in fact the best student. It didn't mean that she didn't get good grades because she did get good grades, but it meant that if she wasn't motivated by a teacher, she wasn't really motivated by the class. But when a teacher really sparked her interest as did a teacher, when she was in high school as science teacher, that's what really motivated her. And that was one thing that I found very interesting. Another thing that a lot of people don't really know about Sally is that she could have been a professional tennis player. Uh, she was ranked in California by the age of 12. She got one scholarship after another scholarship in tennis for her studies that included going to Westlake high school, uh, in Los Angeles county, which led to her scholarships to Swarthmore college, as well as Stanford university. And she actually gave up her studies for a little while to really focus on tennis. But when she was focusing on tennis, she realized that she didn't have that passion, that she really needed to become a professional tennis player, but she later found that passion she needed, uh, when it became to becoming a astronaut. Yeah. That is

Speaker 5: (42:28)

A little known aspect of her life. Can you tell us about the she persisted book series? What was its inspiration?

Speaker 18: (42:36)

Chelsea Clinton actually created the series when she wrote some children's books about the sheep persisted series and they were very popular. They were best-selling books, uh, throughout the us and throughout the world, uh, that the publisher decided that they wanted to reach a little bit of an older audience as well. So grade school, uh, girls and boys, uh, so for that, they wanted more authors to help contribute. And this year they're releasing one book a month about different, amazing females in our history who achieved great things. In fact, they're going to have two books that releases in December. So that's going to be 13 books that are a part of this she persisted series.

Speaker 5: (43:18)

And why did you want to get involved in this particular project about Sally ride?

Speaker 18: (43:22)

Well, this was really important for me, uh, for many reasons, um, partly because some of these women we've heard of their names, but we don't know their full stories. Uh, we know about legendary male astronauts, but we haven't really heard about the female astronauts. Um, another reason it was really important to just be a part of this series. I would have been honored to write about any of these women, but I particularly chose Sally because I knew about her, but I didn't know enough about her. Um, it was important for me to learn about her, but it was also important for me to share this with the young girls and young boys out there, including my own children. Uh, I want my son to know that women are as good as the boys girls are as good as the boys. That's one thing that I teach him every day and when my daughter gets older, she's to what right now, but as she gets older, I want her to know the same thing. And I think it's important to teach both boys and girls about these great women in our history, because I feel like it's something that I, myself and a lot of my friends were deprived of growing up.

Speaker 5: (44:28)

That was a Tia. [inaudible] the author of she persisted Sally ride. The series she persisted is now set to continue through 2022. This month spoke is about Clara [inaudible], who was successful in her fight for workers' rights.