Fletcher controversy is one in a long line of Democrat sex scandals

Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Wednesday, April TWELFTH.

San Diego County supervisors call for Nathan Fletcher to resign immediately. More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….

You’ll be able to take the train to and from Orange County again, starting next week.

Amtrak and Metrolink service between here and Orange County has been stopped since the end of September, when a storm surge created unstable ground under the tracks near San Clemente. Repairs were supposed to be finished in February, but heavy rainfall delayed the project.

Service will resume on Monday, April SEVENTEENTH.

It’ll be cooler today and tomorrow.There’s also a slight chance of light rain tonight and tomorrow morning in coastal areas. Be careful traveling in the deserts and mountains. A wind advisory will be in effect from TWO P-M today until Thursday morning. Strong winds TWENTY to THIRTY miles-per-hour and gusts up to FIFTY-FIVE are possible.

Dry and warmer weather is forecasted for Friday.

If there are any repairs to stormwater drains needed in your neighborhood, the city of San Diego wants to know about it. Officials are now asking for responses to their annual stormwater maintenance survey. The city’s stormwater drain system includes structures like channels, pipes and levees which carry rainwater into the ocean.

The city said it maintains stormwater infrastructure throughout the year, but public input will help them determine what to prioritize for fiscal year TWENTY-TWENTY FIVE. The survey is available on the city’s website until May TWELFTH.

From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need

The county Board of Supervisors voted yesterday (Tuesday) to demand Supervisor Nathan Fletcher resign immediately.

Reporter John Carroll explains why the vote of no confidence may not change anything.

The vote was unanimous.  But the board’s lawyer made it clear the county charter does not allow the supervisors to remove Fletcher.  He has said he will resign effective May 15th.  The board heard from dozens of people, both in person and on the phone.  Nearly everyone said Fletcher should resign immediately.  The board now has a couple of important decisions to make…  whether to appoint someone to fill the remainder of Fletcher’s term, leave the seat vacant until the next election, or hold a special election which could cost up to four-million dollars.  And they need to decide whether to re-start the process of hiring a County Administrative Officer… without Fletcher’s involvement.  Here’s Supervisor Jim Desmond. “We need to do this right.  We need to have his hands off of this hire because this person in this position lasts many years and we want to make sure we get it right.” The board’s next meeting is on May 2nd.  JC, KPBS News.

A longtime San Diego Police officer is speaking out about discrimination and racism in the department. inewsource investigative reporter Jill Castellano has the story.

CASTELLANO: San Diego Police Officer John Cochran was walking into a meeting in February when things quickly got heated. He says another officer started arguing with him about what time he was supposed to show up. Here’s Cochran explaining what happened next. COCHRAN: I said, you talking to me as if you have some privilege over me. And he said, I do, I have my white privilege card. CASTELLANO: Cochran is a Black officer who’s been on the force for 28 years. He says this was one of many times he’s faced discrimination inside the department. Now, he’s decided to speak out publicly for the first time as a whistleblower. COCHRAN: I’ve had to deal with isms like racism, favoritism, nepotism, sexism. And it’s a culture on the San Diego Police Department, they have an anti-Black racism culture, and dealing with that has been difficult. CASTELLANO: Cochran filed a complaint against the officer who he says made the ‘white privilege card’ comment, but he says it hasn’t been handled properly. For one thing, two supervisors were there when the comment was made, but Cochran wrote in his complaint that neither of them reported the incident as required. CASTELLANO: And as it turns out, one of those witnesses was an Internal Affairs investigator who then conducted an interview with Cochran about his complaint. IA TAPE: …located in the internal affairs room at the San Diego Police Department Headquarters with, say your name. Officer John Cochran. CASTELLANO: Cochran provided inewsource with a recording of his meeting with Internal Affairs. You can hear the interviewer, Sergeant Jacob Mosteller (MOS-tiller), arguing with Cochran about what happened. At one point, Cochran starts interviewing Mosteller about the incident. IA TAPE: But back to the question, what did you hear in the room that he said? I heard him say something to the effect of oh you are not late. No, he said you are late. Again, I’m not here to argue with you. CASTELLANO: Eventually, Mosteller acknowledges that he heard the offensive comment being made. IA TAPE: Did you hear him say, did you hear him say I have my white privilege card? I heard him say that, yes. Okay okay. CASTELLANO: Cochran thinks it was inappropriate for Mostiller to interview him, because it’s a conflict of interest. CASTELLANO: Dan Willis, a retired captain for the La Mesa Police Department, says what happened here does not seem to follow best practices. WILLIS: The best practice would be if somebody is potentially any type of witness or has any information about a complaint, that they're not part of the investigation at all. You don’t even want the appearance of that. CASTELLANO: San Diego Police would not comment on the ongoing investigation, but says it takes claims of discrimination very seriously. CASTELLANO: There’ve been 17 SDPD investigations into employee discrimination that were made public this year under a new law. Six of those cases found racial discrimination. CASTELLANO: The employee who Cochran has accused of making the ’white privilege card’ comment, Officer Dustin Welsh, actually appears in these records. Back in 2018, investigators found that Welsh has something that looks like a white supremacist tattoo, and he joked about it being a gang symbol in front of a Black officer. But there’s no record of any discipline taken against Welsh in this case. CASTELLANO: Cochran says he feels like SDPD is not holding its officers accountable. COCHRAN: Management is not doing their job. CASTELLANO: Cochran says he’s faced retaliation for filing complaints. He was nervous to speak publicly about his concerns, but believes it’s the right thing to do. COCHRAN: When I'm discriminated against, it affects everything. It affects my stress level, it affects my sleep level. It affects how I feel about myself, how I feel about other people. And it manifests out into the public. CASTELLANO: Sergeant Mosteller and Officer Welsh did not respond to requests for comment for this story. CASTELLANO: For KPBS, I’m inewsource investigative reporter Jill Castellano.

inewsource is an independently funded nonprofit partner of KPBS.

San Diego City College’s nursing program has just been ranked one of the best in the country. Education reporter M.G. Perez takes us on campus for the story.

In the aftermath of the COVID pandemic …classes of 50-to-65 students each semester have been accepted into the nursing program at San Diego City College. Now the industry-leading website RN-CAREERS-DOT-ORG has ranked the City College two year program as the second best in California …and the number 3 program in the country. The rankings were based on the number of students who passed the required national li-cen-sure exams for R-Ns…City College had an average pass rate of  99-point-5 percent. Dr. Erelyn Vinegas is chair of the City College Nursing Department..and associate professor for students. SOT 4676 23:10:57 “we have multiple resources so I continue to encourage them to keep pursuing their goal and don’t lose sight of what they want to do in the future.” MGP KPBS News. 

Coming up.... How delays in funding are impacting child care businesses. We’ll have that story, just after the break.

Childcare is in high demand. This has the state stepping in with financial grants to help centers expand. Problem is, providers face long delays in getting the money.

Reporter Tania Thorne takes a look at the impacts.

Buds and Blossoms Preschool is one of the few childcare centers in Fallbrook. Or anywhere in the surrounding rural area.. “With the lack of childcare and preschools its a huge demand.” Nikki Boles is the director and owner of the center. She says she gets calls daily from parents looking for open child care slots. I have a waiting list of children to enter into the preschool. We opened and expanded into the infant care because I was turning away children that were below the age of 18 months. Last year, she got a grant from the state to expand her preschool to provide infant care.   I applied for the funding and they gave it to us but there was such a hold up on receiving the funding. Boles was awarded $1 million dollars. It was great news. But there was a catch. She had to wait more than six months for the money. In order to open the infant and toddler area we took out multiple loans, business and personal loans to get it started in order for us to meet the demands of childcare in this area. She had to take loans while she waited for the state money to come through. She was on the verge of having to lay staff off . Finally, she got a portion of the money in February, but is still waiting on the rest. the funding itself we were expecting a lot sooner. This was Boles’ first time applying for state grants and she was taken aback by all the fine print. We found out it was not a grant, it was actually a contract that we have to meet deadlines, we have to have income qualifications for parents that are accepted into that program, our ratios had to be lower in the infant program. So carrying those burdens was a little but harder to navigate. Boles isn't alone. The state awarded more than $30 million in grants to seven childcare businesses in San Diego County. Several of those businesses told KPBS they have also experienced delays. And just like Boles…the centers that do get funding have to meet the contract conditions. If they don’t, that funding has to go back to the state. In the last fiscal year, California's Department of Social Services awarded San Diego area childcare businesses more than $21 million. But almost 14% of that went unspent. all these families need care, and all these providers need the funding to be able to provide the care. And you know each day that goes by is a lost opportunity for a family and for a provider. Kim McDougal is the Senior VP of social services for the YMCA of San Diego County. “situations happen, where then millions of dollars go back to the State. and those dollars go back into the general fund. They don't go back into child care it! It totally does not help our case for child care advocacy. It makes legislators in the State think. Well, maybe these dollars aren't needed nobody's spending them, whereas on the reality on the grounds that there was no opportunity to Really truly spend them. McDougal says larger organizations like the YMCA are also impacted by the delays, but they have different streams of funding to pull from. But smaller centers don’t, and funding delays mean fewer kids get care. Like Boles back at Buds and Blossoms. She's currently not accepting new enrollments. Its been a huge difference in trying to find care and I have families who call me daily. All of those families have to go on the waiting list. TT KPBS News

The San Diego Humane Society is looking for foster homes for some of the big dogs in its shelters. Reporter Melissa Mae says they’re offering an incentive program to help these animals find foster families.

MM: In mid-March the San Diego Humane Society reached a record high 620 adult dogs in their care. MM: So, the Humane Society created the Foster Incentive Program to help larger adult dogs get out of the shelter and into calmer home environments. MM: Nina Thompson is with the Humane Society. NT (:14) “If a foster takes on a dog 50 lb or more because that's our biggest need for at least 2 weeks and at the end of that period you would get a $100 gift card and it's really just to possibly welcome a new audience that we haven't had before.” MM: Now, a 50 lb. dog may seem like a lot to take on, but the humane society provides everything from supplies to medical care while you foster. MM: In order to participate in the program, you must attend a mandatory training at one of their four campuses. To learn more, go to S-D-humane dot org slash foster. Melissa Mae KPBS News.

That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. Join us on the podcast tomorrow (Wednesday) to hear about a new opera inspired by Edgar Allen Poe and ghosts. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great day.