S1: Coming up on KPBS roundtable. The Trump administration's proposed tariffs are sowing apprehension in the San Diego region's robust farming sector. Many farmers are taking a wait and see approach , but the impacts could be far reaching.
S2: It's the citrus , it's the avocados. It's all this other food that farmers here grow. That's what could really be a problem down the road.
S1: Plus , California's high speed rail ambitions have been scaled back significantly in recent years. Yet it's still billions over budget and no tracks have been laid. We discuss what's really slowing down the project. That's ahead on KPBS roundtable. Many parts of northeastern San Diego County are lush with farms that grow fruits and vegetables , the heart of our region's robust agricultural scene. But that industry is facing some tumult. The Trump administration earlier this year announced sweeping tariffs or taxes on imported goods. Many of those tariffs have been paused or tweaked , leaving farmers unsure of what's next. They're taking a wait and see approach , especially as other countries are considering their own tariffs. In response. KPBS reporter and anchor John Carroll traveled to Palma Valley to see how local farmers are weathering the uncertainty. John , welcome to the show.
S2: Thanks , Scott.
S1: For this story. You went to a local farm and spoke with a local farmer and tell us what you saw. Set the scene for us.
S2: So this farm is in , as you said , the Parma Valley. It's 200 Hundred acres. About 90% of it is various kinds of oranges. Delicious oranges. I'll let you know.
S1:
S2: Very nice. Uh , the other 10% is avocados. Um , and those were great , too , when they finally ripened. Um , I asked the farmer when we were there , Andy Lyle , who is a fourth generation farmer at this place , to take us to some vista point where we could look over the the whole operation. And so my photographer Charlotte and I jumped in an old John Deere little tractor thing , and he drove us up these , uh , dirt roads to the top of this hill. And , uh , is just breathtaking to look down and see the various patchwork , you know , quilt of farms down there. Uh , so then we went on back down. We walked through his orange groves. We went into the avocado groves , and , uh. It's a very bucolic setting.
S1: The reporting , the descriptions and the story that you produce were just fantastic. I mean , it really sets you right in the scene. I felt like I was there in the orange grove with you all. It sounds like you had a nice little , you know , fun field trip out there , but it seems like there's something a little darker hanging over this situation in the story. You call it the T word ? Tariffs. Yes.
S2: Yes. Tariffs. Um , so I was interested because I've been covering tariffs from a more industrial aspect since the prospect first got out into the atmosphere. Uh , we've been talking to a guy in Chula Vista where they have a metal manufacturing firm , and I. I love agriculture , and I love covering agriculture. It's fascinating to me. And so I thought , you know , let's see what's going on because they have talked about tariffs on agricultural products. So I called the head of the San Diego County Farm Bureau , and we talked to him , and he recommended this farmer named Andy Lyle to me. And so we went out to Escondido and we talked to Dana Groot , the head of the Farm Bureau first. Then we traveled about another 40 minutes to the Parma Valley and talked to Andy Lyle about it. This is not their first go round on this. Uh , Trump did tariffs in his first term. So they dealt with this about five years ago. And you know it was a thing. Um , I can go into more detail about that now. Or we can swing around to that.
S1: Well , before we dive in , actually , I just want to touch on the Andy Lyle's family has been farming out there for a long time , right ? I mean , they go back way further than just five years ago with the first go around of the Trump tariffs. Right. How far back does the family farm go ? Right.
S2: So his great grandfather started it. They came out west from I think it was Ohio and settled in Southern California , and he bought. I don't know if this is the original 200 acres , but he bought land in Palma Valley. And so that's where they established their farm. And it's been going down through his grandfather. His father still is engaged in the operation. He pretty much runs more of the business side of it. His brother does more of the , you know , how do we grow this correctly side of it. And he has two sons who are , at this point in their teen years , not really interested in continuing on , but that could change.
S1: As teenagers , you always sort of zag where your parents zig , but a lot of times you end up coming around so , so true. Wouldn't be surprised if it turns into a fifth generation farm.
S2: It's a beautiful place.
S1: So tell me about the tariffs and how they're impacting or potentially could be impacting this family farm. Right.
S2: Right. So you know we're in this 90 day pause right now. So nothing has happened yet. And with the um roller coaster ride that has been tariffs writ large. They just don't know. It's just a wait and see attitude , is what both of them , Dayna Groot and Andy Lyle said to me separately those same words. They do have some something to go on from the first go round. It did negatively affect Andy , Lyle and other farmers back then. Now , the way he does his operation and a lot of other farmers , he told me , do it this way as well , is they obviously harvest their own stuff. They then send it to a packing house. The packing , which is a co-op , the packing house sends it to marketers , which is also a co-op. They got hit kind of bad the first time around. So the marketers were like , okay , well , we can't have that happen again. And so they set about finding other markets , mainly domestic markets for the product , so that if and when it happened again , they'd be at least somewhat more insulated.
S1: That makes sense. And my understanding is there's concern about with the agriculture , the products that they're harvesting and putting out into the market , but also just the cost of goods. I imagine , too , that they may be using , whether it's like packaging materials or I'm sure , you know , farming equipment that they may have to purchase that has an impact , whether it's directly imported or components of it are. It just seems that these tariffs are impacting , I'm sure , this operation in a complex way , or could be if these tariffs come to fruition after the pause.
S2: That's correct. That's something that Dana Groote touched on , uh , with the packaging , the plastic , uh , some of that stuff comes from China. Uh , the farming equipment , a lot of it can be purchased from like , John Deere , uh , American manufacturers. But even with them nowadays , parts come , you know , from outside of the country. And so that's an increased cost. Uh , it's it's just very much an uncertainty , uh , which is what the industrial guys I talked to said it's uncertainty. It's killing us. You know , we just. And even the notion of uncertainty itself has negative impacts. Forget the tariffs actually happening. So yeah they're just kind of holding back and seeing how it turns out.
S1: Well I got to say I thought Andy Lyle the farmers sort of demeanor in his interview , he just seemed very calm despite all the uncertainty. He seemed just very even keeled , despite all of it. Tell me a little bit about a little more about what the San Diego County Farm Bureau told you.
S2: So first of all , I want to make a point about agriculture in San Diego County. I don't want to say the vast majority , but the majority of product produced here is flowering plants , perennials , bedding , all that kind of stuff. That's kind of tariff proof , because the vast majority of that stuff does not leave the country. Um , you know , think the flower fields in Carlsbad. So that's not a concern. It's the citrus , it's the avocados. It's all this other food that farmers here grow. That's what could really be a problem down the road.
S1: And let's talk a little bit about the industry at large. I mean , one thing that surprised me was it came towards the end of your story was just how big the agriculture industry is here in San Diego County. I'm a little ashamed to admit it , that I knew it was a significant industry , but I just didn't realize quite how big it was.
S2: Right ? Well , you're from Northern California , so you wouldn't necessarily. Well , yeah.
S1: East coast originally , and then through through Sacramento.
S2: Through Sacramento. Um , it is a very big industry. Here it is. Number four. Uh , it produces about $1.2 billion a year. Wow. But Dana , crude at the Farm Bureau said if you take into account all the other , uh , businesses , suppliers , vendors , whatever , uh , That either directly rely on agriculture or that's part of their business mix. It goes to about 4 billion. So we're talking really major stuff here. And it really doesn't get as much attention as perhaps it should.
S1: It's something that you actually mentioned as we were kind of having a conversation before the interview. You just talked about how you felt like agriculture deserves more attention. And I mean , I think it's worth saying that the media industry here in San Diego County , as it is in many other places , has shrunk. And so a lot of things probably don't get the attention that they deserve. But tell me more about that.
S2: So and it's not like you can cover that kind of a story agriculture story with a zoom. You need to go out there. And so , you know , those of us in this business , more on the commercial side than us , we get to spend more time , have more time to tell our stories. But it is a daylong event. I mean , that's it. You're out there. So I think that's actually part of it. But I think also people , you know , when you go to the grocery store , food is there. When you're at the restaurant , food is served to you. It's not something that we think about. I believe that much. Um , and we should , uh , first of all , just let me tell all our listeners , if you've never driven out to the northeastern part of this county into farm country , you should take a day drive out there. Uh , take it all in , because it's it's so different than urban San Diego. It's so beautiful. It will give you a deeper appreciation of the complexity and the beauty of this county. Um. Why else ? Uh , you know , I just think , you know , at the risk of sounding pedantic , I think that it's just not that sexy of an issue. Uh , going out and looking at stuff , growing out of dirt. But it's actually quite fascinating what farmers have to go through here to be successful. They have the water challenges. They have various regulations. Uh , so it's not an easy life. But everyone that I've talked to in that business since I've been in San Diego , uh , wouldn't want to do anything else.
S1: Well , I'm glad that you drove out there to see it firsthand and reported on it. And , uh , I think it's a good piece of encouragement for other folks to go out and check it out as well. I know these farmers don't have a crystal ball. They can't tell exactly what's going to happen next.
S2: They're more worried about Canada. And , um , with the meeting in the Oval Office earlier this week , we'll see how that all unfolds. Uh , but that's the primary concern for them right now is Canada. So wait and see.
S1: Wait and see. Well , thanks for reporting on this topic , John. I really appreciate it. Excellent work. I've been speaking with John Carroll. He's a general assignment reporter and anchor at KPBS. John , thanks.
S2: Thanks for having me , Scott.
S1: Coming up on roundtable , will California's long proposed high speed train connecting major cities ever become a reality ? Stay tuned. Roundtable's back after the break. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable. I'm Scott Rod. Efficient public transportation is sorely lacking across much of the United States , including here in the Golden State. California voters in 2008 approved an ambitious high speed rail line to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco. It seemed like a potential turning point. Nearly 20 years later , that project is nowhere close to being done. Its scope for now has been scaled back , and the project is billions of dollars over budget. So what's gone wrong ? Joining us is John Branch. National correspondent for The New York Times , who recently took a trip through the Central Valley to answer that very question. John , welcome to roundtable.
S3: Hi there , Scott. I'm glad to be here.
S1: So to start , give me the origin story behind why you wanted to report on this on the high speed rail project and see where things are at.
S3: Yeah , I think like a lot of Californians , I live in the Bay area , but like a lot of Californians , I've been sort of fascinated by it for years and wondering when it's ever going to happen and living where I do. I have a lot of friends who , when the subject comes up , wonder what's happening if it's even been built. Is it still happening ? When's it ever going to open ? And I say , well , if you drive down to Fresno , if you ever go down highway 99 by Fresno , you'll see that they've been living with the construction for many years. But I do think there's a disconnect in Los Angeles and in San Francisco about what's happening with high speed rail , which is somewhat ironic given that San Francisco and Los Angeles are the two endpoints for this project. And so this spring , I decided to take a stab at what is happening. And just as I was thinking about it more seriously , um , Gavin Newsom was on Bill Maher's show , um , Real Time with Bill Maher. And when the subject came up and Bill Maher suggested all the reasons why high speed rail has been so delayed , everything from unions to contractors to environmentalists. Gavin Newsom said , well , actually , the number one reason why high speed rail hasn't happened yet or the biggest reason for the delay is eminent domain. And I said , well , that's interesting because I'm not sure that's the case , but let's let's put that to the test. And so I decided to spend quite a bit of time with people who are the eminent domain lawyers and the people that they represent down in the Central Valley , whose property has been taken for the public project of high speed rail.
S1: I want to dive into eminent domain and sort through all of that because it's fascinating. It's very interesting. Also pretty complicated.
S3: That that runs up right against downtown Fresno is a huge construction project has been for 5 or 6 years or more. Um , there's still battles going on with some of those neighborhoods around there about the rail line that's coming through there , a lot of it on a giant viaduct. And so that's impressive in its own a lot of construction problems and issues for the people that live in and around Fresno. I'm also really fascinated by the people that seem to live out in the middle of nowhere , so to speak , to people out in the agricultural areas. Uh , if you go up to Madera , north of Fresno , if you go down. Toward Hanford , south of Fresno and Kingsburg , you'll see in the middle of orchards where there's nobody around. Suddenly , a 60 foot tall viaduct , in some cases stretching a mile across the landscape. The tallest thing for tens and tens of miles around. It just feels like these giant construction projects , and there's dozens of them , are plopped intermittently over a huge , maybe 100 mile long stretch , much of it in the middle of these agricultural fields. And unless you're really looking for them , you wouldn't realize it exists. But the people who who farm these areas or who live in these areas are certainly very much aware of what's going on , because some years ago they were getting notices or phone calls or knocks on the door from somebody saying , hey , we're going to need some of your land. And that's when the eminent domain process began for them.
S1: And the description you used , I think , in the story was like otherworldly to describe some of these just out of nowhere Bits and pieces that have been constructed so far. And from your description , it really does sound otherworldly. Let's jump into the eminent domain piece. I guess just as a kind of primer.
S3: It's actually part of the Fifth Amendment of our Constitution , where it says private property may be taken for the public good as long as there is just compensation. And that's a phrase they use. And of course , that's where things get sticky , is how do we define what just compensation is. But eminent domain is what allows highways to get expanded , what allows airports to get built in former neighborhoods ? The government comes along and says , we need this property to build this thing for the public good. And high speed rail is considered a public good. So when a government official or or somebody representing high speed rail comes to these people's door , they say , we're going to need some of your land for the high speed rail line that's coming. Those people , whether they're farm owners or landowners or anybody else , who is now in the way of the proposed route of high speed rail , they are not arguing that this is not a public good. What they're concerned about is , well , what's the just compensation ? And those negotiations can get very sticky. And I think that's probably what Governor Newsom and others are saying is part of the delay for high speed rail. And that's what I wanted to really tackle with the story is , is is that true ? Is that really the legitimate leading cause of the delays for high speed rail ? Well , it turns out that the process is maybe a little misunderstood. When somebody like a government entity says , we need your land. And somebody says , well , tell me how much you're going to pay , and they can't negotiate a price right away. Then that government entity files a lawsuit , an eminent domain lawsuit. And what happens is , within pretty short order , a court will give a motion for possession is what it's called. And even the high speed rail folks say , yeah , that usually happens within 45 days. What the motion for possession allows is for construction to to begin for planning and design and construction to begin while the financials are discussed. So they're not delaying whether construction can happen. In fact , when I asked high speed rail for examples of different construction projects along the proposed rail line that have been delayed because of eminent domain , they didn't cite any. They declined to cite any , because they can take over that property in pretty quick order and can start doing their work. That's never an issue. What's an issue is how much are you going to get paid down the road ? And those negotiations can take ten years , but those negotiations are going on at the same time. Construction's going. On.
S1: On. Yeah. And I think that's such an important point to to kind of sum up , it's like these landowners , they're not fighting the the high speed rail going through their property. Maybe they're not happy about it. They may grumble , but I think they see the writing on the wall , it seems like , and they're just trying to figure out how much money they're going to get in return. But as you're reporting. You know , laid out the construction can can proceed , it seems like in pretty quick order. And I guess like that was two things that stood out to me about Newsom's recent comments was one , what you revealed , which I think is so important. I think also the fact that I feel like he and others who have talked about eminent domain as it relates to high speed rail , kind of look at eminent domain almost as like a nuisance. But , you know , as you mentioned , it's there in the Constitution and the Fifth Amendment. This is something that's sort of a central tenant to land ownership in our country.
S3: You know , most of these farmers have been working these these fields for years and years and years. Some of them have been handed down through generations , and they are miles away from any sort of urban area. They have no real inkling to take a train to San Francisco or LA , ever. Um , but suddenly they are now in the way they find themselves , as if they've just been sort of hit by a meteor. Now , having to deal with this and , you know , if you give me just compensation , then I guess we'll do this. I have to do this. The question becomes , what is that ? Just compensation. And along the way , beyond just the money becomes kind of the headache. You know , these these people are , are finding out that my acreage now is going to have a big sliver taken out of it. And that might not seem like a big deal. You might be able to think , well , if that sliver is 10% of your land , we'll give you 10% of whatever the value is. If we can just agree on that value. Well , it's always more complicated than that because that sliver might be where the water pumps are. It might be where all the utilities are. In some cases , it might be where the farmhouse is while the rest of the farm is on the other 90%. Um , it might cut off access to your to your farm. So now , instead of being able to access all your almonds down your dirt road. You now have to go several miles out of the way to get to your own farm , because it's been bisected by a rail line. So it just got really , really complicated and messy for these people. And so they saw it as a as an annoyance and just something that it was like a distraction , like they have enough pressure , enough work to deal with. And now suddenly they're dealing with something that they didn't really want in the first place.
S1: It surprised me to hear that. It seems like some of them just don't think it's going to get done. I think some of them sort of described it. I think one described some of the construction that's happened so far is , you know , it'll be a monument to something that never gets completed. It's fascinating just to see the reaction from folks who are experiencing this on their doorstep. Some of them , it sounds like , quite literally , you know , right there outside of their homes. I want to take maybe a step back and discuss how did we arrive at this moment where this work is getting done or starting to get done ? The legal aspects of it are being sort of knotted up and untangled here in the Central Valley when the initial proposal was San Francisco to LA.
S3: They didn't talk about a route. They didn't really talk about anything besides the loose parameters of financing , which were about , I think , a $9.9 billion bond fund. That would be about a third of what they projected would be a $30 billion project or a $33 billion project. Another third would come from federal grants , and the other third would come from private investors. As it turned out , a couple of things have happened. One , there have not been private investors to the federal grants have been hit or miss. The Obama administration gave out the federal grants with some stipulations. The Trump administration was less friendly to the grants the Biden administration put them back in , I think , last year awarded a $3.1 billion grant to high speed rail. And now , just in the past few days , the Trump administration is saying this is a boondoggle and we're not going to get federal money. So once again , they're they're on the precipice of losing what had been a $3.1 million grant or losing access to federal funds. So financing has always been an issue. But the other big issue that people are really , really Monday morning quarterbacking is the route itself. I think the presumption was when the voters approved this , that it would go pretty much directly between Los Angeles and San Francisco , and a lot of us have driven up I-5 on the west side of the Central Valley and thought , well , maybe it would just follow the the loose track of I-5. And people who know about eminent domain and about environmental review thought that would make the most sense , because the right of way is already there. You wouldn't have all these skirmishes with landowners for the most part , because the freeway already goes through there and there is a right of way. But what happened was the people involved in this , including politicians , thought , well , the better thing would be to go up the east side of the valley and to string together cities like Bakersfield and Fresno and Merced. These are places that are always a little underappreciated , could use the economic development , could use the links to Los Angeles and San Francisco. This was in 2008. And when these plans were coming together and say the years right after that , it was a time when people were wondering about affordable housing. And maybe if we had a real quick link to these major cities , people could live in Fresno and actually commute to San Francisco or to Silicon Valley. It would only be an hour or an hour and a half away by train , as opposed to three or 3.5 hours by car. And so I think there were good intentions about trying to loop in millions of people in the Central Valley rather than taking the more rural route up the west side. But that complicated matters by a lot of degrees , and I think a lot of people wonder now if that was really where the the first bad decision was made.
S1: And there is , you know , it seems like some precedent to take the interstate route in terms of laying a high speed rail , because there is a project that's moving forward , making progress that would connect Southern California with Las Vegas , and it's following I-15. So I guess it's an interesting comparison when looking at the decision making that was made. With regard to high speed rail here in California.
S3: There is a company called Brightline , which has done rail work in Florida , connected in Miami and Fort Lauderdale and points north , not really with high speed rail , but with a a , an exclusive or , you know , its own rail line to try to connect those kinds of cities. And they're now their big project now is to connect Los Angeles and Las Vegas , like you say , up I-15 , where they have the right of way or the right of way , has already been cleared by the Interstate highway , and they hope to have that open and running by 2028. And I think it'll be fascinating if they actually make that date , to know that they did that in a matter of a few years. At that point , high speed rail will have been 20 years past its its approval and may have just a few miles of track and certainly no trains running.
S1: Certainly , definitely something to keep an eye on with regard to where things stand with high speed rail for its completion date and its budget were past the original completion date. It's many billions over budget. Where do things stand now in terms of how much this is expected to cost , and when ? The state anticipates at least this first leg might be completed. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. So the first leg , which is , I believe , 117 miles from north of Bakersfield to Madera , which is just north of Fresno , that's a stretch that they are actively doing construction , and they hope to start laying rails themselves. Starting next year. The hope is that Bakersfield itself and up to Merced , north of Fresno , will be connected by 2033 at the latest , sometime between 2030 and 2033. Now the question begs how many people want to go between Bakersfield and Merced ? The hope for high speed rail is that that will , once they have trains running , will spawn. More interest might get more private , investors might get people to sort of see the reality finally coming to form. And that will build momentum to then stretch from Merced over to the Bay area , and from Bakersfield up over the mountains into the Los Angeles basin. That cost. You mentioned you asked the cost. Right now they're estimating more than $100 billion , so it's more than tripled. And it will be at least 20 plus years late at best.
S1: Uh , government projects are known for being overbudget and , uh , past deadline. This kind of sets a new standard for that big picture. A question you pose in your reporting is looking at high speed rail , extrapolating out.
S3: But certainly the people who commented on the story in the New York Times did comment , and I was really taken by the pessimism of those comments. Um , people don't believe we can do these things anymore. I was thinking about the 12 years between the stock market crash in 1929 and the start of World War two. That was the the depression. And during the depression , all the reservoirs in California that were built. Um , the Hoover Dam , much of the skyline of New York , like these kinds of things , airports , these kinds of things were built at really the lowest point in the 20th century for for America in terms of economics. But here we are in this day and age , um , and we cannot seem to get certainly big projects like high speed rail completed. I think everybody , including your listeners , will say , well , I know of a project near me where it's taking two years to get an extra lane on the highway completed. Everything just seems really bogged down. And why is that ? Is it bureaucracy ? Is it environmental review ? Is it just government inability to move these things ? Is it contracts ? Is just our own mythology , our own expectations that we just don't believe we can do it. And so when it doesn't happen , not a lot of people are raising up to say what is going on here. I think that's true with high speed rail. I think people are sort of exhausted by it. And to go back to your opening question about what led me into this. A lot of it is that so many people who would be affected by this , people who voted for this back in 2008 , don't even know what's going on. And they just sort of seem like , yeah , that'll happen someday. Maybe. Or maybe it won't. And I think what you've seen in the past few months is high speed rail really trying to to push the public relations to say , look , this is happening. We're building momentum. We are actually going to get this done and trying to remind people this is a real thing. And while it's taken a long time to get to this point , things are happening and you're going to see this happen.
S1: Well , just fascinating reporting. I encourage all of our listeners to go check out the full story at nytimes.com. The headline is Can America Still Build Big Things Along ? Ride through California's Central Valley tells a gloomy story. John Branch is a national correspondent at the New York Times. John , thanks again for joining us.
S3: My pleasure. Scott.
S1: Coming up next , our roundup of other big stories from the week. That's ahead on roundtable. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable. I'm Scott Rod. It's time now for our roundup of other stories from this week's news. Joining me is KPBS reporter and producer Jacob Air. Hey , Jacob. How's it going ? Good.
S4: Thanks for having me here , Scott.
S1: Thanks for jumping in the studio. I'll let you kick it off. There was some big news this week.
S4: Huge news. Uh , we have a new pope. Yeah. This is the first time in American has ever been given that honor. In the 2000 year history of the Catholic Church. It's a big surprise to a lot of people that he was selected. Pope Leo , he's been the one who's been chosen by the conclave , and he's taking over duties for the late Pope Francis. According to the Associated Press , he was born in Chicago and then spent a lot of his career ministering in Peru. So this is a big deal for the Catholic Church , especially after Pope Francis , who was the first non-European pope in over a millennium.
S1: Yeah , very interesting. Especially it happened pretty quickly , too. I know a lot of folks who are watching the smoke from the chimney weren't expecting it to change colors quite so fast. Right.
S4: I think it caught a lot of people off guard how quick it happened. And then also the fact that this was an American , not a lot of people were expecting that too.
S1: Yeah , absolutely. Interesting to see how these choices have developed. Uh , from Pope Francis now to Pope Leo. I don't know.
S4: Um , the early discourse that I've seen through certain news outlets online , when they're talking to folks who are Catholic on the street , you know , some are saying , could this be problematic given where the United States is politically right now.
S1: Very divisive.
S4: Very divisive ? Or could it be beneficial ? Um , I think that's to be seen. But to have two popes from the Western Hemisphere back to back never been done before. And , uh , it's a whole new step for the Catholic Church , to say the least. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. Yeah. Good story to kick off the roundup for sure. That's the big news of the week. There's a story that I've been following. There was an interesting development in it this week. Uh 23 and me the genetic testing and sort of ancestry sort of building disclosing company where Folks. Uh , what is it ? I guess they.
S4: They test your DNA. Yeah. They said you said in the saliva swab , something like that.
S1: And they tell you , you know , what is your genetic or ancestral makeup look like ? And it kind of gives you a picture as to , you know , where you've come from genetically. Um , this company has declared bankruptcy. Now , that happened a month or two ago. What's been developing is in the course of the bankruptcy , they're looking at selling off a lot of the customer data. So all of this DNA data is going to be up for sale. So there's so many people speculating like who's going to buy this ? What is it going to be used for ? These , um , databases , these genetic databases have been used in recent years for trying to solve crimes. And law enforcement has been able to , to utilize them , uh , in order to solve some high profile crimes , including the Golden State killer. So there's just a ton of speculation swirling around about like , who's going to buy this ? Right.
S4: And I think something that came out pretty quickly after they had announced this bankruptcy. A lot of folks , you know , throughout the US and the world had taken part in 23 me and they said , if you can , you know , maybe you want to scrub your your profile from there so that your DNA or your data can't be shared with , who knows afterward. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. In the fine print , my understanding is for 23 and me , it says like , look , this this can be resold. We're in an era where so much of our information is gobbled up whenever we go online , download an app , and it's just sold elsewhere. But I think the idea of like , our DNA being sold is at a whole different level. So I know a lot of people are kind of worried if they've taken one of these tests , some people are scrambling to delete it. So whoever's going to start , I guess they're expecting multiple bidders. Whoever's going to put in a bid will draw a lot of interest.
S4: I do think to your point , it is kind of eerie to have this idea that your , you know , your DNA data can be sold off. I know I had multiple family members who had taken part. I personally didn't in 23 me right when I heard this news , I said go delete it immediately and they all did.
S1: So yeah , I also didn't take it , you know. Good luck. Good luck finding out where I'm from. Uh , all right.
S4: Heidi DeMarco. Uh , she did some great reporting on the historic strike amongst Kaiser's mental health workers. This saga is finally coming to an end. It's been six months long.
S1: Or really long strike.
S4: Really long strike. There was about 300 mental health workers at Kaiser Permanente , and they're soon maybe going to be back on the job. She reported that the National Union of Health Care Workers had reached a tentative agreement with Kaiser , but this was the longest mental health strike in California history , according to the union.
S1: And I know from some of her reporting , she talked to folks who were struggling with not being able to access mental health therapy. And I mean , for some people , it's really essential for them to be , to get through a tough time , to get essential resources that are needed. And a lot of times we think of , you know , needing sort of emergency care. For example , if , you know , nurses go on strike at a hospital. Um , I think for folks trying to wrap their head around , you know , when mental health workers go on strike , what's the impact ? And it's been significant and people have spoken out about when they can't get those resources has a huge impact.
S4: And , uh , regarding the strike , there was really two principal demands. It was more time for patient tasks and then better pay. But now coming out of this whole situation , because the workers could be back very soon , uh , there's two bills that were pushed along by the union that could happen. One of them would be a reimbursement for patients for out-of-pocket costs related to mental health care , uh , going back to October of 2023. And then the other one , which would force the major health systems to report how they're actually compensating behavioral health workers compared to the medical staff. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , I'm happy to hear that there was a resolution. If for nothing else , patients being able to access that care that that many of them need. I'm going to switch gears. This is another California story. President Donald Trump is floating the idea of reopening Alcatraz , the prison that is on an island in the bay next to San Francisco , which has been closed for many decades. It's a notorious prison. It used to hold some very high profile criminals and again , shuttered for a long time. It's now actually essentially like a museum that.
S4: People can go and see it.
S1: Yeah , you can go and tour it and see what it looked like. And , you know , you see boats going there from from the mainland all the time. If you're in the Bay area , this idea of opening it up again as a prison , I think it caught a lot of people by surprise , certainly in the Bay area. You know , the mayor of San Francisco , state representatives have just looked at this and said , this is this can't be a real proposal just because it would take so much money , so much effort to reopen Alcatraz. I mean , they said basically you'd have to tear it down and rebuild it.
S4:
S1: No , no , it's in rough shape from everything that I've read. It's in really rough shape. There was some reporting in the San Francisco Chronicle , some follow up reporting that apparently it's possible they speculate that the idea may have been planted from the movie escape from Alcatraz. I don't know if you've seen this. Not personally with Clint Eastwood. Awesome movie. Definitely. That's your assignment for this weekend.
S4: I've heard the I've heard the tales about escaping from Alcatraz.
S1: There's a ton of lore. Yeah. The movie apparently aired down in in Florida , in the air in the area around Trump's Mar a Lago resort. And they speculated that he may have sort of picked this up. He's a well known for watching a lot of TV. Ironically , it was on PBS. I'll leave that there. And apparently he may have gotten this idea from catching the movie over the weekend , so who knows ? Uh , but just the idea. It's caught a lot of people by surprise. The Chronicle also interviewed a number of folks who were there at Alcatraz , just touring it , and they got their opinions , and pretty much everyone said after seeing it firsthand , there's no way that this could be converted in any quicker , easy way into being an operational prison.
S4:
S1: Okay.
S4: Okay. I haven't either. I've only seen it kind of from the the bay from afar. But to get that operational seems like a very heavy lift. We'll see where this all goes. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Yeah. We'll see. I'll leave it to you. Wrap it up.
S4: This week we talked about a lot of serious news regarding the Pope and 23 and me.
S1: And Alcatraz.
S4: And Alcatraz , of. Course.
S1: Course.
S4: Come on. But I wanted to tie it back to something kind of new in our region , which is this pro soccer scene that's bubbled up. It kind of started a few years ago , but now there's this new MLS team here and they're both playing pretty well. So you have the San Diego FC , which is on the men's side. You have San Diego Wave , which is on the women's side. And for a while , it kind of seemed like maybe there wasn't going to be that momentum that carried through , but attendance has been really high. The men's team is averaging about 30,000 a game in their inaugural season. The women's team has seen a bit of an attendance dip in so far this year , but we know that in last year and the year before that , they can average about 20,000 a game and and they're climbing up the standings. So we have two professional teams now in the soccer world in San Diego that are both playing well. The attendance is climbing or it's there. And it seems like this culture of soccer is just really kind of hitting this , this point now where it's finally all come together. And people have been waiting a long time for this.
S1: Yeah , well , there's a lot of build up over the years for this. To see it come to fruition is very special. And the wave really was sort of what was anchoring down a lot of the the professional soccer scene here. And so then when you have San Diego FC , come along and see them both doing so well. It really is a special moment. And as a shameless plug , you did a recent video series on the rise of soccer in the San Diego border region , soccer a la Frontera. Excellent video series. People should definitely go check it out.
S4: Thank you. Appreciate it. And it kind of speaks to , you know , someone like Chucky Lozano , who's this Mexican star ? He's really kind of tapped into this cross-border culture. The series largely talks about that , the influence on both sides here. So if you're interested in soccer at all or just , you know , the larger arts and culture scene here in San Diego , go ahead and check it out.
S1: I've been speaking with KPBS reporter and producer Jacob Air. Thanks , Jacob.
S4: Thanks , Scott.
S1: Thanks for listening to KPBS roundtable. You can listen to the show anytime as a podcast. Roundtable airs on KPBS FM at noon on Fridays and again Sundays at 6 a.m.. If you have any thoughts on today's show , you can email us at roundtable at PBS.org. You can also leave us a message at (619) 452-0228. Roundtable's technical producer this week was Brandon Troopa. The show was produced by Jacob Air. Brooke Ruth is Roundtable's senior producer. And I'm Scott Rodd. Have a great weekend.
