Halt To Plaza De Panama Revamp Frees Up $10 Million For Balboa Park And More Local News
Speaker 1: 00:00 Good morning. It's April 22nd I'm Prius Sri there, and you're listening to San Diego news matters after many years of challenges and setbacks, a costly plan to enhance the center of Belvaux. A park looks like it's come to a complete stop. KPBS editor Tom Fudge has more on the death of the Plaza de Panama Project. Speaker 2: 00:19 Since the plan was approved by the San Diego City Council in 2012 the Plaza de Panama project seemed to die many deaths. It had the elevated goal of reading cards from the center of the park by building a bypass road in an underground parking garage along with enhancing the middle of the park's environment. But first came the lawsuits. Then terrific cost overruns. Last week, the final blow seem to arrive. That's when the Plaza de Panama Committee severed his ties with the city to lead the project and raise funds for it. The committee side of the laws of support from councilman Chris Ward, who represents that part of the city, he rejected the committee's compromise plan to build essentially half the project. Then try to finish it later. Chris Ward said that wasn't the right response to the cost overruns Speaker 3: 01:07 because you're getting half of the plan that you sold to the public for the exact same cost, so you already have something that's pretty expensive to begin with, but now you're not even going to get many of the beautification and other enhancements that people were hoping to enjoy when the entire project was all said and done. Yeah, Speaker 2: 01:25 Ward said he thinks the city can put this episode in the past and come up with new projects to achieve. Many of the same goals for Balboa Park, Tom Fudge, k PBS news, Speaker 1: 01:36 California sexually transmitted disease rates remain high because of two concerning trends as cap radios. Healthcare reporter Sammy Kay Yola explains the state health department says gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis rates are up from last year. It's been happening for a while and it's not getting better. Sacramento County Health Services Director Peter Blm since says the syphilis is related to drug use. Speaker 4: 01:57 One is the trading of drugs for sex. The second is when people are on methamphetamine, they're more lucky to undertake unsafe sex practices. Speaker 1: 02:05 Chlamydia and gonorrhea are mostly rising among teens. David boot, avant coordinates, health education out of Fresno nonprofit called Fresno Barrios Unidos. Speaker 5: 02:14 I wish there were more health centers that were located closer to them and their schools and also in in places that they go to. I wish it was, it was more of a youth friendly and you centered, Speaker 1: 02:25 the state health department says many county run STD clinics closed down during the recession and fewer people are getting treated and Sacramento, I'm Sammy Kay, Ola San Diego concert goers may see more big name music artists playing at the North Park Observatory. Soon KPBS is Annika. Colbert has details. One of the largest music promoters in the world, live nation just bought the venue. The observatory is an 1100 seat theater in North Park and Miro Copec with bottom line marketing. So z observatory is a good venue for bigger music artists looking to do smaller, more intimate shows and with this allows live nation to do is really bring in acts before they come up to La. You know a lot of times ask kind of bypass San Diego. This is a great opportunity for live nation live nation, but both the North Park Observatory and its sister venue, the Santa Ana Observatory, Annika Colbert, Kpbs News, California Senator Kamala Harris recently claimed that an unanticipated cost of $400 would mean complete upheaval for almost half of American families. Cap Radios, politifact, reporter Chris Nichols fact checks the presidential candidate statement. Speaker 6: 03:34 Here's what Harris said on the pod save America podcast. Speaker 7: 03:38 It's clear in our country right now, almost half of American families are a $400 unexpected expense away from complete upheaval. Yeah, $400 that can be the car breaks down. That could be a hospital bill you didn't see coming. Speaker 6: 03:52 The part about almost half of families is on the right track. A survey last year by the Federal Reserve found 40% of adults could not easily pay for an unforeseen $400 cost, but Harris overstates the report's findings when she says it would lead to complete upheaval. The survey found most would use a credit card to pay off that cost over time, borrow money or sell a possession. Those all represent very real hardships, but to characterize them as leading to complete upheaval is not supported by the report. We rated Harris's claim half true in Sacramento. I'm Chris Nichols Speaker 1: 04:33 this Easter Sunday, March nine years since the 7.2 magnitude earthquake caused significant damage in Mexicali and Calexico. A new study says California may be due for an even bigger one. KPBS is jade Hindman has the details. Nearly five years have passed since an earthquake of magnitude six or stronger occurred in California. Researchers with the US Geological Survey recently published a study detailing what's been called the states earthquake drought. They say despite recent earthquakes like the North Ridge quake, it's been 100 years since California saw a ground rupturing earthquake and Dr. Thomas Rockwell is a San Diego State University. Geology professor and an expert in earthquakes. He says the San Andres fault may be ripe for a big one. We know that the average time between large earthquakes on the southern most Andres is about a 180 years. It's now been 300 years since the last large earthquake. Scientists say it's possible that pattern could change in the years ahead with a period of more frequent destructive earthquakes. Jade Hindman, KPBS news and unusual and potentially deadly disease is making a growing number of San Diego County children. Sick. KPBS health reporter Susan Murphy talked to a team of researchers who say it may be caused by something in the air. Yes ma'am. It says Emilia and Lucy, my daughters Speaker 8: 05:58 Amelia. Her bits was admitted to Rady children's hospital in February. You didn't like the heart medicine. I know she had a high fever, swollen lymph nodes in her neck and read cracked lips. She started having the rash. She started having red hands and feet that were swelling a little bit and then her eyes were also getting very bloodshot. Her mother, Laura her says doctors immediately ruled out the flu staph infection Mano and so as her symptoms kept more and more were coming and they were becoming more prevalent, that's when they took her in for the echocardiogram and she was identified as um, Kawasaki Disease. Speaker 1: 06:38 Millea is one of 50 children in San Diego county to be diagnosed with Kawasaki disease since January. That's three times more than usual. The disease generally affects children under the age of five left untreated. It can fatally damage the heart in one of four children. Speaker 8: 06:55 Kawasaki disease to me is the most compelling mystery in clinical pediatrics right now because the answer seems like it must be staring us in the face. Speaker 1: 07:09 Dr. Jane Burns is a professor of pediatrics at Uc San Diego and director of the Kawasaki Disease Research Center. She says most of the children recently diagnosed in San Diego County. We're treated early enough to prevent heart damage, but for some even early treatment wasn't enough. She says those children will require lifelong treatment Speaker 8: 07:30 and without the proper followup which can keep all of these individuals safe, there can be disastrous consequences. Speaker 1: 07:37 Burns and her team meet every week to discuss new research and review cases. We don't think like high temperature causes cows are disease or even the high temperature is linked to whatever the thing is. That team includes Jennifer Burnie and environmental scientists with UC San Diego. We actually think there's, it's more indicators of atmosphere conditions. Bernie believes the culprit and maybe air flowing across the Pacific Ocean from Asia to San Diego stirred up by unusual weather patterns. Speaker 8: 08:06 What we know is that historically in San Diego County, when you see these moments of high incidents of, of Kalisocky, they're associated with a set of conditions. So higher temperatures, higher daytime and nighttime temperatures. Um, and uh, reduced circulation across the Pacific. Speaker 1: 08:24 Bernie says pockets of air get trapped and that seems to be linked to a spike in cases. The unknown is what exactly is in the air that triggers the disease, which is found all over the world. Her research points to aerosol particles. Speaker 8: 08:38 Some of these come from natural sources like um, like dust or sea salt. Some of them are biologic fungus, bacteria, virus and some of them are from anthropogenic activity. Things like burning fossil fuels. Speaker 1: 08:53 Bernie is studying data on and where kids are getting sick to try to catch the culprit. We need to figure out Speaker 8: 09:01 sort of statistically how to sample for something that's kind of sparse potentially in the atmosphere. How do you do that in a way that you might actually catch the thing at the moment that it is exposing kids? The current paradigm is that if you were born with the genetic susceptibility, you will get Kawasaki Disease. It's just a question of when you'll come across the trigger. Speaker 1: 09:23 Dr. Burns, director of the research team dedicated her life to studying the disease after one of her patients died of it 35 years ago. She says, children of all races have been sickened, but Asian children and boys are at a higher risk. She imagines a time in the near future when every baby will be genetically screened for the disease Speaker 8: 09:46 and then we would vaccinate them so they would never need to suffer Kawasaki disease and we would just wipe it out. That's my dream. That's my dream. That's a better world. Yeah. Speaker 1: 10:00 Susan Murphy Kpbs News 10 states now have legalized recreational marijuana, but it remains forbidden for people in the military even if they're living in one of those states from Colorado Springs. Dan Voice of the American Home Front project reports on the tensions that can cause. Speaker 9: 10:18 On a recent tour of a rec center at Fort Carson Army base, I see a tall doorframes size poster headlined the costs of marijuana through charts and graphics. It lists the army's perspective on pots, physical costs, social costs, usage trends. Speaker 1: 10:35 It emphasizes the fact that marijuana's still continues to be the drug of choice Speaker 9: 10:40 in all of our services. That's done a Klaus, she's the prevention services branch chief for the army's substance abuse program. She's based in San Antonio, Texas. Her group created the poster which is posted at bases around the country. Another part of the poster shows a color coded map of the u s split up by whether marijuana is legal recreationally or medically. Speaker 1: 11:03 We understand that there might be confusion, especially for individuals who live in the states where marijuana use is legal built Speaker 9: 11:11 for the military. There's no confusion. It is never okay for soldiers to use even if they're stationed in illegal marijuana state. At a recent Colorado Springs city council candidate debate our candidates. Do you support the sale of recreational marijuana in Colorado Springs? Would you back the springs where Fort Carson is located is the largest city in Colorado that has not legalized recreational marijuana stores. Mini here complain the city is likely missing out on millions in revenue from highly taxed pot shops, but so far local officials just aren't willing to risk angering the armed forces. Here's newly elected council member Wayne Williams. The reason I oppose that, I've been back in the Pentagon with other leaders in our community Speaker 10: 11:54 seeking new missions, seeking to protect our basis. Speaker 9: 11:57 There are five bases in the city. The military is absolutely a cornerstone of this local economy. Speaker 10: 12:02 Folks, the last thing we need to do is to make recreational marijuana. Yet another reason why the Defense Department ops to take missions, troops, personnel and move it somewhere else Speaker 9: 12:14 somewhere else like maybe the army's redstone arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, Speaker 11: 12:19 which show I've been told likes to bad mouth car springs from time to time because of cannabis. Speaker 9: 12:24 Andrew heaten runs a medical marijuana business in Colorado Springs which are legal. He disputes that having legal marijuana in your base means more soldiers will use the drug. He says in cities like Huntsville, you can still go off base and buy pot on the black market. Speaker 11: 12:40 In a community where it's legal, you've got it off the streets for the most part. Speaker 9: 12:44 Now, there are many who would debate that point, but he didn't also points out military members undergo random drug tests Speaker 11: 12:50 and none of them want to get what they call the BCD, the big chicken dinner, which is a bad conduct discharge. Speaker 9: 12:55 Not surprisingly, active duty soldiers are wary of talking about any marijuana use, but some veterans are getting increasingly vocal. Matthew Kale served in the army in Afghanistan, had two deployments and one matter of act. His face was badly injured. Traumatic brain injury, spinal injuries, PTSD. It left him taking a lot of medication, but he moved to Colorado to try marijuana as an alternative and started reducing his pills Speaker 12: 13:23 and eventually I got it down to nothing. Speaker 9: 13:25 He now runs an organization focused in part on securing the right for veterans to use medical cannabis and he thinks it's time to be realistic about active duty soldiers and drug use too. Speaker 12: 13:36 I know of people who are deployed and they often come across hash in Afghanistan. They use hash nor to Medicaid, not just the horrors, the hardships of war, but to alleviate the boredom. Speaker 9: 13:51 Donna Klaus with the army's Substance Abuse Program says this is all beside the point. As long as marijuana remains illegal federally, the rule stands Speaker 11: 14:00 illegal drug use and abuse remains incompatible with both military and civilian services in the army Speaker 9: 14:07 in Colorado Springs. I'm Dan boys. Speaker 11: 14:09 Thanks for listening to the San Diego News matter. His podcast. For more local stories, go to [inaudible] dot org.
