500,000 Expected To Pack The Waterfront For Annual Big Bay Boom And More Local News

Speaker 1: 00:01 It's Thursday, July 4th I'm Andrew Bowen. And you're listening to San Diego news matters from KPBS coming up. Fireworks will be booming all over San Diego county to celebrate the 4th of July. And what was it like to live in California on July 4th, 1776 depends on who you were and were so rich was the land that about one third of all native Americans. And what we now recognize as the u s lived here in California that more San Diego news stories after the break. Speaker 2: 00:30 Mm. Speaker 3: 00:33 Thank you for joining us for San Diego News Matters. I'm Andrew Bowen. Fireworks will be booming all over San Diego County today to celebrate the 4th of July. KPBS reporter Matt Hoffman says one of the largest shows is happening on San Diego Bay. The countdown to the annual big bay boom is on Speaker 4: 00:51 San Diego Bay is the best place in the world for fireworks. It's so picturesque, it's, you can't get a better location in America. Speaker 3: 00:59 Sam Braga is in charge of setting up the show, which attracts around 500,000 people to the waterfront. Speaker 4: 01:04 So go to shelter island, go to harbor island, uh, go to Embarcadero done by sea, by the midway, uh, you know, Star of India, all that all anywhere along harbor drive. We the awesome Shelby. If you look down Harvard drive, you'll see three shows. Speaker 3: 01:16 The show was launched from four barges scattered throughout San Diego Bay. It takes around 8,500 pounds of explosives to light up the skies. Port of San Diego Harbor. Police say they will have extra patrols during the big bay. Boom. The show takes to the skies at 9:00 PM Matt Hoffman. K PBS news. A new state law took effect this year that has allowed more public access to police records. But according to San Diego police, the law does not apply to officer involved car accidents. The night of June 8th to San Diego police officers were driving through Hillcrest responding to a burglary. A woman stepped into the street outside the crosswalk. Both officers hit her with their cars. She later died of her injuries. At first glance KPBS thought we could get more details about the crash under a new state law that requires police to disclose records related to officer use of force but public records attorney Matthew Halprin says San Diego police defined use of force as an officer attempting to gain control over a person or a situation Speaker 5: 02:17 and because that is their understanding of what use of force means in this context, they are taking the position that automobile accident does not qualify as a use of force. Speaker 3: 02:29 Algren has represented KPBS and public records cases. He says the new law SB 1421 has improved police transparency, but Speaker 5: 02:38 there are at least some aspects of police conduct and misconduct that are not available even under SB 1421 so really this is an area that might be right for additional legislative action to further enhance public access. Speaker 3: 02:53 The woman who died in the crash last month was 33 year old at Bernadette grant lane last September 60 year old hay Seuss Casada days died after being hit by a police vehicle in Lincoln Park. In an effort to improve medical care in rural and low income areas of California. The state is making a financial investment in physicians as capitol public radio's Randall White explains, the plan is to pay off student loans in exchange for a five year commitment to serve medical patients. Millions of Californians don't have access to quality health care for a variety of reasons. Those unmedical face, some of the greatest obstacles and a lack of doctors is one of them. That's where the loan payback program steps in encouraging newly graduated physicians to establish themselves in underserved areas. They may make a little less, but if they don't have debt to pay back, we are hoping that nets out such that they stay in place and continue to serve medical patients. Speaker 3: 03:48 Jennifer Kent is the department of Healthcare Services Director. She says nearly $59 million will pay the loans of 247 physicians. Funding comes from 20 sixteens proposition 56 which increased taxes on cigarettes and e-cigarettes in Sacramento. I'm Randall white. A military judge gave Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher, a four month sentence on the one charge where he was convicted. KPBS military reporter Steve Walsh has been covering the case. Tuesday Gallagher was acquitted of the most serious crimes he faced, including murder and attempted murder from his time in Iraq in 2017 Wednesday, the jury sentence, Gallagher to four months on the remaining charge of posing with a corpse on the battlefield. The maximum allowed under the charge is attorney Tim Parla. Tory said Gallagher accepted blame. Speaker 6: 04:35 It was a regretful decision to pose in the photos and something that obviously if he could take that back, he would. Those photos have led to pretty horrific consequences for his family. Speaker 3: 04:47 Gallagher was confined to nearly eight months in the Briggs, so he will not face additional prison time. He was lowered in rank from [inaudible] and will forfeit a portion of his pain. His legal team says he will follow the military appeals process to try to overturn the conviction. Steve Walsh KPBS News July 4th as a time for family and fun and fireworks, but fireworks are anything but fun for dogs. KPBS reporter John Carol has some tips on how to keep your four legged friends safe while the bombs are bursting in the air. It's an American tradition watching bursts of color explode in the sky above a celebration of freedom, a joyous visual of Americana, but those patriotic sounds or anything but a happy experience for dogs. In fact, San Diego County Department of Animal Services Director Dan de Sousa says they're terrified. Speaker 7: 05:39 You will see a dog in a backyard, jump a fence, dig through a fence, break through a fence and sheer terror to get away. You will have dogs in a house break through a window to escape. Speaker 3: 05:54 D'Souza says, if you can hear fireworks at your home, the best thing to do is stay home with your dogs. If you do leave, put them in a room that's isolated. Make sure they're microchipped and register your dog with a website called finding rover. It uses facial recognition technology to reunite people with their dogs and it's free. John Carroll KPBS news. This independence day. We're taking you back in time to California in 1776 it would be 75 years before folks along the eastern seaboard would even hear of California, but it was here all along and well populated. California had colonies too from the north state public radio series up the road. Kim Weir has more. Speaker 8: 06:40 July 4th, 1776 the first and original independence day for these United States. Stars and Stripes, Liberty Bell, George Washington with or without cherry tree, 5 cent drums, ratatat debt, smoking muskets, fireworks, the rocket's red glare, those 13 colonies finally busting loose. It would be almost 75 years. The California gold rush before anyone on the eastern seaboard gave a thought to the continents. Western coast, if there even was a coast over there. What was it like to live in California on July 4th, 1776 depends on who you were and where. If you are a local meaning among the people here at least 10,000 years, let's call them native Californians. In most places, life went on much as always and such an abundant life. So rich was the land that about one third of all native Americans and what we now recognize as the u s lived here in California up to 300,000 people organized into distinct communities or bans thanks to their industry. Speaker 8: 07:49 This was no untouched wilderness. They used fire, selective harvest and other practices to encourage useful plants and animals and to discourage infestations of insects and disease and the catastrophic fires that plagued the state today. In early contact with explorers and missionaries, most Californians were described as quick witted, gracious and generous, but that contact with Europeans and later Americans, more explorers and missionaries, hunters and trappers, settlers, gold seekers would devastate these first residents who had no immunity to diseases. The newcomers brought the Spanish were the first newcomers to settle in. They were here in California on July 4th, 1776 us independence day though, barely dependent on unpredictable supply ships struggling to feed and house themselves. They rarely traveled inland, but the diseases they brought with them traveled far and fast. Well before the California gold rush of 1849 much of native California had died of pestilence, women and children. Speaker 8: 08:55 The hardest hit. Other facts about the Spanish here are still disputed, largely because historical archives were destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906 but thanks to historian Leon g Campbell. We know as he says, in 1774 the same year that Bostonians resisted the intolerable acts of the English government, Spanish authorities in Mexico dispatched captain Juan Bautista Deanza from the two buck Presidio south of Tucson to blaze a trail overland to Alta California. Deanza reached Monterey in the spring of 1774 the following year on his second expedition, he pushed further north to the Bay of San Francisco and shortly after the Americans pen their declaration of independence, the mission and Presidio of San Francisco were founded on September 17th, 1776 with this established the crown decreed the following year that the Capitol of the California's should be transferred from Loretto and Baja to Monterey as a p s Monterey's mission and Presidio were already there, established in 1770 and a small pueblo. In fact, Sabastian vis Keno entered Monterey Bay and 1602 18 years before the pilgrims arrived at Plymouth rock. Please note next time you're in Monterey visit, the impressive period buildings that still survive from its days as California's first capital. Speaker 3: 10:26 That was Kim. We are host of the north state public radio series up the road. We have a link to the series on our website, kpbs.org thanks for listening to the San Diego News matters podcast. I'm Andrew Bowen. You can find more stories online@kpbs.org.