Anniversary of Trump’s second inauguration was met with protest
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Good Morning, I’m Lawrence K. Jackson.it’s WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21ST>>>> [ PROTESTS ACROSS THE COUNTY TOOK PLACE IN ENCINITAS, NATIONAL CITY, EL CAJON AND MORE, KPBS WAS AT ONE AT WATERFRONT PARK DOWNTOWN…]More on that next. But first... the headlines….#######
THE SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE SAYS THAT HOME PRICES HAVE
NOW DIPPED IN 88 PERCENT OF CALIFORNIA
THE U-T SAYS THIS DECLINE IS NOTEWORTHY
BECAUSE AS RECENTLY AS MARCH OF LAST YEAR/20-25,
NO CALIFORNIA METROPOLITAN AREAS HAD ANY DECLINING
PRICES...
HOME PRICES IN SAN DIEGO SPECIFICALLY WERE DOWN 2 PERCENT
IN 20-25 AS COMPARED TO BEING UP FOUR PERCENT THE PREVIOUS
YEAR
ON A NATIONAL LEVEL, THEY SAY PRICES WERE IN ESSENCE,
FLAT LAST YEAR NEITHER INCREASING OR DECREASING
ALSO WORTH NOTING, A 30-YEAR FIXED-RATE MORTGAGE IN THE U-S
IS NOW AT THE LOWEST LEVEL ITS BEEN IN MORE THAN THREE YEARS
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ONE THING THAT'S NOT SEEING A DIP IN THE U-S IS COLLEGE
ENROLLMENT
IN FACT, IT ACTUALLY JUST PASSED PRE-PANDEMIC NUMBERS
TOTAL ENROLLMENT ACROSS UNDERGRAD AND GRAD PROGRAMS
SITS CURRENTLY AT ALMOST NINETEEN AND A HALF MILLION
STUDENTS
THE NATIONAL STUDENT CLEARINGHOUSE RESEARCH CENTER
SAYS THAT'S AN ENTIRE ONE PERCENT INCREASE SINCE FALL
OF 20-24
HOWEVER DIVING A BIT DEEPER INTO THOSE NUMBERS, TELLS
A STORY AS WELL...
A SENIOR DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AT THE CENTER SAYS THAT ENROLLMENT IS UP AT FOUR-YEAR PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES AND COMMUNITY COLLEGES CITING REASONS LIKE WANTING TO SAVE MONEY, UNCERTAINTY IN THE ECONOMY AND HIRING SLOWDOWNS…
BUT IS DOWN AT PRIVATE, FOUR-YEAR COLLEGES
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DONATING BLOOD OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS COULD WIN YOU TICKETS TO SUPERBOWL SIXTY BEING PLAYED AT LEVI'S STADIUM
THE AMERICAN RED CROSS SAYS ITS FACING A BLOOD SHORTAGE
AND IN RESPONSE TO THAT, THEY'VE ANNOUNCED A BLOOD
DRIVE
IF YOU DONATE WITH THE RED CROSS TODAY UP UNTIL THE 25TH,
YOU AND A GUEST COULD WIN ROUND-TRIP AIRFARE,
TICKETS TO THE GAME, THREE NIGHTS OF HOTEL ACCOMODATIONS
AND A THOUSAND DOLLAR GIFT CARD FOR EXPENSES
THOSE DONATING BLOOD BETWEEN JANUARY 26TH UP UNTIL THE 28TH OF NEXT MONTH WILL RECEIVE A TWENTY DOLLAR GIFT CARD
AS A REMINDER JANUARY IS NATIONAL BLOOD DONOR MONTH
AND THE SHORTAGE OF BOTH NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE BLOOD TYPE O, A NEGATIVE AND B NEGATIVE ARE ESPECIALLY NEEDED
From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
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YESTERDAY WAS THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF PRESIDENT TRUMP’S SECOND INAUGURATION… AND THE OCCASION WAS MET BY PROTEST HERE IN SAN DIEGO.
REPORTER JOHN CARROLL WAS AT ONE PROTEST IN WATERFRONT PARK.
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WATERFRONT 1 : SOQ
((NAT POP/PROTESTERS))
WITH SIGNS AND VOICES… PROTESTERS GATHERED AT WATERFRONT PARK TO MAKE THEIR OPPOSITION TO THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CLEAR. THEY STARTED WITH A RALLY, THEN MARCHED AROUND THE COUNTY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING… DECRYING MULTIPLE TRUMP POLICIES… INCLUDING ICE IN AMERICAN CITIES. SAN DIEGO RESIDENT GREGG WARD - WHO’S A FORMER POLICE TRAINER WITH THE NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT, SAYS ICE’S ACTIONS ARE FASCIST.
“What you're seeing now is the federal government literally legitimizing violence, not only just against so-called illegals, many of whom are here trying to make a better life for themselves. They're not breaking laws. They're here on a misdemeanor. They're not here on a criminal activity, but it doesn't matter.”
THIS MARCH WAS ORGANIZED BY A SAN DIEGAN NAMED LISA DOELL. IT WAS TIMED TO COINCIDE WITH OTHER PROTESTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY. JC, KPBS NEWS.
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EVERY YEAR ON THE THIRD MONDAY IN JANUARY...MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY IS COMMEMORATED ACROSS THE COUNTRY AS A DAY OF SERVICE …
REPORTER JACOB AERE SAYS STUDENTS AT ONE SCHOOL IN ENCINITAS HONORED THE LEGACY OF DR KING YESTERDAY (TUESDAY) BY VOLUNTEERING IN THEIR COMMUNITY.
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MLKSERVICE 1 (ja) :48
**Ambi of gardening**
Up on the hillside at Coastal Roots Farm in North County … a group of students from The Grauer School spend the morning tending to the lush gardens and fertile land.
That includes 9th grader Zane Zanetti.
“We're here mulching and weeding roots, but we're really here to give back to the community.”
They are helping to level the ground and weed the vegetation in the area for a large event the nonprofit is hosting later this month.
It’s an effort that’s part of the private school’s first annual MLK Day of Service.
“We're going to go back and reflect on the day and how our experience was and reflect on Martin Luther King and stuff like that.”
Roughly 160 students from The Grauer (rhymes with hour) School spent part of the day volunteering with 16 non-profit organizations across the county. JA KPBS News
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THE SAN DIEGO COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT IS SHARING NEW DETAILS ON ITS VISION FOR REDEVELOPING GOLDEN HALL.
METRO REPORTER ANDREW BOWEN SAYS SAN DIEGO MAYOR TODD GLORIA ANNOUNCED PLANS TO COLLABORATE ON THE PROPERTY LAST WEEK.
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GOLDENFOLO 1 (ab) 0:49 soq
AB: You might be surprised to learn the San Diego Community College District has one of the largest collections of African and Southeast Asian art on the west coast. Most of the World Art Collection is in storage on the Mesa College campus in Clairemont. Chancellor Gregory Smith says a redeveloped Golden Hall would allow the district to showcase the collection in a larger and more accessible downtown location.
GS: We could have it then be activated in cultural celebrations across the year that various organizations in the city wants to do. And it would provide a central place to expand the educational partnerships.
AB: Smith says the redevelopment could also include housing for students, faculty and staff. The City Council is expected to vote on authorizing negotiations with the community college district in the spring. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.
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FOR MORE THAN A YEAR, PLANS FOR A TEN BILLION DOLLAR DATA CENTER HAVE BEEN QUIETLY MOVING FORWARD IN IMPERIAL COUNTY. IN THE FIRST OF A THREE-PART SERIES, REPORTER KORI SUZUKI FOUND THE DEVELOPER BEHIND THE PROJECT IS OPENLY SEEKING TO AVOID CALIFORNIA’S ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW PROCESS.
IVDATACENTER PT 1 (4:38) SOQ
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NAT SOUND
I’m standing in an empty lot in the city of Imperial. If you come here today, this place is quiet. It’s on unincorporated county land, with dry cracking earth and some small shrubs. Along the eastern edge, you can see homes peeking over the fence.
20251218_ksuzuki_ivdatacenter_z63_francisco leal / 1:32
My house is down there. It's one of those. You know, so I'll be sharing a fence, you know, with this data center if it goes through.
That’s Francisco Leal, an engineer and resident of Imperial. In a year or two, he says, things could look very different here. That’s because this is the planned site of a massive data center. At one million square feet, it would be one of the largest in California.
The data center could use almost twice the amount of energy that all of Imperial County used in 2024. That’s according to estimates shared by the project’s developer and state data. It could need around 750 thousand gallons of water per day.
But despite that need for resources, the developers behind the project are openly trying to avoid California's environmental review process. As they hope to cash in on the AI gold rush.
20251202_datacenter_sebastian rucci / 15:32
Our whole goal is speed on data centers.
Sebastian Rucci is a Southern California entrepreneur and one of the leaders of Imperial Valley Computer Manufacturing, the company that’s trying to build the data center. Rucci says they want to get it up and running as fast as possible.
20251202_datacenter_sebastian rucci / 13:05
With Chat GPT going online, the demand has increased exponentially… That's why you're seeing so many in Texas and some in Ohio. California's not really a place that people would say is friendly. But unlike others, I believe that I can get it done
Data centers are essentially giant warehouses filled with high-powered computer chips. They’ve been part of the infrastructure of the internet for a long time.
But recently, these facilities have become essential to the ambitions of generative AI companies. Which need unprecedented amounts of computing power to run these complex programs like Chat GPT.
20251217_ivdatacenter_khara boender / 2:05
The largest market in the US and in the world is located in Virginia. Um, but because of the demand of those products and services, we're seeing, you know, a broader build out of different markets across the US.
Khara Boender is a policy analyst with the Data Center Coalition, an industry group that’s active in California. She says data center developers are now looking to rural areas, where land is more affordable and they hope to face less opposition.
20251217_ivdatacenter_khara boender / 16:21
That can incentivize developers to move to those areas if they're able to connect and come up to power more quickly than in those other urban denser areas.
To Rucci, Imperial County seems like the perfect fit.
20251202_datacenter_sebastian rucci / 1:41
I think Imperial County is a great opportunity because they have a lot of renewable energy down there. They have a lot of potential. Also, economically, it's a place with very, very high unemployment. So it’s the right location.
To speed things up, Rucci has taken things a step further.
In California, most development projects have to go through a process called environmental review. Where state and local governments have to study the possible environmental effects and share them with the public.
That process can take a lot of time. And developers often have to scale down their project or find other ways to make up for the impacts.
To avoid that process, Rucci says he and his colleagues searched for land that was already zoned for industrial use — and where data centers were allowed. They found parcels in three areas: the city of El Centro, the city of Imperial, and on unincorporated county land.
20251202_datacenter_sebastian rucci / 4:32
That is not sneaky, that's just smart. I only purchased the industrial land that fits in three jurisdictions.
Rucci went to the City of Imperial first. But officials there pushed against the idea that the data center could avoid an environmental review. Dennis Morita is Imperial’s City Manager.
20251218_ivdatacenter_dennis morita / 3:43
It was important to our council that the neighbors had a voice in in that process.
In August, after months of discussion, Rucci withdrew. Instead, he tried the County of Imperial. County planners agreed with Rucci’s terms. Within months, they began clearing the way for his company to start grading the soil.
But as more and more people found out about the project in recent months, it began to face fierce opposition. To many Imperial County residents, the lack of environmental analysis for a project of this size has raised serious questions.
Leal, the city of Imperial resident, says he’s worried the data center will strain the region’s rural power grid and water supply. With little benefit for the people who live here.
20251218_ksuzuki_ivdatacenter_z63_francisco leal / 4:18
That's why this issue matters or should matter to all Imperial County residents, not just us that live, you know, right next to it. Because at the end of the day, it's power and water.
Rucci says they will take steps to reduce the project’s environmental footprint, including by using recycled water and recycling more water than the center needs.
But for many, Rucci’s strategy is also raising questions about his approach. Tomorrow, we’ll have more about who the developer is and his past legal troubles.
In El Centro, Kori Suzuki, KPBS News.
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THERE'S A BUILDING IN SAN MARCOS KNOWN AS "THE PINK HOUSE."
THE CITY IS SPENDING 40 THOUSAND DOLLARS TO PUT A NEW ROOF ON THIS VERY OLD HOUSE
NORTH COUNTY REPORTER ALEXANDER NGUYEN DELVES INTO THE HISTORY AND FUTURE OF THE PINK HOUSE.
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NATs saw and hammer.
This old house … NATs … as beaten up and weathered as it is … has a lot of history.
In fact, the house is older than the city….
NATPOP 3928 14;33;38;13 → 14;33;40;06 “She is an historical part of our city.”
Though no one really knows when it was built. Mayor Rebecca Jones says the best estimate was between …
NATPOP 3928 14;34;23;10 → 14;34;26;07 “The late 1800s to the early 1900s.”
Making the house more than 100 years old. She says the city is replacing the roof because it was leaking and rotting … allowing animals to get in.
Jones says the city plans on restoring the pink house to its former glory …
“because, again, you know, we really do believe in the whole, history and preserving it.”
… though there is no definitive timeline for that yet. AN KPBS News.
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That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Lawrence K. Jackson. Thanks for listening and subscribing; by doing so you are supporting public media and I really want to thank you for that. Have a great day!
