Border reopens

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Good morning. I'm Annica Colbert. It's Monday, November 8th, the border reopens today for all travel more on that next, but first let's do the headlines. 20,000 Kaiser Permanente workers are planning to strike on November 15th. The strike would impact most of Southern California, including Kaiser San Diego hospitals. One point of contention is a proposal to pay new nurses less than existing ones. Gemma Frulla is a Kaiser registered nurse and union steward.
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A two tiered system is a definite divisor as a union. We want to stay in solidarity. We want to be United. We want the same fate for the same, the same
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In a statement. Kaiser says the challenge they're trying to address with the unions is the increasingly unaffordable cost of healthcare and wages and benefits account for half of operational costs with travel ramping up as the pandemic, hopefully winds down the tourism industry is hoping to profit already. Airbnb's profits jumped 300% during the third quarter, compared to last year. Miro Kopech is a business analyst for KPBS.
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The industry expects travel to rebound roughly to 2019 levels. Hopefully if, if trends hold and, and the, and COVID does not go through another cycle to rebound in, in the summer of 2022,
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The Navy Christian it's latest ship over the weekend. It's a replenishment oiler named after assassinated civil rights leader, Harvey milk milk served in the Navy during the Korean war. As a diving officer, he then became the first openly gay elected official in California. When he was elected to the San Francisco board of supervisors in 1977, 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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After 19 months of a non-essential travel ban, the U S Mexico border is expected to be reopened today, but as KPBS reporters Gustavo Solis and Alexandra Rangel found, the reopening is expected to come with long lines and bureaucratic hassles.
inaudible] knows exactly what she wants to do. As soon as the border reopens to non-essential travel, visit her son and go shopping. She says, Diaz is a Mexican citizen with a tourist visa. Her son recently became an American citizen, but he hasn't been able to get a passport. So they've been stuck without being able to see each other. Since July. The us says being separated from him has been difficult, But her weight will be over starting Monday. That's when she and other non-essential travelers will finally be allowed to cross into the us. As long as they've been vaccinated, he says Castillo the customs and border protection officer in charge of the sunny. See that a port of entry explain the new process.
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If you are a visa holder, traveling for non-essential reasons, you can verbally attest or declare at primary to the CBP officer as to your vaccination status. We ask that you do not wait for the officer to ask you the question. You should also have proof of your vaccination status. In case the officer asks not all travelers will be asked for proof of vaccination
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Border patrol agents will randomly check people for vaccination proof, similar to how they conduct vehicle inspections. Everyone must have their vaccination papers, but not everyone will be asked to show them. And there is no way of knowing who will be asked and who won't
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It's random. I mean, if the officer deems that he needs, he or she needs to ask, uh, they will ask
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Getting a vaccination certificate into Quanta has proven to be easier said than done. That is his [inaudible]. He is California's federal delegate, who oversee social programs. It's his job to make sure everyone eligible in the state gets the right paperwork. He showed us the certificate. People can use as proof of vaccination. It's a QR code border officials can scan, but the certificates are full of errors.
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[inaudible]
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Says they had about 3,200 people waiting in line every day, asking for corrections. Now it's about 1200 people daily
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[inaudible]
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Says the problem is people didn't fill in their personal information correctly on their original documents. He says a lot of people provided false addresses and telephones because they didn't trust the federal government with their personal information. ODB understands the frustration living in a border community. It means crossing on a regular basis and not being able to cross feels like being cut off from half of your world. The Quanta has a border spirit. He says people from the Quanta are the most American nights. Mexicans and people from California are the most Mexicanized Americans. People who have the right paperwork will have to deal with another obstacle before crossing the border long wait times. Border wait times at Sandy, Seattle were notoriously long even before COVID times, but now wait times could be longer than never.
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After we lift restrictions, we are expecting an increase in travelers, and we also expecting an increase in wait time
On a recent weekday, a car broke down just a few yards from the port of entry. CBP has reassigned more officers to meet the anticipated demand, but there are still no plans to reopen the pet west pedestrian crossing or open all of [inaudible] vehicle traffic lanes, Yvonne Haley, Anna Sanchez says she's already waited 19 months to cross. What's another couple of hours. She jokes and says she plans to set up a camping tent for the long wait.
And that was reporting by KPBS Alexandra Rangel and KPBS border investigative reporter Gustavo Solis. this story was made possible with support from the economic hardship reporting project.
California attorney general, Rob Bonta says his office will take a larger role in enforcing California's housing laws. KQED politics reporter Guy Marzarotti has more
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Law signed by governor Gavin Newsome. Earlier this year gives the attorney general new power to Sue local governments that aren't following state laws to plan for and approve more housing units. And with that new authority, Bonta is launching a 12 member strike force to stop up enforcement.
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I believe something unique in the history of the California department of justice to have the priority and emphasis and focus on, uh, housing, uh, law enforcement that we have, uh, as we are showing today through our strike force
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Groups, representing California cities and counties have said, the attorney general now has too much enforcement authority over housing decisions.
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And that was KQED politics reporter Guy Marzarotti. As travel and the economy have come roaring back. So have carbon emissions research from Stanford. University shows levels of emissions have almost returned to where they were before the pandemic KQED climate reporter. Laura Klivans has more on what this means.
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Gas emissions are surging as power plants and industry have returned to burning coal and natural gas. One surprising finding is that emissions came roaring back, not trickling as they did after the 2008 recession says Stanford professor, Rob Jackson. He heads the global carbon project
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It's troubling because every year we keep emitting 35 or 40 billion, tons of greenhouse gas pollution brings us closer to 1.5 and two degrees C that brings more and stronger droughts. Hurricanes fires, weather events.
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Jackson says fossil fuels must be replaced with carbon free alternatives. And much of the pandemic recovery money has not done that.
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And that was KQED climate reporter. Laura Klivans.
Coming up. The trucking industry is short 80,000 drivers and it's affecting the global supply chain.
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I got to train people, get them out there. Cause right now we're backed up and it's,
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We'll check in with the local trucking school trying to get more drivers on the road. That's next, just after the break. One of the issues causing disruptions in the global supply chain is a severe shortage of truckers. KPBS is Alexandra Rangel examines this issue and visits a local driving school, working to keep up with demand.
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Breaks in low blow on the horn there. Make sure nobody's out. Hanging out.
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Andre Weston is a driving instructor at United truck driving school in mission valley.
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I'm going to teach you a lot to do a little bit of up
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Shifting a year ago, this job wasn't in Wesson's plans, but then the pandemic hit and he saw the need for his expertise.
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I thought I was going to retire. I did retire. And then I see this ad and I'm thinking, wait a minute, I got 20 years experience. And now I'm thinking and you sitting here wasting it. Why don't you go out there and see what happened? Go talk to him.
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Careers and trucking have long been the path for the middle class who don't have college degrees, but it's a girling job that doesn't attract many younger workers. And now we'll wave of retirements is washing over the industry, leaving firms in desperate straights. According to the American trucking associations, the industry is short 80,000 drivers. That number is expected to double by 2030. If major progress isn't made. Philip Harris is also a retired trucker. And now the admissions counselor at United, he says, it's a shortage that has accumulated over the years.
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Oh, with COVID came out. The guys that were going to retire in three to four years, just now we're done. And then DMVs were closed. So they weren't able to license new drivers, which takes about six months to really get the good training.
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But the need has never been greater. The ATA estimates that 72% of the nation's freight gets moved by truckers.
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We have been posting everywhere from
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Billboards to Craigslist, to recruiting at diesel gas stations. Roberto Rodriguez says he's tried every avenue to look for new hires
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Down here in San Diego, in California, especially we don't have enough daughters. The drivers that already have their permits, they're licensed. They are working for big companies.
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He's increased pay, but as he raises the bar, other companies do the same.
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Hey is going up. We have one major company that last year was paying in the $20 range. They now are paying their class. A drivers 25.
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Gary Smith is the placement instructor for United. He says, companies are now willing to hire drivers with no experience. As long as they have a license. That used to be unheard of little Maria says he can't be choosy right now. He has a thousand trailers on his lot waiting to be picked up.
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We have been working, uh, with a lot of, uh, uh, lawyers, uh, law firms to verify they can help us to do any process so we can give Mexican drivers the opportunity to work down here. Neutral
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Breaks, flashes of steel.
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As companies scrambled to fill driver's seats. United trucking school is doing its part to fill the needs.
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We take them from almost ground zero and, uh, teach them all the skills and knowledge in order to become professionals.
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During the four week course, students earned their class a and class B commercial driving license, and are helped with job placement. The news of the driver shortage in higher pay appears to be having an effect for the first time ever. United has a waitlist of students looking to join the program and applicants are coming from diverse backgrounds.
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Very inundated with students. Students are just, we were booked out to
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January there on gray is currently enrolled in the program, but it's not his first time getting his CDL. He left trucking a few years back when his daughter was born because he wanted to be home more. But with incentives increasing for drivers, he's ready to hit the road again.
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So there's a lot of work available right now for truck drivers. A lot of people are going into other careers that are more corporate white collar, and they're kind of leaving the blue collar jobs behind. And these companies need bodies in the seats.
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Yeah. The trucker lifestyle is in for everyone. Harris says he's very blunt with students who are looking to enroll.
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Good to see our families a lot. We're on the road. A lot of times, most truckers, average, only seeing their family about 12 days out of the year.
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You know, you're shifting is getting really good lately, right? You're up shifting you're downshifting. All of that's been, yeah, it's really coming through
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Wesson. He's just grateful. He gets to contribute to teaching the next generation of drivers.
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I think we can get there together. Uh, keep America moving, so to speak. Cause right now we're backed up and it's bad.
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And that was reporting from KPBS is Alexandra Rangel. This story was made possible with support from the economic hardship reporting project. And that's it for the podcast today. Be sure to catch KPBS midday edition at noon on KPBS radio, or check out the mid edition podcast. You can also watch KPBS evening edition at five o'clock on KPBS television. And as always you can find more San Diego news online@kpbs.org. I'm in Annica Colbert, thanks for listening. And to have a great day.