County is hiring more than 100 people to verify new CalFresh work requirements
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Good Morning, I’m Lawrence K. Jackson, it’s FRIDAY, JUNE 26TH
>>>> THE COUNTY IS HIRING 122 PEOPLE TO VERIFY NEW WORK REQUIREMENTS FOR CAL FRESH More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….########
YESTERDAY THE SUPREME COURT RULED ON A CASE THAT ORIGINATED RIGHT HERE IN SAN DIEGO
THE RULING SAYS PEOPLE MUST FIRST PHYSICALLY STEP FOOT INTO THE U-S BEFORE THEY CAN APPLY FOR ASYLUM
THE RULING CONVERSELY FINDS THAT THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IS LEGALLY ALLOWED TO BLOCK, PREVENT OR DETER ANY ASYLUM-SEEKERS FROM CROSSING INTO OR ACTUALLY REACHING THE U-S
SUPPORTERS OF THE RULING CONSIDER IT A BIG WIN FOR IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT, WHILE THOSE WHO OPPOSE IT FEEL IT WILL ONLY FURTHER ENDANGER THE LIVES OF VULNERABLE PERSONS SEEKING REFUGE IN THE U-S
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STARTING JULY 1ST, THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO WILL SWAP THE LAST OF ITS BLACK TRASH BINS FOR GRAY ONES
THE SWAP WILL HAPPEN ON SCHEDULED COLLECTION DAYS
THE CITY SAYS THE NEW BINS WILL HELP ENSURE QUOTE `` ONLY ELIGIBLE HOUSEHOLDS RECEIVE SERVICE AT THE LEVEL THEY SELECT
CUSTOMERS ARE BILLED BASED ON THAT LEVEL
OFFICIALS SAY THE NEW BINS ARE MORE DURABLE, EASY TO IDENTIFY AND INCLUDE CLEAR SORTING REMINDERS ON THE LID TO HELP RESIDENTS KNOW WHAT GOES WHERE
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THE 20-26 FIFA WORLD CUP IS ROLLING ALONG !
AND, IN CONTINUED-CELEBRATION OF SAN DIEGO AS A BORDER REGION BOTH THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO ARE MOVING ONTO THE KNOCKOUT STAGE
MEXICO HAS MANAGED TO ALREADY MAKE HISTORY
NBC NEWS REPORTS THAT FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, MEXICO HAS WON ALL THREE OF ITS GROUP MATCHES
THE UNITED STATES ALSO WON THEIR ASSIGNED GROUP,; ALSO LOCKING UP A SPOT IN THE APPROACHING KNOCKOUT STAGE
GOOD LUCK TO BOTH OF THE FIFA WORLD CUP HOST TEAMS!
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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SAN DIEGO COUNTY SUPERVISORS VOTED UNANIMOUSLY TO APPROVE A NEW BUDGET YESTERDAY [THURS]. IT CREATES MORE THAN 100 NEW POSITIONS TO ADMINISTER CALFRESH.
AS KEVIN TREVELLYAN [TREV-UH-LYN] REPORTS, THE COUNTY’S TAB FOR THE FOOD ASSISTANCE PROGRAM IS GROWING DUE TO RECENT FEDERAL CUTS.
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TREVELLYAN: H-R 1, dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill… cut a fifth of the federal food assistance budget after it was signed into law last summer. The legislation also created new work requirements for CalFresh.
San Diego County Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe said today [Thurs] the changes from H-R 1 could leave more than 93-thousand county CalFresh recipients without access.
Montgomerysteppe1.mp4 - [0:9]
Monica Montgomery Steppe | San Diego County Supervisor
“Taking food away from struggling families doesn’t build stronger communities – it creates instability, hardship and a greater risk of homelessness.”
TREVELLYAN: San Diego County supervisors are standing up 122 new staff positions to verify the new work requirements.
The county is also spending nearly 16-million dollars to backfill administrative costs that the feds are shifting to local governments.
TREVELLYAN: But not everyone on the board supported using reserve funds to backfill the CalFresh spending.
Supervisor Jim Desmond said concerns over new CalFresh work requirements are overblown.
Desmond1.mp4 - [0:8]
Jim Desmond | San Diego County Supervisor
“This is fear mongering and trying to make everyone think they’re losing their food and health care. They’re not.”
Trevellyan: The new budget goes into effect next month.
KT, KPBS
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IN OTHER MONEY RELATED NEWS…
WATER WILL SOON COST MORE ACROSS THE REGION.
REPORTER JACOB AERE SAYS THE COUNTY WATER AUTHORITY APPROVED A 3 PERCENT RATE INCREASE FOR 2027 YESTERDAY (THURSDAY).
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WATERVOTE 1 (ja) :54
The water utility says an increase is necessary in order to meet revenue
requirements, operational needs and fiscal goals.
Leaders with the organization say the rate hike is painful, but the three percent overall increase in the coming year is below the national rate of inflation … and down from earlier projections of close to six percent.
Nick Serrano is the water authority’s board chair.
“This is the lowest rate adjustment here in recent memory at the san diego county water authority. A lot of this has to do with costs outside of the authority’s control. Much like home and business budgets across sd county everything is increasing, the costs of energy, construction.”
The county water authority says similar 3 percent yearly water rate increases are expected through 2032. JA KPBS News.
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FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT IS REMINDING SAN DIEGANS ABOUT THE DANGERS AND CONSEQUENCES OF BUYING GUNS FOR PEOPLE LEGALLY DISQUALIFIED FROM HAVING THEM. REPORTER ANDREW DYER HAS MORE FROM THE FEDERAL BUILDING DOWNTOWN.
STRAWBUYERS 1 (ad) (:54) SOQ
Authorities say so-called straw purchases of firearms are one of the major sources of guns for gangs and cartels.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent Joe Medina… says buyers don’t always realize they’re breaking the law.
Carlos_1838mxf: 12;02;10;05 - 12;02;21;43
Joe Medina, ASAIC ATF LA
Too often, individuals involved in straw purchasing believe they are simply doing a favor for a friend or family member, or making quick money.
But purchasing a gun for someone not legally able to do it themselves is a serious crime — with serious consequences.
Here’s San Diego U-S Attorney Adam Gordon:
Carlos_1840.mxf 12;13;23;03- 12;13;42;24
Adam Gordan, US Attorney, San Diego
What particularly important right now in the San Diego region is to highlight the impact in the community that's both here in San Diego, as well as the violence that occurs in Tijuana based on firearms coming from the United States.
People convicted of straw purchasing firearms can face 15 years in prison and up to a $250,000 dollar fine.
Andrew Dyer, KPBS News.
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A HALF-CENTURY FIGHT TO SAVE AN EMERALD HILLS GREEN SPACE FOR A PARK MAY SOON BE DECIDED. REPORTER KATIE HYSON LOOKED INTO THE DISPUTE.
RADIOTOWERS ft. trt 5:00 SOQ (kh/mb)
At a high point in Emerald Hills sit 31 acres that have become a battleground. The property gives a 360-degree view, from Mexico to La Jolla. From his backyard, Kenny Key can climb up a steep slope and take it in.
SOT :15 Every morning I'm able to wake up, look to the east and see the sun come up over San Miguel . . . And then I track the sun all the way over, and I catch sunsets going down between Coronado Bridge.
Key's mother bought their home in the early ‘70s.
Redlining had recently ended.
The hilltop property had been a country club and golf course.
SOT :07 Blacks weren't allowed to play up here. Blacks weren't allowed to build up here. So when we came up here, it's like we were, it was like ‘Upgrade!’ you know?
Key was 7.
SOT :08 As kids, it was kind of like little rascals up here, I’m serious . . . Go carts, slingshots . . .
There used to be a drive-in movie theatre below the hill. From up high, the neighborhood kids could tune in for free.
SOT :07 We'd be on a roof, on my roof, or up on the hill with blankets. Growing up. Watching the latest thing every week.
A broadcast station owner bought the property and put up two radio towers.
Key says the kids used to dream instead of what he calls SeaWorld towers. Something visitors could ride up to take in the view.
He never let go of that dream.
SOT :09 We need more than housing. We need amenities that were promised to us in the 70s and denied us up until this very day.
The Trust for Public Land measured San Diego’s park equity this year. They found residents living in San Diego’s Black and brown neighborhoods, like Emerald Hills, have about a third of the nearby park space that white neighborhoods have.
The neighbors have been asking for a park here since at least 19-78.
The 20-15 community plan marks this property for a possible park.
So it came as a shock to those neighbors when they heard of the plan to build 123 homes here instead. Each lot could add two additional units.
Marc Santos has been living next to the lot since 19-95.
SOT :12 They want to make it to where only a few people can benefit from that view instead of this community which has been underserved and promised so much for so long with no deliveries.
The city considers “Southeastern San Diego” an environmental justice community. It’s overburdened by pollution, heat and lack of green space.
When neighbors looked at a zoning map, it didn’t appear 123 homes were allowed here.
On a similarly sized lot in La Jolla, developers are only proposing 18 homes.
Neighbors dug for an answer. And found a footnote in city code.
It allowed for much denser development – but only in the Black and brown, low-income neighborhoods of Southeastern San Diego.
It added to this feeling Santos has of being played.
SOT :03 It seems like we were really cut out of the backroom deals.
Saige Gonzalez Walding chairs the neighborhood’s community planning group.
SOT :09 Organizing a community that's already really working hard just to live in this time is asking a lot.
Advocating to save the green space has taken a lot of hours of unpaid labor.
SOT :10 I think burnout is real. And, and when you are in communities of concern like ours, you wonder if that's not the ploy, right? Is this the plan?
Despite the challenges, the community did organize. They convinced the City Council to repeal the footnote.
But city staff said stopping already complete development applications could violate state law. Including the development proposed for the radio towers lot.
San Diego is in a housing crisis. The San Diego Housing Federation estimates about 150-thousand more homes are needed.
Before Walding, Andrea Hetheru chaired the planning group. She says that number shouldn’t be the only goal.
SOT :19 It's not just about rooftops. The community matters . . . You can put the most beautiful housing and a number of housing in the South Pole, but if it doesn't have the amenities that you need, there's no point in the housing. So south of 94, before you put density here, we need amenities. We've been waiting for decades.
Hetheru thinks the stakes for this property are high.
SOT :09 Once you get a world class park, a destination type park on that hill, you're going to attract business . . . You need something of a huge scale and this parcel can do that.
The group appealed the housing development on every category the City of San Diego has. The hearing is scheduled for July 7th.
Walding will be among those making their case in a dispute she says reflects our times.
SOT :06 You know you can't make more land. You just can't . . . Land has become the commodity of the, of this century.
Katie Hyson, KPBS News
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HAITIANS BEGAN SETTLING IN TIJUANA IN 2016. A DECADE LATER, THEY'VE BUILT A VIBRANT AND GROWING COMMUNITY. REPORTER GUSTAVO SOLIS VISITED A HAITIAN RESTAURANT IN TIJUANA AS THEY WATCHED THEIR COUNTRY PLAY IN THE WORLD CUP.
TJHAITI 1 (gs) 1:02 SOQ
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He shoots …
NAT POP Haitians celebrating
He scores!
Haiti was eliminated from the FIFA World Cup Wednesday. But you wouldn’t know it from listening to this watch party at a Haitian restaurant in Tijuana.
BOWLER_8060 00:01:10:18 / 14:41:32:08“Mira, estamos Feliz. Aqui en Tijuana estamos como si estuvieramos en Nuestro pais.”
Evans Jean Lois is one of more than 6,000 Haitians who now call Tijuana home..
This is Haiti’s first World Cup appearance in more than a half century. Jean Lois says it’s given Haitians everywhere a reason to celebrate.
Vivianne Petite Frere is a community organizer. She says the World Cup is an opportunity to show the world a different side of Haiti.
BOWLER_8109 00:04:22:07 / 15:57:59:01“El munidal es una bentana para exponer el Haiti que ellos ocultan. Para los demas es Haiti peligroso.”
One that is not associated with violence and chaos portrayed in international media.
Gustavo Solis, KPBS News
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AS WE DO FOR YOU EACH AND EVERY FRIDAY, HERE ARE SOME WEEKEND EVENT IDEAS FOR YOU AND YOURS
THIS FRIDAY, IF YOU'RE FEELING JUST A BIT EMO THEN MUSIC BOX S-D HAS YOU COVERED WITH THE EMO NIGHT TOUR
ENJOY CLASSIC TUNES FROM MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, PANIC AT THE DISCO AND MORE
YOU CAN VISIT MUSIC BOX S-D DOT COM FOR TICKETS AND MORE INFO
ON BOTH SATURDAY AND SUNDAY YOU AND THE KIDDOS CAN TAKE PART IN THE GRAND RE-OPENING OF THE FLEET SCIENCE CENTER
COUNTY RESIDENTS, COLLEGE STUDENTS AND ACTIVE-DUTY MILITARY CAN ENJOY 50 PERCENT OFF OF THEIR ON-SITE ENTRY FEE ON BOTH DAYS!
THE SCIENCE CENTER SAYS THIS IS THE FIRST MAJOR RENOVATION OF THE SCIENCE CENTER SINCE THE 90'S !
AND, AS IT’S THE FOURTH-SUNDAY IN JUNE, YOU CAN JOIN THE COUNTY FOR THEIR TRAIL TREK!
IT’S A FOUR AND A HALF MILE-LONG HIKE HAPPENING AT THE WILDERNESS GARDENS COUNTY PRESERVE
WHATEVER YOU DO THIS WEEKEND, ENJOY!
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That’s it for the podcast today. This podcast is edited by Brooke Ruth AND hosted and produced by me, Lawrence K. Jackson. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend.
