Detox center downtown being called first of its kind

Good Morning, I’m Lawrence K. Jackson-IT’S WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24TH

>>>> A NEW DETOX CENTER DOWNTOWN IS BEING CALLED A FIRST OF ITS KIND 

More on that next. But first... the headlines….

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CALIFORNIA IS FUNDING FOUR MORE AFFORDABLE HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS ACROSS SAN DIEGO COUNTY 

THE FUNDING IS PART OF GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM’S PUSH TO REDUCE HOMELESSNESS AND INCREASE HOUSING SUPPLY. 

THE DEVELOPMENTS HAD ALREADY SECURED 16 MILLION IN COUNTY FUNDING. THE FINANCING IS EXPECTED TO CREATE 280 UNITS OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING 

 THE MONEY IS TARGETED AT FOUR PROJECTS IN THE COLLEGE AREA, GRANTVILLE, OTAY MESA AND SOUTHEAST COUNTY. 

A SAN DIEGO HOUSING FEDERATION REPORT LAST YEAR FOUND THAT — SINCE 2017 – THE COUNTY HAS INVESTED MORE THAN 3 HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE MILLION DOLLARS IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING 

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AND NOW AN UPDATE FOR YOUR HIGHWAYS. YESTERDAY, WE MENTIONED THE LAST EXIT BEFORE MEXICO ON SOUTHBOUND INTERSTATE 5 WAS SCHEDULED TO BE CLOSED. BUT NOW CALTRANS HAS NOW CALLED THE CLOSURE OFF…

THIS MEANS THE CAMINO DE LA PLAZA    EXIT IS OPEN & WILL STAY OPEN

CALTRANS DECIDED THAT A FULL CLOSURE WAS NOT NEEDED TO REPLACE UNDERGROUND PIPING NEAR THE EXIT AND SAYS DRIVERS CAN EXPECT AN INCREASE IN TRAFFIC AND NOISE… BUT NOT A FULL EXIT CLOSURE

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YOUR SAN DIEGO PADRES HAVE OFFICIALLY SECURED A PLAYOFF SPOT.

IT”S THE FIRST TIME IN ABOUT 2 DECADES THEY’LL BE IN THE PLAYOFFS IN BACK-TO-BACK SEASONS.

DOING IT IN DRAMATIC FASHION TOO, PADRES NEWCOMER FREDDY FERMIN SMASHED A SINGLE IN EXTRA INNINGS TO SEAL THE WIN. 

ALSO WORTH NOTING, THE PADRES STILL HAVE A SHOT AT THE DIVISION TITLE AS WELL

NO SURPRISE HERE BUT ANY PATH FORWARD WILL INEVITABLY INVOLVE THE L-A DODGERS 

HOWEVER IT GOES DOWN.CONGRATS TO OUR FRIAR FAITHFUL ON ANOTHER POSTSEASON BIRTH 

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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A NEW DETOX CENTER AT FATHER JOE’S VILLAGES IN DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO OPENED ITS DOORS YESTERDAY (TUESDAY) TO PEOPLE EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS. 

HEALTH REPORTER HEIDI DE MARCO SAYS THEY’RE CALLING IT THE FIRST OF ITS KIND IN THE COUNTY.

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DETOX 1 trt:1:10 SOQ

Homeless advocates say detox services for people experiencing homelessness are one of the biggest gaps in the local safety net. In 2024, 284 homeless San Diegans died from drug overdoses.

JOSH BOHANNAN

Sadly, treatment options for this population has been few and far between.

Josh Bohannan is Father Joe's Villages chief strategy officer. He says Uup until now, there were only two Medi-Cal eligible detox beds in the city of San Diego.

COUNCILMEMBER RAUL CAMPILLO

That means if you didn't have private insurance, or you weren't wealthy and couldn't pay out of your pocket, you were waiting for one of two beds.

Councilmember Raul Campillo says the 44 new beds at Father Joe’s Villages will help reduce wait times. The program is Medi-Cal eligible, meaning it’s available to people regardless of income or insurance.

After detox, people who complete the program won’t be left on their own. Father Joe’s coordinates next steps in recovery, including outpatient programs, residential treatment, sober shelters, and housing support.

Heidi de Marco, KPBS News.

ANCHOR TAG: Father Joe's Villages is a corporate sponsor of KPBS.      The KPBS news operation maintains editorial independence from KPBS executives, corporate underwriters and donors.

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A COUNTY OFFICIAL WHO MADE CRUDE REMARKS ABOUT DOGS IN ANIMAL SHELTERS IS NOT AT WORK — FOR NOW. 

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER SCOTT RODD SAYS MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC ARE DEMANDING ACCOUNTABILITY.

SHELTERFOLO 1 (:47) SOC (WRAP)

Department of Animal Services director Vaughn Maurice told staff in an email that assistant director Rachael Borrelli would be “out of the office in the near term.”

A county spokesperson declined to provide more details.

The email came as KPBS published a story last week about a profane voice message Borrelli sent. In it…she complained not enough dogs were being euthanized.

“Those words were the were words of someone who shouldn't be in her position.”

Loretta Alva is a resident of Lemon Grove.

“People need to take accountability.”

Alva asked the county board of supervisors to strengthen oversight of the county’s animal shelters.

She signed a Change-dot-org petition calling for Borrelli’s removal. It’s received over 2,000 signatures so far.

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AROUND THE SALTON SEA, DUST STORMS HAVE BECOME AN INCREASING PROBLEM, SPARKING DOZENS OF PUBLIC HEALTH STUDIES. BUT MANY IMPERIAL VALLEY RESIDENTS HAVE GROWN WEARY OF REPEATED STUDIES THAT ALL BASICALLY SAY THE SAME THING: THAT THE AIR QUALITY IS BAD AND GETTING WORSE. 

IMPERIAL VALLEY REPORTER KORI SUZUKI SAYS ONE GROUP OF SCIENTISTS IS TRYING TO FOCUS ON SOLUTIONS INSTEAD. 

IVDUST 4:49 SOQ

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Amato Evan looks out towards the horizon. In the distance, a haze fills the air until it’s hard to tell where the sky ends and the water begins.

20250422_ivdust_iphone_0656 / 00:28

As the water from the salt and sea, as the water levels go down, this is an area where the exposed playa or the air the parts of the salt and sea that used to be underwater are rapidly being exposed to the air.

The Salton Sea. That’s the vast inland lake that stretches across the Imperial Valley. The lake is slowly drying up under pressure from intense water use and drought, exposing a dry lakebed.

It’s a calm morning in April today. But during the monsoon season, when high winds arrive, they can hurl that soil into the air in the form of massive dust storms.

Evan is a professor of atmospheric sciences at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego. He leads a statewide team of scientists who study dust. And he’s here today with a couple colleagues looking at the contents of the soil and where it might be traveling.

But Evan is also here for another reason. His long-term goal is to develop a forecasting system for dust storms in the Imperial Valley.

20250516_ksuzuki_ivdust_amato evan interview 1 / 49:25

The ideal scenario is that people that live in these areas can wake up in the morning and look on their phone and find out is there going to be a dust storm today?

More and more storms are happening across the Western U.S. Recent studies say that’s because of human-caused climate change.

The Salton Sea region has seen at least eight major dust storms since the turn of the century, according to federal climate data. Half of those were in just the last five years.

These numbers, and the fact that the lake is filled with chemicals from large-scale farming, have led to a barrage of health studies. Researchers have examined asthma rates in nearby towns, ER visits and the strain on the local healthcare system.

But for many people who actually live in the Imperial Valley, it’s not really clear that all this research has made much of a difference in their lives.

20250519_ivdust_Comite Civico_zoom / 47:20

We’re a petri dish for studies

That’s Luis Olmedo. He’s been the leader of Comite Civico del Valle, a local environmental justice group, since the 1980s. Olmedo has seen many researchers come with good intentions but fail to focus on the knowledge and needs of residents, who are experiencing the region’s environmental disasters firsthand.

20250519_ivdust_Comite Civico_zoom / 51:36

The expertise is right here. We're experts. We as a community are experts.

Local environmental justice groups have developed ways to monitor the air quality themselves. In 2007, Comite Civico worked with the University of Washington to create a network of sensors that capture live readings of particles in the air.

Those systems certainly helped, but had limitations. They could only report the air quality in real-time.

That’s when, two years ago, Olmedo and Evan, the atmospheric sciences professor, had a conversation. It went something like this.

20250516_ksuzuki_ivdust_amato evan interview 1 / 25:10

Who essentially told me in a very nice way we don't need any more studies. What we need are solutions.

20250519_ivdust_Comite Civico_zoom / 54:33

Yeah, you know, I don't mince words. I say it directly.

That conversation sent Evan deep into thought. About how his work could make a material impact. The answer he came up with was a dust forecast. That could give people more time to protect themselves.

20250516_ksuzuki_ivdust_amato evan interview 1 / 25:59

That might be sure you still have to go work outside, but you remember to take a map. mask or hopefully your employer makes sure they have a lot of N95s on hand. Um, but that could also be if you're a soccer coach knowing that there's going to be a big dust storm later in the day, maybe you want to cancel soccer practice or end it an hour early so everybody can safely get home before that dust storm occurs.

The system Evan pictures would be able to predict dust storms days ahead of time. And would also be able to alert people in the hours or minutes before a storm actually arrives. He says it could be as simple as the built-in weather app on a smartphone.

The challenge Evan faces now is a lack of funding. His research group needs around three million dollars for specialized equipment, high-powered computers and research in the field. Last year, he tried asking the state legislature for help. But a bill to fund the project didn’t pass.

Evan and his colleagues haven’t given up. They’re currently pushing ahead with a different strategy.

20250516_ksuzuki_ivdust_amato evan interview 1 / 46:40

So what we're trying to do is approach the project in a piecemeal way by cobbling together different projects that all have elements that are useful

That project along the Salton Sea – Evan says that’s the first step.

It’s a chance to start developing computer models for the flow of dust around the valley – one of the foundations they’ll need.

Olmedo, the environmental advocate, supports the idea but still has some concerns. Including whether it would be sustainable in the long-term. He says plenty of scientists have made promises and failed to deliver.

20250519_ivdust_Comite Civico_zoom / 01:01:19

These are life-saving tools that can come out of this. So you want to make sure that they are open source. They are available to the public and that they are owned by the public, especially if it requires long-term maintenance and operation.

Still, Olmedo says he’s glad Evan is at least listening to the feedback and talking about doing something. He hopes this time will be different.

In Calipatria, Kori Suzuki, KPBS News.

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THIS WEEK, PASSENGERS BEGAN FUNNELING IN AND OUT OF THE AIRPORT'S NEW TERMINAL 1. 

ARTS REPORTER JULIA DIXON EVANS EXPLORES HOW THE AIRPORT IS AN UNLIKELY ART MUSEUM.

T1ART (1:11) SOQ

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When driving up to the departure gates at the airport's new terminal one, the first thing you might notice is… art

A gigantic, hot pink jellyfish welcomes travellers. Matthew Mazzotta's RISE is a sculpture made of painted steel and flowy architectural mesh — intended to warn about rising sea levels.

MAZZOTTA 1-B.wav [trt 00:04]

if we don't pay attention to it, at one point there might be a jellyfish where this jellyfish is

An airport may seem like an unusual place to find art — but Aleta Lee [aLEE-ta], Public Art Program Manager for the airport, says it makes sense.

ALETA 1-B.wav [trt 00:12]

art provides a way of entertainment in terms of maybe, distraction or a way to get your mind off things and not be so stressed out in that environment.

Mazzotta hopes the art ultimately improves the traveling experience — and the place itself.

MAZZOTTA 2.wav [trt 00:15]

I think that cities have figured out if you invest in public art, it makes the whole thing better. it is a very efficient way to give people, it's a touch point that brings identity, and brings joy. It's like wayfinding landmark, the whole thing.

Julia Dixon Evans, KPBS news

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GIRLS’ FLAG FOOTBALL IS GROWING IN POPULARITY WITH NUMEROUS HIGH SCHOOLS ACROSS SAN DIEGO COUNTY HAVING TEAMS.

EDUCATION REPORTER KATIE ANASTAS SAYS, DESPITE THE NAME, THE GAME IS BECOMING A LITTLE BIT MORE PHYSICAL.

FOOTBALL1 1:16 SOQ

High school flag football now has an official rulebook.

It’s bringing changes to the game as Classical Academy’s team enters its third season. Daniel Salas is head coach.

SALAS

There's a lot of contact this year, a lot more than last year, that's for sure.

One big change involves the rusher. That’s the player who runs toward the quarterback to try and keep her from passing the ball.

SALAS

In year one and two, they had to be seven yards away. They could send one or two rushers. They had to indicate by ‘I’m rushing’ with a hand up. So we really knew who was coming.

Now, rushers are starting one yard away. Instead of one or two, up to seven players can go after the quarterback.

SALAS

Now her reaction time has to go a lot quicker. Her decision making has to be within one second.

Mary Hayes is a senior who plays wide receiver. She says it’s harder to pull off deep passes to receivers.

HAYES

There's honestly just like, kind of less receivers out there because of the blocking. So I think that's like, that's a big change in the game.

Salas [“salad”] says this year’s scores are lower.

SALAS

We're now in the 20s and 30s. The last two years we were constantly in the 50s, 60s and 70s.

He says teams are getting better as girls’ flag football becomes more popular. The sport will make its Olympic debut for both men and women at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Katie Anastas, 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 thank you for that. Have a great day!