Homeless encampment near Escondido Creek cleared

Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz. It’s Tuesday, December 17th. The city of Escondido cleared a homeless encampment near the Escondido Creek

More on what’s next. But first, let’s do the headlines.

The official winter holiday travel season begins Saturday.

The Automobile Club of Southern California estimates nearly 10-million So Cal residents will take end-of-the-year trips.

Nationwide, more than 119-million people are expected to travel for the holidays.

Homeland Security recommends a few ways to stay safe on the roads: Equip your car with an emergency roadside kit. Get a good night’s sleep before you drive. And leave early and plan for heavy traffic.

Feeding San Diego hosts its first food distribution at Feaster Charter School in Chula Vista tomorrow (Wednesday).

They will provide groceries to students and their families ahead of the three-week winter break.

The school was on the non-profit’s waitlist to be a part of the program since August 2023.

It is one of ten schools to be added to their expanded School Pantry Program.

Through the program, family members of students pick up grocery items once or twice a month to make healthy meals at home.

The Clean Energy Alliance is taking applications for its Community Advisory Committee through December 21st.

The public entity operates a Community Choice Aggregation or CCA program.

CCAs allow local governments to obtain electricity on behalf of residents and businesses.

There is one opening on the community advisory committee for each of the seven member cities. Those include Del Mar, Solana Beach, Carlsbad, Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos and Escondido.

The committee is responsible for making recommendations to the board of directors.

The board reviews applications and appoints the new committee members on January 30th.

From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need.

There’s a local emergency in Escondido over a homeless encampment along Escondido Creek. The city says there are high bacteria levels in the creek, and it's approved four million dollars to put up a new fence and restore the habitat.

Dozens of people were cleared from the camp Monday. But North County reporter Tania Thorne tells us, there are only a few shelter beds available for them.

“No one's going to get any help. No one's going to get off the street. They're just putting everyone that has made a home here and put them back on the street.This is the first time I've felt safe in six months that I haven't had to move.” Angela Grell has been living in the homeless encampments near the Escondido Creek off Harmony Grove. On Monday morning, the area was swept after the city declared a local state of emergency. Service providers set up tents to offer resources, but Grell expressed frustration over the shortfall. “It's not right because there is no shelter. There isn't a place to put us.” 64 people were warned the encampment would be cleared out, but on sweep day, only 15 shelter beds were available. Tania Thorne, KPBS News 

The leader of San Diego’s Commission on Police Practices has announced his resignation, just six months into the job. Investigative reporter Scott Rodd says the Police Oversight Board reviews misconduct complaints and gives policy recommendations.

Paul Parker was named executive director of the Commission on Police Practices in June. He previously led the county’s civilian police oversight board. Now, Parker says the city commission isn’t a good fit. For one thing, he believes the 25-member board is too large and unwieldy. “I think it should be probably no more than 15. The reason I say that is because it turns out that with that many people, it's very difficult to have very thorough discussions.” Eventually, the commission is supposed to launch independent investigations and subpoena witnesses. San Diego voters overwhelmingly approved this authority in 2020. But that hasn’t happened yet. In a statement, commission chairperson Gloria Tran said the commission was disappointed by Parker’s resignation but thanked him for his work. Scott Rodd, KPBS News.

Two former Navy leaders won’t face further discipline in the 2022 death of a Navy seal trainee. Military reporter Andrew Dyer says the decision comes just as the pair were scheduled to face boards of inquiry.

Investigations into the death of seaman Kyle Mullen in part found poor medical oversight at the service’s seal training facility in Coronado contributed to the 24-year-old’s death. This summer the Navy ordered boards of inquiry into capt. Brad Geary, the school’s former commanding officer, and cmdr. Erik Ramey, its former medical officer. The boards could have forced either man out of the navy. In a podcast appearance in August, Geary claimed the Navy was ignoring evidence that performance-enhancing drugs could have contributed to Mullen’s death. On Friday, the Navy notified each officer the boards were canceled. In a memo sent to one of the officers and obtained by KPBS the Navy says issues raised by defense attorneys led to the decision. It doesn’t say what those issues are. Andrew Dyer, KPBS News.

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to shut down a mobile app used by migrants seeking asylum in the United States. Border reporter Gustavo Solis spoke to migrants in Tijuana who would be directly impacted by Trump’s action.

It’s Christmas time in this Tijuana migrant shelter. Children play by the tree while parents decorate their temporary home. And like Mary and Joseph, these families are hoping for room at the inn. They’re all asylum seekers who fled their home in search of protection in the United States. Some of them have been waiting more than 10 months to pursue asylum claims. Jose Maria Garcia Lara runs the migrant shelter. “Algunos tienen 6 meses, algunos tienen 7 meses. El maximo tenia mas de 10 ya casi un ano.” Some have been here 6 or 7 months. The longest is more than 10 months. They’re all using the CBPONE mobile app – which allows asylum seekers to schedule appointments to enter the U.S. It’s become the only way to access the asylum system. And there are a limited number of appointments – which is why people are waiting so long. Garcia Lara says families are stressed. “Que voy hacer? ¿Hasta dónde me dirijo? Que ago?” What are we going to do? Where are we going to go? “No tienen opciones. ¿Qué opciones toman?” There are no other options. And adding to that stress is Donald Trump’s promise to shut down the App – leaving these families with virtually no access to the U.S. asylum system. Advocates are calling on the Biden administration to expand the number of appointments … but Customs and Border Protection officials say there are no plans to do that. With no help in sight - families in the shelter are turning to a higher power. A woman that we are identifying as Flor says a little prayer every time she opens the mobile app. “Yo le pido a dios. Se lo pido con mucha fe. Cada vez que le pongo la cita. Que nos llegue.” I pray God every day. Every time I log onto the app, I pray for an appointment. She fled her home in Mexico after a relative molested her son and other family members threatened to beat her for reporting it to the police. “Yo temo por la vida de mis hijos. Más que nada. Porque venimos huyendo y no quiero que nos encuentren.” I’m afraid for my son’s life. We ran away and I don’t want them to find us. They’ve now been waiting six months for an appointment. Flor is terrified that her relatives will track them down in Tijuana. Roughly 100 people live in this shelter. Half of them are children. Parents say this is all for them – a sacrifice to give their kids a safe and happy life. Blanca Isabel is another Mexican asylum seeker. “Mataron a mi yerno y decidimos mejor salir de Morelos.” We ran after they murdered my son-in-law. She says her family fled home after a gang murdered her son-in-law for failing to pay extortion fees. His daughter – which is Blanca’s granddaughter – was born in the shelter a month ago. She never met her father. “La bebe pues ya no la conoció. Acaba de nacer. Va a ser un mes apenas de nacida.” The baby never met her father. She was born here. Blanca’s family has spent the last four months trying to secure a CBPONE appointment. She says other families have gotten so tired of waiting and decided to cross the border illegally. They’ve thought about doing the same. But Blanca doesn’t think they could make the dangerous journey with a newborn. Their only hope is to get an appointment before Trump’s inauguration. “Eso es lo que me preocupa. Si quitan la aplicación que va hacer de nosotros.” That’s what worries me the most. That they eliminate the appointments. Meanwhile, Garcia Lara wonders how much longer he can keep the shelter running. Their electricity was shut off during the first week of December because they couldn’t pay the $1,000 electrical bill. The lights came back on after two donors paid the bill. “Y gracias a ellos hemos podido sobrevivir.” We were able to survive thanks to them. But Garcia Lara still isn’t sure if he’s going ot able to keep the lights on. He doesn’t know how he’s going to come up with the money to pay next month’s bill. Gustavo Solis, KPBS News.

Latino voters consuming Spanish-language news on social media may be more likely to fall for election lies. That's according to UC San Diego researchers. Public Matters reporter Amita Sharma reports that it could partially explain why more Latinos are leaning to the right.

Few voters escaped the onslaught of disinformation online this election season. But more so for people who consume Spanish–language news from social media. That’s because algorithms designed to fact check are weaker for stories in Spanish. UC San Diego researchers recently studied the 2022 midterm elections. They found that Latinos who got news from Spanish-language social media were more likely to believe false political narratives, than Latinos consuming information in English. Lead researcher Marisa Abrajano speculates on why. “Having that medium of Spanish, especially for recent Latino immigrants feels like it's a more trustworthy source.” She adds that candidates know this and used it this year. Disinformation claiming Venezuelan authoritarian Nicolas Maduro’s political party supported Democrats or claiming Vice President Kamala Harris is a communist made the rounds in Spanish. “And potentially resonated with voters and so helped to motivate them to not support her or the Democratic party more broadly speaking.” Initiatives, such as Factchequeado, have emerged to help Latino voters recognize disinformation. Amita Sharma, KPBS News.

That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org.

For your next listen, make sure to check out the Midday Edition podcast this afternoon. Today’s show will offer tips for holiday shopping and sustainable wrapping.

I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great Tuesday.