New affordable apartments in Rancho Bernardo
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Friday, February 16th.
>>>>
One hundred new affordable apartments are being built in Rancho Bernardo.
More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….
######
Tomorrow, (Saturday) the U-S-S John L. Canley will become the sixth expeditionary sea base in the Navy, at a commissioning ceremony in Coronado.
The ship has a large flat top.
Ship commanding officer captain Thomas Mays says these new types of expeditionary ships offer a level of flexibility other amphibious ships don’t.
“We have the 3rd largest flight deck in the us navy – 52,500 square feet – and we have four large helicopter landing spots. so, i can do simultaneous mh-53 or v-22 operations in all four of those spots.”
The ship will be the staging point for helicopter minesweeping missions and special operations with Marines or Navy SEALs.
The ship will be ready to deploy to the Western Pacific as soon as this summer.
########
This weekend’s weather is going to be similar to what we felt this week, but that won’t last long.
Alex Tardy is a Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the National Weather Service in San Diego County.
“So we are looking at still nice weather this weekend, more clouds however, we might even see a sprinkle Saturday night, but we’re looking at more clouds coming in because there’s a big Pacific storm sitting off the coast in the Eastern Pacific, so the good news is the brunt of that doesn’t come in until Monday, the holiday.”
Tardy says high surf with waves reaching up to 10 feet is expected tomorrow (Saturday), with waves peaking on Sunday.
########
And just a heads up… all county offices, public health clinics, family resource centers, libraries and animal shelters will be closed Monday for Presidents Day.
But county parks, campgrounds and neighborhood day-use parks will be open.
Essential services, including law enforcement and emergency animal control, will be available through the holiday.
And for the city of San Diego… administrative offices, libraries, swimming pools, and recreation centers will also be closed for the holiday.
All county and San Diego city offices will resume normal business hours on Tuesday.
#########
From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
##########
Transit-oriented development is coming to Rancho Bernardo... with 100 units priced for families and people with lower incomes.
Reporter Jacob Aere was at yesterday’s (Thursday’s) groundbreaking.
Leaders from across the city and county of San Diego came together to mark the beginning of construction for a transit-oriented, affordable housing development called SkyLINE. The Metropolitan Transit System and Affirmed Housing are the two organizations overseeing the project. Jimmy Silverwood is president of Affirmed Housing, whose company is developing the 100-unit complex. “Fifty percent of those units will be two and three bedroom apartments. And the other 50 percent will be, I think we have some studios, but mostly one bedrooms.” The SkyLINE project will also offer non-residential office space and dozens of parking spots. The developer expects to finish construction in Spring 2026. Affirmed Housing estimates that rents will range from about 700 to 1750 dollars a month depending on the size of each apartment. Jacob Aere, KPBS News.
##########
We’re continuing to bring you information on some of the local races on the primary ballot.
Today, we learn about the five seats in the U-S House of Representatives.
Environment reporter Erik Anderson says only one race is expected to be competitive.
Mike Levin has had the closest contests since he became a member of the San Diego congressional delegation in 2018. He hopes to win re-election in the 49th district so he can help with the environment, reproductive rights, and protecting democracy among other things. Levin has four primary challengers… Margarita Wilkinson, Matt Gunderson, Kate Monroe and Sheryl Adams. There are about 15-thousand more registered democrats than registered republicans. The rest of the congressional delegation is expected to remain as is. UCSD Political Science professor Thad Kousser says The three democrats in the House of Representatives, Juan Vargas in the 52nd district, Sara Jacobs in the 51st, and Scott Peters in the 50th district are all considered safe seats for the incumbents. Thad Kousser, UCSD political scientist “San Diego has become a blue area, just like the state has become a deep blue state and now four of those congressional districts are captured by democrats.” Darrell Issa is the republican holdout. He is running to represent the 48th district again. The top two vote getters in each of the March primary races move on to a runoff election in November. Erik Anderson KPBS News.
##########
The obesity epidemic has taught us a lot about human metabolism, such as the increased difficulty of losing weight among overweight people.
Sci-tech reporter Thomas Fudge says San Diego scientists have discovered one reason for this, and it holds a promise of future treatment.
Researchers at UC San Diego were looking at the ways that cells store and burn energy. They hypothesized that shutting down a molecule called Ral-A in lab mice would cause their cells to burn less energy, therefore store more fat and gain more weight. It was done in the lab of medical professor Alan Saltiel. “So when we made the mice and looked at them, we saw something that was kind of shocking. We saw the opposite effect.” They found those mice became much more efficient at burning fat and controlling weight. “And then we put these mice on high fat diets for a long time and we noticed that they didn’t gain weight like normal mice do on high-fat diets.” It turns out that Ral-A, in its natural state, was helping the body store fat. In a sense, it was causing obesity. The human body is very good at protecting fat stores, especially in people who are very overweight. But in mice, at least, inhibiting the work of the Ral-a molecule seemed to reverse that process. Could it work in humans? Saltiel says the current answer is “maybe” and his lab has started experiments using human tissues and cells. SOQ.
##########
We all know February as the month of love and hearts. Valentine’s Day was this week.. And the month also happens to be American Heart Month. Well, there’s an event in full swing to make sure we stay on top of our heart health. The Love Your Heart event is happening through the end of the month. It encourages San Diegans to get their blood pressure checked with free blood pressure screenings.
Joining me to talk about heart health and the event is the President of the American Heart Association San Diego and Southwest Riverside Division, Dr. Ramón Hernandez. Dr. Hernandez, welcome to the San Diego News Now podcast.
Before we start talking about how heart health is promoted this month, can you tell me what are some leading causes of heart disease?
How common is heart disease among Americans and specifically San Diegans?
How does an event like the annual Love Your Heart event play a role in early detection or even preventing heart disease? (blood pressure)
What are the best ways to keep your blood pressure down?
What is a normal blood pressure reading, when is it a good idea to reach out for medical help?
Any home remedies that can help reduce your blood pressure when it gets elevated?
Let’s talk more about the event. How can people participate?
TAG: I’ve been speaking with the President of the American Heart Association, Dr. Ramón Hernandez. Dr. Hernandez, thank you for joining me on the San Diego News Now podcast.
##########
That’s it for the podcast today. This podcast is produced by Emilyn Mohebbi and edited by Brooke Ruth. We’d like to thank our colleagues Erik Anderson and Lara McCaffrey for helping the podcast team this week. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. Join us again on Monday to start the week together with the day’s top stories, plus more. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend.
