Rebate aims to make EVs more affordable
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Good Morning, I’m Lawrence K. Jackson….it’s MONDAY, AUGUST TENTH>>>> { THE STATE NOW HAS REBATES FOR ANYONE BUYING AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE FOR THE 1ST TIME]More on that next. But first... the headlines….
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TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY BACK TO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS IN THE SAN DIEGO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
THE DISTRICT SAID ON FRIDAY THAT IT MORE THAN DOUBLED ITS SUMMER ENROLLMENT GOAL
OFFICIALS SAY OVER THREE-THOUSAND STUDENTS ENROLLED THIS YEAR
THE DISTRICT'S INITIAL GOAL OF ONE-THOUSAND, 309 WAS SET TO OFFSET THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS WHO LEFT SAN DIEGO UNIFIED SINCE THE 20-24 TO 25’ SCHOOL YEAR,
S-D-U-S-D ATTRIBUTES THE INCREASE IN ENROLLMENT TO A MODERNIZED ENROLLMENT PROCESS.
FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, REGISTRATION COULD BE DONE ENTIRELY ONLINE
IN-PERSON SUPPORT WAS AVAILABLE AT 52 ENROLLMENT HUBS ACROSS THE CITY.
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NOW THAT IT'S OFFICIALLY BACK TO SCHOOL SEASON...
THE LIBRARY FOUNDATION S-D IS REMINDING PARENTS TO UTILIZE THEIR PUBLIC LIBRARIES
A SAN DIEGO LIBRARY CARD GIVES STUDENTS ACCESS TO FREE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS, HOMEWORK SUPPORT AND DIGITAL RESOURCES
FOR SCHOOL-AGED STUDENTS, THERE IS THE "DO YOUR HOMEWORK AT THE LIBRARY" PROGRAM
IT PROVIDES FREE ACCESS TO ACADEMIC COACHES FOR KINDERGARTEN THROUGH 8TH GRADE STUDENTS
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THIS WEEK, METROLINK IS SUSPENDING SERVICE ON ITS ORANGE COUNTY LINE
STARTING TODAY AND THROUGH FRIDAY, RIDES TRAVELING BETWEEN OCEANSIDE AND ITS MISSION VIEJO STATION ARE SUSPENDED
METROLINK SAYS THE CANCELLATIONS ARE A PRECAUTION AND IN ANTICIPATION OF HIGH TIDES…
AS LAST MONTH, SIMILAR HIGH TIDE CONDITIONS CAUSED DELAYS THAT EXTENDED BEYOND JUST THE AFFECTED CORRIDOR
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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CALIFORNIA WILL NOW OFFER REBATES FOR FIRST-TIME BUYERS OF ELECTRIC VEHICLES. CAP-RADIO’S LAURA FITZGERALD SAYS THE AIM IS TO MAKE THEM MORE AFFORDABLE AND MEET CLIMATE GOALS.
EVREBATE 1 (cprn) (0:53) SOQ
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Californians looking to buy their first zero emission vehicle can now get 3,500 dollars off a new one and 1,750 dollars off one that’s used. Drivers don’t have to apply, the rebate is knocked off the price before they drive their new electric car off the lot.
This comes after the Trump administration rolled-back Biden era tax credits for EV purchases, which Governor Gavin Newsom criticized.
As we’re doubling down on our low carbon green growth efforts here, where the United States is doubling down on stupid. We’re trying in California to maintain our dominance in this space.
In 2020, Newsom mandated that all new cars sold in California must be zero emission or hybrid by 2035. He says these rebates could help the state meet this goal.
In Oakland, I’m Laura Fitzgerald
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TODAY (MONDAY) IS THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL IN SAN DIEGO UNIFIED. AND THIS YEAR BRINGS A NEW CURRICULUM FOR THE DISTRICT’S PRESCHOOL PROGRAM.
EDUCATION REPORTER KATIE ANASTAS SAYS THE LESSONS WILL LINK CHILD LITERACY TO EVERYDAY LIFE.
PRESCHOOL1 1:01 SOQ
San Diego Unified offers preschool at 34 sites. This year, they’ll all be using a new framework called Creative Curriculum.
GONZALEZ [8s]
This really helps us provide the same type of high quality instruction across every single preschool classroom in our district.
Santos Gonzalez oversees early learning for the district. She says the curriculum builds early literacy skills through play.
For example, Creative Curriculum has a whole unit on the grocery store.
GONZALEZ [9s]
The grocery store has so much for children to learn in terms of language. And it's a very common experience for them. They go to the grocery store with their parents, right.
Reading books aloud about grocery shopping can help build vocabulary.
GONZALEZ [6s]
Then they can go shopping with their friends, right. We have little props here. And they can pretend to go to the grocery store and buy items.
Enrollment is still open for new preschool students.
San Diego Unified also offers dual language immersion at some of its preschools. They’ll use the same curriculum in both English and Spanish. Katie Anastas, KPBS News.
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A NEW INVESTIGATION FROM I-NEWS-SOURCE EXAMINES WIDESPREAD WAGE THEFT AT A STRING OF ELDERLY CARE HOMES IN THE COUNTY. THE STORY ALSO EXPOSES THE CRACKS IN A STATEWIDE ENFORCEMENT SYSTEM THAT’S MEANT TO PROTECT WORKER WAGES.
SCOTT RODD TALKED TO I-NEWS-SOURCE INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER GREG MORAN AND FREELANCE REPORTER JENNA RAMISCAL (ruh-MIH-scal) ABOUT THEIR INVESTIGATION.
CAREGIVERS (inews) TRT 4:31 last words “thank you”
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One thing that jumped out was a single company here in San Diego called Wealth Plus Management Group LLC that had several uh six-figure wage theft judgments against them and we kind of looked at it and quickly added it up and it was it was $2 million in wage theft. Tell me more about Leslie Wang in in the various elderly care homes and companies that she operated.
Maybe Greg, I'll start with you. Yeah, she is the owner of Wealth Plus Management. Um, and we we can't really tell you too much about her because we have not been able to find her, locate her, or talk to her. Uh, which is not uh terribly unusual in in a lot of wage theft case. What we found out was that most of these wage violations occurred with a seven I think seven workers at at a a collection of homes uh in Poway, five homes, kind of a raid around a cul-de-sac uh where uh they were all licensed uh RCFE's with the state of California and where all of these people worked at one time or another and also lived there while they worked which was one of the real sources of the wage theft.
So she you know in in kind of trolling through the records these people made their complaints. You go through this very laborious process with the state. They have a hearing and things like that. She never showed up for the hearings. She is not. I think she showed up in for some of the court actions, but she's very difficult to track down.
Jenna, what did you discover about like how frequently this is happening and what were you hearing from the community and advocates about this? Yeah, so um hearing from the advocates, I heard that it it was normalized that this this is happening and um that's kind of what piqued my interest because I if it is consistently happening but I'm not seeing reporting on it, that's why I wanted um to pursue the story.
Um, and the advocates they um talked about how the conditions like Greg mentioned it's they're living at these residential care facilities and with that means that the caretakers are living in the homes 20 20 like for 24 hours, they live where they work. So it's not just a place of income and also where they're working and that creates that cycle of exploitation or opens up that door for abuses to happen. Yeah.
Let's jump into some of the individual stories because they really were shocking. Maybe let's start with Paul Sorato. Yeah, so I'm very grateful that Paul was willing to share his experience with me. Paul worked at the Solaris Caregiving facilities for 5 months, but just like more background context about him. He was born in the Philippines and moved to the US when he was 19 years old.
He worked in Alaska for for years and then it was in 2012 or 2018 when he moved to California, but in 2020 when he started to work at the caregiving facility. Um and he kind of gave me more context about like why he took on this job and it was because he lacked transportation but he also wanted a way to make income. So like I mentioned, he saw this live in part of caregiving as an opportunity for him.
Um it was told to him that he would only be working during the day. Um but and when he started the job it was It's not like that he was working nearly around the clock and in in his labor board judgments, it says that he got at most 3 hours of sleep because of the care that he had to provide for these patients and like the constant cleaning and other efforts that he had to do as um a caregiver. And it it was just like really um move moving to learn about his story and learn about what he went through.
Um but like he ultimately ended up quitting and then he his wage is over $170,000He was sleeping on the couch and it was arranged in a way where it was around like a buzzer where he would be notified if a patient needed help. So, he was not receiving that sleep because he would get up to help the patients at night. Remarkable.
Jenna, Greg, thank you for joining me. Thanks, Scott.
Thank you.
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SAN DIEGO’S E-BIKE RULES TAKE EFFECT THIS WEEK.
ON FRIDAY, THE AUTOMOBILE CLUB OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA HELD AN EVENT TO ENCOURAGE SAFETY AROUND RIDING E-BIKES.
AS REPORTER ALEXANDER NGUYEN TELL US… E-BIKES INJURIES HAVE INCREASED NEARLY TWO-THOUSAND PERCENT SINCE 2022.
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EBIKES 1(an) TRT: 0:46 SOQ
Anlleyn Venegas with Triple-A holds two watermelons at waist height.
SOT
“I'm going to use these two watermelons to show you guys why it's so important to wear the proper helmet designed for the type of bike for the speed that you're going to be riding.”
One was strapped into a bike helmet. The other was not. When they hit the ground, the one without the helmet split open.
Venegas says this demonstrates the danger of e-bikes. They are much faster than traditional pedal bikes. Some can reach speeds of nearly 30 miles per hour.
Doctors have seen a dramatic increase in head injuries in children from e-bike accidents.
That’s why the city of San Diego enacted new rules, banning children under 12 from riding e-bikes. And requiring helmets.
The new e-bike rules take effect next Thursday. AN/KPBS.
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SAN DIEGO'S FORMER NFL TEAM WAS IN TOWN LAST WEEK FOR TWO TRAINING CAMPS.
REPORTER JACOB AERE SAYS WHILE THE CHARGERS MAY NOW BE BASED IN LOS ANGELES, THOUSANDS OF FANS STILL POURED INTO THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO'S TORERO STADIUM TO SHOW THEIR SUPPORT.
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CHARGERS 1 SOQ (1:01)
**nat pop of crowd noise,whistles, fade to ambi**
For over 50 years … the Chargers called San Diego home.
They controversially left the region in 2017. But on Tuesday and Wednesday … it felt like they were home again.
The team hosted preseason practices at USD for the second straight year. This time it was open to the general public.
Steve Romero was there with his family.
“When they left it was a dagger in the heart. I imagine everybody felt the same way…”
He co-owns J-Fitters, a vintage Chargers apparel store in Escondido. Romero said the training camp was an electric atmosphere.
“You see the look in everybody's eyes. The memories coming back – all the tailgates that used to happen, the neighbors hanging out and being able to experience the Chargers in their home town again.”
Fans in attendance had access to limited edition posters, exclusive merchandise, and post-practice autographs. The Chargers kickoff their 2026 preseason games Thursday against the Houston Texans. JA, KPBS News.
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CAT VIDEO FEST 2026 IS NOW UNDERWAY AT THE DIGITAL GYM CINEMA IN DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO
REPORTER JOHN CARROLL PAID THEM A VISIT TO GET A SNEAK PEEK AT THE KITTY CAPERS ABOUT TO HIT THE BIG SCREEN.
CATFEST 1 1:02 SOQ
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THAT JAUNTY TUNE ACCOMPANIES THE TRAILER FOR CAT VIDEO FEST 2026… A 75-MINUTE COMPILATION OF CAT VIDEOS FROM THE PAST YEAR… SUBMITTED BY THE PEOPLE WHO SHOT THEM. CAT VIDEO FEST HAS BEEN AROUND SINCE 2012. WILL BRADEN HAS BEEN PRODUCING IT SINCE 2016. HE CURATES THE SHOW… WHICH MEANS HE LOOKS AT - A LOT - OF CAT VIDEOS.
1:05
“So it's been my full-time job now for a decade to watch 20,000 cat videos every year and find the best ones. It's the best job in the world.”
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CAT VIDEO FEST RUNS THROUGH AUGUST 13TH AT THE DIGITAL GYM CINEMA ON THE SECOND FLOOR OF THE PARK AND MARKET BUILDING IN DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO. CINEMA STAFF TELL ME IT MAY GET HELD OVER AS IT’S PROVEN TO BE QUITE POPULAR. CHECK OUT DIGITAL GYM DOT ORG FOR INFORMATION ON SHOWTIMES AND MORE. JC, KPBS NEWS.
TAG: THE NONPROFIT LOS GATOS DE BARRIO LOGAN GETS TEN PERCENT OF THE PROCEEDS FROM THE FEST
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That’s it for the podcast. Today’s pod today was 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 day.
