Recall Election Day

Good Morning, I’m Annica Colbert….it’s Tuesday, September 14th >>>> Finally, it's election day. More on that next, but first... let’s do the headlines…. ###### Alliance San Diego is encouraging Latino voters to get to the polls today. One out of every four votes in San Diego county is latino and only a small percentage of latino voters have cast their ballots thus far. Vicky Perez, a proud latina voter, blames misinformation as one of the reasons latinos don’t vote. “I think we are getting a lot of mixed information so I think that's one of the reasons they don't participate.” The county’s voting booths will be open today from 7am to 8pm. ####### The San Diego housing commission has launched a new online tool to help people search for affordable housing. It’s called the Affordable Housing Dashboard, and it includes an overview about affordable housing in the city, a map searchable by zip code, along with proximity to transit and schools... You can find the dashboard on the commission’s website at www dot SDHC dot org. ######### The San Diego man arrested in Washington DC on monday morning has a history of legal problems here. San Diego county court records show a variety of charges against 44-year-old Donald Craighead. Tom Bussey (bus-ee) with the oceanside police department confirmed they cited Craighead earlier this year. “we had contact with him back on... i think it was the 9th of january because he's listed as a transient and we had some type of contact with him that caused us to write him a citation.” Donald Craighead was arrested near the democratic national committee headquarters. Capitol police found a bayonet and machete inside his truck which had white supremacist symbols painted on it. ######### From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need. Today is the last day of the California recall election of Governor Gavin Newsom, and also the second recall election in California history. The previous recall election was in 2003, where Governor Grey Davis was replaced by GOP Candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, Thad Kousser says this elections’ polling suggests that the majority of California want to keep the current governor. Thad Kousser is a political science professor at UC San Diego. He spoke to Midday Edition Host Maureen Cavanaugh. Here’s that interview. And that was UC San Diego political science professor Thad kousser, speaking with KPBS Midday Edition Host Maureen Kavanaugh. ########## A local hunger relief organization just received a 100-thousand dollar grant that will support a program that provides schools with food for low income families. KPBS’ Melissa Mae has more. MM: Feeding San Diego received a 100-thousand dollar grant from Cigna Foundation’s Healthier Kids For Our Future grant program. MM: Becky Gower (GAH-ow-er) is the grants manager at Feeding San Diego and says the grant money is going to support their school pantry program… It provides low income schools across the county with food for when children are at home. “Our program is providing meals, food, staples and fresh produce for when the child is home with their families. So, for whatever meals they have in their household to help them cook more meals at home, have more fresh food available to both the students and their families.” MM: Several school districts benefit from this program and most run food distribution twice a month… The grant money will help include more schools in the program. Melissa Mae KPBS News. ########## The city and county are close to opening a new homeless shelter in San Diego's midway district to help treat people with addiction and behavioral health problems. KPBS health reporter Matt Hoffman says it’s a change from how shelters have traditionally been operated here. The new shelter is located off of Sports Arena boulevard at an old department store.. It aims to help the chronically homeless and those with substance abuse issues.. San Diego Housing Commission Vice President Lisa Jones says this isn’t like the larger bridge shelters in the downtown area-- They do not have high level behavioral health clinical social workers, substance use disorder in our existing shelter system. So they’re not really resourced for that severely mentally ill, significant substance use and co-occurring conditions This shelter is the first piece in a new harm reduction model, meaning people can come in under the influence. The idea is to then open up some smaller “safe haven” shelters where people can stay longer and have individual rooms. Officials are aiming to open the shelter late next month or in early November, barring any move this week from city council members to give it additional review. MH KPBS News. ########## Coming up.... a new performing arts center has opened for the fall semester at the Chula Vista campus of Southwestern College. “some are coming in with Folklorico training, some with Polynesian training, belly dancing, latin...and you’re going to have those same people in a ballet class, tap class, or a musical theater class.” We’ll have more on that next, just after the break. A modern 66-million dollar Performing Arts Center has opened for the fall semester at the Chula Vista campus of Southwestern College. KPBS Education Reporter M.G. Perez tells us more about its impact on the South Bay and the next generation of artists. Sara Marie White makes every movement with meaning. She’s a dancer learning how to express her artistic talent and develop tenacity. CG: Sara Marie White/Southwestern College Freshman “It’s a huge adrenaline rush.” “You really crave that attention. You feed off the audience. It’s an unreal feeling if I’m being honest. It’s amazing.” Sara is one of the first students to take classes here at the new 41-thousand square foot Performing Arts Center on the campus of Southwestern College. This brand new complex is state-of-the-art. Veteran dance professor Mary Jo Horvath is determined to use her modern classroom studio to train and cultivate the distinct and diverse talent coming from the South Bay community. CG: Mary Jo Horvath/Dance Professor “Some are coming in with Folklorico training, some with Polynesian training, belly dancing, Latin...and you’re going to have those same people in a ballet class, tap class or a musical theater class.” “This is the large auditorium which will primarily be used for music concerts and dance and theater performances.” The Southwestern College Performing Arts Center is not just for learning. It's for entertaining, too. The school will mount its student productions here, scheduled alongside events produced by professional arts organizations and community groups. Negotiations are underway with the San Diego Opera. ...and the San Diego Symphony to lease the space in the future. The complex cost 66 million dollars to design and build. All of it was paid with bond money approved by local voters in November 2016. CG: Mike Buckley/ SWC Theatre Arts Technical Director “We really thank the voters of Chula Vista who saw the vision of what could happen at Southwestern College if they just injected some funds here.” “This corner of the campus where the Performing Arts Center sits was an empty lot for 50 years. Generations of children from the South Bay would come here at Christmas to pick a tree with their family or enjoy the pumpkin patch at Halloween. Now this corner offers much more than just fun, but opportunity like never before.” “I love you and I’m trying to make this work but you make it so difficult. You don’t want to listen to a word I say.” Freshman Taylor Wiggins wrote this monologue. She’s a student in Professor Ruff Yeager’s ACTING I class. She wants to be an actress or playwright some day. CG: Ruff Yeager/Drama Professor “Thank you for being so vulnerable and sharing this with us Taylor…(I’m a bit nervous)...good that’s great that you feel comfortable and you trust us all to listen to your story. Taylor says she’s grateful for her education and the new and improved resources Southwestern has to offer her and other students of color. 90-percent of the student population here comes from historically minority and marginalized communities. Almost 70-percent of them are hispanic. It’s very spacious, so I appreciate that as a dancer.” Edwin Anthony Rodriguez is one of them. He wants to be a choreographer and maybe someday start his own dance studio. This is where the dream begins for him. CG: Edwin Anthony Rodriguez/Dance Major Student “English was not my first language, I learned Spanish first...I learned English by the time I was five. So I have a lot of Mexican background and I really appreciate it. I am a Latin dancer, so I can really get in touch with my roots.” Professor Horvath has spent 31 years on the Southwestern faculty teaching and creating a community of next generation dancers. She provides the education and encouragement that often takes her students much farther than a stage. “I think dance gives them a new outlook on life. They start to come out of their shell as they gain technique and perfect their craft.” Just a few weeks into the fall semester, this multi-million dollar investment is already yielding a profit of potential. M.G. Perez KPBS News. That’s it for the podcast today. Be sure to catch KPBS Midday Edition At Noon on KPBS radio, or check out the Midday podcast. You can also watch KPBS Evening Edition at 5 O’clock on KPBS Television, and as always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Annica Colbert. Thanks for listening and have a great day.