Researchers confirm pollution in the Tijuana River is also in the air
Good Morning, I’m Lawrence K. Jackson, it’s FRIDAY, AUGUST 29TH>>>>
RESEARCHERS MAKE A HUGE CONFIRMATION AROUND TIJUANA RIVER POLLUTIONMore on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….########
GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM YESTERDAY ANNOUNCED HE’S DEPLOYING NEW C-H-P “CRIME SUPPRESSION TEAMS” TO SEVERAL REGIONS, INCLUDING SAN DIEGO. AT A PRESS CONFERENCE, NEWSOM POINTED TO THE SUCCESS OF A SIMILAR APPROACH IN OAKLAND AND SAID HIS PLAN DIFFERS FROM PRESIDENT TRUMP'S CONTROVERSIAL NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENTS.
CHPSURGE 2A (:14)
We're doing it in partnership with our local communities. We did it in partnership with the Biden administration prior. We're not talking about the nationalization, the militarization of the guard in militarizing United States cities.
STATE OFFICIALS SAID THAT STATEWIDE IN 2024, PROPERTY CRIME FELL 8.5% AND VIOLENT CRIME DROPPED 4.5%. BUT NEWSOM STRESSED THAT, QUOTE, "GOOD ENOUGH NEVER IS."
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THERE ARE 35 NEW AUTOMATED CHEST COMPRESSION MACHINES IN SOME OF THE COUNTY’S AMBULANCES AND HELICOPTERS.
THE SAN DIEGO COUNTY FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT ANNOUNCED THE UPGRADE YESTERDAY.
THE NEW MACHINES ARE SIMPLER TO USE. THEY SURROUND A PERSON’S CHEST AND SQUEEZE IT REPEATEDLY, INCREASING THE BLOOD AND OXYGEN GOING TO THE BRAIN DURING CARDIAC ARREST
EACH MACHINE COSTS 23 THOUSAND DOLLARS.
OFFICIALS SAY THE MACHINES ENSURE UNINTERRUPTED, HIGH-QUALITY CHEST COMPRESSIONS WHILE A PATIENT IS BEING TRANSPORTED ULTIMATING INCREASING THEIR CHANCE OF SURVIVAL
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THROW ON YOUR WALKING SHOES AS THE COAST WALK TRAIL IN LA JOLLA IS OPEN ONCE AGAIN AS OF TODAY!
AS REPORTED BY TIMES OF SAN DIEGO, THE NON-PROFIT THAT SUPPORTS THE TRAIL’S UPKEEP JUST WRAPPED UP A 125 THOUSAND DOLLAR REPAIR TO THE BRIDGE ON THE TRAIL
FRIENDS OF COAST WALK TRAIL WAS FOUNDED TO RESTORE AND PRESERVE THE OVER HALF MILE TRAIL WHOSE HISTORY DATES BACK OVER 9 THOUSAND YEARS TO ITS ORIGINAL USE BY NATIVE AMERICANS
IT BECAME A FORMAL TRAIL IN 1932 AND A SAN DIEGO HISTORIC LANDMARK IN 1990
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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FOR THE FIRST TIME, RESEARCHERS SAY THEY’VE CONFIRMED POLLUTION IN THE TIJUANA RIVER IS IN THE AIR PEOPLE BREATHE. THEY’RE CONNECTING THE POLLUTANTS TO SYMPTOMS LIKE HEADACHES, NAUSEA AND BREATHING ISSUES.
SCRIPPS INSTITUTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY RESEARCHERS LED THE STUDY PUBLISHED THIS WEEK (Thursday) IN THE JOURNAL, SCIENCE. THE STUDY LINKS THOSE SYMPTOMS TO TOXIC GASES, LIKE HYDROGEN SULFIDE, IN THE AIR.
KIM PRATHER IS A CO-AUTHOR AND SCRIPPS PROFESSOR. SHE SAYS THE COMMUNITY HELPED RESEARCHERS IDENTIFY A HOTSPOT IN THE RIVER WHERE POLLUTANTS BECOME AIRBORNE.
AIRDATA 2A :19
“They started talking, you know, to the community and hearing all of their experiences of headaches, nausea, they can't sleep, they have anxiety. And so this community just sort of they sort of triangulated the conversation and said, why are you at the ocean? It’s over here. And they helped my group find what we now refer to as the hot spot.”
SAN DIEGO COUNTY SUPERVISOR PALOMA AGUIRRE IS CALLING ON THE REGIONAL WATER BOARD AND THE COUNTY TO FIX THE HOTSPOT AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.
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SAN DIEGO COMMUNITY COLLEGES ARE RAISING THE ALARM OVER A LAWSUIT FILED BY CONSERVATIVE ACTIVISTS IN TENNESSEE. REPORTER KORI SUZUKI SAYS IT’S TARGETING FEDERAL SUPPORT FOR COLLEGES THAT SERVE LATINO STUDENTS.
HISPANICINST 3 1:03 SOQ
The lawsuit was filed in June in federal court by the conservative activist group Students for Fair Admissions. The same group that sued Harvard, leading the Supreme Court to strike down affirmative action last year.
This time, the group is targeting a federal program called the Hispanic Serving Institutions. Which gives grants to colleges where more than a quarter of students identify as Latino.
“Everyone of our colleges in this region is federally designated as a Hispanic serving institution”
Mark Sanchez is the superintendent of Southwestern College in Chula Vista. At a press conference today (THURSDAY), he said their federal funding goes to support programs like dedicated study spaces and tutoring.
“Expanding stem curriculum and health care programs, strengthening advising and retaining and building the workforce that California and the San Diego region depends on.”
Officials said the lawsuit targets more than fifteen million dollars in federal funding for community colleges in San Diego and Imperial County. Southwestern alone receives around four point five million.
The case is part of a broader effort by conservative activists to eliminate any federal efforts to address a history of systemic racism in the U.S.
In Chula Vista, Kori Suzuki, KPBS News.
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SINCE LAST SUMMER, IT’S BECOME ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO PURSUE ASYLUM IN THE U.S. PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN LIMITED ACCESS IN JUNE 2024 AND PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP ESSENTIALLY TERMINATED THE PROGRAM THIS YEAR. REPORTER GUSTAVO SOLIS PROFILES ONE MAN TRYING TO NAVIGATE THE SYSTEM.
ASYLUMUPDATE (gs) 4:54 SOQ
Last August, migrants from all over the world crossed the border in San Diego. There were so many that Border Patrol agents dropped off dozens of them at a San Ysidro transit center every day. The County’s emergency migrant shelter had run out of money. Leaving them with nowhere to stay.
That’s when Ruth Mendez met Luis. She’s an immigrant advocate. And he’s a South American asylum seeker. We are withholding his last name to protect him from retaliation both here and in his home country.
BOWLER_2498 00:01:31:11 / 10:39:24:15“I remember meeting Luis for the first time getting off of one of the buses – where at the time Border Patrol was releasing people.”
Luis became homeless. Spent a week sleeping in the airport until he found temporary refuge at a local church.
Still, he decided to help other migrants who were struggling to gain a foothold. Mendez says having Luis gave advocates instant credibility.
BOWLER_2498 00:04:44:25 / 10:42:37:27“And really tell people ‘Hey, I was in your position these folks can be trusted. If you want you can follow her you’re going to get to the airport for free.’”
Luis’ year-long case spans one of the most uncertain times in the history of the U.S. asylum system.
He arrived in August 2024, soon after the Biden administration bowed to political pressure and placed strict limits on asylum. And his case remains ongoing after the Trump administration essentially stopped the asylum process and began arresting people at their immigration court hearings.
Melissa Crow is the director of litigation for the Center on Gender and Refugee Studies - which has sued both the Biden and Trump administrations.
CROW 00:07:10:02“They have peeled back the rights of asylum seekers like an onion.”
Crow says it started in June 2024 - when Biden made all migrants who cross the border illegally automatically ineligible for asylum. Previously, everyone in the country had equal access to the asylum system. No matter how they entered.
Then in his first days in office Trump cracked down even harder.
CROW 00:11:38:03“These restrictions that we’ve been talking about – the circumvention of lawful pathways rule and the securing the border rule – in most cases take asylum off the table.”
Fortunately for Luis, he entered the country before Trump’s crackdown. So he could still try to pursue an asylum claim.
But by the time he got to see a judge, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were arresting people in immigration courts. The White House demanded ICE arrest 3,000 people each day. Courts were a convenient place for agents to make their quotas.
Mendez was worried about Luis. So she offered to go to San Diego immigration court with him.
BOWLER_2498 00:09:56:21 / 10:47:49:23“At the beginning of the week, we heard of LA, immigration court San Francisco immigration courts, having ICE inside the courtroom and that was very worrying.”
Luis didn’t see any ICE agents in the courtroom. But when he left to go to the bathroom – he saw the hallway was full of ICE agents.
MVI_6781 00:07:23:25 / 00:39:41:29“Pues me asome y Estaban todo ahi esperando en fila. Entonces yo me devovli.”
He remembers thinking how odd this was. It’s as if the federal government wants immigrants to abandon their cases.
MVI_6781 00:08:56:26 / 00:41:15:00“Le quita mucha credebilidad a los process aca. Porque dice yo quiero hacer algo entonces para que me pongo hacer las cosas bien sy me van a rrestar.”
Luis was among the first to be arrested in San Diego’s immigration court. Local immigration lawyer Tracy Crowley met Luis at the courthouse on the day of his arrest.
She was blown away by how well-prepared Luis was for his asylum claim. But that didn’t keep him out of detention.
MVI_6775 00:04:20:20 / 00:21:36:26“He completed everything they asked him to do. And he showed up when he was supposed to show up. And that’s exactly why they targeted him. Because they knew where he would be.”
Luis saw his imprisonment at the Otay Mesa Detention Center as a particularly cruel irony. He was a political dissident in his home country and fled to avoid being jailed.
Despite having a strong political asylum claim, Luis thought about giving up.
MVI_6775 00:06:36:23 / 00:23:52:29“And so it was very difficult to keep his spirits up and to keep him motivated because I knew I could get him out on bond. And I knew he had a very strong asylum case.”
Luis says he felt like a robot during his time in Otay Mesa – an endless routine of eating, sleeping and waiting.
MVI_6781 00:10:39:00 / 00:42:57:04“La carcel es ahi es feo. Porque se Vuelve uno como un muneco. Como un robot.”
He says men there are miserable. It’s common to hear them cry themselves to sleep at night. And that guards are constantly pressuring detainees to sign voluntary deportation forms and abandon their cases.
After six weeks. Crowley secured his release on bond.
Luis is still pursuing an asylum claim. And is due back in court - the same place he was arrested just a few months ago - in September.
Gustavo Solis, KPBS News
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THE SAN DIEGO COMPANY GENERAL ATOMICS CELEBRATED THEIR SHIPMENT OF A DEVICE THAT THEY HOPE WILL MAKE NUCLEAR FUSION POSSIBLE. SCI-TECH REPORTER THOMAS FUDGE TELLS US ABOUT FUSION ENERGY AND THE WORLD' S MOST POWERFUL MAGNET.
MAGNET 1 (tf) :53 …SOQ.
This magnet is the size of a five story building and it’s powerful enough to lift a battleship out of the water. It’s also strong enough to contain incredibly hot fusion reactions in an international fusion plant located in France. Energy from nuclear fusion has been an elusive goal but now seems within reach. It brings the promise of virtually limitless clear energy at a time when demand for energy is rocketing upward. John Smith is the senior director of engineering at General Dynamics.
“Everything that we’re doing today says that our electricity demand is only going to go up. That’s why fusion is needed. You need to have some kind of clean, limitless energy source to power the future of the world.”
Fusion experts at General Atomics say nuclear fusion energy could become a reality in the 2030s. SOQ.
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>> Labor Day SD Weekend Events
AND LAST BUT DEFINITELY NOT LEAST, IT’S ALMOST LABOR DAY WEEKEND AND IN AMERICA’S FINEST CITY THERE’S ALWAYS SOMETHING TO DO SO I PUT TOGETHER A LIST OF EVENTS FOR JUST ABOUT ALL OF US
FOR THE FITNESS FANATICS, THERE IS A LABOR DAY RUN AT LIBERTY STATION ON SATURDAY, STARTING BRIGHT AND EARLY AT 7:30 AM…. YOU HAVE THE CHOICE OF A 5-K, 10K OR HALF MARATHON
FOR THE KIDDOS, THERE IS KIDS YOGA FOR AGES 4 THROUGH 12 WITH POSES TAKING PLACE AT THE 4-S RANCH LIBRARY, THIS SATURDAY AT 11 AM
FOR THE SHERLOCK IN YOUR LIFE, THERE'S A SELF GUIDED BALBOA PARK SCAVENGER HUNT THAT’LL HAVE YOU SOLVING PUZZLES AS YOU EXPLORE NEW SIGHTS.
THERE’S ALSO A LABOR DAY RALLY AND MARCH TAKING PLACE ON MONDAY STARTING AT 10 AM AT WATERFRONT PARK
HAPPY LABOR DAY
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That’s it for the podcast today. This podcast was edited by Quinn Owen and Brooke Ruth. This podcast is 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 weekend.
