San Diego-based law firm sues ICE
Good Morning, I’m Lawrence K. Jackson..it’s WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10TH
A SAN DIEGO LAW FIRM IS SUING ICE OVER COURT ARRESTS
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THE SAN DIEGO CITY COUNCIL VOTED YESTERDAY (TUESDAY) TO APPROVE AN 875 THOUSAND DOLLAR PAYOUT TO A VICTIM OF POLICE USE OF FORCE.
SAN DIEGO POLICE OFFICERS SAY THEY WERE RESPONDING TO A DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CALL INVOLVING A HANDGUN LAST FALL.
BYSTANDER VIDEO SHOWS 31-YEAR-OLD MARCUS EVANS WALKING OUT OF A HOUSE SHIRTLESS WITH HIS HANDS RAISED. POLICE LATER SHOT HIM WITH THREE BEAN BAG ROUNDS AND RELEASED A K-9 WHO BIT HIM REPEATEDLY.
IN A WRITTEN STATEMENT EVANS’ ATTORNEY DANTE PRIDE SAID QUOTE
“WHILE WE BOTH AGREE THAT THE SETTLEMENT AMOUNT IS NOT ENOUGH FOR THE ORDEAL HE FACED, MR. EVANS DECIDED TO TAKE A DISCOUNT SO THAT HE CAN MOVE ON WITH HIS LIFE AND NOT FACE 3 YEARS OR MORE OF LITIGATION.”
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COUNTY HEALTH OFFICIALS SAY THIS WEEK THAT MOSQUITOS
IN THE CITY HEIGHTS AND SKYLINE NEIGHBORHOODS TESTED POSITIVE FOR WEST NILE VIRUS
TO HELP REDUCE MOQUITO ACTIVITY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD, THE CO UNTY’S VECTOR CONTROL PROGRAM WILL BE INSPECTING AND TREATING BREEDING SITES
THERE HAVE BEEN NO REPORTED HUMAN CASES OF WEST NILE VIRUS IN THE COUNTY THIS YEAR
THE COUNTY SAYS PEOPLE CAN HELP PROTECT THEMSELVES BY PREVENTING OR DISPOSING STAGNANT WATER AND REPORTING DEAD ANIMAL SIGHTINGS.
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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A SAN DIEGO LAW FIRM FILED A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST ICE – ARGUING THAT FEDERAL AGENTS ARE BREAKING THE LAW WHEN THEY ARREST ASYLUM SEEKERS AT IMMIGRATION COURT. REPORTER GUSTAVO SOLIS SPOKE TO ONE OF THE LAWYERS.
ICECOURT 1 (gs) 1:00 SOQ
It was a shocking scene in May when masked ICE agents arrested people at the immigration court downtown. Since then, the previously unthinkable practice has become commonplace.
It’s also illegal, says Kimberly Hutchison – a San Diego civil rights lawyer.
“The main ask is what’s called a declaratory judgement. We’re asking the judge to declare that the agency’s behavior is unlawful.”
Hutchison filed the lawsuit last week on behalf of two asylum seekers ICE agents arrested in the hallway outside their courtroom.
The lawsuit argues that these arrests violate the rights of asylum seekers and delegitimize the legal process.
“You can’t just take away someone’s liberty without giving the process to determine whether that is an appropriate decision. So, they are doing it across the board and that’s a violation of due process.”
ICE officials did not respond to questions about the lawsuit.
Gustavo Solis, KPBS News
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COUNTY SUPERVISORS GAVE THE GREEN LIGHT TO PUBLIC HEALTH AND ECONOMIC IMPACT STUDIES IN AREAS AROUND THE TIJUANA RIVER VALLEY IN A VOTE YESTERDAY (TUESDAY). THEY SAY THE FINDINGS COULD HELP REVEAL THE BROADER CONSEQUENCES OF THE CROSS-BORDER SEWAGE CRISIS.
THE COUNTY WILL ALSO ASSESS WHAT IT WILL TAKE TO FIX A HOT SPOT IN THE TIJUANA RIVER. THE HOT SPOT IS WHERE SCIENTISTS SAY THE LARGEST SOURCE OF TOXIC GASES AND CHEMICALS ARE BECOMING AIRBORNE.
PALOMA AGUIRRE IS THE SUPERVISOR WHO PROPOSED THE MEASURES. SHE SAYS THE COUNTY CAN DO MORE NOW TO HELP RESIDENTS.
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“At the end of the day, we have a mandate and a responsibility to protect the public health of our constituents here in San Diego County.”
SPECIFICS LIKE COSTS HAVE YET TO BE DETERMINED.
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The Veterans Affairs Secretary was in San Diego yesterday (Tuesday) to recognize local staff members and tour the VA medical center. Military and veterans reporter Andrew Dyer has more.
VASEC 1 (ad) :48 SOQ
VA Secretary Doug Collins made a splash earlier this year when he announced the agency would cut 80,000 jobs.
That plan was abandoned this summer and the agency said a reduction of 30,000 staffers would come this year via early retirements.
Last month the Trump Administration canceled the union contracts for more than 400,000 VA staffers. Collins says staff shouldn’t feel less supported despite the loss of those collective bargaining rights.
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we're value our employees more than anything else. We want them to how they work environment, which they want to be at. So if their connection was more to the union than to the VA, then that's an issue that they would have to deal with.
According to the VA’s inspector general the agency’s had a 50 percent increase in severe occupational staffing shortages since last year with 80 percent of VA facilities reporting severe nurse shortages.
Andrew Dyer, KPBS News
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E-BIKES ARE A GREAT WAY TO GIVE KIDS THE MOBILITY THEY NEED TO BE INDEPENDENT. THEY CAN ALSO BE DANGEROUS. SCI-TECH REPORTER THOMAS FUDGE HAS THIS LOOK AT HOW A NEW BREED OF BIKE IS CHANGING THE LIVES OF KIDS, AND THE STREETS OF SAN DIEGO.
EBIKES (tf) 4:45 …SOQ.
School’s out at Olympian High School in Chula Vista. And a lot of the kids who are heading home through a back gate are getting there on their bikes. And these bikes, nearly all of them, carry a big battery that drives an Ebike motor. One student Ebiker is called Aidan.
“I have to ride home every day and I live a mile and a half away. So riding a normal bike would take very long. And it’s mostly uphill.”
None of the bikers here are popping wheelies or endangering pedestrians. But most ER doctors will tell you Ebikes are a reason why bike injuries are on the rise. The chief of trauma surgery at Scripps Mercy Hospital says his hospital used to count Ebike and E-motorcycle injuries in the dozens a year, now they’re in the hundreds. The head of trauma medicine at Rady Children’s hospital is Romeo Ignacio, who says Ebikes have made bike accidents more serious. Often it’s no longer a case for the ER but a case for the operating room.
“Most times we see bicycle injuries they don’t really warrant a trauma surgeon or a trauma team to see them. But the Ebikes are much more fast, much more difficult for the kids to control, so the injuries are much more severe, especially in relation to head injuries.”
Ebike motors give an electronic boost to a bike’s peddle action, and many also have a throttle that will run the bike 20 miles an hour, without peddling. Class-3 ebikes will power that pedal assist up to 28 miles per hour.
Dr. Vishal Bansal, the trauma surgery chief at Scripps Mercy, this week attended a press conference with law enforcement, pointing out the potential danger of electric two-wheelers. Both he and Dr. Ignacio said Ebikes can go even faster when they’re mods. When they have modified motors.
“You might sell a bike that has a limit of 20-25 miles an hour. I guarantee you these kids are going to modify it to go faster.”
But I didn’t speak to anyone who thought they could just wish Ebikes away. Everyone seemed to agree that education was key to keeping kids safe. And that’s what cycling instructor Jeffrey Schnure tries to do.
“And I think Ebikes are great because they really improve people’s mobility options whether you’re a child and you may not be able to get up a hill, instead of having to dismount and walk up you can just bike right up.”
Schnure was one of the instructors, who showed up in a parking lot, Saturday morning in Solana Beach. About ten kids, most of them with Ebikes, came to learn how to ride them safely.
The class last weekend was hosted by the San Diego County Bike Coalition and the city of Solana Beach. It began indoors with a class relevant to any bike trying to navigate local streets. An instructor showed slides of streets and traffic scenarios. Questions included: How do you make a left turn on a multi-lane road? How do you stay out of the door zone, where a car door thrown open can endanger a cyclist?
Outside, kids practiced some cycling drills before they all went for a short road trip.
Schnure 3:28 “I think the thing that makes you the most safe as a cyclist is being conspicuous and being predictable.”
Being conspicuous, sometimes means taking the whole traffic lane a car would occupy. That can be done easier with an Ebike, which can better match the speed of a car. Cycling instructor Ron Dashwood uses an example from his home town of Encinitas.
“So if you’re on residential streets, the speed limit is 20 miles an hour. A class one Ebike can go 20 miles an hour. So you can be taking the lane on a residential street and you’re going the speed limit.”
Ella Gutman is a north county teenager, taking the cycling class. She says her Ebike has given her a sense of responsibility and independence.
“It’s really fun, as a kid, because I can’t go that many places far away by myself, because I can’t drive and stuff. But with electric vehicles like Ebikes it’s a lot easier to do that.”
Ella’s dad, Tomer Gutman, said it took a while before he was comfortable with Ella on an Ebike. But he sees the upside now.
“If the child can take care of themselves and go to afterschool activities and friends, it’s going to help parents, myself and my wife, to address other things instead of just being a taxi driver all afternoon.”
The City of Carlsbad will hold a meeting next week to determine whether it should prohibit the use of Ebikes for kids under age 12. Chula Vista has done that already. SOQ.
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THE CITY THIS WEEK ANNOUNCED THE WINNER OF ITS ANNUAL “MAYOR FOR A DAY” CONTEST
THE WINNER FOR THIS YEAR, CHOSEN FROM FORTY-SEVEN OTHER APPLICATIONS IS NONE OTHER THAN EIGHTH GRADER LANDRY LYN SCHAUB (SQAWB) GAGE
AS TEMPORARY MAYOR, LANDRY WILL HAVE A BUSY SCHEDULE
SHE WILL DELIVER REMARKS TO THE CITY COUNCIL BEFORE HEADING TO BRIEFINGS, THEN JOIN OFFICIALS AT THE CENTRAL LIBRARY AND FIRE STATION 1. THEN IS LUNCH WITH GLORIA AS WELL AS A TOUR OF POLICE HEADQUARTERS AND THE NEW TERMINAL 1
THE PROGRAM WAS LAUNCHED BY MAYOR TODD GLORIA IN 2022 TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE LEADERSHIP IN YOUNG SAN DIEGANS
BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE LANDRY!
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That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Lawrence K. Jackson. Thanks for listening and subscribing by doing so you are supporting public media and I thank you for that. Have a great day!
