SD-LA train service suspended … again

Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Tuesday, May 6th>>>>

What’s being done to get the train between San Diego and L-A running again More on that next. But first... the headlines….#######

After nearly 200 days on strike, mental health workers at Kaiser hospitals in San Diego County could be heading back to work later this week.

Kaiser and the National Union of Healthcare Workers announced a tentative agreement Sunday night.

Sal Rosselli is a former president of the N-U-H-W. He says one of the key union demands was around pay.

We made some important progress on that front in terms of equity. We didn't get all the way there.

Kaiser declined an interview request. In a statement, they say if the union ratifies the agreement on Thursday it will go into effect immediately.

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Three people are dead after a small boat believed to be carrying migrants capsized near Del Mar yesterday (Monday) morning.

Dan Connor was walking his dog on a bluff overlooking the ocean around 6:30 AM when he saw it happen.

He watched a small boat hit a wave and flip over. Connor took a video showing more than a dozen people falling into the cold ocean. Some swam to shore while the rest held on to the overturned boat as powerful waves kept crashing on to them.

“You wouldn’t put your kids swimming in the ocean with that kind of surf going on. I’m assuming these folks were absolutely tired.”

Connor quickly called 9-1-1 and saw first responders arrive at the scene and begin a rescue operation.

According to the US Coast Guard, three of those people died yesterday morning. Four received medical attention and nine remain missing.

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Warmer weather is headed our way. The National Weather Service says higher temps are expected by mid week.

Along the coasts we’ll see partly cloudy conditions today (Tuesday), with a mix of cloudy and sunny weather through Friday.

Temperatures will be in the mid 60s and 70s. Same goes for the mountains.

In the desert, sunny and clear conditions are expected with highs in the upper 70s to low 80s.

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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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Rail service in San Clemente has been suspended once again for emergency repairs that will continue for five more weeks.

North County reporter Tania Thorne tells us about the work being done.

Over the past four years, service in San Clemente has repeatedly shut down over bluff erosion and repairs. 

Now, the Orange County Transportation Authority is making emergency repairs towards a longer standing solution. 

And so what we're doing right now is bringing in more large boulders known as Riprap to repair and reinforce mostly what's already there

Eric Carpenter is a spokesperson for the transportation agency. 

He says the repairs include installation of 7700 tons of boulders to reinforce the rail line. 

The boulders are the first step to prevent more rail closures in this troubled area. 

Carpenter says the next long term solution will be sand replenishment. 

Problem is… they have yet to find where to get the sand. 

Tania Thorne KPBS News 

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The Trump administration says it will enforce new English language proficiency requirements for commercial truck drivers. Video journalist Matthew Bowler went to the east Tijuana neighborhood of Otay to hear what Mexican truck drivers think about the new executive order.

Otay Mesa is the largest commercial crossing in California according to the San Diego Association of Governments. More than 20 billion in merchandise crosses the border each year.

This road receives 4000 trucks per day. 

Israel Delgado Vallejo is with canacar -- a cargo shipping association in mexico. He represents more than 12 thousand Tijuana truckers. He says with the new executive order, some are scared to cross the border.

We got drivers driving for the last 30 years with no accidents in the roads. 

The Trump administration says English language proficiency is a necessary safety requirement for drivers.

Delgado says his Association will help roll out a new, more comprehensive language training program, but…

We don’t really think it’s going to have a different impact after training our drivers. 

The order requires the US secretary of transportation to issue a new English language proficiency policy by the end of June.

Matthew Bowler KPBS News

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We’ve been reporting on the regional impact of the Trump administration’s tariffs. Even with a 90-day pause, businesses here are still on edge because of uncertainty about the future.

Reporter John Carroll takes us to a more serene part of the county with one farmer who says they are making the most of the things they cannot control.

“It’s kind of like a quilt, you know, all the squares… we don’t have one chunk.  It’s kind of a patchwork.”

Fourth generation farmer Andy Lyall - on a hillside overlooking the lush Pauma Valley below… pointing out the boundaries of his family’s farm.  It’s a beautiful scene… illustrative of much of San Diego County’s agricultural landscape.  

Down on the farm - his family actually calls it a ranch… Lyall stands in the middle of an orange grove… talking about the crops he and his family have grown here for decades.

“Citrus, oranges, mandarins are probably about 80%, maybe 90% of our acreage here, and about 10% avocados.”

The Lyall operation encompasses about 200-acres… rows of trees heavy with fruit.  Andy Lyall loves what he does.

“I love when I give my friends some of our oranges or avocados, and they’re like, that’s the best orange I’ve ever had, or that’s the best avocado I’ve ever had or orange juice or whatever it is, yeah I love that.  I love being able to produce good, safe, nutritious food for people.”

But against this bucolic background, there is concern in the farming community.  

“There’s a lot of unknowns, particularly now because of the 90-day pause that was imposed.”

Dana Groot is the President of the San Diego County Farm Bureau.  He’s talking about the “T” word… tariffs.  

“The feeling among the farming community is kind of a wait and see attitude.”

Part of the reason there’s not the same level of anxiety as at other non-agricultural businesses is - farmers have been through this before.

“This is not the first go-around for San Diego County farmers.  We had some experience with tariffs under Trump’s first Presidency, and there were consequences for some of the growers, particularly exporting to Canada.”

As an irrigation system waters avocado trees, Lyall tells us he agrees with Dana Groot - he is taking a wait and see attitude… 

“Cause I really don’t know how it’s going to play out.  I think ultimately, I think it’s important that we have food security here in the United States, that we have American farmers producing food for American people first.”

Still, Groot says there is reason to be concerned.  

“On the troubling side, of course is input costs may increase whether it’s packaging, plastic materials perhaps from China or fertilizer inputs could increase dramatically.  On the export markets, we’re not too concerned about Mexico.  Canada, later in the growing season might be an issue.  Again, a lot remains to be seen.”

Lyall is fortunate though… he leaves the sale of his product to others… He says the folks who market his fruit learned from the last go-round.

“They have done a really good job of finding more of a domestic market and just some other options, so that we’re not surprised by tariffs.”

And there’s something else… something that’s ingrained in farmers across the country.

“Farmers, as a group, tend to be a little more accustomed to variables that are not within their control, so it’s perhaps a little less of a stress for them because it’s always a wait and see, right?” 

As the agricultural community waits to see what will happen with tariffs, one important data point to keep in mind… agriculture is the fourth largest economic driver in this county at nearly 1.2 billion dollars a year… Groot says if you count the services that depend on agriculture, it’s more than 4-billion.  Lots of reasons to wait and see… and hope that - if they come, tariffs don’t tarnish one of San Diego County’s economic crown jewels.  John Carroll, KPBS News.

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A psychiatry professor at UC San Diego says a meditation-based therapy is shown to be effective in reducing chronic pain and lowering the use of opioid medication.

Sci-tech reporter Thomas Fudge has more.

The therapy goes by the acronym MORE, which stands for Mindfulness Oriented Recovery Enhancement. UCSD professor Eric Garland says it relies on the use of meditation and teaches people  self awareness and self control. He says they held clinical trials of people with chronic pain and opioid prescriptions. They showed that the therapy reduced opioid misuse by 45 percent, nine months following the treatment. 

“We’ve also shown that 50 percent of people treated with MORE show a clinically significant reduction in pain.”

The opioid addiction crisis has led to several alternative treatment proposals, from mindfulness to gene therapy. Garland cautions that even when alternatives exist they may not be widely available or covered by a person’s health insurance. Thomas Fudge, KPBS News. 

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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 Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great day.