Supervisor in Public Defender’s office accused of racism

Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Monday, November 21st.

A former Deputy Public Defender is suing San Diego County for wrongful termination. More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….

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Governor Gavin Newsom has agreed to release a billion dollars in funding for homeless programs in several cities across the state, including here in San Diego.

But he wants cities to get more aggressive in trying to solve the crisis.

Earlier this month, Newsom put a pause on the funds... telling cities to – "do better."

Homeless advocate Michael McConnell says that move could be a wake-up call for city governments.

“I think its time to quit patting people on the back and saying you're doing a great job and doing exactly what the governor did and say whoa yall arent doing a very good job, let's rethink this.”

Todd Gloria was one of several big-city mayors who met with Newsom FRIDAY.

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The San Diego International Airport was ranked the second best “medium-sized” airport in the country.

The Wall Street Journal used a number of metrics, including on time arrivals and departures…

83-percent of flights leave on time from our airport.

That will be put to the test this week — traditionally the busiest travel time of the year.

Airport officials say the busiest travel day will be the Sunday after Thanksgiving, followed closely by this Wednesday.

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The 20-22 FIFA World Cup kicked off yesterday.

There will be 64 games played throughout the event in and around Doha in Qatar.

Three of those games are scheduled for today.

If you want to get out and watch the World Cup, there will be tons of watch parties in the area

For a list visit KPBS-DOT-ORG-SLASH-WORLD-CUP.

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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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A supervisor in the San Diego County Public Defender's office is accused of using racist terminology.

Those allegations are scheduled to be aired in Superior Court soon.

KPBS Investigative reporter Amita Sharma has details.

In August 2020, Andre Bollinger, a Black Latino lawyer, spoke during a Zoom meeting of the Public Defender Association of San Diego County. He told board members they were  alienating attorneys of color.  Board member and senior Public Defender Supervisor Sherry Stone  allegedly responded by calling Bollinger lazy. Colleagues say Bollinger is a well respected and talented trial attorney. But Stone reportedly continued to attack him.  She allegedly said, “how dare he try to lynch her or the PDA Board given his low acumen and poor performances.” “Chilling. There's a reason why hate speech is outlawed, and that's because it has a chilling impact. It prevents others from exercising that right to speech. And this had exactly that impact.” Former Deputy Public Defender Zach Davina was in that meeting. His coworkers were outraged over Stone’s alleged comments. They came  to Davina because he is a member of the union’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion committee. “....I'm a white guy. I don't have the history of lynching like other folks, people of color do. And so the first thing I did was, listen.” And then he says he and fellow DEI committee members recommended that Stone receive diversity training. ”....about how that was an act of aggression, and also that her role as a supervisor should be reconsidered never anything about her job. I never asked that she  lose her job.” Davina believes his recommendation ultimately cost him his job. About a month later, Davina says, Stone sat on his tenure review panel and told him:  “....I want you to know that threats against coworkers, slights against coworkers will come back to bite you.” Davina believes he also ran afoul of management months earlier when he came out as gay to an LGBTQ panel. In doing so, he said the public defender office had not always been so welcoming to people like him. He says the backlash was immediate. “I had supervisors reach out directly and express their concern about me bringing up that statement and sort of critiquing the office in that sense.” Still, Davina says he had only received stellar performance reviews. So, he expected more of the same in October 2020 when he went before the tenure review panel. He was wrong. “Almost the second or third question after `How are you’ was `you’re pretty’…breathes…sorry…um….`you’re pretty animated and flamboyant, don’t you think that hurts your clients’?...which I don’t know how to describe how that felt.” But Davina says he knew what it meant. “It's you are too much. You are too gay. You are too different.” He was crushed. “I thought …I believed that if I did everything I could for my clients that if I put everything into the job, it would be the one time where my work would matter and who I am wouldn’t be the determining factor.” Davina says supervisors then approached him in November 2020 … with a choice: quit or be fired. He says they told him he was “not a good fit” for the office’s culture. Davina is suing the county for wrongful termination. Former deputy public defender Michelle Reynoso has filed a similar lawsuit.  She declined to speak to KPBS. KPBS reached out to Stone, Public Defender Randy Mize and San Diego  County Counsel for comment. The county says it looks forward to bringing these cases to a jury to hear the facts.” Davina’s trial is scheduled to start next month. Reynoso’s is  in February. Lawyer Christopher Ludmer represents both attorneys. He says the allegations in their cases don’t align with the values of the Public Defender Office. “....The fact that the type of discrimination and retaliation that the Public Defender Office carried out against Zach was done by lawyers, members of the bar, makes this case even worse.” Amita Sharma, KPBS News.

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Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg came back to San Diego county FRIDAY for the second time in less than a month.

KPBS reporter Jacob Aere says he came for a look at the work underway to make the region’s fourth border crossing a reality.

Every year, billions of dollars in trade goods pass through San Diego County’s three ports of entry along the border with Mexico. On Friday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg came back to San Diego to highlight the funding and construction of what will be a fourth port of entry. It’s expected to drastically reduce wait times and help cut down carbon emissions from idling vehicles. “A new inspection facility for commercial trucks, 10 new lanes for incoming vehicles, state of the art inspection equipment, zero-emissions chargers for staff vehicles and state of the art technology designed to make the entire option safer and more efficient.” Buttigieg says President Biden’s infrastructure package included 150-million dollars for the Otay Mesa East project. The new port of entry is expected to be completed in the fall of 2024. Jacob Aere, KPBS News.

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New research out of San Diego finds climate researchers may have underestimated the speed and impact of greenhouse gas emissions on the climate.

KPBS Environment reporter Erik Anderson says the interplay between clouds and pollution may have masked global warming impacts.

Air Pollution may have played a key role in the speed of global warming over the last 150 years. Casey Wall is a University of Oslo postdoctoral researcher who began investigating this issue in San Diego. Wall and other Scientists reviewed historical data on clouds and aerosol pollution.Casey Wall, University of Oslo, post-doctoral researcher “Theones in particular that we’re interested in are sulfate aerosols and these are small particles on which cloud droplets can form.” Wall says historical records indicate pollution may have created more cloud cover which masked the impact greenhouse gasses have on the climate. “If we can reduce uncertainty in the aerosol cooling effect it gives us a better understanding of how sensitive the climate is to changes in greenhouse gasses which then helps us to what predict long term climate change from greenhouse gas, changes we can expect.” That means researchers may be underestimating how quickly the climate is warming – meaning current warming predictions may have to be increased by a half a degree.  Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher Nick Lutsko says The difference is Dramatic. Nick Lutsko, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, climate scientist “It’s sometimes surprising for people to think that air pollution is counteracting global warming, to some extent but I really want to emphasize that air pollution is really bad for society and ecosystems and stuff so we should definitely focus on cleaning it up.” The findings appear in the current edition of the journal - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Erik Anderson KPBS News.

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Coming up.... Our KPBS team shares some Thanksgiving tips, traditions and recipes ahead of the holiday. We’ll have that and more, just after the break.

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S-D-S-U has created the ‘Center for Tobacco and the Environment’ to examine the health and environmental effects of tobacco products.

KPBS Sci-Tech reporter Thomas Fudge has more.

San Diego state faculty have been involved in lots of research on  tobacco pollution, like examining parks and beaches to collect and count what seems like an infinite number of cigarette butts. The university created the Center for Tobacco and the environment to give the research a home. Georg Matt is the Center’s director and a psychology professor at SDSU. He says the center’s mission is. “To examine and then hopefully find solutions to this very serious problem that exists outdoors, in terms of tobacco product waste, as well as indoors, in terms of tobacco smoke toxic residue.” That toxic residue, where tobacco smoke becomes embedded in carpets and drywall, is often called third-hand smoke. Lydia Greiner, also a psychology professor at SDSU, says people who have bought pre-owned homes have described it to her.  “We can see on the walls where there are stains, where the pictures were removed. We can also smell an overwhelming smell of tobacco smoke. The smell actually represents toxic chemicals.” Matt says the Center for Tobacco and the Environment is funded entirely by  grants that fund the research. SOQ.

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Environmental groups are celebrating San Diego’s passage of a ban on single-use plastics.

KPBS reporter Melissa Mae tells us what it will mean for the environment.

MM: The new law covers a long list of polystyrene (poly-sty-reen) products that will be off-limits… including items for food service, ice chests and even some pool toys. City departments won’t be able to buy such products, and a food vendor can only offer single use utensils and straws upon request. MM: The Surfrider Foundation has been working on this ordinance since 2018 and their San Diego County Policy Coordinator, Mitch Silverstein (Silver-steen) says plastic makes up more than 80 percent of what they find during beach cleanups. MS “Times have changed. Public perception and awareness of the plastic pollution issue has increased exponentially. Unfortunately, the problem is increasing exponentially as well, so it makes it even more important for us and for communities to take action.” MM: The ordinance goes into effect on April 1, 2023… but there will be a one-year delay for small businesses making less than 500-thousand dollars a year, plus hardship exemptions for some businesses. Melissa Mae KPBS News.

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The holiday season sparks different memories for each and every one of us… With Thanksgiving only a couple days away, we asked the newsroom to share their traditions, favorite foods and recipes. Here’s what they said.

I hope you are planning on spending your holiday with those you hold dear. We’d love to hear about your Thanksgiving traditions and favorite recipes. Call us at (619) 452-0228‬ and leave a voice message with your first and last name, your neighborhood and what you’d like to share.

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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.