Tens of thousands ordered deported after missing rescheduled hearings

Good Morning, I’m Andrew Dyer in for Lawrence K. Jackson….it’s Monday, August 3rd.

Immigration courts are changing peoples court dates on short notice then ordering them deported when they don’t show.

More on the stunning data next. But first... the headlines….

Marine officials are investigating why an F-35 jet crashed in San Diego Friday.

The F-35B went down near the runway at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

The Marines say the pilot ejected safely with non-life threatening injuries.

Battery-powered handwarmers are being recalled.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission says its received almost 15-hundred reports of OCOOPA brand rechargeable hand warmers overheating.

That’s led to 15 fires, 350 burn injuries and the death of an 83-year-old San Diego man in February.

Some one-point-five million of the devices were sold online by Amazon, Walmart and the manufacturer.

The San Diego Humane Society says its bringing in more than 50 Yorkies and Huskies from two overwhelmed dog owners.
The Yorkies are being treated at the Society’s Escondido location.
Most of the Huskies are at the San Diego campus with a few in El Cajon.

The Humane Society says the large-scale influx of dogs comes as its already caring for a record number of animals.
It so happens this month marks the Humane Society’s Clear the Shelters campaign. Adoption fees are half off.

From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.

Stay with me for more of the local news you need.

LAST MONTH, THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION DEPLOYED A NEW TACTIC IN ITS MASS DEPORTATION CAMPAIGN. WHICH IS TO SCHEDULE HUNDREDS OF IMMIGRATION COURT HEARINGS WITH VERY SHORT NOTICE.
REPORTER GUSTAVO SOLIS REVIEWED FEDERAL DATA THAT SHOWS THOSE HEARINGS RESULTED IN MORE THAN 50,000 DEPORTATION ORDERS just in the month of June.

Mega master calendar hearings. That is what the Trump administration calls the practice of scheduling a bunch of immigration hearings on very short notice.This started in late May. Immigrant right advocates sounded alarms … warning that people wouldn’t show up to court if they only had a few weeks notice. And be denied due process. Now the data is out. And it shows that is exactly what happened.“Puts numbers to a lot of what people had been reporting from on the ground all over the country.”That’s Joseph Gunter – he just co-authored a report on the impact of these hearings. It focused on absentia removal orders. Which means deporting someone because they missed their hearing.“And so what we saw is that with all of these huge numbers of hearings schedule in short notice is a truly unprecedented number of removal orders in absentia were handed out in June.”Immigration courts nationwide issued more than 53,000 absentia removal orders in June.  A 55% increase from May – which was already a record month.Gustavo Solis, KPBS News.

THE DEATH OF FORMER CHARGERS LINEBACKER BILLY RAY SMITH JR.LAST WEEK IS BRINGING RENEWED ATTENTION TO THE LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF REPEATED HEAD TRAUMA. SMITH’S FAMILY SAYS HE HAD DEMENTIA CAUSED BY CHRONIC TRAUMATIC ENCEPHALOPATHY, OR C-T-E.
HEALTH REPORTER HEIDI DE MARCO TAKES A CLOSER LOOK AT THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE DISEASE.

Diagnosing CTE in a living person is a process of elimination.We have to make sure that there's no brain tumors, we don't think that it's an Alzheimer's, we don't think that it's a Parkinson's disease.Dr. Vamsi Chavakula is a neurosurgeon with Sharp HealthCare. So it is a very tricky diagnosis.He says researchers are looking for other ways to detect CTE, including through blood and spinal fluid…but there is no reliable test yet.We don't understand…why some players get CTE and some do not.Sarah Banks is a neuropsychologist and UCSan Diego Health. She uses brain autopsies to learn more about the disease.We really do rely on the families of these individuals who sadly die with repetitive head injury and dementia to donate their brain so that we can learn more about what happens.For now, researchers are working toward a way to identify the disease during life…and better understand who is most vulnerable.Heidi de Marco, KPBS News.

SAN DIEGO’S FIRST WOMEN’S SPORTS BAR HAS OPENED IN NORTH PARK.

PRODUCER BRENDEN TUCCINARDI SPOKE TO ONE OF THE OWNERS ABOUT THE INSPIRATION FOR THE NEW BUSINESS.

“Welcome to One of Us!”Co-founder Kalani (KAY-LA-NEE) Millsaps says the idea for the bar was born after her experience with countless sports bars refusing to play women’s games.
“It just got to a point where we were super frustrated and started talking like hey what you know, what if we did this?Women’s sports bars like One of Us are opening up across the United States as the women’s sports industry experiences explosive growth. Here’s Scott Minto, director of the Sports M-B-A program at San Diego State.
“The women's sports industry is on fire these days. It's been phenomenal growth uh in the last several years… Looking at it from the revenue perspective, it's projected to grow by 250% by 2030.”But for fans, One of Us isn’t about the dollar signs. Carol Kuck (COOK) is glad to have a space that celebrates women's sports..
“So, the vibe right now is I think just feeling like a place where we're seen as women. We belong and um are honored. as women. It's it's really great for women's sports, but for women and for all sports fans women's sports is awesome.”Brenden Tuccinardi, KPBS news. 

That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Andrew Dyer, Lawrence K. Jackson will be back tomorrow. Thanks for listening and have a great day.