Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Tuesday, June 4th.
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Mexico will soon have a female president for the first time. More on what the election means for the country, next. But first... let’s do the headlines….
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Thousands of academic workers at UC-SD are on strike.
U-A-W local 48-11 members yesterday joined state-wide walkouts against the U-C system.
The strikers include academic researchers, post-doctoral scholars, and graduate student workers.
They say they’re on the picket line because of the way the U-C handled recent on-campus protests in support of Palestinians.
Danea Palmer is a U-A-W executive board member for the academic workers.
“Unfair labor practices like threatening the health and safety of workers…unilateral changes in university policy …intimidating workers away from participating in this strike.”
U-C Santa Barbara union members also went on strike yesterday (Monday).
U-C Irvine is set to strike tomorrow (Wednesday).
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The county Board of Supervisors is holding two public hearings this week to discuss the more than 8-point-4-billion-dollar recommended budget for the new fiscal year.
The spending plan includes funding priorities for behavioral health, homelessness, affordable housing and public safety.
The first hearing is this morning (Tuesday) at nine.
The second hearing is at 5-30 P-M on Thursday.
Both hearings will be held at the County Administration Center in downtown, in room 3-10.
You can also livestream the hearings on the county’s YouTube Channel, Facebook Live and X.
The county will release its revised recommended budget a week from Thursday (on June 13).
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The weather is going to be heating up this week.
The National Weather Service says the mornings will start off foggy and cloudy in some areas, but throughout the day the skies will become sunny.
Today’s temperatures in the inland and mountain areas will be in the high 70s, in the deserts, temps will be in the low 100s, and by the coast, it’ll be in the high 60s.
And as we approach summer, the county opened its Cool Zones program to offer places for San Diegans to cool off.
The sites include the county's 33 branch libraries and community centers.
To find a Cool Zone site and their hours of operation, visit the county’s website, or you can call 2-1-1.
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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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Mexico made history Sunday by electing a female president for the first time.
Border reporter Gustavo Solis says Mexicans on both sides of the border turned out in droves.
Sunday was a celebration of Mexican democracy. Mariachi music/people dancing Beginning early in the day, people lined up around the block to vote at the Mexican Consulate in Little Italy. In Tijuana – hundreds of thousands also turned out. And their choice was clear. Claudia Sheinbaum won by a landslide – with more than 63 percent of the vote. “If you ask me why did Claudia win so big, I would say because there is more money in the pockets of Mexicans.” That is Rafael Fernandez de Castro. Director of the Center for U.S. Mexico Studies at UC San Diego. Sheinbaum is a protege of current president Manuel Lopez Obrador. She benefited from his popular social programs. They include a doubling of the minimum wage, cash distributions to impoverished communities, and pensions for more Mexicans. But now that the election is over, her real work begins.“We need to improve security in Mexico, the crime situation. We need to improve health issues in Mexico, we need to improve the Mexican education system, so she has a lot of challenges.” Sheinbaum’s six-year term will begin on October 1. Gustavo Solis, KPBS News.
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A popular Del Mar beach is set to reopen today (Tuesday) after being closed to the public following a shark attack that wounded a man over the weekend.
North County reporter Tania Thorne says researchers are now in the area trying to find out more.
A 46 year old man was swimming about 100 yards offshore when he was bit by a shark in the torso, left arm, and hand. He was transported to a nearby hospital and is expected to survive. Researchers say the attack is a rare occasion, but sightings of sharks at this beach -arent. Dr. Chris Lowe is a professor of Marine Biology and the director of the Shark Lab at Long Beach State University. del Mar has been an aggregation site for almost 5 years now.so at this time of year female white sharks are coming back to Southern California, and they're giving birth to their young. The Shark Lab is now trying to find out what happened and who the actual suspect is. That will take some time to determine. - TT KPBS News.
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A group campaigning to replace SD-G-AND-E with a municipal utility has officially gathered more than 24-thousand signatures.
Reporter Katie Anastas says that means city council will have to vote on whether to put their measure on the November ballot.
Power San Diego wants to replace SDG&E with a non-profit, municipal electric utility. They say it would lower rates for customers and encourage the use of solar power. Bill Powers is the campaign’s chair. POWERS we have no control over SDG&E’s activities, and that is reflected in us paying the highest rates in the nation, in us seeing them achieve the highest record-breaking profit levels. The campaign needed 24,006 signatures to require a City Council vote. On Friday, the city clerk said they met that threshold. SDG&E is funding a political action committee to oppose the ballot initiative. Katie Anastas, KPBS News.
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Over the past five years, Sharp Grossmont Hospital says hospital readmission rates for patients from rural areas of the county increased by nearly 8 percent.
Health reporter Heidi De Marco tells us about a program aiming to reduce that number.
On a recent Thursday morning, a team of county public health nurses and a paramedic firefighter drive through dusty unpaved roads to visit a patient in Boulevard who was recently discharged from Sharp Grossmont Hospital. And do you have the medications they sent you with from the hospital. Michael Lane is 69. He recently went to the emergency room because he was having troubling breathing. He’s been living in Boulevard for more than 25 years. This is his first visit since being discharged. LANE: It’s really hard to get people up here other than on our phone. That’s a hard thing to do, diagnose someone over the phone. The visit is part of a pilot program to reduce hospital readmission rates. County public health nurses and firefighters support residents in the county's most rural areas. The team monitors patients for up to 30 days after they leave the hospital. Lane says having the team drive more than 55 miles to check on his recovery… LANE: Makes a big difference. While nurse Amy Dull checks his vitals, fire captain Joseph Thompson clears the weeds in the front yard to ensure Lane's safety. Weed wacker The program launched last June. It's a collaboration between several health care organizations, the fire department, and the county's health and human services agency. The program is free. To qualify patients must have been recently released from Sharp Grossmont Hospital and reside in one of nine rural zip codes, including Boulevard, Campo, Descanso. Amy Dull is one of three nurses in the program. DULL: We talk to them on the phone at first and get some background and introduce ourselves from the program. And then that first visit is just really getting to know them and their needs and kind of an overall picture of their health and what their situation is. Susan Costanzo is 68 and lives off the grid in Campo. This is the first time she’s meeting the team. So what happened to the hand? COSTANZO: Infection in my hand from working too hard. It was an initial injury caused by a wide band ring caused a small little blister. I guess that got infected. She works her land, and her only companions are her two dogs. COSTANZO: I like being alone. But it’s pretty isolated out here. Today, Thompson replaces Costanzo’s fire alarms. Nurse Kaila Domingo gives her a new blood pressure monitor. Blood pressure normal is 120 over 80. Yours is perfect. Nurse Claudinne Urbanavage goes over her medication. And helps her set up follow-up appointments. URBANAVAGE: The people here sometimes, like they don't have primary care doctors. They don't have a pharmacy. So that's when we come in. We make sure that they stay out of the hospital. The team can only see about 4 to 5 patients each day due to the lengthy stretches of highway between their homes. Since June, they have visited 150 people and driven about 10,000 miles. URBANAVAGE: From someone who has a nice home to someone who has a trailer, which is, you know, falling apart, has holes in their roof where they can't even sleep in there when you know, when it's raining…The youngest that we've had is 27 and the oldest is 96. Residents in rural areas face difficulties accessing health care. There are fewer health care resources and longer travel times to hospitals and pharmacies. JOHNSON: Some of these folks are 50 to 60 miles away from the hospital. Nick Johnson is one of two paramedic firefighters in the program. JOHNSON: Many of these many of the people that we see do not even have, you know, transportation or access to transportation. There are a lot of issues, too, where there are just no one for these people to call other than 911. According to Sharp's data, about 40% of discharged patients have enrolled in the program. The majority are managing chronic diseases. In the first six months, patients in the program had fewer trips back to the hospital—just 4%, compared to almost 14% for those who didn't enroll. Juan Cuevas is 79 and lives in Potrero with his daughter. He went to the hospital because of an enlarged prostate. Today is his last visit. CUEVAS: Estoy bien agradecido… He says he’s grateful for their help and the new smoke detector. URBANAVAGE: A lot of them are isolated and sometimes they just really need someone to be there for them, you know, someone to sit and talk to them. And that makes their day. Cuevas is feeling better, enough to sing the team as the leave CUEVAS: Amorcito corazón, yo tengo tentación de un beso…Heidi de Marco, 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. Join us again tomorrow for the day’s top stories. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great Tuesday.
