Morning Report: Family Ties Pull Hondurans to the U.S.

For the last several years, Hondurans have endured a volatile political system, violence and poverty. 

Yet for many of the Hondurans who decide to make the dangerous journey to the United States, their biggest motivating factor is that many of their family members are already here.

In her latest piece following her reporting trip to Honduras, VOSD’s Maya Srikrishnan explores the role of family ties in luring Honduran migrants to San Diego’s doorstep and elsewhere in the United States.

“They may not have money. They may not speak English. They may not know the ins and outs of the complex legal system through which they’ll be requesting asylum in the United States,” Srikrishnan writes. “But they often do know someone who’s already there. And when you have nothing else, that counts for a lot.”

Today in Alarming Drinking Water News, Part 1

San Diego’s earthquake risk might not be as big as some other cities in California, but there’s one particular risk that doesn’t get much attention — and it’s a cause for concern even when it comes to earthquakes that happen far from San Diego.

In this week’s Environment Report, Ry Rivard examines the dangers to the region’s water supplies that a major quake could pose.

“A quake, even one so far away that nobody in San Diego feels it, could cause an emergency and force mandatory water-use restrictions. That’s because most of San Diego’s water comes from hundreds of miles away through threads of metal and concrete that connect us to distant rivers and reservoirs,” Rivard writes. “In one worst-case scenario … a tunnel near Palm Springs would collapse during a quake and cut off flows for six months.”

Today in Alarming Drinking Water News, Part 2

For the better part of a day in April, water that eventually reached some San Diegans’ taps didn’t get part of the treatment it’s supposed to get to remove viruses and parasites. The state cited the San Diego County Water Authority over the failure, and the Water Authority disclosed the incident on Monday.

The agency said it didn’t disclose the issue more quickly because the problem wasn’t considered a public health emergency. The state believed the water that reached customers was likely still up to standards, because it’s treated multiple ways and only one of those ways partially failed. 

Still, reports Ry Rivard, “The April risk, however small, is an extraordinary one for a water supplier as large as the Water Authority.”

Hunter: Toss My Case. Judge: Nah.

A federal judge on Monday declined Rep. Duncan Hunter’s request to have his case thrown out because he said two prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office once attended a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton and thus, must be biased against him because he has publicly supported President Donald Trump.

The judge also tentatively denied Hunter’s request to move the trial out of San Diego County and into a venue in which voters prefer Trump. “The issue will be revisited during jury selection,” reports CNN. 

In Other News

• Attorney Cory Briggs told Times of San Diego he’s running for city attorney because he believes current City Attorney Mara Elliott is too political. 
• The U-T examined continuing tensions and charges of racism on the Southwestern College campus.
• County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher wants the county to study “vote centers” where voters can cast ballots before an election in addition to traditional polling centers. (U-T) 
• The website Food Safety News has details on the ongoing probe into the E. coli outbreak at the San Diego County Fair and what fairs across the country are doing to ensure people’s safety as a result. 

Corrections

• Friday’s story on local Twitch and YouTube stars mischaracterized Online Performers Group; it is a talent management company. The post has also been updated to reflect that the group’s founder, Omeed Dariani, estimated there are 15,000 active partners on Twitch, not active broadcasters.
• The Environment Report misstated the date that problems at the Twin Oaks Valley Water Treatment Plant might have begun.

The Morning Report was written by Sara Libby, and edited by Scott Lewis.