San Diego’s Air Pollution Control District is forcing industries to reduce cancer risk in San Diego.
And it’s all pretty complicated.
Up until this week, San Diego industries were permitted to put out toxins in the air that could cause cancer at levels of 100 in one million. That means: Of a million people, 100 of them could get cancer from toxins being spewed in local air and that was acceptable by current standards. But a recent vote by the Control District cut that level down to 10 instead of 100. Local industry must now comply.
This week on the VOSD Podcast — just ahead of the vote to determine these new requirements — host Andrea Lopez-Villafaña sat down with environment reporter MacKenzie Elmer to talk about what goes into these standards, what local industries had to do to alert residents of the damage caused and what changes could come in the near future.
Check out Elmer’s full story here and see the map where the biggest polluters are in San Diego.
Saved in America Needs Saving
The San Diego-based nonprofit Saved in America has earned favorable news coverage over the years — claiming to have built a team of former military and law enforcement personnel to save victims of human trafficking.
They even won some $100,000 of San Diego County funding for their efforts.
But now, the group and its founder are losing supporters, including many high-profile San Diego officials. Things appear to be falling apart after a report came out scrutinizing the agency’s claims and an announcement that the County will look into whether Saved in America misused its grant money.
Villafaña, along with cohosts Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts, discuss the short and fascinating history of this group and whether they actually fulfill their lofty mission.
San Diego 101: The True Power of Redistricting
Also in your feed this week is our latest episode of San Diego 101. This one’s all about redistricting and the crazy power of maps.
Hosts Maya Srirkishnan and Adriana Heldiz go back in time to 2011 — during the last round of redistricting — to review how it all went down and how it changed San Diego.
Hear it here and share it with your friends. (Redistricting is upon us!)