Daily Business Report-Aug. 28, 2017
San Diego County Credit Union branch on University Avenue.
Report: Credit Union Loans for New and Used
Vehicles Hit Record Highs in San Diego County
San Diego County residents continue taking out loans for new and used vehicles at a brisk pace according to the 2nd Quarter Credit Union Trends Report for San Diego County, published by the Ontario, Calif.-based California Credit Union League.
The report reveals how consumers are “feeling” about purchasing small cars, sedans, trucks, CUVs, SUVs and other large vehicles given the region’s current economic climate, as well as the future of the local auto industry’s health.
For 16 locally-headquartered credit unions in San Diego County as of second-quarter 2017:
- Loans for new light-weight vehicles hit a record dollar amount ($2 billion). This translates to 90,260 individual auto loans (average price of $22,158 per vehicle). This category quintupled (rising 405 percent) from the most recent low in 2013 of $397 million. (The record peak was $1.03 billion in 2008).
- Loans for used light-weight vehicles hit a record dollar amount ($2.3 billion). This translates to 158,530 individual auto loans (average price of $14,508 per vehicle). This category more than doubled (rising 152 percent) from the most recent low in 2012 of $923 million. (The former record peak was $1.17 billion in 2008).
- Combined loans for new and used light-weight vehicles hit a record dollar amount ($4.3 billion). This translates to 248,790 individual auto loans (average price of $17,283 per vehicle). This category more than tripled (rising 228 percent) from the most recent low in 2012 of $1.3 billion. (The former record peak was $2.2 billion in 2008)
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Reality Changers Prepares for 18th School Year
This week Reality Changers celebrates back-to-school season by welcoming its students for the program’s eighteenth school year. In addition to attending school and participating in extracurricular activities, Reality Changers’ students participate in a weekly comprehensive tutoring program.
The school year kicks off after a summer filled with milestones:
- In June, Reality Changers’ students and graduates surpassed the $120,000,000 mark in scholarship aid received from all sources since the program began in 2001.
- In August, Reality Changers launched Project Exito, an initiative to serve students in San Diego County’s juvenile detention facilities. Reality Changers will offer its full range of program for students in juvenile hall and continue to offer programming for these youths at Reality Changers’ headquarters after their release from custody.
- In August, Reality Changers will begin serving students at seven new schools in San Diego County and four new schools and youth-serving organizations in Orange County. “We work with the toughest and brightest eighth- to twelfth-graders in San Diego and Orange Counties and prepare them to be first generation college students,” says Founder and President Christopher Yanov. “Our unique style is that we surround struggling eighth-graders (with GPAs between 0.0 and 2.0) with positive peer role models so that they can succeed together. By the time they reach twelfth grade, all students are prepared for our intensive, yearlong course to guide them through the college application process.”
Reality Changers’ Opening Night Date: Today, 6 to 9 p.m., Reality Changers Headquarters 3910 University Ave., Suite 300-RC (3rd Floor) San Diego, CA 92105.
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Living Coast Discovery Center
Raises $84,000 at Farm to Bay Event
The Living Coast Discovery Center in Chula Vista raised $84,000 in net proceeds at its eighth annual Farm to Bay event on Aug. 5. The funds, which were generated through a combination of sponsorships, ticket sales, auctions and Raise the Paddle donations, support coastal wildlife conservation, education and sustainability programs at the Living Coast throughout the year.
Farm to Bay is the only San Diego culinary event set within a protected national wildlife refuge. In keeping with the Living Coast’s commitment to the environment and sustainability, the event committee has taken the necessary steps toward producing a zero-waste event. Each year, Farm to Bay’s event waste is hand-sorted and composted on-site by a team from Chula Vista Clean and master composters. This year, the event committee reported that 88 percent of event waste (385 pounds) was recycled or composted and diverted from landfills — the highest totals ever for the event.
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General Atomics’ Extended Range
Drone Surpasses Flight Test Goal
An extended-range variant of General Atomics’ MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft system has exceeded the 40-hour goal during an endurance flight test.
General Atomics said MQ-1C ER was configured for a representative U.S. Army mission and flew 41.9 hours after the UAS was launched from El Mirage, Calif. It marked the aircraft’s 43rd test flight since Oct. 29, 2016.
“This is an important milestone for the MQ-1C ER program,” said David Alexander, president of aircraft systems at General Atomics’ aeronautical systems business.
The company will fly the UAS platform in Dugway, Utah, next month as part of the Army’s First Article Test to further evaluate aircraft range, endurance and payload capacity.
MQ-1C ER is slated to undergo a logistics demonstration in January 2018 and a follow-on operational test and evaluation in March. The Army aims to field the system by August next year.
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Professor Lands $13 Million Federal
Research Grant to Study Heart Disease
Catherine “Lynn” Hedrick, a professor in the Division of Inflammation Biology at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology, has been awarded a five-year, $13 million grant by the National Institutes of Health to lead a collaborative research program project to study how functional changes in immune cells contribute to atherosclerosis. The end goal of the study is to identify novel therapeutic strategies targeting immune cell function to reduce cardiovascular disease.
“Over the past 10 years, several research groups, including our own, have shown the importance of certain immune cell subsets in preventing or exacerbating heart disease in mice, but we are just beginning to understand how the metabolism and function of these immune cells change during cardiovascular disease progression in humans,” says Hedrick.
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NASSCO Completes Float-Out
for USNS Hershel ‘Woody’ Williams
General Dynamics NASSCO has successfully completed the float-out for USNS Hershel “Woody” Williams, the second Expeditionary Sea Base to be constructed for the U.S. Navy by NASSCO shipbuilders. The float-out occurred on Aug. 19.
A float-out occurs when a ship is ready to be moved from NASSCO’s graving dock to one of NASSCO’s piers for the next phase of construction. It is a lengthy and carefully-coordinated process that begins months in advance and requires the detailed attention of several departments and outside agencies.
As part of the process, seawater flows into the graving dock, gradually raising the ship until it floats on its own.
Named after retired U.S. Marine and Medal of Honor recipient, Hershel Woodrow “Woody” Williams, the 784-foot-long ship will serve as a flexible platform to support a variety of missions, including air mine countermeasures, counter-piracy operations, maritime security and humanitarian missions.
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San Diego State Welcomes
Nearly 11,000 New Students
San Diego State University will welcome nearly 11,000 new students to campus today as the fall 2017 semester officially gets underway.
More than 83,000 freshmen and undergraduate transfer students applied for fall 2017 admission to SDSU — tying the previous applicant record.
While final data will not be available until the university’s annual census in September, total student enrollment, including continuing students, is projected to be 34,200. In addition to 5,300 freshmen, approximately 3,250 transfer students and 2,000 new graduate and doctoral students will become part of the Aztec Family this week.
With an average high school GPA of 3.70, the incoming class is among the most academically impressive ever. The incoming class is also among the most diverse in university history. An estimated 31.2 percent of incoming students are underrepresented students of color, including nearly 27 percent who identify as Hispanic or Latino. This is a point of pride for SDSU as it underscores the university’s commitment to providing a high-quality education for all students, regardless of socioeconomic background.
SDSU also welcomes 38 new tenured and tenure-track faculty members, making strides on an ambitious five-year goal to add 300 new faculty members. So far, the university has filled more than 220 of these positions – thanks in part to funding from The Campaign for SDSU and the Student Success Fee.
New faculty members this year come to SDSU from Texas A&M, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and other world-class research universities. They are experts in a variety of fields including public health, psychology, history and mechanical engineering.
