Daily Business Report-Oct. 28, 2019
San Diego Superior Court
Gov. Gavin Newsom appoints three women
to the San Diego Superior Court bench
Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed Olga Alvarez and Judy S. Bae of San Diego and Terri E. Roberts of Chula Vista to the San Diego Superior Court bench.
Olga Álvarez, 50, fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Leo Valentine. She has been a shareholder and attorney at Heisner Álvarez since 2013 and is a certified specialist in estate planning, trust and probate law. She served as an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego School of Law from 2016 to 2018 and was of counsel at Sullivan Hill Rez & Engel from 2010 to 2013. Álvarez was an associate at Achtel Law Firm from 2006 to 2010 and at Atkins & Davidson, APC from 2005 to 2006. She was an associate at Larrabee Albi Coker LLP from 2003 to 2004 and at the Law Offices of Jan Joseph Bejar from 2002 to 2003. Álvarez earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law and a Master of Public Affairs degree from the University of Texas at Austin, LBJ School of Public Affairs. She was president of the Lawyers Club of San Diego from 2017 to 2018. Álvarez is a Democrat.
Judy Bae, 45, fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Charles R. Gill. Bae has been an associate at Miller, Monson, Peshel, Polacek & Hoshaw since 2005. She was an associate at Horton, Oberrecht, Kirkpatrick & Martha from 2002 to 2005. Bae earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law. She is a Democrat.
Terrie E. Roberts, 54, fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Gerald C. Jessop. Roberts has served as a commissioner at the San Diego County Superior Court since 2008. She served as a deputy district attorney at the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office from 2001 to 2008 and was a sole practitioner from 1996 to 2001. Roberts was an associate at the Law Offices of Beatrice W. Kemp from 1995 to 1996 and served as a deputy public defender at the San Diego Public Defender’s Office from 1992 to 1995. Roberts earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Arizona State University, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. She is a Democrat.
The compensation for each of these positions is $213,833.
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MiraCosta College hosts Unmanned
Aircraft Systems Demonstration Night
As part of FAA Drone Awareness week, MiraCosta College’s Technology Career Institute (TCI) is pleased to host an Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Night Operations Demonstration on Monday, Nov. 4 from 5:30–8:30 p.m.
The event will include demonstrations of UAS used for aerial imaging, a ground LiDAR camera from Airborne Works, and professional lighting from FoxFury Lighting Solutions. There will also be safety discussions regarding night flight and visual illusions.
Professionals from the industries will lead a discussion on the topic of data collection solutions. Attendees will not be able to fly drones at the event.
The demonstration will be held in the area behind the T510 Building near the soccer field at MiraCosta College’s Oceanside Campus, located at 1 Barnard Drive. Parking permits are not required for this event.
To attend this special event, registration is required at: https://www.faasafety.gov/SPANS/event_publicregistration.aspx?eid=96622&type=0
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Grossmont College recognized
as Champion of Higher Education
For the second year in a row, Grossmont College is being recognized as a Champion of Higher Education by the Campaign for College Opportunity for its work to significantly increase the number of students earning an Associate Degree for Transfer, an associate’s degree that guarantees transfer to a California State University institution.
The award for the college’s achievements during the 2018 – 19 academic year will be given at a Nov. 14 formal reception in Los Angeles. Grossmont College was recognized, among other factors, for the third highest percentage of ADTs awarded in California regardless of college size.
Grossmont College was one of 12 community colleges to be recognized throughout California, and it was also the only college or university in San Diego and Imperial counties to be honored. The Campaign for College Opportunity honors colleges that lead the state in ADT implementation as “Champions of Higher Education.”
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Research Horizons:
Unraveling the mysteries of spider silk
San Diego State University NewsCenter
A spider spinning a web looks simple on the surface.
Yet spider silk is the result of a complicated, delicate and relatively mysterious process where silk proteins are synthesized and processed inside the spider’s abdomen, resulting in a material tougher than bulletproof vests and stronger than the steel used in airplanes.
Scientists have learned how to mimic spider silk, but they have yet to make an artificial version as strong as Mother Nature’s original. San Diego State University chemist Gregory Holland is one of a growing number of scientists seeking to learn as much as possible about this natural phenomenon and develop a material just as hardy as true spider silk.
Holland uses advanced imaging—nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy technology—to peer inside Black Widows and other spiders as they spin their webs.
His work could have far-reaching implications.
“We are getting a picture of how the magic happens as these proteins organize into the wonderful materials we see in the world around us,” Holland said. “This research extends far beyond mimicking a material like spider silk. It could make possible the biosynthesis of bone and hard tissue like teeth in the lab.”
Holland, an associate professor, arrived at SDSU in 2015 after nine years as a research professor at Arizona State University. He received his doctoral degree from the University of Wyoming, where he first became interested in spider silk. Since then Holland has authored more than 40 papers on the subject.
The U.S. Department of Defense funds his research through the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
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Ahead of renter protection law,
reports of an eviction rush
By Matt Levin, CalMatters
Alex Espinoza isn’t sure what next month will look like for his family — where he’ll find work, if his wife will find a seasonal job like the one she has with a local taco truck, where they’ll buy groceries for their 2-year-old daughter and 10-month-old son.
All he knows is that in the next three weeks, they’re moving out of their two-bed, one bathroom Los Banos apartment that he’s lived in for the last five years, and moving in with his mother-in-law in Utah.
That’s because the new owners of the Canal Farm Gardens, a 50-plus unit complex of fourplexes, gave Espinoza and at least 30 of his neighbors a choice: Pay more than $1,200 a month for a newly renovated unit — a nearly 50 percent increase above the rent he pays now — or expect to be evicted.
If Espinoza’s Sept. 16 eviction notice had arrived after Dec. 31, his landlord would owe him a month’s rent in relocation assistance. And evicting the entire apartment complex would be a much more expensive proposition.
The mass evictions in this Central Valley town are among rising reports across California of landlords removing tenants from their properties ahead of a statewide change taking effect Jan. 1 — a law that will make evictions more costly and difficult for landlords.
“It’s not worth it to live here for that much,” said Espinoza, 26, who works making granite countertops. “They don’t give a shit about where we go. They’re too worried about their money.”
The new law, championed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom as the strongest statewide renter protection in the country, caps annual rent increases at 5 percent plus inflation, while also forcing landlords to specify a legitimate reason for evicting tenants and to offer relocation assistance for no-fault evictions.
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