Daily Business Report-Nov. 10, 2020
The Salk Institute’s Harnessing Plants Initiative is an innovative, scalable and bold approach to fight climate change by optimizing a plant’s natural ability to capture and store carbon and adapt to diverse climate conditions. (Credit: Paul Orr/Shutterstock.com)
Sempra Energy and Salk Institute
announce plan to address climate crisis
Sempra Energy and the Salk Institute on Monday announced a new project to advance plant-based carbon capture and sequestration research, education and implementation to help address the climate crisis. Sempra Energy is donating $2 million to the Salk Institute to help fund the five-year project.
“There is incredible urgency to address our changing climate,” said Salk Professor Wolfgang Busch, co-director of the Institute’s Harnessing Plants Initiative (HPI). “As the world’s population increases to 10 billion or more, global warming is going to put incredible pressure on our ability to meet humanity’s needs for food, fuel and fiber. Sempra’s investment in research to develop solutions that remove excess carbon from the atmosphere is an investment in our shared future.”
Sempra Energy will be the lead sponsor of the Salk Institute’s “Sequestering Carbon Through Climate Adapted Sorghum” project, part of the Institute’s Harnessing Plants Initiative. HPI is an innovative, scalable and bold approach to fight climate change by optimizing a plant’s natural ability to capture and store carbon and adapt to diverse climate conditions. Salk researchers aim to develop these Salk Ideal Plants to mitigate the disastrous effects of climate change by drawing down significant amounts of the excess carbon in our atmosphere while also providing more food, fuel and fiber for a growing population.
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SDSU researchers confront COVID-19:
understanding the virus
In an extensive array of projects, San Diego State University researchers are investigating the characteristics and persistence of COVID-19.
Their research is critical for better understanding, diagnosing and ultimately treating the deadly virus. Many of the projects leverage SDSU’s community connections, allowing investigators to collaborate with local health care providers, medical companies, government agencies and nonprofits.
“SDSU faculty have faced the challenges of COVID-19 without hesitation,” said President Adela de la Torre. “We have the expertise, the critical connections, and the tenacity to confront major challenges head-on.”
This is the second in a five-part series highlighting more than 40 COVID-related projects taking place at SDSU. The work spans all seven of the SDSU’s academic colleges as well as the university’s Imperial Valley campus.
This installment focuses on efforts to improve our understanding of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. For information on all COVID-19 related research, visit research.sdsu.edu/covid-19-projects.
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HCD grants $4 million to San Diego
and Orange Counties for housing
Sen. Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel) has announced that the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has awarded more than $4 million to local governments in San Diego and Orange Counties to fund housing-related projects.
The $4,002,677 in funding comes from California’s Permanent Local Housing Allocation (PLHA) program. The breakdown in PLHA funding:
- County of San Diego: $1,979,966 for new construction of rental housing and homebuyer assistance.
• City of Oceanside: $649,151 for new construction of emergency shelters. - County of Orange: $1,272,164 for operating subsidies for navigation centers, emergency shelters, and administrative costs.
- City of Rancho Santa Margarita: $101,396 for operating subsidies for permanent supportive housing.
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Scripps Encinitas adds innovative
tools to improve lung diagnoses
An innovative robotic technology recently introduced at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas holds significant promise for patients who need to have biopsy samples taken from lung nodules to diagnose a variety of respiratory issues, including lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, Scripps Health announced.
The goal of the new robotic bronchoscopy platform is to give patients an earlier, more accurate and less invasive approach to the diagnosis of lung diseases, compared to current conventional methods. Early diagnosis is particularly important in cases of lung cancer, as survival rates are generally far higher for patients diagnosed with early-stage disease, compared to disease confirmed in later stages.
“We view robotic bronchoscopy, in conjunction with intraoperative CT imaging, as a quantum leap forward for our ability to deliver early and less invasive diagnoses for our patients,” said Samir Makani, M.D., director of interventional pulmonary medicine with Scripps Encinitas and a Scripps MD Anderson Cancer Center physician.
Bronchoscopy is a procedure in which a thin tube called a bronchoscope is inserted through the patient’s mouth, into the throat and trachea and into the airways of the lungs. The procedure is performed to explore a variety of respiratory issues, ranging from breathing problems to infections to lesions and nodules. It is frequently used to confirm or rule out lung cancer.
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Home state advantage: what a
Vice President Kamala Harris means for California
CalMatters
Goodbye, state of resistance. Hello, state of influence.
California’s status has shifted dramatically with the election of Joe Biden as the next president. The reasons are both political — deep blue California will have more inroads to a White House controlled by Democrats — and personal: For just the second time in American history, a Californian will serve as vice president.
Kamala Harris — California’s junior senator and former state attorney general — made history this week when American voters chose Biden to replace Republican President Donald Trump. She’ll become the first vice president who is a woman, a woman of color and a California Democrat.
It’s a significant boost for a state that in recent years has held a high profile in Congress, but little sway at the White House. Congressional leaders from both parties, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and GOP Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, hail from the Golden State. But the last Californian president was Ronald Reagan more than 30 years ago. And the last Californian vice president was Richard Nixon — 60 years ago.
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Scripps Medical Center Jefferson opens in Oceanside
Scripps Health announced the opening of Scripps Medical Center Jefferson, giving the region’s leading health system its largest North County outpatient health center in the city of Oceanside.
Located at 2205 Vista Way near state Route 78, the new 85,915-square-foot, three-story site is designed as a one-stop-shop for patients, with a wide range of outpatient services including primarycare, cardiology, neurology, obstetrics/gynecology, oncology,
ophthalmology, orthopedics and pediatrics, along with comprehensive imaging, outpatient surgery, urgent care and same-day walk-in care through Scripps HealthExpress.
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JMS partners with Pulitzer Center
to launch webinar series
The San Diego State University School of Journalism and Media Studies (JMS) has partnered with the Pulitzer Center to launch a webinar series examining migration and immigration to the United States.
With a theme especially relevant to San Diego as a major border crossing, the series aims to explore the many motivations and different routes people take to reach the U.S., exploring these issues in a depth sometimes missing from conventional journalistic narratives.
The second entry in the series, to be held via Zoom at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17, features journalists Nadja Drost and Bruno Federico to discuss “The Extra-Continentals,” their project documenting the journey of extra-continental migrants from places as far and disparate as Cameroon, Iran, and Bangladesh. Registration is now open.
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Philanthropists Ron and Mary Alice Brady
honored by the Boys & Girls Clubs of East County
Husband-and-wife philanthropists Ron and Mary Alice Brady of La Mesa, namesake of The Brady Companies, a La Mesa-based construction company, were recently honored by the Boys & Girls Clubs of East County (BGCEC) as the inaugural recipient of the BGCEC Community Award in recognition of their longstanding charitable commitment and dedication to supporting children in the East County.
The Bradys’ history of donating to the BGCEC stretches back to 2014 and the launch of a capital campaign that included their $1 million gift to renovate an existing teen center that was renamed the Brady Family Teen Center. The teen center is located on the east end of La Mesa Arts Academy (LMAAC), a public school for grades 4 through 8 that’s part of the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District. Since it opened in 2006, the Brady Family Teen Center has been a popular home-away-from-home for La Mesa’s 11-to-18 year olds.
An additional $2 million gift from the Bradys was instrumental in the July 2017 start of construction on the 26,000-square-foot Brady Family Clubhouse, which opened Oct. 4, 2018.
Between the two youth centers, including the Brady Family Teen Center and Brady Family Clubhouse, about 200 children a day, ages 6 to 18, attend after-school recreational activities and learning, BGCEC officials said.
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Registration for S.D. Community College
District’s spring semester has begun
Priority registration in the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) began Monday for members of the military, those living with a disability, current students, and others. Open registration for new students begins Dec. 14.
The SDCCD is offering more than 4,000 courses ranging from accounting to web development that could help many of the nearly 300,000 San Diego County residents who lost their job due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The SDCCD offers award-winning workforce training programs for a number of good-paying, recession- and pandemic-resilient careers identified in a recent San Diego-Imperial Centers of Excellence for Labor Market Research report, including secretaries and administrative assistants, registered nurses, medical assistants, dental assistants, computer operations specialists, machinists, and more.
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Mission Hills 13-unit apartment
complex sells for $3.4 million
A 13-unit apartment complex on the west side of Mission Hills has sold for $3.4 million.
The buyer was PGP Holdings RL LLC. The seller was FUGU LLC.
The apartments were constructed in 1960 on a 20,003-square-foot lot. The two-story building features Mid-Century Modern design details, a large front courtyard and a swimming pool with views towards Point Loma and Lindbergh Field to the southwest.
The apartment complex is located at 3812 Keating St.
Robert Vallera, senior vice president and partner in Voit’s San Diego office, represented the seller in the transaction.
