Daily Business Report: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
San Diego County 2021 tax roll hits record high
with assessed value topping $627 billion
San Diego County’s assessed value tax roll for 2021 hit a record high $627.25 billion, a 3.72 percent increase over last year, while small businesses and property owners affected by COVID-19 qualified for $1.1 billion in assessed value reductions, County Assessor Ernest Dronenburg Jr. reported.
The assessmont roll reflected a record-high property tax savings of over $250 million for taxpayers. The Assessor’s outreach program, led by Taxpayer Advocate Jordan Marks along with the exemptions’ staff, qualified 471,161 homeowners for over $32 million in savings from the Homeowners’ Exemption, 11,983 San Diego County disabled veterans for over $17 million in savings using the Disabled Veterans’ Exemption, and 5,148 welfare institutions, such as, schools, churches, museums, and nonprofits for over $201 million in property tax savings.
Highlights from the report:
• Qualcomm Inc. is San Diego County’s first property taxpayer to have one of its property’s assessed value enrolled on the tax roll for over $1 billion.
• City of Lemon Grove realized the highest assessed value growth rate at 6.08 percent.
• National City saw the lowest growth rate at 2.60 percent. (It saw the highest last year at 7.10 percent.)
• City of San Diego had the largest value increase, adding $9.9 billion or 3.39 percent.
Ranked: The Richest Veterans in America
Visual Capitalist
The U.S is home to 724 billionaires, many of whom have taken on immense risks in the financial world. 16 of these wealthy individuals have also taken on the risks that come with serving in the U.S. military.
These veteran billionaires are worth a collective $81.4 billion and have served in posts ranging from Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) to infantrymen in the Second World War. This visual, using data from Forbes, ranks the richest living American veterans.
Assembly members given OK to hire additional
staffers to handle unemployment agency problems
By Emily Hoeven | CalMatters
Months after California’s unemployment agency expanded its call center hours and announced plans to hire nearly 1,000 new employees, people are still having such a hard time getting through the Employment Development Department’s jammed phone lines that state assemblymembers were recently given the green light to hire two staffers each to handle EDD problems, the Sacramento Bee reports. It’s the latest sign that conditions are largely not improving at the beleaguered agency, which answered only 8% of the more than 3 million calls it received for the week ending June 26 — during which each person called an average of 11.4 times to get through. And while EDD’s backlog of unresolved claims shrunk last week, more than 1.1 million remain in limbo.
Meanwhile, the department is preparing to take on yet another task: determining whether the estimated 350,000 Californians who are self-employed but also work salaried jobs part-time qualify for an extra $100 weekly benefit.
USD Media Relations named
Best Digital Newsroom by PRNews
USD Media Relations has been awarded “Best Digital Newsroom” by PRNews’ 2021 Digital + Social Media Awards. The recognition called out the Media Relations team’s centralized media hub and forward-thinking use of videos and other digital tools to help grow the USD brand, faculty thought leadership and research.
The award places the University of San Diego among leading national brands such as Amazon, Volvo, Capital One, UPS and more, for their innovative and industry-altering digital communications and campaigns.
In addition to the best digital newsroom in the country, the University of San Diego’s Explore Your Horizon Advertising Campaign received an honorable mention accolade in the “Branding Campaigns” category, also competing against major national brands across industries.
Visit USD’s digital newsroom here
UC San Diego Health adopts SMART
health card for digital vaccine records
UC San Diego Health is now offering a verifiable digital vaccine record to its patients who have or will receive a COVID-19 vaccine. These secure online records, otherwise known as a SMART health card, can be accessed directly from the MyUCSDChart patient portal.
UC San Diego Health is the first health system in the U.S. to adopt the SMART Health Card for direct patient access. Patients and employees of UC San Diego Health have access to the new verification system as well as members of the public who utilized a UC San Diego vaccination or testing station and who signed up for a MyUCSDChart account.
Patients can use the digital vaccine record for medical purposes or to verify their vaccination status to safely return to work, school and travel.
Cerecor licenses Sanford Burnham Prebys
immune checkpoint program
Sanford Burnham Prebys has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Cerecor Inc. for the worldwide development and commercialization of an immune checkpoint program.
Under the terms of the agreement, Sanford Burhnam Prebys will receive an up-front payment from Cerecor and is also eligible to receive additional payments based on achievement of development, regulatory and commercial milestones, sales-based royalties and a share of sublicensing income.
Cerecor Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on becoming a leader in the development and commercialization of treatments for immunologic, immuno-oncologic and rare genetic disorders.
“We are delighted to enter into this strategic alliance with Sanford Burnham Prebys,” said Garry Neil, chief scientific officer of Cerecor. ”Our goal is to identify and develop programs with a promising novel target for combating specific auto-immune disorders which still have significant unmet need, and this transaction helps us achieve this goal.”
Cox Charities to award $100,000 in grants
to San Diego County nonprofit groups
Cox Charities is accepting applications from nonprofit organizations through July 31 as a part of its annual Community Grants program. This year, Cox Charities will be awarding a total of $100,000 in grants to San Diego area nonprofits, with individual grants ranging from $2,500 to $10,000.
Cox Charities will accept applications from nonprofits that offer programs in the following areas:
• Youth and education with a focus on innovative STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) opportunities for K-12 students beyond the classroom.
• Conservation and sustainability.
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion, including military and veterans.
• Bridging the digital divide, including digital equity and digital literacy.
To apply for a Cox Charities community grant, organizations must meet the following qualifications: Be a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization; Be located or provide services in a Cox service area in San Diego County.
California is betting $61 million that new
highway crossings will keep wildlife safe
CalMatters
Picture this: You’re whizzing down Highway 101 while mountain lions, deer, rabbits, lizards and other animals meander on paths 17 feet above your head. This seemingly fantastical vision recently got a step closer to reality when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a budget that includes $7 million to help build the Liberty Canyon Wildlife Crossing, a bridge that would allow animals to safely cross the 10-lane freeway that cuts through the Santa Monica Mountains and roars with 300,000 cars each day, CalMatters’ Marissa Garcia reports.
The budget includes another $54.5 million for similar projects across the state, though many of them have yet to be identified. The Liberty Canyon crossing illustrates both the challenges and promise of such endeavors: It’s facing financial and architectural hurdles, but is also likely California’s best shot of bringing an isolated, inbred population of mountain lions back from near-certain extinction.
How plants quickly adapt to shifting
environmental conditions
Scientists—and gardeners—have long known that plants grow taller and flower sooner when they are shaded by close-growing neighbors. Now, for the first time, researchers at the Salk Institute have shown the detailed inner workings of this process.
The study, published June 17, 2021, in Nature Genetics, offers a new understanding of how gene activity directs plant growth, and how quickly plants respond to their environment—with shifting light conditions triggering molecular changes in as little as five minutes. The findings provide insights into how to increase yield and safeguard world food production as climate change shrinks the planet’s arable land.
“This paper shows, in high resolution, how plants respond to subtle environmental changes on the cellular level,” says co-corresponding author Joanne Chory, director of Salk’s Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and holder of the Howard H. and Maryam R. Newman Chair in Plant Biology. “Work that reveals how plants can adapt to greater environmental stresses will be critical as the effects of climate change intensify.”
PAWmicon receives nod from Comic-Con
International with virtual panel line-up
For the last eight years, Helen Woodward Animal Center orphan pets have celebrated the spectacular feats of superhero adopters by paying homage to Comic-Con International with a Pop Culture-themed Dog Cosplay event entitled PAWmicon.
Now, for the first time ever, Comic-Con International is including the rescue facility in its virtual July programming with a center-hosted panel titled Animals in Graphic Novels and Games. The virtual panel discussion, set to premiere on July 25 at 11 a.m., features Chris Ryall and Keith Arem and is hosted by Robert Rice from Omniscape. To celebrate the premiere, Helen Woodward Animal Center is throwing a PAWmicon-themed Weekend including pop-culture-named orphan pets, giveaways, photo opportunities and the highly anticipated PAWSplay Costume Competition.
Helen Woodward Animal Center initiated PAWmicon in 2012 based on an observed parallel between orphan pets and Comic-Con attendees. While comic book enthusiasts wait all year for Comic-Con International, hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite action-adventure stars, orphan dogs and cats at Helen Woodward Animal Center will wait a lifetime to meet their superheroes – individuals with one sole mission…to rescue an orphan pet. Planned as a cute adoption gimmick, the promotion drew the attention of fans and animal-lovers across the city, eventually blossoming into an annual event that has grown in pup-ularity and gained global attention with each passing year.
Encinitas testing ‘small-footprint’ EVs for
lifeguards and city staff to meet climate goals
By Chris Jennewein | Times of San Diego
The City of Encinitas is testing three models of climate-friendly, “small-footprint” electric vehicles for use by lifeguards and other city staff.
The 60-day pilot program with Oregon-based Arcimoto will test the company’s Fun Utility Vehicle, Deliverator, and Rapid Responder models.
“Our goal in Encinitas is to create a transportation system that is cleaner, greener and faster,” said Mayor Catherine Blakespear. “I’m excited to begin this pilot program with Arcimoto because it moves Encinitas closer to a modern transportation system that will work better, cost less, and help save the planet.”
The city said tourists and residents can expect to frequently see the three-wheeled EVs decorated with images of Encinitas as they transport city staff along the U.S. 101 corridor this summer.
“We hope to demonstrate the practical benefits of affordable, small-footprint electric vehicles for a variety of everyday uses that will save the city time and money while furthering their sustainability goals, which are substantial,” said Mark Frohnmayer, Arcimoto’s founder and CEO.
