Daily Business Report: Friday, Dec. 30, 2022
Border scramble: Why California isn’t
financially ready for Title 42 to end
By Wendy Fry | CalMatters
The Supreme Court is keeping in place, for now, Title 42 — the pandemic policy that OK’d migrant expulsions. California has yet to figure out how to meet the needs of an influx of migrants when it does go away, especially given that the state is confronting a projected budget deficit of $24 billion for the next fiscal year.
The Supreme Court’s latest move allows a short-term reprieve to an anticipated increase in asylum seekers trying to cross from Mexico into California and other states, but recent confusion at the border is a preview of what may soon come should a pandemic-era measure known as Title 42 be lifted in 2023.
The situation, and its use as a political backdrop, has prompted local officials to ask what state resources will be available next year with California facing a potential budget shortfall and the possibility that Title 42 will end.
Title 42 is a Trump-era immigration policy that has continued under President Joe Biden. It allows border agents to rapidly expel migrants at official ports of entry during public health emergencies. The policy has resulted in the expulsion of tens of thousands of people seeking asylum and has discouraged many others from crossing the border.
Top Photo: Migrants wait in line while California border activists organize the group to enter the U.S. and seek asylum through the Chaparral entryway in Tijuana, Mexico Dec. 22, 2022. (Photo by Carlos A. Moreno for CalMatters)
Southwest vows return to normal today
after 2,300 flights cancelled on Thursday
By Chris Jennewein | Times of San Diego
Southwest Airlines plans to return to normal operations with minimal disruptions today, the carrier said on Thursday.“While Southwest continues to operate roughly one third of its schedule for Thursday, Dec. 29, we plan to return to normal operations with minimal disruptions on Friday, Dec. 30,” the company said in a statement.
The announcement came after 2,300 flights nationwide were canceled Thursday, creating continued travel frustrations at Southern California airports and leaving travelers stranded in cities all across the country.
Long lines greet travelers at airports in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and Riverside counties with people looking for flights on other airlines. Many turned to rental car companies for transportation to their holiday destinations. Some were left waiting on hold for hours for assistance and were sleeping on the floor of airports.
Viasat awarded five-year, $325 million
contract by U.S. Special Operations Command
Carlsbad’s Viasat, a global communications company, has been awarded was awarded a contract award worth up to $325 million over a five-year period to support the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM). This sole-source IDIQ is an extension of a $350 million IDIQ contract awarded to Viasat in 2017.
Under the contract award, Viasat will continue to provide advanced mission equipment, services and support to sustain and improve situational awareness, integration, terrestrial networking, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), tactical satellite communications, information assurance and network management capabilities of Special Operations Forces.
“This contract award reaffirms Viasat’s deep commitment and partnership with the SOCOM community to understand and address the capability needs of forces for the most complex missions,” said Craig Miller, president of Viasat Government Systems.
Northrop Grumman announces successful demonstration
Northrop Grumman Corporation successfully completed a demonstration at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (in Lakehurst, N.J.) to improve the survivability and lethality of the U.S. Army’s Future Vertical Lift (FVL) platforms, a key enabler for Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2).
During the demonstration, Northrop Grumman simultaneously transmitted advanced sensor data and communications using the company’s Re Scalable Aperture for Precision Targeting Radar (RAPTR) and Mini-Communications, Navigation, Identification (Mini-CNI) systems on a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. The RAPTR and Mini-CNI performed bi-directional air-to-ground communications functions while performing air-to-air searching and tracking of targets. These capabilities support crewed-uncrewed teaming and long-range precision fires for the DoD. Read more…
Sweden, Germany and the UK to purchase
436 all-terrain vehicles from BAE Systems
Sweden, Germany, and the United Kingdom have reached an agreement with BAE Systems to purchase 436 BvS10 all-terrain vehicles. The joint procurement, worth $760 million, is in support of Arctic operations for the Collaborative All-Terrain Vehicle (CATV) program.
BAE Systems’ military all-terrain vehicles are designed for operations in the harshest and most remote environments and this agreement signals the company’s position as the defense industry’s leader for these capabilities.
The three-nation acquisition will deliver the 436 vehicles beginning in 2024, with 236 BvS10s going to the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration (FMV), 140 to the German Federal Ministry of Defence (BAAINBw), and 60 to the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MoD). The vehicles are based on the latest version of the BvS10 currently operated by Sweden, and will include variants for troop transport, logistics, medical evacuation, recovery, and command and control.
Human brain organoids implanted into mouse
cortex respond to visual stimuli for first time
By Ioana Patingenaru
A team of engineers and neuroscientists has demonstrated for the first time that human brain organoids implanted in mice have established functional connectivity to the animals’ cortex and responded to external sensory stimuli. The implanted organoids reacted to visual stimuli in the same way as surrounding tissues, an observation that researchers were able to make in real time over several months thanks to an innovative experimental setup that combines transparent graphene microelectrode arrays and two-photon imaging.
The team, led by Duygu Kuzum, a faculty member in the University of California San Diego Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, details their findings in the Dec. 26 issue of the journal Nature Communications. Read more…
Match gift builds support for students facing cancer crises
By Tony Vaughn
Since its launch Sept. 25, 2018, the Wallace, Shatsky, Blackburn, Courage Through Cancer Student Success Fund has helped dozens of San Diego State University students stay on track to graduate. The fund has been so successful in assisting students diagnosed with cancer or who have a close family member with the illness, that alumnus Mark Mays (’69) has pledged a $500,000 match gift to create a $1 million endowment to support it. Mays is a founding donor whose initial gift helped create the Courage Through Cancer Student Success Fund.He lost his wife, Karen, to breast cancer in 2013 and is familiar with the many challenges associated with the illness.
In 2021 Mays met Sara Meza Adame, an SDSU sustainability major from Chula Vista who has lived with rhabdomyosarcoma since she was a high school sophomore. Her cancer is a rare variety that develops in the body’s soft tissues, usually muscles. After getting through high school by pursuing independent studies from home while undergoing radiation and chemotherapy that sapped her strength and energy, Meza Adame completed enough credits in junior college to transfer to SDSU. With support from the Courage Through Cancer Fund, she has been able to stay in school where she earns good grades and is on track to graduate next year.
Judge clears century-old restriction
on old Central Library
A Superior Court judge has cleared a more than century-old deed restriction that has haunted plans to redevelop the long-vacant old Central Library. The former downtown library has sat empty for nearly a decade. Now, with the official death of a restriction included in an 1899 deed signed by civic leader George Marston that seemed to mandate that the property house a public library and reading room, the city may have an easier time redeveloping an idle property that has become a symbol of city dysfunction. Read more…
Storefront Improvement Program
aims to help small businesses
Small business owners who are looking for a way to refresh their business might have a solution with the City of San Diego’s Storefront Improvement Program, which offers free professional design and financial assistance to iprove the curb appeal of local storefronts.
To qualify, businesses must be located in the City of San Diego and have a valid business tax certificate. Applicants also must be commercial occupants of the property and have street-level and street-facing property. The program is open to businesses that employ 25 or fewer people. Click to learn more
Guardiant Health, Susan G. Komen partner
to evaluate MRD test in breast cancer
Guardant Health will collaborate with nonprofit organization Susan G. Komen to generate clinical data on the use of the company’s Guardant Reveal blood-based minimal residual disease liquid biopsy test in breast cancer, the partners said on Wednesday. Guardant Reveal is designed to detect circulating tumor DNA in early-stage cancer patients after surgery to help oncologists identify those with residual or recurring disease who may benefit the most from adjuvant therapy. It received Medicare coverage earlier this year for use in patients with stage II or III colorectal cancer.
Salt chamber therapy treatment
helping patients breathe better
Not until now has salt therapy been used successfully in pulmonary rehabilitation to treat diseases such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Long COVID-19. This new treatment is now being offered at La Mesa Rehab. It is reportedly already on its way to having a huge impact on patients with breathing problems. COPD is a type of progressive lung disease characterized by long-term respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation. Long COVID-19 is the relatively new long duration, multi-symptom disease that has evolved since the COVID pandemic began. Read more…
SBCS awarded $38,000 grant for youth development
The California Arts Council has announced a grant award of $38,000 to SBCS as part of its Creative Youth Development program in its second round of funding for 2022. This grant will help SBCS continue its efforts to promote arts and literacy learning in Chula Vista.
SBCS will partner with the art collaborative, XoQUE-Art in Motion, to employ local youth, community members, and artists in community engagement sessions to collectively produce a mural at Lauderbach Park in Chula Vista. Facilitated by art therapists, the project will utilize art therapy as a way to improve cognitive and sensorimotor functions; foster self-esteem and self-awareness; cultivate emotional resilience; promote insight; enhance social skills; reduce and resolve conflicts and distress; and advance societal and ecological change.
Califorina bumps up EV incentives. What
it means for low-to-moderate income buyers
Californians of modest means interested in buying electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids will receive more money in state-funded rebates in 2023 — and additional incentive programs will come as the new year progresses. To encourage low- and moderate-income Californians to buy zero- or low-emission vehicles, the state’s Air Resources Board has boosted the rebate amounts by $3,000. Customers who qualify will now receive a rebate of $7,500 for purchasing a battery electric vehicle and $6,500 for plug-in hybrids. The $7,500 rebate also applies to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Read more…