Daily Business Report: September 12, 2023
California pushing back on school book bans
By Caroline Jones | CalMatters
While some states have been banning books by the hundreds, California appears headed in the opposite direction — enacting a law that would penalize local school boards that block any book reflecting the state’s diversity.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is poised to sign Assembly Bill 1078, which is intended to prevent school boards from banning books based solely on the books’ inclusion of history or culture related to Black, Latino, Asian, Native American, LGBTQ people or other groups. It expands the state’s existing education code requiring schools to include the experiences of racial, ethnic and LGBTQ groups in curriculum.
“(This bill) offers a clear statement from the Legislature and governor about California’s commitment to free inquiry and non-discrimination in our public schools,” said UCLA education professor John Rogers, who’s studied book bans.
The bill follows a much-publicized effort in Temecula, in Riverside County, to block an elementary social studies textbook that includes a supplemental lesson on San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, the gay rights icon who was assassinated in 1978. The Temecula Valley Unified board in June voted to ban the textbook, with the majority arguing that lessons about LGBTQ rights and history are not appropriate for children.
Newsom intervened, threatening to send the textbook — which had already been approved by the state and Temecula teachers — to students directly and bill the district. The board then reversed course and agreed to adopt the materials.
Top photo: A stack of books in Sacramento on Sept. 8, 2023. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters
General Atomics poised to begin LongShot flight testing phase
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) is poised to begin the flight-testing phase on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) LongShot program. Begun in 2020, General Atomics was competitively awarded a contract to develop DARPA’s concept for disruptive air combat operations through demonstration of an air-to-air weapons capable air vehicle. The concept seeks to significantly increase engagement range and mission effectiveness of current 4th gen fighters and air-to-air missiles.
Over the last three years, General Atomics has iterated on numerous vehicle designs to optimize performance and will complete the design enroute to flight testing in 2024. The testing will validate basic vehicle handling characteristics and lay the foundation for follow-on development and testing.
General Atomics-led team to develop transformational fusion data platform
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has selected a multi-institutional team of data scientists led by General Atomics to develop a Fusion Data Platform (FDP) for advancing high-priority fusion research. The FDP will provide researchers with access to high-quality fusion data for the creation of reproducible Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) models. These advanced models will support the design and operation of Fusion Pilot Plants within a decadal timescale.
GA is partnering with the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California, San Diego, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Sapientai to create the FDP on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy. Once complete, the tool will be made available to the scientific community to support rapid advancements in FPP designs.
Which bills will Gavin Newsom sign into new California laws?
By CalMatters
It’s California’s most diverse Legislature ever, and one-fourth of lawmakers are new. But some thing never change: Legislators wait until the last days of the session to pass a lot of bills.
In recent days, they have sent Gov. Gavin Newsom some significant legislation — to tax guns and ammunition, ban caste discrimination and decriminalize some psychedelic drugs. And before they finish nearly seven month of lawmaking late Thursday (or early Friday), legislators will approve many more bills. Of the more than 2,600 introduced, the most in a decade, nearly 220 had been sent to the governor as of Friday. Newsom has already signed some and vetoed a few others.
He has until Oct. 14 to sign or veto the final batch. Last year, he vetoed 169, while signing 997, including some very significant ones. The Legislature can override vetoes, if the bill’s backers can win two-thirds majorities in both the Assembly and Senate. But that doesn’t happen often, and in recent decades, almost never.
Southwestern College’s Sun earns college Newspaper of the Year
The San Diego Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists has crowned The Sun, the student newspaper at Southwestern College, as best in the region, beating out San Diego State University and UC San Diego.
The award is the latest for the campus newspaper, which publishes a printed and an online version every three weeks covering anything from student life to politics to education to community and national news. The Sun news team is composed of more than 35 students and staff who put in anywhere from 25 to 40 hours a week to produce a newspaper that has been getting plenty of well-deserved attention.
Midway Rising to give update on Midway District project
The Midway Rising informational workshop on Sports Arena redevelopment has been rescheduled to Tuesday, Sept. 12 from 6-7:30 p.m. at Hilton Garden Inn Mission Valley/Stadium’s Pacific Ballroom at 3805 Murphy Canyon Road. “Members of the Midway Rising team will present on the team’s proposal and vision for the site, discuss site access opportunities, highlight the latest ENA milestones and what’s next as we close out the calendar year,” said Midway Rising spokes person Jeff Meyer.
n-Lorem Founder and CEO awarded the Steven C. Beering Award
n-Lorem, ha nonprofit foundation, announced that n-Lorem Founder and CEO Stanley Crooke, M.D., has been awarded the 2022 Steven C. Beering Award. This award recognizes Crooke’s seminal work in pioneering a new drug discovery platform that harnesses the power of antisense oligonucleotides to target genetic disorders and the field-changing implications that Crooke’s outstanding work has had, and will continue to have, in biomedical sciences.
Biocept signs CNSide licensing agreement with Plus Therapeutics
Biocept Inc. announced the signing of a non-exclusive licensing agreement for CNSide with Plus Therapeutics Inc., which expands the comprehensive laboratory services agreement between the two companies that was announced in June 2022. Plus is using CNSide in a clinical trial with their targeted radiotherapeutic to treat patients with carcinomas and/or melanomas with suspected leptomeningeal metastases, which is cancer in the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord.
Dalrada reaches agreement to build
and install up to 2,300 heat pumps
Dalrada Financial Corporation, a problem-solving innovator that addresses complex, multi-disciplinary global challenges in climate technology, clean energy innovation, and precision manufacturing, announced that its climate technology subsidiary, Dalrada Technology Spain, has entered into an agreement with JBS Consulting, a Paris-based distributor, to build and install as many as 2,300 commercial-grade, energy-efficient heat pumps over the course of five years.
Asian Real Estate Association collaborates
with Wells Fargo to serve first-time homebuyers
The Asian Real Estate Association of America announced a new strategic alliance with Wells Fargo & Company.Through the new collaboration, Wells Fargo will sponsor AREAA’s Housing Affordability initiative led by AREAA’s President Kurt Nishimura, with a focus on advancing sustainable homeownership, especially with first-time homebuyers and low to moderate-income Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities.
Life Science Cares announces partnership with Kura Oncology
Life Science Cares announced a new $250,000 partnership with Kura Oncology to provide additional grant funding for educational initiatives in both San Diego and Greater Boston. The partnership will ensure funding for nonprofit organizations in LSC’s Access to Education Portfolio in both communities in 2023-2024 as well as support LSC’s networking platform One-to-One. Both LSC Boston and LSC San Diego will distribute additional grant funding to community-based organizations providing access to basic needs, access to education and access to opportunity later this year.
Powur PBC enhances its solar sales enablement platform
Power PBC, a platform-based company simplifying the path to clean energy, announced ahead of Powur World, its largest annual event for solar sales professionals, that it is enhancing its sales enablement and project fulfillment platform. Focused on meeting the needs of solar sales professionals and businesses, Powur is strengthening its platform by launching its integrated Powur Vision proposal system, and also adding new enterprise features and lead nurturing functionality to its platform.
I Love a Clean San Diego hosts annual Coastal Cleanup Day
International Coastal Cleanup Day returns to San Diego County for its 39th edition on Saturday, Sept. 23, from 9 a.m. to noon. I Love a Clean San Diego is the San Diego host for the international coastal cleanup and will be joining many U.S. states, territories, and more than 150 countries across the world. The annual event brings together thousands of San Diegans to preserve the health of over 100 local parks, beaches, creeks, and oceans. Registrations for Coastal Cleanup Day are open at cleanupday.org.
Maui Wildfire Relief campaign
Local and family owned, Jimmy’s Famous American Tavern, 4990 N. Harbor Drive in The Promenade in Point Loma, has launched a campaign to raise money to support Maui Wildfire relief efforts. The eatery will donate a portion of proceeds from every Mai Tai sold to the relief effort. Jimmy’s Famous ownership will also match every donation to try and raise as much money as possible. Priced at $14, the Mai Tai is made with Silver Rum, Triple Sec, Orgeat, Lime, Orange, and a Meyers Dark Rum float.
Officials encourage homelessness data sharing
A region-wide group of elected officials and the San Diego County Taxpayers Association has called on all public agencies to automatically share data across jurisdictional boundaries and for the Regional Task Force on Homelessness to be more transparent with the public. Specifically, these regional leaders demanded that RTFH provide public agencies the data for taxpayer-funded homeless service programs.
Atmospheric river program broadened
San Diego Assembly member Chris Ward (D-San Diego) introduced AB 30 to broaden the atmospheric river program administered through the Department of Water Resources to connect reservoir and flood control operations with best practices in prediction modeling to optimize water management, increase storage, and reduce flood risk. Gov. Newsom recently signed the bill into law and it will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024.
