Daily Business Report: February 6, 2024
Last chance to apply for this
high-speed internet subsidy
By Khari Johnson | CalMatters
Time is running out to apply for an affordable internet subsidy. The Federal Communications Commission predicts the Affordable Connectivity Program, which gives people $30 to $75 a month for high-speed internet and a one-time $100 credit for a computer or tablet, will run out of money in April.
Barring Congressional action in the next few days, your last chance to apply for the program is Wednesday at 8:59 p.m.
If Congress fails to allocate additional funding, nearly 23 million people nationwide and 2.9 million Californians, nearly one in seven residents, will lose affordable high-speed internet funding. In Los Angeles alone nearly 800,000 people currently receive the high-speed internet subsidy intended to narrow the digital divide.
An end to the federal program would also spell the end of a California pilot program to see whether state broadband funding will get more people connected to high-speed internet.
Top Photo: Patrick Messac, director of Oakland Undivided, leads a rally to raise awareness about statewide multi-billion dollar broadband projects. (Photo by Rahul Lal for CalMatters)
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Parents’ lawsuit forces California to spend $2 billion
on learning loss: Here’s what will change
By Carolyn Jones | CalMatters
California schools will have to spend $2 billion of their remaining Covid relief funds on tutoring and other measures to help high-needs students recover from learning loss, according to a legal settlement announced last week.
The agreement, reached in Alameda County Superior Court, was between the state and a group of families in Oakland and Los Angeles who said their children fell calamitously behind during remote learning. Public Counsel, a nonprofit advocacy law firm, and Morrison Foerster represented the plaintiffs.
“This should have an enormous impact for students across California,” said Amanda Mangaser Savage, an attorney at Public Counsel who worked on the case. “It truly will make California’s education system more equitable for students who’ve been left behind.”
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Northrop Grumman, AT&T and SEMPRE demonstrate
next-generation flightline maintenance operations
Northrop Grumman Corporation and SEMPRE (Secure EMP-Resilient Edge) demonstrated the ability to securely share sensitive, classified military data across geographies at high speeds. The demonstration showcased how flightline maintenance and sustainment can be digitally transformed to reduce time and costs associated with aircraft maintenance and repair.
Northrop Grumman integrated its secure communications solution into a commercially available augmented reality (AR) headset worn by an aircraft maintainer to transfer high volume, classified aircraft data across a SEMPRE 5G private network and AT&T’s 5G commercial network between Whiteman Air Force Base and Northrop Grumman facilities in Palmdale, California, and San Diego.
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Kimberly Becker named Director of the Year, Large Airports Division
Kimberly Becker, president and CEO of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, has been named Director of the Year, Large Airports Division, by Airport Experience News. Becker is responsible for fiscal management and operational oversight of San Diego International Airport (SAN).
Becker joined SAN in 2017 and has overseen several improvement projects including the ongoing $3.4 billion New T1 program that will replace Terminal 1 with a larger, more efficient facility. With that will come a new array of concessions and other passenger amenities to serve SAN’s growing traveler base.
Prior to joining SAN, Becker was the director of aviation for Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) and held operations and environmental positions at Lockheed Air Terminal (now Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) in California), and Teterboro Airport (TEB) in New Jersey
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New genome mapping tool may uncover secrets for treating blood cancers
By Greg Calhoun
The outlook for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a deadly set of blood cancers that is difficult to treat, has remained dire for decades, especially among patients who are not eligible for bone marrow transplantation. More than 30 percent of treated patients will never achieve complete remission using current chemotherapies and, even when chemotherapy treatments work, most patients relapse within five years without a transplant.
While prior research has begun to unravel the genetic underpinnings of the disease, more inquiry is needed to understand the genetic variation within the roughly 15 AML subtypes and how that variation might affect treatment strategies.
“In addition to the one to eight average genetic mutations in AML patients found in traditional sequencing studies, experiments employing high-resolution optical genomic mapping have found approximately 40 to 80 rare genomic structural variants per patient,” says Kristiina Vuori, M.D., Pauline and Stanley Foster Distinguished Chair and professor in the Sanford Burnham Prebys Cancer Center’s Cancer Molecular Therapeutics Program. “We wanted to take these structural variant findings in AML to the next level by connecting them with patients’ sensitivity or resistance to current cancer treatments.”
Curebound to award $8.5 million in grants for cancer research
Investing in innovative cancer research, San Diego-based Curebound will award 20 grants amounting to $8.5 million to support the development of new methods of cancer prevention, detection, and treatment. Funds will be disbursed across local research institutions including Moores Cancer Center, Salk Institute, Sanford Burnha Prebys, Rady Children’s Hospital, La Jolla Institute for Immunology, and Scripps Research.
Deloitte expands into Liberty Station
Global professional firm Deloitte celebrated the opening of its new office inn San Diego’s Liberty Station. The firm’s local workforce has significantly grown over the last five years, with more than 1,700 team members supporting government, military, and higher education leaders throughout the region.
Sony ranks No. 3 on PC Mag’s Best Tech Brands for 2024
Sony has earned a No. 3 slot on PC Magazine’s Best Tech Brands for 2024. The magazine said it could have made the cut even if old ranking criteria had been used. The brand was reviewed 24 times across categories like TVs, cameras, audio products, and PlayStation gaming. Seven of those products earned a 4.5-star rating, giving Sony an extremely strong average review score despite its launching a couple of products that weren’t quite as well-received.
San Diego Community Power OKs contract for battery storage project in Chula Vista
San Diego Community Power recently added a pair of renewable energy projects to its energy portfolio, including one in South County. The community choice energy program serving customers in seven jurisdictions across San Diego County approved signing contracts for a solar and battery strorage project in Kern County and a battery facility that will be built in Chula Vista.
TR1X Inc. announces $75 million Series A financing
San Diego-based Tr1X Inc. announced its emergence from stealth with a $75 million Series A financing to bring universal allogeneic regulatory T (Treg) and CAR-Treg cell therapies to the clinic to treat and potentially cure autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The financinng was led by Bay Area-based The Column Group, with participation from NEVA SGR and Alexandria Ventures. The company appointed William Lis CEO.
Registration open now for 2024 MedDev eMarketing Summit
Now in its eighth year, the popular MedDev eMarketing Summit is back next May 2024 in San Diego. This is a one-of-a-kind “TED-style” digital marketing leadership storytelling summit for medical device industry professionals who are sharing their stories and strategies on how they have transformed their campaigns post-pandemic and overcame their digital marketing and customer engagement challenges in an ever-evolving industry. Click here for more information.
General Atomics demonstrates release of Advanced Air-Launched Effects platform
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) successfully demonstrated an inflight release of its Advanced Air-Launched Effects platform, releasing an A2LE from the internal weapons bay of a GA-ASI MQ-20 Avenger Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). The demonstration took place on Nov. 28, 2023, over Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, capping a manufacturing, structural test, and flight demonstration.
Museum Month returns bigger than ever
San Diego Museum Month returns for its 35th year from Feb.1-29, 2024, with an expansion across the border. For the first time ever, the popular program includes cultural sites in Tijuana and Baja California, making it the biggest, most diverse SanDiego Museum Month ever, with over 70 regional cultural sites offering half-off admission throughout February.
Covered California extends time to enroll for coverage
Covered California announced on Jan. 31 that it will give consumers until Feb. 9 to sign up for coverage in 2024. Consumers will have until midnight on Friday, Feb. 9, to apply for coverage that would be effective Feb. 1. They can visit CoveredCA.com and get free and confidential help from one of the more than 14,000 certified enrollers throughout the state who can help them sign up, including individuals who can assist in other languages.
City Council votes against wooing back scooters
An initial attempt to “soften” speed and location regulations aimed at drawing electric scooter companies that have left town back, was defeated by a 5-3 City Council vote on Jan. 22. Council members particularly balked at a proposal that would allow scooters to travel 15 mph rather than 5 mph on sidewalks. The City Council however didn’t close the door on the issue, asking that proposed softening amendments be re-evaluated by the City and stakeholders.
