Daily Business Report: April 11, 2024
Meth, death and abuse: Inside the private
security forces patrolling California’s homeless
By Lauren Hepler | CalMatters
Wendy Powitzky thought she’d finally found a way off the street in Orange County.
The former hairdresser had spent years sleeping in her car and parks around Anaheim, near the suburban salons where she used to work. One day a social worker told Powitzky about an old piano shop recently converted into a shelter.
She just had to clear security to reach her new twin bed.
That’s where guards at the taxpayer-funded shelter groped and strip-searched her and several of her neighbors, and left them in constant fear of eviction, according to a lawsuit
filed on behalf of eight former Orange County shelter residents.
It was going to be my saving grace,” Powitzky said of the Anaheim shelter. “It was more unsafe.”
As California’s homeless population spiked nearly 40 percent in the past five years, the growth has been accompanied by a boom in private security. Governments, nonprofits and businesses are increasingly turning to hired guards to triage homelessness, opening a new front in the state’s housing crisis — one ripe for violence and civil rights issues, but thin on accountability and state oversight.
More than a dozen recent legal proceedings and public contract disputes reviewed by CalMatters suggest that, rather than ensuring safety, guards can compound already dangerous and chaotic situations.
Shelter residents in multiple Southern California cities have alleged in lawsuits that they were raped or sexually assaulted by shelter guards, including a Los Angeles case where a guard was sentenced to prison after a homeless woman complained of repeated abuse.
Illustration by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters; iStock
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Using AI and data science to ReNOURISH food deserts
The NOURISH platform designed to help small businesses increase
access to healthy, sustainable food enters a new project phase
By Cynthia Dillon | UC San Diego
Twenty-four million Americans live in food deserts where ultraprocessed foods are abundant and fresh food is scarce, giving rise to large health disparities in diabetes and related cardiometabolic diseases. To address this problem, an interdisciplinary team of researchers from UC San Francisco and UC San Diego conceptualized the NOURISH platform, winning support last year from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Convergence Accelerator program to design the tool. Now, with continued NSF and U.S. Department of Agriculture funding, the team of experts has moved into the platform-building phase.
NOURISH is meant to provide small business owners in food desert communities with access to loans and grants, online maps that optimize the placement of fresh food outlets for foot traffic, help with navigating the convoluted business permitting process and AI-enabled guidance on affordable ways to locally source fresh ingredients.
Under the leadership of Amarnath Gupta, a team of computer scientists, software developers and students at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego are combining government, private sector and crowdsourced information to create dynamic, interactive maps of local food systems across the U.S. Gupta is a leading computer scientist in the Cyberinfrastructure and Convergence Research and Education (CICORE) Division at SDSC, directed by Ilkay Altintas.
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California clinics brace for fallout from Arizona abortion ban
By Deborah Brennan | CalMatters
Planned Parenthood clinics in California are bracing for an uptick in patients crossing the state line for abortions, after the Arizona Supreme Court upheld a nearly total prohibition on the procedure.
On Tuesday the court effectively banned abortion by reinstating an 1864 law that forbids the procedure except to save a mother’s life, without exemptions for rape or incest.
“We were all saddened by the decision, and one of my colleagues at a different clinic said ‘Wow, we’re going to get slammed,’” said Mia Neustein, a nurse practitioner with Planned Parenthood clinics in the Coachella Valley.
Health care providers said the Arizona decision complicates the chaotic national women’s health environment that has prevailed since 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down its 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that guaranteed abortion rights.
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Viasat and Rocket Lab partner to showcase on-demand,
low-latency data relay services for LEO satellites
Carlsbad’s Viasat, a global leader in satellite communications, announced it selected Rocket Lab USA Inc., a leading launch and space systems company, to support Viasat’s hybrid space communications networks demonstrations by producing a spacecraft bus and providing mission operation support. The demonstrations will make evident Viasat’s portfolio of multi-band, space-based relay communication services in support of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) space missions with substantial flexibility in managing data, with lower data latency and higher throughput in real time.
The demonstrations are part of Viasat’s work across two awards, totaling $80 million, under NASA’s Communications Services Project (CSP), which is evaluating commercial satellite communications services and technologies to support NASA near-Earth communications requirements as it sunsets the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS).
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Report finds San Diego region has enough water to meet needs
Owing to consecutive wet winters, regional infrastructure investments and conservation efforts, San Diego County now has enough water to meet the region’s needs into the foreseeable future, according to a recently released report.
The California Department of Water Resources performed its fourth snowpack survey of the year on Tuesday, “confirming that the early winter’s “snow drought” gave way to a slightly above normal snowpack following a series of storms,” the report read.
The DWR’s early April survey marks the typical peak snowpack for the year in the Sierra Nevada, and the Colorado River Basin – the main source of water for San Diego County – also reports more snow than average for this time of year, according to a statement from the San Diego County Water Authority.
“Wet years are the right time to prepare for the inevitable dry years,” said Dan Denham, Water Authority general manager. “That’s why we’re working every day to explore creative deals that help us reduce water rate pressures for San Diegans, enhance our long-term water security, and help our neighbors meet their needs for drought-resilient water supplies.”
Avenzo Therapeutics completes $150 million Series A funding
After securing $150 million in Series A funding, female-founded oncology startup Avenzo Therapeutics is taking a unique approach to growth. Notably, the San Diego company will not conduct in-house drug discovery, but rather license clinical-stage or near-clinical-stage compounds from other companies. Regarded by investors, this strategy comes from lessons learned at Turning Point Therapeutics, which Bristol Myers Squibb bought for $4.1 billion in 2022.
Biolinq scores $58 million to advance wearable biosensors
San Diego medtech startup Biolinq has secured $58 million in financing to advance its mission to pioneer precision biosensors for metabolic health improvement. The funding will support completion of a clinical trial for its wearable, intradermal glucose sensor, with the aim of simplifying glucose monitoring and enhancing care delivery for people with diabetes.
KULR secures over $1 million contract from H55
KULR Technology Group Inc., renowned for its contributions to sustainable energy management, unveiled a commitment exceeding $1 million with H55 Inc., a pioneer and global leader in electric propulsion. H55 will employ KULR’s unique Thermal Runaway Shield (“TRS”) within its propulsion systems that equip fleets of industry behemoths such as Pratt & Whitney and CAE Inc. Embedding KULR’s TRS into H55’s Electrical Propulsion System is critical for aligning with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency safety protocols.
Prometheus veterans launch Mirador Therapeutics with $400 million
After being bought out by Merck in June 2023 for nearly $11billion, some of the ex-brass from Prometheus Biosciences unveiled Mirador Therapeutics with the vision to bring “end-to-end” precision medicine into immunology and inflammation. Behind a $400 million Series A and their proprietary platform, Mirador360, Mirador plans to leverage open-source human genetics data and cutting-edge data science, which will enable the company to file for investigational new drugs by 2025.
Carlsbad startup touts its new battery technology
Officials at a startup based in Carlsbad expect a battery technology they have engineered will transform the way e-bikes and electric-powered hand-held tools are charged. And once it’s scaled up, they believe the technology will reshape even more sectors of the economy.“We unleash batteries here,” said Daniel Glenn, president of ZapBatt, a companycompany headquartered in a 4,000-square-foot office not far from McClellan–Palomar Airport.
San Diego Foundation launches Fundraising Conference
San Diego Foundation (SDF) and presenting sponsor PNC Bank announced the launch of early bird registration for the second annual San Diego Fundraising Conference to support local nonprofit professionals on Friday, Sept. 20. The one-day conference, held at Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel in downtown San Diego, will feature many speakers, including Kim Klein, internationally known as a fundraising consultant, trainer and facilitator, and author of “Fundraising for Social Change,” and Karen Osborne, fundraising expert.
San Diego FC Chrome Ball Tour presented by Trust & Will
San Diego FC (SDFC) announced that the 2024 Chrome Ball Tour presented by Trust & Will is headed to the city of Chula Vista for the fifth and largest stop of the tour on Saturday, May 4. The Chrome Ball Tour is the club’s innovative 18-city community engagement platform that unites and recognizes diverse neighborhoods of San Diego County through soccer, art and local culture.
Jimmy Figueroa appointed donor relations manager at TrueCare
TrueCare, a nonprofit community health center serving North San Diego and South Riverside counties, welcomes Jimmy Figueroa as their donor relations manager. In this new role, Figueroa will drive fundraising initiatives, orchestrate donor campaigns, and cultivate community connections to elevate awareness about TrueCare’s comprehensive services, programs, and resources. Figueroa brings a wealth of experience in the nonprofit and community outreach spheres to his role at TrueCare. His previous tenure was as executive director for Operation Hope North County.
Durani Elmi makes Inc.’s Female Founders list
Durani Elmi, COO of Cymbiotika, has been included in the seventh annual Female Founders list by Inc. Recently awarded San Diego Business Woman of the Year, Durana has guided the Cymbiotika brand into immense success. Recognized on Fortune’s Best Place to Work in Retail list for the third consecutive year, Durana nurtures an environment that is supported and led by women. Cymbiotika is built on a culture of collaboration, where team members collaborate, solve problems, and work together to bring the company to new heights.
Illumina appoints Ankur Dhingra chief financial officer
Illumina, Inc., a global leader in DNA sequencing and array-based technologies, announced that Joydeep Goswami has decided to leave Illumina. He will stay on in an advisory role through June 30 to support two new executive management team appointments. Ankur Dhingra is joining Illumina as chief financial officer (CFO), leading Illumina’s financial planning and analysis, accounting, investor relations, internal audit, tax, and treasury functions. Jakob Wedel was named chief strategy and corpororate development officer.
