San Diego, CA

Daily Business Report: May 21, 2024, San Diego Metro Magazine

Published

2 years ago

May 21, 2024

Press Room

California’s life science industry

generates $414.2 billion annually

Biocom California, the association representing the California life science industry, released a new report Monday showing California’s life science industry directly provides more than 465,000 jobs in the state and generates $414.2 billion in total business output. Biocom California’s 2024 Economic Impact Report outlines these and other key findings about the state’s life science industry, including information on economic, demographic, investment, and industry performance data. The full report analysis and regional fact sheets are available on the Biocom California website.

Key facts from the report include the following

In aggregate, the industry supported approximately 1.24 million jobs in 2023, including direct, indirect, and induced employment.
Public research funding to life science in organizations in California remains robust, with researchers in the state receiving a total of $6.02 billion in research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2023.
In 2023, the life science industry in California experienced a modest 0.6% contraction in employment, influenced by nationwide workforce reductions by major biopharmaceutical companies.
More than $840 million in investments in biotechnology manufacturing and R&D infrastructure across all California life science clusters ensures that facilities are available to meet the industry’s growing needs.

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Amid big deficit, latest state budget cuts funding for UC and Cal State systems

The campus of San Diego State University

By Mikhail Zinshteyn | CalMatters

Chalk it up to California dreaming: Not even three years ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom promised California’s public universities five years of annual growth in state support totaling more than $2 billion.

But the governor’s updated budget plan for next year instead aims to cut the University of California and California State University by a combined $200 million in response to the state’s project multi-billion-dollar budget deficit.

The five-year compact is at risk of turning into a humbler two-year vow, underscoring the difficulty of projecting multiple years of support for California’s top generators of bachelor’s degree recipients — a state particularly at the mercy of large revenue swings.
The UC would see a $125 million base funding cut in 2024-25, with plans to restore that dip in 2025-26. For Cal State, the governor’s May budget revision includes a $75 million cut that’ll be restored in 2025-26.

The numbers were shared with CalMatters after it sought more detail from the California Department of Finance about its higher-education plans that are part of the annual May Revise process. It’s an update to the governor’s initial January proposal and sets the stage for intense budget negotiations with the Legislature to finalize a state budget by late June. The 2024-25 budget year begins July 1.

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Sacramento Report: big cuts to state homelessness dollars

Voice of San Diego

As California faces a large budget deficit, Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing big cuts to homeless spending. Advocates warn that could set back years-long efforts to get people into housing.

They’re particularly incensed about his plan to eliminate the Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention Grant Program, which contributed $1 billion per year to shelters, safe parking and outreach programs for the past five years.

Last year the city of San Diego got nearly $30 million from the program, which covered more than 1,000 shelter beds. Officials say they will face “tough choices” if those funds are cut.

Also on the homeless front, some state lawmakers are reconsidering sober housing options, after years of rejecting that in favor of a housing first policy.

Read the Sacramento Report here.

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Fifth and Penn mixed-use property in Hillcrest sells for $1.7 million

The Fifth and Penn mixed-use property in Hillcrest.

Fifth and Penn, a 2,867-square-foot mixed-use property in Hillcrest, has sold for $1.7 million. The buyer was Daniel Heimler of DAH Penn LLC. The seller was Tom Fine of TJF Fifth Ave. LLC.

Located at 441—43 Pennsylvania Ave., the property consists of a ground floor restaurant, one apartment unit and a creative offic space on the second floor. The restaurant and office tenants will remain in the building and the buyer plans on livint in the apartment unit in the rear of the property.

Sanchez and Nick Totah, senior vice president investments for The Totah Group of Marcus & Millichap’s San Diego office, had the exclusive listing to market the property on behalf of the seller.

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Detecting odors on the edge: Researchers

decipher how insects smell more with less

By Mario Aguilero | UC San Diego

Whether it’s the wafting aroma of our favorite meal or the dangerous fumes seeping from a toxic chemical, the human sense of smell has evolved into a sophisticated system that processes scents through several intricate stages. The brains of mammals have billions of neurons at their disposal to recognize odors they are exposed to, from pleasant to pungent.

Insects such as fruit flies, on the other hand, have a mere 100,000 neurons to work with. Yet their survival is dependent upon their ability to decipher the meaning of complex odor mixtures around them to locate food, seek potential mates and avoid predators. Scientists have pondered how insects are able to smell, or extract information from odors , with a much smaller olfactory sensory system compared with mammals.

Scientists at the University of California San Diego believe they have an answer to this puzzling question. Palka Puri, a physics Ph.D. student, together with Postdoctoral Scholar Shiuan-Tze Wu, Associate Professor Chih-Ying Su and Assistant Professor Johnatan Aljadeff (all in the Department of Neurobiology) have uncovered how fruit flies use a simple, efficient system to recognize odors.

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Del Mar high school student wins $50,000 in science and engineering awards

Krish Pai, 17, of Del Mar, received the second Regeneron Young Scientist Award of $50,000 from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Society for Science for his machine-learning research to identify microbial genetic sequences that can be modified to biodegrade plastic. His new software, called Microby, scans databases of microorganisms and determines which ones can be changed genetically to biodegrade plastics. In tests, he identified two microorganisms that can be genetically modified to degrade plastic at a cost he believes would be ten times less than traditional recycling.

Realty Income announces common stock dividend increase of 2.1 percent

Realty Income Corporation announced it has declared an increase in the company’s common stock monthly cash dividend to $0.2625 per share from $0.2570 per share. The dividend is payable on June 14, 2024, to stockholders of record as of June 3, 2024. This is the 125th dividend increase since Realty Income’s listing on the NYSE in 1994. The new monthly dividend represents an annualized dividend amount of $3.150 per share as compared to the prior annualized dividend amount of $3.084 per share.

Semper Fi & America’s Fund celebrates 20-year anniversary

Semper Fi & America’s Fund, a San Diego-based national veteran nonprofit organization that provides lifetime support to critically wounded, ill, and injured service members, veterans and military families, celebrated its 20th anniversary on May 17. Since 2004, The Fund has provided holistic support to over 33,000 service members, veterans, and military families. It offers personalized case management, meaningful connections, and lifelong assistance to individuals from all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Chosen Foods earns acclaimed B Corp Certification

Chosen Foods, America’s #1 Avocado Oil and one of few on shelves that is guaranteed to be 100 percent pure, announced that it is now certified as a B Corporation. This accomplishment reinforces the brand’s commitment to a range of sustainable practices encompassing environmental performance, business standards, governance, community involvement, and customer engagement. To achieve B Corp Certification, companies must undergo a rigorous assessment process and meet a B Impact Assessment score of at least 80.

Nature Communications publishes results of vaccine

Global biotechnology leader and San Diego-based Arcturus Therapeutics announce Nature Communications has published results from an integrated phase 1/2/3a/3b study evaluating the safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy of ARCT-154, a novel self-amplifying COVID-19 vaccine and the world’s first approved sa-mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. The results demonstrate that two 5 μg doses of ARCT-154, sa-mRNA vaccine, were well-tolerated, immunogenic and provided significant protection against multiple strains of COVID-19.

Endeavor BioMedicines announce results of clinical trial on lung medicine

Endeavor BioMedicines, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing medicines with the potential to deliver transformational clinical benefits to patients with life-threatening diseases, announced results from a completed Phase 2a clinical trial that demonstrate the company’s lead investigational candidate, ENV-101, improved lung function and reversed key measures of lung fibrosis in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) over a 12-week period.

MAIA Biotechnology to present at BIO International Convention in San Diego

MAIA Biotechnology Inc., a clinical stage company developing telomere-targeting immunotherapies for cancer, announced its participation in the upcoming BIO International Convention taking place June 3-6, 2024, in the San Diego Convention Center. The BIO International Convention is the largest and most comprehensive event for biotechnology, representing the full ecosystem of biotech with over 20,000 industry leaders from across the globe. MAIA Chairman and CEO Vlad Vitoc, M.D. will deliver a presentation.

Construction employment increases in 39 states, including California

Construction employment increased in 39 states in April from a year earlier, while 29 states added construction jobs between March and April, according to a new analysis of federal employment data released by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials cautioned that new tariffs on construction materials and unworkable rules for certifying the origin of materials could slow projects and hiring in many states. Between April 2023 and April 2024, California added 15,100 construction jobs.

City of San Diego wins 2024 Ivory Prize for housing affordability

Recognizing progress toward its goal of creating homes that all San Diegans can afford, the City of San Diego has been named a winner of Ivory Innovations’ annual national Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability in its Public Policy and Regulatory Reform category. The Ivory Prize aims to recognize ambitious, feasible and scalable solutions to housing affordability throughout the nation. The city’s Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Bonus Program, which allows additional ADUs to be built on a property when those ADUs are designated and guaranteed as affordable housing, was recognized as a top housing innovation in the country.

Gianni Buonomo Vintners leaving Ocean Beach for Midway

It’s a bittersweet move for owner/winemaker and OB resident Keith Rolle. “It took a couple of years for people to realize that world-class wine could be made in our little neighborhood. Since then, the Peninsula community has embraced us as their own. We’re eternally grateful for their tremendous support and are sad to leave OB. ”Over the years the winery has become more of a social hub than just a place to enjoy a great glass of wine. It has played host to special events for the Point Loma Music Boosters, Ocean Beach Woman’s Club, Naval Submarine League, and Point Loma Optimists as well as numerous private parties and fundraisers.

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San Diego, CA

Southern California’s Jewish community reacts to war in the Middle East

Published

7 hours ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

Southern California’s Jewish community reacts to war in the Middle East

The Jewish community in Southern California is sharing their fears and hopes following the weekend’s strikes on Iran and retaliatory attacks on Israel, U.S. military bases and other targets in the Middle East.

The exchange of missiles in the Middle East is having a devasting effect on Iran’s defense capability, but retaliatory strikes in the region are taking a toll.

“Weapons of enormous capacity that are targeting civilian areas,” said Elan Carr, CEO of Los Angeles-based Israeli American Council.

Carr says toppling the Iranian regime, taking out its nuclear capabilities and freeing the Iranian people from this oppressive rule should have been done decades ago.

“This is about seeing the most evil regime, the world chief state sponsored terrorism to no longer have the ability to do what it’s been doing,” Carr said.

Sara Brown, regional director of the American Jewish Committee, said the U.S. and Israel are concentrating strikes on Iran’s missile sites and military industrial complex. Iran’s retaliatory strikes are focused on many civilian targets.

“We are hearing from our partners from around the region, who are terrified,” Brown said. “Across the Middle East right now, I think there is a tremendous amount of fear, but also hope and also resolve.”

AJC is the advocacy arm for Jewish people globally. Many members and partner groups are in harm’s way. Brown says the risk is great, but the potential reward is world changing.

“That Iranian people will get to choose leadership for themselves, that we will finally see a pathway forward for peace across the Middle East,” Brown said.

If wars of the past hadn’t produced lasting peace, then why now? Carr says Iran’s nuclear capabilities are destroyed and Iran’s military and proxies are weakened after Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 Hamas ambush.

“No more terrorist network throughout the Middle East. Think of what that could mean. Think of the normalization we could see,” Carr said.

President Donald Trump expects fighting to last several weeks. Some critics are concerned about a drawn-out conflict that could spread.

Carr is not convinced.

“Who is going to enter a war against the U.S. and Israel? Russia is plenty busy. China has no interest in jeopardizing itself this way,” Carr said.

Besides the six Americans killed as of Monday night, government officials say 11 people were killed in retaliatory strikes in Israel.

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San Diego, CA

San Diego Zoo Safari Park’s Elephant Valley: Get closer to elephants

Published

19 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

San Diego Zoo Safari Park’s Elephant Valley: Get closer to elephants

Todd Martens
| Los Angeles Times

San Diego — Before we see elephants at Elephant Valley in the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, we come face to face with destruction, only the wreckage is beautiful. A long, winding path takes guests around and under felled trees. Aged gray tree hunks form arches, for instance, over bridges that tower over clay-colored paths with hoof prints.

The design is meant to reorient us, to take us on a trail walked not by humans but traversed and carved by elephants, a creature still misunderstood, vilified and hunted for its cataclysmic-like ability to reshape land, and sometimes communities.

“It starts,” says Kristi Burtis, vice president of wildlife care for the Safari Park, “by telling the story that elephants are ecosystem engineers.”

Elephant Valley will open March 5 as the newest experience at the Escondido park, its aim to bring guests closer than ever to the zoo’s eight elephants, which range in age from 7 to 36, while more heavily focusing on conservation. The centerpiece of the 13-acre-plus parkland is a curved bridge overlooking a savanna, allowing elephants to walk under guests. But there are also nooks such as a cave that, while not previewed at a recent media event, will allow visitors to view elephants on their level.

In a shift from, say, the Safari Park’s popular tram tour, there are no fences and visible enclosures. Captive elephants remain a sometimes controversial topic, and the zoo’s herd is a mix of rescues and births, but the goal was to create a space where humans are at once removed and don’t impede on the relative free-roaming ability of the animals by keeping guests largely elevated. As an example of just how close people can get to the herd, there was a moment of levity at the event when one of the elephants began flinging what was believed to be a mixture of dirt and feces up onto the bridge.

“Our guests are going to be able to see the hairs on an elephant,” Burtis says. “They can see their eyes. They can see the eyelashes. They can see how muscular their trunks are. It’s really going to be a different experience.”

Elephant Valley, complete with a multistory lodge with open-air restaurants and bars, boasts a natural design that isn’t influenced by the elephant’s African home so much as it is in conversation with it. The goal isn’t to displace us, but to import communal artistry — Kenyan wood and beadwork can be found in the pathways, resting spaces and more — as a show of admiration rather than imitation.

“We’re not going to pretend that we’re taking people to Africa,” says Fri Forjindam, now a creative executive with Universal’s theme parks but previously a lead designer on Elephant Valley via her role as a chief development officer at Mycotoo, a Pasadena-based experiential design firm.

“That is a slippery slope of theming that can go wrong really fast,” she adds. “How do we recognize where we are right now, which is near San Diego? How do we populate this plane with plants that are indigenous to the region? The story of coexistence is important. We’re not extracting from Africa, we’re learning. We’re not extracting from elephants, we’re sharing information.”

But designing a space that is elephant-first yet also built for humans presented multiple challenges, especially when the collaborating teams were aiming to construct multiple narratives around the animals. Since meetings about Elephant Valley began around 2019, the staff worked to touch on themes related to migration and conservation. And there was also a desire to personalize the elephants.

“Where can we also highlight each of the elephants by name, so they aren’t just this huge herd of random gray creatures?” Forjindam says. “You see that in the lodge.”

That lodge, the Mkutano House — a phrase that means “gathering” in Swahili — should provide opportunities for guests to linger, although zoo representatives say reservations are recommended for those who wish to dine in the space (there will also be a walk-up, to-go window). Menus have yet to be released, but the ground floor of the structure, boasting hut-like roofing designed to blend into the environment, features close views of the elephant grazing pool as well as an indoor space with a centerpiece tree beneath constellation-like lighting to mimic sunrises and sunsets.

Throughout there are animal wood carvings and beadwork, the latter often hung from sculptures made of tree branches. The ceiling, outfitted with colorful, cloth tapestries designed to move with the wind, aims to create less friction between indoor and outdoor environments.

There are, of course, research and educational goals of the space as well. The Safari Park works, for instance, with the Northern Rangelands Trust and Loisaba Conservancy in Kenya, with an emphasis on studying human-elephant conflict and finding no-kill resolutions. Nonprofits and conservation groups estimate that there are today around 415,000 elephants in Africa, and the African savanna elephant is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Studies of the zoo’s young elephants is shared with the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary in the hopes of delivering care to elephant youth to prevent orphanage. Additionally, the Safari Park has done extensive examination into the endotheliotropic herpes virus. “The data that we collect from elephants here, you can’t simply get from elephants in the wild,” Burtis says.

One of the two entrances to Elephant Valley is outfitted with bee boxes; bees are known to be a natural elephant deterrent and can help in preventing the animals from disrupting crops or communities. To encourage more natural behavior, the plane is outfitted with timed feeders in an attempt to encourage movement throughout the acreage and establish a level of real-life unpredictability in hunting for resources. Water areas have been redesigned with ramps and steps to make it easier for the elephants to navigate.

With Elephant Valley, Forjindam says the goal was to allow visitors to “observe safely in luxury — whatever that is — but not from a position of power, more as a cohabitor of the Earth, with as much natural elements as possible. It’s not to impose dominance. Ultimately, it needed to feel natural. It couldn’t feel like a man-made structure, which is an antiquated approach to any sort of safari experience where animals are the product, a prize. In this experience, this is the elephant’s home.”

And the resulting feel of Elephant Valley is that we, the paying customers, are simply their house guests.

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San Diego, CA

Man fatally struck by hit-and-run vehicle in San Diego

Published

1 day ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Man fatally struck by hit-and-run vehicle in San Diego

A man in the Mission Bay Park community of San Diego was fatally struck Sunday morning by a hit-and run vehicle, authorities said.

The victim was also struck by a second vehicle and that motorist stayed at the scene to cooperate with officers, the San Diego Police Department reported.

The initial crash occurred at about 2:20 a.m. Sunday in the area of West Mission Bay and Sea World drives.

The pedestrian was in the southbound lanes of the 2000 block of West Mission Bay Drive when he was struck by a silver vehicle also in the southbound lanes. That vehicle fled the scene, continuing southbound, police said.

A 28-year-old man driving his vehicle southbound ran over the downed pedestrian.

“That driver remained at the scene and is not DUI,” according to a police statement. “The pedestrian was pronounced deceased at the scene.”

Anyone with information regarding the initial crash was urged to call Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.

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