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Point-in-Time Count shows homeless realities in San Diego’s North County

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Point-in-Time Count shows homeless realities in San Diego’s North County


It was a 4 a.m. start Thursday for nearly 60 volunteers in Vista who took part in the one-day “snapshot” of the region’s homeless population – known as the Point-in-Time Count.

Before they headed out, they got a briefing from Daniel Sturman, a management analyst overseeing homeless contacts for the City of Vista.

Daniel Sturman speaks to a group of volunteers ahead of the annual Point-in-Time Count, Jan. 25, 2024.

“You’re looking for people that are covering their windows at night, so somebody that might have a sunshade up. Somebody that has a bunch of trash in the back of a vehicle,” Sturman explained to the group.

KPBS joined a team of three volunteers — Catherine Manis, Joan Faus and Alicia Tabares — as they set out in the dark to cover their assigned district along the Vista-San Marcos border.

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Alicia Tabares,  Joan Faus and Catherine Manis walk along a canyon trail before daybreak, Jan. 25, 2024.

Alicia Tabares, Joan Faus and Catherine Manis walk along a canyon trail before daybreak, Jan. 25, 2024.

Tabares was driving the vehicle to cover the large area. She is a school social worker with Vista Unified.

“I work with a lot of families who unfortunately don’t have a house or are living in their vehicles,” she said.

Tabares led the group through business parks, canyons and almost everywhere in between as they searched for people without a proper home.

Catherine Manis  and Joan Faus discuss areas to check from their map for homeless residents from inside a vehicle, Jan. 25, 2024.

Catherine Manis and Joan Faus discuss areas to check from their map for homeless residents from inside a vehicle, Jan. 25, 2024.

It was very hard to see at times. The group used flashlights in dimly lit areas.

Admittedly, it’s far from a perfect system. Volunteers look for clues to give them insight on where people may be sleeping.

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“We did find several families living in their rvs and cars, individuals that are working also,” Tabares said of the early morning tally.

Catherine Manis, Joan Faus and Alicia Tabares speak to a homeless man sleeping in his car in Vista, Jan. 25, 2024.

Catherine Manis, Joan Faus and Alicia Tabares speak to a homeless man sleeping in his car in Vista, Jan. 25, 2024.

During the four hours of searching, the team encountered numerous people without homes and interviewed those who were willing to talk.

“There’s some good people out here. Trying hard, working hard, doing their part,” said Jason, a homeless man who didn’t want to use his last name.

Volunteers Alicia Tabares and Joan Faus try to make contact with what they believe is a homeless resident inside of a van, Jan. 25, 2024.

Volunteers Alicia Tabares and Joan Faus try to make contact with what they believe is a homeless resident inside of a van, Jan. 25, 2024.

He was a longtime Oceanside resident, and became homeless in the city six years ago. Now Jason sleeps in a van near his place of work in Vista.

“I’ve always paid taxes, I’ve always held a job, I’ve never taken a subsidy from the government, never taken food stamps. Always supported my children, always done that – all the time,” he said.

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Volunteers Catherine Manis,  Joan Faus and Alicia Tabares speak to a homeless man inside his car, Jan. 25, 2024.

Volunteers Catherine Manis,  Joan Faus and Alicia Tabares speak to a homeless man inside his car, Jan. 25, 2024.

Jason said the cost of food, gas and housing are just too much.

“Prices were going up in rent, especially here in San Diego,” Jason said. “My wife at the time was permanently disabled with asthma, had two children, on a single income – just couldn’t afford it anymore.”

The data from people like Jason during the Point-in-Time Count really matters – it’s used to determine how to distribute federal homeless relief funding.

The City of Vista's VistaJonathan Lung

The City of Vista’s homeless services program manager Jonathan Lung talks to volunteers, Jan. 25, 2024.

The city of Vista’s Sturman said those funds should go towards a regional solution.

“North County homelessness isn’t necessarily a singular city problem,” he said. “We have the SPRINTER line up here, the 78 corridor right. And so a lot of our clients travel across that 78 corridor. One night they may be in Escondido, the next night they may be Vista, Oceanside, Carlsbad.”

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Volunteers Joan Faus and Catherine Manis

Volunteers Joan Faus and Catherine Manis listen to instructions at the central gathering location for the Vista and San Marcos Point-in-Time Count, Jan. 25, 2024.

As for Tabares, who grew up in Vista and was forced out of the county due to cost of living, it’s personal.

“The concerns that I have for the community where I grew up in, it’s been a lot of just not having access to affordable housing,” she said.

Volunteers speak with homeless residents sleeping in a RV in Vista, Jan. 25, 2024.

Volunteers speak with homeless residents sleeping in a RV in Vista, Jan. 25, 2024.

Official numbers for the full count are expected in late spring or early summer, but Tabares said solutions to the affordability crisis are needed now, or the problem will get worse.

“The displacement of families is what we’re seeing here,” she said.

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Military bases in San Diego County increase security following Iran attacks

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Military bases in San Diego County increase security following Iran attacks


SAN DIEGO (CNS) – Military bases in San Diego County and nationwide have increased security measures due to last weekend’s U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, prompting traffic delays near base entrances, enhanced ID checks and access restrictions.

The Naval Air Station North Island on Coronado ports three aircraft carriers, including the San Diego-based USS Abraham Lincoln, which led some of the first-wave attacks on Saturday.

Naval Base Coronado warned motorists of possible traffic delays at all base entry points due to the increased security measures.

Targets included Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command and control facilities, Iranian air defense capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and military airfields.

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The U.S. operation, dubbed “Epic Fury,” and Israeli operation, “Raging Lion,” began striking targets at 1:15 a.m. Eastern Time Saturday.

As of Tuesday, at least six U.S. service members had been killed in action.

The strikes also killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei, who had been Iran’s supreme leader since 1989, making him the longest-serving head of state in the Middle East.

Iran’s offensive forces claimed to have struck USS Abraham Lincoln with ballistic missiles, but according to an X post from U.S central Command, “The Lincoln was not hit. The missiles launched didn’t even come close. The Lincoln continues to launch aircraft in support of CENTCOM’s relentless campaign to defend the American people by eliminating threats from the Iranian regime.”

Those with concerns regarding the heightened security can contact San Diego County’s Office of Emergency Services at 858-565-3490 or oes@sdcounty.ca.gov.

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Copyright 2026, City News Service, Inc.





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SD Unified moves forward with layoffs of classified employees

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SD Unified moves forward with layoffs of classified employees


SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Less than 3 weeks after the San Diego Unified School District finalized a new contract with teachers, the school board voted unanimously on Tuesday to move forward with layoff notices for other district employees.

The layoffs affect classified employees — workers who are employed by the district but are not teachers and are not certified. That includes bus drivers, custodians, special education and teacher aides, and cafeteria workers.

The district says it is eliminating 221 positions — 133 that are currently filled and 88 that are vacant — to save $19 million and help address a projected $47 million deficit for the next fiscal year.

Preliminary layoff notices will go out on March 15, with final notices by May 15.

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The district estimates about 200 classified employees will receive preliminary notices, but of them, about 70 are expected to lose their jobs based on union-negotiated bumping rules.

Bumping allows employees with more seniority to move into another position in the same classification, thereby “bumping” a less senior employee out of that role.

Lupe Murray, an early childhood special education parafacilitator with the district, said the news came as a shock after the teacher strike was called off.

“When the strike was called off, I’m like, ‘Yes!’ So then when I got the email from the Superintendent, I’m like, ‘Wait, what?’ So, I think everyone was shocked,” Murray said.

The district says it sends out annual layoff notices, as all districts in the state do.

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Before Tuesday’s board meeting, classified employees rallied outside, made up of CSEA (California School Employees Association) Chapters OTBS 788, Paraeducators 759, and OSS 724. They were joined by parents, students, and the San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council, AFL-CIO.

Miguel Arellano, a paraeducator independence facilitator with San Diego Unified and a representative of San Diego Paraeducators Cahpter 759.

“What do we want? No layoffs! When do we want it? Now!” the crowd chanted.

Arellano said he felt compelled to act when he learned about the potential layoffs.

“The first thing that went through my mind was that I need to speak up. I need to protect these people,” Arellano said.

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Inside the meeting, the board heard emotional, at times tearful testimony from classified employees before voting unanimously to move forward with the layoff schedule.

Superintendent Fabi Bagula said the district has tried to protect classrooms from the cuts.

“We have tried our best to only, I mean, to not touch the school. Or the classroom. But now it’s at the point where it’s getting a little bit harder,” Bagula said. “What I’m still hoping, or what I’m still working toward, because we’re still in negotiations, is that we’re able to actually come to a win-win, where there’s positions and availability and maybe even promotions for folks that are impacted.”

Arellano warned the layoffs could have a direct impact on students.

“We are already spread thin, so, with more of a case load, it’s going to be impossible to be able to service all the students that we need to have,” Arellano said.

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Follow ABC 10News Anchor Max Goldwasser on InstagramFacebook, and Twitter.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.





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Scripps Oceanography granted $15M for deep sea, glacier science

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Scripps Oceanography granted M for deep sea, glacier science


The Fund for Science and Technology, a new private foundation, granted Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego $15 million for ocean science Tuesday.

FFST, funded by the estate of the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, was started in 2025 with a commitment to invest at least $500 million over four years to “propel transformative science and technology for people and the planet.”

“Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego is pushing boundaries for exploration and discovery across the global ocean,” Chancellor Pradeep Khosla said. “This visionary support from the Fund for Science and Technology will enable Scripps researchers to advance our understanding of our planet, which has meaningful implications for communities around the world.”

The grant, the largest of its kind since Scripps joined UCSD in 1960, will go toward research in three areas: monitoring of environmental DNA and other biomolecules in marine ecosystems, adding to the Argo network of ocean observing robots, and enhancing the study of ocean conditions beneath Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier, often referred to as the “Doomsday Glacier.”

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Scripps Institution of Oceanography has used Argo floats for more than two decades to track climate impacts in our oceans. NBC 7 meteorologist Greg Bledsoe reports.

“The Fund for Science and Technology was created to support transformational science in the search of answers to some of the planet’s most complex questions,” said Dr. Lynda Stuart, president and CEO at the fund. “Scripps has a long tradition of leadership at the frontiers of ocean and climate science, and this work builds on that legacy — strengthening the tools and insights needed to understand our environment at a truly global and unprecedented scale.”

Scripps Director Emeritus Margaret Leinen will use a portion of the grant in her analysis of eDNA — free-floating fragments of DNA shed by organisms into the environment — in understudied parts of the ocean to collect crucial baseline data on marine organisms, according to a statement from Scripps.

“In many regions, we know very little about the microbial communities that form the base of the ocean food web or that make deep sea ecosystems so unique,” Leinen said. “Without data, we can’t predict how these communities are going to respond to climate change or what the consequences might be. That’s a vulnerability — and this funding will help us begin to address it.”

Using autonomous samplers that can collect ocean water for eDNA analysis, as well as conventional sampling, scientists will use tools to “reveal the biology of the open ocean and polar regions.”

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According to Scripps, the international Argo program has more than 4,000 floats that drift with currents and periodically dive to measure temperature, salinity and pressure. Standard floats can record data up to depths of 2,000 meters (6,560 feet), while newer Deep Argo floats can dive to 6,000 meters (19,685 feet).

The grant funding announced Tuesday will allow for Scripps to deploy around 50 Deep Argo floats along with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory.

Sarah Purkey, physical oceanographer at Scripps and Argo lead, said this leap forward in deep ocean monitoring comes at a crucial time because the deep sea has warmed faster than expected over the last two decades.

Thwaites Glacier is Antarctica’s largest collapsing glacier and contains enough ice to raise global sea level by roughly two feet if it were to collapse entirely. According to Scripps, prior expeditions led by scientist Jamin Greenbaum discovered anomalously warm water beneath the glacier’s ice shelf — contributing to melting from below. Greenbaum now seeks to collect water samples and other measurements from beneath Thwaites’ ice tongue to disentangle the drivers of its rapid melting.

This season’s Antarctic fieldwork will “test hypotheses about the drivers of Thwaites’ rapid melt with implications for sea-level rise projections,” the statement from Scripps said.

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“The ocean holds answers to some of the most pressing questions about our planet’s future, but only if we can observe it,” said Meenakshi Wadhwa, director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and vice chancellor for marine sciences at UCSD. “This historic grant will help ocean scientists bring new tools and approaches to parts of the ocean we’ve barely begun to explore.”



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