San Diego, CA
UC San Diego health workers call for higher wages and housing assistance
Service workers and patient care staff picketed at UC San Diego’s Jacobs Medical Center on Wednesday. They’re asking for higher wages and housing assistance amid ongoing contract negotiations.
The University of California and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees or AFSCME, which represents more than 30,000 university workers, have been negotiating a new contract since January.
The union said workers are struggling to afford housing, especially near university campuses.
Radiologic technologist Melissa Macario commutes from Chula Vista to La Jolla. She said the university’s wages are no longer competitive in the local market.
“We’ve been struggling for quite some time since the pandemic,” she said.
The union said the university offers home loan programs for faculty and executive staff, but not its service workers.
“They receive low-interest mortgages and down payment assistance that they only give to the executives,” cardiac surgical technologist Stevie Bellwood said. “That needs to be applied to everybody.”
Last year, unions and other organizations urged the University of California to divest from Blackstone, a private equity firm that owns property throughout San Diego. Advocates say the firm is contributing to a lack of affordable housing.
Blackstone and the University of California announced a $4 billion investment in the firm by UC Investments in January 2023.
“We are highly aligned through this investment to further our relationship,” Blackstone President and Chief Operating Officer Jon Gray said at the time.
In a statement, the University of California wrote that this year’s bargaining sessions have been productive.
“We empathize with the challenges our AFSCME-represented employees face, especially California’s increasing cost of living,” the university wrote. “Our goal is to acknowledge their growing contributions, appreciate their commitment, and offer a financial package that helps alleviate some of their financial strains.”
The university has proposed raising patient care and service workers’ minimum wage to $24 an hour by April 2025.
Meanwhile, state lawmakers are considering delaying a separate health worker minimum wage law – that would also apply to University of California workers – by a month over concerns about the cost. That law phases in a $25 minimum wage for certain workers over the course of a few years.
San Diego, CA
UCSD Summer League: Rancho Buena Vista 59, Cathedral Catholic 51
LA JOLLA (KUSI) – The Rancho Buena Vista Longhorns take down the Cathedral Catholic Dons at UCSD Summer League Basketball, 59-51.
The standout player in the game for the Longhorns was Junior Guard CJ Aldrich, while the leader for the Dons was Steven Evans-Glynn.
San Diego, CA
New Ziggi’s Coffee shop to open in San Diego County
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A specialty coffee concept is expanding its presence in California with a new shop slated to open in San Diego County this coming week.
Ziggi’s Coffee, a Colorado-born brand, will debut in Valley Center on Tuesday, June 25, marking the second location in the Golden State. The other shop is operating in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of Hawthorne.
San Diegans will soon be able to sip on “uniquely handcrafted drinks and wide variety of eats and treats,” a spokesperson for the shop announced.
Originally launched by husband and wife Brandon and Camrin Knudsen about 20 years ago, the pair’s goal for Ziggi’s Coffee was “to create space where people could gather and feel right at home.”
As for the new Valley Center location, it’s owned by the San Pasqual Economic Development Corporation, an organization authorized to pursue the economic development and sustainability activities on behalf of the San Pasqual tribal government and its members.
“We are excited to open our first Ziggi’s Coffee location within the San Pasqual Tribe,” said Brandon, who’s also the coffee brand’s CEO. “We look forward to bringing our uniquely positive customer experience and diverse menu to the area, supporting the tribe’s economic development and serving the residents of Valley Center.”
The shop will be located on the property of the Horizon Fuel Center. The 642-square-foot space will include a drive-thru design to meet the needs of customers on the go.
When it comes to the menu, there will be specialty coffees, chai and teas, energy infusions, smoothies, Italian sodas, boba and more. Ziggi’s Coffee will also serve a variety of food items such as breakfast sandwiches, burritos, paninis, as well as baked goods like breads, cinnamon rolls, scones, cookies and cake pops.
Located at 31269 Valley Center Rd., Ziggi’s Coffee will be open from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
San Diego, CA
Russian strikes continue to target Ukrainian energy facilities
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a new barrage of missiles and drones in an overnight attack on Ukraine, officials in Kyiv said Saturday morning, damaging energy facilities in the country’s southeast and west and injuring at least two energy workers.
In its eighth major attack on Ukrainian power plants since Moscow intensified energy infrastructure attacks three months ago, Russia fired 16 missiles and 13 Shahed drones at energy facilities and critical infrastructure, the Ukrainian air force said.
Ukraine’s air defenses intercepted 12 of the 16 missiles and all 13 drones launched by Russia, the air force said.
State-owned power grid operator Ukrenergo said the strikes damaged equipment at facilities in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region and western Lviv region.
Two energy workers were injured in the Zaporizhzhia region when a fire broke out at an energy facility, according to regional Gov. Ivan Fedorov.
With no major changes reported along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, where a recent push by the Kremlin’s forces in eastern and northeastern Ukraine has made only incremental gains, both sides have taken aim at infrastructure targets, seeking to curb each other’s ability to fight in a war that is now in its third year.
Moscow’s overnight attack on Zaporizhzhia and Lviv follows Ukrainian military strikes on three oil refineries in southern Russia overnight into Friday.
Ukraine is struggling to cope with a new wave of rolling blackouts after relentless Russian attacks took out half the country’s power generation capacity.
In other developments, the governor of eastern Ukraine’s partly occupied Donetsk region said Saturday that Russian attacks had killed five people and wounded a further seven the previous day.
A policeman was killed in the partly occupied region of Kherson as a result of a Russian drone attack on a checkpoint, the Ukrainian National Police said.
In Russia, air defense systems overnight destroyed five drones over the Sea of Azov and the country’s western Bryansk and Smolensk regions, the Russian Ministry of Defense said.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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