OB Rag

By Jared Aarons / ABC10News / May 02, 2024

By Jared Aarons / ABC10 / May 02, 2024

A team of researchers from UC San Diego has come up with a unique solution to help with the world’s plastic problem.

They created a form of plastic that can basically recycle itself.

Dr. Adam Feist and Professor Jon Pokorski combined traditional polyurethane with a microbial spore to create plastic that can break down in compost or any other natural environment in around 5 months.

They published a paper this week in Nature Communications detailing their process and results.

“There are some studies that show, of the millions, trillions of microbes out there, some can eat the plastic itself,” says Feist. “So we were saying if we combine them together, what would happen? And how can that better facilitate that massive problem we have with polymers everywhere?”

By Colleen O’Connor

“Ahead of the movie’s world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, the first trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s sci-fi passion project, Megalopolis, has been released online.”

Coppola, the magician of movies with relevance (Godfather I and II and Apocalypse Now) worked on his new film for more than a decade.  Part Sci-Fi and part morality play, it may demonstrate a last chance for salvation.  Dwindling audiences define politics while Blockbuster moments prevail elsewhere.

Barbie and Oppenheimer in movies. In sports.  Katlin Collins and the WMBA finals. Add Saturday’s 150th Kentucky Derby crowds and photo finish.  Blockbuster concerts like Taylor Swift. All mega events. All with cheers. Massive crowds of appreciation. Not so in current U.S. politics.

Roll up for Cannabis Equity

By Terrie Best

The Department of Justice has announced they plan to move “marijuana” (they call it that because they are silly and won’t get onboard) from class I to III on the controlled substances schedule.

74% of Americans live in a state with a cannabis program of some kind. This is the first change to federal cannabis policy in decades and it is to be celebrated for sure. Still, the goal is and must remain full legalization and removal from the controlled substances schedule altogether. Which could mean that medical cannabis will take a different track then adult use.

By Geoff Page

Mayor Todd Gloria’s Complete Communities Housing Solutions are coming for OB in the form a 20-unit anthill on a 7,396 square foot lot with virtually no parking or outdoor space.

Anyone who wants to defend Ocean Beach from this kind of mutant development showing up next door to them should attend the OB Community Planning Board meeting tomorrow, May 7, 6:00 p.m., at the OB Rec Center.

The Project

The project was detailed in The Rag’s April 16 story.  The project is designed to take advantage of the city’s new Complete Communities Housing Solutions, or CCHS, program. The problem is, the city’s own CCHS documents state the project is not allowed because it is within an historic district.

The OB Planning Board meets this Tuesday May 7th at 6pm at the OB Rec Center.

There is one project on agenda: 4705 Point Loma Ave.

The Board’s sub-committee, the Project Review Committee reviewed the project on April 17, 2024.  Their action was as follows:

“Motion to approve the project with a condition of approval requiring a 30-day minimum rental agreement for all building occupants. (Passes 3-2-0)”

What’s being proposed at the corner at 4705 Point Loma Avenue is a 3-story, 20 unit complex — but only 3 of its units will be “affordable” and it will only provide 9 parking spaces.

The density that is being proposed in way out of whack with OB’s normal density limits. But the developer can bypass local community plans as long as it’s complying with Mayor Gloria’s so-called Complete Communities.

Here’s the official agenda (see below for more on “The Point”).

Law enforcement has cleared out the “Gaza Solidarity” encampment at UC San Diego. Dozens of protesters were detained or arrested, according to media reports.

Authorities declared the encampment an unlawful assembly at about 5:45 a.m. and ordered the protesters to leave.

The university announced that there was police activity from North Torrey Pines Road to Interstate 5. Non-essential employees were advised to move to remote operations, while essential employees were directed to report to work as usual, according to UCSD.

A contact of the Rag’s at UC San Diego has just informed us that the situation on campus appears that law enforcement is preparing to shut down the Palestine solidarity encampment.

The encampment — now in its 5th or 6th day — consists of some 50 tents and is mainly near the Geisel Library.

An E. coli outbreak has been linked to organic walnuts sold at stores in San Diego County.

Gibson Farms, a company based in Hollister, California, voluntarily recalled its Organic Light Halves and Pieces shelled walnuts after discovering the nuts could be contaminated with an E. coli strain that “causes a diarrhea illness often with bloody stools.” So far, 12 people have been sickened and seven have been hospitalized,

By Richard T. Carlson/ Times of San Diego / April 30, 2024

Has San Diego County already built enough new housing to accommodate all the currently projected population growth through the year 2050?

This is a stunning question to ask given the frenzied rhetoric about needing to build large numbers of new units of every type, everywhere to deal with what is widely perceived as a massive housing shortage by politicians, housing advocacy groups, and the public.

But the answer, surprisingly, is “yes.”

Students at UC San Diego have settled into their encampment of support for Palestinians in the Middle East, near the Geisel Library. And due to the protest, UC San Diego officials announced the cancellation of the annual Sun God Festival that was scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 4.

The UCSDivest Coalition is demanding a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war. Among the group’s other demands is a call for the university to divest from all of its Israeli financial interests.

Meanwhile, Jewish Faculty and Students at UCSD just released a statement of solidarity with the campus protest.

The eighth San Diego location of chicken tender restaurant chain Raising Cane’s is heading to San Diego’s Midway District.

A San Diego branch of Raising Canes’s is currently in the planning stages for the property on the corner of Camino Del Rio and Hancock Street where a Jack In The Box and Denny’s previously sat in the Midway District/Sports Arena area of San Diego’s Point Loma. Like other locations, the incoming restaurant will offer a concise menu centered around fresh-never-frozen, hand-dipped chicken fingers that are breaded and fried to order and available in combo platters and on sandwiches.

Every Saturday at 10:30 am. Climate Mobilization Coalition Meetings May 4th, 11th, 18th, and 25th.  Keep up-to-date on climate issues and Climate Action events. To register email Jon Findley at  jon@climatemobsd.org.  More info: https://www.facebook.com/SDClimateMobilization/

Every Saturday 12 pm – 1 pm Peace Vigil for Palestine: Advocate for Peace and Justice in Gaza and Everywhere Join CODEPINK SD, San Diego Veterans for Peace, and Palestine Pals every Saturday at 12:00 pm on the plaza corner of Sunset Cliffs Blvd. and W. Point Loma Blvd., entry to Ocean Beach, San Diego. Wear pink and bring a peace-related poster if you have one! Contact: Nathanael · nathandw@riseup.net

May 1st to May 31st Bike Month 2024! Events by San Diego County Bike Coalition Bike Month is our favorite time of the year!  For list of events and more info:  https://sdbikecoalition.org/event/bike-month-2024/