SAN DIEGO (SDJW) — Congresswoman Susan Davis was among those questioning Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel about the trade of Taliban operatives for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, at a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, June 11. According to a U-T story by Mark Walker, Davis wanted to know if there wasn’t a way to get Bergdahl back without swapping for the anti-Afghanistan government prisoners, who had been kept at Guantanamo. Responded Hagel: “We looked at all the options and all the possibilities. This was the best possibility that we had to get him out.”
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In a follow-up story about the primary election defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and his subsequent decision to step down from his leadership position, the AP’s David Espo reported in the U-T that given primary opponent Dave Brat’s strong criticism of Cantor for supporting immigration reform, any effort to bring such legislation to the floor of the House probably is dead for this session of Congress. … In an editorial, the U-T said Brat’s criticism of Cantor for backing bank and corporate bailouts also was a factor…A story from Bloomberg News and the Washington Post, carried in the U-T, said Wall Street is worried that with Cantor’s defeat, the House will be more reluctant to make agreements with the Obama administration on important financial issues, such as ending standoffs on the federal debt ceiling.
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A bill by State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson moving through the State Legislature would require peace officers making checks on the welfare of potentially unstable persons to determine whether such persons own firearms that may pose a danger to themselves or others. Jackson, in an AP story printed in the U-T, referred to Elliot Rodger, who killed six persons in Isla Vista—three with a gun and three, as they slept, with a knife – “It is possible that had they asked him about his firearms … they could have inquired about why he had those weapons and made a determination whether he was a danger to himself or others.”
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The radio team of Charlie & Harrigan – known in real life respectively as Jack Woods and Paul Menard – are being inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame because of the technique they developed for making their show, produced in La Mesa, California, seem local in the many cities to which it was syndicated. Diane Bell in her column notes they join some well-known luminaries as hall of famers, including former sportscaster (and U.S. President) Ronald Reagan and comedian Jack Benny.
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Sgt. Kevin Pearlstein, whose California Highway Patrol information beat includes Interstate 8 in the East County, reported that a car found upside down in a ravine near the eastbound freeway near Carrizo Gorge Road had been driven by an 85 year old man from Winterhaven, California. The unidentified man’s body was found in the car, according to a U-T report by Pauline Repard.
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A proposal to hike the minimum wage paid in the City of San Diego to $13.09 may be amended to make that $11 within the next three years. Offering the alternative proposal at a meeting of a City Council committee was Harry Schwartz, co-owner of an Ace Hardware Store downtown. Schwartz also suggested that for four months, a new employee could be paid the state minimum wage – which is lower than the city’s – as a training wage. The U-T’s story by David Garrick also reported that Councilwoman Marti Emerald cited several studies supporting increasing the minimum wage as a mean to “lift families out of poverty, reduce the demand of government services paid for with taxpayer dollars and stimulate our local economy.”
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Paul Jacobs, Qualcomm’s Executive Chairman, has joined other investors in supporting a company called Light, which is working on new technology for photography, according to a story by the U-T’s Mike Freeman. Jacobs received a seat on the board of the start-up company… in another story by Freeman, it was reported that Qualcomm awarded its fourth annual global QPrize competition, worth $150,000, to Medi-Safe, an Israeli company that makes mobile medication management applications for smartphones.
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San Diego Jewish World staff report