vosdpodcastnetwork201707

I take three separate fitness classes a week to supplement my running workouts, including one at Barry's Bootcamp in Hillcrest, a franchise with locations across the country. San Diego has lots of similar options for the fitness-inclined: CorePower...

For a while now, millennials have been the butt of all jokes relating to the effects of smartphones on our everyday lives. But right before our eyes, a new generation that's been exposed to iPhones and iPads since the day they were born has sprung up. The iGen generation — a term used to identify kids born between 1995 through 2012 — heavily relies on smartphones and social media networks to communicate with friends throughout the day without physically seeing them. It's caused a series of problems that researchers say changes the way kids develop into adulthood. On this week's podcast, Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts sat down with SDSU professor Jean Twenge to discuss her research into smartphones and their effects on youth and mental health. "It's not just being on the phone six to eight hours a day like the average teen is," Twenge said. "It crowds out time for that social interaction, for sports and exercise, for all these that we know are linked to better mental health and more happiness." Also on the podcast, the guys break down concerns about the search for a new San Diego police chief. The city announced earlier this week that it will not release the names of the candidates for the position nor the people who make up the hiring committee. Residents and local leaders voiced frustration, arguing the process is not transparent enough. And finally, there are plenty of fish in the sea, but can Scott Lewis catch just one? Listen to this week's podcast to find out. Hero of the Week This week's hero goes to Mayor Kevin Faulconer. The mayor has made an effort to highlight his support for a strong relationship with Mexico amid tensions regarding the U.S-Mexico border. Goat of the Week Our goat this week goes to San Diego County’s Civil Service Commission, which occasionally reinstates fired Sheriff's Department deputies despite evidence they're not cut out for the job, and despite pushback from the sheriff.

Finding shoes that fit perfectly can be hard. After a particularly frustrating day of shoe shopping at a mall,  Lucy Beard had a big aha moment while drinking her Starbucks latte. Beard happened to pick up an article about 3D...

It’s been a crazy week for news. The scandals unraveling from the White House seem to be never-ending and constantly evolving. Does anyone even have time for, or care about, what's happening locally? Since the 2016 election, folks have been eager to become more informed on a variety of issues swallowing up national headlines. On this week’s podcast, Andrew Keatts and Sara Libby discuss how big new events around the country have affected the way folks digest local news. Plus, VOSD's Mario Koran joins the podcast to discuss a stunning revelation made by the San Diego Unified school board president as part of our ongoing look at how the district achieved its unprecedented graduation rate. Also on this week’s podcast, Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Point Loma Nazarene University, calls in to explain the NAFTA negotiations and what's at stake for San Diego's economy. “If we start to raise barriers on areas of traditional trade … or other kinds of import restrictions, that would misaddress this focus on the trade deficit," Reaser said. "It’s really to look at more, hopefully, at these areas that have been neglected in the past.” Hero of the Week This week, our hero is the city of San Diego. City officials quickly removed a Confederate-friendly monument from Horton Plaza Park downtown. Goat of the Week Our goat this week goes to San Diego Superior Court Judge Gary Kreep. He received a “severe public censure” by the state’s Commission on Judicial Performance – the worst penalty apart from being removed from the bench. Kreep faced 29 charges of misconduct, including making misogynistic comments about female lawyers.

Lawmakers are scrambling to come up with regulations after Californians voted to legalize marijuana across the state last year. Cannabis entrepreneurs are eager to get some clarity so they can set up shop and start making money. But right now, the laws are still hazy, and it's starting to cause some problems. On this week’s podcast, hosts Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts discuss the local issues surrounding the legality of the marijuana business. The city of San Diego, for instance, has said it’ll start cracking down on the illegal delivery of pot, but folks in that industry say the city has yet to provide a proper path for legality. Meanwhile in Lemon Grove, day care centers have been getting some strange offers from some business owners who hope to open marijuana shops. And a shocking new case calls into question attorney-client privilege in the marijuana community. Also on the podcast, John Hueston from Hueston Hennigan, the law firm that conducted an investigation of the San Diego Association of Governments, joins Lewis and Keatts to discuss some of the firm's most interesting findings. The firm looked into the faulty economic forecast numbers the public transportation agency put in front of voters in its sales-tax hike measure last year. One of the main questions Hueston looked into was whether SANDAG employees intentionally misled the public. “Instead what I found was a series of very unfortunate lapses in judgment, which range from negligence to questions of competence with respect to the leaders and each one of them," he said. Hero of the Week Our hero of the week goes to Bridge Collaborative for Suicide Prevention, a group that's been working to prevent suicides on the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge by advocating for the installation of a safety barrier. Suicides at the bridge have been skyrocketing in the past few years. Goat of the Week This week, five San Diego City Council members get the goat: Chris Ward, Chris Cate, Georgette Gómez, David Alvarez and Lorie Zapf. They all voted not to repeal the Child Protection Act despite legality concerns from City Attorney Mara Elliot.

The investigation of the San Diego Association of Governments that came out this week is a doozy. On this week’s podcast, hosts Andrew Keatts and Scott Lewis read excerpts from the independent investigation of the regional transportation agency and break down its most shocking findings. The investigation of SANDAG was spurred by a series of stories by Keatts, who found that the agency knowingly misled voters by using a flawed economic forecasting model. Also on the podcast, Lewis and Voice of San Diego’s Ry Rivard talk to Randy Record, chairman of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, about the organizations' legal battles with the San Diego County Water Authority. “We've decided to stick with the facts and stick with what the court says and let it play out,” Record said. “But it is extremely frustrating when public agencies litigate each other. There’s no way that the public wins.” Hero of the Week This week’s hero goes to Tony Diaz, a homeless man who fought false claims made by a San Diego Police officer. Body camera video showed the officer lied when he cited Diaz for sleeping in the back of his truck. Goat of the Week SANDAG gets the goat this week.  The agency has yet to accept responsibility for the economic forecasting problem.

The first time Daniel Sullivan was introduced to solar, he was hooked. He said he knew right away that it would take off, even though it was an expensive and somewhat obscure technology at the time. He was an electrician, so he brought the...

The plan to hold a special election in November to decide on a plan for the future of Qualcomm Stadium failed at City Council, but the people behind the SoccerCity initiative aren’t giving up. They hope the Major League of Soccer won’t either. On Monday, the developers behind SoccerCity came up with #WaitForSD to keep MLS interested until voters have the final say in the November 2018 election. On this week’s podcast, co-hosts Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts explain why #WaitForSD fits like a glove on San Diego. Also, San Diego City Councilwoman Georgette Gomez joins the podcast to discuss the details of her affordable housing plan. Gomez has come up with a seven-point plan that focuses on increasing the affordable housing stock in the city, preserving the current regulations and housing in place and put together an affordable housing tax measure for the November 2018 ballot. She would not say what kind of tax she preferred. Come for the laughs and stay for the explanation of what floor-area-ratio is. Gomez knows she might get some backlash. “This is going to be controversial and I'll probably get some pushback from some of the residents because for a lot of the residents, the fear of higher density is real,” she said. “But we have a crisis, we need to develop more housing. The way that we're zoning our communities isn't going to get us there.” Hero of the Week Brooke Binkowski writes Voice of San Diego’s weekly Border Report newsletter, but she’s also the managing editor at Snopes. This week, the fact-checking site faced legal issues and a possible shutdown, but supporters were able to help them raise $500,000 in one day. Goat of the Week San Diego Unified School District has made it clear that it will start deleting emails older than one year, but what remains blurry is exactly what will happen to the public records requests currently pending. The district said it will fulfill those requests but has yet to give a clear timeline.

James Slatic is a marijuana business pioneer. One of his past business ventures set the standard for packaging medical marijuana. Another innovated vape cartridges and other products. The successful businesses he's built and his highly publicized...

From its factory in Spring Valley, Deering Banjo Company has made more than 100,000 banjos since the business launched in 1975. In the debut episode of I Made it in San Diego, a podcast illuminating the stories behind the region's businesses and entrepreneurs, I talk to Greg and Janet Deering about how they grew their small family business into a company that's made more banjos than any other instrument-maker in existence. Subscribe to the podcast via iTunes and Stitcher, or sign up to get an email every time a new episode airs. Musicians all over the world now play Deering banjos and the business continues to grow, but finding success wasn't easy. The Deerings said they barely squeaked through some of the recessions, and describe how one early business partnership fell apart and forced them to start from scratch. Their eventual popularity was powered, in part, by Deering banjos' appearances in pop music and on "The Price is Right." Even in the toughest times, though, Greg Deering said he always knew Deering Banjo Company would work. Early on, he made a pact with his wife that they'd never give up, no matter what. That stubborn confidence paid off, and now Deering is the largest manufacturer of banjos in the country. "It was this underlying sense of certainty that I can't explain," he said. "There were times when we didn't necessarily know where the rent or the groceries were coming from, but somehow we always managed."