Celebration of Life Vigil; 1st US Cantonese Certificate Program | California Today - Nov. 11

Good evening. Welcome to California Today. I'm David Lam, sitting in for Liang Zhang. Here's a preview of some of today's stories. A vigil was held for a recently deceased Los Angeles police chief. Friends and family spoke in his memory. A ship captain returned to court recently, pleading not guilty in the death of 34 people. That's after his ship caught fire in 2019. And the attorney general has sued major chemical manufacturers for their alleged role in manufacturing forever chemicals. Two of the major companies say they are not responsible. It's been a tough year for police in the city of El Monte, as they suffered another loss in late October of one of their key members. NCD's Jackie Rios went to find out how the police department and community are dealing with the loss. It's been a difficult year for the El Monte Police Department, as they suffered another loss. Chief Ben Lorry passed away on October 24th, and the El Monte community has gathered this night to pay their respect to the Lorry family. The candlelight vigil and ceremony, named the Celebration of Life of Chief Ben Lorry, also saw community leaders, members of law enforcement, and Lorry's family in attendance. They described Lorry as a man of integrity, who cared more for others than himself. Always trying to do the right thing, but with a great sense of humor. He liked to make sure that everybody, every person was important, and he listened to them, and he enjoyed being around them. The current chief, Jake Fisher, said Lorry had both brain and brawn. He used his muscular appearance to his advantage, catching people off guard. Fisher said the loss of Lorry added to an already difficult year for the department. That's because El Monte Police have suffered the loss of several members this year. Very challenging. Obviously, we lost two officers in June, and we just lost our chief Lorry, but we are a very close-knit, tight police department, and we will pull through this, and we will overcome this, and we will be stronger and more united in the days, months, and years ahead. Lorry's father mentioned how deeply the loss of those two officers impacted his son. About six months ago, the very day he found out that the two officers were murdered here, he had a doctor's appointment, and he went to the doctor, and the doctor told him, Ben, I'm sorry to tell you that the cancer that we thought was in remission has returned, and the doctor said, I'm sure that's not the news you wanted to hear today, and Ben's answer was, that's not the worst news I heard today. The worst news is that two of my officers are down, and so that's, he didn't complain about himself. He was concerned about others, and that was the kind of guy he was. Well, I think first and foremost, I think it's most important that people never forget that behind the badge is a human being. We are human beings, just like everybody else here, and so what I would really like for the community to remember him is as a loving husband and father, and a tremendous leader to our community. Despite the somber atmosphere, Lorry's mother, Marilyn, showed where her son's great sense of humor came from. I'm sure Ben would want me to tell the world that he was my favorite son. We have six sons. Ben was the youngest. He was five minutes younger than his twin brother, so I must say to the world, Ben was my favorite youngest son named Ben. He could just whisper in my ear, Mom, you got to tell the world all about me, so that would be, that's part of his sense of humor. There will be a celebration of life civic memorial service on Monday, November 14th. Almonte police officers and law enforcement departments will gather in remembrance of the years of service Lorry dedicated to his department. Jackie Rios, NTD News, Los Angeles, California. A boat captain indicted for manslaughter related to a 2019 boat fire has pleaded not guilty. He's allegedly responsible for the deaths of 34 people from a fire abroad his dive boat off the southern California coast. A federal grand jury issued a new indictment last month, alleging that Captain Jerry Boylan acted with gross negligence aboard his boat, The Conception, during one of the deadliest maritime disasters in recent US history. During a hearing on Thursday, he pleaded not guilty. A judge threw out their original case on the third anniversary of the September 2nd, 2019 tragedy. Boylan faces 10 years in prison for a single count of misconduct or neglect of a ship officer. A pre-Civil War statute known as Seaman's Manslaughter that was designed to hold steamboat captains and crew responsible for maritime disasters. All 33 passengers and a crew member who were trapped in the Conception's bunk room below deck died. Boylan and four other crew members escaped. The state's attorney general recently sued over a dozen corporations, including 3M and DuPont. He alleged they were covering up the dangers of certain chemicals in their products. On Thursday, Attorney General Rob Bonta, representing the state of California, accused 3M, DuPont, and 16 smaller companies that's over the use of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS, or forever chemicals. For their role in pushing a widespread campaign of deception about these toxic substances that litter our bodies, poison our air, harm our wildlife, and take a toll on our frontline heroes. The lawsuit claims that the large manufacturers knew or should have known about the dangers of PFAS and failed to warn about them, and in many cases, concealed them for decades. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, exposure to high levels of certain PFAS may lead to adverse health outcomes. But ongoing research is still determining how various levels can lead to different health effects. PFAS are widely used in consumer products, including food packaging, fabrics, paints, and cleaning products, as well as in firefighting foams. 3M began making a PFAS chemical in the 1940s. These forever chemicals are known to be man-made and break down very slowly. Forever chemicals are all around us. Everywhere you look, in our bays, our lakes, streams, and rivers, in this bay, they're in our fish, our wildlife, our soil, in our very bodies. In fact, forever chemicals are in the bloodstream of 98 percent of Californians. Minnesota-based 3M said it acted responsibly in connection with products containing PFAS and will defend its record of environmental stewardship. DuPont, based in Delaware, said the company, as it now exists, should not have been named in the lawsuit. In 2019, DuPont de Nemours was established as a new multi-industrial specialty products company. DuPont de Nemours has never manufactured PFO, PFOS, or firefighting foam. While we don't comment on pending litigation, we believe these complaints are without merit. The lawsuit, filed in Alameda County, is the first statewide legal action over PFAS contamination. Bonta estimated penalties and cleanup costs sought by the lawsuit would reach hundreds of millions of dollars. David Lam, Entity News, California. Even as people try to conserve water and electricity, many Californians face pricey utility bills every month. A utility research director talked about what's causing those high prices, breaking down the details of those high bills. Many Californians are hit with a pricey utility bill every month, even after they conserve water and electricity. Gabriela Sandoval, research director for the Utility Reform Network, or TURN, explains to California Insider's Siamak Karami why California has the highest rates in the country. Besides the fact that you have these big corporations who are working very hard to provide dividends to their shareholders, we also have many additional costs that are tacked on to the cost of electricity. She says the state's goals to pursue both green energy and environmental goals also contribute to the growing costs. Sometimes the costs pay for incentives for other people to go all electric. If I receive a rebate from my utility company for installing an electric vehicle charging station in my home, the money for that rebate comes from all the other rate payers. Sandoval says an average person pays $30 to $50 more to subsidize solar rooftops in their homes. Let's say you're producing so much energy that during the day you can't use up all that energy, so that energy goes back into the grid and somebody else gets it. Well, you get paid the retail price for that energy that you put into the grid. Let's just say it's about $0.30 per kilowatt hour that you get paid for that energy that you put into the grid. Well, if we were getting that energy from a solar field where we have massive amounts of solar energy coming in through either community solar or a solar grid and not from rooftop solar, we pay $0.03 per kilowatt hour. So there's a huge inequity, especially because not everybody can put solar panels on their homes, right? She says she has nothing against solar, but it can be operated more fairly. So there are plenty, for example, of LADWP customers who might find themselves in a place where there's a charging station that was paid for by Edison's customers. They benefit, but they didn't pay into it. Sandoval says the people are also paying for wildfire mitigation, which requires utility company structures to be in compliance to prevent sparking wildfires. She says most of that work should have already been done. To watch the full program, find California Insider on YouTube or Epic TV on the Epic Times website. Now we're going to take a short break, but here's a look at what's coming up next. Also in Southern California, an expo was held on natural disaster preparedness. We'll hear from the attendees. And the first certification process for a certain foreign language has begun in San Francisco. We'll hear from the people who made it possible. That and more on California Today. California is no stranger to different natural disasters, from earthquakes to floods, droughts, wildfires, and the latest tornadoes, which makes it a perfect place to have the natural disaster expo. Entity's Jackie Rios went to find out what experts are bringing to the table to help with all kinds of natural disasters. Well, there's only one way to describe the atmosphere here. This is just a natural disaster expo. But don't get tricked by the name. It's to save people's lives from disasters. And I'm going to go hear from all the experts about the new ways are keeping Californians safe. This is the first time the natural disasters expo has been held in California, bringing with it exhibitors, new products and some of the latest technology in disaster response. Major Steve Estes came to check out the latest technology in search and rescue operations. I've been talking to people here doing the drone work, and they were trained originally in the National Guard. So many people here have a military background. And that's what the military can do, is we can deploy quickly in a highly organized fashion. For others such as MMA fighter Quentin Jackson, coming to the expo was to support Quality Environmental Inc. as the owner became his friend after the company came to fix a water pipe which had erupted in his home. Whatever they do, whenever he needs me to come and show my face, help out, whatever, I'm there. He's taken great care of me over the years. But that one thing, that was like my favorite house. Then there are Chris Chittick and Ricky Forbes, who are TV personalities as professional storm chasers. For them, doing what they love, chasing tornadoes and making a living at it, is a dream come true. So Twister, I think would definitely came out in 1996, and it definitely like ignited, like, wow, that's pretty cool. I wish I could do that kind of a thing. And then you just turn your dream into reality. And here we are 24 years later. And I was like, nobody chases tornadoes. No, they do. And so I went and gave it a shot, saw my first tornado. And, you know, it was really captivating. When you see these storms, storms are so big, you know, they're 60,000, 70,000 feet tall. And these are living beasts above you. It's really powerfully beautiful. And it's been drawing me back for 10 years now. Dr. Janine Wilmoth also provided sound advice, which is to be prepared for any natural emergency. It's so important to be prepared at home. Most importantly, having to go bag, you know, something ready for three days supply for you and your family, a communications plan. You may not be able to rely on your cell phone. And so having something on paper with phone numbers, that's important as well. And knowing the hazards in your community. Experts related to all natural hazards, including earthquakes, wildfires, storms, and flooding were in attendance at the Expo. Guests learned about the latest products and heard from professional speakers in disaster management. The Expo took place on November 9th and concluded on November 10th. Jackie Rios, NTD News, Anaheim, California. After a year-long effort by supporters, City College of San Francisco will be offering two new Cantonese language certificate programs, the first of its kind in the United States. NTD's Jason Blair went to hear from supporters of the programs who say that this will help healthcare providers, first responders, and other important services serve the large Cantonese-speaking population in the San Francisco area. Starting next year, City College of San Francisco will start offering two certificate courses in Cantonese. We will be having two Cantonese certificates, the first in the U.S. And so this is really exciting because it acknowledges that Cantonese is an important language and is something that is worth preserving. According to the Cantonese Language Association, there are only 18 higher education institutions in the U.S. offering Cantonese classes. Though there are other classes, this certification program is the first of its kind in the United States. This effort to get these Cantonese classes was a year-long effort thanks to all these folks that are standing with me today, helping support, helping send letters, helping push City College to make a difference and be there for our community. We have the most Cantonese here in San Francisco, so I think it's very, very important for us to have the Cantonese classes. Once the certificate program is established, and I think we can disseminate that same program or teach other parts of the country to, you know, offer that classes, I think that would be great. Jessica Ho, a representative from Northeast Medical Services, one of the largest community health care centers in the U.S., said that the majority of their patients speak Cantonese, and in order for them to provide quality care, their providers must be able to speak the language. That's why it's so important for these services and these classes to be available to everyone, including myself, including people who didn't have the opportunity to learn Cantonese growing up, to be able to communicate, to be able to serve a community. Doug May, a San Francisco firefighter and paramedic, spoke about how useful it is to be multilingual in his field. Oftentimes I come on scene and I greet them, you know, speaking in Chinese or Toisan. I see the immediate relief in that, you know, it takes a lot of their stress away, that now they're able to communicate. And I want to reiterate what Dr. Chang said as a health care provider. It's really important that, you know, we're able to communicate these people. We do not have enough bilingual police officers to be able to serve our community. We do not have appropriate language interpretation services being offered to our community. And so we need to have this available. The new certificate programs will be open to students starting in the fall of 2023. Jason Blair, Entity News, San Francisco. And now to Entity's Thomas Christian for your sports update. I'm Thomas Christian giving you the California Today Sports Roundup. The NFL posted significant gains in hiring women for coaching, team front office, and league headquarters positions, according to an annual diversity report. The NFL's Thursday report card from the Institute of Diversity and Ethics in Sport at Central Florida assigns an overall B grade for the league, with a B plus for racial hiring and a B for gender hiring. The report examined a range of positions at the league office and within the franchises using data from the 2022 season. The gender results were an upgrade from last year's C grade. Specifically, the numerical score of 81.4 represented an increase of 6.4 percentage points from 2021. That led to a slight gain in the overall score, despite a decline in the racial hiring score due to updated census data. As with last year, team level grades typically lagged behind the league's office. Women who've been hired for prominent positions included Catherine Raich, who was now the Cleveland Browns assistant general manager and vice president of football operations. That came a year after the Denver Broncos hired Kelly Kline as executive director of football operations. The study also reported 15 women working in coaching roles during training camp, the highest number for all men's leagues evaluated annually by Tides, and six in full-time coaching roles, with four being people of color. Additionally, women held an all-time high of 41.3 percent of positions at the NFL headquarters, representing a significant climb from 27.9 percent a decade ago and 30.3 percent in 2015. The league received A minus grades for both racial and gender hiring at the NFL headquarters. Those were higher than team level categories such as executive leadership, vice presidents, and senior administration. The league also received an A plus grade for initiatives to improve diversity hiring. The L.A. Dodgers 34-year-old pitcher Blake Trinan underwent surgery to repair his right shoulder labrum and rotator cuff on Friday and could now This kind of surgery usually takes about 10 months to come back from, and so even though there is no official timetable from the Dodgers, one can assume Trinan will have to make his return in 2024. Trinan fought through multiple shoulder injuries to make it through the 2022 season and underwent surgery in order to manage lingering pain. He only appeared in five games for the Dodgers last season but posted a 1.8 ERA in five innings pitched. His three-year average, dating back to when he had a cleaner bill of health, is a 1.23 ERA. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr on Wednesday implied that the younger players on Golden State's roster could see their roles reduced. Instead, the likes of Ty Jerome and Anthony Lamb will see larger roles in the The Warriors are currently a bottom five defensive team in the NBA, a far cry from how they played on that end a year ago. Their lack of defense has hindered them from securing more wins to start the season and is in part to blame for their 12th best in the West record of 4-7. Golden State was relying on their younger prospects of Jonathan Kaminga, Moses Moody, and James Wiseman to help bolster their lineup after none of them played significant minutes a year ago. So far, not one of them have been able to show that they are worthy of a large role in the rotation. With the lineups, they're featured in leaking points when they are on the floor. The overall plan for the season could still be to go back to these talented young players once they have more NBA experience under their belts. But right now, the Warriors just need to figure out how to win games. The impending return of another veteran role player in Dante DiVincenzo could further cement the younger players in their seats on the bench. And that's all for the sports. That is all we've got for you tonight. We'd like for you to join us again on California Today every weekday at 8.30 p.m. Make sure to check out our broadcasts on our California Today webpage. You can find it at ntd.com slash california dash today. You can also find all of our top latest clips there, ready to share with your friends and family. You can send us a message on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, or through our email california.today at ntd.com. I'm David Lam, sitting in for Liang Jiang. Have a wonderful weekend.