A top staffer for South Bay House Democrat Juan Vargas and two other congressional workers jetted off for free to January’s glitzy Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, courtesy of the event’s sponsor, the Consumer Technology Association

Travel bug bites Vargas staffer

A top staffer for South Bay House Democrat Juan Vargas and two other congressional workers jetted off for free to January’s glitzy Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, courtesy of the event’s sponsor, the Consumer Technology Association, which provided transportation worth $866.40, lodging expenses of $918 at the plush Encore at Wynn Resort, and meals valued at $400 for each staff member

The two-day, two-night excursion, ending January 11, was taken by Vargas policy advisor Kyle Bligen, as well as Earl Flood, on the staff of House Democrat Robin Kelly of Illinois, and  Aaron Groce, Legislative Director for House Democrat Sean Casten, also of Illinois, according to a January 29 disclosure filing with the Clerk of the House.

Does Juan Vargas have the latest intel on increasing battery recycling?

Topics to be covered at the show, per the filing, included the Blockchain, Autonomous Vehicles, and Collaborative Opportunities to Increase Battery Re-cycling. Then it was off to see the high-tech marvels of the convention floor on the Tech East tour. “Tech East is where we will see innovations in content creation and distribution, cameras, display technology, immersive tech, wireless, and dive into health and wellness. If you want an overview of the big consumer brands and how they will affect your day-to-day life, the East Tour is full of new innovation.”

In September 2022, Bligen took off on a gratis eight-day junket to Israel, thanks to the American Israel Education Foundation, a non-profit offshoot of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. “My boss serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee,” Bligen wrote on his disclosure filing for the freebie. (Travel cost $6019, lodging was $2322, and meals were $1223. “Other expenses” were reported to be $3375, per the document.) “In my position as Legislative Assistant, I advise him on matters pertinent to national security, international economics, and foreign policy. Israel is a trusted trade and defense partner to the United States. This experience will provide a hands-on understanding of the domestic factors that influence Israel’s economic and defense ties with the United States.”

Kyle Bligen sought understanding of Israel’s ties with the United States.

Ink dries up

Joshua Emerson Smith, longtime environmental reporter at the San Diego Union-Tribune prior to taking a buyout at the beginning of the “vulture” capital outfit Alden Global Capital’s takeover last July, left the ranks of journalism this month for a new public relations gig at the California Coastal Commission, per his LinkedIn profile. While at the U-T, per Smith’s blurb on the paper’s website, he “wrote about everything from public transit and housing to climate change, drought and wildfire. He won numerous statewide journalism awards, unpacking complex, often political issues using data analysis and vivid storytelling.”

The Los Angeles Times has officially joined its former sister paper, the U-T, in being printed at an aging plant in downtown Riverside owned by Alden Global Capital. Word came via a nostalgic Times feature story that proclaimed, “March 10 will be the last run of The Times at the Olympic plant.” Shift supervisor Kal Hamalainen was quoted as saying, “We’re trying to do this with a little class and dignity.” Unmentioned by the Times, a sizable payroll has suddenly vanished, to be replaced by press workers in Riverside, getting significantly lower wages.

“They’re hiring at the Arizona Republic and the Bay Area News Group and the Las Vegas Review-Journal,” Hamalainen added. “There’s work, but you have to be willing to move away.” Adds the account of the press’s final days: “As the swing shift gets underway, Emmett Jaime pries inked plates off cylinders. A Dead Kennedys song plays on a radio boombox, as a bell rings a brief warning each time a cylinder turns. Jaime, 56, plans to take a little time off before looking for another job. He’d like to work eight more years, but he followed his father to The Times when he was 19 and knows only this world.”

Border guarding

The latest monthly border asylum report from the Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas in Austin, is out, showing that San Diego and Tijuana continue as the second most popular pair of border cities for asylum seekers — including Russian speakers — entering the United States via the so-called CBP One cell phone application program. “Each day, [Custom and Border Protection] processes around 395 people in Tijuana,” says the document. “These appointments are processed through the PedWest (El Chaparral) Port of Entry during three time slots. CBP also processes an average of 10 individuals a day as walk ups through the PedEast Port of Entry.” Mexican agents screen the asylum seekers before ushering them to the border crossing, according to the March 1 report. Matamoros, Tamaulipas is in first place among the border cities, with 400 asylum hopefuls.

But certainty of passage is not guaranteed and the path to a presumably better life in the U.S. is complicated. “Grupo Beta and INM officials verify asylum seekers’ CBP One appointment confirmations or walk up approval before they can enter one of the two ports of entry. If individuals do not have a CBP One appointment or are not previously confirmed walk ups, they are not permitted to enter.”

The document goes on to say that “the majority of migrants in Tijuana” are backed up “in shelters and motels, which are currently at or past capacity. Shelters have also reported insufficient funds and increased insecurity in recent months. Most migrants in the city are from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, Mexico, and Russian speaking countries.”

With burgeoning demand for asylum, the document says, hurdles remain for would-be border crossers. “The first challenges are related to accessibility, as asylum seekers need to be literate, speak one of the application’s three languages (English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole), have access to a cell phone with either cell or internet service, and have basic knowledge of the application. If these hurdles are surmounted, the next set of challenges center around the application’s registration process. Despite numerous updates, some asylum seekers continue to report error messages. Yet, the most pressing issue continues to be that the number of daily appointments is less than the number of waiting individuals. This means that individuals may wait for up to several months before receiving an appointment.”

— Matt Potter

(@sdmattpotter)

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