🌱 Water Costs To Rise + Peak Fire Season Ahead + Baby Rhino Named 🦏

Hello all. Bettyann Pernice here with your Thursday edition of the San Diego Daily, filled with community news you need to know right now. Grab your coffee or tea, relax, and find out more about San Diego:

• City Council approves water increase for 2023 📈
• Cal Fire cautions residents about the coming peak fire season 🔥
• UCSD was awarded $16M to recruit a diverse faculty 📚
• His name is Neville, and he is a baby rhino 🦏

But first, today's weather:

Areas of low clouds, then sun.🌤️ High: 78, Low: 67.

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I have a limited number of sponsorships available to introduce our San Diego Daily readers to local businesses they need to know about. If that’s you, then I invite you to learn more and secure your spot now.

Here are four of the top stories today in San Diego:

1. The cost of water is going up, again! The San Diego City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve a 3 percent rate hike. Why? According to the San Diego Public Utilities Department, the increase was necessary due to the cost of necessary equipment changes as well as the rising cost to run its desalinization plant in Carlsbad. Customers have a 45-day period to protest. To learn more: Click into parenthesis, then click the link. (NBC San Diego)
2. Peak fire season is approaching. We’ve had a dry summer, ending in excessive heat. Tropical Storm Kay offered us some relief but not enough. Easterly Santa Ana winds will move through San Diego County in October. “We try to get a leg up on it [fire] by clearing all the area around because that’s just the way mother nature is, she just keeps coming year after year, more and more,” he said. Cal Fire has a plan for San Diego residents. It’s called “Ready, Set, Go!” It is a three-step plan to prepare for a safe evacuation. Neil Czapinski, Fire Captain, Cal Fire San Diego advised: “It’s more important for you to get out of that area and replace your things later, and make sure you and your loved ones are safe.” To learn more: Click into parenthesis, then click the link. (FOX 5 San Diego)
3. UCSD has just been awarded its third grant to enhance and create innovative programs at the school. UCSD has just been awarded $16M to recruit a diverse faculty for the Biomedical Science specialty. Led by JoAnn Trejo, UCSD professor of pharmacology, and Maraa Elena Martinez, professor of public health, the program is intended to "transform institutional culture towards inclusive excellence by hiring a diverse cohort of biomedical scientists in four research disciplines — cancer, cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases/immunology and neurosciences," a university statement reads. Current programs developed by the Office of Faculty Affairs will also be strengthened as part of the plan. To learn more: Click into parenthesis, then click the link. (Patch)
4. The six-week-old male southern white rhino runs at top speed around his habitat. He has been named Neville in honor of a South African doctor. According to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, young Neville is thriving and is now 250 pounds. He is now able to explore the 2-acre habitat at the Nikita Kahn Rhino Rescue Center. Visitors can view Neville splashing, rolling, coating himself with mud that acts as a sunscreen, keeping them cool and free of bugs. Neville’s mom Livia may serve as a surrogate mother in the future. Right now, there are only two other northern white rhinos left on Earth. The San Diego Zoo will work to save the northern white rhino through reproductive technologies such as: artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, as well as embryo transfer. The goal is to create a population of northern white rhinos using genetic material from other rhinos. To learn more: Click into parenthesis, then click the link. (San Diego Zoo Safari Park)

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Today in San Diego:

• Preschool Storytime — Tierrasanta Branch Library. (9:30 a.m.)
• Fun & Games for Seniors — Scripps Miramar Ranch Library Center. (10 a.m.)
• Mandarin Chinese Story Time — Mira Mesa Branch Library. (10:30 a.m.)
• Storybox Theatre for toddlers & preschoolers — San Ysidro Branch Library. (11 a.m.)
• Chair Yoga — Serra Mesa/Kearny Mesa Branch Library. (11:30 a.m.)
• An Afternoon of Language and Laughter — San Diego Oasis. (1 p.m.)

From my notebook:

• San Diego Humane Society: "Join us this Saturday morning, Sep. 24 for a FREE Pilates for Puppies🐾class at Liberty Station Park (2455 Cushing Rd.). PointeStudio, Shashi and Spirit Yoga Studios are partnering to offer this exciting experience and donating all proceeds to San Diego Humane Society!" (San Diego Humane Society via Facebook)
• San Diego Central Library: "Back in 2021, SDPL discovered that San Diego City Council Resolution 76068 — one designed to expel San Diego residents of Japanese🎎ancestry—was still on the books. Working with the San Diego Japanese American Citizens League and Japanese American Historical Society of San Diego, it was brought back to the City. By unanimous decision, the City Council has officially rescinded this racist remnant of the past and has issued an apology 'to all people of Japanese ancestry for its past in support of this unjust exclusion, removal & incarceration of Japanese Americans during WW2.'" (San Diego Central Library via Facebook)
• San Diego County Library: "Have you read any banned📚books lately? Carlene is catching up on Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises! #WeReadBannedBooks #bannedbooksweek" (San Diego County Library via Facebook)
• Museum of Making Music: "🎨 ArtWalk Carlsbad returns to Armada Drive this weekend! Our friends at ArtWalk are bringing the 2-day arts festival back to our street this Saturday & Sunday. This year's ArtWalk Carlsbad is FREE to attend! Additionally, we are offering half-price admission to the Museum of Making Music during ArtWalk Carlsbad!" (Museum of Making Music via Facebook)
• Library Foundation SD: "It’s banned books week 📚 and here’s what Library Foundation SD CEO, Patrick Stewart, has to say about it... "I should say, it doesn't stop with just banning books. What we're seeing across the country is they're banning voices, modern voices, librarians, teachers. It's gone beyond just the banning of a book, or a certain piece of literature or textbook."- Patrick Stewart, CEO of Library Foundation SD." (Library Foundation SD via Facebook)

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Events:

• Breast Ultrasound Screening Coming Direct to You! (Sept. 23)
• 13th San Diego Spirits Festival. (Sept. 24)
• Totally 80s New Wave Live Music Cover Band At Ebullition Brew Works & Live Music. (Sept. 24)
• Online webinars with experts for catamaran rental in San Diego. (Sept. 30)
• An Evening with Best-Selling Author and "The Godfather" Actor, Gianni Russo. (Sept. 30)
• Murder Mystery Weekend. (Oct. 14)
• The Bentley Celebrity Golf Tournament. (Oct. 21)
• Add your event

Now you're in the loop and ready to start this Thursday. See you all tomorrow morning for another update!

— Bettyann Pernice

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming San Diego Daily? Contact me at sandiego@patch.com