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WHAT’S UP WESTSIDE ..................PAGE 2 LAUGHING MATTERS ....................PAGE 4 CRIME WATCH ..................................PAGE 8 MYSTERY PHOTO ............................PAGE 9
Volume 16 Issue 299
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Homeless youth realize their dreams through photography
Pictures of Hope
DREAMS: (left) Jake, 9, with Pictures of Hope founder Linda Solomon and Pictures of Hope mentor Sonya Sepahban. (right) Ariel poses with her free bag of goodies from Skinnytees.
KATE CAGLE Daily Press Staff Writer
In an age where every dinner plate, sunset and palm tree has an equal chance of being photographed by a smartphone and shared on Instagram, it’s hard to fathom how a single picture of a building can change a life.
But that’s exactly what it did for Brittnie Pemberton. She snapped the photo on the San Diego State University campus ten years ago she was just ten-years-old and homeless. Her parents had never been to college and the family was living in a shelter in San Diego. At the time, Brittnie’s mom thought the family’s future looked pretty bleak. “If Pictures of Hope had never been to the shelter where we were staying she never would have gone to college,” Pemberton’s mother, Tanya said in an interview with the Daily Press. The click of the shutter on a new digital camera provided by the organization cemented young Brittnie’s dream as she roamed the campus with a photography mentor. The digital image is testament to the power of visualization. The elementary school student’s goal to SEE PHOTOGRAPHY PAGE 7
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Democrats condemn proposed fee hikes at national parks BY MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press
Democratic senators on Thursday criticized a National Park Service plan to impose steep increases in entrance fees at 17 of its most popular parks, including the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone and Zion, calling the proposed rates "arbitrary and unjustifiable." Under a plan announced this week, visitors to many national parks would be charged $70 per vehicle during the peak summer season, up from $25 or $30 per vehicle now. Officials say the higher fees are needed to address an $11 billion backlog of maintenance and infrastructure projects that have been put off for years. Senators said the plan would exclude many Americans from enjoying national parks. Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington state and other Democrats said the proposal is especially egregious because the Trump administration is recommending severe budget cuts for the park service. Claims that the increased fees are needed to reduce the maintenance backlog are "undercut by the administration's budget proposal to
cut" park service operations by $200 million, including a $93 million cut to facility operations and maintenance, the senators wrote in a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. "If implemented, your proposals to increase fees while cutting agency funding would serve to shift major costs to park visitors and undermine public access to national parks — actions that would be a disservice to the American people," they said. Cantwell, the senior Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, organized the letter. It also is signed by Democratic Sens. Patty Murray of Washington state, Kamala Harris and Dianne Feinstein of California, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Tim Kaine of Virginia, as well as independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Theresa Pierno, president and CEO of the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group that works to protect parks, said the proposed increase could make the Grand SEE PARKS PAGE 5
Los Angeles Zoo produces record number of baby snakes The Los Angeles Zoo says it has had its most successful breeding season for rare and endangered snake species. The zoo's Living Amphibians, Invertebrates and Reptiles program produced a record 61 snake babies this summer and fall, including various types of vipers and rattlesnakes. The program staff tries to create an environment replicating mountainous rocky crevices where most of the species make their dens dur-
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ing winter. A scientific refrigerator is used to house snakes during the four months of the year when they go through a state similar to hibernation that is necessary for breeding. Temperatures are generally lowered to 55 degrees, although some snakes need temperatures closer to freezing. In early spring the snakes are warmed, awakened and paired for breeding. Surplus snakes are sent to other zoos.
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