Here is what you need to know in the August 11, 2026, Streamline newsletter:
- A new battery storage facility is coming online in Poway, though some nearby residents continue to voice concerns about potential fire risks.
- Recovery efforts are intensifying in Colombia after yesterday’s powerful earthquake, and a San Diego restaurant owner is organizing support for families back home.
- Lightning, hail and heavy rain have swept through parts of San Diego County in recent months, prompting warnings about possible storm repair scams.
THE STREAMLINE
WATCH — ABC 10News brings you The Streamline for Tuesday, Aug. 11 -- everything you need to know in under 10 minutes:
TOP STORY
A new battery storage facility is set to open in Poway this morning, despite opposition from nearby residents.
People living near the Nighthawk Energy Storage Project have raised concerns about the risk of a fire at the facility and the potential for it to spread into a larger wildfire.
Those concerns have intensified following recent battery storage fires in Valley Center, Otay Mesa and Escondido.
The facility can store enough energy to power about 385,000 homes for up to four hours, helping reduce strain on the power grid through renewable energy storage.
The project is also expected to bring in more than $30 million in property tax revenue.
Poway City Council approved the project in September 2024, but community opposition has remained strong because the site is located in a high fire-risk area.
Devora Garrison, who lives about a half-mile from the facility, said she worries a fire at the site could send embers into the surrounding hillsides.
“To put a battery storage unit by so many homes in an area that is so sensitive to fire … it makes zero sense to me. If we have to evacuate in a fire -- and this area did burn in the Cedar Fire -- it's not a small task to get out of here,” Garrison said.
In a statement, Arevon, the company behind the Nighthawk project, said it worked closely with the Poway Fire Department to develop emergency response procedures.
“The project team has worked in coordination with the Poway Fire Department to co-create operating procedures for quick and efficient responses in the rare case of an issue, to ensure Nighthawk is as safe as possible,” the statement said.
Arevon also said the batteries used at the facility have a strong safety record and are designed to reduce the likelihood of ignition. The company added that additional fire prevention measures are in place to help contain any fire before it spreads.
The facility, located in the 13500 block of Kirkham Way, is scheduled to open at 11 a.m. Tuesday.
MICROCLIMATE FORECAST
Coasts
Inland
Mountains
Deserts
BREAKING OVERNIGHT
(AP) — President Donald Trump secretly flew out of last month's NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on an alternate military aircraft while the White House made it appear that the Republican president was flying on Air Force One, according to a report published by The Washington Post on Monday.
The Post said the operation was prompted by an Iranian assassination threat against Trump. The ruse was carried out as journalists and some White House staff members were led to believe they were on the same plane as the president as he began his journey back to Washington from the annual gathering of NATO country leaders.
The Post cited material reviewed by the newspaper, a U.S. official familiar with the operation and another person with knowledge of the president’s travel. The Associated Press has not independently confirmed the report.
Trump had flown to the summit in a new Qatari-gifted and retrofitted red, white and navy blue jet. But ahead of departing Turkey, he said he would fly partway home on an older-model baby blue Air Force One plane instead.
The president at the time said the new luxury jet was being flown out ahead of his departure from Ankara to give some U.S. troops based in eastern England a chance to check out the new Air Force One.
In Ankara, Trump boarded the old Air Force One jumbo jet in view of television cameras ahead of the plane flying to Royal Air Force Mildenhall in the United Kingdom.
However, according to the Post report, after boarding the legacy Air Force One jet, he was secretly shuttled minutes later to a smaller plane — an Air Force C-32A — via an airport catering truck typically used to load meals and other supplies. Trump flew to Mildenhall on that smaller jet.
The White House did not respond directly to questions about the Post report of the secret operation to whisk Trump out of the country on a third aircraft, or the reported elaborate ruse to make it appear he was on the baby blue Air Force One jet flying to Mildenhall.
“As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.
The U.S. Secret Service declined to comment. The Air Force, which maintains the fleet of executive travel aircraft, referred questions to the White House.
There have been questions about the safety of the new Qatari-gifted plane
While Trump was in Turkey, the U.S. military conducted a series of large strikes in Iran in retaliation for its attacks on merchant shipping in the region.
The New York Times and CBS News reported last month that intelligence officials had raised concerns about a potential attack on the president or his jet, triggering additional precautions and the decision not to use the newly inaugurated aircraft gifted to Trump by Qatar for the first leg of Trump’s trip home from Ankara.
The swap had spurred questions about the security of the Qatar-provided aircraft, and Trump said last month after the trip that it would undergo additional upgrades.
Cheung on Monday maintained that the new, Qatari-gifted plane was “a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff.”
The new Post report on clandestinely putting Trump on a third aircraft and quietly whisking him out of the country adds a fresh layer to just how seriously concerned U.S. security officials were about the threat against Trump during the ongoing war with Iran.
Paul Eckloff, a former special agent with the Secret Service, said such an unusual move could either reflect actionable intelligence or an abundance of caution given volatility in the region with the wars in Iran and Ukraine.
“I would not say unprecedented, but it is an unusual occurrence,” Eckloff told The Associated Press.
The Post reported that to exit that plane without being seen by those uninvolved in the operation, Trump and several aides stepped aboard an airport catering truck, which was elevated planeside using hydraulics and positioned at a door on the opposite side of Air Force One’s entrance.
The small group of reporters who thought they were traveling with Trump were advised to lower their window shades ahead of takeoff.
After arriving at Mildenhall, news photographers captured images of Trump getting off the presidential plane — suggesting he reboarded Air Force One out of sight of the pack of journalists who thought they were traveling with him.
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal called for a congressional investigation.
“It is unprecedented and it is surreal,” he said Monday on CNN, calling the incident “downright scary.”
After the brief visit to the base at Mildenhall, Trump boarded the new Air Force One aircraft to fly the rest of the way to Washington.
During a gaggle with reporters aboard the aircraft, Trump was asked directly if there was any credible threats on Air Force One by Iran.
“Well, I have a threat all the time. I’m number one on their list before you,” Trump said. He added to the traveling reporters, “But if I go, you go.”
Story by The Associated Press
CONSUMER
Scammers are using recent devastating storms to steal your cash, but now they’re becoming even more convincing.
WATCH — Joe Ducey with the Better Business Bureau explains how to spot a fake contractor before they take your money and run:
WE FOLLOW THROUGH
An early morning earthquake in Colombia has shaken San Diego’s Colombian community, with many residents scrambling to contact loved ones amid widespread power and communication outages.
The owners of Antojitos Colombianos in Sherman Heights said their families in the hard-hit cities of Cali and Manizales are safe and are now organizing a donation drive and fundraiser to send supplies to those affected through the Colombian Embassy.
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