As San Diego grapples with how to connect its unsheltered population with services and housing, complex questions have to be asked: What role should conservatorship laws play in helping the hardest-to-reach homeless individuals? What are the best strategies for reducing the number of people living on the street and into housing? How can you find permanent housing for so many people in one of the least affordable places in the country? KPBS posed these questions and more to a panel of experts.
Apr 25, 2022•45 min
On Earth Day, a look at San Diego's zero waste policy — the city’s goal to recycle, reuse and stop generating waste by the year 2040. Plus, besides a restaurant and urban garden, the business model of the nonprofit MAKE Projects in North Park is a job training center for refugees and immigrants. And it’s already making a difference. Finally, this weekend in the arts: Black Artist Collective at The Old Globe; Yolanda López and Irma Sofia Poeter; "Mother of the Maid" at Moxie; Broadway San Diego p...
Apr 22, 2022•19 min
A report published by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shows a world on track to push past the 1.5 degrees Celsius mark. While the IPCC is calling on political leaders to act on a national and international scale, the report authors said that work at the local level is also critical. In recent years, there’s been a shift in perspective on who is truly responsible for the sweeping changes needed to limit emissions. Meanwhile, young people are in the forefront of climat...
Apr 21, 2022•44 min
Community members attending a meeting in Lakeside said an attack on a 16-year-old Black girl is yet another example of unchecked racism in East County. Next, San Diego’s probation department has been violating state regulations that protect juvenile offenders. Later, U.S. inflation rates are the highest they’ve been in 40 years. And in an already high-priced city like San Diego, that inflation pinch can really hurt. Midday Edition spoke to people who are trying to make ends meet about what they ...
Apr 20, 2022•45 min
Traveling in and around the country looks a lot different today than it did yesterday. Following a Florida federal judge’s ruling striking down the federal transportation mask mandate, airlines including Southwest, American Delta, United and others are making masking optional on domestic flights. Next, 25 years after the present Mission Bay drive bridge was described as “functionally deficient and obsolete” a replacement bridge is just months away from completion. After, Escondido’s historic dow...
Apr 19, 2022•44 min
On Friday, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria unveiled next year’s city budget, signaling a shift away from pandemic emergency planning. Next, antiviral treatments to help fight serious COVID-19 disease were once very hard to access. But now as COVID-19 cases start to decrease in San Diego, are there enough doses? After, Sempra Energy, the parent company of San Diego Gas & Electric, paid out its highest profits ever to its investors Friday. Some SDG&E ratepayers might be wondering if there is a...
Apr 18, 2022•46 min
While efforts to quickly move Ukrainian refugees through the border have been praised, it has also highlighted the difficulties of non-Ukrainian migrants at the border who have waited far longer for a chance at asylum. Plus, 1½ years ago, San Diego approved “Complete Communities,” a program that allows developers to build apartments near public transit with unlimited density and unlimited height. In exchange, they have to set aside a greater share of their homes as affordable housing. The progra...
Apr 15, 2022•19 min
Law enforcement leaders are touting new guidelines for San Diego police agencies to investigate each other’s police shootings and in-custody deaths as a step toward more independent oversight. But some advocates of police reform worry that the changes will not go far enough to ensure transparency. And, San Diego is one step closer to realizing one of its biggest public transportation goals. The city and SANDAG have agreed on building direct transit connections to the San Diego airport. Plus, a s...
Apr 14, 2022•45 min
Closed beaches. Contaminated water, and the unfortunate stink of sewage have long been problems for coastal areas in the South Bay. But a settlement to a long-running lawsuit announced Tuesday hopes to improve the problem. Then, the Biden Administration is extending its mask mandates on airlines and public transportation until May 3. San Diego’s COVID-19 infection rate is relatively low and the county says the spread of the virus is likely decreasing. But could we see a bump in infections from t...
Apr 13, 2022•44 min
In late 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a new program to dramatically speed up the state’s wildfire prevention work. But an investigation found the program hasn’t resulted in a single completed project. Next, it’s been a month since Little Italy resident Yan Li was shot and killed by law enforcement after being served with an eviction notice. Meanwhile, community members are demanding more information about what happened, while policing experts are questioning how the situation was handled and...
Apr 12, 2022•54 min
Migrants from Mexico and Central America are in greater danger now after the February temporary shelter closure in Tijuana. Then, KPBS’s Amita Sharma gives an update on the case of a former nursing home caregiver who sexually assaulted residents. Also, just weeks before major cities in San Diego County switch consumers to community-based energy, San Diego Gas and Electric has released its decarbonization roadmap. Meanwhile, a school in Tijuana aims to enrich the lives of young migrants and provi...
Apr 11, 2022•45 min
From housing and health to transportation and education, the Legislative Analyst’s Office provides a litany of sobering climate change impacts for California legislators to address as they enact policies and set budgets. Plus, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego will reopen its La Jolla campus this weekend, after a major renovation that began in 2018. We have a preview.
Apr 08, 2022•19 min
Santa Ana wind conditions and unseasonably warm temperatures in April in San Diego are an unusual combination. Plus, during the pandemic shut down air quality improved across California – especially in communities where Asian and Latino Californians live. That means the opposite was true when the state opened back up. A new UCSD study suggests systemic racism could be behind the inequity. Also, scientists say climate change has created a cycle of drought that is increasingly hard to reverse and ...
Apr 07, 2022•45 min
PBS Midday Edition asked several San Diego climate activists to respond to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on mitigation of climate change released this week. After, votes are in for California’s 80th Assembly District special election, which will fill in the seat vacated by former Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez earlier this year. Later, the San Diego City Council established the city’s first privacy advisory board Tuesday. Plus, ride share and delivery drivers face a nu...
Apr 06, 2022•45 min
The city of San Diego is moving forward with a new moratorium on no-fault evictions until Sept. 30, or 60 days after the end of the local pandemic state of emergency, whichever comes first. Next, Ukrainian nationals continue to have access to the U.S. asylum system. But people from other countries face much greater scrutiny. Later, one of the lingering effects of the Covid pandemic, has nothing to do with the virus itself. In San Diego, Rady Children’s hospital reports record numbers of young pe...
Apr 05, 2022•44 min
While the majority of Ukrainian refugees have remained in Europe, more than a thousand have arrived in Tijuana in recent days to request asylum in the U.S. Plus, Ukrainian refugees are finding temporary respite in San Diego thanks to the efforts of a local church. Then, a temporary downtown homeless shelter got renewed for another year, and plans are in the works to open a new shelter in the Midway district. And, a story about California communities and people who are being asked to bear the cos...
Apr 04, 2022•45 min
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it's ending Title 42, a policy that limited asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. The change will go into effect on May 23 to give border officials time to adjust. Plus, the American digital divide is nothing new, but the COVID-19 pandemic shined a bright new light on the gap between those who could use the internet and those who couldn’t — including some seniors. And, performance and visual art pairings, some R&B and soul music, art inspired b...
Apr 01, 2022•19 min
Farmworkers and their supporters held events across California today. They used Cesar Chavez day, the state holiday commemorating the late labor leader to bring attention to a bill they say would help them unionize. And it has been 27 years to the day since the death of Selena Quintanilla-Perez, “The Queen of Tejano.” The pop star’s life and music continue to have n impact on conversations around Mexican-American identity. Plus, the Russian invasion of Ukriane is causing food prices around the w...
Apr 01, 2022•45 min
State lawmakers are racing to extend emergency statewide eviction protections that are set to expire on Thursday. Plus, the California Taskforce on Reparations has finally answered one of its thorniest questions– who will actually be eligible for those reparations. The decision came after a long day of heated debate. After, as health officials prepare for what could be the next wave of COVID-19 infections what do we know about the BA.2 variant compared to other omicron variants? Later, newly arr...
Mar 30, 2022•45 min
On Tuesday, the FDA authorized a fourth dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus vaccines for everyone 50 and older. Plus, the California Supreme Court welcomed its first Latina justice, Patricia Guerrero, formerly a San Diego appellate judge. Then, a newly available drug called Evusheld would help protect people whose immune systems are unable to fight COVID-19, but not everyone who needs it can access the drug. Then, we hear about a childcare program offered to mothers experiencing ...
Mar 29, 2022•44 min
Recent readings from wastewater treatment plants have shown an uptick that could reflect COVID-19 infections on the rise. Plus, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination as the first Black woman to the nation’s highest court has given hope for many Black women and women of color, but the at times disrespectful tone and irrelevant questions during the hearings also illustrated how exhausting rising to such heights can be. Then, from losing loved ones to building community, San Diegans share their ...
Mar 28, 2022•45 min
For a month straight, San Diego’s gas prices have been steadily climbing. The average price for a gallon of gas Friday is $5.99 a gallon. But if state lawmakers agree to a proposal this week from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, car owners, transit riders and long-haul truck drivers could soon see some financial relief. Plus, a preview of Gounod’s grand opera “Roméo et Juliette,” based on Shakespeare's famous tale of star-crossed lovers, at the San Diego Opera. And, the Academy Awards are this week...
Mar 25, 2022•19 min
Hundreds of city of San Diego employees are finding out this week that their coronavirus vaccine exemptions were approved, but some employees are still facing termination. Plus, state lawmakers from San Diego are taking the lead on legislation aimed at reducing the number of people who die in San Diego County jails. Meanwhile, many San Diego police officers are leaving for jobs at Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. COVID-19 vaccine mandates influenced those decisions but were not the only re...
Mar 24, 2022•45 min
Anger over high gas prices has spurred lawmakers in Sacramento to come up with some way to ease the burden. A new proposal that’s gaining traction comes from a coalition of Democrats who want to give every taxpayer a $400 check. Plus, as Oceanside transforms from its “Ocean-slime” image, residents say gentrification is killing the last affordable coastal city in San Diego County. And, a special tribute concert for Ukraine at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park, a Spanish-language transla...
Mar 18, 2022•18 min
The Federal reserve made a move yesterday to cool down the inflationary spiral that’s made gas, food and housing prices spike by raising the rates banks use to lend money to each other. Then, the family of a man who died in custody after a 2015 arrest in Santee has been awarded $85 million by a jury. Also, in order to meet city and state climate goals more people will have to use public transit in San Diego. Why do so few people use public transit now? Plus, the city of Oceanside at one time had...
Mar 18, 2022•44 min
As global leaders continue to drop restrictions aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19, all-too-familiar warning signs are emerging that point to the same uncomfortable reminder: this pandemic isn’t over yet. Plus, as Presiden Joe Biden directs more aids to Ukraine, more Ukrainian refugees are arriving at the US-Mexico border in hopes of making it into the United States. Meanwhile, welcome news for many sleep-deprived Americans, the Senate — in a rare display of bipartisanship — unanimously ...
Mar 16, 2022•45 min
The Federal Reserve meets Tuesday and is expected to raise interest rates in an attempt to bring down inflation. Next, an SDSU department chair said the reassignment of a tenured professor over the use of racial epithets in the classroom is a symptom of "larger cultural deficiencies" at the university. Black students and faculty are hurting, he said. Later, as the Marines conclude the questioning of the son of a former San Diego County GOP leader who tried to join a white nationalist group, some...
Mar 15, 2022•45 min
U.S. officials at the San Ysidro border are turning away Ukrainians fleeing from the Russian invasion. Next, increasing gas prices and high inflation are making Californians feel an economic squeeze. State lawmakers are proposing a tax rebate, stimulus payments and a pause on the gas tax to help ease the financial burden. We’ll hear the pros and cons of each. Later, the images from the war in Ukraine can have a profound effect on those who suffered trauma in combat. A look at one vet plagued by ...
Mar 14, 2022•46 min
San Diego State was praised and criticized for its decision to reassign a professor over racial epithets used in a course about language and racism. A Philadelphia-based civil rights group says SDSU violated the professor’s First Amendment rights. Also, more than 2 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded, including a 94-year-old woman and her 70-year-old son thanks to social media and the help of two of Ukraine’s top athletes. And, in a preview of the arts scene this weekend, we ha...
Mar 11, 2022•19 min
A San Diego Superior Court judge said the San Diego City Council waited too long to declare Measure C had passed. The council waited a year to determine the ballot measure needed a simple majority. At the time of the election it was thought to require a two-thirds majority and fell just shy at 65% of the vote. Plus, domestic violence crimes involving firearms in San Diego City jumped 70% last year, despite state laws aimed at taking guns away from abusers. Also, as some states ban abortions we l...
Mar 11, 2022•44 min
