KPBS Midday Edition

A heat wave off the west coast is posing a danger to sea life, including here in San Diego. Also, cockroaches, mold and broken windows are just a few of the problems one refugee family faced when relocated to housing in City Heights, and Midday Edition is launching a new monthly movie segment with KPBS arts and culture reporter Beth Accomando.

Congresswoman Susan Davis is stepping down after ten terms. Also, a government report says family separation at the border left children traumatized, SANDAG looks at how to distribute 171,000 new homes throughout the county, local representatives are urging Congress to say no to drilling off the California coast and and San Diego bluegrass band Prairie Sky performs in the KPBS studio in the final installment of the Midday Edition summer music series.

The Pentagon is shifting money from military projects to help fund Trump’s border wall. Also, two small agencies want a separation from the San Diego County Water Authority, the annual amount of plastic sediment found in the Santa Barbara Basin has doubled every 15 years since the 1940s, finding love after Alzheimer’s takes a spouse, and a Central Valley Mariachi releases her debut album as she sets off to study at Harvard.

Officials say 34 people died after a diving boat caught fire off the Southern California coast, officials say they have suspended search efforts for survivors. Also, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports there were 437 hate crimes in San Diego County over the past five years, a tech entrepreneur is now running the California DMV, the state is facing a shortage of physicians, Cal Fire is preparing for the two worst months for wildfires, a new book by a science journalist details the different ways the planet could be destroyed, and the Radio Silence collective talk about their new feature film, “Ready or Not.”

The fight over rights and benefits for workers in the gig economy is heating up at the state Capitol. Also, the Horrible Imaginings Film Festival is celebrating its 10th anniversary this weekend and a radio station in the Central Valley stands as a cultural “town hall” for the local Hmong and Punjabi-speaking communities.

Reps. Mike Levin and Juan Vargas visited border facilities in San Diego to get a first hand look at the conditions inside them. Also, Grossmont Union High School District expels black students seven times more often than other local school districts. San Diego’s climate goals are clouded by national politics, the San Diego International Airport is working to bolster its facilities ahead of rising ocean levels, a photography exhibit looks at black life in Southern California in the second half of the 20th Century, and the bi-national band La Diabla combines traditional cumbia music with the spirit of Tijuana.

A new report on the conditions experienced by thousands of asylum seekers in US immigration detention centers finds that large percentages of the immigrants report substandard, unsanitary conditions including spoiled food, no room to sleep, and no access to showers. Also, a study shows that San Diego senior centers are unprepared for a growing over 65 population, the U.S. Air Force says social media helped prompt action to clean up mold at one of its bases, can the Yampa River survive in a rapidly drying West, the New York Times put together a Spotify playlist filled with California-inspired music after asking readers about their favorite California songs, and the San Diego REP and Amigos Del REP host the Third Annual Latinx play festival.

The decision to hold a drugmaker accountable for the cost of opioid addiction is being closely watched by other plaintiffs including the city of San Diego which has a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma and others. Also, fires burning through the Amazon rainforest continue to alarm the international community, one organization working to preserve the area is based in San Diego. Horse deaths are down at Del Mar but so is attendance, nearly 50% of young adult Californians live with their parents, a San Diego workshop is offering safe spaces to talk about racism and hate, and San Diego’s Latinx New Play Festival returns.

Parents and students are planning to protest cuts to bus routes and laptops in the Sweetwater Union High School District. Also, a Congolese asylum-seeker has been reunited with his family in San Diego after almost two years apart, a look at how the city of Santa Monica is ramping up rental subsidies for seniors, a two-hour trek for some kids from City Heights to the beach highlights San Diego inequities, and San Diego marks the 99th anniversary of women getting the right to vote with a march and rally.

White Nationalist material was found posted on the San Diego State University campus during move-in day. Also, a lawsuit alleges the federal government is failing to protect military reservists returning to their civilian jobs and the third annual Festival of Books brings over 100 authors to San Diego.