Major funding for Kpbs Evening Edition has been made possible in part by Bill Howe, family of companies providing San Diego with plumbing, heating, air restoration and flight services for over 45 years.

Call one 800 Bill House or visit Bill howe.com.

And by the Conrad Prebys.

Foundation.

Darlene Marcos Shiley and by the following And by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Good evening, and thank you for joining us.

I'm Maya Trabulsi We start with breaking news in rural East County.

That's where a fast spreading wildfire is forcing evacuations currently.

The Dehesa fire started shortly before 330 this afternoon off the 6100 block of Dehesa road west of Tavern Road.

That's about a mile north of Sycuan Casino.

Cal fire says it's now at 94 acres.

At last check.

It's not yet known what caused the fire.

Meanwhile, an online tool helping young families find childcare resources in San Diego County is back by popular demand.

Families looking for childcare might try Google, Yelp or recommendations from friends.

Kpbs education reporter Katie Anastis says a new website could make the search easier.

An online resource from the YMCA has been relaunched after a major overhaul.

It's called Childcare San Diego.

We really wanted this to be a one stop shop.

Can McDougal is with the YMCA of San Diego County.

She says it can cut down on the time it takes parents to search for childcare openings, contact providers and see if they're eligible for financial assistance.

We had a mom within the first month that went through the process, and within one week she had completed her search, found a subsidized childcare slot, and was enrolled.

And so that could have taken a month prior, right?

Or even more.

McDougal says the new site could help providers avoid having to spend money on marketing.

More importantly, it could help them feel empty spots.

Imagine running a small business out of your home, taking care of all these amazing little humans all day, which can be clearly exhausting, and then having to figure out how to market your business, how to, you know, tell the story about what you do and why you do it.

Do my hair.

I, Sandra Davis, runs an at home childcare center in Normal Heights.

She says keeping her childcare slots full is vital for a small business running on thin margins.

Right now, her program isn't full.

She has room for two infants.

So it really comes down to of like, okay, well, I may be eating ramen this week.

The kids are going to have their organic, great food.

But this this week I'm eating ramen.

When she started the business a decade ago, she used Craigslist and next door to advertise.

Now it's word of mouth and lots of emails.

I work 12 hours a day, so me getting back to families is one of the things I struggle with, because I have a one hour nap time where I'm lucky if everybody's napping, they're not always napping, or I'm calling families.

I like 7:00 at night or 630 in the morning.

Now parents can contact her directly through childcare San Diego.

Tools like this site are one form of support for the childcare industry, but McDougal says providers need external public funding to keep costs down for families.

We'll never be able to charge parents as much as it truly costs the childcare provider to run their business without some kind of external support.

A half cent sales tax on the November ballot would fund stipends for childcare providers and vouchers for families.

Katie Anastas, Kpbs news.

And Kpbs launched a series that's all about parenting and the support systems that families rely on.

It's called Where's My Village?

It includes a deep look at the crisis in the childhood industry, from the struggle to retain workers to the rising costs for parents.

The entire series can be streamed by following the QR code that you see on your screen.

And you can also find it on the Kpbs news YouTube page.

Overnight lows in the low 70s.

The clouds, the humidity.

Well, we have all of that monsoonal moisture, and it's the mix between having the monsoonal moisture, but then starting to see that high pressure really strengthen and move back into the southwest, that we're seeing the warming trend from the last couple of days and kind of continuing to the end of the week, but then also some of the humidity, depending on exactly where you are, we're going to continue to see that ebb and flow.

I'll break down exactly what to expect coming up.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors today moved to limit how county officials can use prediction markets like Kalshi The popular platforms allow users to bet on sports, pop culture, politics and other future outcomes.

The board passed today's measure unanimously.

County staff will now draft a plan to prohibit county officials from placing bets tied to county business or nonpublic information.

Supervisor Chair Terra Lawson-Remer said the board is trying to get ahead of the curve before insider trading becomes an issue locally.

We haven't seen any instances of this happening here at the county, thank goodness.

But I think it's better to have rules in place before something goes sideways.

As part of the same anti-corruption measure, supervisors also asked staff to design restrictions on lobbying, and that would be a two year minimum period of time before former county officials can turn around and lobby the county for private clients.

There's currently a one year ban for some county employees under state law, but San Diego County itself doesn't currently limit revolving door lobbying.

Opening arguments kicked off Tuesday in what could be Meta's most consequential legal fight yet.

A group of 29 state attorneys, including California, allege that meta intentionally designed its platforms to get young people addicted, boosting its business and harming mental health of children and teens.

Colin Jeffrey has more.

Opening statements began Tuesday in a trial that could reshape how social media platforms interact with children.

29 states filed suit three years ago, alleging that meta designed its platforms to get young people addicted, harming the mental health of children as it boosted its profits.

California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey are representing the bipartisan coalition in federal court, and those states are collectively seeking as much as $1.4 trillion in damages.

What sets this case apart is that this is actually these states asking a federal judge to reach into the company and make changes, not just hit them with fines, but make fundamental changes.

The state's claim that meta designed features such as recommendation algorithms, infinitely scrolling feeds, likes and notifications to be intentionally addictive, according to the complaint.

They knew their product was dangerous and they lied to the public.

They lied to Congress.

They told the public.

They told the world that their product was safe, that it wasn't dangerous.

We can't say definitively that something will change.

But I think what has changed is the whole world now knows what's really going on in meta.

Meta denies the allegations, and a spokesperson says the AGS offer no proof anyone was misled and are attempting to penalize meta for industry wide challenges like age verification.

The trial is scheduled to last at least six weeks, with testimony expected from top meta executives, including founder Mark Zuckerberg.

I'm Colin Jeffrey, reporting.

A special election was held to decide who will replace Eric Swalwell as representative of California's 14th congressional district, but the race is too close to call.

The seat was left vacant when Swalwell stepped down following allegations of sexual assault and misconduct.

Voters are choosing between two Democrats, state Senator Aisha Wahab and Bay Area Rapid Transit Director Melissa Hernandez.

The pair is locked in a tight race.

The voters don't care about the blame game that we are seeing, both from the Republicans and the Democrats.

They are saying, who delivers to me, right?

Who's making my quality of life better just for people to get to know me?

They know now who I am.

They know that I had great leadership.

They know the things that I've done not only as a council member, but also as a mayor.

And doubling.

The winner will finish Swalwell term through January, but whomever between the two wins November's general election will serve a complete two year term.

I'm Amna Nawaz tonight on the NewsHour, a left wing Democrat wins a primary upset in Florida, but the candidate now faces a tough road ahead.

It's coming up at seven after Evening Edition on Kpbs.

While end of summer travel typically dominates the conversation this time of year, experts say consumers should also think about the end of year holidays.

Karen Caifa is in Washington with the details and a new timeline for snagging the best fares.

It's not just higher jet fuel costs that are pushing airfares.

Higher demand has remained resilient, and travel experts say waiting too long to book holiday tickets could leave some consumers out in the cold.

Experts say this year's holiday travel landscape is shaping up different than last years.

Last year at this time, I had really good news for consumers, which was airfare was down.

This year, it's completely the opposite story.

Clint Henderson, managing editor for travel website The Points Guy, says their fare tracking already shows holiday fares climbing.

Right now, we're seeing prices up anywhere between 13 and 18% for holiday flights.

I think that could spike to 30% or even more if people wait too long.

Airfares are up more than 25% over last year, according to the latest government inflation data.

The Iran war has pushed oil prices higher and airlines are shelling out more for jet fuel costs.

But Points Math founder and CEO Julian Kiel says fliers are playing a part.

Two people still want to travel.

Even as prices go higher, demand is not decreasing.

That means airlines can keep those prices high, especially at key holiday time for November and December flights this year.

Henderson says the booking timeline has changed.

Usually you have till almost Halloween in many cases to get the best deals.

This year we're throwing that playbook out the window.

We're telling people go ahead and book your holiday flights now.

Kiel also says lock in fares now if possible, but keep up the search.

Most airfares today, aside from basic economy, can be canceled or changed without a penalty.

So go ahead, find a fare that works for you for the holidays.

Lock it in, but keep looking.

Use some of those technology tools available if you find a lower price.

Cancel the other flight.

Lock in the new price.

Passengers should also weigh some of the other moves airlines have made to protect against those higher jet fuel costs.

That includes higher baggage fees and also cutting some of their less profitable routes.

In some cases, fewer seats this holiday season.

In Washington, I'm Karen Caifa.

In San Diego County, the average price for gas rose 2/10th of a cent to $5.68.

This comes one day after dropping 2/10th of a cent.

The price is 8/10 of a cent less than a week ago, but 12.5 cents more than one month ago.

It's $1.14 more than this time last year.

And in the last year, many items in the produce isle have gone up according to consumer price Index data.

And there's a variety of reasons for that.

The latest food item that could cost more strawberries.

Jenn Sullivan explains why strawberries could soon get a lot more expensive, leaving shoppers seeing red.

When it comes to the price.

It has to do with possible tariffs.

An independent agency came in and they said that the imports from Mexico are hurting U.S.

growers.

The Trump administration is now looking into whether Mexican growers are sitting unfairly, low prices and whether they should implement tariffs.

Here's why that could drive up the cost.

98% of strawberries sold in the U.S.

last year came from Mexico, with shipments worth more than $1 billion.

Shoppers saw tomato prices skyrocket earlier this year because of tariffs.

Tomato prices were 12.8% higher last month than a year ago, according to the latest Consumer Price Index report.

But that wasn't the only contributing factor.

Freezing temperatures in parts of Florida during the first two months of this year also played a role, because much of the tomato crop was destroyed.

Items in the produce aisle are already very vulnerable to price fluctuations because of extreme weather thrown in tariffs, and it can make prices even worse.

You're dealing with supply and demand issues every single day in the fresh food business.

Stu Leonard is the owner of Stew Leonard's grocery stores in the New York Tri-State area.

He says for businesses, it's really hard to offset costs when items like tomatoes or strawberries go way up.

It's really challenging.

And you know what?

Here's basically what every single retailer across the country would agree with me on.

If you raise prices, guess what happens to sales?

They go down.

The good news is that tomato prices have already come down a lot.

And as far as strawberries.

Commerce Department is expected to release its preliminary findings in the strawberry case by August 18th.

For consumer watch, I'm Jenn Sullivan.

And Imperial County, the Environmental Protection Agency is responding to calls to end the decades long new River crisis.

Residents say the federal government has not prioritized solutions the way it has for other communities across the country.

Officials with the EPA are committing to bring the same urgency to the new River as they have to Tijuana river crisis and the San Diego Mexico border.

Mike Martucci is with the EPA.

On Tuesday, he and other federal officials met with the public in Calexico.

For the people here.

For all of you that experienced this every day, it's not theoretical.

There are real consequences.

And our goal here today, among other things, is to acknowledge those consequences and talk about action steps moving forward.

He says the EPA is working with Mexico on expanding treatment capacity at a plant in Mexicali to prevent flows from entering the river.

The new river is considered one of the most polluted rivers in the nation.

Sewage, agricultural and industrial waste are significant sources of pollution.

The river flows from Baja California and travels through Imperial County into the Salton Sea.

Broken hampers, household trash bins and old rugs dumped on residential streets.

For many City of San Diego residents, this is a weekly reality outside of their home.

Our media partner KGTV rode along with the city's environmental services department, to see how they tackle the trash and how they're working to hold illegal dumpers accountable.

The first thing they do before they start removing anything is they'll take a photo just to show what was here.

They'll go through clean up the area, and then once they have the area all cleaned up, they will take an after photo pulls out the case.

We'll look to see if there's like any addresses on any of the boxes that may be lined up to any of the properties here.

In June, the Clean SD team completed more than 6000.

Get it done reports related to illegal dumping.

Franklin says they see the most illegal dumping south of the eight in areas like Encanto, Sherman Heights and Grant Hill.

Local band The Midnight Pine plays its last show on Friday at the Music Box.

Kpbs arts reporter Julia Dixon Evans joined the group for a rehearsal that felt like a family get together.

In an airy wood shop beneath the Coronado Bridge.

The Midnight Pine is preparing for its final show on day.

Four.

Known for her powerful and velvety vocals, Shelby Bennett has always had one clear goal to write good songs.

I think that my like idea of success in music has shifted over time, but there's always been like, I've always had a real hope and sense of possibility and confidence in this work, and it is nice to kind of look back at it now, these years later, and still feel that and still feel like really proud of it.

Alfred Howard co-founded Redwoods Music, the label and collective that launched The Midnight Pine 15 years ago.

He says the band is leaving behind a strong legacy.

Just great songs, you know, just, attention to the lyrics and the melody.

Shelby has such an incredible voice and range and emotive power, you know?

And, I just think we made some really great music and hopefully people feel the same.

The last time the band performed was in early 2020.

During the pandemic, band members moved on to other projects.

Some started families, but then it feels they never properly said goodbye.

For their final show, the band will play their second album, buried in its entirety.

A metaphor for the band's final moments.

And so basically, I kind of wanted to create the illusion of like, this is the midnight, like the Midnight Pines last day and the Buried.

The album is the span of this last day.

Bennett says this ending is more about lighting a new candle than closing a door.

I feel like, yeah, giving the ceremonial, like laying it to rest, giving it a proper sendoff, celebrating what we all mean together and kind of creating a family reunion around it because that's what these band practices feel like.

Julia Dixon Evans, Kpbs news.

We do have a couple rain chances to talk about, mainly in the mountains, in the deserts, as typically that's where we see at this time of year, the coastal low clouds really just defined to the coast that marine layer a little bit shallower than it was just in the last couple of days.

And then next week, looking ahead, a little bit of cooling.

It doesn't get us back to our historical averages, but it gets us back closer.

Now we've had that high pressure moving back into the southwest and strengthening.

So we do have extreme heat warnings out for just our far eastern portions of our desert regions.

Mainly this is out until 8 p.m.

on Friday.

So it gives you kind of a timeline of when the worst of the heat is going to be.

Overnight tonight, almost 80 in Borrego Springs, 68 for Mount Laguna, 68 for Chula Vista.

And just a little bit warmer in San Diego there as we head into tomorrow.

Well, we still have a decent amount of cloud cover for a lot of us.

San Diego 79.

We're close to triple digits in Ramona, and we're over 110 there in Borrego Springs.

That's the extreme heat that we're talking about.

All right.

Taking a look at the next couple of days, we'll start to see just barely any rain moving in.

But we do get some more cloud cover with this as well.

So just don't be surprised if we have a few raindrops, a few sprinkles there.

It really is more that moisture in the clouds that we're going to see as a bigger difference.

Taking a look at the next five days along the coast.

Yeah, the humidity that is going to be the big story making the 83 and the 84 feel warmer than that.

And then as we get into Monday, we're still in the mid 80s.

As we work our way further inland, we do start to see our temperatures drop a little bit.

By Monday.

We're in the low 90s.

It's just a few degrees, but it's a step towards that cooling trend that I was talking about.

That goes a little bit beyond our five day outlook into the mountains, while we see the opposite 78 for your Sunday.

Then we jump ten degrees by the time we get to Monday.

So the region by region differences here overall with our temperature trends.

And then into the desert.

Yeah.

111 110 we are staying with just the extreme heat.

That's why we have the alerts out.

But as you look ahead to next week we'll drop down a few degrees.

Something to look forward to at least for Kpbs news I'm AccuWeather, Anna Azallioin and San Diego artist Moss Randy Ortega blends his Mexi Pino roots into streetwear and clothing designs that have drawn fans at Comic-Con and San Diego FC.

Kpbs reporter Elaine Alfaro joined Ortega among the sewing machines at Norma's Apparel in National City, where his concepts become reality.

When Moss Randy Ortega first started selling and wearing his designs, he'd get stopped by people asking, why is his hat looked like a messed up?

Like, what is this?

He calls it distressing, intentionally defacing a logo or embroidery to give it a different look.

It's an art form.

It's almost like a graffiti artist to a wall.

Same thing.

And I, you know, my hat's the candidates and I want to show you guys something you've never seen before on a hat.

That one of a kind look is what he's framed his design approach on.

Ortega has about a decade under his belt, creating streetwear and clothing designs from hats to pants to shirts.

He launched his brand original Good Stock in 2017.

He had his first big break selling hats at a shop in Plaza Bonita called A rerun.

I was, 24 at the time, right?

Did I make much money?

I worked at Domino's 17 and hour, 16 an hour.

So going to make a hat and making a run of them was very expensive.

He paid for his first batch of embroidered hats with his pizza paycheck, and people loved it.

And, I end up selling out all my hats.

And, everyone was really happy, and they were like, do like you did it.

What's next?

I said, I don't know.

I don't know what's next, but like, we'll figure it out.

He knew he was onto something, but he also knew he didn't have to become a big brand overnight.

But what if I just be more unique and concentrated and, like, give people something like they don't really have?

His designs also speak to a broader experience.

Ortega draws inspiration from his own Filipino and Mexican roots.

Like I come from, like the good, the good times and the bad times of, like, learning how to be mixed, you know, learning how to be accepted.

And so a lot of that too, like inner trauma, inner like, I just translate that into art rather than translate that into violence, I translate that into art and the best way I can.

He credits his upbringing and dad for a phrase you'll see in his designs and on his hats.

Better together.

So I draw from that and like with me being, Filipino and Mexican, sometimes people still don't really get it, you know?

Regardless of whether, oh, that that's not how is that like, Filipinos or how is that like Mexicans?

Like, dude?

Regardless of how far or how close similarities can be, dude, it's always better together.

Ortega's designs include a reimagined Mexico jersey inspired by the Filipino barong.

For the World Cup, he did three drops of the jerseys and sold out each time.

He's also made distressed gear for San Diego FC, and collaborated with a shop called quest on a limited edition Spider-Man shirt at Comic-Con.

But the through line in each of these designs is a connection to where he's from.

I choose to stay in San Diego for now because.

I would love to see my city be celebrated in those levels.

In terms of how LA is celebrated, how New York is celebrated.

I love to see the day where we can be celebrated on those levels.

Like really, it's part of what made his collaboration with San Diego FC last year so special.

Just a touch.

It touched my heart so much because it's like, know I get to represent my own city.

Like I wasn't born somewhere else.

And then coming here, I was born here and I get to, I get to, I get to do the thing I love to do and that's enough for me.

He says he thinks a lot about the next generation of designers getting started in San Diego like him, and I want every, everyone and every young creative to see this because this is what it's about.

It's better together.

Elaine Alfaro, Kpbs news.

Now we have a quick update on the Dehesa fire burning in rural East County.

Cal fire says forward rate of spread has been halted for update on this developing story, you can visit kpbs.org.

And that is also where you can find tonight's stories right there on our website.

Again, Kpbs.org.

Thanks for joining us.

I'm Maya Trabulsi see you tomorrow.

Major funding for Kpbs Evening Edition has been made possible in part by Bill Howe, family of companies providing San Diego with plumbing, heating, air restoration and flood services for over 45 years.

Call one 800 Bill Howe or visit Bill howe.com.

And by the Conrad Prebys Foundation.

Darlene Marcos Shiley.

And by the following.

And by viewers like you.

Thank you.