A deadly wildfire destroyed more than four dozen homes as it blackened a wide swath of Southern California forest, forced thousands of residents to flee and burned close to a vital mountaintop broadcasting complex.

A new government report dings the US Border Patrol for overstating the effectiveness of highway checkpoints. Nevertheless, the Government Accountability Office concludes the checkpoints are an important line of defense for illegal immigrants and drugs.

The California Assembly has approved a bill seeking to reduce the state corrections budget as Republican lawmakers assailed it as a threat to public safety.

Fuming San Diego State University students railed against deep budget cuts in a protest that drew hundreds to the campus. The university is grappling with a $35 million reduction.

California water managers are concerned about a fourth year of drought in 2010. Three years of dry conditions have brought mandatory conservation to San Diego and other areas of the state.

Check out our photo gallery of this year's Street Scene. We adored Public Enemy and it shows. Also, see our pictures of Busta Rhymes, Girl Talk, Matt and Kim, Thievery Corporation, M.I.A., The Dead Weather and more.

Why is there a Texas-sized patch of garbage floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? How did the trash get there, and what can be done to remove it? We speak to a group of researchers who recently returned from a Scripps Institute of Oceanography expedition to study the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Firefighters continued to fight a fire that threatened homes in the Los Angeles area on Monday, just one day after two colleagues were killed as they headed to battle the fire in Angeles National Forest.

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The White house is predicting that the swine flu will affect 20 to 40 percent of all Americans - that's between 600,000 and 1.2 million people in San Diego County. We take an updated look at how San Diego is preparing.

Mark Quint is the subject of Quint: Three Decades of Contemporary Art, a retrospective at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido. He talks about running one of San Diego's most influential galleries, the San Diego gallery scene, and how the current economic climate is affecting artists and galleries.

Many teens who are depressed or suicidal are undiagnosed. We speak with the executive director from the TeenScreen National Center about a voluntary mental health check-up program for schools. We also speak with a local therapist about adolescent depression, how to tell if your teen is at risk and what to do about it.

The mayor’s task force is considering whether San Diego should expand its convention center, and is expected to recommend moving forward at Monday’s meeting.

The last and the biggest health care town hall meeting in San Diego County took place in this past weekend. It was in a gym, next to the Spring Valley Library.

One in ten adults in San Diego County is saddled with medical debt. A new report from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research reveals medical debt is a problem statewide.