Thousands of helicopter-borne Marines launched a massive assault early Thursday morning in southern Afghanistan's Helmand River valley, a Taliban stronghold and the main source of its cash crop, the poppies that produce heroin.

Thousands of farmers, farmworkers and their supporters rallied at City Hall on Wednesday, calling on federal officials to ease regulations that have cut water supplies to the nation's most prolific growing region.

During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama appealed to the LGBT community with visions of what an Obama administration would accomplish on behalf of fair treatment and equality. But that’s not happening fast enough – if at all – for gay and lesbian Democrats who opened their wallets to Obama with high hopes.

A consumer group is suing California regulators for allowing health insurers to deny treatment for autism. Consumer Watchdog says thousands of children statewide are affected by the denials.

Dillinger has been a popular subject for movies. The best film to date has been the 1970s John Milius one called "Dillinger" that starred Warren Oates as public enemy number one and Ben Johnson as FBI agent Melvin Purvis who led the investigation to capture him. Now Johnny Depp stars as the Depression-era criminal in Michael Mann's "Public Enemies" (opening July 1 throughout San Diego).

California is on the brink of issuing IOUs instead of payments to vendors and state workers after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers failed to strike a budget compromise Tuesday. Wednesday is the beginning of the fiscal year for most states.

The California Senate shut down at midnight Tuesday after failing to approve a stopgap plan to stave off the need for IOUs and ease the state's $24.3 billion budget deficit. Voting along party lines, the Senate rejected three bills designed to save $5 billion, including $3.3 billion in education funding cuts that had to be enacted by Tuesday. The new fiscal year started Wednesday.

I just wanted to share my national feature that ran on NPR this morning about zombies and pop culture. It was great to bring the undead to NPR but a bummer that it had to be such a short piece because there actually is a lot to discuss about the current popularity of zombies.

What's the best new dish being served up in San Diego's restaurants? We'll talk about great restaurants and the chefs behind them with culinary senior editor Troy Johnson, of RIVIERA Magazine.

What can the U.S. military learn from the co-author of "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace, One School at a Time"? We speak to Greg Mortenson about the work he is doing with the military to build stronger relationships with community leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Gays and lesbians across the country are pressuring the Obama administration to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. We'll find out why the Libertarian party is coming to the aid of gays and lesbians on this issue.

Mandatory water-use restrictions start Wednesday in Escondido. Similar water-use restrictions went into effect last month in the city of San Diego.

Soda pop is now banned from California school campuses. It's the latest move to keep unhealthy foods away from school kids.

The Port of San Diego manages the bay and is responsible for development and environmental protection of 33 miles of waterfront excluding tidelands administered by the United States Military. The port is made up of five cities: San Diego, National City, Chula Vista, Coronado and Imperial Beach. One of the port’s core missions is maritime trade.

The Port of San Diego’s budget is $151 million. About $86 million of its operating revenue comes from real estate waterfront leases each year. Most of the port’s remaining revenue – about $40 million – comes from Marine Operations. This division manages the Tenth Avenue, National City and Cruise Ship terminals.

Government experts are calling for the elimination of prescription drugs such as Vicodin and Percocet as part of sweeping safety restrictions on the most widely used painkiller. Overdoses of acetaminophen is the leading cause of liver failure in the U.S. and sends 56,000 people to the emergency room annually.

More than 300 San Diego County students were in Petco Park yesterday -- but not for baseball. The youngsters were there to help kick-off one of the country's largest childhood literacy campaigns called Read Across America. KPBS Education Reporter Ana Tintocalis says the focus is on what's called the summer reading loss.