Baja California law enforcement authorities have freed a young woman who was kidnapped on her way to San Diego. The FBI helped lead Mexican investigators to the 21-year-old.

The San Diego City Council has voted to change the city’s ethics rules so unpaid volunteers do not have to register as lobbyists.

Fears that the drug giant Pfizer might close its San Diego research facility have been put to rest.

A group that's fighting for public access to San Diego's Friendship Park along the U.S.-Mexico border wants to make sure park visitors can go right up to the border fence. The group wants federal officials to remodel the access area they just built.

Governor Schwarzenegger has signed an $11 billion bond measure to improve California’s aging water network. But, voters have to approve it on next November’s ballot before construction can begin.

San Diego State University officials say they're open to creating a special admissions guarantee for students in the San Diego Unified School District. The university's interest is due in part to a district hearing on the matter yesterday.

To quite a bit of fanfare, Google launched its new music service about two weeks ago. Mos Def, Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park, and other high-profile artists took part in the launch.

Culture Lust contributor Seth Marko has long been a fan of novelist, essayist, short-story writer, music and film buff, and Brooklyn chronicler, Jonathan Lethem. But Marko finds Lethem's latest novel, "Chronic City" falling in the tradition of "The Big Lebowski" instead of Lethem's earlier novels like "Motherless Brooklyn" and "Fortress of Solitude."

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says a scientific review of the Sacramento Bay Delta ecosystem may provide answers to some of California's water supply problems. The Delta is the source for about one-third of San Diego County's water.

World leaders, dignitaries and ordinary Germans gathered Monday in Berlin to celebrate the night 20 years ago that the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, an iconic moment that marked the collapse of communism in Europe.

This documentary investigates the extraordinary survival story of a crew of airmen shot down over the jungles of Japanese-occupied Borneo during World War II. The film recounts the rescue of a U.S. bomber crew by Dayak tribesmen, known for taking the heads of their enemies. The Dayaks fed and protected the airmen before leading them to the base of the maverick British special ops officer, Major Tom Harrisson, who was fighting a guerrilla war against the Japanese with a band of Australian commandoes. The program features an exclusive interview with the sole surviving member of the U.S. crew, as well as interviews with a number of the Dayak tribespeople and Japanese and Australian veterans.

"Tattooed Under Fire" is a unique, intimate, character-driven portrait of Iraq-bound and returning US soldiers as they go under the tattoo needle: openly professing their pride, sharing their secrets and confessing their fears. The tattoos cross lines of gender, class, and political affinity revealing the inner lives of young men and women as they live through the horrors of the Iraq war. The film's narrative moves from the early expectations and excitement of 18 and 20 year-olds through cynicism and anger to a sense of a psychological aftermath that will never be erased. Each soldier's story is an evocative, poignant, and highly personal look at the human and cultural cost of war.

California lawmakers recently approved a 10 percent increase to state taxpayers' witholdings.

Home foreclosures at an all time high, but a new relocation assistance program allows banks to give money to tenants who leave quickly and quietly. KPBS Reporter Sharon Heilbrunn explains the program.

On call 24 hours a day for the past five years, a group of senior citizens has made history by greeting nearly 800,000 American troops at a tiny airport in Bangor, Maine. “The Way We Get By” is an intimate look at three of these greeters as they confront the universal losses that come with aging and rediscover their reason for living. Bill Knight, Jerry Mundy and Joan Gaudet find the strength to overcome their personal battles and transform their lives through service.

UCSD professor Rae Armantrout's latest book of poetry has been nominated for a National Book Award. The poems in "Versed" investigate subjectivity in a media-saturated world as well as Armantrout's experiences battling cancer.

The House and the Senate's health care bills are still being debated in Washington. Both plans have a public option and a vote is expected later this week. The editors discuss.

Even though local farmers produce tons of oranges a year, San Diego residents prefer oranges shipped from other parts of the world.

SDG&E wants to increase rates for customers that use less energy and decrease the rates for those who use the most energy. San Diego Union-Tribune staff writer Onell Soto explains the plan.

Health officials say low-income Latino immigrants and migrant workers are a high risk group when it comes to swine flu. California health officials say in all the discussion about the H1N1 pandemic, two groups haven’t been getting enough attention: low-income Latino immigrants and migrant workers.

We'll talk about the art of baking and buying great bread as part of our monthly segment on food.

The actual motive behind the shooting rampage at Ft. Hood last week is still unclear. Unless the prime suspect recovers and decides to tell us his reasons, we may never know. After the shooting, the airwaves were filled with experts talking about stress.

Democrats have little time to savor the narrow passage of their historic heath care overhaul in the House of Representatives as attention turns to the deeply divided U.S. Senate. Majority Leader Harry Reid's challenge is to corral enough votes to bring a companion bill to the floor of his chamber before a White House-imposed Christmas deadline.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is expected to vote this week on a plan to help subsidize the cost of making water from a proposed desalination plant in Carlsbad. The company also wants help to pay for the plant's construction.

The state of California wants you to think twice before flushing your unwanted or expired pharmaceuticals.

The San Diego Unified School District continues to clash with San Diego State University over the college's decision to deny some local students admission next fall. San Diego school trustees will hold a special hearing on the matter today.