All of the measures by the federal government to stem the tide in the financial meltdown that began with the subprime mortgage crisis have added hundreds of billions of dollars to our national debt. FRONTLINE reports on how this debt will constrain and challenge the new Obama administration.

The State Senate formally honored the late Senator Dave Cox Monday. For more than an hour Senators and former legislative leaders eulogized the Sacramento-area lawmaker.

Six light brown apple moths have been found near Balboa Park in recent weeks. The moths can devastate plants and produce. Agricultural officials plan to meet with local farmers in Fallbrook Tuesday to talk about containing the pests.

The Pentagon released the name today of a 23-year-old Camp Pendleton-based Marine killed in combat last week in Afghanistan.

"Carrier," a 10-part series filmed aboard the USS Nimitz, is a character-driven immersion in the high-stakes world of a nuclear aircraft carrier. In this episode, the mission really kicks off when the Nimitz arrives in the Gulf. The conditions are extreme: flight deck personnel endure temperatures hovering around 120 degrees, while the pilots undertake grueling six-hour missions over Iraq. The F-18s are mounted with infrared cameras, enabling them to serve as the "eyes in the sky" to support the troops on the ground. Some of the pilots are frustrated that they're not dropping bombs because, as they describe it, that's what they've been trained to do.

At age 78, E.O. Wilson is still going through his "little savage" phase of boyhood exploration of the natural world. In "Lord of the Ants," NOVA profiles this soft-spoken Southerner and Harvard professor, who is an acclaimed advocate for ants, biological diversity, and the controversial extension of Darwinian ideas to human society.

The role of families in preventing and adapting to HIV will be the topic of an all-day conference in San Diego on Wednesday. More than 250 local treatment providers are expected to take part.

California lawmakers are expected to begin the multistep process of removing an $11.1 billion water bond from the November ballot at the urging of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

More than 5,000 U.S. service members have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. The vast majority of them were men in their early 20s. Many leave behind their wives who never imagined they would find themselves widows at a young age.

Cho-Liang Lin is celebrating his 10th anniversary as music director of the La Jolla Music Society's SummerFest concert series, which runs throughout the month of August. We'll talk to Jimmy Lin about the highlights of one of San Diego's premiere chamber music festivals.

NPR Ombudsman Alicia Shepard joins us today to discuss her role within the news organization, and to talk about some of the most contentious issues she's worked to resolve over the last two years. Alicia also takes questions and comments from listeners in San Diego.

We'll look at the language of the ruling in the Proposition 8 trial, and where the case will go from here. We'll also discuss the status of public opinion and the history of the same-sex marriage debate in California, the nation and around the world.

The fate of legislation to ban plastic grocery bags in California may be decided this week. Supporters are fighting for every vote. The legislation would require reusable bags and prohibit grocery, liquor and convenience stores from distributing single-use plastic bags.

Supporters of a half-cent sales tax hike in San Diego are focusing on the public safety benefits a tax increase could bring. Often firefighters are used to symbolize what's at stake. A previous issue also used firefighters to galvanize voters.

The Centers for Disease Control is encouraging California doctors to do more advanced tests to diagnose whooping cough. CDC scientists have collected only seven biological samples of the illness since the state-wide epidemic began this year.

New rules designed to make it tougher for health insurers to cancel policies in California take effect next week. The regulations from the state's insurance commissioner support new federal laws.