For the third installment of "Tavis Smiley Reports," host Tavis Smiley and Academy Award®-winning director Jonathan Demme travel to New Orleans, five years after Hurricane Katrina. Through the lens of the rich culture, Smiley examines the efforts of the city’s most resilient residents as they rebuild their schools, churches and homes against enormous odds.

San Diego’s new Children’s Museum is celebrating a major fundraising accomplishment. The museum has raised $10 million since it opened in May 2008, despite the tough economic climate.

San Diego veterans' groups are calling on the State Assembly to fully fund Operation Welcome Home. The program to connect veterans with federal services is slated to receive about $7.3 million less than originally proposed.

There's no job in San Diego for one out of every 10 workers and millions of federal dollars are available to create many jobs. But our county didn't go after that money. We find out why not.

Last January Mayor Jerry Sanders gave himself 18 months to come up with a solution for the city’s structural deficit. He has 11 months to go, we discuss what progress has been made and whether he'll be able to fulfill his pledge.

How significant a milestone was the U.S. Forest Service approval for Sunrise Powerlink? We discuss next steps for the controversial electricity transmission line.

City schools want a parcel tax to help fund classroom instruction. What will it cost, how will it work and will voters support it?

The history of refugee resettlement in San Diego dates back to the fall of Saigon. Some of the County's newest refugees were resettled here after escaping violence in Iraq, but they are not Iraqi. We find out the story of one family who spent decades in refugee camps until now.

This candid documentary about Merle Haggard includes interviews with Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Ray Price, Dwight Yoakam, Lucinda Williams and Allison Krauss. The film reveals how the hardscrabble people with whom Haggard was raised -- his juvenile delinquency and incarcerations -- still inform his creativity and perspective. At 72, he recently survived major lung surgery and is now in top physical shape, full of creative juices and hitting new artistic and commercial highs.

"B-29 Frozen in Time" follows Darryl Greenamyer and his crew as they try to retrieve an almost intact B-29 from the Arctic Circle. The airplane crash-landed nearly 50 years earlier during a secret mission for the United States. The pilots survived the crash and were rescued, but the B-29 was left in the harsh and unforgiving climate 250 miles north of Thule, Greenland. The second half of the program focuses on the "Titanic's" sister ship, the "Brittanic." Serving as a hospital ship in the Aegean, it was either torpedoed or struck a mine on November 21, 1916, and sank within an hour, yet only thirty of the crew of 1,100 died.

In “Breaking the Bank,” FRONTLINE producer Michael Kirk (“Inside the Meltdown,” “Bush’s War”) draws on a rare combination of high-profile interviews with key players Lewis and former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain to reveal the story of two banks at the heart of the financial crisis, the rocky merger and the government’s new role in taking over — some call it “nationalizing” — the American banking system.

The city can eliminate free trash pickup for single-family homes in residential neighborhoods, turn the service over to a private contractor and save $34 million a year, San Diego's city attorney said in a legal opinion released today.

The 23rd annual Stand Down, which provides services to homeless veterans and their families, began today, with organizers expecting more than 1,000 people to register for the three-day event.

A judge has declined to force the state controller to comply with an order by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to pay state workers minimum wage to deal with the state budget deficit.

Local advocacy groups voiced their opposition to the state’s plan to close the Department of Fair Housing and Employment office in San Diego in November. The planned closure is part of proposed state budget cuts.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today ordered 224 National Guard troops to patrol the Mexican border for one year to support federal security efforts.

Despite an ever-increasing budget deficit, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders decided not to propose a city sales tax increase. We'll find out why.

We'll explore whether the San Diego Unified School District's plan to put a parcel tax on the ballot in November will gain the support of voters.

"Carrier" is a character-driven, edge-of-your-seat, nonfiction drama and a once-in-a-lifetime total immersion in the high-stakes world of a nuclear aircraft carrier. The ship's location and itinerary are classified. Details of how the nuclear reactor works are top secret. Many aspects of life on a nuclear aircraft carrier are hush-hush. Dating and sex aboard ship are strictly forbidden, but according to one sailor, with 5,000 people on board, relationships are "inevitable," resulting in a "don't ask, don't tell" policy that applies to relationships as well as sexual orientation.

Balboa Park will be jammed with visitors this weekend. KPBS Reporter Erik Anderson tells us 150-thousand people are expected to turn out for the Pride parade on Saturday.

Hundreds of homeless veterans are going to get help with medical care, counseling, food, clothing and other social services today as part of the annual three-day Stand Down at San Diego High School.

We'll explore why San Diego County didn't apply for millions of dollars in federal stimulus money that would have put low-income people back to work.

The head of San Diego County Health and Human Services says state guidelines on how to use federal stimulus money were so vague that the county could not risk applying for millions in emergency assistance funding.

The San Diego Biofuels Initiative has gotten a $4 million state grant to train biofuel workers.

Back in June 2007, Sebatian Junger and Tim Hetherington began making trips to Afghanistan with the Second Platoon, Battle Company, 173rd Airborne Brigade, who were stationed in Afghanistan's treacherous Korengal Valley. The documentary "Restrepo" (opening July 16 at Landmark's La Jolla Village Theaters) is the resulting film. Listen to our KPBS Film Club discussion.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the classic young adult books featuring boy inventor Tom Swift. A convention will be held in San Diego, and will include live radio dramas based on the books. Culture Lust's Angela Carone went to a rehearsal and brought back this audio postcard.