Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations
Watch Live

Politics

Roundtable: Hunter's Guilty Plea; Poway Water Woes; Al Gore

Rep. Duncan Hunter arrives at the federal courthouse in downtown San Diego, Dec. 3, 2019.
Alexander Nguyen
Rep. Duncan Hunter arrives at the federal courthouse in downtown San Diego, Dec. 3, 2019.
No longer a witch hunt. Duncan Hunter now says he's guilty of corruption. What's next for the East County congressman and those running to replace him? An inconvenient truth. Al Gore brings his climate message to San Diego as scientists escalate their warnings for our planet. And, more than an inconvenience. How the water problem in Poway could end up costing the city millions.

Roundtable Guests:

Michael Smolens, San Diego Union-Tribune

Priya Sridhar, KPBS News reporter

Erik Anderson, KPBS News environment reporter

Matt Hoffman, KPBS News reporter

Hunter's Guilty Plea

Turns out it wasn't a hoax, nor was it fake news, or a witch hunt. Republican Duncan Hunter pleaded guilty this week to a campaign finance crime. He faces up to five years in federal prison and will surrender his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. In the three years since The Union-Tribune broke the story of gross misuse of campaign funds by Hunter and his wife, Margaret, the Congressman has claimed both innocence and victimhood. Now he's saying he made some mistakes.

RELATED: Hunter Pleads Guilty To Misusing Campaign Money

Advertisement

U.N.'s Dire Climate-Change Warning

We are closing out a bleak decade in the struggle to slow earth's warming. Reports coinciding with the United Nation's meeting on climate change in Madrid this week show global greenhouse-gas emissions will set another record in 2019, rising by 0.6%. The latest UN study concluded that emissions need to drop sharply — by 7.6% annually starting next year — if we are to meet in the goal of limiting warming to 1.5% Celsius set in the Paris climate accord.

RELATED: California Could See Storm Damages Costing A Billion Dollars Each Year

Poway Water Woes

Recent rains have been welcome all across fire-weary, drought-plagued California. An exception might be the city of Poway, though, as stormwater caused a big headache. In recent winters, we've had drought-busting storms to great fanfare. Why is this problem plaguing Poway now?

Advertisement

RELATED: Poway To Be Cited For Faulty Reservoir System That Contributed To Water Contamination

The North County Focus newsletter is your bi-weekly guide to all the news coming from North County, plus a handpicked selection of events and trivia tidbits.