Midday Edition

Oral Sex, Then Holy Water: Report Documents Abuse By Priests

Aug. 15: By Associated Press

A priest raped a 7-year-old girl while he was visiting her in the hospital after she'd had her tonsils removed. Another priest forced a 9-year-old boy into having oral sex, then rinsed out the boy's mouth with holy water. One boy was forced to say confession to the priest who sexually abused him.

Doctors Nudged By Overdose Letter Prescribe Fewer Opioids

Aug. 9: By Associated Press

In a novel experiment, doctors got a letter from the medical examiner's office telling them of their patient's fatal overdose. The response: They started prescribing fewer opioids.

Survivor Of Newly Found WWII Shipwreck: 'So Many' To Rescue

Aug. 15: By Associated Press

Daryl Weathers remembers trying to pull men from the sea off Alaska's Aleutian Islands after a U.S. Navy destroyer hit a mine left by the Japanese following the only World War II battle fought on North American soil.

Cannabis Compound Reduces Agitation In Alzheimer's Patients

Aug. 15: By Brooke Ruth, Maureen Cavanaugh

A recent study found that patients with Alzheimer's disease who took a synthetic cannabis compound experienced reduced agitation, one of the most common symptoms of the disease.

Beloved San Francisco Zen Hospice Project Confronts Its Own End

Aug. 15: April Dembosky/KQED

The San Francisco institution was founded during the height of the AIDS crisis, a time when sick men were left to die alone in the hallways of county hospitals because staff were afraid to touch them. Buddhist practitioners bought the Victorian on Page Street to create a place where men could get compassionate care and die with dignity.

New Book Argues That Hidden Costs Are Eroding The Middle Class

Aug. 14: By Brooke Ruth, Maureen Cavanaugh

A new book argues that the fees we encounter are draining our resources and increasing wealth inequality.

Fatality In Mendocino Complex Blaze Adds To Deadly Month For California Firefighters

Aug. 14: Dan Brekke, Ryan Levi/KQED

Cal Fire said a firefighter from Utah died Monday while battling the immense Mendocino Complex blaze, the sixth death recorded in the past month among the army of front-line crews, heavy equipment operators and support personnel struggling to quell a fierce wave of wildland conflagrations.

San Diego Affordable Housing Advocates Eyeing 2020 Ballot

Aug. 14: By Maureen Cavanaugh, Pat Finn

The San Diego Housing Federation declined to place its affordable housing bond on the November 2018 ballot, a move some believe resulted from pressure from convention center advocates pushing their own ballot measure. The federation said it was a purely strategic decision to move it to 2020.

The Cholla Cactus Didn’t Bloom This Year — California Scientists Team Up To Find Out Why

Aug. 14: By Megan Burks

A project launching at San Diego State and 18 other locations in California this fall seeks to find out how climate change is affecting the state’s plants.