S1: Hey there , San Diego , it's time for KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. Today , a KPBS investigation revealed influential donors have been giving thousands of dollars to some county supervisors offices for years. We hear more about the events fund at the heart of the story and the reporting that uncovered it. Then , as America gets ready to celebrate its 250th anniversary this summer , we talk about America as a melting pot. Plus , this week marks the first ever local news day. And to celebrate. We're talking with reporters from across our region to hear more about what local community journalism means for them. That's ahead on KPBS roundtable. Concerns over money and politics are nothing new. And that's why there's rules to limit its influence in our government. But a new months long investigation from KPBS follows the money to some county supervisors offices without clear limits , and it's raising concerns over power and transparency. KPBS investigative reporter Scott Rodd joins me now. Hey , Scott , welcome back to roundtable. Great to see you here again in this seat. Hey.
S2: Hey. Yeah , it's great to be back.
S1: So set the stage for us. And , you know , I think when a lot of us think about money in politics , we think about campaign donations. But your investigation looked into these cash gifts , going to the offices of a few county supervisors.
S2: That's right. It's kind of an unusual area of money in politics because , as you said , most people , when they think about that , they think of campaign donations. And when it comes to campaign donations , there are strict limits on how much money you can give. There's also the idea of giving money a gift or a payment to an elected official or a government employee , but that also has very strict limits. In fact , this year , government officials can only accept gifts of up to $630 from a single source in a given year. So it's very tight restrictions. Then there's this other area that a lot of people don't really think about. It's not payments that happen very often , and it's called a gift or a payment to an agency. And that's when an organization or an individual can cut a check or maybe hand over a gift that goes to a government office or agency. And that's key here , because under state law , there's no limits to how much you can give to a government office.
S1: So , you know , let's talk more about this investigation. You found these cash gifts going to three county supervisors offices , Paloma Aguirre , Tara Lawson Ramer and Joel Anderson. Tell us more about the money that that you found.
S2: That's right. We found that since 2024 , these the supervisor's office has accepted over $100,000 in gifts , and these were cash payments , essentially , you know , checks that were cut for these offices. And we found that the breakdown is roughly a Geary's office. And her predecessor , Nora Vargas , had accepted over at least $33,000 in the last few years. District two Republican Joel Anderson had accepted at least $27,000 , and district three Democrat Tara Lawson Reamer , who's also the board chair , had accepted over $42,000. And as you mentioned before , this money goes into what's called the Special Events Trust Fund. It's this obscure , little known fund that supervisors are able to tap and use for events. And in this idea of events is supposed to be very open to interpretation , or at least generic in terms of what they can use it on. So I could break down a little bit what they spent the money.
S1: I mean , you start out your piece by , you know , taking us into Paloma Geary's swearing in ceremony , you know. Talk to us about how they normally look and what kind of what jumped out to you about that event ? Yeah.
S2: This was an example that really stood out to us. That's why we started the piece with it. Typically , county supervisor swearing in ceremonies are like , frankly , they're kind of dull. You know , they're they're standard affair. They're you know , you go up , you put your hand on the Bible , usually with a family member , you do the repeat after me thing , you get sworn in , and then you get to say a few remarks. All of this happens in the county administration building during a board meeting. And then you go take your seat and it's back to regular business. You vote on a few things , you debate , and you go home with Paloma Aguirre. When she was sworn in last summer , she was elected during a special election after Nora Vargas had abruptly resigned. She had a blowout swearing in ceremony , so they spent her office spent in the ballpark of $20,000. On this event , there was a huge tent that was put up on the Waterfront Park lawn , right outside the county administration building. There was about $9,000 in catering. There was $8,000 in audiovisual services , $600 on flowers. We found even there was $800 spent on a mariachi band. So this was like a full fledged celebration. And so that money came from a variety of donors. And a lot of , you know , these donors that I'm talking about here , they they're pretty well known , either organizations or businesses or individuals in the community. And that's , again , another reason why I wanted to take a close look at this was , you know , who's giving here. And and , you know , there's there's always a question about when money is flowing in politics.
S1: Right.
S2: Yeah , exactly.
S1: So , I mean , you take us all also into another event. It's the state of the county , you know , event kind of break down some of what you found there.
S2: Yeah , sure. Before I jump into that , I'll just give some examples for , uh , Paloma Aguirre. She , uh , for that swearing in ceremony. She'd accepted $4,500 from AT&T. She'd accepted also. Her predecessor had accepted a cheque from from a golf club developer out in Borrego Springs for about $5,000. Cox communications kicked in $5,000. And again , these checks weren't cut to the individual elected official. They were going to the supervisor's office.
S1: The office in particular ? Yeah.
S2: Yeah. And so with , uh , with the with with Tara Lawson Rimmer's state of the county address last year. You know , this this is a typically big event for the year. And the chair gives a keynote speech. And over the years it's different chairs of approached it in different ways. You know , some have given it in gymnasiums at high schools and others have thrown more elaborate events. Last years would be categorized under the more elaborate events. So Tara Lawson Remer brought in tens of thousands of dollars from the from from from a variety of donors that includes the Deputy Sheriffs Association , the San Diego Probation Officer Association , um , a number of a few different labor unions. And this money was spent on the state of the county address , going towards printed materials , going towards audio visual equipment , a teleprompter. And , you know , this ultimately was an invitation only event that , um , Tara Los Bremer's office told us she didn't do an interview , but she said in response to emailed questions , look , we think that this money one was used completely above board. This this event was to address issues in the community. So that's why we spent the money the way we did. And I'll take this moment to say that in our reporting , we found no evidence that any laws were broken or anything like that , that that's important to note here. Um , but again , anytime money is flowing in politics , even if laws aren't being broken , it's important to take a close look to see who's giving , who's receiving , and how is that money being spent ? Yeah.
S1: And on that note , one expert you spoke with for the story is Sean. Sean , Sean McMorris. He's from the nonprofit Common Cause , California. Here's a little of what he told you.
S3: And so there is a influence factor going on there where the candidate knows who's giving , how much they're giving. And in the public's eyes , that can , um , influence possibly how an elected official , uh , votes on policy.
S2: And on that note , we went through the dozens of donors who have given in the last couple of years to see. Well , do any of them have active business before the county ? And we found several who do have pending business , either they're seeking , you know , development expansion or permits for , for for certain for certain developments and projects. One that stood out to us was the United Domestic Workers of America. It's a labor union , and they gave roughly $5,000 to Tara Lawson Rimmer's office that went towards the state of the county last year. Months later , the county then ratified or approved a new contract with the union that included substantial raises , improved benefits and a whole host of other things. And when that past Tara Lawson Lawson Reamer put out a press release touting the agreement , and so we thought it was important to note in our story this , this kind of trend right now. We did , of course , reach out to Tara Lawson Rumors office and asked her about this and asked point blank , did did this money , any of this money influence any of your decision making or votes ? And they said , look , no , none of this , none of the donations , none of the money has any influence on how we vote. They say Tara Lawson , rumors behind , um , you know , worker and union issues and has been for a long time. So that was their position on it. But again , anytime money's flowing in politics , I'll repeat it. You know , we got to look at where there may or may not be influenced. And certainly Shawn McMorris from Common Cause California said if this doesn't fall afoul of the law , he felt it's at least a gray area that maybe state regulators might want to take a look at to see , um , what's going on here , because this the way that this is working in Southern California , in San Diego County , the way all this money is flowing into supervisor offices , it's very different from how it works in other counties , at least the counties that we reviewed and that we reach out to. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Talk more about that because you looked at some other , you know , neighboring counties just to see if similar things were happening there , but not so much.
S2: Right , exactly. So we reached out to Imperial County , Riverside County , Los Angeles County , and Orange County. We said , hey , do you have any examples of donors giving basically cutting checks for supervisor offices , giving these gifted payments and Imperial County , Riverside County and Los Angeles County all said , no , we don't have examples of this. Orange County had had two examples , and by comparison , I think it's worth noting them , because these gifts that often go to offices , lawmakers offices , whether at the local or state level , what we found is it's typically either for travel , uh , maybe there's a conference in a , in a , there's a sponsor for the conference , and they want to pay for someone to go to it , or it's a kind of in-kind physical property exchange. For example , up in Orange County , there was a supervisor who got 20 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. They filed a form about that. Right. So there's a bit of a difference , as you can see , about the types of gifts. Yeah , that were being received.
S1: So , Scott , I mean , I kind of want to just I always appreciate hearing more about your investigation. It's , you know , took months of work. You unearthed a lot here. Talk more about that process. And , you know , I don't know some of the the challenges you had in kind of bringing this , this story to light. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. One of the biggest challenges was just transparency and disclosure issues with the county. They just , in the last couple of years , decided that they're going to approach these gifts in a certain way where they have to file consistent , specific disclosure documents. Now , I'll say that this fund has been around for many years. Experts I talked to said they should have probably been filing these forms and making them publicly disclosed for the whole existence of the fund , but nevertheless , we had a narrow window looking at this. Also , there's an issue with timeliness with these filings looking at they're supposed to be up on the on the county's website within 30 days of the payments being used. And we found that often they were months late. Sometimes they were over a year late. So trying to put together a timeline was pretty tough. I had a , you know , a long spreadsheet trying to make heads and tails of all of it. And then with investigative reporting , they're often dead ends and , and , you know , different alleyways that you go down to see. Well , what's what's interesting , what's not. One example is we found that Terra Los and Reimers office had spent over $6,000 on teleprompter services for the state of the County address. I know nothing about teleprompters , at least at the time I didn't , and it seemed like , wow , that seems like a lot of money. Let me look into this. So I started calling around to teleprompter rental companies and seeing what does it cost to rent a teleprompter for a few days. And it turns out I learned a lot about teleprompters. And I learned that. Yeah , now I know. And so , you know , it turns out that there's quite a range when it comes to teleprompter rentals. And some might be 1000 or 2000 bucks , some will be around 6000. It's kind of , you know , depends on the type of place you go with. But I use that as an example to say that with investigative reporting , I mean , there's there's a lot of legwork that goes into it and not everything comes to fruition. And at the end of it , you got to say , all right , what can we use ? What can't we use ? So anyways , that was a little bit of a glimpse into the process. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And you know , at the end of the story you have a lot more questions. I think you're still looking to get answered. So yeah. What's on your mind. Where does the story go from here for you ? We have about a minute left.
S2: So we're still looking to get receipts for all of the expenditures , just to get a better idea of where the money went specifically , um , and kind of rundown some of those leads. We also want to see historically what , what it look like money flowing into this fund in past years. Again , the documents that we got that have been disclosed by the county so far only show about a two year window. So we want to go back further than that and see historically how much money has been flowing in. Because $100,000 in just two years. That's quite a lot. I'd be curious to see what it was like five years ago , even ten years ago. Interesting.
S1: Interesting. Well , a lot more. We'll hopefully hear more about that. Scott Rod is an investigative reporter here at KPBS. You can find his story. We'll provide links to that in our show notes. Scott , thanks so much. Don't be a stranger on roundtable. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. Of course. Andrew , so glad to be back. Thanks.
S1: Coming up , America has long been called a melting pot , and we talk more about how accurate that is. Next. You're listening to KPBS roundtable. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable , I'm Andrew Bracken. America as a melting pot , it's a metaphor we've all grown accustomed to. But how accurate a picture does that paint of our country , especially now in 2026 , as our nation gets ready to celebrate its 250th birthday ? If you listen to our show at all , I'm sure you recognize the voice of Gustavo Solis. He's often here sharing his stories , covering the border and immigration. For his latest , he's taking us into the kitchen to test out this melting pot idea. Gustavo , welcome back to roundtable.
S4: Hey , how are you doing , Andrew ? Great. Hungry ? Yeah.
S1: So , what made you want to tackle this idea of America as a melting pot ? Yeah.
S4: So the assignment , we're doing a bunch of stories. KPBS is doing a bunch of stories for the 250th anniversary of the country , and my editors just told me to do whatever I wanted , which is so difficult when you don't have any limitations or direction. It's like , man , I cover immigration and the border , and there's a lot you can say about 250 years of immigration here in the US. So I thought the melting pot was a nice mechanism to focus in on , on what is happening now , but also go back to to the past and just have a little bit of fun with it.
S1: Yeah , absolutely. So this term goes all the way back to the 1800s actually. Yeah. But you say , you know , it took hold after a popular Broadway play from the early 20th century.
S4: Yeah , in 1908. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Tell us more about how it took hold and. Yeah.
S4: Yeah. Well , the title of the play is Melting Pot , and it was about this Russian immigrant , Jewish , Russian immigrant , immigrant fleeing pogroms. He comes to the US , meets a nice Russian Christian woman , and they fall in love. But the story is about how they become American and the process that it takes to become American and part of that process , according to the play. And just the thinking at the time was that you have to give up a little bit of the old world to join the new world , and you have to give up a little bit of your culture and become American. Which I thought was interesting because that's not my understanding of what the melting pot was when I learned it in school. Right. When I when I learned it , it was more like , this country is a melting pot , and I come from Mexico and you come from the Philippines , and then everyone comes from somebody else. And we collectively make this great stew incomplete. Yeah , right. Which are similar ideas. But but I think it's an important difference , right ? One is you come and have to give up something to become part of the stew , as opposed to everyone coming together. There's sort of like a , a conditionality to being American.
S1: And one of the experts you spoke with for this story was Jose Antonio Orozco. He and he wrote this book Topping the Melting Pot. What's his take on this mythology ? You know , this mythology of America ? Yeah.
S4: He recognizes the limits of it. And I think mythology is right because we kind of put it on a pedestal. But he recognizes the times and moments where the myth does not jive with the reality. Right. And the idea of a melting pot. I mean , it's always been controversial because who gets to be included in that melting pot has always been a debate , right ? Originally it was used for Western Europeans coming into the country. It very clearly did not include the enslaved people who were brought by force into this country. Right. And then the definition of who is white has shifted. Uh , Italians and Russians and Irish were not considered white when they first got into the country. But but times change and that change. So his take is , is that it's an interesting starting point , but it has a lot of limitations. But it also has this promise that has yet to be fulfilled , which is that the country can be a multicultural place where we do learn and grow and contribute from our outside cultures to create this new one that we're all a part of.
S1: The story , you know , has a much different feel from a lot of your reporting. I think it's safe to say , you know , and a lot of it has to do with food and you kind of playing into that. Yeah. Um , you make it kind of a central , you know , central to this story.
S4: I mean , I associate different regions of the of the US with , with food. And I've lived in a lot of places. Right. So I , uh , barbecue in Kansas City , right. Cajun food in Louisiana. Uh , Cuban food in Miami. Uh , clam chowder up in Boston. Um , It's just such an easy way to understand the world. And even in Tijuana , when I take my friends to Tijuana , it's usually a food tour , right ? So I think it just we all have to eat. We've all been eating for millennia. It's just like a very human thing to do. And what we eat just shows off a lot of who we are and what we prioritize and what we think about the world.
S1: And on that point , kind of tying it back to just this experience of immigrants in America. You spoke with a professor from Colgate University , Jennifer La mesa. Here's a little of what she had to say to you about food and immigrants and the experience.
S5: Every new group of immigrants is always discriminated against by what they eat. Um , we love pizza. We love , uh , spaghetti now. But when the Italians got here , people were like , you're eating worms on a plate. Why would you.
S1: You know what I mean ? Because I think there's something this idea of spaghetti being thought of as worms is so foreign. Whereas now it's like kind of one of the more American dishes I can think of. Right. Yeah.
S4: Yeah. But it takes a long time for you to get from point A to point B , and I'm sure a lot of , you know , first , second generation immigrant children will grow up like , remember , in school bringing food from home and kids making fun of you for that funny looking or funny smelling food that everyone's probably eating now. Right. It's it's interesting just how something that was so out of left field a few years ago can just be totally mainstream now , and it kind of shows the promise of what the melting pot can be.
S1:
S4: History repeats itself. Which is obvious , but you're seeing it now , right ? There are the story references. The Chinese Exclusion Act of the late 1800s. It came at a time of a lot of economic uncertainty , political uncertainty , and this group of immigrants was used as a scapegoat to to channel all those real frustrations. Fast forward to the 2024 election economic and political uncertainty. There was a lot of racialized rhetoric around Haitian people in Ohio eating cats and dogs. Yeah. 1800s. 2024 very similar conversations happening. So I think this was a very good example of just how history repeats itself. I think acknowledging that creates , hopefully an opportunity to learn from that and not have it repeat it. But one of the things I enjoyed having a hearing from Jennifer is another truism , right ? History is not linear. Progress is not linear. So just because we're having or it feels like we're having the same conversations that we're having. A hundred years ago , 200 years ago , it doesn't necessarily mean that it's bad.
S1: You know ? I mean , it's interesting , the story , as you mentioned , it's part of our coverage marking America's 250th anniversary , July 4th marks the 250th , 250th anniversary of the signing of Declaration of Independence.
S4: I think for me , it's a central question. Who gets to be American , who does not get to be American ? And this country has never really answered it in the 250 years we've had it. It's just such a difficult question to answer and I find that really interesting. I find it really fascinating from like an academic abstract point of view. But I also find it very heartbreaking from the point of view of knowing the people who don't get to be Americans and interviewing them and spending time with them. And I can see the. The negative aspects that come from that. So I'm torn. I'm of two minds , right ? I'm very I was born in Mexico City , I naturalized when I was in college. I know what it's like to be an immigrant and become a citizen , and I'm very proud to be a citizen. But at the same time , I feel like I'm , well , like a lot of Americans at any point in history. Right ? You're proud to be here , but you're not proud of everything that's happening in the country. How do you reconcile the two ? And I think that's also a very human experience. And America 250 , like all big anniversaries is just a nice opportunity to sit and reflect and what that means.
S1: Gustavo Solis is an investigative board reporter here at KPBS. Gustavo , thanks so much. Yeah.
S4: Yeah. Thank you.
S1: Up next. First ever local news day was celebrated this week , and we check in with a few reporters from across our region on how they approach covering their communities. This is KPBS roundtable. Stay tuned. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. This week was the first ever local News Day , a national effort to highlight the work of local newsrooms across the country. Today , we wanted to sit down with a few local storytellers to talk about the state of news in San Diego and hear more about their work. I'm here with Drew Sitton , community reporter for The Times of San Diego , who covers San Diego's East County. Kate Morrissey is also here. She's co-founder and reporter at Daylight San Diego. And Yamiche Aguilar also joins us. He's a journalist with the Imperial Valley Weekly and the Calexico Chronicle. I want to welcome you all to roundtable. And to start , I just wanted to get your thoughts on what makes news with a local , you know , community focus unique in the larger media landscape. Drew , I'll start with you.
S6: So a lot of stories focus on national news right now. But when you look at the local news , you can actually see the way that it is affecting individual people's lives. And there are stories that will never be told. If there is not a local news outlet there already present , with ties and roots in that community.
S1: And Kate , I mean , part of Daylight San Diego. I think part of the mission is to highlight some underserved , you know , unrecognized communities in San Diego. But yeah. Your thoughts ? Absolutely.
S7: You know , we do things like we just published a map of food distributions around the county , given that the change in Snap benefits. And so , like , you couldn't have a national outlet make a map of food distributions everywhere. Like that would be a really intense journalistic task. And it wouldn't serve people as well , because you'd have to filter to the place that you actually care about , which is where you live. Right. And so there's there's some amount of like local news has to be there so that you can learn things that are specific to you , specific to your community , and useful in your daily life.
S1: You you cover Imperial County. Does this resonate with you ? How do you see this ? You know the the role of of local coverage.
S8: Um , local coverage is I think it's mainly important because we get to see how even national news affects these local communities. I'll take two of my most recent examples. Um , there's a lot of talk about AI data centers right now , but we get to see how a like the Imperial County. Um , there is a lot of community just support for the data center. There's a lot of community support against the data center. And it's just getting to see that local point of view. Um , even with recent news , um , going to another topic of Cesar Chavez that was all over national news and about just the farmworker movement. And we look at the city of Brawley in Imperial County , and we get to see how their hometown hero , how kind of celebrating him yearly , how that changes and how they move forward from that. So just getting to see that point of view that we really wouldn't see on the National. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. So just a few examples , and I want to dive more into each of your reporting on some of those stories. But first , Kate , you and your daylight co-founders , you're getting ready to celebrate your one year anniversary. Right. So first off , congratulations. Thank you. Um , but , you know , I wanted to get your thoughts.
S7: This is our one year publishing anniversary.
S1:
S7: And so now we've been doing that for a year. We've continued to listen , um , you know , and I think the the way that people receive us when we show up in spaces and they're like , oh my gosh , I'm so glad you're here. You know , so many times we hear like , no other outlets are here covering this like and just the the way that people feel more heard when you're showing up to the things that are important to them and able to shed some light on what's going on for them. Um , I think that really , really brings out like , why we need local journalism , why we need , you know , multiple news outlets , why we need more reporters at all of those outlets so that we can be in those places so that we can be covering , um , the things that that each little piece of our community finds precious or important or harmful , right , so that we can say , hey , this group is being harmed by this. This group is celebrating this. If we don't have the the people power in local news in the region , we can't get to all of those places. And so like , I think just as we're out in the community on the daily with uh , with daylight , getting that feedback , um , has been has been really important. And I would say to The the need for balance and news , which I've talked with you on this this show about before the need as I was sort of indicating not just to cover the giant investigation about the horrible thing happening in the local government or whatever it is , but also to uplift the stories of like , you know , the Comoro community getting recognised for a day in the , in the city council or , um , you know , we recently put out a piece about a new , um , art opening and , and this group of artists who came together to , um , to do that. And I and I think we need more of that kind of coverage , too. And that's really local news is place.
S1: And again , I want to kind of delve into that and how everyone's been kind of covering those. I think we when we last talked to was like sort of moments of joy or these the space for joy in local news coverage , which I thought was really important to focus on. Um , drew , I want to turn to some of your reporting. You focus on San Diego's East County , but you also tell stories of other communities around our region. One recent story you wrote about how a lack of public restroom access is causing medical harm for trans San Diegans , you know. Tell us more about that story and how you approach telling it.
S6: Yeah , so this was a story that had been bubbling for a few years. I actually covered a different version of this that was just specifically looking at the downtown neighborhood and how unhoused individuals there's , you know , there's a lot of stigma around open defecation. And they were also basically responding with their only two 24 hour bathrooms in all of downtown. So this was sort of continuing on of like , okay , those are the unhoused community. How is this affecting other communities ? And I just put out a call out on a lot of groups of , hey , I'm looking for people who are maybe disabled , have gastrointestinal issues , and I'm looking for transgender people who feel like they are not safe using the public bathroom. And the response was very surprising is that a lot of people reached out very , very willing and ready to talk about this. There like this has been something that has , you know , ruined my life. Like being in continent has meant I lost my job. It's meant I lost my housing. And so then them I was just very impressed with how ready they were to speak. They wanted to be heard. And so , like , yes , you're coming at this with a lot of tenderness. It's very vulnerable. You know , there is a lot of stigma around talking about , you know , the bathroom and any gastrointestinal issues you may have , as well as just being at a time where trans people are very marginalized. So treating with a lot of tenderness and grace when you are approaching these people , but also being very encouraged by how much they want their local community to know what is happening.
S1: You heard earlier you mentioned the story of the data center that's being debated in in Imperial County right now. What's it like covering a story like that with , you know , tensions in the community running pretty high , it seems.
S8: Um , I would just say that it's impressive that that's the first what you walk into the the Board of Supervisors meeting , and it is packed. And you could cut the tension with a knife in the air. And it is just impressive seeing these community members get really , um , wake up really early in the morning , um , for these meetings , because even if they say it starts at ten , people are already walking in at 7 or 8 a.m. and this is during the workweek. So people are taking time out of their days to go to these meetings and just show , show that , um , that they care. And it just just nothing short of impressive. And you just see , mainly from what I've seen is that there is a lot of community feedback against the data center. They don't want the data center. And that feedback , that strong voice doesn't stop at the Board of Supervisors meeting. It continues online. You drive down a neighborhood and you see signs in the front lawns that say , not in my backyard. Um , and it's just it's impressive and kind of , kind of just also heartwarming , seeing a community rally around just one objective , one main goal that they want to see. And even if there is pushback , just like in this last meeting , the county Board of Supervisors approved a lot merger for the AI data center , which doesn't mean that the AI data center is going to get built , just pretty much allowing that the land that they want to use for the data center pretty much just got the permission to be used. So it is a step. But there are a lot of more hurdles for the data center to be potentially made. But even when the community receives that setback , they still don't give up. And you even just see them get louder and get stronger.
S1: So another step in that process , as you mentioned there , um , drew , you and you both grew up in the communities you now cover. And I'm wondering how that shapes your reporting.
S6: Yeah , I would say that there is sometimes a lot of nuance that a , you know , someone who's at a national outlet and parachutes in. There's a lot of nuance that I already understand. There's already culture and mindset , things that already have the background in that I don't need to be brought up to speed on. At the same time , there is , you know , people have known you your whole life. So sometimes there's trust and sometimes there's lack of trust because of that.
S1: So it goes both ways , I guess. Yeah , I could see that.
S8: Um , for example , these data center stories , a lot of the main issues are environmental issues. And the Imperial County is mainly is an agriculture county. That's how we get most of our business , most of our income. And just knowing that and looking at it from those lens , um , you just already know what the community is worrying about or where most of their concerns come from. So I think that just comes to me a lot , a lot more naturally. And also I'm always just bumping into people that I know and people that I've covered in one article. I might see them at another event. And it's just kind of it feels , if it feels like a small town cliche , that you're just bumping into everyone. It's a small world And.
S1: You know , you mentioned events there being an important part of your coverage. Recently , the town of Brawley , it's an important place of history for the farmworker movement. And you mentioned this earlier covering this event. They're honoring farm workers there. Tell us more about that. Because , you know , we know there's been so much happening around that over the past month.
S8: So the main , um , detail about , um , the Brawley farmworker celebration , a march that they had , was that in previous years it would be to celebrate Cesar Chavez. The celebration would be called the Cesar Chavez celebration. Um , he was known all throughout California and all throughout just in for representing farm workers. But he had special ties in Brawley. He went to school there. He a lot of his family is from there. And Brawley has always claimed a strong connection to Cesar Chavez. So when I went to cover this event , in my head , I was thinking , how is this community moving forward from these heinous allegations that just came to light about , um , you know , abuse allegations of Cesar Chavez. And I was really pleasantly , pleasantly surprised to when I interviewed a lot of people , um , event organizers and even just people that were enjoying the event. They said , you know , it was really easy to move on because at the heart of our community , it is always the farm workers. Yes , it is nice to have a leader. Yes , it's nice to have a figurehead , but , you know , we're not defined by them and it's easy to be detached and that kind of you could say maturity from a community was just really , really heartwarming to see that at the end of the day , the community is always going to come first.
S1: And Kate , the through line to this conversation really is community. Earlier you mentioned , you know , kind of leaning into some of these , you know , lighter moments , but also you guys have focused on events being part of your mission.
S7: I think part of that has to do with the cost of living here. If you have to move a lot because your rent keeps going up. Um , you don't take as much time to get to know your neighbors as you do if you live in the same spot for years and years and years. Um , and so people don't have that , um , sort of sense of geographic community in the same way that , that maybe they used to have , um , and they're missing that. And so our thought was , well , if we can bring people together into spaces over , over other things that might unite them , a conversation about , um , you know , what's going on in the world of immigration that we did back in November. More recently , we launched our Daylight Culture Club , which will be , uh , periodic events on different sort of arts and culture topics in San Diego , um , that people can get in the same room , they can make new friends. They can they can feel empowered to act on things that are important to them. Um , all of that helps with that sense of connection. I think it also helps with the issue of news burnout , which is something that all of us deal with journalists and non journalists alike. Um , if you're taking in so much , um , heavy information and not balancing that with joyful things or not balancing that with solutions like , oh , this thing is happening , that's that's not good in my community , but I see a way that I can participate in making change that , um , that gives you a different feeling and receiving that information. And so we're trying to create spaces where we can have those conversations and bring people together , and we have. Our next event is actually our one year anniversary party. That'll be May 7th. And if you want more information about that , you should sign up for our free newsletter that comes out every week. And we'll have details coming very soon about what that will look like.
S1: That's great. Um , drew , the number of local news deserts in the US has increased the last year. Journalism jobs have , you know , faced some challenges in recent years.
S6: Government corruption charges go up. We know that government spending goes up. And this is a way to increase accountability and also create community cohesion. So continuing to support those local news outlets so they never die in the first place. Because as soon as something like your local newspaper dies , it's so much harder and so much more effort to restart. And that's why it's , you know , very important to try and preserve what already exists and continue to strengthen and reinvest in those groups , which is why I am proud to work under the parent company of NUS well , which is supporting local news as a form of supporting and strengthening our democracy.
S1: Um , Jamir , you know , we've been talking about allowing space , avoiding news , burnout , all these things. And I want to , you know , among the stories you've covered , these data centres , you know , these these news stories covering city council meetings , you also covered recently a giant Easter egg hunt , for example , in your community. Um , can you talk more about how you approach those more joyful stories and what why they're important ? And we have just about a minute left.
S8: Um , they're mainly important because you get to see the ice , the true image of the of the community at these like , government procedure meetings. Obviously you want to get facts , but in these more lighthearted events , you always I always try to get more quotes , try to get like in the example of the Easter egg hunt , you know , quotes from the little kids , their parents , what they think. Um , just even in the pictures that we take , just what action shots that really embody how a community feels stress free. And I think kind of that palate cleanser from the current news cycle of more like higher stakes is just as important for a community to to stay involved and want to listen to more news.
S1: Well , I want to thank you all for being here and kind of talking more about the work you do. Um , we're going to include links to the stories and also to your outlets , including daylight's one year anniversary. Hopefully we can get a link up there to that. I've been speaking with Kate Morrissey from Daylight San Diego Aguilar , a journalist with the Calexico Chronicle , and the Imperial Valley Weekly , along with Drew Sitton , community reporter covering East County for Times of San Diego. Thank you all for being here.
S9: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
S1: And that'll do it for our show this week. Thanks so much for listening. If you have any thoughts on today's show , you can always email us at roundtable at KPBS or leave us a message at (619) 452-0228. Roundtables technical producer is Brandon Truffaut. The show was produced by Ashley Rush. Brooke Ruth is roundtable senior producer , and I'm your host , Andrew Bracken. Have a great weekend and check out the Sonic Boom. Come in in a few hours if you're listening. Friday.
