Thousands of catalytic converters have been reported stolen in San Diego County in the past year. Meanwhile, Barrio Logan, the heart of San Diego’s Chicano and Latino community, could soon adopt and implement a new community plan. It would be the first update to the community’s growth and development plan in 43 years. Plus, the National Guard are being asked to do many, many different things from responding to protests to driving school buses, and critics say it’s putting a strain on the guard.

Fentanyl overdoses in 2020 in San Diego county were more than four times higher than in 2018, and numbers for 2021 so far show the trend continuing. Meanwhile, California has distributed rent relief to less than a third of the 400,000 people who have applied to its assistance program. Plus, this state has arguably some of the strictest gun control in the country, and yet California often fails to take guns away from domestic abusers.

A recent inewsource investigation into the VA has sparked interest from lawmakers in Washington DC. Last week, senators grilled the head of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs about charges the VA is restricting veterans’ access to health care. Meanwhile, one of the most-trafficked thoroughfares in Del Mar might get a boost from the federal infrastructure bill. Plus, a major construction project is happening at the California State Capitol and many critics are not happy with the plans.

Tijuana City officials and advocates for asylum seekers say the restart of the controversial Trump-era program will make an already inhumane situation at the border worse. Meanwhile, Voice of San Diego reporters looked back on the first year of the pandemic and discovered that people with lower levels of education in San Diego were much more likely to die from the virus. Plus, when state lawmakers tried to bolster enforcement for regulations meant to protect outdoor workers from wildfire smoke, the Newsom administration blocked those efforts.

The first case of the omicron covid-19 variant in the US has been reported in San Francisco. Meanwhile, the state of California reports that half of its community college students are facing food insecurity. Plus, rules to protect outdoor workers in this state from wildfire smoke are rarely enforced.

Investigators of police use-of-force cases often go easy on their own colleagues during interviews after a shooting incident, experts say. Those interviews differ significantly from ones conducted with suspects or victims of those shootings, according to records obtained by KPBS. Meanwhile, Filipino community members are considering legal action against National City, arguing that district elections for city council members –rather than city-wide elections– would give more voice to local constituents. Plus, California could likely become a destination for a large influx out-of-state patients seeking abortions if the 1973 landmark Roe vs Wade decision is overturned.

An examination of local police records shows that from 2012 through 2019, officers from San Diego County police agencies shot at people in moving cars 20 times. That’s despite the fact that police training experts say it is one of the most hazardous things a cop can do. Meanwhile, the injunction against vaccine mandates for the San Diego Unified School District will be short lived, according to legal experts. Plus, during the pandemic many universities stopped requiring standardized test scores for admissions and then racial and ethnic diversity increased on campus.

A KPBS analysis of police records shows more than two-thirds of use-of-force incidents over a 15-year period occurred in ZIP codes south of Interstate 8. And nearly a quarter were concentrated in just a handful of neighborhoods in the southeast part of the city. Meanwhile, as the Biden administration plans a re-start of the controversial Remain in Mexico program that sends asylum seekers back across the border, immigrant advocates are split over whether or not to help. Plus, KPBS speaks with Cynthia Paes now that she’s been officially confirmed as the new San Diego registrar of voters.

The San Diego Black Homebuyers Program helped Tyshawn Cook buy his first home. The program provides grants to help with down payments or closing costs. Cook is putting equity back into his new home by investing in renovations, something that's only possible because of the money he saved with the grant. Meanwhile, the state of California has given $2.6 million to UC San Diego to recruit Native American student doctors. Plus, California is on track to close its very last commercial nuclear power plant.

Racial covenants shaped San Diego housing for decades. Our partners at inewsource bring us the story of one Chinese-American family that managed to purchase a home in 1947 despite racial restrictions. Meanwhile, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency was in Mexico this week discussing how the two countries will stop the cross-border sewage flows that are increasingly polluting south bay beaches. Plus, Comic-Con returns for in-person events with Comic-Con Special Edition this weekend.