Devastating floods in Texas are raising questions about San Diego’s preparedness for weather disasters. Then, the Department of Education is withholding millions in grants local schools are counting on for things like summer programs. And, just how bad are our political divisions? Hear from the author of the book “How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them.” Also, why is Carlsbad canceling traffic circles? And, San Diego isn’t the only city getting out of the residential trash subsidy business. Find out who else can expect higher collection fees. Finally, our review of the new Superman movie.
Feds withhold millions from San Diego schools
July 9, 2025 at 5:00 AM PDT
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Wednesday, July 9th.
Fatal flash floods in Texas are raising questions about local flood warnings.
More on that next. But first... the headlines….
Today the county planning commission will consider a proposal to convert the Cottonwood Golf Course into a sand mine.
The area is in the unincorporated East County community of Rancho San Diego.
The proposal would require a major use permit from the county to operate a large-scale industrial sand mine.
The golf course on Willow Glen Drive sits between residential neighborhoods.
County staff recommend the commission reject the proposal over environmental concerns and community opposition.
The hearing starts at 9 am.
County crews will conduct pesticide treatments this week after West Nile virus was found in mosquitoes in the Rolando neighborhood last month.
Crews will spray a pesticide mist from trucks on 4000 parcels of land between La Mesa and San Diego.
The county says mosquitos collected in the area June 24th tested positive for the virus. And follow-up testing resulted in more positive tests..
Crews will spray from 1 am to 6 am through Friday. The pesticide poses a low risk to people and pets, but dissipates after about 30 minutes.
Parts of the county are under an extreme heat warning or heat advisory from 10 am today (Wed) to 8 pm Thursday.
Meteorologist Alex Tardy spoke with Midday Edition’s Jade Hindmon.
“We’re looking at excessive heat for at least a couple days this week. That means temperatures could get up to around 100 in Ramona, …90 to 95 in a lot of our coastal communities along I-15. You’ll get some relief on the beach but our desert areas will be well over 110, we could even see between 115 and 120.”
Tardy says the heat will let up over the weekend, but could be back next week.
From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.
Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
THE DEVASTATING SCENES OUT OF TEXAS HAVE TRIGGERED BAD MEMORIES FOR SAN DIEGANS WHO LOST ALMOST EVERYTHING IN THE JANUARY 2024 FLOODS. BUT REPORTER JOHN CARROLL TALKED TO A LOCAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGIST WHO SAYS WE’RE PREPARED SHOULD FLOODS THREATEN THE AREA AGAIN.
“It’s really traumatizing because you’re essentially reliving your experience.”JESSICA CALIX LIVED IN SOUTHCREST, JUST FEET FROM THE CHOLLAS CREEK FLOOD CHANNEL, WHEN WATER RUSHED INTO HER APARTMENT. SHE SAYS SEEING THE DEVASTATION IN TEXAS HAS BEEN EXTREMELY DIFFICULT. BUT LOCAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGIST JON SUK SAYS THE SAN DIEGO OFFICE DID SEND OUT WARNINGS BACK THEN, AND HE SAYS THEY’RE READY TO DO IT AGAIN IF NEED BE.“That’s going to be through partners like KPBS, going onto websites like the National Weather Service, weather dot gov… Most weather apps also have the push on all watches, things like that. When you get warnings, that’s when we start to talk about direct threat to life and property.”SUK SAYS TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE WEATHER-RELATED APPS INSTALLED ON YOUR PHONE. John Carroll, KPBS NEWS.
A U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ED GRANT FUNDING FREEZE IS AFFECTING MANY SCHOOL DISTRICTS ACROSS THE COUNTY.
REPORTER JACOB AERE SAYS MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDING ARE IN LIMBO.
More than 50 million dollars in federal educational grant funds meant for San Diego county schools is frozen according to the County Office of Education.Schools were expecting the money on July 1.San Diego Unified Board Vice President Richard Barrera says his district has about 13 million dollars currently withheld.“This is funding specifically for programs like afterschool – including summer activities – its funding to support English learners, it's funding to support teacher training.”Barrera says the funding hold could impact programs as soon as the beginning of the school year.The Department of Education referred KPBS to the white house Office of Management and Budget.In a statement an OMB spokesperson said “This is an ongoing programmatic review of education funding.”They also said “no decisions have been made yet,” about when the funding will be released or when the review will be completed. Jacob Aere, KPBS News.
AS A WAR EXPERT ON A C-I-A PANEL, UC SAN DIEGO POLITICAL SCIENTIST BARBARA WALTER HELPED FORECAST CIVIL WARS IN OTHER COUNTRIES. ALONG THE WAY, SHE DISCOVERED SOME OF THOSE PREDICTORS APPLY TO THE US. WALTER IS THE AUTHOR OF HOW CIVIL WARS START: AND HOW TO STOP THEM .REPORTER AMITA SHARMA SPOKE RECENTLY WITH WALTER ABOUT THE CONDITIONS THAT LEAD TO CIVIL WAR.
The two big factors are, first and foremost, something we call anocracy. It's just a fancy word for partial democracy. It's countries that have elements of democracy. They have elections, people vote, but they also have elements of authoritarianism. They have a very, very powerful president, often who has very few constraints on his power. The second factor is whether the political parties in these partial democracies form mainly around race, religion or ethnicity rather than ideology.So how does the United States stack up against those measurements?The United States today is definitely in this anocracy zone, this dangerous partial democracy zone. We were a healthy democracy up until 2016. Between 2016 and 2020, our democracy declined quite rapidly. We hit a low point until recently. In December of 2020, when we officially entered this anocracy zone that's so dangerous, we got a little bit of a bump. In 2021, when there was a peaceful transfer of power, Trump left the White House. The Biden administration came in. American democracy seemed like it was on better footing for a while. But since Donald Trump has come back to the White House, our democracy has declined faster than it ever has in America's history.You write in your book How Civil Wars Start that people might put up with poverty, they might put up with unemployment, bad schools and more, but they will not tolerate losing their status. How is that playing out in the country right now?If you look at the Republican Party, up until this last election in 2024, it was over 80% white. If you were to walk down the street and you were to see somebody like me, and you would try to guess if I was a Republican or Democrat, you should guess that I'm a Republican simply because I'm white. And that is in a country that's multiethnic, multi-religious, multiracial. So our parties are more ethnically, religiously, racially based than would make sense if you look strictly based on ideology. On the other side of the ledger, if you look at the Democratic Party, the overwhelming majority of African Americans, a majority of Latinos, the majority of Asians, a majority of Muslims and Jews vote for the Democratic Party.So, Professor Walter, you also say that those who can make people believe absurdities can also make them commit atrocities. Relate that to the current moment in the country.The people who tend to initiate violence are the people who once had a lot of status and privilege, who had once been dominant in that country politically and economically, but who understand or they see themselves in decline. They are losing status. And what happens in those situations is they create this myth, this myth that they are the founders of the country, that they deserve to rule, that the identity of the country is based on their identity. And those myths are then spread through society to get more support. So the people who seem to feel most justified in turning to violence, the people who think probably that they're most likely to get away with it or be supported in this mission, are the people who are in power and see that power slowly declining.Given what you've just outlined, do you really think civil war could break out in the United States?So I don't think it could break out in the near future. I don't think we're on a precipice. I'm not building a bunker in my backyard. I served on this task force run by the U.S. government, where we used this model—this anocracy plus identity parties model—to predict where we were likely to see war. But it means that every year that you continue to have those two features, every year that a government doesn't reform and make its democracy stronger, every year that its political parties don't reach across racial, ethnic and religious lines to have more inclusive parties, that risk goes up.
CARLSBAD IS PUMPING THE BRAKES ON INSTALLING TRAFFIC CIRCLES IN THE BARRIO NEIGHBORHOOD.
THE CITY IS NOW LOOKING FOR PUBLIC INPUT.
NORTH COUNTY REPORTER ALEXANDER NGUYEN SAYS RESIDENTS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT LOSING PARKING SPACES.
One of the proposed traffic circles is at the Jefferson and Oak intersection in front of Thomas Morgan’s apartment complex.He doesn’t like them because he says people don’t know how to use them correctly. And they’ll take away parking spots.“There’s parking is already tight. You know, people are in businesses and stuff around here. So I got to walk to my place already, and it was just another headache.”This project will take away 27 parking spots.The city says traffic circles will improve safety by calming traffic and making the neighborhood more walkable.Five traffic circles were approved for the Barrio Neighborhood six years ago.The city is taking feedback on its website. Alexander Nguyen, KPBS News.
MEANWHILE IN CORONADO, RESIDENTS THERE CAN EXPECT A HIGHER BILL FOR THEIR TRASH PICKUP. INEWSOURCE INTERN CHARIS JOHNSTON HAS MORE.
Starting this month, Coronado will charge more for solid waste pickup … and it’s ending a subsidy meant to encourage recycling. Now, the monthly rate is around thirty-one dollars. The city says rising disposal costs are hiking the fee. As for the subsidy…“We’ve been trying to get out of this subsidy business since 1999 … That’s Councilmember Kelly Purvis.“It’s a good time to stop paying for garbage and have those funds for other things for the community.”The cut is estimated to save the city three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. And even with the increased fee, the city says single-family rates remain among the lowest in the county. For KPBS, I’m inewsource reporting intern Charis Johnston.
INEWSOURCE IS AN INDEPENDENTLY FUNDED, NONPROFIT PARTNER OF KPBS. THIS STORY IS PART OF OUR PUBLIC MATTERS PARTNERSHIP. TO FIND OUT MORE, GO TO KPBS DOT ORG SLASH PUBLIC MATTERS.
THIS WEEKEND, A NEW SUPERMAN FLIES INTO THEATERS — AND CINEMA JUNKIE BETH ACCOMANDO HAS THIS REVIEW.
James Gunn’s superman is political — by his own admission. You can read gaza, ukraine, musk, russia and trump into aspects of the film. But the politics really stem from superman himself, from his story of being an alien arriving on earth and from the values the kents instilled in him. Here’s how gunn described it from the red carpet.James gunn: i think some people think of superman as old fashioned. Some people think he's too earnest, and i'm like, yeah, that's what we need right now. That's what i think we're all dying for a little too earnest. I think we're dying for someone who's too kind. Dying for those old-fashioned things.At its core, gunn’s superman is about reconnecting with our humanity and acknowledging that the choices we make define who we are. This superman makes mistakes but he is motivated by a sincere desire to do good, to help and to protect. It’s refreshing to see him back in this more idealistic light. And while david corenswet does not surpass christopher reeve’s iconic superhero, gunn’s superman is a welcome treat. And seriously, it had me at crypto.Beth accomando, kpbs news.
That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org.. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great day.