Meet the Team

Dara Joan Dela Cruz

Accounting & Finance Assistant

Dara Joan Dela Cruz formerly worked in the KPBS newsroom as an assistant and call screener for Friday's Midday Edition. Dara attends San Diego State University where she plans to graduate with a business degree in accounting. She is a current member of the University Honors Program, which has encouraged her to also pursue a minor in interdisciplinary studies. After graduation, she later hopes to obtain an MBA, become a certified public accountant, and eventually manage her own firm. Before coming to San Diego, Dara lived in the Silicon Valley, where she grew up and graduated from Saint Francis High School in Mountain View, California. In her spare time, Dara likes to explore the city, watch films, and play the flute, as she is also a member of the university's wind symphony.

RECENT STORIES ON KPBS

Springsteen's label was about to drop him. Then came 'Born to Run'

Terry Gross

Biographer Peter Ames Carlin describes the making of Born to Run as an "existential moment" for Springsteen: "If this didn't work, he was done." Carlin's new book is Tonight in Jungleland.
Politics

Federal judge rules cuts to humanities grants were 'unlawful'

Elizabeth Blair

The ruling deems the government's termination of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities "unlawful" and allows a lawsuit brought by humanities groups to move forward.
Science & Technology

A planet from the Avatar movies may exist in real life

Nell Greenfieldboyce

One of the brightest stars in the night sky seems to be orbited by a planet like Jupiter. The news is sure to cheer fans of the Avatar series, which centers on a moon that orbits a fictional gas giant planet in this particular star system.
Economy

Poway is a paradise of single-family zoning and protected open space

Tigist Layne

Poway is building less new homes than most other cities. That shouldn’t be surprising given the city’s zoning laws and protected open spaces.
Health

Ultra-processed food consumption is down a bit, but still more than 50% of U.S. diet

Yuki Noguchi

Americans get about 55% of our calories from tasty, cheap — and unhealthy — manufactured foods, the latest data from CDC says. For kids, the percentage is even higher.
Politics

Trump wants a new U.S. census to exclude people here illegally. It'd be unprecedented

Hansi Lo Wang

Trump is calling for a "new" census that excludes people in the U.S. without legal status. The 14th Amendment requires the "whole number of persons in each state" in a key set of census results.