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

Jueza bloquea intento de Trump de retirar fondos a Planned Parenthood

Kimberlee Kruesi

Una jueza federal dictaminó el lunes que las clínicas de Planned Parenthood en todo el país deben seguir siendo reembolsadas por los fondos de Medicaid, mientras el mayor proveedor de abortos de la nación lucha contra los esfuerzos de la administración del presidente Donald Trump por privarla de fondos.
National

States sue USDA over efforts to gather food stamp data on tens of millions of people

Jude Joffe-Block

Twenty-one states are suing after the USDA demanded states turn over sensitive data on food assistance applicants. The lawsuit calls the demand an "Orwellian surveillance campaign."
'There you are': How Mariska Hargitay sought out the truth behind her bombshell mom

Tonya Mosley

The Law & Order: SVU actor was 3 years old in 1967 when her movie star mom, Jayne Mansfield, died in a car crash. Hargitay's new documentary, My Mom Jayne, explores her mother's identity, and her own.
Border & Immigration

Overcrowded conditions plague Otay Mesa and other immigrant detention facilities

Gustavo Solis

Lawyers representing detainees at San Diego County’s Otay Mesa Detention Center say overcrowding is forcing their clients to sleep on the floors of their cells and damaging their health.
Quality of Life

San Diego housing data reveal fastest growth in urban core

Andrew Bowen

Downtown, Bankers Hill, Hillcrest and North Park have seen the highest concentration of new housing in recent years, following a host of reforms aimed at building more homes in walkable neighborhoods.
Racial Justice and Social Equity

Imperial County’s oldest LGBTQ+ center in turmoil after board members accuse CEO of seizing funds

Kori Suzuki

Earlier this month, three members of the Donnelly Community Services Center’s nonprofit board voted to fire founder and chief executive, Rosa Diaz. Diaz denied wrongdoing and said the board’s action amounted to a “hostile takeover.”