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

Economy

High Noon is recalling some vodka seltzers mislabeled as Celsius energy drinks

Rachel Treisman

Some beach variety packs of High Noon hard seltzers included canned cocktails mislabeled as blue raspberry Celsius energy drinks. The affected lots were sent to retailers in six states last week.
Racial Justice and Social Equity

Soccer program in City Heights mentors youth on and off the field

Jacob Aere

Soccer is played everywhere in San Diego and Tijuana. But accessing the sport can be a financial challenge. In one San Diego park, a soccer program is supporting refugee and immigrant youth, on and off the pitch.
Health

What will rescission do to foreign aid? Details are murky. Here's what we found out

Fatma Tanis

Congress approved the clawing back of $7.9 billion in foreign aid pledges. Who ends up losing out?
International

What Trump's threat to tariff Russia's trade partners means for India

Omkar Khandekar

President Trump said India would pay the price for buying Russian oil and military equipment. Here is a look at how India, with one of Asia's largest economies, is responding.
Father James Martin has taken heat for his LGBTQ acceptance

Rachel Martin

Father James Martin has become one of the most well-known Catholic priests in the U.S. But his journey to the priesthood took him by surprise after a chance encounter with a documentary.
'The Naked Gun,' a dazzling documentary, and more in theaters this week

Bob Mondello

Linda Holmes

Liam Neeson plays the detective Frank Drebin, Jr. in a Naked Gun reboot that piles on the jokes. Meanwhile, a stunning documentary explores the history of stone and cement in architecture.