Major funding for Kpbs Evening Edition has been made possible in part by Bill Howe family, companies providing San Diego with plumbing, heating, air restoration and flood services for over 45 years.

Call one 800 Bill Howe or visit Billhowe.com.

And by the Conrad Prebys Foundation.

Darlene Marcos Shiley and by the following.

And by viewers like you.

Thank you.

The extreme heat over the weekend set some new daily records for our county.

Thank you for joining us, I'm Maya Trabulsi.

While much of the county is no longer under extreme heat warning, mountain and desert communities are still sweltering.

Kpbs reporter Jacob Aere says with heatwaves getting longer and more intense due to weather patterns fueled by climate change, the costs of all the hot weather is adding up.

San Diegans are experiencing more dangerously hot days than we used to.

That brings a real impact on health and finances.

When it comes to something like heat, it's invisible.

It's not something that is easy to quantify.

It's not something that's easy to measure.

But we know that it has an impact and it affects all of us in a quiet way.

Tom Corringham is an economist with Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

He said the largest impacts of extreme heat are increased emergency services and health care visits due to heat illness.

The major impacts also include increased energy demand and costs as people try to cool down businesses and homes with air conditioning.

We see more days, above certain thresholds each year.

We see longer duration of heatwaves.

We see warmer nighttime temperatures, which is really important for the health impacts.

If, the temperatures are hot at night or humid at night, there's less time for the body to recover.

Extreme heat tends to affect more vulnerable community members the hardest, including seniors, children and people with preexisting health conditions.

Doctor Vi Nguyen is a full time pediatrician in Otay Mesa.

She's been treating more patients due to heat illness in recent years.

I mean, just as a community pediatrician, I see more kids come in for heat related illnesses.

Whether or not that be dizziness and, kind of feeling dehydrated, but also just thermal burns.

According to a 2024 report analyzing the cost and benefits of San Diego County's Climate Action Plan.

The health and financial costs of extreme heat are more burdensome for low income communities, people of color and people experiencing homelessness.

But just having air conditioning alone isn't enough.

That's because families in these households are generally less able to afford air conditioning and operating expenses, and they tend to live in hotter areas.

At the household level, folks typically spend a little under $200 a month, on, on electricity.

And that obviously goes up.

That can go up ten, 20%, during a heat wave.

So it does affect people's pocketbook, for people who are unable to afford air conditioning, I mean, that's the real danger zone for those without air conditioning.

There are nearly 80 cool zone locations in San Diego County.

Places like libraries and senior centers where residents can cool off for free.

Corringham adds planting and providing tree canopy is one of the most effective methods to provide some relief in highly developed areas.

Temperatures are even higher than, than more rural areas.

And so if you're able to increase the urban, forest, the urban tree canopy that also brings temperatures down.

Extreme heat is now the leading cause of weather related deaths in the US.

According to the National Weather Service.

An analysis of the county's climate action plan says heat is the most prevalent climate risk in San Diego.

Jacob Aere, Kpbs news.

And that story is part of our Price of San Diego series.

We have more cost of living stories about everything from rising gas prices to saving money on live sports events.

Check it out online at kpbs.org/price of San Diego.

With the cost of living so high.

Many renters are doing what they can to make ends meet.

Some relief is on the way.

There is now a limit on how much rent can go up for many living across the county.

If you rent an apartment or other home covered under California's tenant Protection Act, your landlord can now raise your rent by no more than 8.2% over the next year.

That's down from 8.8 cap from last year, but some say it still isn't enough.

8.2% an increase year after year.

It's way excessive and it's hurting tenants.

As you know, in the last five years, inflation has skyrocketed.

This is a good reprieve.

Half a percent less than last year.

But it's still not enough.

We need rent control at 2% 3% maximum.

Experts say it's important for renters to know whether their home is covered by the rent cap.

And even if your rent goes up, the law requires landlords to give 30 day written notice before any increase takes effect.

Extreme heat warnings are still with us.

Very hot out there in the interior this evening and over the next few days here, those interior parts of especially central and eastern San Diego County will be very, very hot.

And also to the east and north.

Very, very hot out there tonight we find some relief, but it will remain warm.

Lows around 70 in San Diego, but 79 is as low as we can go there, Borrego Springs.

We'll look on the other side of this.

Also discuss some fire danger coming up.

Last month, the Trump administration deployed a new tactic in its mass deportation campaign, which is to schedule hundreds of immigration court hearings with very short notice.

Kpbs reporter Gustavo Solis reviewed federal data that shows those hearings resulted in more than 50,000 deportation orders nationwide.

Mega master calendar hearings.

That is what the Trump administration calls the practice of scheduling a bunch of immigration court hearings in a short amount of time.

This began to happen in May, and advocates sounded the alarms right away, saying that people would not show up to court if they were given very little notice.

Well, now the data is out and it shows that is exactly what happened.

Puts numbers to a lot of what people have been reporting from on the ground all over the country.

That's Joseph Gunter.

He just coauthored a report on the impact of these mega master hearings.

The research focused on absentia removal orders, which is a deportation order given to people who did not show up to court.

And so what we saw is that, you know, with all of the after these huge numbers of hearings scheduled on short notice, is that a truly unprecedented number of removal orders in absentia, were handed out in June.

Immigration courts nationwide issued more than 53,000 absentia removal orders in June.

It was a 55% increase from May, which was already a record month.

Gunter and his research partner, Brandon Marrow, looked at every immigration court in the country.

Marrow says this data raises serious questions about the integrity of the immigration court system.

It represents how the system is functioning.

Is it functioning to are judges spending a lot of their time adjudicating cases, or are they spending a lot of time kind of issuing these orders in kind of, you know, quickly moving through the cases?

In San Diego, about 40% of cases in June ended with absentia removal orders.

Still, a significant jump from May.

The impact of these hearings is impossible to ignore.

Gunter compared a regular calendar hearing for one judge in San Diego with a mega master calendar hearing for that same judge in the same week on a regular hearing day.

The judge heard 27 cases and issued zero absentia removals.

But on June 12th, she had 90 people scheduled in front of her, the highest.

You know, I was seeing this year at all for her was 28.

Until that she was scheduled to see 90 people.

The median amount of time between when the thing was put into the calendar and when it was set to take place, was 30 days.

You know, so much shorter.

And of those 90 people, 51 of them were removed, ordered, removed in absentia.

Gunter says that these Mega master calendar hearings is just one tactic in a long list of others that the Trump administration has deployed this year.

Others include courthouse arrests, eliminating temporary protected status, third country deportations, and indefinite detention.

We've seen, you know, tactics that looks very different on the face, throughout this second administration on the part of the government.

But that all kind of had the same ultimate effect, which is to kind of close people's cases without them being heard on the merits of those cases.

Marrow says people who got absentia removal orders can still fight their deportations.

He encouraged people to find a lawyer or seek free legal aid through organizations like the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project.

Gustavo Solis, Kpbs news.

Dogs, cats and lots of other animals are being adopted from the San Diego Humane Society every day.

The problem, especially when it comes to dogs, is that more are coming in than going out.

Kpbs reporter John Carroll explains why the situation just got worse, and what you can do to help.

For San Diego Humane Society President and CEO Doctor Gary Weitzman and everyone else who works and volunteers here, another piece of bad news in the seemingly intractable problem of overcrowding.

These are two cases that we, we hope won't happen, but they seem to be happening more and more.

Weitzman is talking about the influx late last week of more than 50 Yorkies and huskies from the people responsible for their care.

Generally, we bring in over 600 animals a week, which is unbelievable if you think about that.

And that's every single week here.

They're either stray or owner surrenders that people just can't take care of.

There's these animals.

And then we've been having case after case after case like this.

Right across the street from the main Humane Society building is that warehouse.

It's supposed to be just for storage of supplies.

Instead, the warehouse is filled with dozens of these temporary kennels where every variety of canine imaginable is waiting to be rescued and loved.

So, once again, the Humane Society is slashing the cost of adopting for the entire month of August.

All of our animals are 50% off except our horses.

In addition to reducing adoption fees, the Humane Society does other things to help people keep the animals they already have.

Free pet food is always available here, along with vet care.

At the end of the month, on Saturday the 29th, the reduced adoption fees go away entirely.

Adopting any animal on that day is free except for the horses.

You can adopt at four of the Humane Society's campuses.

The San Diego headquarters, along with El Cajon, Escondido and Oceanside.

It's not just dogs.

The Humane Society is currently caring for nearly 2000 animals, an urgent situation that cries out for a loving human response.

John Carroll, Kpbs news.

I'm Amna Nawaz tonight on the News Hour.

Todd Blanche wins the support of two holdout senators and his nomination for attorney general.

That's coming up at seven after Evening Edition on Kpbs.

President Donald Trump lashed out at Iran today, just a day after giving positive signals that two sides would be able to reach a deal.

And it comes less than a week after the U.S.

was looking for new ways to target the country.

Maddie Gannon reports President Donald Trump is starting the week insisting that talks between the U.S.

and Iran are taking place and making clear his frustrations with Iran over it all.

In a post on Truth Social Monday morning, Trump slammed Iranian leadership for denying talks were happening and stressed that discussions on the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's nuclear ambitions were in fact taking place, although he didn't say with whom.

The post came a day after Trump told reporters that a new round of negotiations between the two were slated to begin Monday.

But that was met with swift pushback from Iran, which said that it was only currently in talks with Oman over managing the Strait of Hormuz.

This was after over the weekend, President Trump announced that he was calling off new U.S.

strikes against Iran because he said the parameters of the deal had been reached.

Now, this marked an abrupt turnaround from late last week, when tensions between the U.S.

and Iran were boiling again.

Sources tell CNN the U.S.

military was seeking out ideas on new strategies to target the country.

A senior U.S.

military official sent an email to military analyst last week asking for creative and unconventional ways to, quote, pressure and punish Iran, according to a source familiar with the message at the white House.

I'm Maddie Gannon.

Nuclear fusion energy is coming, and one company in Poway just got a big financial boost from the estate to bring it one step closer to reality.

Kpbs North County reporter Alexander Nguyen explains.

Here at the General Atomics Magnet Technology Center in Poway, the new machinery is still wrapped in plastic.

And soon these machines will be part of the state of the art nuclear fusion testing center.

So General Atomics is designing a blanket component testing facility.

California recently awarded General Atomics a $20 million tax credit to build the testing facility.

It will bring commercial fusion energy one step closer to reality.

It's clean energy that produces no nuclear waste.

It is expected to bring more than 40,000 jobs to San Diego, and pump more than $125 billion into California's economy in the next decade.

Brian Grierson is the director of fusion energy technologies at GA.

He says it's called a blanket because it surrounds the fusion core and it absorbs the energy from the fusion reaction and converts that energy into steam turbines, heat and electricity.

It's an important component in fusion nuclear reactors.

Currently, there are no other fusion nuclear power plants in the world.

So this is one example of a magnet that is partially wound.

Current nuclear plants, like the one at San Onofre, uses fission technology, which is different.

It takes a large atom and splits it into smaller ones, releasing energy.

Fusion is taking two light atoms such as hydrogen and combining them into a heavier one.

It's the same process that powers the sun.

We are trying to bring that process here down on Earth, and we do it through either strong magnetic fields, such as using magnets like the one that is here.

Once built, the testing facility will be the only one of its kind in the world.

It would be capable of testing large scale components needed for nuclear power plants.

Grierson says small, unnoticeable flaws in the lab could become major issues once they are scaled up.

So that way all the operation of the equipment is properly represented.

While the joke in the industry is that fusion technology is always 30 years away, Grierson says that's a matter of resources rather than time.

With the new resources that are being invested into fusion development, as well as the global competition to bring fusion to the grid, I think that those investments and those resources are really accelerating the timeline for fusion to become a commercial reality, and the reality is already happening in Virginia.

That's where Commonwealth fusion System is in the process of bringing its fusion power plant online by the early 2030s.

Alexander Nguyen, Kpbs news.

A disconnect appears to be emerging in the job market over artificial intelligence.

Companies increasingly want workers to know how to use AI tools, but industry surveys show many workers don't think they meet those needs yet.

Michael Yoshida has more on the mismatch and what workers can do to close the gap.

There's a growing mismatch in the job market over artificial intelligence skills.

There's so much excitement about the potential of AI right now and what it can bring to the workforce, but workers are moving a little bit slower.

Indeed's Priya Rathod says the gap shows up in the company's new survey data, 70% of employers expect workers to use AI tools every day, but only 14% of workers consider themselves skilled enough with AI to use it as a regular part of their workflow.

We need to remember that ChatGPT just launched four years ago and Claude Code just launched last February, right?

So we have this sector of early adopters.

But the vast majority of people are still experimenting with it.

Rathod says companies can't just hand workers AI tools and expect them to figure it out.

They need training, clear guardrails and examples of how AI fits into everyday work for job seekers.

Experts say industry specific training or certifications can help, but so can showing employers how you actually use the technology.

They are wanting their employees to come in with the skills to be able to work alongside AI.

But the human judgment, the critical thinking, the reasoning, the responsible use.

Students and workers should also consider building a digital AI portfolio, showing not just what they made, but what it accomplished, what they want to see that you can work with it.

Not that it's just writing an email.

Yes, that's great, but I mean, that's not something that's really going to get you noticed into the door in this AI shaped world.

I'm Michael Yoshida reporting.

The legal trouble that has threatened San Diego's Midway Rising project may end up changing state environmental law.

In this week's Why It Matters segment.

Voice of San Diego's Scott Lewis explains a new bill moving forward.

State Senator Akilah Weber Pierson is pushing SB 958.

The bill would stop people from suing to halt the project if it doesn't adequately study the impact of taller buildings.

This judicial ruling can set bad precedent and inhibit future development throughout the state, as requiring speculative and hypothetical analysis is not reasonably feasible or practical for relief agencies.

The law won't clear the way totally for Midway Rising.

They plan to build a new sports arena and more than 4000 units of housing.

They need to finish the lease of the land with the city and the environmental impact report.

When they finish the required environmental impact report and the city certifies it, people can sue and some have threatened to.

But if this law passes, they won't be able to fight over the impacts of the actual height of the building.

Just the other impacts like traffic and direct wildlife outcomes.

And that would make it slightly easier for bigger projects to go forward across the state.

For a voice in San Diego, I'm Scott Lewis, and that's why it matters.

Voice of San Diego is one of our partners for the Public Matters initiative.

You can learn more at kpbs.org/public matters.

Parking meters will soon be a thing of the past at Balboa Park, but this change is causing a new concern for museums in the park.

The San Diego Zoo next door can still charge nonresidents for parking.

Balboa Park tenants tell our media partner, KGTV.

This creates an interesting incentive for zoo visitors.

People who know the park well could just park in Balboa for free, and then just walk over to the zoo instead.

We were thrilled when this was first announced, and it played out exactly as we had feared.

Hundreds of thousands of fewer people were coming to the park and enjoying institutions.

It's really a strong indication that people are looking for ways to enjoy the park when it's free and accessible.

The San Diego Zoo will continue operating paid parking under its existing lease agreement with the city.

The zoo says it will continue assessing its parking program after January 1st.

Well, we do have a lot of dangerous heat across the interior of the desert scorching this time of the year.

We have a ridge in place.

Temperatures are above average.

You know, it's hot.

Really, really hot.

Average is hot enough for this time of the year.

So dangerous.

Mid-Summer heat in the desert.

Some fire risk into the inland areas.

Especially.

Especially up into the mountains.

Mountains, the canyons, the passes.

That's where we have the greatest fire threat.

There are going to be some comfortable spots, either atop the mountains or especially along the coast.

Tonight.

Some low clouds will invade once again.

That marine layer.

70 degrees.

Your overnight low.

And then we're back up to the upper 70s.

Coastal areas will enjoy a nice time.

78 Chula Vista.

78, San Diego 79 into Oceanside.

But you step east into Ramona at 95 and then you get into the scorching, scorching heat.

Borrego Springs, 111 degrees.

Extreme heat warnings for many, resuming during the day Tuesday across the interior.

It will be a scorching time.

So again, if you're traveling in that direction, if you're doing anything outside, plenty of water breaks, make sure that you have some shade nearby.

The bulk of the record challenging highs later this week will be into the interior.

But we're going to be on the edge of it here into Southern California as well.

And the fire danger is most significant this week up into parts of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana, as well as northern Wyoming.

But there's still some moderate fire danger into Southern California, especially in the canyons and the passes.

Let's get into the details with our forecast here.

Coastal areas will begin to sneak back up into the low 80s, low to mid 80s.

And on Southern California standards.

A touch of humidity as well.

Let's go inland.

Here we go from the 80s to the low 90s.

It's going to be a hot time.

The heat returns and escalates a bit.

Friday and Saturday it never really goes away into the mountains, upper 70s and low 80s here.

And, we do expect to be dry, but, it's going to be bright out there and in the deserts.

Here we are, 111 Tuesday, 108 109 back up to 110 on Saturday.

So a slight escalation to the heat again as we step into the weekend.

I'm AccuWeather meteorologist Geoff Cornish for Kpbs news.

San Diego's beaches just wrapped up a period of high surf, and that meant several busy days for lifeguards statewide.

There is a push to elevate lifeguards to first responder status.

As Jasmine Dejarnette reports, a recent rescue caught on camera in Santa Cruz is adding to the argument.

To us, it's a no brainer.

We should be first responders, but I think everyone else is starting to realize it.

The first to jump into action but not officially recognized as first responders.

After the rescue at Seabright Beach, Senator John Laird says Lifeguard Ryder Williams helped bring new attention to that push.

He advocated for it.

It's not a new idea, but he really advocated for it.

And and right now with getting an invite to the white House and everybody covering this rescue.

He has the bully pulpit, and he has used the bully pulpit to say, we should do this.

We should make lifeguards, first responders.

And I think everybody's paying attention to this issue right now because of him.

The Santa Cruz State Lifeguards Association says official recognition would acknowledge the work lifeguards already do every day.

Because these rescues that we're performing every day, it's not an anomaly.

It's our job, and we don't look at ourselves as being heroes for doing our job.

We are just doing our job, which is first responders responding first on scene.

Many beach goers agree they've put their life on the line to save ours, so and they're the first ones to respond when something happens in the ocean.

So yeah, by definition, I think they are first responders, especially after watching the rescue unfold.

Yeah.

It's brave.

It's bravery, you know.

And you can't train that.

Right.

So it takes a special person to be able to do that.

Supporters say this effort is about more than recognition.

They say officially recognizing lifeguards could also help address challenges with pay, benefits and keeping experienced lifeguards on the job.

That's like one of our main issues is keeping people around because people love this job.

Lifeguarding is the best job in the world, but it's just not financially feasible for people to stick around a long time.

Laird says the idea deserves consideration, but lawmakers still have a number of other proposals to get through.

First, he believes the next step is studying how the idea would work before deciding whether to move forward.

And I think the best situation would be to adopt a bill that does the study that says, how would this work?

How much would this cost?

When would you trigger it?

And then you could take the study and turn it into a bill to actually enact it, and you would know what the answers to many of these questions are.

And here is a look at what we are working on for tomorrow in the Kpbs newsroom.

On NPR's Morning Edition.

A new book offers insight on how Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion on Ukraine doubles as a war on the West as a whole, and half of the restrooms at mission Bay are closed.

Much to the chagrin of beach goers.

On Kpbs Midday Edition, we discuss the budget reasons behind the closures and growing calls to reopen the restrooms.

You can find tonight's stories on our website, Kpbs.org.

Thanks for joining us.

I'm Maya Trabulsi.

Good night.

Major funding for Kpbs Evening Edition has been made possible in part by Bill Howe, family of companies providing San Diego with plumbing, heating, air restoration and flood services for over 45 years.

Call one 800 Bill Howe or visit Bill howe.com.

And by the Conrad Prebys Foundation, Darlene Marcos Shiley.

And by the following.

And by viewers like you.

Thank you.