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

Call 1-800 Bill House 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 reported immigration arrest of a nail salon employee in Lemon Grove has some people on edge in San Diego's Vietnamese community.

Thank you for joining us.

I'm Maya Trabulsi it happened over the weekend.

KPBS reporter Jacob Aere explores the incident and the concerns that it raises.

On Saturday, community activist Arturo Gonzalez said he received this video from an employee at a nearby business.

It shows Ice agents arresting a woman described as a nail tech.

Outside of peacock nails in Lemon Grove.

ICE just kidnaped a Vietnamese woman who was on her way to work.

He says when he arrived on scene, cars with immigration agents were already leaving.

Gonzalez has been documenting Ice arrests with the network of community activists.

You heard him.

You heard him.

Go, go, go.

He says this arrest outside a nail salon marks the first time he's seen ICE agents at a business like this one.

That same day that that woman was picked up.

We got a tip.

Almost 30 minutes later, that ICE was staging in the Hazard Center Plaza over in Mission Valley, next to the Bevmo.

And so when we arrived to the scene, we noticed that the vehicles were facing towards another nail salon.

Mimi Phung is the interim executive director at Viet Voices, an organization that serves the Vietnamese community across San Diego County.

After seeing the reports online, she went to the business to provide educational and legal resources.

I asked if they were in contact with her family if she needed an attorney.

But they said they didn't know or they were in contact with her family.

And generally, you know, the reaction was very mixed, which I think kind of represents the general feeling in the community around immigration enforcement.

Phung says some people in the community are in denial about the surge in ICE enforcement, while others are scared.

Following reports of an arrest by immigration agents here on Saturday outside of peacock nails, signage has been put up outside of the business.

We tried to speak to both the manager or employees.

We walked up inside and we called the business, but we were told no multiple times.

KPBS reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment on the arrest, with a list of specific questions.

They did not respond to those questions before our deadline.

Jacob Aere, KPBS news.

I'm Ariele Scalese, coming up tonight.

Areas of low clouds as we drop down to 66 degrees, with showers moving in as we head into Wednesday and Wednesday night.

A closer look at when warmer and drier weather returns coming up.

There's 14 days until the November 3rd midterm election, but voting is already well underway in many parts of the country.

Experts say to be careful about reading too much into early voting, but some key trends are offering insights into where voters stand.

Maddie Gannon has the latest from the white House.

Early voting has become popular in recent elections.

Nearly half of all votes in the 2022 midterm elections were cast early or by mail.

And this year, it's possible that as many as two thirds of all votes could be cast the same way.

With exactly two weeks to go until November's midterm election Day.

More than 10 million ballots have already been cast.

There's a lot of question when we decided to allow people to vote early in Connecticut, whether people would take advantage of the opportunity, and they clearly are.

Five more states kicked off early in-person voting Monday.

That includes Texas, home to one of this year's most competitive Senate races.

I really am interested more in somebody that had had a track record of doing the right thing and saying the right thing, and he had a little bit more, more of that average salary.

I voted Talarico, Clayton Tucker, Vicki Goodwin Evan Hunt, blue all the way down.

Their signs of strong turnout.

The elections office in Harris County, home to Houston, said turnout on its first day of early voting broke a midterm record.

It was a similar story in Georgia, where in-person voting started a week ago.

Georgia Secretary of state said over 53,000 more people voted early on day one, compared to the last midterm election in 2022.

Record numbers for that first week, they will drop off of the second week.

But if that enthusiasm holds, that portends very well for Democrats.

There are positive signs for Democrats in the early voting numbers.

Data from the Iowa secretary of State and North Carolina state Elections Board shows more registered Democrats have cast ballots compared to registered Republicans so far, although Who voters cast a ballot for is secret.

Five more states start in-person early voting Tuesday at the white House.

I'm Maddie Gannon and KPBS.

We'll have extensive, extensive coverage of local races over the next two weeks.

You may have heard some of that on today's midday edition, hosted by Jade Hindmon.

She talked with the candidates for San Diego City Council District two.

Midway rising was one of the topics.

Also in district two is the midway, the Midway Rising development project.

It just got one step closer to reality here.

The plan is headed and headed to the City Council for a November vote.

Do you take any specific issue with that plan as it stands right now?

Nicole.

I've always had a plan with one, the transportation plan.

The transportation plan is woefully under-resourced.

For example, if we're just looking at the sports arena itself, it's a 16,000 seat arena.

The parking spots are looking at the future arena early 2000.

The current sports arena has 2800 spots.

If we're looking at Snapdragon, which is double the size, they have 6000 on site spots over.

They have an overflow lot and they have an on site trolley station.

And we're also thinking about including the housing, which we need desperately.

We really need to consider the infrastructure that's there, as well as what this economic plan really looks like in the future.

Value.

Richard, what about you?

Do you take any issue with the plan as it stands?

Absolutely.

And not just as it stands right now, but really from the entire process, from start to finish.

If you think back, several years ago, the city of San Diego went to voters and asked for approval to remove the 30ft high limit within the coastal zone, which would have allowed this project to move forward.

But the city failed to do a complete Ceqa analysis, and so that vote was thrown out by the courts.

The city then went back to voters a few years later and got it wrong once again by putting forth an incomplete SQL analysis.

And then now we're at the stage where the city of San Diego, so desperate to try to push this through that they went ahead and got special statewide legislation to apply specifically to this project to really circumvent the opportunities voters had.

And constituents within San Diego have to hold the city and developers accountable for what's being brought forward.

So from the beginning to the end, the city has really mishandled this situation.

And it's unfortunate because I think most people would agree that Sports Arena does need to be redeveloped.

It's a totally blighted area that's attracting a lot of criminal activity, a lot of homeless activity, and it's something that should be a gem for our region, but not based on how the city of San Diego has handled this.

And Jade Hindmon also talked with the city council candidates for district four.

You can hear more of that conversation on the KPBS Midday Edition podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

San Diego County has an estimated 2 million registered voters for younger and first time voters.

Navigating the process can be challenging.

KPBS spoke to San Diego State students about their voting concerns.

Penner fellow Emmy Burrus reports.

Election day is November 3rd, just two weeks away, so now's the time to cast your vote.

In California, voters can cast ballots in person until 8 p.m.

on Election Day.

But for new voters, navigating the process can be a challenge.

Today, KPBS held a community conversation with young voters.

They shared how they're feeling ahead of the election.

Being a college student, I feel like a lot of the measures that we're voting for and towards and all the candidates can like, affect, like my college education and like my future in general.

So I feel like my vote really matters and determines my future.

I don't necessarily have any concerns with the process, but, understanding propositions is definitely confusing for me and a lot of my peers with how, biased both sides can be, and also the very complicated wording on the ballot.

If I want my opinion on issues to be heard, I should like vote and use that to show my voice.

San Diego County data as of Monday shows up.

About 2.3 million San Diego fans are registered to vote.

Of those voters, about 201,000 are aged 18 through 24.

Monday was the last day to register to vote online or by mail, but if you missed that deadline, you can still register in person through Election Day.

For more information about voting in San Diego County and what you'll be voting on, you can visit kpbs.org/voterhub Emmy Burrus, KPBS news.

I'm Amna Nawaz tonight on the NewsHour.

Ukraine's president meets with European and American leaders as tensions with President Trump grow.

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

Some San Diego State University students today called on the California State University System to end its contract with open AI.

KPBS reporter Katie Hyson says their concerns are wide reaching From the students needs Not the war machine.

A few dozen students marched to the union to protest Money for jobs and education Not for war and deportation.

CSU first entered into a $17 million contract with OpenAI in 2025.

It gave students, faculty and staff access to an educational version of ChatGPT.

The previous school year, campuses cut jobs to offset an ongoing budget crisis.

CSU then renewed the OpenAI contract for another three years and $39 million.

The students concerns go beyond job loss.

OpenAI's co-founder funding President Donald Trump's interests AI is used by immigration enforcement and the Israeli military.

The environmental harm caused by data centers.

Claudia Gonzalez is a student organizer.

She questions whether AI is even good for them.

A lot of students nowadays don't know how to write sentences.

They don't know how to write paragraphs, even basic emails.

So, it's really not good for us at all.

A 2025 CSU survey found that the majority of students and faculty were skeptical that I was benefiting education overall.

CSU spokesperson Amy Bentley Smith said by email that it can't ignore how AI is changing nearly every industry, and it must prepare graduates.

Katie Hyson, KPBS news.

Well, historically, high diesel costs are crushing farmers just as they reach the height of harvest season.

Now, this also means it costs more to fill up trucks and ships that transport our food and all those higher cost.

They trickle down to consumers like us.

As Jenn Sullivan reports, it could mean much higher food prices this holiday season.

As the peak of fall harvest season hits.

Farmers across the country are faced with mounting financial pressure as the price of diesel fuel hits historic highs.

We continue to get squeezed, more and more.

John Hansen is the president of the Nebraska Farmers Union.

He's also a sixth generation farmer.

The national average price of diesel is up more than 74% compared to a year ago.

Hanson says it's crushing farmers because most farm equipment is powered by diesel.

And operating costs for farmers are already high.

We have a lot of producers that have been squeezed hard enough, long enough that they've needed to refinance their long term debt and be able to tap into that to make up for short term cash flows.

That did not work.

As of Monday, the national average for diesel was $6.32 per gallon.

That's $2 in $0.69 more than a year ago, according to triple AA.

Obviously, the prices are too high and I came I drove two hours today from Lincoln to Norfolk, Nebraska, and I saw everybody was out in the field.

Diesel doesn't just power form equipment, it also powers transportation and construction vehicles.

That means it's not just costing farmers more to harvest crops.

It's costing companies more to transport food, particularly perishable items.

And those added costs trickle down to consumers.

We're really fearful of what's going to happen later this fall and this winter in the last year.

Overall prices for fruits and vegetables, meat and poultry have gone up, according to the latest Consumer Price Index report.

Many experts say those prices will remain high through the holidays, especially if the war with Iran doesn't end soon and ease up global oil production.

For consumer watch, I'm Jenn Sullivan.

Well, now we're going to take a look at, our local gas prices from today.

The average price for gas.

Well, that dropped for the 19th day in a row, now costs $6.21 for a gallon of regular gasoline.

That is down $0.02 from yesterday.

So the price has fallen 21.5 cents over the past 19 days.

The streak follows a run of 42 increases over 44 days.

Gas prices are nearly $1.53 more than before the U.S.. Israel joint attack on Iran on February 28th.

It's a financial burden that doesn't get as much attention as credit card debt or student loan debt.

A recent analysis finds Americans carrying more utility debt as energy prices rise.

Karen Caifa has the details from Washington.

Powering cooling and heating are putting more financial pressure on American households.

An analysis by progressive think tank the Century Foundation found the national average monthly utility bill reached $280 in early 2026, 12% higher than the end of 2024.

The national average overdue utility balance $817.

This is people who are struggling month over month, unable to pay, to to keep their homes heated or to keep them cool in the summer.

And as a result, it's turning into debt that they're struggling to pay off over time.

The Bank of America Institute says its research on utility bill payments from June to August showed a 5% bump from the same stretch last year.

Some of the increase likely due to short term summer cooling demand, but also longer term challenges like electricity demand from data center construction.

Energy demand in broad terms, is going to be continue to grow strongly over the next few years.

And I think, you know, that's an upward pressure point on prices, I think, over time.

Angela Hanks, Century Foundation chief of policy programs, says the expectation in their ongoing analysis is that the utility burden for many consumers will continue to grow.

Whether it's the war with Iran, whether it's data centers coming into their backyards, people, unfortunately, are just not poised to get relief from this anytime soon.

In Washington, I'm Karen Caifa.

Hundreds of students at Del Sur Elementary School will not be returning to campus in the new year.

The school has been closed for months while crews work to remediate mold and moisture concerns.

Documents obtained by our media partner, Kgo-tv show concerns have been raised about the issue going back for years.

It shows at least six rooms were listed as, quote, a concern and two rooms as, quote, unacceptable.

Now, the Power Unified School District says the school won't be ready until July.

So we're concerned about the long term health impacts.

We're concerned about our kids who have had symptoms over the years.

Did you feel like anyone was ever listening to you or not really.

At the district?

Absolutely not.

No one truly listened.

No one really gave a good response before.

They were just calling it a moisture related issue.

Video and photos taken this summer, obtained by KTTV, show what appeared to be black mold in the school's HVAC system.

A district assessment from September 30th to October 8th found microbial growth on a chilled pipe, as well as elevated moisture in the maintenance room, but it said there was no evidence of black mold.

The district says the results of its investigation will be presented to the school board at a meeting in November.

As San Diego braces for an intense El Nino season in the coming weeks, the San Diego Unified School District is helping its students prepare.

Today, district leaders announced steps to the district taking to protect the schools, some of which include clearing roof drains, removing debris from around storm drains and stocking up on flood control materials.

Safety of all is the utmost importance as we prepare our facilities for the Super El Nino, so not only what our families might need.

So there's coordination with the city on what policies need to be put in place, which is why our board trustee was here and what our facilities need.

At least ten schools are in flood prone areas.

Students will also participate in El Nino Explorer Week.

It's a week long science lesson series focusing on causes, regional impacts and safety preparations in San Diego.

All right, big pattern flip here.

We went from hot, dry weather now to cooler conditions.

Those have been pushing inland.

And that's going to be accompanied by showers even a thunderstorm possible Wednesday Wednesday afternoon into Wednesday night here.

And that could cause some ponding on the roadways and some travel impacts here as we get later into the day tomorrow.

And then already looking ahead, there will be a warmer and drier trend for the upcoming weekend.

Now, tonight should be dry watch area as a low cloud.

San Diego 66 cooler in Oceanside 62, Chula Vista 63.

And notice those cooler conditions pushing into the inland valleys.

And tonight in Borrego Springs down to 59 and a cool 46 in Mount Laguna.

Looking into the day tomorrow, that's when we start to see those showers and thunderstorms pushing in.

Look at that.

Oceanside, Chula Vista and clouds increase across San Diego.

Drier conditions though, and warming up Borrego Springs to 87 degrees.

So a soggy setup really starts to push in here.

As we head into Wednesday evening and Wednesday night, a shower stretch towards San Diego County could even see isolated waterspouts across Southern California.

Flash flooding, especially in those burn scar areas, especially to our north across Los Angeles and even some localized gusty winds.

Let's see how that plays out.

Future satellite and radar.

That's tomorrow morning, 7:00.

There's the push of some showers as we get later into the day.

Wednesday into Wednesday night, a quick hit before clouds linger and then the sunshine returns as we head into the day Friday for a drier weekend ahead, let's take a look at the next five days along the coast here as we'll be watching.

Mostly cloudy days tomorrow.

Showers and thunderstorms linger Thursday and then drying out and warming up Friday through the weekend.

All right, inland areas tomorrow should just be cloudier, but by Thursday that's so we could see a shower and thunderstorm and then quickly drying out and warming up by the weekend.

All right, the mountains should stay dry tomorrow.

Watch for a couple of thunderstorms with cooler weather on Thursday.

Cool air sticks around Friday before we warm up with sunshine over the weekend and the desert locations stay warm, but we'll get a little cooler Thursday and Friday for KPBS news.

I'm Ariella Scalese, one of the internet's most popular science communicators, was from right here in San Diego.

Diana Cowern is known as Physics Girl, but her career and life were derailed by an illness that science couldn't explain.

KPBS producer Anthony Wallace tells the story.

Well, in case you're new here, I'm Diana.

You're watching Physics Girl.

And earlier this past winter, I spent two nights on an ice camp 160 miles from civilization.

Back in 2022, Diana Cowern was living her lifelong dream, sharing her passion for science with people everywhere.

She had more than 2 million YouTube subscribers and was filming all over the world.

We went to the Arctic, we went to Death Valley and filmed a really, really cool and then then really successful video there.

There are rocks in the Death Valley desert that move across the ground on their own.

The best days of Physics Girl and we were having the best time as well.

Like as if things cannot get any better.

Cowern married her longtime partner Kyle Kitzmiller, but on their honeymoon to Scotland, her big year hit what seemed like a minor snag.

She got Covid, you know, the typical symptoms, like a sore throat and a cough and a stuffy nose.

But it wasn't anything alarming.

Those symptoms passed, and a few weeks later, the couple set off on a multi-day hike they'd been planning for months.

On the third day, I started hiking and I would rest, and I didn't feel recuperated, and I got in a cab and went to the next location while Kyle hiked it by himself.

But rest didn't help.

Brain fog like I'd never experienced before.

I couldn't walk, I couldn't think I had nausea and and headaches and I just.

I never recovered from that crash.

The newlyweds cut their honeymoon short, but back home in San Diego, things got worse.

It just deteriorated.

So sensitive to light and sound that I was spending every single day in a dark room with noise canceling headphones on and dark glasses on, so that I could take away every environmental stimulus.

She had a really weird thing where her heart rate would get really, really low, like in the 30s.

I put like, you know, pulse thing on her.

That would have an alarm if I went too low.

I would like sleep, you know, waiting for this alarm to go off.

I just every day.

I didn't know she was just going to die in a matter of months.

They went from traveling the world and interviewing scientists to being stuck in their apartment searching for answers.

Nobody knows what to do.

The best scientist in the world doesn't know how to treat or a cure.

Long coveted doctors told Cowern she was fine.

Their tests couldn't detect anything alarming.

She was even turned away from the emergency room twice.

The couple soon discovered that while science has helped explain everything from gravity to DNA, post infectious chronic illness remains a mystery for reasons scientists don't yet fully understand.

Some people who get Covid or other infections never fully recover.

This includes long Covid, which Cowern has as well as other conditions like chronic Lyme disease.

By some estimates, post infectious chronic illness affects up to 10% of Americans.

That's tens of millions of people.

A lot of people who have this disease are so desperate for, treatments.

And there are none.

There are none that are approved for the treatment of long Covid.

So they tried treatments that aren't approved specifically for long Covid.

And a couple of them were life changing.

So I was able to start doing like looking at my phone again and reading and, listening to music, which was amazing.

And then everything improved.

Cowan was eventually able to get out of bed and made her first science video in three years.

Physics girl was back when lights produced in the core of the sun.

To get to the outside of the sun, it actually takes ready for this number were hundreds of thousands of years.

Cowan has come a long way, but her health is still a struggle.

She estimates she's functioning at about 30 to 40% of her previous capacity.

We wondered if our long interview might have pushed her too far.

I might crash after this, but it's worth it.

I will probably crash from it, but that's something that I'm willing to do because I want to live.

And this is like, this is part of it too.

Like getting to meet you guys and chatting and tell our story.

So thankful because this is like, this is food for for the soul.

That's the deprived soul.

Anthony Wallace, KPBS news.

Oh, what a great story there by Anthony.

And he is also one of the hosts of our podcast.

And it's called The Finest.

It captures the people, art and movements redefining our region's cultural identity.

And it's where you can hear more about physics girls experience with long Covid and the treatments that she has tried.

Listen at kpbs.org/the finest or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

And you can find all of the stories from tonight on our website, kpbs.org.

Thanks so much for joining us.

I'm Maya Trabulsi.

Goodnight.

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 1-800 Bill House or visit billhowe.com And by the Conrad Prebys Foundation.

Darlene Marcos Shiley and by the following And by viewers like you.

Thank you.