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 40 years.

Call one 800 Bill House or visit Bill hall.com.

And buy the Conrad Prevost Foundation.

Darlene Marcos Shively.

And by the following.

And by viewers like you.

Thank you.

The backlash over paid parking at Balboa Park is growing louder tonight.

Thank you for joining us.

I'm Maya Trabelsi.

Just a few weeks into the new parking fees, museum leaders are calling for a change.

Kpbs reporter Jacob Air says they're seeing a decline in visitors since the program began at Alcazar Gardens.

Leaders of Balboa Park's cultural institutions gathered Wednesday morning.

Their message reconsider paid parking across the park.

We have strong data showing declines in attendance at all of our organizations.

This isn't data compared to a few weeks ago.

We're looking year over year.

The Park Cultural Partnership says declines in park visits range from 20% to over 50%, depending on the specific day and attraction compared to last January.

They say it's been especially impacting visits from local residents.

The organization represents 24 arts, science and cultural institutions in the park.

If this trend continues, many cultural institutions will have no choice but to cut their own programing exhibits.

Education and even staff.

The cultural partnership sent a request to Mayor Gloria and the City Council to reconsider the new parking system.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the mayor's office said the paid parking program is designed to create a dedicated source of revenue for the park.

It must be evaluated based on clear, long term data, not a few weeks of initial operation.

Resending the program now before meaningful trends can be measured, would put the park's financial future at risk.

Since January 5th, the city has charged visitors 250 an hour at meters and 5 to $16 for daily use of parking lots.

Cameron Little Creek is a San Diegan who frequently drives to the park.

And I was kind of listening to some people talking about, I won't even go down there anymore now.

It's just, now we have to pay.

I used to just be a easy thing.

You can come down here, and it was the free thing to do and come enjoy the park and stuff.

And now it's, you know, it seems like everything's going up.

He says he has a handicapped placard which grants him free parking.

But he says his friends and family have been upset about the change.

And you walk around and see all these buildings and they're beautiful and everyone loves that about it.

So to get more people here, I would say they offer free parking.

Why not?

You know, so yeah, you make money some other way.

Especially for the locals.

Balboa Park Cultural Partnership also launched a website, Save Balboa Park Dawg, where city and county residents can send their own letter to city leaders opposing paid parking.

The city says it asked the cultural partnership for its attendance data.

Kpbs also asked for that data, and the cultural partnership did not immediately make it available.

Jacob Air, Kpbs news.

I'm Ariella Scali, and we exchange the cold, clear nights for a little bit warmer overnight temperatures, but some showers down to the 50s tonight.

Some of that cooler air continuing to spread inland through the day Thursday.

And showers continue through parts of the weekend.

But I'll let you know when drier, warmer weather returns.

That's all coming up during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

President Donald Trump doubled down on his demand for control of Greenland.

But as Ivan Rodriguez reports, the president also says he won't use force to annex the Arctic island in his clear statement.

Yet, President Donald Trump ruled out using the military to acquire control of Greenland.

I don't have to use force.

I don't want to use force.

I won't use force.

In a wide ranging speech that lasted more than an hour, Trump took aim at Switzerland, the host country for the World Economic Forum.

He warned Canada to be grateful to the U.S.

and questioned NATO's commitment to defend the U.S.. The United States is treated very unfairly by NATO.

I want to tell you that.

And when you think about it, nobody can dispute it.

We give so much and we get so little in return.

Trump also slammed Denmark as ungrateful for refusing to relinquish control of Greenland, contending that the nation owed the U.S.

for defending it during World War Two.

Repeatedly, the president also named Iceland when it appeared he meant to refer to Greenland.

After the war, we gave Greenland back to Denmark.

How stupid were we to do that?

But we did it.

But we gave it back.

But how ungrateful are they now?

I'm helping Europe, I'm helping NATO.

And I've until the last few days when I told them about Iceland, they loved me.

They called me daddy last time.

California Governor Gavin Newsom was in the audience and called the president's speech, quote, remarkably insignificant.

He was never going to invade Greenland.

It was never real.

So that was always a fake.

And so he says, well, we should negotiate.

Well, everybody here has been willing to negotiate for a year.

So it had fire and fury signifying absolutely nothing.

Ivan Rodriguez, Kpbs news.

The devastating death of a child who was struck and killed while riding a bike in Pacific Beach last weekend has left the community heartbroken.

Neighbors are now renewing calls to improve road safety in the area.

Kpbs Public Matters reporter Jakarta says this community hopes to prevent these types of tragedies, but solutions have faced pushback.

Here in Pacific Beach.

Six year old Hudson O'Laughlin was riding his bike when he was hit by a car last weekend.

His life was taken as that driver fled the scene.

That driver has been arrested, according to the San Diego Police Department.

But as the community mourns the senseless killing, they are renewing urgent calls to improve traffic safety in the area.

We've been asking the city for support and funding and helping us install, infrastructure that will help calm the traffic and make more people comfortable.

We want to address problem areas and unsafe behavior in areas before someone gets hurt.

Not after.

That's the goal of Vision Zero, a policy the city adopted back in 2015 to eliminate traffic deaths.

But in 2022 and 2023, there were more traffic deaths in San Diego than in 2015 when this goal was adopted.

I'm all in with the community.

We've done a lot of conversations with community to try to be responsive to the Vision Zero ideas, the traffic calming.

We tested safe, slow streets, out there on Diamond Street.

Built a roundabout.

More roundabouts are planned on the more commonly used streets along Crownpoint.

The city still committed to that?

San Diego City Council President Joe LaCava, who represents Pacific Beach, says he understands the need and the desire for safer streets.

I'm still fully committed that within the resources that we have to make it safer for everyone, but those resources aren't always plentiful.

Less than 5% of San Diego's $125 billion regional plan will be directed at improving bike infrastructure around the county.

Beyond the bay bike path and the boardwalk, there are zero protected bike lanes in Pacific Beach.

This road where Hudson was killed is part of the PBE pathway, which was designed to provide a safer route for bikers around town.

Paint on the road, however, doesn't slow down speeding drivers.

Physical infrastructure like speed bumps, roundabouts, center medians and curb extensions would help, according to the city's own Vision Zero documents.

But those safety measures often face resistance in communities that are heavily reliant on cars.

We've seen individual cities build bike lanes in, and then rip them out because it's confusing, to drivers.

Pacific beach went through an era maybe 10 or 15 years ago, where they said, let's put the little traffic circles in the residential neighborhoods.

If I'm not mistaken, I've mistaken, I think every one of them got removed.

Traffic deaths have increased across the country in recent years, according to a 2022 report from the Urban Institute.

And as leaders grapple with how to fix that problem without angering too many drivers, people's lives hang in the balance.

And too many families like Hudsons are left dealing with unimaginable loss.

You can find the GoFundMe for Hudson's family on our website at Kpbs.

Dawg Jake Guarda, Kpbs news.

Public matters is a partnership with Kpbs.

News source and Voice of San Diego.

You can see more of our stories at kpbs.org/public matters.

The San Diego Community College District is sharing new details on its vision for redeveloping Golden Hall.

Kpbs Metro reporter Andrew Bowen says San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria announced plans to collaborate on the property last week.

You might be surprised to learn the San Diego Community College District has one of the largest collections of African and Southeast Asian art on the West Coast.

Most of the world art collection is in storage on the Mesa College campus in Claremont.

Chancellor Gregory Smith says a redeveloped Golden Hall would allow the district to showcase the collection publicly in a more accessible downtown location.

Many of the pieces in this collection were made by artists to be used in different types of rituals and ceremonies, and it's important that we honor the legacy of the art itself and have people be able to experience it the way it was meant when it was created.

Golden Hall is an aging event center right next to the city administration building.

It was last used as a temporary homeless shelter, but has been vacant for more than a year.

The city and the previous foundation have been working to redevelop the space, along with the larger block of properties that form the civic core.

Smith says the redevelopment of Golden Hall could also include affordable housing for students, faculty and staff.

About 25% of our students, you know, roughly 20,000 and a whole number are unhoused, and then several thousand more are housing insecure.

So that's an important resource for us.

That location and its connection to transit would be able to serve our entire district in some ways.

Particularly Miramar College, which is a major, hub for bus transportation for the city.

So students living there could get to a number of different places across our district.

In 2024, voters authorized up to $3.5 billion in bonds that the community college district can use to build educational facilities and affordable housing.

But Smith says he believes the art gallery could primarily be funded with charitable donations.

The San Diego City Council is expected to vote on authorizing negotiations with the Community College district in the spring.

Smith says those negotiations could take anywhere from six months to two years.

Andrew Bowen, Kpbs news.

The pollution crisis and the T1, a river valley has been going on for years.

Today, one particular spot is drawing a lot of attention.

Trash piled up in Smuggler's Gulch.

The county is moving ahead with an improvement project, adding sediment basins, larger culverts and trash capture devices to the channel.

When it rains, the creek bed turns into a river and trash gets swept downstream into the ocean.

Cleanups typically happen once a year.

Once took place today, the project is fully funded by the California State Coastal Conservancy Conservancy for more than a year.

Plans for a $10 billion data center have been quietly moving forward in Imperial County.

In the first of a three part series, Kpbs is Cory Suzuki Found.

The developer behind the project is openly seeking to avoid California's environmental review process.

I'm standing in an empty lot in the city of Imperial.

If you come here today, the place is quiet.

It's on unincorporated county land with dry cracking earth and some small shrubs along the eastern edge.

You can see homes peeking over the fence.

My house is down there.

There's one of those, you know.

So I'll be sharing a fence, you know, with with this data center if it goes through.

That's Francisco Leo, an engineer and a resident of Imperial.

In a year or two, he says, things could look very different here.

That's because this is the planned site of a massive data center.

At 1,000,000ft it would be one of the largest in California.

The data center could use almost twice the amount of energy that all of Imperial County used in 2024.

That's according to estimates shared by the project's developer and state data.

It could also need around 750,000 gallons of water per day.

But despite that need for resources, the developers behind the project are openly trying to avoid California's environmental review process as they hope to cash in on the AI gold rush.

Our whole goal is speed and data centers.

Sebastian Ritchie is a Southern California entrepreneur and one of the leaders of Imperial Valley Computer Manufacturing, the company that's trying to build the data center.

Ritchie says they want to get it up and running as fast as possible, which heartbeat going online?

The demand has increased exponentially.

And so they're going to come and people developers, hyperscalers are looking for friendly territory.

That's why you're seeing so many in Texas and some in Ohio.

California's not really a place that people would say is friendly, but unlike others, I believe that I can get it done.

Data centers are essentially giant warehouses filled with high powered computer chips.

They've been part of the infrastructure of the internet for a long time.

But recently, these facilities have become essential to the ambitions of generative AI companies, which need unprecedented amounts of computing power to run these complex programs like ChatGPT.

It's the largest market in the US and in the world is located in Virginia.

But because of the demand of those products and services, we're seeing, you know, a broader build out of different markets across the U.S.. Kara Bruner is a policy analyst with the Data Center Coalition, an industry group that's active in California.

She says data center developers are now looking to rural areas where land is more affordable, and they hope to face less opposition that can incentivize developers to move to those areas if they're able to connect and come up to power more quickly than in those other, urban, denser areas.

To Ruchi, Imperial County seems like the perfect fit.

I think Imperial County is a great opportunity because they have a lot of renewable energy down there.

They have a lot of potential.

Also, economically, it's a place with very, very high unemployment, just the right location to speed things up.

Ruchi has taken things a step further in California.

Most development projects have to go through a process called environmental review, where state and local governments have to study the possible environmental effects and share them with the public.

That process can take a lot of time, and developers often have to scale down their project or find other ways to make up for the impacts.

To avoid that process, Ruchi says he and his colleagues searched for land that was already zoned for industrial use and where data centers were allowed.

They found parcels in three areas the city of El Centro, the city of Imperial and on unincorporated county land.

That is not sneaky.

That's just smart.

I only purchased the industrial land that fit in three jurisdictions.

Ruchi went to the city of Imperial first, but officials there pushed back against the idea that the data center could avoid an environmental review.

Dennis Morita is Imperial city manager.

It was important to our council that the neighbors had a voice in in that process.

In August, after months of discussion, Ritchie withdrew.

Instead, he tried to county as Imperial County planners agreed with Ritchie's terms.

Within months, they began clearing the way for his company to start grading the soil.

But as more and more people have found out about the project in recent months, it's begun to face fierce opposition to many Imperial County residents.

The lack of environmental analysis for a project of this size has raised serious questions.

Like all the city of Imperial, Resident says he's worried the data center will strain the region's rural power grid and water supply with little benefit for the people who live here.

That's why these issue matters should matter to all Imperial County residents, not just us.

The leave, you know, right next to it.

Because at the end of the day, it's power and water.

Ritchie says they will take steps to reduce the project's environmental footprint, including by using recycled water and recycling more water than the center actually needs.

But for many, Ritchie's strategy is also raising questions about his approach.

Tomorrow, we'll have more about who the developer is and his past legal troubles.

And El Centro, Suki, Kpbs news.

If you have a tip for Kpbs investigations team, you can send an email to investigations@kpbs.org or message them on our secure signal line at the number on your screen.

(619) 594-8177.

I'm on maneuvers tonight.

On the NewsHour, President Trump rules out using military force to acquire Greenland.

That's coming up at seven after evening edition on Kpbs.

From lower gas prices to potentially larger tax refunds, consumers have some glimmers of hope on the money front in 2026.

But post-pandemic financial pressures took a toll on credit scores.

Karen Kafer looks at the numbers and why they matter.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York found Americans haven't been this anxious about missing debt payments since the early shock of the Covid 19 pandemic in April 2020.

Consumers still feeling squeezed by elevated post-pandemic inflation and debt that came with it.

It is a challenging time, but it's important for people to understand that they have more power over their money and over their interest rates than they think they do.

LendingTree recently analyzed records of 100,000 users with exceptional credit scores of at least 800.

They found those consumers averaged $171,553 in debt, including mortgages, up 14.2% from October 2022.

Despite taking on a bigger burden than a few years ago, those borrowers paid their bills on time every month.

They kept credit Utilizations low, averaging just 5.5% of available credit and limited inquiries for new credit, averaging just 1.7.

Over the past two years, all key elements.

Matt Schulz, Lending Trees chief consumer finance analyst, says, leading to a higher credit score.

It doesn't even have to be perfect credit.

It doesn't have to be an 800 credit score for you to basically have an awful lot of options when it comes to credit cards, mortgages, personal loans on down the line, and in an uncertain labor market, improving a credit score could improve chances of a job or promotion.

Only 11 states have laws on the books prohibiting the use of credit reports when making employment decisions, with exceptions for some roles.

In Washington, I'm Karen Kafer.

A story now about San Diego, not the city or the county.

The USS San Diego was a warship during World War Two.

It's commemorated by a memorial along our waterfront.

And as Ken Kramer shows us, that memorial was a labor of love by one crewman in particular.

Leonard Shea dreamed about building this for years.

People thought we were nuts when we said we could do it, but he insisted, oh, we can do it.

San Diego's the perfect place for it.

And here's what it will look like.

It's 28ft high.

It's going to be clad in corneal and granite.

The whole thing was going to be a tribute to San Diego.

You see the USS San Diego, which was a Navy ship, light cruiser that Leonard Shea served aboard.

This was a happy ship, a very happy ship, and maybe a little bit of a lucky ship, too.

Dozens of military encounters at sea during World War Two, and not a single man lost when the Sandy ego came to San Diego in October of 1945.

It was a huge event.

Civic dignitaries lined up on board.

And you know something amazing?

This ship, that 118 battle stars suffered no casualties in her whole career.

None.

Zero.

So here it is.

All finished.

A tribute to that ship that was our city's namesake.

A tribute that former crew members in San Diego helped to pay for.

And in 2004, as it was still being finished up, here's what Leonard Shea said to us about it.

I can die knowing I've done I've accomplished something.

I think I've accomplished a few other things in my life.

But this is something that I'll.

You can see it.

It touches.

A few weeks after it was dedicated, Leonard passed away.

When you see this monument to that ship along the Embarcadero, you might think of him.

And how determined he was that the story always be told about San Diego.

Always learning.

And if you want to see more of Ken Cramer stories about San Diego, he has a half hour program of them every Thursday night at 8:00, right here on Kpbs.

Let's talk weather headlines as we continue through the second half of our week, as we're watching some of that cooler air spreading inland through the day tomorrow, and we'll continue to be watching showers possible even into the day Saturday.

But as we wrap up the weekend, drier and warmer weather to begin to return.

All right.

You can see from Oceanside to Chula Vista.

Clouds increase into San Diego through tonight as temperatures drop down to the 50s.

49 in Oceanside.

And then some more clouds move back in Borrego Springs, Mount Laguna as temperatures drop to the 40s and 30s.

When we look ahead to the day tomorrow, there will still be some dry spots here, but clouds will begin to increase as well in San Diego, Chula Vista, Borrego Springs, Mount Laguna.

Temperatures will be into the upper 60s, to the lower end of the 40s with Oceanside.

Watching some of those showers lingering as we head into tomorrow with the high of only about 63 degrees.

All right, a closer look here.

What we're continuing to track through this evening.

You can see more in the way of clouds with some overnight showers.

And we'll see periods of that as we head into the day on Thursday.

We'll watch some pockets of maybe some brief downpours here, but mostly we'll be tracking areas of showers continuing even through our day on Friday.

That's Friday morning.

Notice some of that wet weather sliding further south, and that moves a little bit further north.

And even still by Friday night, still some lingering clouds and precipitation.

And then over the weekend, a huge storm across the country.

If you have travel plans, that's going to be impactful for you if you're staying put, well, we look pretty good here across the coast.

After a shower or two possible, the next couple of days, temperatures start to come up as the sun comes out.

We take you further inland where we'll keep the lower temperatures with some clouds the next few days, but then back to sunshine and 70s.

By Sunday and Monday it's going to be a chilly go round of things the next couple of days in the mountains.

We're back to the 50s by Monday, and even those desert locations here.

Temperatures staying cooler into the 60s with a chance of showers.

For Kpbs news, I'm Ariella Scalise.

All 50 states are gearing up to celebrate America's 250th birthday.

And while July 4th is several months away, many event organizers say now is a great time to start planning your trip.

Jenn Sullivan highlights the nation's big celebrations and where you can travel.

To.

From sea to shining sea.

Communities across the country are planning celebrations to mark the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

This is a historic milestone for our country.

Rosie Rios is the chair of the America 250 organization.

They've been planning this for years.

We want people to be able to feel like this is a community driven and grassroots as possible.

The America to 50.org site has a calendar that breaks down all the planned events in each state, and more will be added.

As for the big celebrations, Rio says Wednesday, July 1st, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota kicks off a celebration of the American West.

Thursday, July 2nd, there's pending legislation to bury a time capsule in Philadelphia to commemorate 250 years of American history.

Friday, July 3rd the official countdown to Independence Day with a star spangled ball drop in New York City's Times Square.

Then, on the rivers where Revolutionary War battles were fought.

Manhattan will be surrounded by a display of ships, new and old, from multiple countries, including Great Britain.

This will be the premier national event for America.

On July 4th, dozens of historic tall ships will sail an 11 mile stretch of the Hudson River, as well as multiple Allied and U.S.

naval vessels and overhead.

More than 100 aircrafts, including the Blue Angels, will be in the sky.

The International Tall Ships will be on display from July 3rd through the eighth, and visitors will be allowed to board them.

When you step foot on board a tall ship, you're setting foot on sovereign foreign territory.

There are also several celebrations being held on July 4th weekend in Washington, D.C., hosted by freedom 250 for Consumer Watch.

I'm Jen Sullivan, and you can find tonight's stories on our website, kpbs.org.

Thank you for joining us.

I'm Maya, Say Goodnight.

Major funding for Kpbs Evening Edition has been made possible in part by Bill Howell family of companies providing San Diego with plumbing, heating, air restoration and flood services for over 40 years.

Call one 800 Bill Howell or visit Billboard.com.

And by the Conrad Prevost Foundation.

Darlene Marcos shyly.

And by the following.

And by viewers like you.

Thank you.