Thank you for joining us for this.

Look at some of the best stories from Kpbs news this week.

I'm John Carroll.

With gas prices pushing $6, are electric vehicles are cheaper option?

We hear from an EV owner about the costs as part of our Price of San Diego series.

San Diego wasn't always a military town, but that all changed about a century ago.

See how the World War One era set the stage for what San Diego would become, and coffee as an art form.

We'll take you to the World Latte Art Championship, recently held here in San Diego.

High energy prices are an ongoing concern, and more costs might be passed on to San Diego gas and electric customers.

The utility wants to build a high voltage transmission line stretching hundreds of miles.

Kpbs environment reporter Tammy Murga says opposition is already growing.

It's called the Golden Pacific Power Link and it's 145 miles long.

It would start at SDG&E's Imperial Valley substation and run through the Anza-Borrego State Park to the coast near the San Onofre Generating Station.

The utility says it's building the line because the California Independent System Operator says it's necessary.

They identified the need for a new transmission line to help California meet its energy policy goals and facilitate the clean energy transition.

SDG&E says ratepayers will be on the hook for 9% of the project costs.

Martin says it's too early to say what those costs will be.

Sergio Ojeda is an Imperial Valley resident.

He's skeptical about projects that can't promise lasting benefits to his community, like permanent jobs.

One of the biggest things that ends up happening with, these types of projects is that areas like Imperial Valley, are being looked at and treated as a sacrifice zones for the betterment of the whole state.

There are similar concerns for wildlife and tourism in the Anza-Borrego State Park.

Bri Fordem is with the Anza-Borrego Foundation.

The cumulative impacts of of disrupting habitat that the State of California has deemed as needing to be protected, should altogether be a very large question in all of our minds is do we decide that we want to disturb these spaces?

SDG&E is holding virtual informational meetings May 12th and 14.

Martin with SDG&E says the utility will weigh public concerns around environmental impacts and affordability before submitting the route for state approval later this year.

Tammy Murga, Kpbs news.

Gas prices are climbing again, largely driven by uncertainty around the war on Iran.

Katie Anastas says some San Diego residents are avoiding the high cost of gas with electric vehicles, just before federal tax credits expired in September.

Claremont resident Rick Thompson got an electric vehicle I used to drive a diesel vehicle before, and now, like where I live in Claremont, it's about $8 a gallon, for diesel fuel.

So it would cost me about $100 to fill up every time.

And that's, kind of expensive just to go to the pump every time and pay $100.

Experts say high gas prices are pushing more people to consider EVs.

Cox automotive reports more EV shopping activity on Kelley Blue Book and AutoTrader.

The average price of regular gas in San Diego is now 599 per gallon.

Kandace Redd is a spokesperson for AAA.

Looking at the data, we know that gas prices jumped $0.13 in a week, $0.07 in a month in a $1.22 in a year.

She says California has the highest gas prices in the country, but it's not the most expensive place to charge an EV.

We know that's because of a large and competitive charging network that widespread home charging options and lower off peak electricity rates all help keep prices from reaching the highest levels.

Thompson estimates he spends an equivalent of $2.70 per gallon to charge his EV at home.

If you have a level two charger at home, you still have to put the cost on your household as far as, like, an electric bill.

So, like, our electric bill is like about $300 now, which is quite high, for a single family home.

Still, he says it's cheaper than filling up at the gas pump.

EVs are usually more expensive to buy new than gas powered cars, but Cox Automotive says more used EVs could soon be on the market.

Thousands of leases will end this year, and many of them will be sold as used cars.

Katie Anastas, Kpbs news.

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.

It's all at kpbs.org/price of San Diego.

For months Jacumba Hot Springs residents say they've been complaining about construction dust from a nearby solar energy project.

But they say little has changed.

Kpbs reporter Elaine Alfaro says now community leaders want the county to intervene.

Thank you for inviting me.

No problem.

Stef Tonkin moved to Jacumba about two years ago and connected to neighbors through the local community center.

But now she's inside most days.

We're having to keep our doors closed and our windows closed because of the construction going on.

Next door in the field is so bad.

Dust is coming from grading for a 600 acre solar farm.

Tonkin says it's made her chronic obstructive pulmonary disease worse.

She's been hospitalized four times since January.

Came in March when I went into the hospital.

They say they put me on oxygen because it was.

And I was just so it's so bad and so hard to breathe.

That's out of the ordinary from years past.

I'd had it down to maybe 1 or 2 times a year.

Not very frequent.

Since I've started construction, it's it's constant.

I mean, the paramedics here in town know me by name.

In recent months, residents say the dust produced by the project has had tangible health impacts.

That led the Jacumba Community Sponsor Group to email a formal complaint to the county last week.

They're asking for an audit, and independent, unannounced inspections of the construction site.

Tonkin says she's called in the dust issues to the hotline displayed at the project's site, but it's just falling on deaf ears.

The solar project has been controversial from the start.

Residents say it will damage the character of Jacumba The county requires the developer, Baywa RE Americas, to take steps to keep the dust at a minimum.

A spokesperson for the developer told Kpbs in an email, quote, this is a large project in a dry, exposed location, and dust is a real challenge.

We run up to five water trucks on site at once, follow an approved dust control plan, and pause grading when wind conditions are too high.

End quote.

A county spokesperson told Kpbs they already conduct unannounced inspections on a regular basis.

They declined an interview about the sponsor group's complaint.

Elaine Alfaro, Kpbs news.

To the north of the Imperial Valley, another battleground is emerging in the debate over AI data centers.

Kpbs reporter Kori Suzuki says residents are pushing back against a large data center campus in the city of Coachella.

The proposal is for a large data center campus that would cover 240 acres.

At a meeting last week, residents urged the Coachella City Council to hold a public discussion about the project.

The data centers would also connect to IID, which means it would impact all existing customers across the Coachella Valley and in Imperial County.

Stephanie Ambriz is a resident of Coachella.

She pointed out that the city gets their power from the Imperial Irrigation District.

The Imperial Valley's powerful public utility, Coachella, is currently in the process of trying to create its own municipal utility.

You can build a utility without data centers, and we deserve a say in the development of our future utility.

For months, residents in the Imperial Valley to the south have also been fighting a massive data center project.

Earlier this month, the Pew Research Center found that most new data centers are being proposed in rural areas.

City officials in Coachella say they haven't approved anything yet, and that project would require a full environmental impact report.

Several city council members have said they would push for a public discussion.

In the newsroom, Kori Suzuki, Kpbs news.

That story by Cori Suzuki was one of our most popular this week.

Here are some others.

Critical upgrades to Tijuana's wastewater system are set to begin training the next generation of immigration lawyers in the mass deportation era.

And El Cajon sues California's attorney general over the state's sanctuary law.

To get a weekly list of our most popular stories, sign up for our newsletters at kpbs.org.

Our digital team is also working hard on the latest version of the Kpbs Voter Hub.

You'll find stories in English and Spanish on many of the local and statewide races.

The primary election is on June 2nd, just about a month away.

Look for more content in the days ahead.

It's all to help our audience get informed on the important decisions they'll be making.

Kpbs is marking America 250 by looking back on San Diego's own history.

The military can be credited with much of our region's growth.

One major military hub in the county is Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

Kpbs military reporter Andrew Dyer has more on the past lives of the base.

What's today known as Miramar, was once a vast tract of ranchland.

It wasn't even called Miramar.

San Diego historian Jim Newland says that in the 19th century, the entire area was known as Linda Vista.

So that's sort of north of Mission Valley, up that way, right?

And so it was just generally known as the Linda Vista versus la mesa, which is the south of Mission Valley area.

E.W.

Scripps renamed the Mesa Miramar when he moved into his ranch house here in 1891.

The 47 room mansion would take over seven years to build.

The Cowboy cemetery from that time still sits on a secluded hillside with ocean views.

During World War One, the army needed wide open spaces to train thousands of soldiers and quickly.

That's when the Miramar area's long history with the military began.

Camp Kearney was where the airfield now is.

Marine Colonel Erik Herrmann is the commanding officer of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar today.

There were, you know, thousands of horses and mules, thousands of infantrymen, training and, and prepping, to go overseas in battle.

And so this this land has been, in use for over 110 years.

At its height, Camp Kearney housed about 30,000 troops, a number that almost doubled San Diego's population.

At the time, it had more than 1100 buildings, including 140 mess halls all gone today.

Newland says the Army built it to be temporary, but it proved pivotal in San Diego's development.

Probably half of the folks who got trained at Camp Kearney never saw any action or even got overseas, you know?

But it was very I think it was very important to sort of lock in that, that we were open and a viable and very valuable asset to the military.

The Army closed the camp after the First World War.

Later, the Navy began using a portion of the camp as an airfield for dirigibles.

When the Marines outgrew their base at what's today the Recruit Depot.

They established Camp Holcomb in 1934 at the Southeast corner of the old Camp Kearney base.

It was later renamed Camp Elliot, where the 163 meets the 15 stands the ruins of Camp Elliot, a sprawling Marine Corps base where more than 50,000 Marines trained to ship off to the Pacific during World War Two.

It's where the first Navajo code talkers also trained.

Now all that's left today are these ruins.

What was once barracks and chow halls and headquarters are now just empty slabs of concrete.

What we see here, what we believe this is are kind of the foundations from the headquarters buildings that were over here.

There were about five different command headquarters on this side at Camp Elliott.

At the time, the base was among the most vital installations supporting the war before Camp Pendleton opened up.

Really, this was the only training ground, to prep young men.

For the what they would see in World War two.

Halfway through the war, the Marines opened Camp Pendleton, 30 miles to the north, making Camp Elliott expendable.

There was talk of converting the base into a new civilian airport after World War Two, but that's another story.

In part two, we'll have more on why that didn't happen.

Plus, the story of a secret ballistic missile site and how the base survived, threats to close in the 90s.

Andrew Dyer Kpbs news.

A California nonprofit program that connects landowners with farmers is spreading to San Diego.

Kpbs North County reporter Alexander Nguyen says the program helps landowners earn extra cash while giving beginning and small scale farmers a place to grow.

So it's kind of a matching service, almost like a dating service.

Andy Williamson spent about three years farming at a community garden in the Tijuana River valley before looking to expand.

That's when he signed up with California Farm Link, which matched him with this property in Ramona.

It's owned by Katie Shilts, her husband, and a few friends.

We wanted a farmer who did regenerative farming.

We had been learning a lot about how great that is for the environment, and so we wanted to find the farmers who were knowledgeable in that.

The Shilts' are no strangers to having tenant farmers.

They had someone.

They owned a farm in Wisconsin but didn't know what to start here in California.

They also wanted to find the right tenant.

That's when California Farm Link came in.

They helped her craft the ad that led her to Williamson.

The two matched because Williamson was also concerned about the environmental impact of farming.

You know, water pollution, air pollution, that kind of thing.

Matching farmers and landowners is just one of the services provided by California Farm Link, a nonprofit founded in 1989.

Katia Pilar Carranza is a senior program associate at Farm Link.

We help farmers, ranchers and fishers with getting access to knowledge capital, as well as land.

Knowledge means training for many landowners and tenant farmers.

This might be their first time dealing with land contracts and Farm Link helps with that.

So in this work we serve as multi partial advocates representing both parties.

And we support with everything from like negotiation to finalizing the leases or agreements.

And it's all pro-bono.

That was very helpful as well.

You know that was quite a scary component of of the process.

I never signed a contract for land, previously.

So it was great to have, the support of a of an organization that knew exactly what needed to be in the contract, and that was that was critical to the process.

Pilar Carranza says the goal is to create equitable land agreements that support long term land tenure.

Right now, we have some of the highest land prices here and in the country.

She says San Diego is losing around two farms a week to development and other factors.

San Diego County's latest crop report says in 2024, there were just over 207,000 acres of commercial farmland in the region, down nearly 23% in a decade.

The land next door came for sale, and they wanted to develop it and build five houses right next to us.

That's part of the reason why Shanley Miller and her business partner bought this 25 acre property next to her avocado farm in Hidden Valley.

So the the land kind of, goes down over here into a creek.

It's dry at the moment.

She didn't want Hidden Valley to lose its character.

It's a quiet, rural community where property lines aren't marked by fences, allowing wildlife to roam freely.

It's beneficial.

The.

The coyotes take care of the gophers and squirrels that could come after our trees.

So it's a win win.

Miller and her business partner didn't really have a concrete plan for the property until she found Farm Link and her first tenant through the program.

It's a small family who just didn't have enough space in their yard to grow all the vegetables that they wanted.

May eventually expand it, but for now, it's a great start.

They can start.

They can start growing all the things that they need.

Being new to the program, she says they are both learning how it works and what the challenges are.

But she likes that it gives aspiring farmers access to land and lets them try their hand at growing food Back in Ramona.

After three years of farming here, here we've got a couple of beds of strawberries.

We've got radishes, we've got chard, we've got spinach.

Williamsons has renewed his lease and is thinking of adding an orange orchard throughout the year.

Alexander Nguyen, Kpbs news.

At the San Diego Convention Center, the World Latte Art Championship brought 33 contenders from around the world for one reason to visually stun judges with foam competitors must steam pour and design intricate images.

So what does it take to be a latte art champion?

Kpbs web producer Leslie Gonzalez went to the World of Coffee Championship trade show to see for herself.

I still get goosebumps of thinking that I'm here.

That was Marquis Monzon, representing the U.S.

at the World Latte Art Championship, a tournament that determines the best in creativity, technique, control and skill in foam.

Inside the San Diego Convention Center stage draws 33 competitors from around the world.

Each one is chasing for that perfect pour.

It's all part of the world of coffee, a global trade show that's been around since 1989.

The World Latte Art Championship itself is newer.

It launched in 2011, but the culture behind it has been building for around 20 years.

There's always an annual trade show in the U.S., and so what we do is for our U.S.

show, we rotate through different cities, so we try to get to West Coast, East coast, middle of the country.

And San Diego is an amazing coffee city.

So that's why we chose San Diego.

And we've never been here before in San Diego.

Coffee has grown alongside the craft beer boom, turning the region into one of the best coffee cities in the country.

Each performance is watched by a panel of certified judges scoring every detail of the design.

Competitors are judged on symmetry, quality of milk pour texture, contrast and composition, and they're on the clock.

In the final stage, competitors have just ten minutes to complete six drinks four matching free pour lattes and two matching macchiatos.

Free pour means no tools, just milk, espresso control and hand-eye coordination.

Yeah, they're just really looking for something beautiful and something skillful.

So there's a lot of technical aspects, particularly in the stage performance, but the competition doesn't end on stage.

It's also up to the audience at the art bar.

Competitors recreate their designs for a live audience, turning precision into performance.

And here the crowd gets a say.

Audience members vote on their favorite pour, and the winner goes to the World Coffee Championships in Panama this October.

I just had that Art Basel.

Now I'm kind of chill about.

Let's see.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the main competition and so, well, I'm enjoying the moment now, but little bit nervous of course for tomorrow.

But it's nice to be here.

Well it's a mix of emotions, you know, like I knew my brother that he wanted to do this since he was little and then seen doing this from all the way to the bottom to the top.

It's a really it brings a lot of, mixed emotions, fun and a really happy times, too.

When he was trying to do, latte art.

Now, seeing him doing all of this, it's really crazy for me.

Simplicity is the foundation of creativity, where control, clarity and intention comes together.

Thank you so much for creating representing the United States of America in Los Angeles.

That is my time.

And after rounds of preliminary pours, semifinals and finals, one cup rises above the rest.

Bala Shaosing Lin from Taiwan took home the championship trophy and swag merch from the convention.

The art part winner was Eduardo Olimpio, who represented Brazil.

He won a trip to the world of coffee in Panama.

All finalist received a trophy.

And all 33 competitors, including Marquis went home knowing that they made it to the world stage.

Leslie Gonzalez produced that story.

The Next World of Coffee event in the US will be held in New Orleans in 2027.

That one will host the World Coffee Roasting Championship.

Well, how will I spend my time after retirement?

It's a question many of us face as that long awaited day nears.

I recently met a San Diegan who's keeping his lifelong love of music going in a unique way.

In this El Cajon neighborhood.

Things are quiet.

A horse enjoys the sunny weather.

And across the street from its corral, a curious sight.

This minivan with appliques that signal something sonorous.

And there's a good reason that that is not in here.

That's because this is no ordinary garage.

This is a place where musical magic happens.

After a number of auditions for the San Diego Symphony.

I got a job as the fourth horn of the San Diego Symphony.

That's Doug Hall.

He played French horn in the San Diego Symphony for 36 years.

He retired a couple of years ago, but French horns are still a huge part of his life.

He loves them so much that he makes and fixes them here.

The garage at the home of another retired symphony musician houses his business, McCracken horns.

So why isn't it Hall horns?

Well, it's named for George McCracken, a legendary designer and creator of brass instruments.

It was like working with Leonard Bernstein in a French horn shop.

I call George the Stradivarius of French horn making.

I was with George McCracken in Virginia as an apprentice before I came to California.

We built a lot of horns and I learned a lot.

He was my teacher mentor.

So this is called a core solo.

If you've ever wondered about how a French horn works, Hall's the man with the answers.

It's a natural horn.

It's a copy of a French instrument that was made in the 1800s, Little Beethoven.

Over the course of several hours we spent with Hall videographer Carlos Castillo.

And I learned a lot about French horns.

You'd be forgiven for thinking a French horn is a French horn, but there are actually myriad varieties using metal bent into gentle curves.

Valves letting air in and out of here and there.

So this is the next horn I'm working on.

It's a triple horn.

You can see three sets of tubing and it'll have a valve slides.

And this is the change valve.

And this is something that George designed.

And you'll have one on this side and one on this side to send the air between this set, this set and then this set.

So they work together.

Back to Hall's story.

He began his musical life in a rather auspicious way as a boy soprano with the Washington National Cathedral choristers.

Not long after, the young hall had a watershed moment.

I went to the National Symphony in Constitution Hall, and the horn player stood up and played till Ireland's bugle.

And I was like, I want to do that.

And the rest is history.

Fast forward to Hall's apprenticeship with George McCracken, and his desire to play rather than fix and make horns was stirring.

So he did something that would bring him to California and change his life.

I missed playing my horn, and I sent a cassette tape to Leonard Bernstein, who hired me to be the principal horn of the L.A.

Philharmonic Institute at the Hollywood Bowl.

That led to stints with various orchestras in the West, before he finally landed with the San Diego Symphony.

Then, a few years ago, he got a call from a then 92 year old George McCracken, who was ready to retire.

And I was a little bit shocked because, of course, you never want something like that to end.

And so we designed these horns, and I helped him finish other instruments that he was trying to get done.

And then, he said, you got to buy the shop.

And I'm like, okay.

And I end up putting it all in a pod, a moving pod, and moved it here.

And it was it was an adventure.

The adventure continues for this skilled musician steeped in the tradition of the French horn.

Most musicians are looking for a sound.

How can they make the most beautiful sound that they possibly can?

Of course, the French horn is one of the most beautiful instruments.

It's very romantic.

George McCracken died in 2024.

Now, the desire to keep French horns in the musical mix continues to power.

The romance between Doug Hall and his beloved instruments.

A fulfilling next chapter in the soundtrack of his life.

That was a fun story.

We hope you enjoyed this look at Kpbs news this week, I'm John Carroll.

Thank you for joining us.