CA TEENS ORGANIZE TO PROMOTE ARTS EDUCATION

Suzanne  Potter

More than 400 teen artists will gather this Saturday in Southern California to learn about equity in arts education. The 3rd annual Arts Advocacy Day kicks off the California State Summer School for the Arts. Speakers and workshops will tackle issues like the troubled rollout of Proposition 28, which was supposed to fund new arts classes but has been diverted by some school districts.

Caitlin Lainoff, senior manager of youth engagement at the nonprofit Create CA which sponsors the event, said the event is important for its informational value.

“We want to make sure that students leave knowing that they are guaranteed money for the arts and that they can connect with their administrators to see how that money is spent and can reach out to their legislators at any point,” she explained.

The program takes place at the California Institute of the Arts in Santa Clarita. The goal is to inspire the state’s next entrepreneurs, artists and culture makers to fight for education funding, during a particularly challenging time. The feds just froze almost $7 billion in education grants nationwide to see if they align with Trump administration priorities. The money was supposed to be distributed on July first, leaving districts scrambling.

Lainoff added that the programs such as theater, music and fine art are often the first to go when budgets are tight.

“The potential impact on arts programs is that instead of Prop 28 going to additional arts classes, they will be plugged in to previous arts classes or cut completely for other uses,” she continued.

In May, the Trump administration proposed eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts and has already canceled grants to hundreds of arts organizations.

Disclosure by Public News Service: Create CA contributes to our fund for reporting on Arts & Culture, Budget Policy & Priorities, Education, Youth Issues.

NATIVE AMERICA CALLING M-F 1pm

Friday, July 11, 2025–WHAT WE’VE LEARNED IN THE 35 YEARS SINCE THE MOHAWK RESISTANCE AT OKA

The 78-day armed standoff just outside of Montreal in 1990 is credited with clearing a path for reconciliation between Indigenous tribes and the Canadian federal government. The country can count a number of initiatives, government resolutions, and task forces that sprouted from the violence 35 years ago. But many of Indigenous people connected to the direct action say any progress since then is slow and insufficient. We’ll recount the conflict sparked by a town’s plan to build a golf course and condominiums on sacred Mohawk land and assess the state of awareness for Indigenous issues since then.

Also, what is the most effective response when public figures make comments that go well past acceptable boundaries? How are they held accountable? We’ll reflect on a social media post by conservative commentator Ann Coulter that prompted rebuke by hundreds of Native American leaders and individuals.

_________________ GUESTS ___________________

THE THOM HARTMANN SHOW M-F 9am-Noon

America’s Number 1 Progressive Radio Show

A Daily Newsletter of Renaissance Thinking about Progressive Politics, Economics, Science, and the Political News Issues of Our Day

Thom Hartmann has been the nation’s #1 progressive talk show host for over a decade.

Talkers Magazine ranks Thom as the #1 progressive talk show host in America, with a cumulative audience of 7 million (excluding the TV audience). For 9 years he also hosted an evening TV program that was first carried by Free Speech TV and later picked up by RT TV out of Washington, DC. He separated from RT in 2017.

He is also a four-time Project Censored-award-winning, New York Times best-selling author of over 30 books in print. He invented the “hunters in a farmer’s world” reframe for ADHD and wrote 5 books on the subject.

In the early 1970s, he founded and ran The Michigan Healing Arts Center, and in the years since then has started 2 advertising agencies (Ter Graphics in the 70s, and Chandler, MacDonald dba The Newsletter Factor in the 80s), a travel agency (International Wholesale Travel, sold in 1986), and a community for abused children in New Hampshire, as well as starting relief programs on all 5 continents over the years while working with the Salem International organization. (His autobiography, documenting mostly his work with Salem, is titled The Prophet’s Way, a reference to his mentor Gottfried Mueller, and available in bookstores nationwide.)

STOP & TALK with Grant Oliphant and Crystal Page Fri 8am

Thoughtful conversations and a good way to start the day! STOP & TALK dives deep into the themes of purpose and opportunity, guided by the insights of leaders in the arts and culture, health, philanthropy, finance, and innovation fields. Together, we celebrated local achievements and envisioned what’s possible in San Diego County.

https://stopandtalkpodcast.com

WOMEN’S RADIO HOUR with PATRICIA LAW Wed 5pm

THE PALESTINE QUESTION with guest PROFESSOR GARY FIELDS

For the past 23 years, Gary Fields has been a Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of California, San Diego and is now a Professor in the Graduate Division at UCSD. By training, he is a historical geographer and his research focuses comparatively on case studies of conflicts over land with an emphasis on the case of Palestine. Fields is the author of Enclosure, Palestinian Landscapes in a Historical Mirror and numerous articles on Palestine. He is also an “engaged scholar” seeking to connect his academic work to real world struggles and in this role has contributed articles for venues such as Jadaliyya, Monthly Review, and Counterpunch. He is currently finishing a new book entitled, Imprisoned: Voices and Images from Confinement Landscapes in Palestine.

CA School Budgets in Disarray After Trump Freezes Federal Funding

Suzanne Potter–CA school budgets are in limbo as almost 7 billion dollars in expected federal education funding is being withheld to determine if grant programs support administration priorities.

Panic has set in at school districts across the Golden State as the Trump administration continues to withhold federal funds. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond says California school districts stand to immediately lose close to one billion dollars. Dr. Luis Valentino is a retired superintendent of Coachella Valley Unified School District and host of the podcast “District Leader: Transforming Education.” He says unless this is resolved quickly, schools will be forced to cut back or even eliminate programs.

Last week the Department of Education notified schools across the country that five grant programs are now “under review” to determine if they align with administration priorities. In a statement to Real Clear Politics, the Office of Management and Budget said “initial findings have shown that many of these grant programs have been grossly misused to subsidize a radical left-wing agenda.” The grants in question fund summer learning, teacher professional development and after-school programs. They also fund English language classes and support for children of migrants.

The grants are usually distributed on July 1st. Valentino warns there will be far-reaching consequences if the congressionally-approved funding isn’t restored.

Programs already underway this summer are now in limbo. In a statement, the head of the Boys and Girls Clubs said that without the promised funding, more than 900 sites nationwide serving 220-thousand kids could be forced to shut their doors, taking almost 6-thousand jobs with them.

June 27, 2025 (San Diego’s East County) – East County Magazine editor Miriam Raftery won two awards from Society for Professional Journalists in the San Diego SPJ Journalism competition. The honors bring ECM’s total awards to 149 since our founding in 2008. 

In the series category for daily reporting and writing, Raftery took third place for her series on the Water Conservation Garden’s growing pains.  The series chronicled the Garden’s financial struggles, brief closure, and reopening after operations were taken over by the Garden’s joint powers authority. View the series:  part 1, part 2, and part 3.

Raftery also won third places in the opinion/editorial category for her editorial published last July 4 , titled As we celebrate Independence Day, our democracy is at risk. Several of the threats to our democratic system of government  that she warned of have since come to pass via authoritarian actions rolled out by the Trump administration following the blueprint outlined in Project 2025.

https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/ecm-wins-two-journalism-awards

CUSTOM TAYLORED with Tim Taylor Sunday 11am-Noon

FOR YOUR MUSIC ENJOYMENT

CUSTOM TAYLORED is a chronological journey of the popular music that influenced rock and roll. This episode is part of a subseries on the music that led to post war urban blues. Featured today are some acoustic blues, some boogie woogie, and some classic jazz. All of the songs in the episode were first recorded or released in 1941. You’ll hear ROBERT PETWAY, SISTER ROSETTA THARPE and GENE KRUPA & HIS ORCHESTRA, among others.

FRIENDLY FIRE LIVE with Don Kimball Sat 2-3pm

A Show for and About Veterans

GUESTS: VETERANS FOR PEACE MIKE FERNER and LISA LING

Studio Call-in Number 619-790-KNSJ (5675)

Don Kimball is originally from Manchester by the Sea, Massachusetts. Don got the “radio bug” in 1971, when he became a DJ at the student-operated radio station KVPC-FM on the campus of Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa. He’s holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from Cal Poly Pomona and is a graduate of the Brown Institute of Broadcasting. Don is a veteran of the US Air Force where he worked as an air traffic controller. Don is a board member of Military Families Speak Out, and a Veteran For Peace member of Chapter 91 in San Diego. 

Don started Friendly Fire, A Voice For Veterans in 2017 at WMPG-FM, a community radio station on the campus of the University of Southern Maine in Portland, Maine. Friendly Fire is also heard on KURU-FM in Silver City, NM. He has interviewed veterans and their families and supporters from as far away as Japan and Ireland. He guests have included everyone from enlisted personnel to US Senators and Congresspeople. Don’s guests have included author Norman Solomon, author of War Made Invisible, UCSD professor Colonel Greg Daddis, whistleblower Reality. L Winner and Veteran For Peace Advisory Board Member, former US Marine Captain, State Department official, NC Green Party Senatorial Candidate and current Eisenhower Media Institute co-director, Matthew Hoh. 

Among the many issues Don has covered on his show are those dealing with veteran homelessness, PTSD, MST, deported veterans, TBI, The Veteran’s Administration, USAF veteran whistleblowers Daniel Hale and Reality Winner, and the epidemic of veteran suicide. Don hopes his show will give veterans an opportunity to let the listeners know what really happens to them and their families when they serve, and how people can work together for the common good of everyone instead of making war against helpless women and children in third world countries, destroying their homes and lives, while at the same time creating an atmosphere of hatred towards the US making citizens here less safe as terrorists seek revenge for America’s endless wars.