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

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. 

TALK OF THE TOWN with Mike Aguirre LIVE Sat 11am

Celebrating KNSJ’s birthday, Mike and KNSJ show hosts, producers, and other volunteers who give their time behind the scenes, talk about KNSJ public community radio and what KNSJ’s mission means to them. KNSJ launched on July 4 2013. Join us. Our call in number is 619-790-KNSJ (5675).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KNSJ

July 4, 2013

Thank you to all of our listeners and supporters as we celebrate our 12th year on the air. And a special thank you to all of KNSJ’s volunteers who work tirelessly in front of and behind the microphone to run the radio station and bring you programming, stories and music you won’t hear on other San Diego stations.

THE ELECTRIC PICNIC with Susan Taylor Mon 8am

Guest Poet: Leah Meihaus

Leah is an educator and poet who believes that teaching is possible, and that eventually she’ll figure out how to do it. She enjoys baking. She sings when content. She wonders where along the road it all went right and how to get there from here. She holds a master’s degree because something spilled on the certificate and stuck to her hand and won’t come off. She has a bedtime and she does not follow it. She hopes more poets realize they’re everyone. She knows the future is uncertain and dangerous and she invites herself to be there to see it

TALK OF THE TOWN with Mike Aguirre Sat 11am

Mike is in conversation with Marjorie Cohn on consitutional law nationally and internationally focusing on Iran during the first half of his show.

Duncan McFetridge, ex officio member of The Cleveland National Forest Foundation, then joins Mike to talk about the sale of public lands, land that belongs to the people, under the current federal administration. They discuss how that will affect us in East County reaching into the Anza Borrego Desert.

WOMEN OF COLOR ROAR with Angela de Joseph Sat 10am

Insightful conversation on today’s issues

Journalist and former White House Press Secretary Bill Moyers dies at 91

An advocate for public community radio, radio from the grassroots, in touch with the people, like KNSJ, his conversations and demand for journalistic integrity and honesty must be carried forward BY ALL OF US–WE, THE PEOPLE.

WOMEN’S RADIO HOUR with Patricia Law Wed 5pm, Sat Noon

BEVELYNN BRAVO–Mother’s with a Messsage

Bevelynn tells her story of losing a child to murder, then she and Patricia are in conversation about Mother’s with a Message, a support group helping other mothers whose children have been murdered. Their conversation goes in depth not only about the pain of having a child suddenly taken away from you, but to ways of healing as much as is possible. Her story is also about forgiveness and working with at-risk and gang-involved youth.

Bevelynn Bravo has been a community organizer for over 20 years. The past 15 years she was employed at the Jacobs Center where she traveled around the world sharing the model of community engagement with others agencies and organizations who were working in diverse communities tackling issues concerning  gangs , housing & immigration . 

She currently works at UPAC – ACE and is the supervisor for the Mobile Response Team. She has a staff of 7 who respond to homicides and assist families providing services and counseling throughout their difficult journey.  She is the supervisor for the Mentoring program matching mentors for at risk and gang involved youth . She is also a Certified Grief Recovery Counselor one of the things she loves doing the most is helping families live again after a tragic loss 

On May 18, 2012, Bevelynn became one of the families affected by violence, Her life came to a standstill when her own son her pride and Joy “Jaime Bravo, Jr.” was murdered.   After his death in 2012, Bevelynn Founded Mother’s with a Message. She dedicates her life to keeping youth alive and shares her story in hopes it will spare another mother from crying her tears. She, along with the mother’s, lead a 16-week victim’s impact class in various prisons which gives insight to those causing harm and the destruction it causes, but that also change and forgiveness is possible 

You can reach her on her Facebook page – Mothers with a message or email motherswithamessage@gmail.com

CANS Story–Study: CA Families Shoulder Sky-high Costs of Dementia Care

June 25, 2025 – Suzanne Potter, Public News Service (CA)

Study: CA families shoulder sky-high costs of dementia care In California, families shoulder most of the burden of dementia care, according to a new study.

Researchers from the University of Washington found patients in the Golden State require about $55,000 a year in care, but only about $10,000 of it is paid through private or government insurance.

Amy Lastuka, lead research scientist in the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, said the direct costs of doctor visits, prescriptions, home health aides and nursing homes are just the beginning.

“It’s particularly important to look at those indirect costs,” Lastuka explained. “Because people with dementia tend to need a lot of care, especially as they get into the later stages, they can need round-the-clock care.”

Researchers calculated the indirect costs, how much you would have to pay to hire someone to cover all the hours family and friends put in. Data show Americans spend $53 billion a year on direct medical care for the country’s 5.5 million dementia patients but the real cost is five times higher, at $277 billion.

Lastuka argued states should do more to support caregivers.

“I would say, invest in adult day centers, because that way you have a place where someone can go during the day and get some cognitive stimulation and get cared for,” Lastuka recommended. “Then, if your child is taking care of you, they could still work.”

The California Department of Aging’s website lists programs designed to lighten the load and help pay family caregivers.

Meanwhile, the reconciliation bill currently under consideration in the U.S. Senate known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” could have profound effects on services helping older Americans age in place. The bill seeks to eliminate the federal Administration for Community Living, the agency overseeing regional Councils on Aging, which run programs like “Meals on Wheels.”

https://www.publicnewsservice.org/