This is the second in a two-part series. Read the first part here

Providing preschool at the earliest stages of a child’s development can help close the achievement gap in learning for many low-income children because what’s at stake is a lack of solid preparation for kindergarten and beyond.

This is an independent opinion. Have one of your own? Write it! Email it to hoa@ivn.us

And then there was Todd Gloria. San Diego’s first gay man, first person of color, first hip (surely you have heard him called “the Todster”) mayor. In other words, a person who couldn’t have been elected to even the City Council a generation ago, let alone mayor of San Diego. 

David Lewis was just a few credits shy of earning his associate’s degree in journalism from Long Beach City College when the pandemic hit.

Lewis, 29, was already encountering scheduling conflicts between his classes and a new job at Trader Joe’s. As the assignments for his online classes started to pile up, he struggled to keep pace. In March, he left school.

It was a difficult choice because he’d returned to college just months before, determined to fulfill a promise he’d made to his mother before she passed away from cancer.

When it comes to improving neighborhoods, Pete Garcia and Beth Callender aren’t holding their breath while waiting for others to step in. 

The San Diego couple are the minds behind Urban Interventions, a grassroots nonprofit that takes the initiative to improve unsightly areas in downtown San Diego. So far, the couple have planted trees, cleaned streets and installed artwork in the neighborhood. 

Kenneth C. Davis joins host T. J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to talk about his new book, Strongman: The Rise of Five Dictators and the Fall of Democracy. Mr. Davis is a renowned historian and also the author of Don't Know Much About History, which spent 35 consecutive weeks on The New York Times bestseller list and gave rise to the expansive Don't Know Much About-series of books and audios. His books are well-researched and extremely informative.