Gloria Hillard

Dr. Kwane Stewart is known as the "Street Vet." He makes rounds in Los Angeles' Skid Row and provides free care to homeless people's beloved pets.

East of Los Angeles, giant warehouses and distribution centers are replacing farms in an area known as the Inland Empire. The logistics industry is changing what was once an agricultural landscape.

One of the nation's busiest marine highways in southern California is trying a new program to help cargo ships avoid whales. "Whale Safe" is kind of a crossing guard to save marine mammals.

The Los Angeles Fire Department depends on help from amateur radio volunteers when fire threatens communications infrastructure. NPR looks at how ham radio operators are keeping residents safe.

One of Hawaii's most threatened seabirds, the Newell's shearwater, makes its home on the island of Kauai. Conservationists there are fighting to keep the iconic bird from disappearing.

As the women's World Cup continues in France, there's another group of tough athletes taking the field in the San Diego area. Many are age 70 and older. Don't even think about telling them to sit.

Not all women in the commercial sex industry have been victims of sex trafficking. But that's where many victims of trafficking end up. One woman who got out has begun a program to help others.

Wolves and humans have an ancient bond, but one usually framed by fear and conflict. The Wolf Connection, north of LA, tries to empower and heal youths by pairing them with wolves and wolf-dogs.

The city's most recent homeless count showed that the veteran homeless population had declined 18 percent. But some advocates caution that veteran homelessness is an ever-changing dynamic.

One 51-year-old woman has been living on the streets for two years. "I've been raped, I've been stabbed, it's been hard out here for me," she says.

Pet stores in California will only be able to sell dogs, cats, and rabbits rescued from shelters — but that doesn't mean the so-called "puppy mills" are going away.

Once considered a paradise for the colorful songbirds, Kauai has lost more than half of those native species due to invasive species and a warming climate.

In the past, women seeking help from the American Widow Project were young women whose husbands had been killed in combat. Today, their husbands are dying on U.S. soil.

In the city of Santa Barbara, north of Los Angeles, the demand for senior housing is so great the wait list is now closed. For many of those seniors, their only safe living option is in their cars.

There are now 47,000 homeless people in and around Los Angeles. The number of homeless women living on the streets has increased dramatically, and many are at risk of violence and sexual assault.

In Southern California, a section of the high speed train linking San Francisco to Los Angeles would have to navigate through mountains, fault zones and what may be even more daunting: cowboy country.

Despite increasing public awareness of transgender issues, transgender people continue to face high rates of joblessness.

Like many trendy boutiques, there is a definite minimalist flair. Soft sweaters rest on antique tables and the hardwood floors gleam.

But this boutique in Huntington Beach, Calif., is owned by a name more well known for treasure hunting than couture shopping: Goodwill.

"Look at some of these great dresses ...

As a young, dedicated fan of the University of Southern California football team, Jake Olson dreamed he would wear the Trojan jersey one day — even after cancer took his sight at age 12.

On a wall next to Kathy Wooten's kitchen in South Los Angeles are photos of her two oldest sons, Branden and Kejuan. The pictures are blown up to the size of posters, larger than life. The sons are dead, murdered months apart in gang-related violence in 2008.

"I tried everything ...