We know it can be hard to keep up with everything that’s going on in the world, the country and your community. So here are five stories from the past week that you may have missed but really shouldn’t.

1. Caring for veterans

Ron Fleming was a helicopter door gunner in the Vietnam War. He was in the VA hospital in San Francisco for an asthma attack. (April Dembosky/KQED)

Veterans Day was yesterday, and the most popular story on our site this week was about the challenges of caring for veterans at the end of their lives. Ron Fleming was a door gunner during the Vietnam War:

“You see, at 21, you’re bulletproof,” he said. “Dying wasn’t on the agenda.”

But now, it is. Fleming has congestive heart failure, arthritis and breathing problems. He often lands in the VA hospital with asthma attacks, and the palliative care team visits him regularly. He thinks about death.

“I wish it’d get off its ass and come on me. I’m sick of this crap,” he said, as his heart rate monitor ticked up. “You see, dying’s the easy part. Living is what’s hard.”

Medical professionals say veterans are often looking for different things at the end of their lives than civilians and that the best way to care for them is to honor their wishes.

2. Here comes the tax man

Some California Republicans have split from their party over a provision that would eliminate the state and local tax deduction. (Mark Fiore/KQED)

Republicans in the House of Representatives released their tax plan last week, and everyone is talking about it. KQED reached out to each of California's 53 representatives to get their thoughts on the proposal, and not everyone is sticking to the party line. What does your rep think?

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3. Remembering a friend

Kai played baseball and wrestled. He recently started getting in to yo-yo tricks. (Courtesy of Mindi Ramos)

Kai Logan Shepherd was the youngest person to die in the fires that ravaged Northern California last month. He was 14.

His friends and classmates at Eagle Peak Middle School in the Mendocino County town of Ukiah described him as a sports lover and a nerd. One of his friends had a crush on Kai and wrote this poem about his eyes:

Because your eyes are as blue as the sky,
they make me get butterflies.
Because your eyes are as blue as the sky,
around you they make me feel shy.
Because your eyes are as blue as the sky,
they make me feel high.
Because your eyes are as blue as the sky,
they make me love the plain dull sky
Because your eyes are as blue as the sky,
thoughts of you preoccupy my mind
Because your eyes are as blue as the sky,
they’re prettier than a dragon’s eye…

Kai's 17-year-old sister Kressa also died in the fires.

4. Do you know where this is?

Fred Lyon has taken so many pictures that he doesn't always remember when or where they were shot. He and his wife have spent hours driving around San Francisco trying to figure out the neighborhood where "Houses on the Hills" is located. — Fred Lyon has taken so many pictures that he doesn't always remember when or where they were shot. He and his wife have spent hours driving around San Francisco trying to figure out the neighborhood where 'Houses on the Hills' is located. (Fred Lyon)

Fred Lyon has taken thousands of photographs of San Francisco over the past seven decades, and he can't remember where all of them were taken. "Houses on the Hills" is one of 63 of Lyon's pictures in a new exhibit at the Leica Gallery through the end of the year.

5. The Kathryn Steinle trial

Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, also known as Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez, at an arraignment hearing on July 7, 2015 in San Francisco. — Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, also known as Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez, at an arraignment hearing on July 7, 2015, in San Francisco. (Michael Macor-Pool/Getty Images)

It was the defense's turn to make its case this week in the trial of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, a Mexican citizen accused of killing Kathryn Steinle at San Francisco’s Pier 14 in July 2015.

The case has gained national attention — including from President Trump — as part of the debate over immigration and so-called sanctuary cities. Garcia Zarate was in the country illegally when the shooting took place, and San Francisco authorities chose to release him instead of honoring a detention request from federal immigration officials.

Garcia Zarate's attorney's focused most of their energy on proving the central aspect of their case -- that the gun went off accidentally when Garcia Zarate picked it up wrapped in cloth.

A firearms expert testified that the gun used to kill Steinle was likely less than two feet off the ground when it fired the fatal shot. This directly contradicts testimony from a prosecution expert who said, "a human being held a firearm, pointed it in the direction of Ms. Steinle, pulled the trigger and fired, killing her."
A veteran forensic firearms consultant testified that the facts of the case were "all the indicators of an unintentional discharge."
Garcia Zarate's defense attorneys told the jury that during his client's initial interview with police, each time the police asked him if he "pulled the trigger," it was translated as "shoot" or "fire."
Jurors watched enhanced surveillance footage of a group of people standing on Pier 14 around the time of the killing. The defense argues that this group dropped the weapon that Garcia Zarate eventually picked up and accidentally fired.

Before you go...

KQED Arts worked with Santa Rosa cartoonist Brian Fies to bring his comic about losing his home in the North Bay fires to life. Check it out:

https://vimeo.com/241621786

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