The Covid-19 pandemic, worker shortages and even global warming are all factors that have contributed to what is known as 'the supply chain crisis'. Chronicle food reporter Janelle Bitker joins host Cecilia Lei to discuss how local Bay Area restaurants are impacted, and business reporter Carolyn Said explains why supply chain issues might stick around for awhile. Get unlimited Chronicle access for 26 weeks for 99 cents: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adc...
Dec 03, 2021•21 min
A resident becomes the first case of the latest COVID-19 variant in the United States. Chronicle health reporter Erin Allday joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about what the detection means for the Bay Area, how vaccines hold up against the variant and whether we should change our behavior now that omicron is here. Get unlimited Chronicle access for 26 weeks for 99 cents: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 02, 2021•16 min
Cities across the Bay Area have been jolted by a spree of retail thefts. On Monday, struggling Oakland cannabis merchants made a plea to city and state leaders for more protection — and a tax break. Chronicle reporter Rachel Swan joins host Cecilia Lei to explain their demands and how conversations about retail crime are becoming increasingly politicized. Get unlimited Chronicle access for 26 weeks for 99 cents: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 01, 2021•18 min
As the latest coronavirus variant spreads across the globe, Chronicle health reporter Erin Allday joins host Cecilia Lei to discuss why it's worrying health experts and why we should feel hopeful. Plus: Reporter Kellie Hwang shares what five local experts say about staying safe for the rest of the holiday season. Get unlimited Chronicle access for 26 weeks for 99 cents: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 30, 2021•22 min
Transportation reporter Ricardo Cano joins guest host Heather Knight to answer questions from listeners and readers submitted via the Bay Area Transportation Project Roadmap. As the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency prepares to make limited service restorations in 2022, tune in to hear all about transit, safe streets, car-free JFK Drive and more. You can send more questions to sfchronicle.com/transitFAQ. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choic...
Nov 29, 2021•17 min
Since last spring, the city has moved thousands of unhoused residents into hotel rooms as emergency shelter during the pandemic. The program, Project RoomKey, is federally funded and the Biden Administration has extended that funding through April 1. But San Francisco has been closing the shelter-in-place hotels for months, despite protests from homeless advocates. Producer Caron Creighton reports on the city's tactics and the objections activists have to them. Get unlimited Chronicle access for...
Nov 22, 2021•16 min
Chronicle health reporter Erin Allday joins host Demian Bulwa to talk COVID-19 boosters: Who should be getting them and why is California being aggressive with them? She talks about whether the push for boosters has merit and whether we’re going to need shots every six months — or every year — for life. And what about the fear of a winter surge? What are the latest predictions on what we’ll see in the pandemic in the Bay Area over the next couple of months? Get unlimited Chronicle access for 26 ...
Nov 19, 2021•17 min
Chronicle investigative reporters Alexandria Bordas and Cynthia Dizikes lay out their new investigation finding years of problems in a civic and charitable organization that helped launch the careers of numerous politicians. They include Richard Nixon, Barry Goldwater and former Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli, who has denied more than a dozen women's allegations of sexual assault. The group, Active 20-30, raises money for children, but current and former members describe a culture celebrating bin...
Nov 18, 2021•17 min
Mayor London Breed is hoping to acquire a building San Francisco can use to open a site where people can use drugs under medical supervision as early as spring 2022. One roadblock: It's against state and federal law. Reporter Trisha Thadani joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about the plan. Plus: Data reporter Yoohyun Jung talks about The Chronicle's new Overdose Tracker. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 17, 2021•22 min
On this episode of the It's All Political podcast, Rep. Jackie Speier talks with The Chronicle's Joe Garofoli, Tal Kopan and Kevin Fagan shortly after announcing that she won't run for reelection in 2022. Speier, who first ran for office after she was wounded in the Jonestown massacre in 1978, has represented San Mateo County and part of San Francisco for decades and has been in Congress since 2008. She reflects on her decision, her career, and what she plans to do next. | Unlimited Chronicle ac...
Nov 16, 2021•25 min
Mayor Libby Schaaf is announcing a program Tuesday that will give 200 struggling households about $700 a month with no strings attached. The privately funded subsidy comes as Oakland continues to grapple with a sharp increase in unhoused residents during the pandemic. Chronicle reporter Sarah Ravani joins host Cecilia Lei to explain how it may help the city's homelessness crisis. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 16, 2021•13 min
The 1968 Fair Housing Act outlawed discriminatory housing covenants, but remnants of redlining provisions linger on housing deeds today. Chronicle reporter Lauren Hepler joins host Cecilia Lei to explain how one affluent Peninsula community, Ladera, started a grassroots campaign to amend them, and the conversations that effort has stirred about present-day housing segregation. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 15, 2021•17 min
Reporter Alexei Koseff joins host Dominic Fracassa to talk about his investigation showing that some state lobbying firms improperly received pandemic-relief loans they weren't eligible for. It’s yet another example of the slapdash rollout of PPP loans during the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 12, 2021•17 min
San Francisco was the first large city to implement a vaccine mandate for city employees. Reporter Rachel Swan joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about how the requirement is working with the SFPD. Then, education reporter Jill Tucker discusses school staff vaccination rates in California, and why Gov. Newsom has been uneven in requiring COVID-19 vaccines. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 11, 2021•20 min
Chronicle staff writer Aidin Vaziri joins host Cecilia Lei to discuss why the Bay Area is seeing a jump in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, and engagement reporter Gwendolyn Wu explains why people with mental health illnesses are now eligible for vaccine booster shots. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 10, 2021•17 min
Supervisor Matt Haney has said he'll introduce a resolution Tuesday apologizing to the Chinese community for the city's history of racism against early immigrants. Reporter Shwanika Narayan joins host Cecilia Lei to explain the history, and community advocates Dennis Wu and Drew Min — who suggested the resolution to Haney — share what it symbolizes. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 09, 2021•26 min
Some members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors say they're pro-housing, but they end up voting down a lot of new construction. Heather Knight and Joe Garofoli join Cecilia Lei to talk about the latest gut check over how the city addresses housing issues, and the implications the controversy is creating in races for statewide office. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 08, 2021•20 min
Chronicle reporter Susie Neilson cuts through an intense San Francisco debate by breaking down exclusive figures showing how the district attorney is charging people for crimes including murder, rape, theft and drug dealing. She tells host Demian Bulwa why rape prosecutions are up and theft cases are down as Boudin seeks to fight off a recall attempt. Then: Reporter Rachel Swan discusses a bike theft in the city that raises questions about how the criminal justice system and residents should res...
Nov 05, 2021•19 min
Comedian Dave Chapelle is opening his latest tour at San Francisco’s Chase Center, despite receiving fierce criticism for his recent comments about the transgender community. Many say his views are transphobic and harmful at a time of record-breaking anti-trans legislation. Chronicle culture critic Tony Bravo and Aria Sai’d, the executive director of San Francisco’s Transgender District, join host Cecilia Lei to discuss the controversy and whether Chapelle can redeem himself in the eyes of the L...
Nov 04, 2021•21 min
They grew up there. They owned homes. And they lost everything. The Chronicle spent five months shadowing four longtime Oakland residents to understand how people with deep roots in the community wound up among the city's unhoused. Host Cecilia Lei welcomes reporters Kevin Fagan and Sarah Ravani and photographer Gabrielle Lurie, who share the story of 70-year-old Delbra Taylor, one of the unhoused residents highlighted in this year's Chronicle Homeless Project. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfch...
Nov 03, 2021•32 min
Judges in U.S. immigration court issue mass "in absentia" deportation orders for immigrants who don't show up to make their case. But many of these people don't even know to be in court because their current address isn't on file. As reporter Deepa Fernandes tells host Demian Bulwa, the Justice Department defends the practice, but advocates for immigrants call it a "deportation conveyor belt." | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/...
Nov 02, 2021•18 min
The Board of Supervisors voted against a development project in SoMa that would've turned a parking lot into a high-rise market-rate residential complex. Some community members were concerned about gentrification, but S.F. politics were also a strong factor. Reporter J.K. Dineen joins host Cecilia Lei to explain. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 01, 2021•18 min
Historic wildfires have ravaged communities throughout the Sierra fire zones. Now, their residents are facing difficult decisions, including whether and how to rebuild and how to stay safe. Reporter J.D. Morris joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about Paradise, Greenville and Quincy. One of them is rebuilding, one is in ruins, and one is under threat. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 29, 2021•26 min
One year after the Bay Area headed into a terrible holiday surge, we're in much better shape. But huge pandemic questions still loom, including: Should you get a booster shot? Can you do holiday gatherings with no restrictions? Are school mask rules soon to change? Meanwhile, children ages 5 to 11 could begin getting vaccinated next week, meaning many could be fully vaccinated by the end of the year. But what do we know about effectiveness for kids? Chronicle health reporter Erin Allday joins ho...
Oct 28, 2021•17 min
Public schools in the Bay Area, and across the country, are hiring marketing firms to boost their enrollment numbers, which have declined and resulted in lost revenue in recent years. Marketing strategies have included TikTok accounts, Pandora ads, and other creative strategies. Chronicle education reporter Jill Tucker joins host Cecilia Lei to discuss how the education system became a competitive marketplace — one that is particularly challenging for public schools. Learn more about your ad cho...
Oct 27, 2021•16 min
Safe parking spots that offer overnight refuge for the unhoused population are gaining traction in the Bay Area, but political obstacles are obstructing community efforts. Chronicle reporter Lauren Hepler joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about the two-year battle the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto had to take on to offer four parking spaces in the city, where more than three-quarters of the unhoused population live in cars. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Take our Lis...
Oct 26, 2021•17 min
City Hall columnist and Total SF podcast host Heather Knight joins Demian Bulwa to talk about her interview with Brooke Jenkins, one of the 50-plus attorneys and other staff who have left the San Francisco district attorney's office since the beleaguered D.A. took over. Jenkins cites what she views as chaotic management, high turnover and ideologically driven decisions as her reasons for joining the effort to recall Boudin — which will likely reach voters as early as June. | Unlimited Chronicle ...
Oct 25, 2021•17 min
The California congressman, lead House impeachment manager in the first Senate trial of Donald Trump, and now author of the bestseller "Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could," talks to Joe Garofoli about the Jan. 6 insurrection hearings, the Trump administration, and the ongoing crisis for democracy. A longer version of this interview appeared on the It's All Political podcast. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Take our Listener Survey: sfchroni...
Oct 22, 2021•23 min
If you’ve heard the term conservatorship this year, it’s likely been about the legal fight around pop star Britney Spears. Taking away a person's decision-making power is meant to be an option of last resort, but in San Francisco, some say they're too hard to obtain, with sometimes deadly consequences. Reporter Mallory Moench joins host Demian Bulwa to talk about the controversy and the story of a woman who fought for a conservatorship to try to save her brother. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sf...
Oct 21, 2021•18 min
The Bay Area has been begging for rain for months amid the worst drought in modern state history. Now that it's here, can we relax? Not so much. A potential atmospheric river in the forecast may cause mudslides. It also may not be enough to put an end to fire season or the growing need to conserve water. Chronicle reporters Jessica Flores and Tara Duggan join host Demian Bulwa to discuss what you need to know about the change of seasons, whether the winter will be wet or dry, and how technology ...
Oct 20, 2021•15 min
