Will the office ever be the same after COVID? Not likely. When San Francisco's TaskRabbit announced it would shut down all its offices, the company acknowledged reality: As the pandemic drags on, more and more employees want a hybrid workplace, if not a fully remote one. Chronicle reporter Ryan Kost and Stanford future-of-work guru Nick Bloom join host Demian Bulwa to discuss the benefits and dangers of these mind-blowing shifts. What do today's office workers want? And what are companies doing ...
May 31, 2022•18 min
In this episode of the San Francisco Chronicle's food podcast, host Soleil Ho talks to Ella Clark, a high school junior who's leading the organizing efforts at her local Starbucks in Mill Valley. Ella, 17, talks about holding Starbucks accountable to its values. Plus: UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education chair Ken Jacobs explains why the wave of Starbucks unionization is spreading — and why it’s unlikely to end anytime soon. | Follow Extra Spicy on your favorite app: sfchronicle.c...
May 30, 2022•34 min
The pandemic has changed how people watch movies, and movie studios and theaters are trying to survive. Datebook movie critics Mick LaSalle and G. Allen Johnson join host Cecilia Lei to talk about how the movie industry is faring and what theaters are doing to try to lure people back, including live events, and who they're targeting as likely customers. Plus: Mick and Allen share their summer movie recommendations. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choice...
May 27, 2022•21 min
San Francisco's Asian American voters have played a key role in February's school board recall and the upcoming bid to recall District Attorney Chesa Boudin. Political scientist David Lee joins host Cecilia Lei to explain how they built their political power and what the city should expect from the new generation. Plus: Kasie Lee, chief of the Victim Services Division of the DA's office, talks about how she's trying to reach AAPI victims of crime. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/po...
May 26, 2022•34 min
With a likely case detected near Sacramento, is it time to worry about this virus in the smallpox family? Health reporter Erin Allday joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about monkeypox, and about why the CDC is advising caution for gay and bixexual men. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 25, 2022•16 min
Organizers of San Francisco Pride banned in-uniform police officers at this year's event because they say some LGBTQ community members feel unsafe in their presence. In response, SFPD announced that officers will skip the parade. Mayor London Breed and other city agencies followed suit. Interim Pride executive director Suzanne Ford and SFPD officer Kathryn Winters join host Cecilia Lei to share their sides of the debate. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad ...
May 24, 2022•29 min
At a vigil in Oakland following the white supremacist killing of 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo, people grappled with how to move forward amid a resurgence of hate. They felt anger and fear and fatigue, while expressing resolve and "Black joy." Chronicle columnist Justin Phillips and Oakland community leader Cat Brooks — who organized the vigil — discuss the "replacement" conspiracy theory cited by the shooter and tell host Demian Bulwa that confronting such racism requires standi...
May 23, 2022•23 min
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin has faced criticism for prioritizing diversion programs, which provide alternatives to incarceration. But they've proven effective. The Make It Right program has kept young people out of jail, but why hasn't it grown under Boudin's leadership? Chronicle reporter Joshua Sharpe joins host Cecilia Lei to explain the limits of Boudin's reach. Later, one father, Jon Rahoi, explains how Make It Right helped his troubled teenaged daughter. | Unlimited Chroni...
May 20, 2022•23 min
New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns have written "This Will Not Pass," a bestseller that recounts the 2020 election and the political breaking point the country is approaching. The authors join It's All Political on Fifth and Mission host Joe Garofoli to discuss what's at stake in the 2022 midterms, and what's next for key California politicians including Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Gavin Newsom. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about you...
May 19, 2022•36 min
Bay Area restaurants are still facing staffing shortages, supply chain issues and Covid-19 infections. Chronicle food reporter Elena Kadvany joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about how the latest surge is impacting the Bay Area food industry. Plus: Stella Dennig of Oakland's Daytrip shares the financial and emotional toll of dealing running a business with little public health guidance. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 18, 2022•15 min
Local homeless populations haven't been counted since 2019 due to delays caused by the pandemic. On Monday, new data was released in six Bay Area counties, including Alameda and San Francisco. Chronicle reporters Sarah Ravani and J.D. Morris join host Cecilia Lei to talk about the uneven results across the region, and whether early pandemic efforts to get people off the streets worked. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoice...
May 17, 2022•18 min
California once drew a hard line around potential vaccine mandates in places like schools, but now there's been a dramatic shift in tone as vaccine bills are being shelved or delayed in Sacramento. Chronicle reporter Dustin Gardiner joins host Cecilia Lei to explain why, and how it's not just Republicans and anti-vaccine activists who are pushing back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 16, 2022•18 min
Thanks to new options like Paxlovid, assessing personal risk and safety has gotten a little easier. Chronicle health reporter Catherine Ho joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about how anti-viral pills are providing peace of mind. They're also changing how the virus spreads. Data reporter Susie Neilson discusses why San Francisco's wealthy neighborhoods may be hit hardest by the next surge. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoice...
May 13, 2022•21 min
Dr. Rebecca Taub travels each month to provide care to people who live in states where abortion protections aren't available. She's seen what a world without Roe v. Wade looks like and she shares with host Cecilia Lei what she thinks California should be bracing itself for, even as a sanctuary state for abortions. Plus, Chronicle readers and listeners share their reactions to the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choice...
May 12, 2022•24 min
Chesa Boudin's office is resolving a significantly greater share of criminal cases via diversion programs than under his predecessors. That's become a focus of the recall campaign as his opponents say the strategy has made San Francisco more dangerous. Chronicle reporters Susie Neilson and Joshua Sharpe join host Cecilia Lei to talk about what diversion programs are and how they work. They also explain that despite the political fervor around the Boudin recall campaign, diversion programs have b...
May 11, 2022•19 min
Mayor London Breed has tapped Matt Dorsey to represent District Six. He was sworn in Monday. Chronicle reporter Rachel Swan tells host Dominic Fracassa that the appointment signals the mayor doubling down on her new tough-on-crime image. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 10, 2022•11 min
As coronavirus cases tick up in the Bay Area, most illnesses will be mild. But Chronicle reporter Nanette Asimov has the story of the region's many long COVID patients, who've struggled with pain, fatigue and other symptoms of a disease that remains mysterious. What are doctors doing to treat people, and why isn't the government doing more to help? Later in the show, host Demian Bulwa speaks with reporter Catherine Ho, who has the latest news on the vaccine rollout, including when the youngest k...
May 09, 2022•17 min
The neighborhood at the center of San Francisco's thorniest debates has a new city supervisor. It's Dean Preston, the staunch progressive, who takes over after a divisive redistricting process and in the wake of Mayor London Breed's declaration of an emergency over the deadly drug trade in the neighborhood. Chronicle reporter J.D. Morris spent time with Preston and joins host Demian Bulwa to talk about Preston's challenges — including working with Tenderloin residents who want tougher law enforc...
May 06, 2022•17 min
Retired preschool teacher Bobbi Loeb decided to sell her Point Reyes home to a land trust for $550,000 — only about half its $1M value. Chronicle reporter Lauren Hepler joins host Cecilia Lei to explain why the arrangement is a solution for affordable housing, and the benefits it provides to homeowners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 05, 2022•16 min
News that the Supreme Court is set to overturn the nearly 50-year old Roe v. Wade decision on abortion rights has sent shockwaves across the country. Chronicle reporters Rachel Swan and Sophia Bollag join senior political writer Joe Garofoli to talk about what the future of abortion services could look like in California and whether a public health crisis is looming. If you’d like to share your thoughts about the news and tell the Chronicle how it’s affecting you, visit sfchronicle.com/roe-wade....
May 04, 2022•17 min
The state was the first to pass a law criminalizing so-called revenge porn in 2013, but prosecuting perpetrators of the crime has been uneven, including in the Bay Area. Chronicle reporter Tal Kopan joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about what was revealed during a Chronicle review of the state law, and how an effort to make revenge porn a federal crime could strengthen it. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 03, 2022•18 min
New York was the first city in the country to open supervised consumption sites for people using drugs. Chronicle columnist Heather Knight and photographer Gabrielle Lurie traveled there to see how the facilities operate. They join host Cecilia Lei to offer what they think San Francisco can learn from what they observed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 02, 2022•26 min
That's the question Gov. Gavin Newsom and California legislators have to answer after Senate Democrats announced their estimate that the state’s budget surplus has more than doubled to that amount. Reporters Sophia Bollag and Dustin Gardiner join host Cecilia Lei to talk about the unusual problem of the state having more money than it knows what to do with. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 29, 2022•16 min
People all over the Bay Area are getting COVID again at increasing rates — but this time it's different. As Dr. Anthony Fauci says that America is "out of the pandemic phase," far fewer people are getting seriously ill or dying. Restrictions like mask mandates may be a thing of the past, and everybody has to make their own choices about safety. Chronicle health reporter Erin Allday tells host Demian Bulwa what we should make of Fauci's remarks and the latest spread of the disease. | Unlimited Ch...
Apr 28, 2022•21 min
Stanford ICU nurse Brittaney West joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about why nurses throughout the Bay Area are staging job actions and preparing to strike if they don't get what they say they need from the hospitals they work for. "And it doesn't just come down to wages," she says, but also involves adequate staffing, mental health care and other forms of support befitting the "heroes" they're often portrayed as being. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad cho...
Apr 27, 2022•14 min
San Francisco has long depended on single room occupancy units, or SROs, to house its most vulnerable populations. A year-long investigation by Chronicle reporters Joaquin Palomino and Trisha Thadani reveals that many of these buildings are unsanitary and unsafe. They discuss their findings with host Cecilia Lei and share what tenants say life is like for them inside SRO hotels. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 26, 2022•33 min
When a San Francisco teacher recently handed students cotton plants in a lesson about the hardship of slavery, it ignited immediate controversy at the school. There was an investigation, a debate among parents and an apology. Host Demian Bulwa hears from Chronicle reporter Jill Tucker and Ohio State University professor Hasan Jeffries about why incidents like this are so complicated — and important — as the nation reckons with the ongoing harm of racism — and as conservatives seek to ban such te...
Apr 25, 2022•22 min
Yema Khalif and Hawi Awash are the only Black retail owners in the wealthy town of Tiburon. During the summer of 2020, police asked the couple to prove that they owned the store, and the body cam footage of the incident went viral. Chronicle reporter Joshua Sharpe joins host Cecilia Lei to discuss how the couple leveraged that incident to implement police reform in the coastal city nearly two years later. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit m...
Apr 22, 2022•15 min
The San Francisco supervisor defeated David Campos by positioning himself as the pro-housing candidate for the state Assembly seat. Chronicle reporter Dustin Gardiner joins host Cecilia Lei to discuss why Haney's win is a coup for YIMBYs. But political victories won't be enough. A new bill in the Assembly aims to make development easier, even in difficult cities like San Francisco. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 21, 2022•17 min
Now that a federal judge has tossed out the mask requirement on airplanes and public transit, Bay Area transit agencies are scrambling to figure out their mask requirements, creating a patchwork of conflicting policies for travelers. UCSF's Dr. Bob Wachter joins host Cecilia Lei to share his thoughts on the latest federal mask update and why he still recommends keeping masks on in certain public settings. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit m...
Apr 20, 2022•17 min
