Millions of Americans have lost their sense of taste and smell after getting COVID-19. For chefs and restaurant owners, the impact has been devastating. Host Cecilia Lei chats with Bay Area food professionals to discuss their experience, and UCSF’s Dr. Patricia Loftus explains why researchers think the phenomenon happens, and the treatments that might help. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email us: fifth@sfchronicle.com Learn more about your ad cho...
Jun 28, 2023•15 min
On July 13, the California Public Utilities Commission will vote on a resolution to give driverless robotaxis full access to pick up paying passengers in San Francisco. To find out what that might be like, opinion columnist Emily Hoeven recently took a ride in a Waymo robotaxi. She tells host Demian Bulwa what it was like and why some San Francisco officials are sounding the alarm. Note: The vote was previously scheduled for June 29 and was postponed after this episode published. | Unlimited Chr...
Jun 27, 2023•20 min
In 1996, a state ballot measure barred public universities from using race as a factor in admissions. Now, with the Supreme Court weighing affirmative action, the University of California's struggle to build a diverse student body may hold lessons for private universities that could soon face the same restriction. Chronicle reporter Nanette Asimov joins host Cecilia Lei to discus s the stakes. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email us: fifth@sfchron...
Jun 26, 2023•17 min
Dr. Nasser Mohamed became the first Qatari to come out as gay during an interview with BBC World last year ahead of the World Cup. Since then, the S.F. primary care physician has connected with hundreds of other LGBTQ people in Qatar where homosexuality is persecuted. Mohamed was elected to serve as a Grand Marshall in this year's SF Pride Parade and joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about his activism and finding a queer Middle Eastern community in San Francisco. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfch...
Jun 23, 2023•19 min
A new team of San Francisco police officers has arrested or cited people for drug offenses 53 times in recent weeks as part Mayor London Breed's crackdown on drug dealing and use. She's talked about "tough love" and getting people into treatment, but so far none of the arrests have resulted in someone accepting drug treatment services. Chronicle reporter Mallory Moench joins host Demian Bulwa to explain the goals of this crackdown, why critics say it may exacerbate the overdose crisis and what t...
Jun 22, 2023•18 min
“This is a story of deep poverty in a state with incredibly high housing costs.” That’s how Dr. Margot Kushel, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, describes the takeaway from California’s largest study of homeless adults in three decades. As Kushel, the study's lead investigator, tells host Cecilia Lei, the majority of respondents became homeless in California — and relatively small amounts of money could have prevented it for almost everyone. | Unlimited Chronicle ...
Jun 21, 2023•19 min
California became one of the last states in the country to decertify or suspend cops for serious misconduct when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB2 in 2021. The law went into effect this year, and the commission in charge of enforcing it estimates that up to 3,500 police officers could be stripped of their badges each year. Chronicle reporter Sophia Bollag joins host Cecilia Lei to discuss the law's impact and the pushback by opponents. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comm...
Jun 20, 2023•17 min
Best of 5M: In honor of Juneteenth, we're republishing this episode from February 24. In a wide-raging onstage conversation with host Cecilia Lei, the comic, host of CNN's "United Shades of America," producer and director of "We Have to Talk About Cosby" and co-author of "Do the Work: An Antiracist Activity Book" says being progressive is about just that — doing the work. This episode was recorded live at Manny’s in San Francisco as part of Fifth & Mission’s 1,000th episode celebration. | Un...
Jun 19, 2023•30 min
The Oakland A’s move to Las Vegas took a leap forward this week, as the Nevada Legislature passed a bill granting $380 million in public funding for a new ballpark on the Strip. But fans aren’t letting the team go quietly. More than 27,000 supporters showed up Tuesday for a reverse boycott demanding owner John Fisher sell the squad. Chronicle columnist Ann Killion was there and joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about what’s next for the team and why the eternal underdogs have always inspired a spec...
Jun 16, 2023•20 min
Downtown San Francisco suffered another major blow this week when Westfield, the owner of the San Francisco Centre Mall, announced it would be returning the massive property to its lender. While the mall won't close immediately, it's a sign of serious trouble in the city's commercial core, where the owner of two major hotels also recently decided to surrender them. Host Cecilia Lei talks with reporters Roland Li and Carolyn Said to learn what might have prompted these owners to walk away and how...
Jun 15, 2023•21 min
In a series of unrelated mass shootings last weekend in the Bay Area, 19 people were shot and one died. The shootings fit into a broader pattern: After a decades-long decline in violent crime, homicides and gun-related incidents have risen since the start of the pandemic. Data reporter Susie Neilson talks to host Demian Bulwa about whether this week's shootings are part of a new spike in violence, or just a very bad weekend. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, q...
Jun 14, 2023•17 min
Trains once an hour? No weekend service? What would the Bay Area look like if transit agencies like BART and Muni had to make deep service cuts? A proposed state bailout would avert immediate disaster, but it’s not a done deal. Reporters Ricardo Cano and Dustin Gardiner join host Cecilia Lei to discuss what’s at stake in the budget crisis, and Annie Fryman, director of special projects at the think tank SPUR, talks about why this moment is a wake-up call for California. | Unlimited Chronicle acc...
Jun 13, 2023•32 min
Santa Rosa native Brett Crozier was the captain of the nuclear aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. His email to Navy brass begging for more help as the virus spread among his crew made international news — and cost him his post. It's All Political on Fifth & Mission host host Joe Garofoli broke that story with fellow Chronicle reporter Matthias Gafni. Crozier hasn't spoken about the incident until now. He joins Garofoli to discuss his "conscience over c...
Jun 12, 2023•23 min
Food is personal for new restaurant critic and hometown native Mackenzie Chung Fegan. She joins host Cecilia Lei to discuss how her family's San Francisco restaurant, Henry's Hunan, changed her life — and her approach to restaurant criticism. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email us: fifth@sfchronicle.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 09, 2023•19 min
In two separate incidents last month, pilots approaching San Francisco International Airport had to abort landings at the last minute — just a few hundred feet from the ground — due to planes on the runway. Go-arounds, as the maneuvers are called, happen at every airport, but experts say the events at SFO are signs of an airport that's overburdened. Reporter Matthias Gafni joins host Demian Bulwa to review what happened and what's so unusual about these episodes. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sf...
Jun 08, 2023•18 min
After several days' delay, the Florida governor has taken credit for two groups of migrants who were sent from Texas to California's capital. California officials say the migrants were told they would find jobs and assistance in Sacramento, but were simply left there. Reporter Sophia Bollag joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about Sacramento's response, led by religious leaders who have rallied to the migrants' aid. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Emai...
Jun 07, 2023•17 min
California has yet another housing dilemma on its hands: Two of the state's biggest property insurers, State Farm and Allstate, have decided not to underwrite new homeowners policies here. Chronicle reporter Claire Hao tells host Demian Bulwa about the money and politics behind the companies' pull-outs. What are consumers' options now? | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email us: fifth@sfchronicle.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone....
Jun 06, 2023•14 min
While this blue state isn't passing anti-trans legislation, two girls pulled out of a state track final because they didn't feel safe following protests over "fairness." Chronicle reporter Marisa Ingemi tells host Demian Bulwa that those protests sound like bigoted dog whistles, considering they come from people otherwise unconcerned about fairness in girls sports. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email us: fifth@sfchronicle.com Learn more about you...
Jun 05, 2023•18 min
San Francisco has consistently seen more than 600 overdose deaths a year, and the rate of fatal overdoses has recently spiked. On this episode of The Chronicle's SFNext:Fixing Our City podcast, Dr. Jeffrey Hom, director of the city’s Office of Overdose Prevention, is optimistic that the city can turn the tide on overdoses, but acknowledges a long road ahead. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Fixing Our City is part of the San Francisco Chronicle’s SFNext Project Got a tip, commen...
Jun 02, 2023•29 min
Unlike other retail outlets that have blamed crime when closing stores, Cole Hardware owner Rick Karp says his family is closing its Ninth Street retail shop because it hasn't been profitable since the start of the pandemic thanks to online shopping and the loss of downtown foot traffic. But Brian Sheehy of Future Bars, which has just opened Dawn Club, its 13th bar in San Francisco, says these are good times for the hospitality business. They both join host Demian Bulwa to talk about the busines...
Jun 01, 2023•18 min
The freshman congressman from Long Beach says he won’t engage with Republicans who “don’t respect my basic humanity” as a gay man. He tells It’s All Political on Fifth & Mission host Joe Garofoli why he’s leading the charge to expel Rep. George Santos, why attacks on trans youth are so dangerous, and why he swore the oath of office not on a Bible, but on a Superman comic book. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email us: fifth@sfchronicle.com Lear...
May 31, 2023•21 min
Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin is calling on Mayor London Breed to quickly bring an end to the open drug use on the city's streets and sidewalks. Breed says she has her own plan, and that "force is going to have to be a part of it." That's cause for concern from those who see law enforcement as the wrong way to approach a public health problem. City Hall reporter Mallory Moench joins host Demian Bulwa to talk about a problem unlikely to go away in 90 days. | Unlimited Chronicle acce...
May 30, 2023•15 min
Hundreds of people are dying from drug overdoses every year in San Francisco, and the rate of deaths has spiked. Are safe consumption sites a solution? Public health workers and most city leaders say so, but critics fear such sites would attract crime and enable addiction, and plans to establish them appear stalled. On this episode of The Chronicle's SFNext:Fixing Our City podcast, Madeleine Sweet, an overdose survivor in recovery, and Ellen Grantz of the group Mothers Against Drug Addiction and...
May 26, 2023•25 min
Just like San Francisco, the East Bay city is facing budget shortfalls and a vacancy crisis caused by the shift to remote work. But as reporters Sarah Ravani and Roland Li tell host Demian Bulwa, Oakland has some advantages over its bigger neighbor — but also its own unique challenges. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email us: fifth@sfchronicle.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 25, 2023•19 min
In a roller coaster few days, the Los Angeles Dodgers caved to pressure from conservative Catholics and disinvited the L.A. chapter of the "leading-edge Order of queer and trans nuns" from their Pride Night celebration, then reversed course and offered an apology, which the Sisters accepted. Sister Mary Media and Guard HOOOO?! of the San Francisco Sisters join host Demian Bulwa to talk about the wave of attacks on LGBTQ people and their rights, and the roles that unity and forgiveness play in ba...
May 24, 2023•19 min
Rising sea levels from climate change are threatening some of the Bay Area's most beloved beaches, including Stinson. But the tide isn't the only threat. Dammed rivers and coastal development also keep the sand from replenishing itself. Chronicle reporter Tara Duggan joins host Demian Bulwa to talk about whether we're doing enough to save these cherished and vital resources. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email us: fifth@sfchronicle.com Learn more...
May 23, 2023•16 min
Best of 5M: In honor of AAPI Heritage Month, we're republishing this episode from March 10. After tragedy struck an Asian ballroom dance studio in Monterey Park, host Cecilia Lei reports from ballroom studios and social dances in Oakland and San Francisco to see how Asian seniors are responding — and how dancing helps them find their personal power. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email us: fifth@sfchronicle.com Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...
May 22, 2023•23 min
The state representative, who was temporarily expelled from the Legislature after protesting for gun safety laws, began his activism career as a teenager in the East Bay. He talks to It’s All Political on Fifth & Mission host Joe Garofoli about his multicultural upbringing, the inspiration he takes from earlier Bay Area social justice movements, and the challenge of championing progressive ideas in a deep-red state. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, questi...
May 19, 2023•25 min
For nearly a decade, around 300 unhoused people built a community under Interstate 880 in Oakland, until the city evicted the Wood Street encampment to make way for 170 units of affordable housing. Documentary filmmaker Caron Creighton joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about what happened during the month-long eviction process, and the residents' last ditch efforts to stay put. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Related: Wood Street Encampment's Final Day pod.fo/e/172f12 Got a tip, c...
May 18, 2023•24 min
How to respond to someone in mental crisis. How should you respond to someone in mental crisis? If you live in the Bay Area, you’ve probably encountered people in mental distress on public transit or city sidewalks. What should you do when you see someone in crisis? UCSF professor and S.F. General Hospital psychiatrist Dr. Richard Patel joins host Cecilia Lei to share tips for deescalating tense situations, staying safe and getting people help.| Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Go...
May 17, 2023•18 min
