California school districts have been grappling with a teacher shortage since before the pandemic, but in cities like Oakland and San Francisco it's become normal to start the school year with vacant classroom positions. Chronicle education reporter Jill Tucker tells host Laura Wenus how Bay Area school districts are filling the gaps and how the state is trying to entice people into teaching. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email us: fifth@sfchroni...
Aug 09, 2023•23 min
Wildfires have devastated giant sequoias, the world’s largest trees. Now national park officials want to restore the iconic California species by replanting them, but the plan is facing pushback. Reporter Kurtis Alexander joins host Cecilia Lei to discuss scientists' concerns and why debates like this will only become more common as we confront the devastation wreaked by climate change. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email us: fifth@sfchronicle.co...
Aug 08, 2023•16 min
Women's sports are increasingly popular, and even late-night matches during the Women’s World Cup have drawn big crowds in the Bay Area. But when the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, which was knocked out of the tournament over the weekend, isn’t playing, it's a constant struggle to find public places to catch games. Sports reporter Marisa Ingemi tells host Laura Wenus why and how a local entrepreneur has started a group called Women's Sports Takeover to make watching easier for fans longing f...
Aug 07, 2023•19 min
Elected last year on promises to reform the criminal justice system from the inside, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price is now the latest progressive Bay Area prosecutor to face a recall campaign. Reporter Rachel Swan joins host Cecilia Lei to explain the effort to oust Price from office. Then data reporter Susie Neilson takes a closer look at Oakland crime figures as residents try to make sense of an ongoing surge in violence. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a t...
Aug 04, 2023•26 min
Since 2016, California has allowed certain terminally ill people to choose assisted death through a physician-prescribed cocktail of lethal medications. Columnist Nuala Bishari recently helped her partner’s mother take that path, and joins host Cecilia Lei to share what she learned about bodily autonomy from that experience, and why it’s so hard to talk about death. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email us: fifth@sfchronicle.com Learn more about yo...
Aug 03, 2023•23 min
With public safety top of mind for San Francisco voters, Mayor London Breed has been hammering the topic hard, calling for a stricter approach to drug crimes and touting her administration's efforts to hire more police officers. Will it convince residents dissatisfied with her leadership to give her another term? Reporter JD Morris joins host Cecilia Lei to give an early look at Breed’s political prospects as the 2024 election approaches. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a t...
Aug 02, 2023•20 min
City leaders are calling on private and public universities to consider opening up a campus in San Francisco's downtown. They imagine that classrooms or dorms could fill office buildings left empty by remote work, and that students might spend their money at local businesses and breathe life into the city's economic core. SFNext reporter Noah Arroyo joins host Laura Wenus to explain how this could work and what it would take to bring a downtown campus closer to reality. | Unlimited Chronicle acc...
Aug 01, 2023•22 min
Since April, city workers have been constructing new bike lanes along the Mission District's busy and dangerous Valencia Street. The twist: They run down the middle of the road. The hope is that giving cyclists their own space will reduce collisions, but a confusing rollout has stirred up controversy. Theater critic and seasoned cyclist Lily Janiak joins host Laura Wenus to discuss the new lanes and what else it might take to make city streets an inviting place for drivers and cyclists alike. | ...
Jul 31, 2023•23 min
It’s here! Swifties are converging on Santa Clara for two shows of Swift's Era's Tour. Whether you’re collecting friendship bracelets to trade or you're utterly clueless, Chronicle music critic Aidin Vaziri and the newsroom’s resident Swifties tell host Cecilia Lei about tour highlights and why the generation-spanning pop star “just keeps getting bigger and bigger.” | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email us: fifth@sfchronicle.com Learn more about yo...
Jul 28, 2023•22 min
Since he left the Democratic Party, former presidential candidate Andrew Yang has been recruiting candidates and raising money for his new Forward Party. Instead of running a presidential campaign, Yang tells It’s All Political on Fifth & Mission host Joe Garofoli, the Forward Party is focused on local offices where entrenched party representatives have no incentive to serve their constituents. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email us: fifth@sf...
Jul 27, 2023•22 min
As residents and tourists in Europe, Asia and the United States face extreme heat waves tied to climate change, some people are giving up air travel to reduce their environmental impact. Berkeley transportation justice activist Barnali Ghosh joins new co-host Laura Wenus to discuss why she decided to stop flying, and reporter Kate Selig shares tips on how to travel while being friendly to the planet. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email us: fifth@...
Jul 26, 2023•22 min
Fifth & Mission's team is growing! New co-host Laura Wenus joins Cecilia Lei to share some of her personal story as a local reporter and what she hopes to bring to the show. | 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
Jul 26, 2023•5 min
Wellpath is the main provider of health care inside California jails despite facing lawsuits and investigations accusing the corporation of offering substandard medical care that results in neglect — and even deaths. Reporter Susie Neilson joins host Cecilia Lei to discuss those allegations, and why California does little to regulate the company. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email us: fifth@sfchronicle.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...
Jul 25, 2023•19 min
San Francisco's troubled downtown has made headlines around the world, but Chronicle urban design critic John King says people are missing the full picture of the city. He joins host Cecilia Lei to share how downtown went from being reviled by San Franciscans for decades to defining the city in the public’s imagination. | 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
Jul 24, 2023•18 min
The university’s president is stepping down after flaws were found in his neuroscience research. It’s just one of the latest of many recent resignations and scandals that Stanford has faced. Student journalist Theo Baker, a rising sophomore who broke the story, joins host Demian Bulwa to discuss his investigation, and Chronicle reporter Nanette Asimov considers what could come next for the university. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email us: fifth...
Jul 21, 2023•19 min
While generative AI, like ChatGPT, can write term papers and computer programs, local and federal governments are still trying to figure out how to use — and regulate — the technology. Chronicle reporters Shira Stein and Chase DiFeliciantonio join host Cecilia Lei to discuss the potential ways that A.I. can improve government efficiency, and the challenges of regulating the technology. Plus: reporter Sophia Bollag shares why California might be better positioned to do it. | Unlimited Chronicle a...
Jul 20, 2023•27 min
California's Board of Education recently made recommendations to change the state's math framework in an effort to reduce racial disparities in math proficiencies. But critics worry that de-emphasizing courses like calculus will make students less competitive for top universities. Columnist Emily Hoeven and reporter Jill Tucker join host Cecilia Lei to discuss the math wars playing out across the state, and how similar curriculum changes played out in San Francisco. | Unlimited Chronicle access:...
Jul 19, 2023•24 min
Districts in the Bay Area and around the state are sitting on a real estate gold mine of unused buildings and lots. Selling could raise needed funds and help ease the housing crisis. But there are plenty of catches. Reporter Jill Tucker joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about the hard choices school boards are facing. | 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
Jul 18, 2023•18 min
The announcement that the legendary San Francisco brand is shutting down shocked many beer lovers, but not employees of the brewery, who blame parent company Sapporo for mismanagement. Food and wine reporter Jess Lander and Total SF podcast host Peter Hartlaub join host Demian Bulwa to talk about what losing a member of its Mount Rushmore of edible icons means to San Francisco, and whether there’s a chance for a last-minute reprieve. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Related: Tot...
Jul 17, 2023•21 min
When San Francisco voters elected Brooke Jenkins as San Francisco district attorney, she promised to shut down open-air drug markets and crack down on property crime. Has she made a difference? Chronicle reporter St. John Barned-Smith joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about how Jenkins assesses her first year, and what she says is the only thing she would've done differently. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email us: fifth@sfchronicle.com Learn more a...
Jul 14, 2023•19 min
Bay Area diners have been complaining about long wait times, high costs and missing food items. Has the pandemic forever changed restaurant service in the Bay Area? Restaurant critic Cesar Hernandez says no, and explains to host Cecilia Lei why managing our expectations is important when dining out. | 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
Jul 13, 2023•20 min
The mass arrests of skateboarders at Dolores Park has raised questions about SFPD's use of force. Chronicle reporter Nora Mishanec joins host Demian Bulwa to discuss the significance of the annual "Hill Bomb" event, and skateboarder Ryen Motzek, president of the Mission Merchants Association, explains the significance of skateboarding culture in San Francisco. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email us: fifth@sfchronicle.com Learn more about your ad ...
Jul 12, 2023•21 min
Three thousand miles from San Francisco, a cluster of rural villages in Honduras is buzzing with the sounds of construction as new mansions spring up — many adorned with Bay Area iconography. The region shares a surprising connection to San Francisco: It is the birthplace of many of the city’s drug dealers. For the past 18 months, reporter Megan Cassidy and photographer Gabrielle Lurie have been investigating that link and how the open-air drug trade in San Francisco operates. They join Cecilia ...
Jul 11, 2023•25 min
California's years-long drought ended after last winter's heavy rains, but fire experts say wildfire risks still exist, and if new growth dries out, it could be ripe to burn. Chronicle reporter Kurtis Alexander joins host Cecilia Lei to discuss the outlook for this year's fire season, and reporter Jessica Flores shares how residents of one Oakland neighborhood are petitioning PG&E to keep their homes safe.| Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email u...
Jul 10, 2023•25 min
Best of 5M: COVID-19 hit local nightlife hard, and it hasn’t come all the way back. Bar owners are struggling to find ways to attract customers who have changed their socializing habits during the pandemic. Chronicle senior wine critic Esther Mobley joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about the how bar owners are adapting and what's at stake if bar culture doesn't bounce back. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 07, 2023•19 min
Best of 5M: The viral artificial intelligence tool has surprised millions of users with its capabilities, but it's also raised concerns about how it might be used. Hearst Newspapers director of newsroom engineering Evan Wagstaff joins host Cecilia Lei to explain how ChatGPT works, and reporter Jill Tucker shares why some educators are embracing the technology in the classroom. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email us: fifth@sfchronicle.com Learn mo...
Jul 06, 2023•26 min
Best of 5M: Longtime outdoors writer Tom Stienstra has stared down grizzly bears, steered clear of mountain lions and braved the elements. But his closest call was a recent cancer diagnosis. He joins Cecilia Lei to talk about meeting it with the same joie de vivre that made him fall in love with California’s natural beauty in the first place. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email us: fifth@sfchronicle.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit meg...
Jul 05, 2023•23 min
As Sutro Tower reaches its 50th anniversary on July 4, 2023, The Chronicle's Total SF podcast co-hosts, Peter Hartlaub and Heather Knight, pay tribute to the controversial TV tower — which began as a fiercely protested structure, and has developed into one of the most beloved San Francisco landmarks. Hartlaub and Knight also recount their trip in a very small elevator to the top of the tower, and talk about the history, including plans for a restaurant at the top. Produced by Peter Hartlaub. Mus...
Jul 03, 2023•31 min
When the Supreme Court rejected affirmative action in college admissions, it argued that the practice puts Asian Americans at a disadvantage. But, as Vincent Pan from Chinese for Affirmative Action explains, that narrative masks how Asian Americans communities have faced exclusion from educational opportunities and played pivotal roles in calling for greater access.| Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Got a tip, comment, question? Email us: fifth@sfchronicle.com Learn more about you...
Jun 30, 2023•21 min
Congressman Pete Aguilar hails from a small purple city in California, but now he’s rubbing elbows with power brokers and being mentored by Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. Aguilar tells It’s All Political on Fifth & Mission host Joe Garofoli about his difficult new task: winning back several Republican-held House seats in California. | 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 29, 2023•20 min
