Earlier this month, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that could ban WeChat, the popular Chinese messaging app, from operating in the United States. But this potential ban would also have ripple effects on local politics in San Francisco, where about one in five residents are Chinese. Many use the app to talk with family and do business, but also to reach voters and organize around issues like tenants’ rights. So without it, Chinese-speaking residents would lose a pillar of their ...
Aug 24, 2020•17 min
Back in 2017, Quinn Jasmine Redwoods saw a long line of people at a food distribution center in Oakland. Nobody in line had a mask, even though the most deadly and destructive wildfires in Californian’s history were spreading pollutants into the air. So Redwoods picked up 300 masks at a local store, and created Mask Oakland, a trans/queer led grassroots organization to distribute masks to mostly unhoused and disabled people. And now, fires are burning again — this time, in the middle of a pandem...
Aug 21, 2020•18 min
People across the state lost power with almost no warning over the weekend, and there’s a risk it could happen again soon. The California Independent Systems Operator instituted rolling power shutoffs to prevent an uncontrolled loss of power, and is asking people to limit how much electricity they're using. But why is this even happening in the first place? Guest: Dan Brekke, KQED editor and reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 19, 2020•19 min
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jesus Guillen overheard a woman ask why those being held on the Grand Princess cruise ship docked at the Oakland Port with COVID-19 couldn’t just be sent to an island somewhere. It reminded him immediately of another crisis he lived through: The HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, where discrimination and stigma was made worse by the government’s inadequate response. Guest: Lesley McClurg, KQED science reporter You can read Lesley's full story here. Learn m...
Aug 17, 2020•19 min
A federal judge in San Francisco has ordered a privately-run immigrant detention center in Bakersfield to stop transferring people to the facility and to provide weekly COVID-19 tests to those inside. Now more than a dozen people detained at the Mesa Verde facility have COVID-19. Meanwhile, calls to get people out of immigration detention centers are overlapping with calls to abolish prisons amid a nationwide movement for racial justice. Guest: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED immigration reporter L...
Aug 14, 2020•18 min
Sen. Kamala Harris will be the first Black woman and person of Indian descent to run for Vice President on a major party ticket. Many Americans got to know her when she ran for president last year. But we here in the Bay Area have known her for a lot longer. Not just because she was born in Oakland and raised in Berkeley, but because her political career started in San Francisco. Now she's joined Joe Biden's ticket as the Democratic nominee for Vice President. So today, we're diving into how Bay...
Aug 12, 2020•16 min
Many senior care homes in the Bay Area are in fire risk areas, according to a KQED investigation. These facilities are supposed to have emergency plans for disasters like wildfires in order to evacuate the mostly older people with medical conditions who live in them. But with dangerous fire season months approaching, and a pandemic in full swing, some worry that many assisted living homes aren’t prepared. Guest: Molly Peterson, KQED Science reporter Click here to see KQED's Older and Overlooked ...
Aug 10, 2020•19 min
Almost all Bay Area schools are required to start the school year remotely to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 this fall. In response, many families are starting their own small, in-person "learning pods" instead. But not everyone has access to one. Some parents are paying extra just so their child can get access. And there are also fears that these pods will exacerbate inequities that have already existed in the education system. Guest: Sara Hossaini, KQED reporter Learn more about your a...
Aug 07, 2020•19 min
A secret clique of Vallejo police officers commemorate killings by bending the tips of their star-shaped badges — and the city’s top leaders did nothing about it. That's according to Open Vallejo, a recently launched non-profit news organization. For many locals, the story only confirmed their mistrust of a department they feel continues to act with impunity. Last week, police Chief Shawny Williams announced he would launch a third party investigation into the allegations after two VPD employees...
Aug 05, 2020•20 min
Last week, Congress questioned leaders of four of the largest tech companies in the world - Amazon, Facebook, Google and Apple - about just how much power they’ve gained over the years. Today, we're revisiting an episode from December about how Amazon's race to be the biggest and fastest is hurting the employees doing the work. Will Evans, reporter with The Center for Investigative Reporting You can read Will's full Behind the Smiles investigation here. And to share your Amazon injury records wi...
Aug 03, 2020•17 min
Some doulas are seeing an uptick in business during the pandemic. Hospitals are limiting the number of people who can be present at births, and many families are looking for options outside of traditional healthcare facilities. We'll hear from Sumayyah Monét Franklin who is a birth rights activist, doula and owner of Sumi's Touch. She talks about working during a pandemic and why she is especially concerned about Black mothers and children. Subscribe to Rightnowish for weekly episodes featuring ...
Jul 31, 2020•15 min
From November of 2019 to January of 2020, two Black mothers occupied a vacant West Oakland property without permission from the company that owned the house, Southern California-based Wedgewood Properties. Since then — after a lot of public pressure — Wedgewood agreed to let them stay. The Oakland Community Land Trust will purchase the home and least it back to the moms. Today, we're revisiting the moral argument behind Moms 4 Housing's activism: that housing is a human right. This episode origi...
Jul 29, 2020•20 min
On October 14 of last year, Native people from across the West Coast gathered in San Francisco for a ceremonial canoe journey to Alcatraz Island. Each canoe represented a territory, tribe, community or family. They paddled to celebrate culture and values on Indigenous Peoples' Day, and to commemorate the 1969 Occupation of Alcatraz. This episode originally published in October 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 27, 2020•19 min
Ashanti Branch started Ever Forward Club because he wanted the young men in his classroom to have what he didn't have as a student: a safe place to be themselves. After Ashanti gave them that, he saw them start to succeed. Mindshift, from KQED, focuses on stories about the future of learning. Today we're sharing the first episode of Season 5. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 24, 2020•26 min
Jason Mai didn’t know why his father was taken to jail when he was 12 years old. As a kid growing up in the Bay Area, he was told by his Chinese family to avoid má fan, which meant burdening or inconveniencing others by sharing the family secret. Only as an adult did Jason start to process his childhood trauma by learning about the intersections between incarceration and Asian American culture. To help him process it, he created a zine. This episode originally aired in November 2019. Guest: Jaso...
Jul 22, 2020•19 min
We've produced more than 300 stories about the Bay Area. Today, we're taking a break from the headlines to revisit a show from March (before shelter in place orders) where we traveled to three of our favorite spots around the Bay Area. Guests: Alan Montecillo, Ericka Cruz Guevarra and Devin Katayama Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 20, 2020•23 min
At one point in Vallejo, the city was paying so much money in salaries and pensions for its police and firefighters that the city went bankrupt. It’s not just police shootings that have led to a deep sense of mistrust of Vallejo Police. So how’d it get so bad? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 17, 2020•31 min
In 2017, Vallejo Police shot and killed Alicia Saddler's brother, Angel Ramos, in their mother's backyard. What began as a family gathering was quickly warped by police, whose narrative of the fatal evening prevailed in the news. Saddler and her family have spent the last few years challenging police's narrative. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 15, 2020•35 min
Before Sean Monterrosa was shot and killed by Vallejo police on June 2, VPD officers killed Willie McCoy. Police fired 55 shots into McCoy's vehicle as it was parked in a Taco Bell drive thru where he was sleeping. But before McCoy became another face of police violence in Vallejo, he was a rising young rapper whose family said had a bright future ahead of him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 13, 2020•30 min
Gig work is often marketed as 'flexible work.' But it's also precarious and unprotected work, and today gig workers are continuing to put themselves at risk because they struggle to earn the income they need to survive. This pandemic has shown — even more — just how unequal our economy is. So where do we go from here? "How We Got Here" is a special five-part series made by Sam Harnett, Alan Montecillo, and Chris Hoff. These five episodes aired on The Bay from July 6-10. Learn more about your ad ...
Jul 10, 2020•32 min
Many Americans are in deep debt. Household debt has reached an all time high at over $14 trillion. This means many workers have to do a lot more just to get by. They work longer hours, have second or multiple jobs, and they take out loans. Many people never catch up to the debt they owe. And worse, some options that seem like a light at the end of the tunnel might just sink you deeper in the hole. "How We Got Here" is a special five-part series made by Sam Harnett, Alan Montecillo, and Chris Hof...
Jul 09, 2020•37 min
Big companies spend more of their profits on enriching shareholders and executives than they do on increasing compensation for employees. Today, we talk about how this kind of capitalism became normal. This is the third in a special five-part series made by Sam Harnett, Alan Montecillo, and Chris Hoff. These five episodes are airing on The Bay from July 6-10. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 08, 2020•39 min
Only 1 in 10 workers in America are part of a union. And for many people, having one would make it a lot easier to advocate for better pay and protections during this pandemic. But worker power has slowly been dismantled by employers and politicians over the years. This is the second in a special five-part series made by Sam Harnett, Alan Montecillo, and Chris Hoff. These five episodes are airing on The Bay from July 6-10. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 07, 2020•44 min
Tens of millions of people in the US are either out of a job or still working without meaningful protections, benefits, or wage increases. And if something goes wrong, workers mostly have to figure it out on their own. This is the first in a special five-part series made by Sam Harnett, Alan Montecillo, and Chris Hoff. These five episodes will air on The Bay from July 6-10. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 06, 2020•38 min
On Monday, we're airing the first in a special five-part series by KQED reporter Sam Harnett and editor Alan Montecillo. It digs into how workers in the US have lost benefits, power, and protections over the last few decades. Today, we're sharing a sneak preview. These episodes will air from July 6-10. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 03, 2020•7 min
Tech companies in Silicon Valley are turning to Black employees and other workers of color to help them respond to Black Lives Matter protests nationwide. While some employees feel good about having their company’s ear, it also exposes tech's diversity problem at the top and how the burden of responding to racism often falls on workers of color, who may be jeopardizing their careers. Guest: Nitasha Tiku, tech culture reporter for The Washington Post You can read Nitasha's full story on this topi...
Jul 01, 2020•16 min
New records obtained by KQED show local Bay Area hospitals have reported supply chain problems and the need for support and equipment from public agencies to deal with the coronavirus pandemic since January. Today, local hospitals can't sufficiently rely on federal or state help for obtaining adequate supplies of personal protective equipment or PPE. So they're largely left to figure it out on their own. Guest: Molly Peterson, reporter for KQED News Read more of Molly's reporting on this issue a...
Jun 29, 2020•17 min
Within one week in June, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases at San Quentin State Prison grew more than 700 percent. Prison authorities have now reported that more than 500 incarcerated men have the virus, and that doesn't even count the dozens of guards who have contracted it too. Between prison over-crowding and prison employees entering and leaving, the implications of the outbreak at the state's oldest correctional institution could extend beyond its walls. Guest: Kate Wolffe, reporter an...
Jun 26, 2020•17 min
In Oakland, a city that’s seen school closures and a rapid rise in homelessness in recent years, the police budget takes up around 44% of the general fund. Among those calling to defund the police there are artists in Oakland who have plenty of ideas about what a police-free Oakland would look like if that money were reinvested into the community. Guest: Nastia Voynovskaya, reporter and editor for KQED Arts and Culture See photos of art around Downtown Oakland here. Learn more about your ad choi...
Jun 24, 2020•17 min
Growing up, Sarah Mizes-Tan's father encouraged her to always stand up to anti-Asian racism whenever she saw it. That's because he had experienced discrimination in the U.S. since immigrating from Singapore as a kid. After the death of George Floyd and protests for Black lives, Mizes-Tan knew the racism her dad experienced, and the racism Black folks experience, are connected struggles. So they talked about it. But depending on one's class, education, or citizenship status, Asian Americans are r...
Jun 22, 2020•19 min
