It's been an intense few weeks. And we believe that all of us deserve to take a break and take care of ourselves. So in the spirit of that, we’re going to play an episode to help keep us all going despite all that’s happening in the world. In this episode of Rightnowish, host Pendarvis Harshaw speaks with AB Banks, in the first of a four-part series called Big Love. Banks works with the People’s Programs in Oakland, serving unhoused people through clinics and food donations. Banks is also deep i...
Mar 11, 2022•19 min
A group of homeowners sued over UC Berkeley's plans to increase enrollment, claiming that the university has not adequately studied the environmental impacts of a higher student population. This legal battle has been going on for years, but in the last few weeks it's gotten national attention. That's because the courts recently ruled against the university, which is now required to cap enrollment levels. It's set off arguments in Berkeley and across the state about growth, housing, and more. And...
Mar 09, 2022•22 min
Since the summer of 2020, SFUSD has seen waves of protests against sexual harassment and assault. Students say a familiar pattern has emerged: survivors share experiences of sexual abuse on Instagram, more people pay attention and talk about it, and then the conversation dies down for a few months. But the issue is still on many students' minds. And while some changes have been made — including some student-led efforts at accountability — many students feel that administrators and district offic...
Mar 07, 2022•28 min
KQED’s Nastia Voynovskaya was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. In the late 90s, she and her family immigrated to the Bay Area. Growing up, Nastia’s community included Russians, Ukrainians, Armenians, Georgians, Belarusians, Kazakhs, and many other ethnic groups from the former Soviet Union. Now, as Russia’s war on Ukraine continues, communities of immigrants from the former Soviet Union are speaking out, pulling together, and trying to support one another. Episode Transcript Guest: Nastia Voynovs...
Mar 04, 2022•19 min
Valero’s Benicia oil refinery is one of the largest refineries in the state. And from 2003 to 2018, it secretly released excessive amounts of hazardous chemicals into the air before Bay Area regulators found out and investigated. Meanwhile, local officials and the broader community were only informed this year. Guest: Ted Goldberg, KQED supervising senior editor for news Episode Transcript Links: 'First I Had Heard of It': Valero's Benicia Refinery Secretly Released Toxic Chemicals for Years Thi...
Mar 02, 2022•18 min
Reparations in California is a series of KQED stories exploring the road to racial equity in the state. California is in the process of a first-of-its-kind study into reparations for Black Californians. The process of hashing out reparations can seem daunting. and the U.S. has not fully reckoned with its deepest harms, like enslavement of Black Americans or the genocide of Native Americans. However, the U.S. has provided reparations before — namely, for Japanese Americans, who were taken from th...
Feb 28, 2022•24 min
On Wednesday night, Berkeleyside journalist Ally Markovich sat in front of her living room TV with her housemates and watched as Russian forces invaded Ukraine, where she was born. Ally is one of the more than 100,000 Ukrainian Americans living in California — roughly 20,000 of whom live in the Bay Area. She, like other members of the diaspora here, are watching and worrying for the safety of people in Ukraine. Guest: Ally Markovich, Berkeleyside reporter This episode was produced and edited by ...
Feb 25, 2022•14 min
Living with climate change means we’re going to have to plan for more disasters. That includes things like emergency shelters, food, and financial help. But there are many people who don't feel safe or welcome accessing help when disaster does strike — including queer people. New research from Yale University, the University of Georgia and UC Irvine found LGBTQ+ communities are rendered invisible within disaster policies, even in California. In the face of natural disasters, the dangers for quee...
Feb 23, 2022•21 min
San Francisco voters decided overwhelmingly to recall 3 board of education members from office: Board of Education President Gabriela López and commissioners Faauuga Moliga and Alison Collins. That leaves Mayor London Breed with the unilateral decision of who should replace them. Whoever the mayor picks will have many difficult issues to tackle, including hiring a superintendent and hashing out the future of the district’s budget. So what happens next? And what are supporters and opponents of th...
Feb 18, 2022•22 min
Antioch has been a destination for Bay Area residents looking for affordable housing. But now, it’s at the center of a growing eviction crisis. In the first episode of the newest season of SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America, KQED housing reporters Molly Solomon and Erin Baldassari take us to the Sycamore Corridor in Antioch, where renters are fighting for protections like never before. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 16, 2022•30 min
California is in limbo with the death penalty. We have an execution moratorium, and no one has been put to death in the state since 2006. But it’s still legal to sentence someone to die, which means there are hundreds of people sitting on death row, often in solitary confinement. But a move by Gov. Gavin Newsom begins to chip away at this system. The nation’s largest death row at San Quentin State Prison will close, and the men inside will be sent to other maximum security prisons where they can...
Feb 14, 2022•20 min
Over the past few weeks, students, families and educators in Oakland have pushed back hard against plans by OUSD's Board of Education to close or merge public schools. A majority of board members say the closures are necessary to address the district's budget problems. But they've faced fierce opposition from many local residents. Two educators, Moses Omolade and Andre San-Chez, have also been on a hunger strike since the beginning of the month. On Tuesday night, the board voted 4-2 in favor of ...
Feb 11, 2022•22 min
Way more people gotten sick with COVID-19 during these past few weeks. If you've tested positive, you may have felt a range of emotions: Surprise, fear...even anger. There's also another emotion members of KQED's audience are reporting: shame. For some, it's a gut feeling upon seeing that "positive" result. Others also fear being judged by their peers after being careful for so long. Today, we're sharing a conversation about this issue of 'COVID shame', with KQED senior engagement editor Carly S...
Feb 09, 2022•13 min
A proposal to spread the gig economy to health care could be on the ballot this fall. A group calling itself Californians for Equitable Healthcare Access has filed a measure to classify nurses, dental hygienists, occupational therapists and other health care workers who find work online as independent contractors. The law firm that submitted this proposal also worked on Proposition 22, which allowed companies to make app-based drivers independent contractors, instead of employees with benefits l...
Feb 07, 2022•19 min
A conservation group representing Northern California tribes has gotten 523 acres of land back. The Sinkyone call the land Tc'ih-Léh-Dûñ, meaning "Fish Run Place,” located about 170 miles north of San Francisco in northern Mendocino County. It's a pristine, ecologically rich area that Indigenous people lived in for thousands of years before white settlers violently displaced them. Guest: Matthew Green, digital producer and editor for KQED Corrections: This episode states, at 3:28, that the Sinky...
Feb 04, 2022•17 min
The recall election of 3 San Francisco Board of Education members has motivated many Chinese voters to get involved in local politics for the first time. Early evidence suggests that much of this enthusiasm is coming from the "yes" side of the campaign. So why and how is this election speaking to first-time Chinese voters? Guests: Han Li, reporter with the San Francisco Standard and Scott Shafer, KQED politics and government editor and co-host of the Political Breakdown podcast. This episode was...
Feb 02, 2022•24 min
Whether you have a kid in San Francisco public schools or not, if you’re a registered voter, you’ll have a say in the potential recall of three San Francisco Board of Education commissioners. Voters have between now and Feb. 15 to choose whether to individually vote ‘Yes’ or “No’ on recalling Commissioners Alison Collins, Gabriela Lopez and Faauuga Moliga. Recall supporters say the many SFUSD controversies over the years reflect a lack of competence overall. Opponents of the recall say the campa...
Jan 31, 2022•32 min
Clouds of crows have taken over downtown Sunnyvale like a scene out of The Birds. A combination of factors are leading them there, including the increase of outdoor dining due to the pandemic. Now, the city is trying to figure out how to get them out of the area without harming them. Residents have some strong opinions about it, too. But even if the city successfully drives them out of downtown, there’s no guarantee they’ll be gone for good. Guest: Dan Brekke, KQED editor and reporter This episo...
Jan 28, 2022•19 min
We've all had to weigh the risks of leaving our homes during this pandemic that has lasted for nearly 2 years. For lots of people, the risk of getting severely ill from the coronavirus is currently very low, even amid the Omicron surge of the past few weeks. But for many disabled, immunocompromised, and medically vulnerable people, the stakes of getting COVID-19 are still very high. Many also feel that public discussions about the future of the virus are not taking their health into consideratio...
Jan 26, 2022•23 min
Trouble could be ahead for Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith. A civil grand jury has accused her office of 7 counts of misconduct related to corruption, and on Wednesday California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that his office is launching a civil rights investigation. It's the latest in a long backstory of officials and members of the public attempting to hold Sheriff Smith accountable, for accusations like corruption, bribery, and even jail abuse. Today, we’re sharing an episode f...
Jan 24, 2022•25 min
A self-driving car is not an uncommon sight in San Francisco. And it can feel like more and more of them are out there on the roads. But why? Today, an episode from our friends at Bay Curious about this, and whether we're headed towards a driverless future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 21, 2022•16 min
The U.S. currently has an immigration court backlog that surpasses 1.5 million cases — and that includes many people who are seeking asylum from violence or persecution in their home countries. In northern California, asylum cases are typically heard at an immigration court in San Francisco’s Financial District. That’s where KQED immigration editor Tyche Hendricks met Pablo Lopez, a Nicaraguan man living in Walnut Creek as he awaits his opportunity to make his case before an immigration judge. B...
Jan 19, 2022•22 min
On Tuesday, the San José City Council voted to study the possibility of giving noncitizens the right to vote in local elections. Community organizers in the city, where 40% of residents are foreign-born, have talked about the idea for years. They argue it’s time to enfranchise the city’s immigrants, regardless of their citizenship status. If successful, San Jose would join New York as one of the biggest cities to do this nationwide. Guest: Carlos Cabrera-Lomelí, community engagement reporter for...
Jan 14, 2022•18 min
Last week, students, teachers and staff returned to class after the winter holidays…and right in the middle of a record-high surge in confirmed COVID-19 cases across California. The result? Lots of classroom absences and disruptions, thanks to huge numbers of positive cases among students and educators alike. So, what happens next? Guest: Vanessa Rancaño, KQED education reporter This episode was produced by Alan Montecillo, Ericka Cruz Guevarra, and Christopher Beale, and hosted by Ericka Cruz G...
Jan 12, 2022•23 min
Traxamillion, born Sultan Banks, was a producer from San Jose who helped define the Bay Area’s sound and propelled the Hyphy Movement to the national stage. If there’s a Bay Area hip-hop anthem you love, whether it’s Sideshow, Super Hyphy or San Francisco Anthem, Traxamillion had his fingerprints on it. Traxamillion died on Jan. 2 in Santa Clara from a rare form of cancer at the age of 42. So today, we remember his legacy on the hyphy movement, the Bay Area, and local artists. Guest: Nastia Voyn...
Jan 10, 2022•19 min
Rep. Zoe Lofgren was in the U.S. Capitol a year ago when a mob of Trump supporters, white supremacists, and conspiracy theorists stormed the building to try and overturn the results of the presidential election. Now she’s one of 9 House members — and the only one from the Bay Area — charged with investigating what happened leading up to that day, and who was involved. On this episode, we share an interview between Rep. Lofgren and KQED’s Brian Watt. Guest: Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), representing C...
Jan 07, 2022•15 min
Long COVID test lines and empty shelves where the rapid at-home tests used to be — all signs of another post-holiday pandemic surge. It’s hard to know just how big of a testing deficit we’re in, but with the Omicron variant spreading and a huge spike in demand after the holidays, just how prepared were we for another testing surge? Guests: Kristen Hwang, CalMatters health reporter and Yolanda Oviedo, COVID-19 Response Coordinator at Canal Alliance in San Rafael This episode was produced by Alan ...
Jan 05, 2022•23 min
As of Jan. 1, 2022, it’ll cost $7 to cross a bridge in the Bay Area. But if you thought that was expensive, wait until you hear how much it has cost those who don't pay: One Bay Area resident racked up $30,000 in unpaid toll debt. A report that came out late last year shed new light on how this problem hurts low-income people the most. And it turns out that racking up thousands of dollars in debt is easier than you might think. So what’s being done to try to help make this late payment system le...
Jan 03, 2022•19 min
New year, same pandemic. The Bay team reflects on another year of covering local news from the Bay Area, and discusses both the hard — and hopeful — stories from 2021. Our top picks! Rain! With Dan Brekke ‘Our People Are Not Disposable’: How East San Jose Is Coping With the Pandemic with Farida Jabvala Romero This episode was produced by Carlos Cabrera-Lomeli, Mary Franklin Harvin, Raquel Maria Dillon, and was hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra and Alan Montecillo. Learn more about your ad choices. ...
Dec 17, 2021•18 min
Alexis Madrigal was super-cautious about COVID-19 from the beginning. He co-founded the COVID Tracking Project through The Atlantic and has been reporting on the virus since the earliest days of the pandemic. But in the summer 2021, he got invited to a wedding where he would eventually contract COVID (despite being fully vaccinated). The positive test turned his life upside down and sent ripples of anxiety through his family and extended network. His story points to where we are right now — a un...
Dec 15, 2021•21 min
