Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have allowed a trial run of safe injection sites in San Francisco, Oakland, and Los Angeles. These sites, where people can use illicit drugs under supervision, would have been the first legal ones in the state. But the idea isn’t new. Safe injection sites have been used as a harm reduction tool for decades in Canada, Australia, and in parts of Europe. They exist in other parts of the United States — two have opened in New York City, and Rhode Island has...
Aug 31, 2022•23 min
More than 2 years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, most emergency housing protections have expired. This means millions of renters are facing eviction. Today, in an episode of The California Report Magazine, journalist Kori Suzuki tells the story of a group of tenants in Walnut Creek who tried to fight their evictions in court. Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone...
Aug 29, 2022•32 min
It’s official: by 2035, California will end the sale of new gas-powered vehicles. State air regulators approved the plan yesterday, but it started back in 2020 when Gov. Gavin Newsom first presented the idea through an executive order. So how big of a dent could this make in addressing the climate crisis? Guest: Kevin Stark, KQED climate editor Read the transcript This episode first aired on Sept. 25, 2020. Links: Electric day in California: State phases out sales of gas cars California Moves to...
Aug 26, 2022•12 min
Over the weekend, protesters tore down a fence that had been put up around the 24th Street Mission BART plaza at the request of San Francisco Supervisor Hilary Ronen. Proponents of the fence said it was necessary to curb the sale of stolen goods and improve safety. Opponents said it further marginalized people who were already struggling and who relied on the public space to make a living. The fence was supposed to be a temporary measure before the city finishes setting up a new street vending p...
Aug 24, 2022•29 min
Noncitizen voting isn’t a brand new idea. White, landowning, noncitizen men were once allowed to vote in 40 states. Today, a handful of cities have granted noncitizen residents the right to vote in various local elections. Until recently, San Francisco was one of them: in 2016, voters approved Proposition N, which granted the vote to noncitizen parents of SF Unified students in school board races. But late last month, a state Superior Court judge struck down San Francisco's law in a suit brought...
Aug 22, 2022•22 min
A heat wave that swept through the Bay Area this week made way for fires again. That, plus a slew of other fires burning across California sent smoke hovering over areas of the state. So we thought it’d be a good time to re-evaluate how we talk about fires in the first place, so that we can better understand how to address them. Guest: Danielle Venton, Climate Reporter for KQED Read the transcript This episode first aired Aug. 20, 2021. It was hosted by Devin Katayama and produced by Alan Montec...
Aug 19, 2022•20 min
It’s been one year since the Taliban took control of Kabul. Millions of Afghans have fled the country, in many cases becoming separated from their families in the process. Thousands of refugees have since come to northern California, thanks to the help of resettlement agencies and Afghan community organizations. But many are still in limbo, as they try to secure permanent legal status while also juggling daily life in the Bay Area and staying connected with people back with Afghanistan. Guest: T...
Aug 17, 2022•25 min
At elite high schools in Silicon Valley, the pressure to succeed is intense. And according to Sophia Shao, a senior at Los Altos High School, her proximity to California’s tech capital is a big reason why. In this special collaboration with KQED’s Youth Takeover, a yearlong project to highlight compelling stories written and produced by local teens, Shao talks with us about growing up in a place where everyone is expected to succeed. Guest: Sophia Shao, senior at Los Altos High School Read the t...
Aug 15, 2022•20 min
School starts again at San Francisco Unified next week. But some teachers and staff still haven’t been fully paid what they’re owed for last year. Since at least January, SFUSD has had problems with its new payroll system, EmpowerSF. These problems still haven’t been fully resolved, and hundreds of teachers and staff say they’re still being shortchanged. District leaders, including the new superintendent, say fixing this is a top priority. But this problem has left educators feeling furious, and...
Aug 12, 2022•18 min
Project Roomkey is coming to an end. Its goal was to temporarily house some of the state’s most vulnerable homeless people in hotel rooms during the COVID-19 pandemic. This would also hopefully serve as a stepping stone to permanent housing. So, how successful was Project Roomkey at getting people out of homelessness? Today, we look at how it worked in Alameda County. Guest: Vanessa Rancaño, KQED housing reporter Read episode transcript Links: Last Days at the Radisson: As State Shelter Program ...
Aug 10, 2022•29 min
Ericka here, bringing you all something different for today’s episode. Every week, our job here at The Bay is to tell stories about this place and the people in it. But recently, I got the chance to tell a different kind of story: one about…me. Earlier this summer, the San Francisco chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association hosted a live storytelling event at KQED called Hella Asian. It was a gathering of local journalists and storytellers sharing reflections on how we come back as a...
Aug 08, 2022•28 min
In 1969, a group of protesters took over a plot of land owned by UC Berkeley and turned it into a green, public space now known as People’s Park. Since then, it’s become a place synonymous with Berkeley’s history of protest, resistance, and mutual aid. Over the last 2 years, it also became home to dozens of unhoused people, prompting reports of crime and complaints from some residents. Now, UC Berkeley is planning to replace the park with student housing. Supporters say it’s necessary to address...
Aug 05, 2022•23 min
A state of emergency over monkeypox has been declared in San Francisco and in the state of California. More than 5,800 cases have been confirmed nationwide so far. Getting this virus can be a very painful experience. So far, a majority of confirmed cases are among queer men. And here in the Bay, people trying to keep each other safe while also pushing back on stigma. Guest: Carlos Cabrera-Lomeli, KQED community engagement reporter A transcript of this episode is available. Links: Monkeypox Resou...
Aug 03, 2022•24 min
If you talk to longtime residents of San Francisco's Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood, you'll hear lots of stories about people getting sick from cancer or respiratory illnesses. Many people believe that the polluted areas in the neighborhood, like the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, are a big reason why. For decades, people in the Bayview have been surrounded by toxic chemicals coming from this Superfund site. Now, the community is facing a combination of this historic pollution and the future ...
Aug 01, 2022•25 min
We work really hard to bring you three episodes a week. But we’ll admit: Sometimes, it's good to take a break from the news. The Bay is taking a break from making new episodes for the month of July. We’re using this time to reset, rest, do some team-bonding, and brainstorm what we want to make for you in the coming year. We will resume our regular schedule on August 2. You can still reach us on Twitter @TheBayKQED or via e-mail thebay@kqed.org. We always love hearing from you. Thank you for list...
Jul 01, 2022•7 min
We've known for a minute that, if Roe v. Wade was overturned, California would play a big role in helping Americans access abortion services. Now, it's no longer hypothetical: the Supreme Court ended federal abortion rights on Friday, and reproductive justice groups like California-based ACCESS have gotten tons of calls from people both inside and outside the state. Guest: Sasha, healthline coordinator for ACCESS Reproductive Justice Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 29, 2022•18 min
Here in California, abortion is still legal. And an overwhelming majority of Bay Area residents support the right to have one. Which is why, over the weekend, many people marched in protest against the Supreme Court’s decision to end federal abortion rights. In today’s episode, KQED reporter Adhiti Bandlamudi takes us to one protest in San Francisco. Guest: Adhiti Bandlamudi, KQED reporter This episode was produced by Maria Esquinca and Alan Montecillo, who also edited. Learn more about your ad ...
Jun 27, 2022•22 min
Before moving to the Bay Area from Jacksonville, Florida, friends told KQED Rightnowish production intern Corey Antonio Rose he was heading to ‘gay mecca.’ As the months went by, Corey Antonio said, as a Black queer man, he felt invisible in the Bay's queer spaces. That experience kicked off a 3-part series called ‘Searching for a Kiki,’ in which he sets out to understand whether the Bay Area actually is a safe place for Black queer people, and finds people who have created those spaces themselv...
Jun 24, 2022•24 min
The National AIDS Memorial Grove in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park is the nation’s first and only federally designated memorial of those who have died of AIDS (though ironically, it doesn’t receive federal funding.) The folks behind it say its existence is not just about remembering those who’ve died, but also the activism of the queer community who stepped up when the government wouldn’t. This story is part of the Bay Curious series "A Very Curious Walking Tour of Golden Gate Park." It origin...
Jun 22, 2022•15 min
In California, the death penalty is in limbo. On the one hand, the state hasn’t executed anyone since 2006. On the other, the death penalty in still legal. In practice, this means that hundreds of incarcerated people have been languishing on death for row years, even decades. Timothy James Young, who’s on death row at San Quentin State Prison, believes he was wrongfully convicted of murder and still hopes that someday he will be freed. And he has reason to hope: over the last few years, a garden...
Jun 17, 2022•26 min
The Golden State Warriors are one win away from another NBA championship, which would be their fourth since 2015. But as OG fans know, they haven’t always been this good. Writer and Bay Area native Alan Chazaro remembers those days, when tickets at Oracle Arena in East Oakland were affordable, attracting working class folks from across the Bay Area and street vendors selling hotdogs outside the stadium. Still, the Warriors have represented a kind of underdog mentality that the Bay Area has alway...
Jun 15, 2022•20 min
This episode contains mentions of suicide. On a weekend in early June, hundreds of San Mateo County residents drove to a courthouse parking lot in South San Francisco to voluntarily give up their guns. The buyback was conducted by the county sheriff’s office and organized by Citizens for San Mateo Gun Buyback. The group formed in 2018 after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and then raised money from local city governments to pay for the program. Ther...
Jun 13, 2022•22 min
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin has been recalled. This race has gotten a ton of attention both inside and outside the Bay Area, which is uncommon for a local DA race. And shortly after election night, national outlets proclaimed that these results show an indictment of criminal justice reforms in California. But the truth is a lot more complicated. Today, we’ll dig into the many different reasons why Boudin was voted out of office. Guest: Marisa Lagos, KQED political correspondent ...
Jun 10, 2022•24 min
In California, tens of thousands of workers aren’t getting paid what they’re owed by their employers. Many of these workers are low-wage earning immigrants in industries like construction, home care, and food service. The state actually has a system in place where people can file claims of wage theft. But the system currently has a huge backlog, leaving people waiting years before they can try and and recover their money. In some cases, workers claim their employers stole tens or even hundreds o...
Jun 08, 2022•25 min
California’s mental health care system is a mess. And at the same time, unsheltered homelessness is increasing and voters want their leaders to do something about it. Those are some of the reasons why Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a proposal called the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment Court — or CARE Court. The idea is to provide a coordinated mental health treatment plan for a patient, under the supervision of a judge. But there’s also a catch: if the patient refuses that treatment, ...
Jun 06, 2022•24 min
There are so many horrifying incidents of attacks on Asians that have gone viral. Many of them took place in San Francisco. There’s a lot of fear, anxiety, and anger among Asian communities in the city. And many people want justice for these attacks. Whether that is truly or happening or not is a huge sticking point in Tuesday’s recall election of District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who ran on a progressive platform and says incarcerating people should be a last resort. KQED and The San Francisco St...
Jun 03, 2022•31 min
For the first time since 2014, the race for mayor in San Jose has no incumbent running, since Mayor Sam Liccardo is term-limited. On June 7, San Jose voters will decide between 7 candidates, ranging from current elected officials to complete outsiders. If no candidate wins a majority of the votes in the June primary, the top 2 finishers face a November runoff. Today, we’ll hear from voters and from the candidates who think they should be mayor of the Bay Area’s largest city. Guests: Carlos Cabre...
Jun 01, 2022•29 min
In Solano County, two high-profile police killings loom large over the race for District Attorney on June 7. That’s because the incumbent, Krishna Abrams, recused herself from investigating the deaths of Willie McCoy in 2019 and Sean Monterrosa in 2020, citing the public’s lack of confidence in her office.Now she’s running against her own chief deputy DA, Sharon Henry, who argues that the DA’s office hasn’t been independent enough to make tough, politically fraught decisions. Guest: Scott Morris...
May 27, 2022•21 min
On Tuesday, an armed gunman killed at least 18 children and 3 adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. There’s still a lot of questions about what happened. But here’s what we do know: That Robb Elementary is 90% Hispanic. That the students’ last day of school was scheduled for Thursday. And that when the camera crews move on, and the national media leave, this community will be coping with this for the rest of their lives. Because we as a nation have done so little to stop gun violenc...
May 25, 2022•31 min
More than 35,000 people are living unhoused across the Bay Area – up 9 percent in the last three years, according to an annual count of folks living on the streets. In light of the release of those most recent statistics, we wanted to re-up an episode of Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America that asks: what are your biggest ideas on how to solve the housing crisis? This episode first published on Apr 25, 2022 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 23, 2022•29 min
